Who needs a girlfriend when you have Pokémon?

So, does that mean someone secretly opened the box and took away the divine body inside?

Moreover, it happened in full view of everyone?

If that's the case, then this is a really big problem...

Just then, Luo Wei and Naqi arrived at the location of the Sending God Volcano.

They had come specifically to exchange divine bodies, but unexpectedly, they heard such big news upon arrival. And Luo Wei's attitude towards this big news was...

"...Great, the 'bait' has been released!"

"Eh?"

Over there, everyone, including Furong, was naturally dumbfounded, especially the shrine master who was completely unaware of the reason. In response, Luo Wei simply waved his hand.

"Don't worry, don't worry, we'll explain slowly~ But before that, I need to introduce myself first, cough cough..."

Luo Wei took two steps back, then spoke with utmost seriousness.

"First of all, entrusted by the descendants of the Meteor People, I, Luo Wei, have come to resolve the thousand-year-old entanglement between the two Hoenn gods!"

This self-introduction left Hibiscus and the shrine master and his wife somewhat bewildered, seemingly unsure how Luo Wei could be connected to the Meteor People.

However, Furong knew that when the fortune was stolen at Meteor Falls, she did encounter a girl who claimed to be a descendant of the Meteor People, and Rowe was also present at the time.

"That's right, she's a genuine Meteor Dweller. After all, she can use the power of Mega Evolution and unleash the power of meteors. In short, she's only pretending to cooperate with Team Aqua to completely clean up the mess left behind by the Meteor Dwellers..."

This matter is still considered top secret. Luo Wei had previously discussed it with Daigo and decided to cooperate with the Okami-zan area.

"I know that..." Furong nodded. The alliance had come to discuss the matter, hoping to move the divine body to a safe place in advance. Although the shrine master and his wife had initially worried that moving the divine body randomly would not comply with the rules for leaving it behind...

However, considering that the Alliance is stronger, it is indeed safer to entrust the divine body to the Alliance for protection. As for whether there is any concern that the divine body might be misappropriated by the Alliance, that is not a concern, since everyone in the Alliance is a moral exemplar... at least in terms of reputation, they are quite outstanding.

After confirming this, they agreed to transfer the divine body, which led to the ritual for transferring the divine body that was agreed upon today. Before that, the divine body was hidden in a place that only the God Lord could access. It was specially taken out along with the shrine for today's ritual.

Who knew that the divine body would be stolen right after the ritual was completed, and Rowe's behavior was quite intriguing.

"In short, as mentioned before, at least the first half is correct, but in fact, this plan has a second half, and then, cough cough..."

Luo Wei took two steps back and bowed deeply. "I apologize for not informing you all beforehand. In fact, the previous plan was just a smokescreen. We never intended to take the divine body today. Instead, we had already arranged for someone to take it beforehand..."

"what?"

These words naturally left the shrine master and his wife completely bewildered. Was the divine body taken away by someone arranged by Luo Wei? What was going on?

"Yes, but it wasn't taken in our name. It was taken by someone claiming to be a member of Team Aqua. The person who took the divine body was that Meteor Dweller, Higana!"

"!"

After all, apart from the leader, Archie, the only other members of Team Ocean who could fight were a few executives, including Higanbana. The rest of the grunts were not worth any help; it would be good enough if they didn't cause trouble.

In terms of strength, Higana, as a descendant of the Meteor Dwellers, is actually more capable than Archie when she gets serious. Therefore, only she was able to secretly steal the divine body right under the noses of Higanbana, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and the shrine master and his wife.

In fact, if it hadn't been discovered early, the meteorite would have been stolen at Meteor Falls last time, instead of running into Rowe and resulting in a fight.

"Wait a minute..." Furong sensed that the situation was a bit confusing, so she quickly sorted it out. "So, in other words, Luo Wei and Lord Daigo, you two agreed in advance to steal the divine body beforehand, and then deliberately lied that you were going to transfer the divine body today?"

"Well, it couldn't really be said that it was arranged in advance. The time for taking action... was after the shrine's head priest and his wife, the two elderly people, agreed to let the alliance temporarily take care of the divine body..."

"..."

