Slowly, as the battle progressed, Steven grew increasingly surprised. He thought he understood his opponent well enough.
After all, this cult trainer, who favored Gengar and Weavile, was someone he had encountered once before. Lance and Cynthia had also each encountered him once, and the warlike Lance had even engaged him in a small-scale battle. Although Lance didn't win, he had a good grasp of the opponent's situation and roughly knew their strength.
That's why Steven, upon realizing it was this person today, decisively launched a counterattack. Lance hadn't used his full strength and had fought the opponent to a standstill. Steven was prepared to go all out today, immediately mega evolving his Mawile.
Attacking with Mega Mawile, the opponent surely wouldn't know the characteristics of Mega Mawile. Mega Mawile is a Pokémon that undergoes a significant qualitative change after mega evolution, but before mega evolving, trainers who like to use Mawile are truly few and far between.
However, for some reason in this battle, Steven felt as if his opponent understood him quite well, even Mega Mawile.
Because every time Steven felt he had victory in his grasp, that as long as Weavile was hit by Mega Mawile's attack, with the Huge Power ability combined with Swords Dance's boost, Steven believed this Weavile, whose defense wasn't very strong to begin with, would definitely be severely injured or even incapacitated.
But whenever he thought the opponent couldn't escape and would surely be crushed, they always 'just right' managed to avoid Mega Mawile's strongest burst due to various reasons, leaving Steven with the feeling of punching cotton with all his might.
At this moment, Aoki, hidden beneath his cloak, watched Steven's feigned composure, but a part of his surprise was revealed through his eyes.
Aoki, of course, knew all of Mega Mawile's characteristics, perhaps even more thoroughly than Steven, the Pokémon's trainer.
He often sparred with Steven, and to hone their tactics, they would always spar with each other. Aoki understood Steven and the others' tactics far too well. So, he knew exactly what Steven wanted to do at any given moment, even roughly guessing every move Steven's Pokémon made and what traps he was setting.
Under such circumstances, how could Steven possibly defeat the cult member disguised by Aoki?
Actually, if Aoki had fought Steven without his disguise, it might not have been as easy. Because Steven also knew that Aoki understood his tactics very well, if he had known his opponent was Aoki, he would definitely have used some new tactics, making the battle potentially less easy for Aoki.
But the current situation was that Aoki was in the shadows, and Steven was in the open, and only Aoki was trying new tactics.
Or rather, he was just slowly familiarizing himself with Bartram's tactics through battling Steven. This was something he had to do to infiltrate the cult.
Fortunately, after Bartram's memories were edited, the crucial information remained in Aoki's mind.
Becoming another person is not easy. To minimize flaws, one needs to understand and imitate.
It was just unfortunate for Steven, who unknowingly became Aoki's test subject.
From the current perspective, it was still good. At least Steven, who was most familiar with Aoki, didn't detect many abnormalities from the person he was fighting at the moment.
However, from the beginning of the battle until now, due to the tactical counter, the trump card was silently neutralized, slowly putting Steven on the defensive.
This made Steven's expression at the moment not very friendly.
In his eyes, the person before him was a ruthless 'bastard.' If he was even a little careless and the opponent seized an opportunity, it was very likely to be an irretrievable disaster.
Steven suddenly remembered what Aoki told him every day.
If you can't even guarantee your own safety, then there's no need to talk about 'gentlemanly conduct'!
Moreover, facing hostile people like cult members, there's even less need to hold back against them.
Steven steeled his heart. Although it went against the gentlemanly conduct he had learned since childhood, gentlemanly conduct was for ladies and for those who also possessed gentlemanly conduct, not for villains!
The best way to deal with villains is to be more villainous than them.
So, after giving the command again, Steven flipped his palm, and two Poké Balls subtly appeared in his hand.
This scene naturally did not escape Aoki's sight. While surprised, he felt more relief!
Finally!
He finally led this kid astray...
No! He finally got him out of his shell!
A thought flashed through Aoki's mind. The Mega Gengar and Weavile, who were fighting in front, launched an attack together and then quickly retreated, appearing beside Aoki.
And the two new Pokémon Steven summoned still failed to intercept Mega Gengar and Weavile.
Weavile hadn't enjoyed a battle like today's in a long time. He felt that after breaking through to the Champion level, he had finally unleashed his full power!
As for Gengar, although he had been suppressing his strength, it allowed him to familiarize himself with some of the changes in his power after the breakthrough. While not as impactful as Weavile, he still gained quite a few benefits.
Aoki 'relievedly' looked at Steven, who had summoned two more Pokémon, determined to keep him there, and let out a light chuckle.
Following that, Aoki's body slowly sank, as if submerging into the shadows. Of course, Gengar, who had reverted from Mega Evolution, and Weavile went with him.
Steven frowned as he watched the cult member slowly disappear, but he had no good way to stop him.
