Pokemon: I Transmigrated Twice

Credits: daxterdaxter

"They found out that the Jewel of Life is a fake?"

 Taking her gaze off the TV, Karen turned her head and asked Stephen.

"It was probably Lance who figured it out."

 If the news hadn't mentioned Lance's name, he would have been curious about how Cynthia and the others discovered it.

 But since Lance's name was brought up, everything made sense.

 Although the perceptive abilities of the power from the Viridian Force weren't as strong as the Damos' Aura, distinguishing whether the Jewel of Life in Sheena's hand was a priceless artifact or just a piece of junk rock was no problem at all.

"Are we being blamed for this?"

 Will blinked in confusion. "That fake gem was swapped by that woman's ancestor, right? It wasn't us who did it."

During these past few idle days, Stephen had explained to the two of them the backstory involving Damos and Arceus from a thousand years ago.

"To be precise, it was her ancestor's subordinates who pulled that stunt," Stephen clarified.

 Sheena had always thought that her ancestor betrayed Arceus, but in reality, the real culprits were her ancestor's followers.

 Although Stephen couldn't recall those people's names, he still vaguely remembered the gist of the story.

"Even so, it's none of our business! Damn Lance, always trying to pin every blame on us!" Will shouted angrily.

"And what do you want to do about it? File a complaint with Officer Jenny. Besides, we did indeed take the Jewel of Life." Stephen, however, wasn't too bothered by the matter.

"Their family has been guarding the Jewel of Life for a thousand years, and they still didn't realize it was a fake. That just shows they're incompetent. Better to hand it over to someone who can manage it properly."

 Karen popped a small cherry tomato into her mouth with a look of annoyance.

A thousand years and they couldn't tell it was counterfeit—Karen thought Sheena's clan must be truly exceptional... in the worst possible way.

The Pokémon League had deliberately avoided disclosing to the public that the treasure Joker had stolen was the Jewel of Life. Instead, they vaguely referred to it as a precious artifact.

 The reasoning was simple: they didn't want the existence of the Jewel of Life to be known to the world.

After all, it was a relic left behind by Arceus. Once the information became public, who knew how many monsters and evildoers would covet it?

Apart from occasional cries from residents of Sinnoh, demanding that Joker must be brought to justice, most of the general population didn't care, just as the League had predicted.

Ordinary people were preoccupied with their own mundane lives—worries about rice, oil, and daily necessities. Who had the time to care about some stolen artifact?

But within the League itself, the situation was causing chaos.

According to Sheena, the Jewel of Life was intended to be returned to Arceus.

 A thousand years ago, Arceus had been deceived by her ancestor, forced into slumber to heal old wounds. According to prophecy, Arceus was set to awaken within the next decade.

If, when the time came, the Jewel of Life couldn't be returned to Arceus immediately... well, one didn't need much imagination to guess what might happen.

Just last year, the expansion project in Cianwood City triggered massive conflicts between wild Pokémon and humans.

If the Creator God were to get angry... oh dear, even Goodshow didn't dare to think about the consequences.

In secret, Goodshow issued orders to every League Chairman across all regions, as well as to the Elite Four and Champions:

"Find Joker at all costs!"

For a time, the Pokémon League's top experts were mobilized across the regions.

The regions under the most pressure were Johto and Sinnoh.

 The former, because all of Joker's previous actions had occurred in Johto; the latter, because the Jewel of Life was stolen there.

Recently, Lance chose to stay in Sinnoh under Cynthia's command to investigate Joker's whereabouts.

 Although he suspected Joker might have fled back to Johto or escaped to another region, he couldn't leave Sinnoh yet.

And today, the Sinnoh League headquarters on Lily of the Valley Island welcomed a special guest—

Steven Stone!

"Long time no see, everyone!"

 Despite being of a similar age to Cynthia, Steven greeted everyone warmly upon arrival.

Although he still looked like a young man, his refreshing smile and handsome features made it hard for anyone not to like him.

What made people even more envious was his background—he was the son of the president of the Devon Corporation.

"Yes, long time no see, Steven-san," Cynthia nodded in response.

"What are you doing here?" Lance raised an eyebrow.

After all, Joker had no connection to the Hoenn region thus far.

"Hehe~ I'm interested in the Jewel of Life. According to my dad, it's a divine stone left behind by the Creator God Arceus. As soon as I found out, I chartered a private jet to come and take a look."

As he spoke, Steven eagerly approached Sheena like a puppy.

"You must be Miss Sheena, right? Could you let me take a look at it?"

Of course, Steven was fawning over the Jewel of Life, not Sheena herself.

Cynthia rolled her eyes discreetly. This genius from the Hoenn region, who was as famous as herself, was a total rock enthusiast—something she had heard about before.

With a sour expression on her face, Sheena handed the fake Jewel of Life to Steven.

"It's a fake anyway. If you want it, take it. I don't care."

Steven took it, fiddling with it in his hand for a moment, before showing a "just as I thought" expression.

"Indeed, I can't sense any special energy from this. It's just an ordinary rock."

Although Steven didn't possess Lance's unique abilities, as the world's foremost rock enthusiast in the Pokémon world, his appraisal skills were indisputable.

"Hmph, if you're just here to look at rocks, you can leave now. If you like it, take the fake with you as well," Lance said, his tone as explosive as if he had swallowed gunpowder.

There was no helping it. Even someone as proud as Lance was fully aware of how serious the loss of the Jewel of Life was. It signified that this world might one day face the wrath of Arceus.

And yet, there was no clue about Joker's whereabouts. They could only wait for him to reveal himself.

But what if Joker never showed up, even when Arceus descended? What then?

Steven, ever good-natured, paid no mind to Lance's tone and smiled.

"Don't worry. I came prepared."

With that, Steven turned toward the door and called out:

"You can come in now."

Everyone followed Steven's gaze to the door.

A young man with dark blue, almost black hair, who appeared to be around the same age as Steven, walked into the meeting room, accompanied by a Lucario.

"And this is...?" Cynthia asked curiously.

"This is Riley, a friend I made while training on Iron Island in Sinnoh recently," Steven introduced.

"Hello, everyone," Riley greeted them with a nod.

Steven handed Riley the fake Jewel of Life.

"Here, take this."

Riley took it, closed his eyes, and seemed to enter a state of deep thought.

Though they had no idea what Steven was up to, everyone held their breath and waited for the result.

After a moment, Riley opened his eyes and said, "Indeed, there's residual Aura power inside. If I'm not mistaken, it was left behind by Arceus."

"Aura?" Cynthia, Sheena, and the others, hearing this term for the first time, were puzzled.

"To put it simply, it's the manifestation of a being's spirit," Riley explained, scratching his head.

Steven added, "Riley is currently the only person in the world capable of using Aura power with a human body. In ancient times, people called individuals like him 'Aura Guardians' or 'Aura Warriors.'"

"Guardians or warriors, whatever," Lance said, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. "The key question is: can he help us find Joker?"

Riley replied, "Although this Jewel of Life is a fake, it does contain a small trace of Arceus's residual energy."

Steven elaborated, "Riley can sense the Aura of others. He has now memorized Arceus's Aura. The real Jewel of Life, which contains a large amount of Arceus's Aura, is in Joker's possession. So—"

At this point, Cynthia quickly caught on.

"Which means he can pinpoint Joker's location?!"