With the help of Slowking and Gardevoir, Aoki successfully moved the eggshells of the three legendary Pokémon to the ground.
At first, he was very careful, fearing that any bumps or knocks would shatter these precious eggshells.
But later, he realized that he was completely overthinking it; with his ability, let alone shattering the three eggshells, even if he punched them with all his might, he wouldn't leave any marks.
Besides constantly emitting energy, the super strength of these eggshells was also one of their characteristics.
Looking at the three legendary Pokémon eggshells in front of him, Aoki was a bit unsure where to start.
Although these eggshells were still emitting energy of the same origin as the three legendary Pokémon, this energy was also different from that of the three legendary Pokémon.
It was already something without roots or source, and for it to still be emitting energy after so many years was a miracle.
Rather than saying the energy itself was valuable, it was more accurate to say that the eggshells themselves, having been enveloped in energy for so many years, were the most important.
Aoki flipped his palm, and a special dagger appeared in his hand.
He walked towards the black Giratina's Pokémon eggshell.
The closer he got, the more he could feel the difference between the energy it emitted and the energy in Giratina's Lustrous Orb.
It was very gentle, with no repulsion to Aoki's approach, and none of the chilling aura of Ghost-type energy.
That's why Aoki said this was energy that went straight to the source, untainted by any Pokémon's absorption or assimilation, making it the purest form of energy.
He carefully tapped the Giratina eggshell a few times with the dagger, but there was still no change; he then applied a little more force and made a cut, but still no mark appeared.
Seeing that his repeated attempts yielded no results, Aoki steeled himself and thrust the dagger fiercely at the eggshell.
Bang—
The eggshell was fine, but Aoki himself was slightly unbalanced due to the recoil, his body swaying a little.
The surprise in his eyes grew more intense; the dagger in his hand was not an ordinary metal dagger, but a special one developed by Team Rocket, highly valuable, and even because of the special and precious materials used, ordinary members were not qualified to exchange for it; only captains and above had the right to exchange for it.
But even such a dagger failed to leave any mark on this eggshell.
The more this was the case, the more it highlighted the value of these eggshells.
However, if Aoki couldn't break these eggshells, then he would have no way to use them for his own experiments and research, and thus no good way to utilize them.
It felt like there was a mountain of gold in front of him, but he had no way to move it.
He felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart.
"How do these things feel much harder than diamonds? I wonder how Dialga and those three guys broke such Pokémon eggs when they were born.
They didn't eat back then, perhaps because their teeth weren't hard enough to chew?" Aoki muttered to himself, venting his frustration.
Suddenly, an idea struck Aoki.
Diamonds? Not hard enough teeth?
Among his Pokémon, some seemed to have good teeth.
Moreover, these were originally things that Pokémon ate directly after birth; although processing them himself would definitely yield better results, the problem was that he currently couldn't handle such hard objects, so he had no choice in the matter.
Aoki glanced at Tyranitar, who was arm-wrestling with Aggron not far away.
Tyranitar looked slightly larger than Aggron, but Aggron appeared more robust because its body was covered in metal armor.
Currently, the two Pokémon were arm-wrestling with pure physical strength, and Aggron could only parry against Tyranitar, with not much ability to resist.
However, before that, the energy on these eggshells was also a treasure, not much worse than the energy in Giratina's Lustrous Orb.
"Tyranitar, Aggron, Lucario, Salamence, Gengar, Swampert, Politoed, Kingdra!" he called out to his Pokémon.
Hearing their trainer's call, the Pokémon immediately came to Aoki's side.
As soon as they approached, they felt the surrounding energy, ownerless, like the energy floating in the air.
However, the energy at this moment was much denser than the free-floating energy, and not only in quantity but also in quality, it was on a different level.
"This energy is an invaluable treasure. How much you can absorb depends on each of your abilities," Aoki told them.