He knew that the timing of his Pokémon summon was a bit off, and his method wasn't concealed enough, being discovered by the opponent in advance. Otherwise, once four Pokémon launched a pincer attack, there would still be a great chance to defeat one Pokémon first, and then the scales of victory would slowly tip towards him.
However, since the opponent had escaped, Steven didn't pursue, nor did he know how to pursue.
But through this battle, he learned one thing: the cult members were not as simple as they imagined. The opponent might have been hiding their strength all along, and their goal was also to figure out their strength.
Knowing this, Steven felt anxious and wanted to quickly tell Aoki and Lance, lest they be outmaneuvered by the cult members when facing them.
At the same time, Steven also knew that their own strength was not enough, not enough to eliminate the cult members one by one and slowly devour them, as they had planned.
...
In the evening, by the lake in Aura Valley, according to Aoki and their daily plan, after a day of battling, they would gather to share experiences, or talk about interesting things they encountered that day, or announce the situation of any cult members they met, to warn everyone.
This was also their daily routine, a rare moment of relaxation in this high-pressure environment.
At this time, Aoki and his group were growing in number. Besides the initial seven—Aoki, Steven, Phoebe, Wallace, Lance, Cynthia, and Diantha—Lorelei, who had been severely injured, arrived later. She had now fully recovered, and her relationship with Lance had also eased considerably.
Then came Drasna from the Kalos region. Her arrival meant that the people in the valley no longer had to eat monotonous food.
Although Aoki's barbecue tasted good, eating it every day, every meal, could make one sick of it. Sometimes, it was even more comfortable to just chew on some dry rations.
And Aoki wasn't particularly fond of constantly changing up his cooking methods. Firstly, it was time-consuming, and secondly... Aoki himself didn't have very high demands for food. If it weren't to satisfy Steven and the others' appetites, he wouldn't even mind eating dry rations every day, which would also save time.
But after Drasna arrived, she officially took over the cooking spatula from Aoki, and it was from that moment on that Steven and the others finally ate different foods every day.
There was also Karen, whose strength was probably at the bottom among them, and who was once suspected of being a cult spy like Will and Falkner. It turned out she wasn't.
Karen's strength was the weakest, but that didn't mean she wasn't hardworking, or that she lacked talent. It was just that her luck wasn't as good as Phoebe's and the others', and she hadn't realized her talent as early as they had.
However, ever since she integrated into Aoki's small group, her strength entered a period of rapid growth.
Besides them, another person with fiery red hair arrived not long ago. He immediately became the most active person in the entire valley: Flint, the Fire-type Pokémon trainer from the Sinnoh region!
Flint's strength was not weak, and coupled with the inherent advantage of Fire-type Pokémon in the wild, Flint had been doing quite well on the Space-Time Continent.
After entering the valley, he challenged everyone except Cynthia, refusing to be outdone by anyone.
The result was predictable. Even Cynthia wasn't entirely clear about Aoki's strength, and she couldn't guarantee victory against Aoki and the others.
Thus, Flint became the main target for everyone to hone their tactics. Starting from Aoki, then Steven, then Lance, each of them showed him what was what.
As for Wallace, he didn't challenge him. Firstly, because Wallace used Water-type Pokémon, which had a strong type advantage against him. And another, most crucial, reason was that he had been beaten into submission by Aoki, Steven, and Lance.
Aoki and the others didn't hold back at all. Only Steven was slightly more troublesome, as Fire-type Pokémon have an advantage against Steel-type Pokémon, but it was only slightly troublesome, and the final result was still the same.
So now Flint is very well-behaved. This well-behaved refers to his challenges. Normally, due to his personality, he is the most active person in the entire valley, a complete opposite to Lorelei.
When facing Aoki, Flint is the most well-behaved. No other reason than Aoki controls all the Poké Blocks, all the potions, items, and even the Pokémon's treatment in the entire valley. All of it is Aoki's responsibility.
So, if Flint wants support in these areas, he must behave.
Coupled with Aoki's own strong strength, definitely one of the strongest people in the valley, Flint still respects Aoki quite a bit.
The last person, who arrived in the valley not long ago, also had a few encounters with Aoki and the others: Malva, also a Fire-type Pokémon user from the Kalos region!
Everyone was initially quite surprised that Malva could replace Siebold and others to get a spot on the Space-Time Continent.
However, Aoki knew Malva's true identity: one of Team Flare's top executives, Lysandre's deepest mole in the Kalos League. Malva's ability to get a spot here must have a lot to do with Team Flare as well.
Aoki didn't give Malva any special treatment because of this. He simply treated her like everyone else: you get as much in return as you put in.
Aoki also had no intention of telling Malva about his identity as Team Flare's vice-leader here. He just silently observed this person who had climbed up from the bottom bit by bit.
Both used Fire-type Pokémon, but Malva's personality and Flint's personality were very different.
Malva usually didn't talk much. When everyone was sharing their experiences and daily encounters, she mostly listened silently, but from her eyes, it was clear she was listening very carefully.
Malva's appearance didn't have much impact on Aoki. It was just a small, irrelevant interlude.
