Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice

Using the Ice Titan to fully protect oneself, achieving an all-encompassing, impenetrable absolute defense along with formidable melee capabilities, and adding to that the mini Swinub's built-in attack power—comparable to a Level 1 deity's long-range destructive force.

99.99% of trainers witnessing this scene would have only one thought left in their hearts: despair.

"Delibird, Acrobatics."

Pryce issued his command remotely through an earpiece hidden under his wig.

Whenever he sent Delibird on missions, he used this method for remote instructions.

Delibird darted swiftly around Ho-Oh, utilizing its small size to continuously harass the opponent.

 Each time Ho-Oh attempted a counterattack, Delibird would reposition itself close to another part of Ho-Oh's body.

Finally, Delibird seized an opportunity—moving behind Ho-Oh's head before it could react.

"Ice Beam."

 Pryce's voice transmitted once again through the earpiece hidden in Delibird's feathers.

Delibird slightly opened its beak, and a silver-white energy beam shot forth, transforming into a massive freezing ray.

Just as Ho-Oh turned its head, it was directly struck in the forehead—a critical hit.

"Roar!!"

 Entei, who had been confronting the Ice Titan, witnessed its master being severely wounded.

 For a moment, it disregarded its immediate foe and turned, unleashing a vast, sun-like crimson flame from its mouth.

A unique move that only it and its master could perform—Sacred Fire!

"Hmph."

 The masked man scoffed disdainfully.

The Ice Titan extended its arm, forming a barrier between the Sacred Fire and Delibird.

The Sacred Fire rapidly melted the massive ice wall.

 But then, to everyone's shock, the ice hand regenerated as it burned!

 No, to be precise, it was freezing over again faster than it was melting!

Despite the elemental disadvantage, the freezing speed surpassed the melting speed?!

Master-level... This is insane.

The next second, the Ice Titan reached forward.

 It withstood Entei's Sacred Fire head-on and gripped it in its palm.

"Grrr!!"

 Raikou and Suicune's expressions changed drastically.

 Both unleashed Thunderbolt and Extrasensory, targeting the Ice Titan's right arm that held Entei.

"Full of openings."

 Behind his mask, Pryce's narrowed eyes gleamed as he coldly remarked.

In their desperation to save their comrade, they had exposed their backs to the enemy—one of the most basic mistakes a Pokemon could make.

For legendary Pokémon to make such a rookie error…

 It was no wonder that in the original future, the Three Legendary Beasts sought human trainers as partners.

They indeed possessed power far beyond ordinary Pokémon.

 But in actual combat, their tactics paled in comparison to human trainers.

"Avalanche."

 Pryce would never let such an opportunity slip away.

Swinub opened its mouth and released specks of ice.

 However, in less than a second, these ice flecks expanded a thousandfold, transforming into an avalanche of glacial meteorites!

Raikou and Suicune's pupils dilated in shock.

 For the first time since being resurrected by Ho-Oh a century ago, they felt an emotion they had almost forgotten—fear.

"Maria, Rose, Sina—Flamethrower!"

 From the side, three Houndooms leaped into the air, gathering all their Fire-type energy into their throats before releasing a triple-layered Flamethrower, aiming to intercept the incoming ice meteors.

However, the falling ice meteors remained unaffected, continuing their descent.

But Stephen had never expected such an attack to stop Pryce's Swinub in the first place.

"Would this move... at least alter the attack's trajectory?"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

 A series of earth-shattering explosions echoed throughout Viridian City.

 Pillars of white smoke shot into the sky, and cracks spread dramatically across the city's landscape.

From a bird's-eye view, one could see a massive white scar running from the city center to the outskirts.

Crack—!

 Finally, under the combined assault of Thunderbolt and Extrasensory, the Ice Titan's right arm shattered into two pieces.

Entei was freed from its grasp.

"Howl!"

 Below, Suicune and Raikou also leaped off the ice boulders they had been trapped on.

The Three Legendary Beasts regrouped, turning their focus to Delibird, the one who had ambushed their Master.

Sacred Fire!

Thunderbolt!

Hydro Pump!

"Blind loyalty. I told you—never expose your back to the enemy."

 Pryce coldly stared at the Three Beasts, who had completely turned their backs on him.

He ran his hand over Swinub's fur, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to the three.

"Hurricane—"

"Old man, did you forget about us?"

 Before Pryce could finish, a teasing voice suddenly rang out from below.

Looking down, he saw Stephen and his two companions staring directly at him.

Pryce scoffed.

"Hah—break my defense first, then we'll talk."

He acknowledged that this trio had high potential, even surpassing some of the children he had personally trained.

