Pokemon: Spiritual Master-Chapter 502: The Incident Brought by Porygon-Z

Rustboro City, Café.

"Ka-kaah."

It was Johan's first time seeing such a complicated expression on Gengar's face—confused, bashful, nervous, and shy all at once.

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He couldn't help but laugh.

Who could relate to this painless fatherhood? Only fellow Poké-dads could understand.

At the same time, Porygon-Z was sitting on the table, happily munching on Pokéblocks like it had never eaten anything before—utterly amazed.

Could it be that Porygon-Z didn't need to eat?

Johan's thoughts stirred.

Was this his destined Pokémon?

But Porygon-Z clarified that it wasn't that it didn't eat—in the lab, it had its own nutrient fluid, similar to the treatment given to Mewtwo.

That made sense to Johan.

Rocket's nutrient formula wasn't ordinary stuff—it could even nourish a legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo.

Meanwhile, Gengar was standing beside the table with a tray of Pokéblocks, looking like a nervous waiter.

Those Pokéblocks? Gengar's personal stash.

Pure Poké-dad vibes.

And the others weren't missing the fun—his Pokémon all sat around, munching on seeds, enjoying the show.

Just then, Johan's phone rang again.

This time, it was a call—not a message.

And the caller? None other than the head of Team Rocket, Gym Leader of Viridian City in Kanto—Giovanni!

"Leader Giovanni," Johan answered, having fully expected this call.

"Advisor Johan."

Giovanni's calm and magnetic voice came through the phone.

"He's with me," Johan said, smiling.

He knew exactly why Giovanni was calling—of course, it was about Porygon-Z.

This was likely the first Porygon-Z in the Pokémon world, and in terms of practical application, it could rival an entire IT company.

"I know."

And Giovanni wouldn't be calling unless he was certain.

They understood each other.

"There's something else," Giovanni added.

"Oh?"

Giovanni didn't bother being subtle. "Your method for evolving Porygon into Porygon2 and Porygon-Z."

Evolving into Porygon2 was already valuable, but the leap to Porygon-Z had Rocket's researchers witnessing true artificial intelligence.

Rocket had dozens of Porygon. Naturally, Giovanni wanted them all upgraded.

With that, they'd surpass even the League in cyber power.

"I've got a rough idea for evolving to Porygon2, but as for Porygon-Z... that was more of a coincidence," Johan admitted honestly.

It had involved Deoxys' space virus, which wasn't exactly something you could replicate on demand.

Not to mention Mewtwo's psychic power played a role.

"I see."

Giovanni's tone didn't change much, but he nodded slightly.

"If there's a chance, help evolve some Porygon into Porygon2."

He paused, then added with a chuckle, "I'll pay per unit."

"No problem!"

Johan had expected Giovanni to try and buy the method outright—but instead, he chose the long-term, profit-sharing route.

In truth, Johan had already begun theorizing other ways to evolve Porygon into Porygon-Z. Maybe Deoxys wasn't strictly necessary.

"One more thing."

Giovanni said, "When Porygon-Z left, it left a backdoor in the network—some Porygon followed and escaped."

Huh?

Johan was startled.

The Porygon escaped into the internet?

That was going to be tough to get them back.

Johan still didn't know whether the League even had any Porygon. If they didn't, how were they countering Rocket?

Either way—

By now, the League probably had at least one.

And once they had one, breeding more would be easy given their current capabilities.

So... writing a thesis on Porygon was starting to look worthwhile?

Would that offend Giovanni though?

No.

He still pretended not to know Giovanni's true identity, and if Rocket was planning a rebrand, there was no reason to panic. Everyone's cybersecurity would just become equally impenetrable.

Otherwise, Giovanni wouldn't be speaking so calmly.

"I have something to bring up too," Johan suddenly said.

"Go on."

"I wonder... do you know about Dark Balls?"

Back at Rocket HQ, Giovanni raised an eyebrow.

The Marauder?

Hadn't they both agreed not to dig too deeply into that matter?

When Giovanni didn't answer, Johan continued.

"A while ago..."

He chose his words carefully.

"...during the capture of Hunter J, she had a Dark Ball in her possession."

Giovanni might not know about the incident with the Temple of the Sea and Lugia, but he'd definitely heard of Hunter J's arrest.

Johan figured it was worth mentioning since Giovanni had already called.

Giovanni was silent for a while, then finally asked:

"The Marauder?"

"As far as I know... no," Johan replied.

"...?"

Giovanni, now leaning forward in his chair, narrowed his eyes.

"I see."

He didn't question Johan's information. If needed, he had ways to reach Hunter J in prison.

And he didn't press for more—smart people knew when to stop.

In truth, Giovanni already had a few suspects in mind.

"I'll have Matori transfer the intelligence fee to your account."

After a beat, he added:

"Do well in the Youth Masters."

And with that, the call ended.

"So even Giovanni is watching the Youth Masters..." Johan muttered.

Moments later, he received a bank notification—3,000,000 Pokédollars deposited!

Big boss Giovanni didn't mess around!

Then, a call from Matori came through.

"Professor Johan, what intel did you give? Even we didn't know about it!" she asked, full of curiosity.

"Kids shouldn't ask."

"I'm not that— wait..."

Meanwhile, in the League's Information Department:

"Someone's attacking our firewall?"

The department housed the League's top cybersecurity experts.

Even major corporations like Devon had their own top talent here.

After all, in the modern Pokémon world, data was everything.

Suddenly, one analyst noticed something.

They hadn't been attacked in ages—this was exciting!

Until they saw...

"Is that... a Pokémon?!"

The staffer stared, dumbfounded.

A Pokémon living in cyberspace?

Its "attack" wasn't aggressive. More like... knocking politely?

When did Pokémon start living in the internet?

Then again, with Pokémon living in space now, maybe this wasn't so strange.

"Report—right, I need to report this!"

Because of the League's emphasis on cybersecurity, this department was overseen by none other than Elite Four member Bertha!

Once informed, she summoned the League's top IT experts.

Among them? Johan's old acquaintance—Bill.

Bill, a Pokémon researcher and tech genius, was quickly informed and spread the word among his peers.

Meanwhile, after getting its fill, Porygon-Z didn't linger long. It returned to Rocket HQ.

Though it was reluctant to part from Gengar, as Mewtwo's mouthpiece, it had to go.

But before leaving, it handed Rotom the coordinates of the Pokémon needing help—and even helped track down the escaped Porygon.

It seemed to care deeply about them, maybe even saw them as kin.

Truth was, Porygon didn't have self-awareness. They simply followed instructions.

If Porygon-Z hadn't guided them out, they wouldn't have moved at all—even if the firewall was open.

So rather than escaping, they were freed.

And by giving their locations to Johan, Porygon-Z was asking him to help.

Just like he helped others.

Not that Rocket treated them poorly—but Porygon-Z's data analysis suggested: don't put all your eggs in one basket.

The Porygon line would only thrive if spread out.

Johan agreed to help.

After all—

The more Porygon there were, the more valuable his research into their evolution would become.

Also, another reason:

Now that Rocket had a Porygon-Z, if they hadn't reformed, the League would've been unable to resist their cyber capabilities.

A stable Pokémon world was a better Pokémon world.

To maintain that stability, both sides needed the tech.

"I'm the ultimate fence-sitter, aren't I?" Johan chuckled to himself.

Later that night, he spotted forum threads popping up on a researcher site—

The League was already buzzing about Porygon.

"They're fast..."

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Powerstones?

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