Those on the Space-Time Continent were unaware that the Alliance was preparing to end this training session early.
Of course, Aoki, who was currently confined within the Space-Time Mountain barrier, was also completely unaware.
However, this matter didn't significantly affect Steven and the others. The training on the Space-Time Continent was already sufficient, and continuing further would only involve routine battles and growth. Although the progress would certainly be faster compared to the Pokémon world, the difference wouldn't be substantial.
Due to Aoki's forceful intervention, the Divine Cult had disintegrated, making the training for Steven and the others even less challenging.
However, besides those who had successfully gathered, there were still many others scattered outside, and their specific situations were unknown, including whether they had successfully survived under the oppression of the Divine Cult.
Meanwhile, Aoki, completely oblivious, was currently focused on researching Giratina's Griseous Orb.
This high-quality material, if placed in the Pokémon world, would be considered a lifelong research project even for several researchers with extensive Pokémon knowledge and a few high-level breeders.
Giratina, for most people, is merely a legend. Now, possessing such a precious Griseous Orb would undoubtedly open a new window for all Pokémon scholars, leading to a deeper understanding of the essence of the entire Pokémon world.
Aoki might not have as much professional knowledge as those scholars, but he possessed something others didn't.
That was the system!
The system's existence, intentionally expanded by Aoki, contained a massive amount of data.
After Aoki became the Alliance's Sandstorm Elite Four and a top executive of Team Rocket, he deliberately expanded the system's data. At this point, the data within it could, without exaggeration, be equivalent to that of two or three doctor-level scholars in Pokémon research.
Moreover, the system had another advantage: its calculation and analysis speed were dozens, even hundreds, of times faster than a human's. What might be a lifelong research project for others was merely a relatively special and complex item for the system.
Especially when Aoki already possessed a certain ability to decompose the energy from Giratina's Griseous Orb.
Three days later, after complex calculations by the system and multiple attempts by Aoki, a method for extracting the dense Ghost-type energy from the Griseous Orb was determined.
Darkrai's presence also played a significant role in this.
The Giratina's Ghost-type energy within Darkrai's body was like stubborn dirt, an obstruction, an foreign object. And because it was within his body, there were many concerns, making the difficulty of removal much greater.
However, if the energy was inherently within the Griseous Orb, that was a different concept.
Aoki once again took out Giratina's Griseous Orb, which had been left for three days. The rich energy on it had not dissipated with time.
Instead, because Giratina's Griseous Orb became more like a special detached organism after leaving Giratina, its inherent energy formed an energy circulation loop within the Griseous Orb, as if it would spontaneously maintain stable and continuous energy development within it.
"It took three days to produce this, which wasn't easy. Fortunately, I collected enough materials this time, so the production process wasn't hindered too much." Aoki held a bottle of orange-yellow reagent in his other hand. This was what he had produced with the help of the system during those three days.
"Darkrai, Gengar, I'll need your help in a bit. Get ready." Aoki said to Darkrai and the eager Gengar.
Among Aoki's Pokémon, only Gengar could truly utilize Giratina's Ghost-type energy.
Darkrai's role was to help Aoki and Gengar block the energy from the Griseous Orb at the appropriate time. Only Darkrai could handle this task.
"Gengar!!!" Gengar nodded, slowly settling down his excitement.
"Darkrai!" Darkrai, on the other hand, maintained his usual cool demeanor, but from his expression, he seemed to take Aoki's instructions quite seriously. After all, he had suffered enough from Giratina's energy, so even a mere Griseous Orb was enough to warrant his attention.
Seeing that both of his Pokémon were ready, Aoki slowly poured the yellow reagent little by little onto the black Griseous Orb.
The black Griseous Orb's patterns were filled with a large amount of yellow reagent, which was absorbed by the Griseous Orb at a visible rate.
In fact, the greatest difficulty in decomposing this Griseous Orb was not extracting the energy from it, but extracting the energy without damaging the Griseous Orb itself.
As the yellow reagent was completely absorbed, Aoki immediately dropped the Griseous Orb from his hand and quickly retreated.