So at least in this respect, this action was indeed carried out with the consent of the two elderly people. The only difference was the execution time, which was different from what was previously informed. It was not today, but a day in advance that the divine body was taken away.

So here's the question: what was the point of going through all this trouble?

Chapter 231 is all a formula~

"..."

In other words, the theft of the divine body was arranged by Luo Wei in advance with Xijia Na. What was his purpose in doing so?

"Oh, it's about time..."

As he said this, Luo Wei took out his Navigator, and sure enough, a familiar number dialed. The owner of the number was none other than Luo Wei's childhood sweetheart, Xiao Yao.

Xiaoyao also participated in this project, and her part was...

Luo Wei connected the call, and on the other end, Xiao Yao waved cheerfully to everyone on the screen, "Good afternoon, everyone~"

"Well, good afternoon. How did it go? The 'item' was indeed retrieved, right?"

"Of course~" As she said this, Xiaoyao took out her backpack and unzipped it, revealing a faint light emanating from inside.

"oh?!"

The shrine master and his wife, who were already somewhat bewildered by this series of events, and even Fuyou, could clearly see that what was in Xiaoyao's backpack were two precious gems, one red and one blue, emitting a faint glow.

Seeing the radiance emanating from the precious jade, the old man nodded with absolute certainty, "That's right, this is the divine body, but what's going on here?"

"I contacted Haruka beforehand, and had Higanbana take the divine body away first. Then, when Higanbana met up with the Team Aqua members, I had Haruka set off to intercept them..."

The time was one day ago...

As planned, Higana successfully obtained the divine body from the Okami Volcano Shrine. The reason she was able to locate the divine body so easily was naturally because of her identity as a Meteorite.

Although they were neither priestesses nor gods, the meteorites controlled by the Meteor People were essentially similar to divine bodies, sharing the same underlying logic. Therefore, Higana successfully obtained and stole the divine body using this method.

After succeeding, she naturally contacted Shui Wutong immediately...

"...Well done! You truly are a descendant of the Meteor Clan!"

In the communication segment, Archie gave Higanbana's methods extremely high praise.

With only two subordinates, and one of them even captured, Shui Wutong fully understood what it meant for "the organization's leader to personally handle business is a sign of an unsound organizational structure"...

But there was no other way. After all, they only had a few capable fighters at their disposal. The rest of the grunts were all wiped out by the Pokémon Academy. Any active trainer registered in the league could easily crush the opponent.

Under such circumstances, the only people one could trust were a few cadres. One of them was captured alive by Genji, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, during the operation in Kaina City.

Under these circumstances, Archie had no choice but to trust Higana, which is why Rowe believed that Higana could be the breakthrough point, because Archie really had no one else to use besides Higana.

Even if he were to take action himself, with the Ghost-type Elite Four member Hibiscus currently in charge of the Sacred Mountain Volcano, a direct attack would be futile. And if he were to try to steal it secretly, he knew nothing about the Divine Body; he had no idea whether it was square or long, flat or round.

Therefore, they can only pin their hopes on Higana, who, as a member of the Meteorite Clan, has some connection to the divine body.

Higana's successful acquisition of the divine body is a great relief for Archie, who had previously been beaten to the punch by Team Magma at Meteor Falls, and had repeatedly failed in her attempts to steal the secret documents from the Divine Company and engine parts from the Kusnogi Shipyard.

This time, he's finally ahead of everyone else... well, at least that's what he thinks.

In short, Wutong indicated that he would come to meet up with Xijiana immediately, since Xijiana had acted alone in this operation to steal the divine body, which was at her own strong request.

According to her, she wasn't there to fight in the first place. Having a direct confrontation with Furong Shi of the Four Heavenly Kings, and having two more helpers would probably not have helped the outcome.

This is the home turf of the opposing team, the Four Heavenly Kings. If they really fight together, with Water Archie, Sea Spring, and Higanbana all coming at them, they'll most likely just be easy prey.

Although in reality only Higana, when she gets serious, she can go toe-to-toe with Furong for two rounds, of course, Shui Wutong herself is unaware of this.

In short, since this time we are not here to seize by force but to gain by strategy, there is no need to win by quantity. Quality is the key... Too many people will only get in the way.

