After finishing the entire table of food like a whirlwind, Silas bought even more snacks for his Pokémon.
Especially Umbreon, who loved all kinds of sweets and desserts.
Today she had completely let loose her playful side.
Silas didn't mind at all.
Ever since evolving, Umbreon rarely acted cute anymore.
Most of the time she maintained a cold and aloof personality, which made Silas feel slightly uncomfortable.
Although he was satisfied with Umbreon's current personality- after all, it suited a proper Dark-type Pokémon.
Still, the adorable little Eevee from before still held an important place in his heart.
"Umbreon, slow down. Eat carefully."
Silas wiped the cream from Umbreon's mouth.
These creamy desserts were always Umbreon's favorite.
....
Mauville Central Garden Plaza
Silas continued wandering through Mauville City's Central Garden Plaza.
Along the way he bought a bottle of sparkling soda from a vending machine.
Umbreon walked beside him.
Eventually they reached a very crowded area.
Two buildings nearby had extremely long lines. This wasn't unusual.
Many of Mauville City's famous locations often had long queues. But something about this crowd was different.
Almost every trainer in line had a starter Pokémon beside them.
Most were Hoenn starters:
Torchic
Mudkip
Treecko
But there were also starters from other regions:
Charmander (Kanto)
Totodile (Johto)
Seeing so many starter Pokémon gathered together instantly attracted attention.
The two buildings opposite each other displayed large signs:
Ultimate Move Teaching Studio
and
Pledge Move Training Dojo
Silas immediately understood what this place was.
.....
Starter Pokémon Exclusive Moves
Starter Pokémon were known as the best Pokémon for beginners to raise.
Not only did they perform well at every stage of growth ,Their final evolutions usually had base stat totals around 530.
More importantly, they could learn special moves that most other Pokémon could not learn.
These were the Pledge Moves:
Grass Pledge
Water Pledge
Fire Pledge
In addition to those, starters could also learn three Ultimate Moves.
According to official statistics:
Power: 150
Accuracy: 90
These were:
Blast Burn (Fire-type)
Hydro Cannon (Water-type)
Frenzy Plant (Grass-type)
Silas thought silently.
'Excluding suicidal moves like Explosion or Self-Destruct, and ignoring certain Pokémon-exclusive moves…'
'These are currently the strongest attacks discovered.'
In this world, the Alola Region had not yet been discovered.
So 150 power was still considered the theoretical limit.
Examples included:
Hyper Beam and Giga Impact (Normal)
Focus Punch (Fighting)
Blast Burn and Fire Blast (Fire)
Hydro Cannon and Water Spout (Water)
Frenzy Plant (Grass)
Rock Wrecker and Head Smash (Rock)
Silas now understood why the two buildings had such long lines.
If a Pokémon mastered one of these ultimate attacks, it could fight opponents of higher levels.
However, there was a problem.
Only starter Pokémon could learn most of these moves.
And the training price was outrageous.
A nearby sign read:
Training fee: 500,000 PokéDollars per month. Success not guaranteed.
Silas' mouth twitched.
No ordinary trainer would casually throw 500,000 PokéDollars into something uncertain.
According to online reviews, the success rate was extremely low.
Almost one in a hundred.
Even so, many trainers still came here hoping for that tiny chance.
Looking at the people waiting in line, Silas noticed something.
Almost none of them looked like ordinary citizens.
Most appeared to be wealthy or noble trainers.
...
The Unova Exception
While watching the crowd, Silas suddenly noticed a Pokémon that stood out.
"Hm? A Simisear?"
Then he remembered something.
Besides starters, there was one exception to the Pledge Moves rule.
The Unova monkey trio:
Simisage
Simipour
Simisear
These three Pokémon were the only non-starter Pokémon able to learn the Pledge Moves.
There was even a rumor from Silas' previous life:
These three monkeys were originally designed to be Unova's starter Pokémon, but the idea was abandoned.
Silas didn't stay there long.
The place was interesting but useless to him.
He turned and followed the navigation on his Pokédex.
.....
Bicycle Maintenance
He soon arrived at a shop called:
Rydel's Cycles
After paying a small amount of PokéDollars, he asked the shopkeeper to perform maintenance on his mountain bike.
After exploring several famous Mauville attractions, Silas began thinking about something important.
Gym challenges.
He still needed to collect Gym Badges for the Pokémon League Conference.
If he wanted to move further along the righteous path, he couldn't avoid the League system.
The fastest way to gain recognition was to become famous at the League tournament.
Just as Silas was preparing to challenge the Mauville Gym ,His Pokédex suddenly received a message.
Team Rocket had issued an emergency summons.
He was ordered to report to the base immediately.
.....
Return to Team Rocket Base
Silas quickly put on his black cloak.
Under the cover of night, he entered the black market again.
Using the same hidden entrance as before, he returned to Team Rocket's base.
As soon as he entered, a young man approached him with an annoyed expression.
"Why are you so late?"
"Are people from Kanto always this slow?"
Silas immediately understood something.
He was not the only one summoned.
This made him slightly relieved.
He had briefly worried that his identity impersonation had been discovered.
Even though he knew Team Rocket probably wouldn't mobilize a huge investigation for just a squad leader, the concern still lingered.
The young man waved impatiently.
"Come on. I'll take you to meet that person."
Silas remained silent as usual and followed him.
Along the way, many people saluted the young man.
Some even reacted like mice seeing a cat.
Silas quietly analyzed the situation.
This guy must have a high status.
Yet strangely:
He wasn't wearing a Team Rocketuniform
He had no rank badge
Silas guessed he might belong to a special department, such as:
logistics
intelligence
They eventually entered the third inner level of the base.
Normally, Silas didn't have permission to enter this area.
Inside, the layout was completely different from the outer sections.
There were far fewer people.
Combat personnel like Silas were rare.
Most people here were researchers wearing white lab coats.
Various advanced scientific instruments filled the rooms.
Clearly This was Team Rocket's research department.
<><><><><><>
(End of chapter)