Things had gone quite smoothly.
Heiduo had not even needed to go knocking on doors one by one; Teng Jun had already contacted everyone who needed to be contacted.
Come to think of it, Teng Jun had long been his go-to errand man. Whenever Heiduo had something to do, he went looking for him.
That was exactly what it meant to have connections in high places.
The negotiation meeting between both sides also proceeded smoothly, thanks to the preparations Heiduo had made among the Draconids beforehand, along with the deliberate efforts of forces like the Devon Corporation to promote reconciliation.
The Hoenn Pokémon Association chose Steven, Wallace, and Winona to represent them. Those Association chairmen were even better at slacking off than Heiduo, practically as if they never showed up to handle affairs at all.
As for the Devon Corporation, President Stone had probably wanted to reconcile with the Draconids for a long time. In the original story, he had cast aside his prejudices and middle-aged pride, sincerely dropping to his knees to beg Aster for forgiveness.
Of course, Aster had not accepted back then.
After all, Higan there had truly died.
The Berlitz Family, whom Heiduo had expected to be a tough nut to crack, turned out to be surprisingly reasonable and sent a married couple.
When Heiduo asked, sure enough, they were the parents of Platinum, the young lady protagonist of Diamond and Pearl.
Her mother had been a central figure in the Rayquaza Capture Plan. The Emerald Orb—the tool they had wanted to use to control Rayquaza—had been artificially created by the research team led by her.
What surprised Heiduo most was that neither Teng Jun nor Yujian had come for these negotiations.
The two of them had handed the Johto Association's decision-making authority over to him.