"Ampharos, Cotton Guard—then Discharge in all directions!"
Early in the morning, Silas's powerful shout echoed through an unknown forest.
"Amph~!"
Ampharos's cry sounded cute, yet full of momentum.
Layer after layer of soft, fluffy white wool surfaced across its pink body. Though the wool looked light and airy, its defensive power was anything but weak.
Silas had tested this before.
In this defensive state, an Advance-level Ampharos could withstand two Rock Slides from a Gigalith and still have stamina remaining.
That was already an excellent result, considering Ampharos wasn't a Pokémon known for exceptional Defense or HP.
In a normal state, without any defensive measures at all, Ampharos wouldn't be able to tank even a single hit.
The next moment, dazzling arcs of electricity flashed amid the greenery.
Upon closer inspection, the electrical current was being released directly from the white wool covering Ampharos's entire body.
"Alright, pause for now."
After observing for some time and collecting data while wearing insulated protective gear, Silas called a halt.
Under Ampharos's control, the forest quickly returned to tranquility.
The native Pokémon that lived here sensed the change and finally stopped cowering inside their nests.
In a forest this small, an Advance-level Ampharos could be considered an outright overlord, a walking "tyrant" that could bully everything in sight.
"Overall, the results are pretty good," Silas said.
"However, you're wasting about twenty percent of your energy during the power conduction process. You need to pay more attention to that.
Also, the details in Triangle Zone Three of Cotton Guard weren't handled properly.
Your coverage speed there was a bit slow. You can divert some of the output from Square Zone Two, that area isn't one of your weak points.
Then, immediately after Discharge—"
Silas glanced at his notes and continued giving instructions.
Ampharos leaned its small head closer, listening attentively. It looked adorable as it nodded along.
"That's about it. Morning training is officially over. At this rate, you should completely master this simplified combo in about a week."
Time passed quickly as the Trainer and Pokémon discussed and reviewed the session. By the time they finished, the forest had already begun to stir with the arrival of a new day.
Caterpie and Rattata were darting through bushes everywhere, desperately searching for food.
"Pii~"
A familiar cry rang out.
A poorly developed Pidgey swooped down from the sky and snatched up a Caterpie.
That was clearly its breakfast.
As the bottom of the Pokémon food chain, Caterpie became prey even as it searched for food itself, something that happened constantly in the wild.
"Pii~"
Silas's Pidgeot glanced disdainfully at its weak kin before burying its entire head into its food bowl and starting to eat.
Why bother with Caterpie, when Silas's carefully prepared energy cubes and nutritional meals were far more delicious?
Pidgeot proudly considered itself long past the stage of eating such bland food.
"Alright, it's about time to set off."
While his partners were busy eating, Silas finally had time to tidy up the campsite they'd rested at overnight.
After all, the moment he'd woken up and finished washing, he'd already started morning training with his team.
One of the biggest advantages of living outdoors was not having to worry about disturbing anyone with early training sessions.
In a forest, the best training spot was simply the open clearing right in front of the tent.
As usual, Silas washed all the equipment by the river and had Blaziken dry and sterilize everything with heat.
Once everything was packed up, he recalled all his partners—except Ampharos, into their Poké Balls and set off on the road.
It was already late May now, nearly two months since the conclusion of the Indigo Plateau Conference.
During this time, the overall strength of Silas's team had improved slightly.
The four Pokémon that were already Elite level didn't need much explanation
either their levels steadily increased, or their abilities continued to sharpen.
Still, reaching true Elite Four level would require even more effort.
Meanwhile, Togekiss, which had previously been at Advance level and on the verge of breaking through, had naturally advanced.
After a long period of buildup, its growth during the Advance stage had been quite rapid.
However, after entering the pseudo-Elite stage, the energy it had accumulated before evolving was mostly depleted.
Its rate of improvement gradually became similar to that of Serperior, which also possessed pseudo-Champion potential.