At this moment, the energy within the Griseous Orb had become extremely unstable. The inherent energy cycle was disrupted after the yellow reagent intervened, and a large amount of energy was escaping.
Upon seeing a large amount of Ghost-type energy escaping, Gengar immediately moved to the front and absorbed all the black mist into its body.
Gengar had already absorbed Giratina's Ghost-type energy before. However, after such a long period of integration and assimilation, the energy within Gengar's body now belonged to itself, but to some extent, Gengar's energy and Giratina's energy shared many similarities.
"Gengar—" As soon as it came into contact with the overflowing black mist, Gengar cried out in pain, indicating that the pressure from this absorption was quite significant.
Aoki constantly monitored the changes in Gengar's data.
Gengar's energy absorption had a certain threshold. Exceeding this threshold would cause Gengar to gradually lose its sanity and become a mere collection of high-concentration energy, as it wouldn't be able to convert the energy quickly enough.
Therefore, Darkrai's presence was needed at this moment; only he could, to some extent, suppress Giratina's energy and help Gengar absorb the energy more effectively.
Aoki kept watching, and seeing that Gengar was quickly approaching its threshold, he was slightly surprised and immediately said, "Darkrai!"
"Darkrai—" Darkrai instantly understood Aoki's meaning.
A large amount of Dark-type energy condensed in its dark hand, looking like a claw burning with black flames, and it grabbed onto the Griseous Orb.
As expected, after Darkrai took action, the energy escaping from it slowed down significantly, and the pressure on Gengar to absorb it also decreased considerably.
Seeing that the situation had stabilized, Aoki also let out a long sigh of relief, and his heart slowly settled down.
If Gengar could absorb all the Ghost-type energy from this Griseous Orb, his power might not increase significantly, but the quality of the Ghost-type energy within him would improve by at least one level.
In future battles with other Pokémon of the same level and using the same moves, the outcome would depend on their mastery of the moves and the intensity of the energy within them.
Imagine a collision between an iron ball and a mass of water of the same weight; it's obvious which one would have greater intensity.
Next, Aoki needed to consider how to better utilize the Dragon-type energy within it, as well as the Griseous Orb itself.
The Dragon-type energy was easier to deal with, as Salamence could absorb it. But besides the Ghost-type and Dragon-type energy, Giratina's Griseous Orb itself was a very powerful item.
It definitely contained a large amount of Giratina's core blood, something that truly couldn't be absorbed casually. One wrong move could lead to uncontrollable changes.
...
Just as Gengar was absorbing Giratina's Ghost-type energy, Giratina, who was leisurely sleeping in the Distortion World, suddenly opened its eyes.
A hint of disbelief flickered in its crimson eyes. It vaguely sensed that someone was touching the only Griseous Orb that had been removed from its body?
Aoki's thoughts were largely correct. No human or Pokémon could forcibly remove Giratina's crucial Griseous Orb from its body.
Therefore, this Griseous Orb was removed by Giratina itself.
Different ways of removal also meant different outcomes. The Griseous Orb that Giratina itself took off still had a faint connection to it, after all, this was the most core and crucial part of its body.
Earlier, it had felt its Griseous Orb being impacted, but it didn't think much of it, considering the task the Griseous Orb had to undertake. But just now, it felt that the energy on its Griseous Orb was being divided and absorbed?!
The first thing Giratina thought of was, could there actually be a Pokémon capable of absorbing its energy?
As the originator of absorbing others' energy, Giratina had always been proud of absorbing the energy of Dialga and Palkia. It was no exaggeration to say that its current achievements and power were largely due to its absorption of the two legendary Pokémon's primordial energy.
Now, someone dared to absorb its energy?!
This was something Giratina could not tolerate.
However, it suddenly remembered that it had given this Griseous Orb to that person! It had tasked that so-called organization of his to bring back what it needed.
At this thought, Giratina's aura surged. It could not tolerate its own possessions becoming stepping stones for others. Losing something to help someone else was not its style.
Giratina was currently in its Origin Forme, and the six ribbon-like appendages on its back were its wings in this form.
