As Silas watched Hun and Salamence disappear over the horizon, he felt quite pleased with himself.
Hun represented the top-tier strength among the trial participants, and unless she was concealing most of her power as well, Silas knew he was arguably the strongest participant in the trial.
He had deployed four advanced-tier Pokémon during the fight, but he still had several more in reserve, not to mention Drapion hiding within his shadow.
This was particularly impressive because many of the participants had been given powerful bodyguard Pokémon by their superiors. Silas had received none, yet he had still risen to the top.
"Let's keep moving. That battle was a little too flashy with Drizzle activating and two uses of Draco Meteor. Some opportunists might already be heading our way."
The group agreed with Silas' conjecture and quickly continued toward the base.
After another hour, they finally reached the base of the mountain.
They immediately began their ascent, following the path laid out by Silas' TR device.
Only thirty minutes into the climb, Silas came across a scene involving six wild Mightyena surrounding an injured Rocket member and a Slowbro.
She was a beautiful woman, but she was in dire straits, with countless wounds covering her body.
Slowbro didn't fare any better than its trainer, with several bite marks across its body that were still oozing blood.
"Jason, assist her."
Silas had already scanned the Mightyena pack and found them far too weak to properly train his own Pokémon.
They were barely in the pseudo-advanced tier, with their leader only at Level 42.
Without any delay, Jason threw out a Poké Ball and Scyther materialized in front of him.
"Use Fury Cutter nonstop until they are defeated."
Scyther immediately jumped into action.
Its first slash was lethal.
The unsuspecting Mightyena suffered a deep, fatal wound across its side.
Fury Cutter was a Bug-type move, making it super effective against a Dark-type like Mightyena.
Recognizing the threat, the rest of the pack turned their attention toward Scyther, who continued slashing at them relentlessly.
They quickly noticed that each slash was stronger than the last.
The Mightyena banded together and attempted to overwhelm Scyther with their numerical advantage, but it was useless.
Scyther expertly cut them down one by one until none remained alive.
By the end of the battle, Scyther looked terrifying, with both of its bladed arms completely covered in blood.
The woman seemed traumatized by the sight and visibly shrank back in fear when Jason approached to check on her.
"Are you alright? We're all allies under the Rocket banner, so no harm will come to you."
Hearing this, the woman's trembling slowly stopped as she looked up at him.
"How do I know you aren't trying to trick me?"
"You don't. The same way I don't know whether this weakness is an act meant to catch people off guard. Fair warning, though—it won't work on us if that's your intention."
Silas was impressed by Jason's demeanor.
He had handled the situation perfectly.
He offered help while still maintaining a position of strength.
"My name is Pauline. I'm a grunt-level member. Please help me return to the Mount Thunder base. My superior will reward you."
"Hahahahaha! Do you really think you're that special? Someone valuable enough to warrant that kind of reward wouldn't have ended up in the predicament you were just in."
"I promise I'm not lying. How about this? I can give you a drop of Lightning Lake Dew."
Silas immediately became intrigued.
"Hahaha, fair enough. I believe you. The name's Odin. Just keep in mind that the people I hate most are those who go back on their word."
"Wait, you're Odin? The Odin with a Monferno?"
"I guess my reputation precedes me."
"No, no. My superior is Elite Officer Andra. She speaks highly of you."
"Your little flattery won't soften me up. If you're Andra's subordinate, what makes you so valuable? Your Slowbro is barely in the pseudo-advanced tier."
"Seriously, I'm a psychic. My power is just weakened right now because I attempted a Teleport jump and the Mightyena interrupted it, causing a backlash for both me and Slowbro."
Meowth suddenly jumped into the conversation.
"So this Andra… what exactly does she say about Odin?"
When Pauline heard Meowth speaking, she looked as though she had seen a ghost.
"Did you all hear that Meowth speak too?"
"No. What are you talking about?"
At that moment, Silas decided to mess with her.
Meowth continued talking while everyone followed Silas' lead and acted as though they couldn't hear him.
They continued walking up the mountain trail while conversing.
Every time Meowth spoke, Pauline would glance at him strangely as if desperately trying to confirm what she was hearing.
Eventually, Jason couldn't hold it together anymore and burst out laughing.
Only then did Pauline realize she had been messed with.
"You think it's funny to make someone believe they're going crazy? How did you even pull that off?"
Silas laughed before answering.
"I don't think you understand. Meowth can actually speak. That part wasn't a trick."
"Pleased to meet you, Pauline."
Meowth smiled as he greeted her.
Funny enough, Meowth and Pauline got along extremely well after the initial confusion.
As she became more comfortable around everyone, Pauline began explaining the current situation on Mount Thunder.