As for Ampharos, the most recent addition to the team, it was still at the Advance stage.
Given its current growth speed and Level 48, Silas estimated it would take at least another month—possibly two, before it broke through to pseudo-Elite.
The one thing he was certain of was this:
before September this year, he would achieve his goal of having an entire first team composed of pseudo-Elite Pokémon.
That alone was worth celebrating.
Based on the time since he officially registered to travel, it had only been a year and a half. In that short span, Silas had risen from an utterly average bottom-tier Trainer to a powerful pseudo-Elite Trainer.
The only difference between him and officially recognized pseudo-Elite Trainers was that his tournament results were insufficient for League certification.
Naturally, the sooner this milestone was achieved, the better.
That was why he always kept Ampharos out by his side.
If breakthroughs beyond Elite were tied to bonds, then it made no sense for the pseudo-Elite stage, a transitional phase to be completely unrelated to the bond between Trainer and Pokémon.
That was Silas's intuition.
Either way, there was no downside.
And even if Ampharos wasn't kept outside, Silas still needed a bodyguard—so he might as well choose Ampharos.
"Let me see… our destination is a red house near the third lake at the second fork of Route 30."
Silas pulled out his map and matched it with the coordinates Professor Oak had sent him yesterday.
He couldn't help but wonder what kind of person would choose to build a house in the wilderness.
That was an extremely dangerous decision.
After confirming the route, Silas put the map away and sighed.
Although Route 30 was a major road maintained regularly by the League, it was still considered wilderness rather than a town.
Building a house in such a location greatly increased the chances of being attacked by roaming Pokémon.
The only advantage was that the League didn't collect taxes on houses built in the wild, since the area technically wasn't under its jurisdiction.
But anyone who valued their life wouldn't choose to live in a place like this.
Since the person was a friend of Professor Oak, they were probably extraordinarily skilled or extraordinarily bold.
Silas considered himself fairly familiar with Professor Oak, yet no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out who this person might be.
"Whatever. I'll find out soon enough."
He quickly pushed the question aside.
After all, the destination wasn't very far.
Ever since deliberately heading toward Route 30 yesterday afternoon, Silas was now less than two hours' walk away from today's destination.
The only thing he needed to worry about was how to get through these boring two hours on the main road.
"So this is why Ash always drags people along when he travels. Walking alone is really way too boring."
Looking at the monotonous scenery lining both sides of the road, Silas felt genuine suffering.
Although Ampharos was accompanying him, the language barrier still made communication feel awkward.
At that moment, he deeply understood the saying that humans are social animals.
"Beep—"
As if someone had heard his inner lament, just as Silas sighed, the ringtone from his wristwatch sounded.
He raised his arm and took a look.
It was Lance.
"Hello, this is Lance."
Lance's calm voice came through, though it was mixed with strong wind noise.
"I'm riding on Dragonite right now, so please forgive me if the audio isn't very clear."
He explained the source of the noise in his next sentence. No matter how Silas listened, it felt like Lance was subtly showing off.
So what if you have a Dragonite to ride?
He wanted one too.
"Good morning, Mr. Lance. Is something the matter?"
Silas greeted him out of habit, though he quickly realized, what else could Lance be calling him about?
"It's about the red Gyarados scale you discovered earlier."
Lance patiently repeated the topic.
"Based on the data you sent, this possible red Gyarados does appear abnormal. I reviewed records from the previous mission where Lorelei and Bruno took you to the Sevii Islands.
In the materials confiscated on Fifth Island, there was mention of something called electromagnetic forced evolution.
What I want to confirm with you is this:
Do you believe this electromagnetic forced evolution is the same method Team Rocket used during the Gyarados rampage in Vermilion City?"
Lance spoke at length, clearly showing how seriously he took Team Rocket.
Not only had he reviewed the Fifth Island materials, but he had even dug up Silas's minimal involvement in the Vermilion City incident.
