Drapion fell limply into the depths of the water. She hadn't been able to move in so many years that the sensation was now completely foreign to her.
Silas called for Nidoking and Nidoqueen to lift Drapion out of the pool. Her size was massive. If he stood upright, he would easily be over two meters tall.
"No, please put me back in."
Silas obliged, and they lowered her back into the pool in an upright position.
Immediately, all the energy contained within the pool rushed toward Drapion as if he were a black hole.
Within a few minutes, the energy had been completely absorbed.
"Just as I thought, it will take a while to recover my strength. Well, a deal is a deal. I will temporarily follow you."
"I am glad to have you on board. Here are some resources to help you recover some power."
Silas gave Drapion some of his Pokéblocks.
Having not eaten for hundreds of years, Drapion immediately fell in love with them.
Silas gave her mostly heavily diluted Pokéblocks mixed with a few full-power ones. This allowed Drapion to actually feel full while still receiving a significant amount of energy to digest.
With Drapion's situation resolved, the group could finally set out.
However, the process of freeing Drapion had completely drained the group of their psychic and aura power.
As a precaution, they decided to rest for a few more days.
Surprisingly, even after a full week of rest and meditation, only Silas and Infernape's aura had completely returned.
Silas' psychic power was recovering much more slowly, along with that of the other Pokémon.
Using his aura to examine his own body, Silas eventually discovered the culprit.
The psychic chains inside his System Space were greedily absorbing the majority of the surrounding psychic energy, leaving only scraps for everyone else, including Silas.
"Hermes, seal off the part of my System Space containing the psychic chains. I want them to have no connection with the outside world through me."
"As you wish, but this is also a blessing in disguise. If you can control these chains, then you can use them to grow stronger as a psychic and potentially counter psychics stronger than yourself."
The effect was immediate.
Silas could feel the familiar flow of psychic energy returning to his body.
Hermes' words remained on his mind.
The chains presented a unique opportunity for power.
After another few days of rest, everyone's psychic power finally recovered to its peak.
Silas considered himself lucky.
During those ten days, they had been attacked several times, but every enemy had been a wild Pokémon, and none had reached the advanced tier.
His Pokémon independently handled the battles with minimal instruction from Silas.
Of course, they ruthlessly killed any would-be attackers.
This served as a deterrent against future enemies.
Once Silas and his Pokémon recovered, he tested the chains by removing the restriction.
Immediately, he felt the amount of psychic energy circulating around him drastically decrease.
After repeatedly turning the restriction on and off, Silas realized that the chains could disrupt psychic power.
The only drawback was that his own psychic abilities would also be restricted.
He would have to explore their uses further in the future.
For now, his Pokémon remained his priority.
During this time, Drapion regained some mobility, although it would take much longer before he could display his true strength.
With Shadow Sneak, Drapion could hide within Silas' shadow just like Frogadier.
In time, Silas would have a truly dangerous bodyguard protecting him.
The next course of action was to begin attacking the remaining Luminary Court bases.
Without these people invading, the dangers of the island would have been far less suffocating.
Several times, Silas had nearly died at their hands.
It was time to collect on that debt.
Recent information on his TR device revealed that one of their strongholds was located inside a massive cave on Mount Thunder.
Suddenly, Victor's actions made even more sense.
The original mission to collect data there had been arranged by Victor.
The true objective had been to confiscate the Pokémon and Electirizers from the mission participants.
Unfortunately for them, Jessie, James, and several other officers had been extremely vigilant and managed to escape.
Now Silas would return with them to exact vengeance.
It was also the perfect place to train Electabuzz due to the abundant Electric- and Steel-type energy.
Reports indicated that the area was ruled by tribes led by a powerful Magnezone and Ampharos.
"Our next mission is to take over Mount Thunder. The mountain is rich in resources, and they're replenishable. We have to take it for ourselves."
"You mean for Team Rocket?"
Silas laughed before smiling.
"I said what I said."
Silas knew there were probably Team Rocket forces already heading there for the exact same reason.
They would most likely have to share the spoils.
The journey would take a couple of weeks because they planned to use the trip itself for training.
The reason Silas hadn't encountered too many Luminary Court members until recently was because he had mainly operated beyond their sphere of influence.
Only during the desert raid had he directly entered their territory.
Mount Thunder represented wild territory.
Neither Team Rocket nor the Luminary Court controlled it.
However, both organizations were actively attempting to seize control of the massive resource.
Both sides had established temporary bases throughout the mountain, and according to reports, intense battles occurred every day.
This was the heart of the conflict.
That was exactly why Silas wanted everyone to consolidate their strength before heading there.
Had the timing been different, Silas wouldn't have wanted to wait.
However, before entering the main battlefield, he had the opportunity to fully evolve several of his core Pokémon.
Why wouldn't he take advantage of it?
Mount Thunder had been a battlefield long before Silas even learned about it.
The fighting wasn't going to end anytime soon.
It was better to arrive prepared.
Electabuzz and Vibrava were both close to evolution, but each needed another catalyst to take the final step.