 However, at best, their average strength was on par with the Elite Four.

They were nowhere near strong enough to break through his Ice Titan's defense.

"That might not be the case, old man. Pokémon have moves that can bypass defensive barriers and directly attack the target's core."

 Stephen grinned.

Upon hearing this, Pryce's expression subtly shifted.

"Hmm?!"

In the next instant, his pupils shrank drastically.

From within the Ice Titan's shadow, a distorted silhouette emerged out of thin air.

A mischievous black fox grinned slyly as it lunged toward the last Poké Ball on Pryce's belt.

Inside that ball was none other than La Glace, which Stephen had just returned to Pryce the day before!

"Phantom Force?!"

Seeing the sneaky Zorua go for his Poké Ball, Pryce instinctively called out the move's name.

Phantom Force—a Ghost-type move that allows the user to phase into shadows, bypassing Protect, Reflect, Wide Guard, and other defensive techniques, striking directly at the target's core.

It was a signature technique of Pryce's old acquaintance, Agatha, the Indigo League Champion.

Could Zorua use it too?!

As Zorua got closer to La Glace's Poké Ball, Pryce quickly shook off his initial shock and regained his demeanor.

"The same trick won't work on me twice."

After La Glace had been stolen by Swablu last time, Pryce had learned his lesson.

He had Swinub stay close to La Glace's Poké Ball, keeping it tightly guarded.

Seeing the reckless fox charging in, Swinub released a chilling aura from its body—not as a move, but simply as an instinctive cold presence.

Much like how, during the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru didn't use any jutsu—he simply exuded killing intent, rendering Sasuke and Sakura unable to move.

The same was true for Swinub. Against a weakling like Zorua, it only needed to release a slight chill to freeze its opponent into immobility.

But in the next moment, both Pryce and Swinub were shocked.

Zorua completely ignored the cold air emanating from Swinub.

With a quick movement, it grabbed the Poké Ball containing La Glace, flashed a sly smile, and immediately jumped into the shadow space, escaping with Phantom Force.

Pryce's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Boom—!

At that moment, a series of explosions erupted.

In the instant Pryce was distracted by Stephen and Zorua, the combined attack of the three legendary beasts had struck another Master-level Pokémon—Delibird.

"Ree—!"

For the first time in the battle, Delibird let out a painful scream.

Ho-Oh, which had taken a hit to the forehead, barely lifted its head.

Had they finally managed to turn the tide?

Delibird was injured, and La Glace had been stolen once again.

The situation had flipped in an instant!

However, Pryce had no time to worry about Delibird. Instead, his eyes were filled with both anger and frustration as he glared at Stephen, who was smugly shaking the Poké Ball containing La Glace in front of him.

"What did you do?!"

Zorua was a new partner that Stephen had only recently captured, and it was extremely weak—Pryce was well aware of that.

How could it possibly ignore Swinub's cold?

Even Stephen's longtime partner, Umbreon, wouldn't be able to do that!

"Whoa, whoa! That was amazing! What the heck just happened?!"

From the back, Iono, who was holding her phone and recording everything, was also startled.

To be honest, she didn't understand what had happened, but she was completely in awe.

From where she stood, she was already outside Zorua's illusion range.

So in her perspective, she only saw Joker make some kind of move.

Then, that massive ice giant—and the masked lunatic inside—suddenly froze in place.

To sum it up in one sentence: "I don't get it, but I'm amazed."

"Wait, you're still here?!"

Even Will, who was still aching from his injuries, was stunned.

"Damn, after all that crazy fighting, you're still sticking around? Are you seriously risking your life just to record a video?"

...

"That's not important. Now, can we calm down and renegotiate, old man?"

Stephen asked with a mischievous grin.

Woo~ woo~ woo~

At that moment, the sound of police sirens echoed.

There was no doubt—the League's reinforcements had arrived.

"We can't stay here. How about this: you trade me your beloved Lapras, and you give Ho-Oh's freedom. Deal?"

Stephen got straight to the point.

Pryce's blood boiled—not just from anger at Stephen but also at himself.

While he never considered himself invincible, as the only Master-level trainer in this era, he still had his pride.

And yet, Joker had stolen his precious La Glace twice in a row!

"Hmph!"

Pryce snorted heavily, then controlled the ice giant to pluck a feather from Ho-Oh, who was barely conscious.

"Now give me back La Glace—huh?!"

Just as he obtained the Rainbow Feather and was about to demand La Glace's return from Stephen, his expression changed drastically.

Because he saw that the Poké Ball containing La Glace in Stephen's hand was rapidly becoming transparent—within two seconds, it had completely disappeared.