Steel-type Aggron and Lucario, Ghost-type Gengar, Water-type Slowking, Swampert, and Kingdra, Dragon-type Salamence, and Kingdra can also absorb Dragon-type energy.
The preservation of these three eggshells was relatively complete.
Giratina, Dialga, and Palkia are all Pokémon with Dragon-type attributes, so the most abundant and concentrated energy was Dragon-type energy.
Aoki estimated that Salamence and Kingdra alone might not be able to absorb all the Dragon-type energy.
Moreover, Salamence had absorbed a large amount of energy from Giratina's Lustrous Orb a few days ago, so it was not suitable to absorb too much at this time and needed some restraint.
Kingdra, on the other hand, after absorbing Dragon-type and Water-type energy, might be able to raise its aptitude by one level.
Slowking, Swampert, Politoed, and Kingdra, the four Pokémon, were responsible for absorbing the Water-type energy from Dialga's eggshell.
Aggron and Lucario were responsible for absorbing the Steel-type energy from Palkia's eggshell.
Gengar was responsible for absorbing the Ghost-type energy from Giratina's eggshell.
However, just like Salamence, Gengar had also significantly increased its strength by absorbing energy recently, and at this moment, it had somewhat reached its upper limit for improvement.
The energy this time was much easier to absorb than the energy from Giratina's Lustrous Orb earlier.
The Pokémon didn't need Aoki's guidance; they knew what to do. This rich, ownerless energy was even more appealing to them than the energy cubes Aoki made.
"Ban???"
Just as Aoki was watching his Pokémon diligently absorb the energy with satisfaction, Tyranitar, who was standing idly by, couldn't help but let out a sound.
His face was full of question marks.
Every Pokémon you called here, more or less, got some benefit. Why am I the only one just watching?
Then why did you call me over?
Seeing Tyranitar's expression, Aoki couldn't help but chuckle.
Although this "little guy" was many times larger than before, his personality, when not in battle, was not much different from that little guy back then.
However, Aoki himself only reached his waist now.
He patted Tyranitar's arm, which he could reach, and said with a smile, "First, watch over your companions. It'll be your turn in a while."
Upon hearing this, Tyranitar's eyes lit up. He patted his belly, feeling somewhat impatient.
However, Aoki had no time to talk right now, because Salamence and Gengar's current states were quite critical.
"Salamence, this time, don't use the energy you absorb to increase your strength. Use all of it to purify your own Dragon-type bloodline.
You stayed in the Dragon Pool in the Dragon Space for more than ten days; you know that feeling! Try to compress that energy to enhance your bloodline and strengthen your physical power!" Aoki said to Salamence via telepathy.
"Gengar, there are too many traces of Giratina in the Ghost-type energy on your body. Take this opportunity to purify the energy within you, even if there's a significant waste, spare no effort!" Aoki said to Gengar.
The energy in these eggshells was the most gentle kind, and any Pokémon could handle it.
None of Aoki's current Pokémon were weak, so absorbing it caused no stress and had no side effects, and the absorption speed was quite impressive.
After giving instructions to Salamence and Gengar, he quietly stood aside, waiting for the Pokémon to complete this energy absorption.
The energy emanating from the eggshells became less and less, directly entering the Pokémon's bodies.
Under Aoki's gaze, the Pokémon's attributes and stats continuously rose.
The first to finish absorbing was the Water-type energy, as it was split among four Pokémon simultaneously.
But even so, these Pokémon gained a lot.
Most notably, Swampert and Politoed broke through to Champion-level without any pressure.
Kingdra also greatly increased its strength, and Slowking was only one step away from the first hurdle of Champion-level. After accumulating for some time, it should be able to break through the first hurdle of Champion-level.
Next to be absorbed was the Steel-type energy.
Palkia's Steel-type energy was not to be underestimated, fortunately, Tyranitar and Lucario, having been honed by Aoki, were able to withstand this level of energy entering their bodies.