In the Distortion World, it was the king. With a mere flick of the black ribbons on its back, it vanished from its original spot. However, this wasn't Teleport, but rather an extreme speed.
In the blink of an eye, Giratina arrived before a floating island in the distant reaches of the Distortion World. This floating island was completely inverted, and thus, anything growing on it was also inverted.
However, there was nothing growing on it, only a person wearing a black robe, whose face was obscured, sitting inverted on it.
Sensing Giratina's approaching aura, the person slowly stood up, looking at the furiously charging Giratina from an inverted position, a somewhat peculiar way of doing so.
However, this person was not afraid of Giratina's arrival, nor was he worried about Giratina's malicious appearance.
He was the only human in the entire Pokémon world who could come into contact with Giratina, the Renegade Pokémon, and he understood its personality, so he knew that this was not directed at him.
"Giratina." The man in black directly called Giratina by its name, seemingly in a way that implied equality.
"Roar—" Giratina was not particularly repulsed by the other party's attitude. Although it didn't really like his attitude, at least the other party had the strength to make it accept this address.
Immediately after, Giratina recounted everything it had felt, questioning him in an accusatory tone.
"Your people aren't embezzling, are they?! Why do I feel that the energy on my Griseous Orb is dissipating at an abnormal rate?!" Giratina growled.
Hearing what Giratina said, and feeling the increasingly active spatial energy fluctuations around them, the black-robed man fell silent for a while, then said faintly, "It's not impossible."
As the true founder of the Divine Cult, he naturally knew what kind of people were in his organization. They were a group gathered for profit, and it wasn't impossible for them to be blinded by Giratina's Griseous Orb.
However, he had considered this possibility from the very beginning, which was why he chose Wallace as the person in charge of this mission. Relatively speaking, Wallace was the only reliable person, and he also possessed enough strength to suppress the others and complete the mission.
Logically speaking, this mission shouldn't have been difficult at all. Given the difficulty level of the Space-Time Continent, Wallace and his group should have completely dominated. Even with the Alliance's young ones, Wallace and his team should have been able to overwhelm them.
From a time perspective, they should have found the items and returned by now, but after all this time, there hadn't even been a single message.
That left only two possibilities: either Wallace and his group had betrayed them, or they had encountered something that was beyond their power to stop.
Regardless of which it was, he couldn't do anything about it now.
After another period of silence, the black-robed man said, "If we can't get those things, will the plan still continue?"
Hearing the black-robed man mention the plan, Giratina's eyes narrowed, and its aura surged again. "Continue! I'll deal with the Griseous Orb myself! Hmph!"
After speaking, it didn't care whether the other party truly knew about its Griseous Orb. Regardless, their long-planned scheme had to continue!
Watching Giratina, who came quickly and left even faster, the black-robed man stared at it until it completely disappeared from his sight, muttering, "...Giratina, the Renegade Pokémon, huh?"
...
Space-Time Continent.
In the secret realm within the Space-Time Mountain peak barrier.
Aoki watched Gengar, who had stabilized its absorption progress with Darkrai's help. After confirming there were no issues, he sat down to prepare to research the other two parts.
But just as he sat down, the unexpected still happened.
"Darkrai!!!" Darkrai roared, and from its hand, which was gripping Giratina's Griseous Orb, a violent screeching sound erupted, and large amounts of black and white smoke billowed out.
At the same time, Gengar's expression also turned somewhat distorted.
Aoki's expression changed drastically upon seeing the situation. He immediately jumped up from the ground. The values scanned by the system instantly exceeded the threshold, approaching Gengar's critical point of endurance.
If this continued, Gengar would eventually lose its sanity due to the surging energy and become merely a collection of high-concentration energy.
"What's going on?" Aoki asked in a deep voice.
According to the system's three-day analysis and Darkrai's analysis, theoretically, the energy within the Griseous Orb should not fluctuate violently without reason.
"Darkrai also found it hard to resist, but he couldn't let go yet. If he did, the energy within the Griseous Orb would lose its suppression and instantly surge into Gengar's body, which Gengar couldn't withstand in its current state."
Aoki's thoughts stirred. There was no other way; it seemed there was only one option now.