The group rested for another day before preparing to leave.
Their final night was unexpectedly eventful.
The Seviper had a proposition.
They wanted to follow Silas out of the closed-off continent as well.
Interestingly, not all of them wanted to leave.
In total, a dozen Seviper chose to follow him, including all but two of the remaining advanced-tier Seviper.
With Drapion's mastery over Shadow Sneak, storing all those Poké Balls posed little challenge.
Silas had always wondered about the nature of shadow space.
Pokémon inside Poké Balls could enter, but Pokémon outside of them couldn't.
However, that restriction didn't seem to apply to spatial storage devices that existed before the invention of the PC system.
After making arrangements with the Seviper, Silas took stock of his forces.
Currently, he had several Seviper, a Zangoose, several Swellow, several Poliwrath, Politoed, and Infernape who possessed advanced-tier combat strength.
Silas suddenly remembered Altaria.
He released her from her Poké Ball to try one final time.
"Human, I already told you that you'd better kill me. Otherwise, I will kill you in the future."
"What a pity. A Pokémon like you winding up in such a predicament. But you're right, I can't leave the situation unresolved. So what must I do to gain your partnership? Name any price."
"Feed me two of your limbs and I will consider trusting you."
"Hahahaha! So be it."
"Master, allow me to deal with her. If I can absorb her power, I can restore some of my strength."
While conversing with Drapion, Silas had learned a terrifying secret.
One of the abilities granted by Giratina was Predation.
Drapion could inject a peculiar energy into a Pokémon through a bite. That energy would then convert the bitten Pokémon's energy into power that Drapion could absorb as if it had always belonged to him.
"Yeah, do it. She's all yours."
Drapion's tail shot forward like a whip.
The pincer pierced Altaria's neck, leaving behind a dark-purple mark.
Terror appeared on Altaria's face.
"What the hell did you do to me?"
"You told me to kill you, and now I'm granting your wish. What are you confused about?"
Drapion stepped forward until he stood directly before Altaria.
"I appreciate you being so stubborn. Otherwise, I'd have never had this opportunity."
Drapion's imposing aura completely suppressed the defiant Altaria.
Silas returned her to her Poké Ball.
"I also have a gift for you. This is an artificial Toxic Orb created by me. Give it a try."
The moment Drapion took the Toxic Orb, she felt an immediate affinity with it.
"Master, this is great stuff. Do you have any more?"
"I only had enough material to make two. Are you sure you want both now?"
Drapion nodded furiously.
Given her body structure, the sight was extremely funny.
Holding back his laughter, Silas tossed the second Toxic Orb to Drapion.
The absorption was surprisingly fast.
"Master, the quality was decent, but the power was quite lacking. I require much stronger energy."
"In time, I will come up with a suitable method to return you to full strength. It may take time, but it will happen."
"I believe you, especially since the Altaria you gave me will be extremely beneficial. She will be ready in another hour."
Silas shuddered at how ruthless Drapion was, but he couldn't exactly be surprised.
Depending on the situation, he himself had become quite vicious.
He wasn't going to judge.
The following hour was spent talking.
Drapion assisted Frogadier with using Shadow Sneak more effectively, allowing him to make a small breakthrough in the speed of the move.
When the time came, Silas released Altaria from her Poké Ball.
She was now a shade of light purple and completely unconscious.
Silas turned away from what came next. He felt bad for Altaria even though she was so mean spirited and violent.
She had left him no choice, but perhaps he could have handled things more humanely.
The good news was that her sacrifice wasn't in vain.
Drapion's energy stabilized.
Unfortunately, her level had fallen even further, dropping to Level 63 since being freed.
The chains had caused immense damage to her body.
It was similar to a stab wound where it was sometimes better to leave the knife inside until the injury could be properly treated.
While Drapion had been restrained, the chains were constantly draining her energy.
Now that the chains were gone, her damaged body continued leaking energy. Unfortunately, without the chains acting as a medium, that energy simply dispersed into the environment.
The island's suppression currently limited Pokémon to around Level 54, so the loss didn't affect Drapion's immediate combat strength.
However, Silas' heart ached whenever he thought about leaving this place.
A Level 70 Drapion was far more imposing than a Level 63 one.
Fortunately, her energy wouldn't fall any further.
From this point onward, she simply needed to replenish what had been lost.
Luckily for Drapion, they were heading directly into a war zone filled with powerful Pokémon that could help her recover some of that strength.
Watching Drapion revel in her returned power and mobility, Silas knew he had gained a powerful ally moving forward.
That night, something happened.
"I think the signal goes cold here."
Three hooded individuals appeared in the sky above the camp.
They were immediately sensed.
"Above us! We have some guests."
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Thanks for the continued support on my first fanfic!!
Moving forward, every 50 Power Stones, I will release a bonus chapter.
I will also be releasing bonus chapters for milestones. The next ones are 300k views and chapter 200.
Finally, I will be releasing 3 extra chapters once we reach 10 reviews. 5 star reviews are appreciated but not required, I want honest feedback so I can improve.
Once again, thanks for all the support and feedback!