Ignoring the fact that Brock had once again begun chasing after an older woman.
Silas was currently riding Pidgeot, following the retreating ocean Pokémon.
"So there really is something controlling them from behind the scenes? A human or a Pokémon?"
Watching the movements of the Pokémon below, curiosity filled Silas's eyes.
So many different species of Pokémon were traveling together peacefully across the ocean.
Among them were even predators such as Tentacool and Tentacruel.
It wasn't entirely unheard of, but it was certainly something he had never witnessed before.
Sitting cross-legged on Pidgeot's back, Silas reached into his spatial backpack and took out a map of the Johto region.
His finger traced several locations across it.
Based on the direction the ocean Pokémon were heading, he was calculating where the mastermind behind all of this might be hiding.
"Here? Or here?"
Silas muttered to himself.
"Pidgeot!"
Pidgeot seemed to understand what he meant and cried out.
"Sounds good."
Silas smiled and nodded.
"Then let's quickly check all of those locations. Let's go!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Pidgeot accelerated once more.
A white streak cut through the clouds high above the sky.
Meanwhile, the ocean Pokémon below continued swimming forward leisurely, completely unaware.
"Ahh this feels amazing."
Above the clouds, Silas stretched out both arms, fully enjoying the rushing wind.
During the two weeks they had spent in Blackthorn City, Pidgeot hadn't relaxed for a single day.
Its greatest improvement wasn't in speed or combat power.
It was in protecting its Trainer during flight.
That was all thanks to Clair's guidance and the experience she had shared.
Only then did Silas finally understand why every time he saw Lance flying on Dragonite, the Champion always stood calmly without the slightest sign of discomfort.
More than once, Silas had secretly imagined Lance looking utterly miserable while flying through the air.
After all, Dragonite was among the fastest flying Pokémon in existence.
Reality proved he had been overthinking things.
For ordinary Trainers, riding a Flying-type Pokémon at high speed was extremely uncomfortable.
The powerful air currents were no joke.
However, for elite Trainers especially those from powerful families that problem had long since been solved.
Simply put, a Pokémon could manipulate the energy surrounding its body to shield its Trainer from the rushing wind.
The training process and energy control techniques, however, were extremely complicated.
Silas had previously attempted to develop a similar training method himself.
Unfortunately, progress had been painfully slow.
Later, after Gallade joined his team, he had simply relied on Gallade's Psychic powers and abandoned the idea altogether.
But in Blackthorn City, with help from Clair and her Dragonite, Pidgeot finally found the proper technique.
Already naturally gifted at controlling wind, Pidgeot quickly mastered something that had previously seemed impossible.
From now on, Silas no longer had to worry about being blasted senseless by high-speed winds whenever Gallade wasn't around to protect him with Psychic.
Of course, because Pidgeot was still mastering the technique, it could currently guarantee Silas's safety only while flying at roughly the speed of sound.
Anything faster, well he would simply have to endure it.
That would require Pidgeot to improve its energy control even further.
Still, Silas felt flying at Mach 1 was already incredible.
Three seconds per kilometer was no joke.
With Pidgeot's assistance, they finished investigating all the marked locations in a remarkably short amount of time.
Pidgeot gradually slowed and circled overhead.
Silas stroked his chin as he looked at the lake below.
"You think there's something strange about this place too, don't you?"
"Unlike the other locations, this one feels different."
"Pidgeot."
Pidgeot nodded in agreement.
For some reason, the area below gave it an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
"Let's go."
"Land over there."
Silas narrowed his eyes and pointed toward an open area.
It was a temporary landing site for Flying-type Pokémon.
Beside it stood a large temple complex basking in the afternoon sunlight.
"Come take a look!"
"Official Slowpoke Temple travel guides!"
"An absolute must-have!"
"Not 998 Poké Dollars, only 98!"
Lively sales pitches echoed throughout the landing area.
As Pidgeot began descending, the surrounding Trainers and Pokémon instinctively made room.
There was no helping it.
Silas's Pidgeot looked incredibly majestic.
Combined with the overwhelming aura produced by its immense strength, nobody wanted to provoke it, even if the masked Trainer riding it looked somewhat suspicious.
"Ah!"
The moment Silas stepped off Pidgeot's back, a salesman hurried over.
"You must be an incredibly powerful Trainer."