"Mismagius!" Aoki called out.
Upon hearing Aoki's call, it wasn't Mismagius who reacted first, but Darkrai, who was clutching the Griseous Orb. His hand trembled, almost letting go.
"Mis—!" Mismagius cried out, flying to Aoki's side.
Aoki glanced at Mismagius, then looked at the anxious Darkrai.
Darkrai now understood Aoki's idea. Besides Gengar, Mismagius was the only one among Aoki's Pokémon capable of enduring Giratina's Ghost-type energy.
After all, Mismagius was originally a Darkrai, only forced to transform into a Mismagius due to an excessive infusion of Giratina's Ghost-type energy. Therefore, theoretically, Mismagius should also be able to withstand this energy.
"Don't worry, I considered this calculation from the beginning. The probability of something going wrong won't exceed ten percent. If Mismagius can also endure it, I think it will be a great help and improvement for her," Aoki told Darkrai.
Mismagius would never refuse Aoki, but Darkrai, out of concern for his sister, might very well refuse.
So Aoki needed to reassure Darkrai.
Moreover, Aoki had indeed had the system analyze the absorption of this energy by Mismagius from the start. Although Mismagius wasn't primarily a battle-oriented Pokémon and her current strength was sufficient, considering that Gengar might not fully absorb it, Mismagius could then absorb the remainder, which would also count as an increase in strength.
He had initially intended to avoid waste, so he had a backup plan, but he never expected it to become the key to saving the critical situation now.
Knowing that Aoki wasn't speaking carelessly, Darkrai could only forcibly suppress the unease in his heart and try his best to control the tumultuous energy within the Griseous Orb.
Mismagius obeyed Aoki's command, floating beside Gengar and working together to share the pressure Gengar was enduring.
The pressure suddenly eased, and Gengar's absorption threshold dropped below the danger level.
Although it still wasn't completely stable like before, at least it was safe. It just meant Darkrai would have to endure a bit more pain.
However, this way, it was good for both Gengar and Mismagius.
The rampage of Giratina's Griseous Orb was temporarily suppressed.
...
Two days later.
Seeing Gengar and Mismagius in relatively good condition, Aoki finally felt his heart truly settle.
However, Darkrai suffered a bit, having exhausted all his energy to stabilize the energy output. Even with Aoki's energy cubes and various other items providing multiple assists, he barely managed to hold on.
The process was arduous, but the results were remarkably excellent, so excellent that Aoki was somewhat taken by surprise.
Pokémon: Gengar (Deep Blue)
Gender: Male
Level: 89
Type: Ghost + Poison
Ability: Cursed Body
Held Item: Gengarite
Egg Moves: Fire Punch, Scary Face, Haze
Basic Moves: Shadow Punch, Hypnosis, Lick, Grudge, Black Eye, Curse, Night Shade, Confuse Ray, Sucker Punch, Payback, Shadow Ball, Dream Eater, Dark Pulse, Destiny Bond, Hex, Nightmare
Learnt Moves: Rest, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Skill Swap, Snore, Perish Song, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Role Play, Icy Wind, Snatch, Ally Switch
TM Moves: Protect, Hidden Power (Grass), Sleep Talk, Toxic, Taunt, Poison Jab, Venoshock, Thunderbolt
From the perspective of moves, the change wasn't significant.
However, Gengar's level now directly rivaled Darkrai's at 89, and its aptitude had also directly risen to deep blue, just one step away from the purple tier.
In other words, if Gengar were to Mega Evolve normally in this state, its theoretical strength should be able to advance to the second hurdle of the Champion level!
This level of amplification can be said to be the most significant qualitative change. Wallace and Everard, who previously overpowered all members of the cult, were precisely because they possessed a Pokémon that could break through to the second hurdle of the Champion level once it Mega Evolved!
Now!
Aoki's Gengar had also reached such a level!
However, to truly display its strength, it would probably take a long time, as a significant amount of energy was absorbed this time.
Compared to the level increase, Aoki actually valued the aptitude promotion more.
Deep blue aptitude!
Just one step away from the purple tier.
