Pokémon: My Parallel World Daughters Revealed

The video jumped forward again.

World League Headquarters, Dome Conference Hall.

At that moment, the conference hall was already packed.

Champions, Elite Four members, Gym Leaders, and other relevant personnel from every region filled the seats, with thick stacks of documents spread across the tables in front of each of them.

Only the stack at the chairman’s seat remained completely untouched, its cover not even opened.

Asher occupied that seat.

He leaned back in his chair with both hands folded over his stomach, eyes closed and breathing evenly.

[VIP Chat Group]

[Gary]: Wait, wait, wait! Asher is the Chairman of the World League Council in this world?!

[Ash]: Gary, why are you reacting so strongly? Is that position really important?

[Lance]: The World League Council oversees League affairs across every region. Its chairman is essentially the direct superior of every regional Champion and Elite Four member.

[Steven]: Hahahahahahaha! Brother Asher really has what it takes! In parallel worlds, he either does absolutely nothing or goes straight for the highest position available!

[Volkner]: Is he asleep? He’s already the chairman and he’s still slacking off like this?

[Flint]: You say that as though you don’t slack off too.

[Lorelei]: All I can say is—as expected of him. No matter the world, his style never changes.

The video continued playing.

The meeting had already been going on for four hours.

The agenda had gone from "adjustments to interregional tariffs," to "standards for defining Pokémon habitat boundaries," and then to "regional standards for issuing Gym Badges."

Representatives from every side kept arguing for the outcomes they wanted, causing the meeting to drag on and on.

The veterans had long since perfected the art of discreetly slacking off during situations like this.

Ash and Iris, however, had only been in their positions for a few years and were completely unequipped to endure it.

At that moment, Ash had his chin resting on the tabletop, his eyelids losing their battle with gravity at an increasingly rapid pace.

Pikachu had both front paws braced beneath his head and was using every ounce of strength in its body to stop its Trainer from face-planting into the mountain of paperwork.

Iris, meanwhile, had completely melted into her chair.

Only half her head was still visible above the table, and nobody had any idea what she was doing down there.

"So."

Lance cleared his throat.

"That concludes this topic. We’ll now move on to the next matter, concerning Team Rocket—"

"Team Rocket?! Where?!"

Ash shot out of his chair, Poké Ball clenched in one hand.

His eyes weren’t even fully open yet, but he was already frantically looking around for the enemy.

Then he realized—

Everyone in the conference room was staring at him.

Ash silently sat back down.

Pikachu covered its face with one paw.

Lance ignored him and continued.

"Team Rocket has been growing increasingly brazen in the Kanto region. Just last week alone, three illegal Pokémon trafficking cases occurred in Viridian City."

"Instead of continuing to react passively, I propose that the League take the initiative and wipe out every Team Rocket base in a single coordinated operation."

"Well said!"

Raihan immediately shot to his feet.

"The Galar League fully supports this!"

Leon reached over and dragged him back into his chair.

"You’re not even the Champion. What exactly are you fully supporting?"

"I’m a Gym Leader! Gym Leaders have the right to speak too!"

"We don’t have the money! Do you have any idea how hard it’s been for me to save up League funds all these years?"

"Oh, who cares about the money?!"

Bruno slammed a palm against the table.

"They’re already making moves right under our noses! Are we really supposed to tolerate that?"

"If you ask me, we should just wipe them all out in one go!"

"Exactly!"

Raihan stood up again.

"Flatten Team Rocket first and worry about everything else afterward!"

"No money!" Leon answered decisively.

"...Are you going to let me speak or not?"

"You can say whatever you want. I’m not stopping you."

"Fine, fine."

Raihan waved dismissively.

"Leon, just go home and eat dinner!"

"No money!"

"You can’t even afford dinner?!"

"All right, enough."

Lucian adjusted his glasses.

"Leon does have a point. Judging from this year’s budget reports, after basic salaries and the considerable expenditure of manpower and material resources, the finances of the various regional Leagues are already rather strained."

"The Sinnoh League does still have a surplus on its books."

Cynthia flipped through the financial report in front of her, her tone calm.

"However, those funds were specifically reserved for excavating underground ruins. In principle, they cannot be diverted elsewhere."

"Restricted funds?"

Flint leaned over from beside her.

"Then what if we classify Team Rocket’s bases as ’underground ruins’? Wouldn’t that make the funding completely legitimate?"

"That is certainly a creative approach, Flint."

Lucian adjusted his glasses again.

"Unfortunately, the League Audit Office is not staffed by idiots."

"Oh. Fine."

Lance rubbed his temples and pushed the stack of documents in front of him aside.

"Since nobody can agree, why don’t we let the chairman make the final decision?"

He turned toward the chairman’s seat.

Asher was still sitting with his hands folded over his stomach, breathing evenly.

There even seemed to be the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Chairman."

Lance raised his voice.

No response.

Lance took a deep breath.

Drawing upon the powerful lungs he had developed over his many years as an investigator, he roared toward the chairman’s seat—

"CHAIRMAN ASHER!!!"

The entire conference room seemed to shake.

Iris, who had been sleeping soundly, was frightened so badly that she shot straight out of her chair.

"What happened?!"

At the chairman’s seat—

Asher finally slowly opened his eyes.

"Finished discussing everything?"

His tone was perfectly natural, as though he hadn’t been sleeping at all and had merely been resting his eyes.

"Then let’s adjourn."

"We’re not finished."

Lance stared at him expressionlessly.

"Everyone disagrees over how to fund the operation against Team Rocket, so we’d like the chairman to make a decision."

"Oh."

Asher set down his coffee cup, leaned farther back in his chair, and remained silent for a moment.

Then he spoke.

"Who said we have to use the League’s money?"

Lance frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Team Rocket has accumulated plenty of money over the years, hasn’t it?"

Asher’s tone was casual.

"Raid their vaults. Then we’ll have money."

The entire conference room fell silent.

Steven slowly raised a thumbs-up.

"Brother Asher, what do you call this strategy?"

"Make them foot their own bill."

Asher picked up his coffee and took another sip.

"Giovanni has spent all these years saving money. It’s about time he made a contribution to the League."

[VIP Chat Group]

[Steven]: Hahahahahahaha! Make them foot their own bill! Brother Asher, that’s brilliant!

[Lance]: ...If we ignore the difficulty of actually accomplishing it, there really isn’t anything wrong with the plan.

[Leon]: What happens once we’ve spent all of Team Rocket’s money?

[Raihan]: Then we raid another vault!

[Wallace]: Team Rocket’s vaults aren’t a renewable resource. What are you doing, farming them for cash?

[Steven]: What’s there to worry about? As long as Giovanni is still around, Team Rocket will keep making money. In a certain sense, Giovanni is the League’s most loyal piggy bank.

[James]: Wait, wait, wait! You’re discussing how to spend Team Rocket’s money right in front of Team Rocket?!

[Jessie]: Exactly! That’s money we worked hard to save! Meowth, tell them!

[Meowth]: They’re talking about Boss Giovanni’s vault, not our personal stash. We spent all of our money ages ago, meow.

[Jessie]: ...

[James]: ...That’s true.

[Wobbuffet]: Wobbuffet!

[Bruno]: Parallel-world Lance has a much better temper than the real one. If I said something like that here, Lance would probably have me transferred to the middle of nowhere on the spot.

[Lorelei]: It isn’t that his temper is better. He’s simply run out of options.

[Lorelei]: Just look at everyone sitting around that table. How many of them actually look capable of managing anything?

[Lance]: ...

...