It was clear that when Aoki trained his Pokémon, he focused on developing their bodies, making the body the foundation.
Even Slowking and Gardevoir, as Psychic-type Pokémon, had daily physical training tasks.
Even if Psychic-type Pokémon primarily relied on their psychic abilities or mental power, their physical bodies couldn't lag too far behind.
Aoki didn't want his Pokémon to be like Everard's Alakazam, with strong psychic abilities but a frail body.
After that, it was Gengar.
Gengar took a bit longer, as it was absorbing the Ghost-type energy from Giratina's eggshell alone.
However, after absorbing this energy, Gengar's changes were visibly obvious.
After just absorbing the energy from Giratina's Lustrous Orb, although its strength increased and its aura surged, it always gave off a somewhat unstable feeling.
Ultimately, it wasn't Gengar's inherent energy from the start, and even if it could digest it, it always felt like indigestion. From the outside, it looked somewhat bloated, and because Gengar is a gas-type Pokémon, even though its gas was solid enough, almost like a physical body.
But it looked like the color on his body was also a bit mottled, black and gray in patches.
However, after Aoki's guidance, it completely absorbed and digested this gentle energy, using it all to smooth out its somewhat rough internal energy, directly saving it several months of complex processes, achieving it in one go.
Now, Gengar's body no longer looked so bloated, the color on its body had solidified into one uniform shade, and its aura was no longer so unstable, completely stabilizing at the peak of the Champion-level's first hurdle.
From Aoki's perspective, although Gengar's level and aptitude didn't show obvious changes, it wasn't without change.
Although both were level 89, barely reaching level 89 and being at the peak of level 89 were two different concepts.
Although both were dark blue in aptitude, at this moment, within the dark blue color, there were several streaks of purple flowing, truly making it only one step away from the purple tier!
This was Gengar's progress!
However, compared to Gengar, Aoki estimated that Salamence, who hadn't finished absorbing yet, should have gained even more!
Kingdra, having absorbed both Water and Dragon energy, was already unable to absorb any more and had gone to the lake to slowly digest it.
All three Pokémon eggshells were filled with Dragon-type energy, and it was a very pure form of Dragon-type energy. Salamence alone absorbed the vast majority of this energy.
This was actually a test for Salamence, as Aoki requested it not to use this energy to increase its own strength, but rather to enhance the purity of its own bloodline and energy, and to consolidate its strength.
So even though this energy was relatively gentle, it was still a time-consuming task.
But it didn't matter, what Aoki had most of now was time.
Of course, after Salamence absorbed the energy from one eggshell, that eggshell became a pure eggshell, but the things contained within it were not to be underestimated.
"Tyranitar, it's your turn!" Aoki said with a smile, patting Tyranitar's arm again.
"Ban!!" Hearing Aoki's words, Tyranitar immediately smiled, disregarding its image, and directly sat down beside the dull Pokémon egg. Then, it grabbed a relatively large piece of the shattered eggshell into its hand.
Aoki stared intently at this scene. He had no way to deal with these eggshells, so it all depended on how good Tyranitar's teeth were.
After training Tyranitar's teeth for so long, success or failure depended on this one attempt.
Tyranitar, who treated diamonds like candy, wondered whether these eggshells or diamonds were harder.
Tyranitar put the piece of eggshell in its mouth, and without hesitation, bit down.
Crunch—
A crisp sound was heard.
The eggshell in Tyranitar's mouth broke into two pieces!
Seeing this, Aoki's eyes lit up.
Indeed! There was nothing Tyranitar couldn't eat!
He felt a slight joy in his heart; this way, he could utilize this harvest without any waste.
Although it wasn't processed by him, the value of these eggshells certainly wasn't maximized, but it was enough.
Tyranitar bit down on the eggshell, finding it a bit hard, causing a slight ache in its teeth, but the taste was much better than it had imagined, somewhat like eating a hard biscuit.