Aoki was originally a bit worried that when Gengar's strength broke through to the peak of the first hurdle of the Champion level, its aptitude might become a hindrance to its breakthrough to the highest tier.
Although blue aptitude isn't impossible to break through, the time and cost involved are much, much greater compared to deep blue aptitude.
Now it's good; not only has its strength increased to the peak, but its aptitude has also directly risen to deep blue.
As a Gastly who followed Aoki from Trial Island, he probably wouldn't have imagined himself reaching this level back then.
Without exaggeration, a Pokémon with strength at the second hurdle of the Champion level can already, to a certain extent, rival some of the slightly weaker Legendary Pokémon!
Besides Gengar, there was also Mismagius.
Pokémon: Mismagius (Light Blue)
Gender: Female
Level: 81
Type: Ghost
Ability: Levitate
Held Item: Dusk Stone, Soothe Bell
Egg Moves: Destiny Bond, Imprison, Wonder Room, Curse, Skill Swap
Base Moves: Growl, Psywave, Grudge, Astonish, Confuse Ray, Mean Look, Hex, Psybeam, Pain Split, Payback, Shadow Ball, Perish Song, Grudge, Power Gem, Mystical Fire, Phantom Force, Lucky Chant, Magical Leaf
Tutor Moves: Uproar, Magic Room, Snore, Snatch, Telekinesis, Skill Swap, Hone Claws, Heal Bell, Ally Switch, Icy Wind, Thunder Wave, Trick, Foul Play, Grudge
TM/HM Moves: Protect, Calm Mind, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Aerial Ace, Will-O-Wisp, Sleep Talk, Psychic, Rest, Energy Ball, Dream Eater
Mismagius not only broke through to the Champion level in terms of strength but also had her aptitude upgraded from deep green to light blue.
Originally, according to Mismagius's deep green aptitude, the peak of quasi-Champion was her limit. However, due to the infusion of Giratina's almost original Ghost-type energy from the Griseous Orb this time, she successfully upgraded her aptitude to light blue.
As a result, the aptitude restriction that originally limited Mismagius's strength progression was also broken in this unexpected gain.
Although Mismagius isn't considered Aoki's battle-type Pokémon, such an increase in strength is always a good thing.
Looking at the strengthened Gengar and Mismagius, and the exhausted Darkrai lying on the ground, a smile appeared on Aoki's face.
But seeing Aoki's smile, for some reason, Darkrai and Gengar both shivered simultaneously, as if they had thought of something very unpleasant.
Aoki was actually just thinking about the residual energy in this Griseous Orb.
The Ghost-type energy alone could bring such a degree of amplification to his Pokémon. Aoki was very curious about what kind of amplification it would bring to his Pokémon if the remaining Dragon-type energy and the Griseous Orb itself were utilized.
Of course, to help other Pokémon absorb the energy then, it would inevitably require the strongest Darkrai and Gengar to work together to suppress the energy output of this Griseous Orb.
"As expected of Giratina's Griseous Orb, the energy it contains is truly terrifying. For him, taking this Griseous Orb would at least reduce his strength by one level or more, wouldn't it?" Aoki looked at the Griseous Orb lying quietly in his hand.
Because the Ghost-type energy had been completely drained, the Griseous Orb was now dark red, and it wouldn't have much effect on the person holding it.
Other than being a bit hot, it looked pretty much like a normal scale.
This understated appearance was nothing like the flamboyant Griseous Orb of the Renegade Pokémon, but it also provided Aoki with some convenience in separating the energy within it.
...
Seven days later.
Although the barrier at the top of Mount Coronet was isolated from the outside, the sunrise and sunset here were still exactly the same as in the outside world of the Space-Time Continent.
And within these five days, Aoki finally managed to strip all the Dragon-type energy from Giratina's Griseous Orb.
The reason it took seven days was that the energy within was much harder to handle than Aoki had imagined, at least considerably more difficult than stripping out the Ghost-type energy.
But ultimately, it was all stripped out.
And for some reason, the energy in the Griseous Orb didn't go berserk this time. Other than being a bit stubborn, everything went very smoothly.
Darkrai and Gengar had a false alarm; this time, it was just routine operation for them.