...At least for this reason, there is really nothing wrong with Water Archie, it is indeed reasonable, and Higana did indeed obtain the divine body by relying on the abilities of the Meteor People.

Having confirmed that he had obtained the divine body, Shui Wutong was in high spirits and prepared to come and meet up with Xijiana.

"...Thank you for your hard work. I knew you'd handle this."

Shui Wutong stepped forward and extended her hand, "Then, give me the divine body!"

"Yes, it's right here~"

Xijiana reached out and took a tightly sealed backpack, then handed it over. Just as Shui Wutong was about to touch the backpack, a voice suddenly came.

"Alright, your evil deeds... come to an end here~"

"?!"

It wasn't just a meaningless command; what followed was... a sharp blade of air, carrying a gust of wind, hurtling towards Shui Wutong.

"Air cutting?"

Shui Wutong immediately recognized the move. When she looked up, she saw a giant swallow flapping its wings, and the air-cutting attack came from it.

On the other side, a girl who looked to be about the same age as Lowe was lifted up in a princess carry by a Blaziken and fell steadily to the ground as Swellow attacked.

"You are... Professor Tomato's..."

It seems Archie's intelligence work was indeed quite good, recognizing the girl in front of him at a glance. May jumped lightly out of Blaziken's arms, and Blaziken put May down and flashed to block her in front of him.

Over there, Swellow in the sky unleashed a series of Air Slashes, while Archie raised her hand and released Sharpedo and Crobat. Crobat also unleashed an Air Slash in an attempt to block May's attack.

The air blades released from both sides collided, and the sharp air blades exploded instantly, turning into invisible air currents that swept and dispersed in the blink of an eye. Shui Wutong subconsciously pulled his body away, only to see that the corner of his sleeve had suddenly torn open, the end perfectly smooth, as if it had been cut by a sharp blade.

Meanwhile, Xiaoyao was unharmed as the Blaziken in front of her blocked the burst of airflow.

"...Impressive, impressive. Looks like trouble is on its way."

Chapter 232 This wave is a case of feigning loyalty.

Archie met with Higanbana, intending to retrieve the divine body Higanbana had stolen, but was stopped by Haruka halfway through as soon as she reached out.

"...It seems to be a real problem."

Archie confirmed May's strength. Although there were three of them on his side, May didn't seem worried at all. As Professor Birch's daughter, Archie had naturally heard about her.

In terms of strength, she is definitely one of the top performers among her peers in the Hoenn region right now, and if it weren't for Rowe, she would undoubtedly be number one.

However, considering that Luo Wei is present, she will most likely only be second at present.

However, regardless of whether she came in first or second, her opponent's strength was undeniably formidable. At least she dared to take on three opponents at once, which was naturally because she had the confidence to do so.

However, Archie misunderstood a crucial point: Haruka wasn't actually fighting three opponents at once. From the very beginning, Haruka and Higanbana had already discussed it beforehand, and Higanbana had no intention of using her full strength against Haruka.

So, it was actually just one against two, and even though it was one against two, Higana was even helping to hinder them from behind, because the focus here was not on determining a winner or loser, but on the divine body obtained from the shrine of Mount Okami.

Haruka has come to reclaim the divine body, which is currently still in Higana's hands. While Archie is about to fight Haruka, she also needs to keep an eye on whether the divine body in Higana's hands will be damaged.

In other words, as long as Higana still holds the divine body, Wutong will have to focus on other things. That is to say, it is actually a two-on-two battle, and Higana is essentially a traitor who is sabotaging things from behind.

As a result, Shui Wutong naturally felt the pressure increase dramatically. After two rounds of back and forth, Haiquan was the first to withdraw from the battlefield.

There was no way around it. Although as a member of Team Aqua, he was a bit more capable than the average trainer, he was still just a member. He was no match for someone like May, and he was at a disadvantage after just a couple of rounds.

As a result, the scene turned into a one-on-one fight between Archie and Haruka, with Higanbana helping to side with the fight from behind.

Because the scene was too chaotic, even Wutong didn't notice anything amiss. His attention had been diverted several times, and he could only wander back and forth between Xiaoyao and Xijiana.