Chapter 147. Team Rocket's Intelligence
"Because they were originally one and the same," Natsume was taken aback.
He remembered that Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyurem had once been a single entity.
"Then why did they split?" Giovanni countered.
"You can take yesterday's Mewtwo as a reference."
Giovanni offered the reminder.
Yesterday's Mewtwo?
Natsume was slightly stunned.
Mewtwo was artificial, and the genetic Divinity ought to have been Mew's.
Yet halfway through the fight, the other side took half of Mew's Divinity.
After thinking it over later, Natsume felt that the genetic Authority on the other side must, under Giovanni's intervention, have surpassed Mew's.
Taking half of the Divinity didn't seem difficult.
Divinity can be taken, and it relates to Authority.
"What you mean is that at the end of the age of war, as wars gradually dwindled, the Authority of war nearly vanished and split into ideals and reality?"
Natsume suddenly understood.
With the end of the age of war and humanity's constant climbing of the technology tree, constantly developing productive forces, unification was inevitable.
"The final Aura Guardian merely put a period at the end of that era, not an absolute deciding factor."
Giovanni's voice drifted.
"Because even before that, 'war' had already died, splitting into ideals and reality."
Natsume nodded to show agreement.
However, Giovanni seemed unaware that apart from the twin dragons of black and white, an empty shell had formed Kyurem.
Kyurem can only fuse with the twin dragons separately, and cannot merge the three into one.
A major factor may well be that the present world is too peaceful, and war long since ceased to exist.
"So guess this: after a Divine Pokémon dies, to whom is the Divinity inside it passed on?" Giovanni posed the topic.
"The strongest within the species?" Natsume recalled some League records.
"Yes, the strongest within the species." Giovanni smiled without elaboration.
Natsume was jolted, suddenly understanding why Giovanni had used Mewtwo in Gym battles.
There is only one Mew, but Giovanni created Mewtwo, so the other side now had a "tribesman."
He was raising Mewtwo's battle experience and level.
Authority alone wasn't enough; overwhelming strength was also required.
Perhaps when it came time to battle him, Mewtwo would happen to break through in level, be able to go toe-to-toe with Mew, and then take half of the other side's Divinity.
"You want to use this method to siphon Divinity in bulk?" Natsume was startled.
He remembered that quite a few Pokémon like Mew—"solitaries" with Divinity—existed.
"I'm not interested in that sort of thing."
Unexpectedly, Giovanni seemed unenthusiastic, as if Divine Pokémon were nothing special.
Natsume narrowed his eyes, unsure whether the other party was suppressing his ambition.
If so, the acting was superb.
"In the new era, humanity's weight in the world is constantly rising, and countless new things are emerging."
Giovanni raised the red wine in his hand and said something inexplicable.
Seeing Natsume unmoved, he chuckled.
"Look, the disappearance of an Authority leads the corresponding Divinity to split—or even vanish."
Halfway through speaking, Giovanni fell silent.
"Oh, so you think that things emerging on a massive scale will generate new Authority and thus produce new Divinity?"
Natsume was quick on the uptake, and at the same time he thought of center-parted.
Sleeping.
Such a plain and simple thing, yet every person and every Pokémon does it.
But there was no Divine Pokémon corresponding to it.
Before this, perhaps only Darkrai and Cresselia, which relate to dreams, were faintly adjacent.
Natsume suddenly felt that center-parted being able to absorb Eternatus's Divinity and give birth to its own Divinity wasn't luck at all.
It was an inevitability: this world possessed the Authority of sleep, yet lacked a matching Divine Pokémon.
"I've thought about many things," Giovanni said, voice drifting.
"Humanity has developed for so many years, and these few centuries of technological explosion far exceed the sum of tens of thousands of years of prior eras."
"There are too many new things—battling, technology, machinery…"
"I believe these universal things, just like lightning, the sea, the earth, and storms in nature, will absolutely produce Authority."
As he spoke, Giovanni's gaze fixed on Natsume.
"So can you tell me whether that thing on you regarding battling is Divinity?"
