Besides, it wasn't as if the twenty percent of shares would come entirely from the Stone family. The other directors would have to contribute as well. Once everyone's shares were diluted, everyone would have less, but in a way, it would also feel like no one had really lost anything.
Steven believed those people would have no complaints after learning about the deal.
Mr. Stone, the father of Steven, had founded the Devon Corporation himself. More than anything, he had always dreamed of reaching the point where he could control an entire region.
Now, that dream was not far from becoming a reality.
"The share transfer agreement, along with the documents for all the assets currently under Oak Research Institute, will all be delivered by Devon Corporation this afternoon."
Steven stood up and gave a handshake. His expression was slightly serious as he said, "I hope Professor Corviknight will also keep his promise and discuss everything with Professor Oak as soon as possible."
What he feared most was that Shiro had only been making empty promises, or that something might go wrong and he would fail to reach an agreement with Oak. If that happened, they wouldn't get the results they were expecting.
Before leaving, Cairo also spoke to Shiro in a low voice. "Professor Shiro, as long as the research cooperation transfer agreement can be completed, we can afford it even if Oak Research Institute asks for a huge sum of money."
"Don't worry." Shiro paused for a moment before continuing, "I'll be able to give you an answer this afternoon."
Hearing this, Steven and Cairo both breathed a sigh of relief.
The three of them left the room, exchanged a few simple farewells, and then went downstairs together.
In front of the Birch Research Institute, Soyln smiled and waved as she saw the people from Devon Corporation off.
Shiro also left the institute and continued training his Pokémon.
His status was no longer that of an ordinary researcher. No matter where he went, it was becoming difficult for him to find any real peace and quiet.
* * *
Two days later.
All of Devon Corporation's documents and research product patents had been transferred to the Hoenn Research Institute.
Although Shiro's Hoenn Research Institute hadn't been built yet, it already had everything a research institute should have except for an actual physical location. This included Shiro's personal papers as well as the research results he had worked on with his assistant Dale and the others. All of them were now considered part of the Hoenn Research Institute.
As for Oak Research Institute… Oak was actually quite easy to deal with.
When Oak learned that transferring the patents registered under Devon Corporation's name would allow him to receive one billion Pokédollars in research funding, he naturally had no reason to refuse.
The Oak Research Institute was short on money right now. Although it received funding from Galar, producing large quantities of high-tech products such as the Pokédex still required a huge amount of Pokédollars.
Everything was completed safely as expected, and Shiro also received his shares in Devon Corporation.
According to Steven, every Devon director they had been able to contact was delighted when they heard that the company could cooperate with Shiro. They all agreed without hesitation, and no one had any complaints or other opinions.
Coincidentally, on the very same day that Devon's vehicle left Littleroot Town for the final time, Shiro received another piece of good news.
"Reporting to the leader. All the former Hunters Guild properties in the Hoenn region have been recovered."
The message had just been sent by Hunter Y.
As the only veteran left from the original guild, Hunter Y naturally worked the hardest. Whenever the new members had questions, they would also go to him first.
The nine seated hunters from the new guild had been divided into three groups and sent to the three major regions to take over the former guild's operations.
The fastest group, and the one that encountered no problems, was the team responsible for Hoenn.
The three hunters were Y, Z, and X.
Shiro replied, "Gather in Rustboro City."
There were only two former guild bases in Hoenn, one in Rustboro City and the other in Lilycove City.
Lilycove City was too far from Littleroot Town, while Rustboro City was relatively close, so it was chosen as their meeting point.
After the three hunters finished the basic work, Shiro would naturally have more arrangements for them. For example, he needed to clean out the former guild's personnel and make changes to some of its systems.
Of course, this would also serve as a way to verify their results.
They said they had completed the mission smoothly, but what if there were problems they had overlooked along the way?
If something went wrong with the former Hunters Guild and caused chaos, quite a few trainers could be affected. At that point, the Hoenn League would also demand an explanation from Hunter W's side, which would be troublesome.
If the three of them had done a good job, Shiro wouldn't be stingy with their rewards either.
At the former Hunters Guild headquarters, they had collected a large number of Pokémon belonging to deceased wanted criminals, including quite a few Gym and Elite-level Pokémon.
Shiro certainly had no intention of using those Pokémon himself, but they would be more than enough to motivate the other hunters.
Shiro had made a rough count before. The Pokémon collected from the wanted criminals included more than two hundred Advanced-level Pokémon, around a hundred Gym-level Pokémon, and more than a dozen Elite-level Pokémon.
Besides those, there was the Gym-level Kabutops he had obtained from a Team Aqua grunt in Lilycove City, as well as the three Gym-level Pokémon he had obtained from the Team Aqua executive Matt. Two of those three were Water-types.
The three Champion-level Pokémon he had obtained from Hunter A were also still in his possession. They were Chandelure, Zweilous, and Claydol.
Although Hunter A had controlled these three Pokémon through some method, they had already returned to normal. Even so, Shiro still had no intention of using them.
After all, he could never fully trust Pokémon he hadn't trained himself.
Besides, these weren't ordinary Advanced-level or Gym-level Pokémon. Their strength was far too great. If something went wrong and one of them suddenly turned against its trainer during a battle, it could easily result in the trainer's death.
For now, all these ownerless Pokémon were safely sleeping inside their Poké Balls, waiting to be sold for a good price.
Shiro had originally planned to hand all these things over to the Hunters Guild to deal with, but now that he had become the leader of the Hunters Guild, things were different.
These Pokémon could naturally be used as rewards for his subordinates and as the new guild's most valuable products. In particular, those three Champion-level Pokémon were extremely important. In the past, the highest level of Pokémon ever sold had been Elite-level, but no one had ever dared to sell a Champion-level Pokémon!
In this era, where Master-level trainers were incredibly rare and almost impossible to find, Champion-level trainers and Champion-level Pokémon represented the peak of combat power in the world.
A Champion-level Pokémon might not be able to compare with the deterrence of a Legendary Pokémon, but it could completely revitalize certain declining families and give them enough strength to survive for several more decades.
A Champion-level Pokémon could also allow a trainer who had been stuck at the Gym-level to completely turn their situation around. They could gain resources they had never even imagined before and restart their career as a trainer.
After all, there was no age limit for becoming a trainer. No matter how old someone was, they could still start by raising Pokémon from eggs.
These Champion-level Pokémon might even give some Elite-level trainers the inspiration they needed to advance further.
Who could say for sure?
As long as the Hunters Guild put these Pokémon up for sale, it could attract an unimaginable number of customers in a very short time.
With the League helping to push things along, the Hunters Guild becoming a core institution on the same level as Pokémon Centers was already within reach.
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