"No need to return it. That Pokémon was never gone in the first place~"

Stephen smiled and pointed at Pryce's waist.

Pryce quickly looked down—only to find that the Poké Ball containing La Glace was still securely attached to his belt as if it had never left.

Inside the Poké Ball, La Glace tilted its head slightly in confusion, as if wondering what its trainer was doing.

It seemed to be thinking: "Why does it sound like I was stolen? But I've been here the whole time..."

"Was that also that Zorua's ability?!"

Pryce suddenly realized, his eyes locking onto Zorua perched on Stephen's shoulder.

"I never use the same trick twice—at least, not on the same person."

Stephen grinned mischievously.

"This was all Zorua's illusion. What do you think? Even a Master-level trainer like you got fooled."

In reality, Zorua wasn't capable of learning Phantom Force at all.

Stephen thought back—among non-Ghost-type Pokémon, the only ones that could learn Phantom Force were Mythical and Legendary Pokémon like Mew (which had the DNA of all Pokémon), Arceus (the creator of the Pokémon world), Hoopa (in its Unbound form), and Yveltal (the Destruction Pokémon).

Everything Stephen had done was to create an opportunity for Zorua to cast an illusion on Pryce—tricking him into believing that La Glace had been stolen using Phantom Force.

But in reality, La Glace had never left Pryce's side!

"You are full of tricks, Joker!"

Pryce recalled his injured Delibird into its Poké Ball and quickly left.

"Joker, the League's forces are here."

Karen reminded him.

Stephen nodded and quickly ran to the half-dead Ho-Oh lying on the ground.

"How are you? Can you still move?"

Ho-Oh weakly opened its eyes halfway.

By the time Stephen and the others had arrived as reinforcements, it had already been exhausted.

And just moments ago, it had taken a Blizzard attack from Delibird right to the back of its head—a critical weak spot. There was no way it could be fine after that.

"Sorry, you're too big to carry. Rest in here for now. Don't worry—I don't intend to capture you."

Stephen picked up an Ultra Ball and recalled Ho-Oh inside.

Fortunately, Ho-Oh didn't resist.

And with its Legendary-level stamina, it wouldn't take long for it to recover.

Once it did, no Poké Ball would be able to contain it.

After all, it had already proven that when it betrayed Pryce earlier.

"You guys should come with us too."

Stephen said to the three Legendary Beasts, who, though injured, were in much better shape than their boss.

As Stephen and his companions prepared to retreat, Iono standing on the rooftop suddenly called out:

"Uh, um..."

Only then did Stephen remember the girl he had just saved.

Half pink, half blue hair—quite a rare sight.

"Go home."

Stephen called out to her before disappearing into the dark alley with Karen and Will.

Watching the now-empty street where Joker had vanished, Iono pouted and muttered:

"Why'd he run off so fast? I didn't even get to say thank you..."

Woo~ woo~ woo~

Before she could finish speaking, the sound of police sirens grew louder.

A large number of officers from the Jenny Squad had finally arrived.

Seeing Iono standing on the rooftop, Officer Jenny anxiously shouted:

"Little girl, don't move! We're coming to rescue you!"

Less than two minutes later, an Arcanine leaped off the rooftop, carrying Iono.

"You're safe now, little girl. We've got you."

 Officer Jenny gently patted Iono's head to comfort it.

Iono secretly rolled its eyes.

You're only arriving now after the fight is already over.

...

"Lord Joker, this way."

On the other side, a sharp, eunuch-like voice rang out. Sird, who had come to receive them, suppressed the shock in her heart and thought:

"The two most talented young prodigies, whom both Team Rocket and the League rely upon, are the same person... This is... Haha, interesting."

Stephen and his two companions followed Sird into a shop specializing in TM (Technical Machine) sales, then took a hidden passage back to Viridian Gym.

There was no need to guess—the shop was one of Team Rocket's informant bases.

Stephen, his two companions, and the three beast Pokémon followed Sird through the hidden passage back to Viridian Gym.

Giovanni was outside, handling the League trainers who had come as reinforcements, maintaining his facade as the Gym Leader.

However, what surprised Stephen and the others was that the hidden passage led directly to a research facility beneath the Viridian Gym!

As soon as they arrived, they coincidentally ran into a group of scientists conducting experiments inside.

Both sides stared at each other, and the atmosphere became awkward for a moment.

"Oh, come to think of it, this is the first time Lord Joker is meeting our Mewtwo Research Team."

Sird stepped forward to introduce them:

"Research Director, Dr. Blaine."

Sird first pointed to Dr. Blaine, a bald man whose head seemed to reflect light, wearing sunglasses. Then she smiled and added:

"He's also the Cinnabar Gym Leader of the Indigo League, so please keep that a secret."