Natsume didn't answer, only giving Giovanni a strange look.
This Giovanni felt unlike the Giovanni of the original.
Why did the other have such a strong desire to investigate?
At a time like this, shouldn't he be thinking about how to exploit the discovered rules and find a way to rule the world?
Just that one point Natsume had considered—using rules to siphon Divinity in bulk.
If Team Rocket kept a low profile and made a quiet fortune, they might truly reign over the world.
In the Pokémon multiverse, this world's technological development ranked among the top, so had the people here all picked up a bit of the researcher's streak?
So thought Natsume.
Seeing the researcher before him obviously zone out, Giovanni's face darkened.
"Forget it. Even if you don't want to say it, I've already verified it."
Giovanni leaned back in the recliner behind him and looked up at the sky.
Natsume casually snatched a slice of watermelon from center-parted's hands and popped it into his mouth.
He felt this Giovanni was a bit philosophical.
It didn't quite match the image of a black-market kingpin in the original.
Narrowing his eyes, Natsume sent out his telekinesis again.
He suspected the real Giovanni had been taken out by Mewtwo, and the one before him was Mewtwo in disguise.
He couldn't help it—this Giovanni was too similar to Mewtwo, with something Natsume couldn't quite put into words about him.
"I get the feeling you and Mewtwo would get along really well," Natsume suddenly said.
"Heh. I don't think so."
There was not a trace of a Divine Pokémon owner's arrogance in Giovanni's tone; instead, there was a hint of disdain.
"Can you let me see your Pokémon?"
Natsume's gaze dropped, sticking to Giovanni's waist.
The red dot marked by his system kept flashing.
He hadn't forgotten that the other still had a Divine Pokémon with complete Divinity on him.
"No." Giovanni refused outright.
"All right then, goodbye."
Natsume rose to leave, but Giovanni pressed him back into his seat.
"Now it's your turn to fulfill my request."
The meaning was clear—information in exchange for terms.
"Fine, say it. As long as it doesn't fall below my moral standards."
Natsume recalled all his Pokémon and looked at Giovanni.
The other handed him a USB flash drive.
"My research team pinpointed Mew's location at the instant Mewtwo obtained Divinity, but—"
"The target seemed to be moving at high speed. By the time my people arrived, it was already gone."
"I need you to help me find Mew."
"I knew it!" Natsume came to.
"And then you'll clone a hundred Mewtwo from Mew, so you can seize ninety-nine percent of the Authority!"
"Finally you'll go capture other single-Divinity Pokémon, infinitely boosting Team Rocket's combat power, and then our Team Rocket will unify the world—keh-keh-keh!"
Natsume made a reasonable guess.
Giovanni fell silent.
Where did this researcher get such a stereotyped impression of him?
They hadn't even known each other before this.
"Jessie's mother still hasn't been found. This is also my mother's long-cherished wish. Mew might know something."
Giovanni's words left Natsume stunned.
He scrutinized the other, clicking his tongue in wonder.
Telekinesis allowed Natsume to precisely sense the other's emotions—Giovanni wasn't lying.
For real?
If this was acting, then this Giovanni was terrifying.
"All right, then how do you know I can run into Mew?" Natsume asked, puzzled.
"Though the probability is low, perhaps it's because you're human," Giovanni said.
"?"
Natsume was taken aback. Why had the other's evaluation of him suddenly risen to Professor Oak's level?
Given the sheer number of humans, it was impossible there wasn't an Authority corresponding to them, and Giovanni felt that this Authority had fallen upon Natsume.
But even thinking so didn't quite add up.
In the overarching environment of harmony between humans and Pokémon, building bonds, humans should be positive, hot-blooded, and always pressing forward.
Yet on Natsume, he couldn't see a trace of anything like that.
Forget it—just treat it as a gamble.
In any case, this information about Divinity would, in a few months, be handed to the League as the bargaining chip for Team Rocket to join Kanto's Dynamax development.
He hoped that before this researcher caught on, he could bring him news of Mew.
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