"I assume you've come because you've heard about the famous Slowpoke Temple and Slowpoke Lake."
"I have an official travel guide here. It's only ninety-eight Poké Dollars."
"Absolutely worth it! Would you like one?"
Silas casually handed him a one-hundred Poké Dollar bill.
The salesman immediately accepted the money and handed over a thin booklet.
Just as the man was about to leave, Silas called after him.
"Wait i thought it cost ninety-eight."
"My change."
The salesman fell silent.
After a brief pause, he dug into his pocket and reluctantly placed two coins into Silas's hand.
It was honestly the first time he had ever seen someone arrive on a magnificent Pidgeot and then insist on receiving two Poké Dollars in change.
What an unexpectedly down-to-earth person.
"Thanks."
Silas recalled Pidgeot into its Poké Ball and gave the salesman a broad smile.
"Enjoy your visit."
The salesman offered one final blessing before instantly moving on to another Trainer to continue selling travel guides.
Silas ignored the strange looks from everyone nearby.
Instead, he happily opened the booklet he had just bought.
Slowpoke Temple
Located between the Ice Path and Mahogany Town, forming a triangular geographical area with both locations.
The temple received its name for two reasons.
First, a large number of Slowpoke had lived nearby since ancient times.
Second, long ago a monk attained enlightenment here together with the Slowpoke.
The temple was built as a place where the monk and the Slowpoke could meditate and cultivate themselves.
Even today, despite the passage of countless years, many people still visit the temple to train.
Their "training" mainly consists of meditation, cleaning the temple, fishing, and similar activities carried out alongside their Pokémon.
From Silas's perspective, these activities genuinely improved the bond between Trainers and their Pokémon, allowing them to perform better in battle.
It was inexpensive yet remarkably effective training.
As for the Slowpoke Lake mentioned by the salesman. It was the very lake Silas had spotted from the sky.
Located directly behind Slowpoke Temple, it possessed an unusual legend.
Only Slowpoke could successfully fish Pokémon out of the lake.
Humans could never do so.
According to local belief, the Pokémon living in the lake could sense the desires of the humans fishing.
Slowpoke, however, didn't obsess over catching anything.
They simply existed without attachment, even forgetting who they themselves were.
That was supposedly why they alone could catch Pokémon.
Whether the explanation was actually true remained uncertain.
But the phenomenon itself was undeniably real. As a result, visitors flocked here in endless numbers.
Because he and Brock had been focused on reaching Mahogany Town from Mt. Mortar as quickly as possible, they had taken the most direct route and never passed through this place.
Silas smiled faintly.
"Now this is interesting."
Silas nodded thoughtfully.
He was extremely familiar with Slowpoke.
After all, its tail had provided him and his partners with many unforgettable culinary experiences.
Even in Azalea Town, Slowpoke were worshipped almost like guardian deities by the local residents.
However, a place like Slowpoke Temple, which claimed that one could attain enlightenment through Slowpoke, naturally aroused his curiosity.
Everyone knew that Slowpoke was practically synonymous with being slow and absent-minded.
Even after evolving into Slowbro, although it was no longer quite as vacant-minded, it remained incredibly forgetful. Most of its actions were directed by the Shellder clamped onto its tail.
No matter how one looked at it, enlightenment didn't seem to have anything to do with this species.
Silas, however, had a different opinion.
"Could there be a Slowking living nearby?"
That possibility crossed his mind.
Silas knew perfectly well that Slowpoke had another evolved form besides Slowbro.
In fact, compared to the symbiotic evolution that produced Slowbro, he believed Slowking was the true evolutionary path of Slowpoke.
The remarkable intelligence characteristic of Psychic-type Pokémon was displayed perfectly by Slowking.
If a Slowking were secretly directing all those ocean Pokémon, Silas wouldn't find it unbelievable at all.
Although the evolution method for Slowking remained unknown to the public and sightings were extremely rare, one fact had been personally confirmed by Professor Oak.
A Slowking's intelligence rivaled that of the world's greatest scientists.
Compared to ordinary humans, Slowking possessed overwhelmingly superior intelligence.
The real question was why?
Still pondering the matter, Silas stepped through the gates of Slowpoke Temple.
"Whoa..."
His attention was instantly drawn to an enormous statue standing just inside the entrance.
The reason was simple.