Karen scoffed, "The boss is the Viridian Gym Leader, and the director is the Cinnabar Gym Leader—just what kind of misfits has the Indigo League been raising?"

Sird shrugged, thinking,

"If only she knew the identities of the Three Executives... she'd probably be scared stiff."

"This is Instructor—Dr. Fuji."

When Dr. Fuji was introduced, a trace of guilt appeared on his face, as if something was weighing on his mind.

"And this is the Data Analyst—Dr. Nanba."

As soon as Sird finished speaking, the old man angrily corrected her:

"Not Nanba—it's Namba!"

"And this one, who just transferred from Alola, is our Research Assistant—Faba."

Upon hearing Sird's introduction, Faba was displeased, saying:

"The 'assistant' part is unnecessary. I'll be promoted to director soon."

As he spoke, Faba discreetly observed Stephen and thought:

"So he's Team Rocket's genius scientist? I wonder how he compares to Dr. Stephen, the inventor of TMs... Who is truly superior?"

At this moment, Faba still didn't know that Stephen and Joker were the same person. Sird, being smart, also refrained from revealing unnecessary details.

"Enough introductions. I have something more important to do."

Stephen interrupted.

Upon hearing this, Sird gestured for Stephen to proceed. The four of them took the elevator to the Gym's battle arena on the first floor.

Stephen opened an Ultra Ball, releasing Ho-Oh.

It remained in its usual half-dead state.

Stephen then took out another Poké Ball.

"Chirp~"

A second sickly bird appeared.

It lay on the battle arena alongside Ho-Oh, both looking equally melancholic.

Stephen gently picked up the little Swablu and asked Ho-Oh,

"Can I ask you to heal her?"

Ho-Oh, still enduring the lingering pain from the cold energy it had suffered earlier, examined Swablu's life force.

"Oh..."

Ho-Oh let out a weak cry, speaking in a language Stephen couldn't understand.

Stephen raised an eyebrow, about to ask, "Can't you just use telepathy?"

At that moment, Zorua's voice echoed in Stephen's mind:

["Master, Ho-Oh says that Swablu's condition is congenital. Many of its internal organs were malformed from birth..."]

"I already know that."

Stephen interrupted Zorua, showing a rare moment of impatience. "What I want to know is—can it be cured?"

"...Ohh."

Ho-Oh responded again.

Zorua translated:

["Ho-Oh says that normal methods won't work. The only way is to break and rebuild, just like what it did with those three."]

Saying this, Zorua pointed with its tiny paw at Raikou, Suicune, and Entei.

Using the same method as with the Three Legendary Beasts?

Stephen was momentarily stunned.

After thinking about Ho-Oh's words for a moment, he quickly realized what it meant and said in shock:

"You mean... reconstructing the body?"

In the Johto region, there was an ancient legend—over a hundred years ago, three unknown Pokémon perished in the fire at the Burned Tower in Ecruteak City and were later revived by Ho-Oh.

That was the origin of Ho-Oh's Three Guardian Beasts: Raikou, Suicune, and Entei.

Some scholars speculated that the three Pokémon were originally Eevee since Water, Fire, and Electric matched the first three known Eeveelutions.

But that detail didn't matter to Stephen right now.

What mattered was Ho-Oh's method.

Ho-Oh deemed Swablu's current body irreparable and intended to give it a new one.

After a brief silence, Stephen nodded.

No matter what, saving Swablu was the priority.

"Don't be scared, Swablu. This bird auntie will save you."

Stephen gently reassured the worried Swablu and placed it before Ho-Oh.

Hearing how Stephen addressed it, Ho-Oh secretly rolled its eyes.

Who's your "bird auntie"?!

I'm genderless, okay?!

After silently complaining, Ho-Oh, now mostly recovered thanks to its immense life force, spread its magnificent, rainbow-glowing wings.

A warm, radiant light expanded outward in rings, enveloping Swablu before beginning to contract.

Just as it had done long ago for the three Pokémon that perished in the Burned Tower, Ho-Oh was now granting Swablu a new life.

"So this is the truth behind the Ecruteak City legend..."

Will stepped closer in awe.

Through the rainbow light, they could faintly see Swablu's body rapidly growing before their eyes.

From a tiny, stunted Swablu, it expanded to the same size as a normal Swablu of its species.

Crackle—!

At that moment, a brilliant pink light surged alongside Ho-Oh's rainbow glow.

"Chirp!"

Swablu's voice, now much livelier, rang out from within the glowing radiance.

At the center of the pink fairy light, Swablu emerged in its reborn form.