The woman smiled and said to Steven, "Steven, there's nothing I can do. To get my reward, I'll have to ask you not to interfere."
With that, she took out two Poké Balls and threw them into the air.
Two Pokémon were summoned.
But upon seeing these two Pokémon, everyone was startled.
Because the Pokémon she summoned were none other than the legendary Pokémon, Latias and Latios!
Without giving the crowd more time to think, she jumped onto Latias's back and charged towards Steven.
In mid-air, she casually waved her hand, and a spatial rift appeared, like a giant pocket, swallowing Steven and his Pokémon whole.
"Steven!" Wallace and Winona cried out in alarm, watching Steven disappear.
But this was just the beginning. The three people still hovering in the sky glanced downwards.
"Watch out!!" Aoki sensed a psychic fluctuation and immediately shouted.
But it was too late. The three instantly vanished from mid-air.
When they reappeared, they were in front of Wallace and Winona, pushing them, and like Steven, they were all pulled into the alternate dimension.
The last remaining man pouted, a hint of impatience on his face, and appeared before Aoki and his three companions.
They could clearly feel the psychic fluctuations enveloping them all.
However, he didn't harm the four of them, but merely pushed them into the alternate dimension, just like Steven and the other two.
Aoki didn't use his psychic abilities to resist; he wanted to see what the other party would do.
Passing through the spatial rift, the four and the man in the silver-grey coat entered the alternate dimension.
Once inside, the man simply tossed Aoki and his companions into a corner, then floated in mid-air, examining his fingernails.
"Where is this?! What have you done?!" Steven, seeing the hazy surroundings, demanded sharply.
"This is an alternate dimension," Aoki said.
Steven was stunned by the reply. "An alternate dimension?"
The relaxed man was also surprised, looking at Aoki. "You know about alternate dimensions?"
But he quickly smiled and said, "Oh, I didn't even notice there was a Psychic here. But our methods have probably been lost to the outside world for a long time, haven't they?
Even if you know this is an alternate dimension, you won't be able to leave. Just stay here obediently for a while and don't make me resort to force. Once the battle outside is over, we'll let you out."
He spoke with great confidence, as if Aoki and his companions were not worth his attention.
This was his alternate dimension; whether to fight or leave, it was all up to him.
"Why are you cooperating with the Hunter's Guild?" Aoki asked.
He wasn't worried at all. The other party was clearly following the words of the woman who summoned Latias and Latios earlier, simply holding them back so that the Hunter's Guild outside could fight undisturbed.
"Little brat, don't talk too much." The man had no intention of answering him. With a wave of his hand, a special psychic cage appeared, enveloping Aoki.
"Oh—" But to his surprise, the cage he created with his special technique didn't seem to have any effect on Aoki.
He slowly straightened up, staring at Aoki. "You, you're interesting."
Aoki, however, smiled, turned to Steven and the other two, and said, "The battle outside, the League is at a disadvantage. I'll handle this person. You go out first and help Elite Four Drake and the others."
"Hahahaha, leave? Hahahahaha! Since you know what an alternate dimension is, you should know that no one but the master of the alternate dimension can… How is this possible!!!" The man burst into laughter, about to mock Aoki, when he saw Aoki casually wave his hand, opening a door in the alternate dimension. Outside was the battlefield between the League and the Hunter's Guild.
Ignoring the shocked man, Aoki continued to Steven and the other two, "Win the battle. I'll be back as soon as possible. Once this war is over, I'll tell you everything."
After speaking, psychic energy surged, directly pushing Steven and the others out of the alternate dimension.
The spatial rift closed once more.
The man in the silver-grey clothes, with an expression of disbelief, slowly landed on the ground, staring at Aoki for a long time before sharply demanding, "Who are you?! Why do you know how to use alternate dimensions?"
Aoki smiled and took out a white card from his pocket, waving it in front of the man.
Seeing the pure white card, the man was stunned again. "A white card? You're a subordinate of the White Emissary?"
Aoki just smiled and remained silent.
He already knew about the Black and White Emissaries, but now the silver-grey clothing appeared, which he couldn't quite understand.
Was there another branch in the cult?
After the man saw the white card, his expression changed, but then he seemed to understand something.
"I didn't expect to see a white card in the Hoenn region. You must be Aoki, the one the White Emissary put a bounty on, right?
I'm sorry, but I'll have to keep you in this space forever." As he spoke, the man took out Poké Balls one by one.
Aoki frowned.
He had many questions, but some things, if asked now, the other party probably wouldn't say anything. He could only slowly ask what he wanted after defeating him.
He just didn't know how strong the other party was.
The man in the silver-grey clothes threw out the Poké Balls one by one.
The first to appear was a Gardevoir. As a Psychic of the cult, his main force was naturally Psychic-type Pokémon.
The fact that the opponent used Gardevoir did not surprise Aoki at all.
This Gardevoir's strength was considerable.
But when the opponent summoned another Pokémon, Aoki was surprised again.
A Muk, but this Muk wasn't purple; it was colorful, and high-purity white toxic crystals were visible on its surface.
Alolan Muk!
Not only that, but it wasn't just one Alolan Pokémon.
He then successively summoned a Marowak that was completely black with green flames on its bone club.
And an Exeggutor with an exceptionally long neck and a tail.
They were Alolan Marowak and Alolan Exeggutor, respectively.
The last two Pokémon were no longer from the Alola region.
A Jynx and a Xatu.
Gardevoir, Alolan Muk, Alolan Marowak, Alolan Exeggutor, Jynx, and Xatu—these were the six Pokémon the opponent summoned.
A very obvious strategy: Gardevoir as the core, Jynx and Xatu as psychic links, the Poison/Dark-type Alolan Muk as a cooperative attacker, the Fire/Ghost-type Alolan Marowak as a defensive partner, and the Grass/Dragon-type Alolan Exeggutor capable of being an attacker or a support.
This was a very good Psychic-core team.
Although the synergy might not be as perfect as a Sandstorm team or a Rain team, as long as it was commanded properly, it was definitely a terrifying team battle formation.
Especially after seeing the opponent's Pokémon types, Aoki deduced the opponent's strategy.