"Yes. Based on that incident, I think it fully proves that Team Rocket already possesses a somewhat immature method of using electromagnetic waves to forcibly induce evolution. And the Gyarados that appeared during that rampage were even more violent than normal."
Silas was confident in his judgment due to his knowledge of the overall situation, but he couldn't say that outright. So he adjusted his wording and framed it as a personal observation.
"More violent than normal?"
Lance frowned slightly on the other end of the call.
This detail hadn't been mentioned at all in the mission reports.
After all, Gyarados are inherently extremely violent Pokémon. Once enraged, even a raging storm wouldn't stop them from reducing everything to ruins.
Research suggested that this was due to the massive biological transformation when Magikarp evolves into Gyarados, causing irreversible restructuring of brain cells.
So it wasn't surprising that no one had noticed the difference.
"Yes, but that's purely my personal feeling."
Silas didn't insist too strongly on this point.
Although he knew it was related to Dr. Sebastion's so-called rage energy, he still couldn't say that directly.
At present, there was no concrete evidence—pure speculation would be worse than relying on experience and judgment.
"I understand."
Lance fell into thought.
He did trust Silas's intuition to some extent. Based on past performance, this young man was not someone who made baseless claims.
Moreover, when it came to Pokémon training and behavior, Silas definitely had more authority than the average person filing reports.
"Johto Region…"
Lance murmured to himself.
It was indeed possible.
Compared to the heavily guarded Kanto Region, a place like Johto, rich in ancient history would be far more suitable for hiding.
At the very least, it wouldn't be constantly monitored.
'So where would they hide?'
He quickly sank deeper into thought.
"Mr. Lance?"
Silas asked in confusion.
The sudden silence on the other end felt strange.
"Ah—sorry. I was thinking."
Lance snapped back to attention, remembering he was still on the call.
"Where do you think Team Rocket would hide, if they were hiding?"
For some reason, Lance voiced the question weighing on his mind.
Logically, as a member of the Elite Four, he shouldn't be asking a child—someone with little experience, such a question.
Yet he asked anyway.
"Huh?"
Silas froze for a moment.
He couldn't possibly say outright that it was Lake of Rage.
That would be impossible to explain, how would he know the location of Team Rocket's secret base?
"Probably… places with cliffs? Or areas with large bodies of water."
He could only give a vague guess.
This description was extremely broad Johto had countless locations like that.
"Mm, that makes sense."
Lance wasn't disappointed.
In his view, it was already impressive that Silas could come up with such an inference.
Even Lance himself had no clear investigative direction.
"Looks like I'll need to ask others for help."
Lance thought to himself.
He might be powerful, but playing the lone hero was never a wise choice—especially when it came to searching and speculation.
He frequently relied on information from the Jenny family during missions.
Only a fool would try to comb an entire region alone.
After a few more brief exchanges, Silas and Lance ended the call.
"Looks like Lance's red Gyarados is going to join his team earlier than expected."
Once again, Silas felt the influence of his own butterfly effect.
He wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing, the Dragon-type Elite Four member capturing yet another Pokémon that had 'dragon' in spirit but not in typing.
Silas genuinely felt that 'Flying-type Elite Four' would also be a fitting title.
The conversation with Lance had eaten up a large portion of the boring travel time.
After walking a bit longer, Silas finally saw the red house Professor Oak had mentioned.
There was no helping it—any sign of human habitation in a place like this was impossible to miss.
"Ah-ha! You must be the lad Oak mentioned—Silas, right?"
An elderly man dressed like a classic British gentleman from Silas's previous life stood in front of the house, greeting him from afar.
"I'm Mr. Pokémon. Most people simply call me Pokémon Grandpa. If you don't mind, you can call me that as well."
When Silas approached, the gentleman politely removed his hat and gave him a formal greeting.
"Uh… hello."
Feeling a bit flustered, Silas didn't know how else to respond and could only bow.
"Hahahaha! What an interesting young man."
Mr Pokemon laughed heartily.
.....
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