As long as it could be eaten, nothing else mattered.
As Tyranitar swallowed several pieces of the eggshell, its dark green outer shell began to emit faint glows.
As it ate more and more eggshells, the glow on Tyranitar's body grew brighter and brighter.
Aoki hadn't anticipated such a change in Tyranitar, but luckily, according to the chip's scan, Tyranitar's current condition couldn't be better.
Salamence was absorbing energy nearby, while Tyranitar sat there slowly eating the eggshell.
The eggshell was truly too hard this time, so even with Tyranitar's strong teeth, it was a bit slow to eat.
But eating slowly and chewing thoroughly is always a good thing.
The other Pokémon also sat quietly in place, closing their eyes to digest the energy they had absorbed.
Aoki also sat cross-legged, closing his eyes and silently feeling the changes within his body.
The attachment of the Unown with the question mark symbol to his body had brought about some changes, big or small, and Aoki felt that these changes were definitely more than just this; it was just that he hadn't properly sensed them yet, so he wasn't entirely clear.
Taking advantage of the fact that the Pokémon all had their own things to do, Aoki could also sense the changes in his own body.
...
"So many days have passed, and there's still no news of Aoki.
Those so-called scientists haven't even found the missing Space Stone."
Steven Stone and others were in a room with Wallace, Lance, and Drake.
Because of Aoki's situation, Steven Stone and the others did not directly leave Mt. Silver but waited inside the Mt. Silver Alliance for news about Aoki.
However, the four people sitting around the coffee table in the room did not look very good.
Although Aoki didn't return with Steven Stone and the others, whether he was still alive was really hard to say.
But the only thing worth celebrating was that the Space Stone in Aoki's hand also hadn't returned, which indicated that there was a high probability Aoki was still alive, just possibly sealed in a confined space, and the Alliance's spatial device couldn't break through this space, preventing Aoki from being teleported back.
"In a few more days, the space of the entire Time-Space Continent will be sealed again.
If that really happens, then the next time we see Aoki might be five years from now.
And for Aoki, that would be twenty-five years!"
Steven Stone's face also looked a bit grim.
Aoki's safety might not be an issue, but if Aoki had to wait five years to return, too many variables could occur during that time.
Who knew what the situation would be like in five years? By then, with Steven Stone's potential, he might even have become a Champion.
Moreover, for them, it was five years, but for Aoki, it was twenty-five years!
Twenty-five years!
How many twenty-five-year periods can one person have in their life?
Aoki, who was not yet twenty years old, was in the fastest rising stage of his life.
His strength improvement speed at this stage was absolutely the fastest, and spending it on the Time-Space Continent would definitely be a huge loss.
It wasn't that he couldn't improve his strength within the Time-Space Continent.
It was just that Steven Stone and the others learned during a previous meeting that there was a restriction within the Time-Space Continent: the Pokémon's level could not exceed the first threshold of the Champion level; otherwise, they would be regarded as a threat by Dialga and Palkia, two Pokémon with extremely strong territorial concepts, and ruthlessly annihilated!
The strength of the second threshold of the Champion level seemed quite far from himself at present, but Steven Stone believed that he could definitely reach that level in five years.
He even believed that with the strong support of the Stone family and the Alliance, he could reach that level in at most three years.
The remaining two years would be for Steven Stone to improve himself while consolidating his strength.
But Aoki couldn't.
He could raise his Pokémon's strength to the peak of the first threshold, but he absolutely couldn't break through the second threshold.
In twenty-five years, there was only room for strength improvement in the first five or even three years.
The remaining twenty-odd years would simply be torture.
In Steven Stone's opinion, this was absolutely a kind of torture, or even a torment!
At least from his own perspective, if his strength didn't improve for twenty years, he would probably go crazy.
Drake's face had never looked good.
He had disappeared for a period because his Salamence's strength was about to break through, and at the same time, he took advantage of this period to improve the strength of his other Pokémon, which was why he had been gone for so long.
After he returned, Adams learned that he had broken through in strength and hoped that he could temporarily take on the position of Champion of the Hoenn region.
Originally, Drake did not want to take over this position; in fact, his original intention was to even give up his Elite Four position to make way for younger people.
As an elder, he had no pursuit of these positions and fame; he only hoped to see the younger generations grow up.
But Adams told him to oversee these younger ones.
Although their strength after this training should be quite considerable, their experience was insufficient, and he hoped that Drake could serve as a teacher-like figure for them for a few more years and guide them for a period.
So Drake still agreed to Adams's request.
He hadn't expected that he had only been Champion for a short time, and hadn't even had a chance to show off to Aoki, when such an incident occurred.
If Aoki couldn't return, it would definitely be a huge loss for the Hoenn region.
Moreover, it wasn't just the people of their Hoenn region who were anxious now.
The Pokémon Breeder's Guild's Yagyu Go and Grandma Kuai had already caused a commotion in the Elder's Office of the General Alliance.
It was estimated that among the entire Alliance, only Grandma Kuai could do such a thing.
Because... Grandma Kuai was the Elder's daughter!
Otherwise, how could Grandma Kuai have been the terrifying 'Demoness Kuai' that made the entire Alliance tremble in fear when she was young?
Who knew how old the seemingly robust Elder actually was?
As for Yagyu Go, he simply basked in Grandma Kuai's glory.
Just as the four people's faces were heavy, Drake's communicator rang.
He took it out and saw it was Adams's call, and immediately answered without any hesitation.
But when he put down the communicator, his already grim face became even more so.
Steven Stone and the others had been watching his expression change and couldn't help but ask, "Uncle Drake, what's wrong?"
Drake stood up directly, his aura becoming somewhat sharp, and with a wave of his hand, he said, "Let's go! Back to Hoenn! The Cult has invaded!"
Upon hearing this, Steven Stone and the other two's eyes narrowed.
They hadn't even gone to find trouble with them yet, and now they were coming to them?!
...
"So that's how it is.
I thought other Unown were only Level 30-40, and when combined, they had such powerful special abilities.
This question mark Unown is inherently a special existence, and its strength is also strong.
Although the boost it gives me is quite considerable, it shouldn't be the same as other Unown; there must be something special about it!"
Aoki sat on the ground and slowly opened his eyes.
He had been pondering the benefits brought to him by this question mark Unown for some time, but the deeper he understood, the more surprised Aoki became by the ability of this question mark Unown.
As expected, they were indeed Pokémon born before the appearance of the Pokémon world; their unique abilities were not without reason.
Aoki looked at his right wrist, especially the unique question mark on the back of his hand.
He had originally found it a bit strange and peculiar, but now it didn't seem so bad; he even found it a bit cute.
He stretched out his right hand and casually waved it, and a space like a window opened up, appearing before Aoki.
This opened space was completely different from the kind Aoki had once forcefully torn.
The previous spatial rifts were created by forcibly tearing space, so they appeared as cracks, and the edges of the space were not at all regular.
However, the edges of this window-like spatial window were very regular, and this spatial window did not disappear; it was very stable.
One must know that Aoki was still within the barrier of Time-Space Mountain at this time.
Although he could tear space and perform Instant Movement, the space inside was very solid, and the cost was much greater than in the Pokémon world.
Moreover, these abilities were only effective internally; he couldn't communicate with the outside world to leave this barrier.
From this, one could see how much Aoki's spatial ability, his so-called spatial sensitivity, had improved.
With the help of the Unown, this spatial talent was directly converted into a ready-made ability.
And not only that, Aoki lowered his arm, and this spatial window slowly disappeared.
Immediately after, the Unown on his wrist glowed, and a blurry, silvery-white, wall-like object appeared around Aoki's body.
Then, such silvery-white walls appeared all around him, directly enveloping Aoki completely.
