Ishida Kōsei was stunned.

  He had assumed that the person August wanted him to convince was either a researcher who had worked on the formu alongside him or perhaps the financial backer of the project.

  But the st person he expected—was Lance!

  While Ishida was still processing this revetion, Lance had already walked up to them. He gnced at Ishida, then turned to August with a questioning look. “And this is…?”

  Before August could respond, Ishida quickly gathered himself. His eyes gleamed as he introduced himself.

  “Hello, Elite Four Lance. I am Ishida Kōsei, Minister of Pokémon Food Research at Silph Co.”

  The moment Lance heard Ishida’s title, he immediately understood what was going on.

  So they found out about August’s formu and rushed over to try and poach him.

  But what he didn’t understand was—why come to me? Shouldn’t they be negotiating with August?

  Ishida continued, “Mr. August said that if we want him to abandon his partnership with Devon Corporation, we must first convince you, Elite Four Lance.”

  “…”

  Now Lance understood—August didn’t want to deal with them, so he was passing the problem onto him.

  Lance sighed inwardly. Silph Co. was a massive corporation in Kanto, involved in countless industries. As one of Kanto’s Elite Four, outright rejecting them could strain their retionship.

  After thinking it over, Lance decided to take a more diplomatic approach. “This colboration is ultimately between August and Devon Corporation. It’s not really my pce to interfere. How about this—Steven is also here for the exchange conference. Why don’t you try speaking with him?”

  “…”

  Ishida’s face froze.

  Talk to Steven? Devon Corporation’s heir?

  What was there to talk about? He’d probably get thrown out by a Metagross before he even finished his sentence!

  Realizing that negotiations were impossible, Ishida sighed in defeat. He didn’t press any further.

  “My apologies for the disturbance.”

  He bowed deeply along with his assistant before bidding farewell to August and Lance.

  —

  Once Ishida was out of sight, August finally rexed. “Finally, he’s gone. I turned them down twice, and they still wouldn’t give up. What a headache.”

  Lance was curious. “What were they offering?”

  “Not much—just a 20% premium on whatever Devon offered.”

  August took a sip of his coffee, but the bitterness made him frown. He immediately tossed in two more sugar cubes.

  Lance was shocked. “And you still refused?”

  He had initially assumed that Silph Co.’s offer was too low, and August, unable to reject them outright, had passed the problem onto him.

  But a 20% premium? That was a serious show of sincerity!

  Wait a minute… could it be because of me?

  Lance suddenly remembered that he had been the one to introduce August to Steven for this deal. Given that Steven was also his close friend, was it possible that August had turned down Silph Co.’s better offer just to save face for him?

  If that were the case, Lance owed him big time.

  August had no idea that Lance had completely misinterpreted the situation.

  Of course, he couldn’t tell him the real reason—that he knew from the storyline that Silph Co. was about to suffer because of Team Rocket.

  So, he came up with an excuse.

  “Didn’t the case files mention that the reason our Kanto branch was wiped out was because of Silph Shipping’s Sharpedo freighter? I suspect they have ties to Team Rocket, which is why I refused them.”

  This expnation not only justified why he refused Silph Co., but it also subtly pnted the idea that there might be a connection between Silph Co. and Team Rocket—ying the groundwork for when Team Rocket eventually made their move against Silph.

  August mentally patted himself on the back for his quick thinking.

  But to Lance, this excuse seemed weak.

  For one, the Sharpedo freighter belonged to Silph Shipping, just one of Silph Co.’s many subsidiaries. Even if Silph Co. did have some connection to Team Rocket, that didn’t necessarily mean they couldn’t take their money.

  Clearly, August was just using this as an excuse—his real reason was still to protect Lance’s reputation!

  “…Say no more, I get it.”

  Lance felt a wave of gratitude. He patted August’s shoulder and silently made a note to return the favor.

  “?”

  Get what?

  August looked at Lance’s expression and felt like they weren’t on the same page at all.

  But it wasn’t worth arguing about.

  Gncing around to make sure no one was watching, August pulled out a key and tossed it to Lance. “Those three guys are your problem now. Oh, and… I’ve only been feeding them a couple of Pokéblocks a day, so they might be a little weak.”

  He wasn’t about to waste time giving actual meals to some Team Rocket grunts. The fact that he even gave them Pokéblocks showed his generosity.

  Lance’s expression turned serious. “Understood, leave it to me. I’ve already contacted Bruno—once we confirm their intel, the two of us will take action together. Team Rocket won’t know what hit them.”

  August nodded in agreement. Two Elite Four members teaming up? This operation was solid.

  After all, this was just a regur Team Rocket base in Cedon—not the Rainbow Rocket base.

  Team Rocket was doomed.

  With business out of the way, Lance rexed a little.

  Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he asked, “By the way, where’s your girlfriend?”

  “Girlf—oh, you mean Blue?” August almost blurted out something else but quickly corrected himself.

  He shook his head. “Don’t talk nonsense. Blue and I are just friends… She went to sign up for the friendly battle tournament.”

  Lance chuckled, clearly not convinced. But he didn’t press the issue and instead shifted the topic.

  “This year’s championship prize was personally sponsored by Steven. Knowing him, it’s bound to be something good.”

  August nodded in agreement.

  As the heir to Devon Corporation, Steven was undoubtedly the wealthiest Champion of them all.

  He handed out Beldum like they were party favors. Even August’s Bagon had originally been a gift from Steven to Lance, who ter passed it down to him.

  Compared to Steven, August’s winnings from the Cedon Game Corner barely made him a pseudo-rich trainer.

  After casually chatting about the test League news, Lance’s communicator suddenly buzzed.

  He gnced at the screen, then smiled as he stood up.

  “Let’s go—Steven’s here!”