It was gigantic and entirely made of solid gold.
"Gulp."
Silas subconsciously swallowed.
At the same time, he forcibly buried the dangerous thought of carrying the statue away and selling it.
He couldn't help it.
He was genuinely broke lately.
What a sinful thought.
The reactions of the surrounding Trainers weren't much different from his, if anything, some were even more exaggerated.
Although gold wasn't particularly valuable in this world, discussing value without considering quantity was meaningless.
A massive golden Slowpoke statue, standing over two people tall and stretching the width of more than ten people, was the iconic symbol of Slowpoke Temple.
According to the travel guide, gazing upon it helped visitors rid themselves of distracting thoughts during their training.
Well in a certain sense, that was absolutely true.
After staring at such an enormous golden statue every day while knowing you weren't allowed to haul it away and sell it.
Eventually, anyone would calm down.
Or, more accurately become completely numb.
"May the King of Slowpoke bless everyone."
"May every Trainer achieve enlightenment through their training."
Standing before the golden statue was a young monk dressed in traditional robes, peacefully offering blessings to the visitors.
Suddenly, he seemed to hear something.
His gaze shifted toward a corner of the crowd.
"The brown-haired gentleman wearing the mask, would you please wait a moment?"
The monk calmly called out to Silas, who had been preparing to leave.
Silas instinctively turned around and pointed at himself.
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Our abbot wishes to meet with you."
The surrounding Trainers immediately looked at him with envy.
Although none of them knew exactly who this abbot was, and few had even heard of such a person before, the title alone sounded incredibly important.
Silas hesitated briefly before nodding.
"Of course."
It seemed the person or perhaps the Pokémon, he had been searching for had already noticed his arrival.
And apparently it bore him no hostility.
"Please follow me."
"Yako, I'll leave today's blessings before the statue to you."
As the monk led Silas deeper into the temple grounds, he instructed a female practitioner nearby to take over his duties.
Along the way, Silas casually asked about the abbot.
The monk smiled apologetically.
"I'm terribly sorry."
"Our abbot's identity is generally not revealed to outsiders."
"You'll understand once you meet him."
Silas narrowed his eyes before nodding knowingly.
It appeared his earlier guess had been correct. Soon, they arrived at a secluded corner of the temple.
Before Silas stood a modest wooden cabin.
It wasn't luxurious.
If anything, it looked remarkably plain.
"The abbot is inside. You need only open the door."
"I shall take my leave."
The monk respectfully bowed toward the cabin before departing.
Silas remained standing outside, carefully examining the place.
He made no move to enter immediately.
"Since you've already come this far, why not come inside?"
A faint voice echoed.
The corners of Silas's lips curved upward.
"As the host, shouldn't you let me see what you look like first?"
"It would put my mind at ease."
"Don't you agree Slowking?"
He was absolutely certain the voice hadn't come from inside the cabin.
Instead it had spoken directly into his mind.
At that point, there was no need to guess who or rather, what was inside.
Bang.
The cabin door suddenly swung open.
"You humans think far too much."
"Can you come inside now?"
Standing upright in the middle of the room was a Pokémon resembling Slowpoke.
Around its neck was the familiar orange-and-white umbrella-shaped collar.
A Shellder still rested upon its head.
Unlike the Shellder attached to Slowbro's tail, however, this one had its eyes facing backward.
On the side facing Silas was a large red jewel-like gem.
This was the king of all Slowpoke.
Slowking stood with both hands clasped behind its back, looking calm and composed.
Yet the voice echoing inside Silas's mind sounded surprisingly irritable.
That hardly matched its title, The Sage of the Sea."
Silas wasted no time and stepped inside.
"Why are you commanding the ocean Pokémon to attack that research institute?"
"The construction there hasn't significantly damaged the ecosystem. And once it's completed, plenty of Pokémon will benefit from it."
He questioned Slowking directly.
Although the Slowking before him possessed Champion-level strength, Silas strangely felt certain that it had no intention of harming him.
The feeling resembled the inexplicable sense of familiarity Pidgeot had felt toward the lake.
There was no logical explanation.
Yet he trusted it completely.
"That place cannot be built."
Faced with Silas's questioning, Slowking showed no anger.
Instead, it shook its head firmly.
"Or rather if it must be built, it should wait another few years."
..
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