Today, as usual, after dinner, when they were sharing their gains, Steven eagerly told everyone about his encounter with the cult member today and how he had been at a disadvantage in the battle.
For others, being at a disadvantage in battle and even summoning more Pokémon to defeat the opponent might be considered embarrassing. But for Steven, or for everyone present who was threatened by the cult, this was not only not embarrassing but would earn everyone's gratitude.
He risked his life to help everyone defuse a ticking time bomb. Isn't that worth gratitude?
After listening to Steven's account and his series of speculations about the cult members, the pressure on Lance, Cynthia, and the others increased again.
They had thought they were close to being able to counterattack, but then they were dealt a blow. Their nerves, which had started to relax again, became taut once more.
The only person not tense in the room was probably Aoki.
Even Aoki himself hadn't expected that his disguise as a cult member to battle Steven was just to see how many flaws he had, but he unexpectedly indirectly tightened the strings in their hearts again.
It must be said, this also counted as a 'contribution' to the team.
What seemed like a tense situation to others, the 'culprit' Aoki could only keep his head down and remain silent, trying not to be amused by Steven's expression of 'the opponent is really strong, you all need to be careful,' even though his constantly trembling shoulders might have betrayed him to some extent.
Noticing Aoki's state, Steven thought something was wrong with him.
"Aoki… what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Steven asked.
Upon hearing this, Aoki instantly wiped all expression from his face and put on a solemn look. "Nothing, I'm just thinking about one question: what exactly is the cult going to such great lengths for? Two months have already passed. If they were after something, they should have taken it and left long ago."
Instead of playing hide-and-seek with us here.
If their goal was us from the beginning, then they should have made their move long ago, and we wouldn't have so many companions gathered here."
In fact, this question had always puzzled him until he got the answer from Bertram's memories.
However, after getting the answer from Bertram's memories, Aoki had to admit that he really didn't intentionally disrupt the Divine Cult's plan.
The Divine Cult's main target was the Space-Time Mountain in the middle of the Space-Time Continent. The energy barrier left by Dialga and Palkia became the main reason preventing them from getting what they wanted. As for what the Divine Cult was ultimately after, Aoki didn't have a very clear understanding based on the information he obtained.
Hearing Aoki's words, everyone fell silent. This question not only troubled Aoki but also bothered Steven and the others.
However, the topic gradually shifted away from the battle with Steven, but the shift in topic didn't mean the pressure in everyone's hearts wouldn't increase.
The people of the Divine Cult were also hiding their strength.
For some reason, after learning this, everyone looked at Lorelei with a hint of admiration.
To be able to defeat a member of the Divine Cult with such tenacious will and exquisite tactics, even though she was severely injured, she still won, didn't she?
Moreover, due to Aoki's presence, Lorelei's strength did not suffer any losses; in fact, she gained quite a bit.
Lorelei also noticed the change in everyone's eyes, but a strange feeling arose in her heart.
Was she really that powerful?
Lorelei knew Steven's strength; she wasn't sure she could win, but what Steven said today undoubtedly meant that he had faced a powerful member of the Divine Cult.
Lorelei remembered her battle with that Divine Cult member. Although the opponent's strength was indeed very strong, if it weren't for that special evolution and powerful psychic abilities, Lorelei would never have been so disheveled.
In fact, as long as she knew about that ability beforehand, Lorelei was confident she wouldn't have been so disheveled.
Strong is strong, but not as abnormal as Steven described?
Otherwise, Lorelei felt she wouldn't have been able to come back alive, but the fact was she lived, and the opponent died.
However, Lorelei was not a very talkative person. In her opinion, the strength of Divine Cult members also varied, just like them. Perhaps Steven encountered a stronger one, while she encountered a weaker one.
Aoki, who saw through everything, just watched.
To see through without speaking is the highest realm!
After everyone's pressure doubled, they returned to their intense training and battles.
The reason Aoki didn't tell everyone about his plan to infiltrate the Divine Cult was that he felt the fewer people who knew about it, the safer it would be.
Moreover, it was essential to use Honchkrow and Weavile, two Pokémon that Aoki had never publicly used.
In fact, using Honchkrow and Weavile now wouldn't cause too much impact on Aoki's Alliance identity, but he was already suspected by many as a Team Rocket undercover agent, and quite a few people in Team Rocket had seen him use Honchkrow and Weavile.
For his own safety, he could only temporarily inconvenience these two Pokémon.
However, there was a good opportunity now for them to perform well in battle. Fortunately, their training was maintained well, and their strength improvement had not fallen too far behind.
They were also strong Pokémon!
At night, after everyone had fallen asleep, Aoki concealed himself and quietly left the valley. He had quite a few things to do tonight.
No one noticed Aoki's departure, as ninety percent of the valley's security and surveillance were controlled by Aoki himself.
After leaving the valley, Aoki did not immediately put on his black robe, because he still had one thing to deal with before infiltrating the Divine Cult members.
While battling Steven during the day, