Pokémon: My Titles Know No Limits! [250]

Although Steven was currently serving as Hoenn’s Champion, as Devon Corporation’s sole heir, he also had his own personal office within the company.

August followed Steven into said office.

The first thing he noticed was an entire wall filled with rare and unusual stones.

Sure, August knew Steven was a rock enthusiast—but an entire wall of them? That was something else.

Compared to August, who still tried to maintain a certain professional image, Gary’s reaction was... much more direct.

“So many stones!” Gary gawked, thoroughly impressed.

He’d been around Professor Oak long enough to develop a sharp eye. Among these rocks, even evolution stones worth tens or hundreds of thousands were the cheapest items on display. The truly expensive ones were bizarre-looking meteorites he didn’t even recognize.

This... this is what money can buy, huh?

Same Champion status, same rich-kid background... Why was the gap between people so wide?

August ignored Gary, who had fallen into an existential crisis, and after confirming the room was secure, turned to Steven.

“So what’s the situation? I heard President Mr. Stone was attacked?”

Steven sighed. “Yeah. Team Aqua ambushed my father and stole the core module of the Abyssal One.”

“He’s injured and currently hospitalized.”

As he spoke, Steven’s expression darkened visibly.

Clearly, Team Aqua’s actions had pushed him past his limit.

They had previously failed in trying to steal data related to the Abyssal One, and Steven had assumed they’d lay low for a while. He hadn’t expected them to escalate things with a direct attack.

August didn’t really know what to say to comfort him. “Leave it to me. They’ve disrespected a friend of mine, so I’ll make sure they pay for it.”

This kind of thing? Totally my specialty.

And Steven didn’t doubt his capabilities for a second.

“Is there anything I can provide to support you?” Steven asked.

After all, August was operating far from his home turf in Kanto. He would surely need a base of operations, support personnel, and information sources…

Steven had already started preparing all of that before August arrived.

But August’s answer caught him off guard.

“Not at the moment.”

Steven blinked. “…You don’t need an office set up?”

“I actually already arranged lodging before I came.”

“Where…?”

Don’t tell me he’s staying in a hotel…

While Steven’s imagination began to spiral, August smiled faintly and said, “I’m borrowing a Team Rocket base.”

Team Rocket...?

Since when did they have a base in Hoenn?

Even after August laid out his entire plan, Steven still found it absurd.

On the one hand, he was stunned that Team Rocket had built a base right under his nose. On the other, he was dumbfounded that August was just going to crash there.

According to August, the Rocket base was safe, discreet, fully equipped, and most importantly—completely free.

All he had to do was clean out a few leftover grunts, and the base was his. Talk about cost-effective!

He was treating Rocket’s base like a vacation rental.

Did you even ask Giovanni...?

...Oh, wait. Giovanni had already been beaten into submission by August.

Then never mind.

Since August had already solved the logistics on his own, Steven pulled out a USB stick and handed it to him.

“This contains everything the Pokémon Association currently knows about Team Aqua and Team Magma. If we receive new intel, I’ll send it to you directly.”

August nodded and handed the USB to Blue.

The Kanto branch now had a clear division of responsibilities—long gone were the days of barely scraping things together.

With that done, Steven finally relaxed. “August, want to take a tour of Devon’s headquarters?”

...

Under Steven’s lead, August toured Devon Corporation while posing as the “researcher who improved the Pokéblock formula.”

Like Silph Co. in Kanto, Devon was a regional monopoly. But with its roots in mining, Devon’s company culture was noticeably stricter than the infiltration-ridden Silph Co.

You hardly saw employees bringing Pokémon to work—very different from Silph, where everyone had a Magneton or a Weezing at their side.

During the tour, Steven spoke about the history of Devon’s rise to dominance, including their past rivalry with a former energy giant in Hoenn: Great Verdant Holdings.

Gary: “Oh, Great Verdant… The company infamous for brutal overtime, encouraging blind obedience to management, and demanding total devotion from its employees?”

Everyone turned to him in confusion.

Gary beamed. “I used to lurk in this forum full of former Great Verdant staff. The company’s legendary on there.”

“Overworking employees, dangling false promises, pushing them to sacrifice everything for the company…”

“In short, the forum had only two words to describe it—good riddance.”

Blue and Sabrina, who hadn’t heard much about the company before, now wore thoughtful expressions.

Then, as if on cue, they both turned to look at August.

August: “……?”

What are you looking at me for? When have I ever overworked either of you?

We… we have paid vacation!

Meanwhile, Gary stood off to the side, basking in the moment like a proud trickster.

Heh.

Steven, sensing the sudden shift in mood, quickly changed the subject.

“This here is our latest mobile communication device, the Pokémon Navigator...”

Everyone’s attention turned to the PokéNav—a product Devon hadn’t even officially launched, yet was already falling behind the times.

Just as the topic shifted, August suddenly spoke up.

“Gary, what’s the name of that forum you mentioned? Send me the link.”

“I’m kind of curious now.”

Gary froze. He hadn’t expected August to actually show interest.

But—he couldn’t let him find out.

His heart skipped a beat, but outwardly he stayed calm. “Hah… I just browsed that forum for fun. Haven’t logged in in ages.”

“Oh really?” August asked, intrigued.

“Really!” Gary insisted firmly.

August stared at him, long enough for a sheen of cold sweat to form on Gary’s forehead.

Then, suddenly, August smiled. “Alright, never mind.”

And turned back to chat with Steven.

Gary exhaled in relief, wiping sweat from his brow.

That was close…

If August ever saw the way I’d been ranting about him on that forum… I don’t even want to imagine what my future would look like.

But he didn’t notice the sly smile curling at the corners of August’s lips as he turned away.

---

This is a fan translation of 我，宝可梦称号大师！ by 落唯 白良. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!