There were several interconnected tunnels and caves throughout the mountain.
Climbing the first third of the mountain could be done from the outside, but anyone wanting to travel higher had to venture into the cave network.
Silas allowed Electivire to remain outside his Poké Ball because there were trace amounts of Electric-type energy in the air that he could continuously absorb.
According to Pauline, certain areas were especially rich in this energy.
She had discovered a small fountain roughly the size of a standard bathtub that contained liquid Electric Dew.
It was essentially condensed Electric-type energy that had accumulated over time until it took on a liquid-like form.
Electric-types like Electivire would benefit tremendously from it.
Silas wanted Electivire to see if he could sense anything nearby since he was particularly sensitive to Electric-type energy.
Luckily for the group, this region had already been thoroughly explored by both Team Rocket and the Luminary Court.
There were clear paths to follow simply from the sheer number of people who had passed through.
Several packs of Electrike and Manectric roamed nearby, but once they sensed the powerful energy radiating from Electivire, they wisely avoided conflict.
Silas smiled knowingly.
He was eager to discover the limits of his recently evolved Pokémon, especially Electivire.
He had sensed a distinct improvement in Electivire's psychic power.
Teleport had become effortless and perfectly usable during battle.
His overall psychic prowess had even surpassed Espeon's.
This created a competitive atmosphere between the two that pushed Espeon to work even harder.
Her level hadn't increased, but her combat power certainly had.
When they finally reached the known cave entrance, Silas immediately sensed something was wrong.
Ever since they approached the entrance, his instincts had told him they were being watched.
Electivire noticed it as well.
"Just come out and save us the trouble of finding you."
After saying this, Silas waited for an entire minute.
Nothing happened.
During that minute, however, Silas wasn't idle.
He extended his Aura Sense outward until he finally discovered something unusual.
Hidden among the tall trees was a pair of cloaked individuals.
"Electivire, use Thunder at this location."
Through telepathy, Silas directed Electivire toward the hidden pair.
Electivire quickly gathered electrical energy before firing it toward the location indicated by Silas.
Before the attack could strike the tree, two figures jumped out and landed on the ground.
"Do you really need to be so decisive?"
Silas couldn't help smiling when he saw them.
He didn't recognize either individual, but the fear in their eyes was quite amusing.
"Who told you to spy on people?"
"We were sent by Lord Viper to look out for you, Sir Odin."
Silas laughed again.
They were speaking so politely, yet it was obvious that they looked down on him.
"To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Lord Viper wishes to establish a good relationship with you. When he heard you were heading this way, he sent us to wait for your arrival and prevent any unforeseen circumstances like what happened during the Desert Raid mission. That is all."
Although they clearly disdained him, the two men were diligent in their work.
Silas could tell they were the kind of subordinates who carried out their instructions without complaint or unnecessary complications.
Still, caution was always necessary.
"Prove that what you're saying is true."
Both men laughed simultaneously after hearing Silas' words.
"He thought you would react that way."
One of them took out his TR device and initiated a video call.
After several seconds, the connection went through.
Viper appeared on the screen.
"Odin, glad to see you're thriving. Welcome to the Mount Thunder base. I sent two of my trusted men to escort you. There won't be another Desert Base situation."
"Sir, if I may be blunt."
Viper was known for his straightforward personality, so Silas decided to respond in kind.
Viper nodded.
"Why are you taking special care of me all of a sudden? You don't strike me as the type to feel guilty over the Victor situation. While unfortunate, it wasn't truly your fault, so please just tell me what's going on."
Viper smiled at Silas through the screen.
"You have good discernment. We can discuss it more in person, but I'll admit that you're right."
Silas was slightly taken aback by the sudden shift in Viper's demeanor.
His words sounded somewhat ominous, although Silas couldn't be certain.
Nonetheless, he sensed no hostility from the two men working under Viper, so he allowed them to help.
Once Silas agreed to be escorted, both men flashed to opposite sides of the group, placing Silas and everyone else between them.
They were psychics.
Both men threw out a Poké Ball, each releasing a Hypno.
The moment they appeared, the two Hypno executed a combined Teleport.
The entire process took roughly twenty seconds as psychic energy slowly enveloped Silas and the entire group.
Even the Pokémon hiding within Silas' shadow were transported.
Everything went black.
When Silas could finally see again, he realized they were now near the base.
It possessed the same type of security used by the main base near the shore, making it impossible to Teleport directly into or out of the facility.
"Viper is expecting you. His office should be easy enough to find."
The two men disappeared alongside their Hypno before Silas could even respond.
Silas sighed.
He understood that he couldn't avoid this meeting.
As they approached the actual base, Silas took everything in.