Under the gaze of Aoki's Pokémon, he completely disappeared from here, both his aura and energy.
And Aoki felt as if he was confined in a small, enclosed room.
"This is probably similar to Dialga and Palkia's ability to create spatial barriers, or, to use the Unown's specialized term, this is... a barrier?!"
Aoki muttered to himself as he looked around.
In the memory of the question mark Unown, Aoki learned that when Dialga and Palkia were born, it wasn't just Arceus present; these insignificant little guys were also present.
Because Dialga and Palkia possessed abilities similar to those of the Unown, these Unown were more Close to these two legendary Pokémon.
So Aoki received a very surprising piece of information: in the very beginning of Dialga and Palkia's growth, the Unown were considered the teachers of these two Pokémon, and they learned many of their abilities from the Unown.
Even the barrier that currently sealed the summit of Time-Space Mountain was a special technique that Dialga and Palkia learned from the Unown, with a little bit of their own insights added to it.
Aoki's thought moved, and the color of the spatial barrier enveloping him slowly faded.
The original silvery-white slowly disappeared, becoming transparent, allowing Aoki to see the outside world.
After that, the size of the spatial barrier slowly shifted, gradually becoming similar to Aoki's shape.
Then, it was like a thin energy film attached to Aoki's surface, like a barrier that could block all scans.
Aoki within this barrier could almost ignore all sight and energy scans.
Of course, if the opponent's strength was strong enough, they could still discover Aoki.
After all, this barrier was a form of energy, and since it was energy, there was bound to be a possibility of being discovered.
But that wasn't the point!
"The point is! With such an ability, I don't seem to be bound by this barrier."
Aoki's eyes lit up, and he casually dispersed the barrier that enveloped him, reappearing before all his Pokémon.
However, before that, he still had to wait for Salamence to fully absorb the Dragon-type energy from these three eggshells, and for Tyranitar to finish eating and fully digest the energy from the three eggshells.
The outside was not as safe as inside here.
Moreover, Salamence absorbed energy very quickly.
He just didn't know how long it would take for Tyranitar to fully digest the energy from these eggshells after eating them.
This was definitely a qualitative leap for both Pokémon.
At this moment, Tyranitar was completely like a golden glowing light bulb, sitting there continuously eating, looking leisurely, completely unaware of the changes happening within its body.
Except for the Pokémon that were resting or training with their eyes closed, most of the Pokémon stayed far away.
Who wanted to constantly see such golden light?
It was simply blinding.
But soon they no longer found it blinding, because an even brighter, more blinding Pokémon appeared, and that was Salamence, who had completely absorbed the Dragon-type energy from the eggshell.
However, from Salamence's body, a blue-purple light shone, and dense Dragon-type energy completely enveloped Salamence.
Aoki's attention also shifted to Salamence.
He saw the energy outside its body slowly retracting, returning into Salamence's body.
It looked as if there wasn't much difference from before.
It was just like the usual Salamence, but Aoki knew that at this moment, its body was undergoing tremendous changes.
"Roar—"
Salamence's dragon roar echoed throughout the entire space.
Aoki's eyes flashed, and he instantly moved directly to Salamence's side.
The blood and muscles hidden beneath its scales were quietly changing.
This process of change brought some pain to Salamence, which was why it couldn't help but roar in anger.
The chip recorded all of this.
However, what made Aoki so eager to come to Salamence's side was not the changes within its body, because those changes were within Aoki's expectations.
What truly surprised Aoki was the change in Salamence's scales at this moment.
If it had been before, Aoki might not have understood much, but now he could understand a part of it.
Because he had seen similar patterns on Giratina's Adamant Orb, and this was something Aoki had understood the more crucial parts of through learning and the chip's analysis and calculation over the past month or so.
Although he didn't know why similar patterns appeared on Salamence's scales, Aoki felt that there must be some necessary connection.