Looking at the red and blue intertwined egg in front of him, taller than himself, and feeling the rich energy fluctuations within it, a smile of uncontrollable joy appeared on Aoki's face.
Among Aoki's Pokémon, the one who could absorb this Dragon-type energy was, of course, Salamence, and the current Salamence barely possessed the ability to fully absorb all the Dragon-type energy within it.
This absorption process lasted for a full five days, and by now, it was almost complete.
Salamence's aptitude had already reached light purple. It was just unknown whether it could be further improved and advanced through this amplification.
After all, once a Pokémon's aptitude reaches the purple tier, any slight increase in strength brings about a huge impact.
And theoretically, reaching the purple tier in aptitude is considered to have surpassed ordinary Pokémon aptitude, reaching the level of Legendary Pokémon.
At this level, improving aptitude becomes even more difficult.
"Crack, crack, crack—"
Just as Aoki was fantasizing about Salamence breaking through the aptitude tier restriction, achieving a qualitative breakthrough in both strength and aptitude, and then riding his Mega Salamence to sweep across the entire Pokémon world, the sound of the eggshell cracking directly woke him from his daydream.
"Roar!!!!" A majestic dragon roar echoed throughout the barrier at the top of Mount Coronet.
A powerful and handsome blue Dragon-type Pokémon appeared before Aoki!
It was the Salamence Aoki had been looking forward to for a long time.
For Pokémon, every time they hatch from an egg, it's a qualitative transformation, but such opportunities are truly rare.
This time, Salamence was only forced to form an egg enveloped in energy due to the overly concentrated Dragon-type energy, with the help of abundant energy.
Aoki smiled and patted Salamence's head as it nudged him.
Although he hadn't scanned Salamence's data and status yet, Aoki could still feel the rich energy fluctuations on Salamence's body at this moment. Compared to before, the increase was quite considerable.
However, because of this, Aoki also prepared himself for not reaching his ideal result.
Pokémon: Salamence (Light Purple)
Gender: Male
Level: 84
Type: Dragon + Flying
Ability: Intimidate
Held Item: Azure Flute Shard, Salamencite
Egg Moves: Hydro Pump, Dragon Dance, Fire Fang, Dragon Rush
Basic Moves: Fly, Protect, Dragon Tail, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Rage, Spark, Leer, Bite, Dragon Breath, Headbutt, Focus Energy, Crunch, Dragon Claw, Zen Headbutt, Scary Face, Flamethrower, Double-Edge
Learnt Moves: Draco Meteor, Heat Wave, Dragon Pulse, Iron Tail, Snore, Outrage, Aqua Tail, Boomburst, Defog, Zen Headbutt, Tailwind
TM Moves: Protect, Roost, Earthquake, Brick Break, Aerial Ace, Steel Wing, Shadow Claw, Stone Edge, Double Team, Dragon Tail
The first thing he saw was Salamence's aptitude, and sure enough, it was still light purple.
While he felt a slight disappointment, he also thought it was only natural. If a single Griseous Orb from Giratina could elevate a Pokémon's aptitude from light purple to the purple tier, Aoki estimated that even if Giratina were stronger, it might be plucked clean, because there were indeed hidden masters in the Pokémon world.
However, although the aptitude didn't reach the purple tier, its color concentration deepened quite a bit. He believed that if there was such an opportunity again next time, it would very likely advance to the purple tier.
As for Salamence's level, the extent of its increase made Aoki very satisfied.
In this state, after Mega Evolving, Salamence would definitely break through to the first hurdle of the Champion level. Such strength was already the main force among Aoki's current main forces.
Salamence being able to grow so quickly to this point, despite numerous opportunities, Aoki believed it was still due to his own efforts!
During its Bagon period, due to its birth environment, Salamence was always one of the Pokémon among all of Aoki's that suffered the most and also one of the most hardworking.
In Aoki's view, his current strength was inextricably linked to his efforts.
He gently patted Salamence's neck again as a sign of praise.
Aoki looked at Giratina's Griseous Orb, which had turned silver-gray in his hand. "How to use this next part is really a headache."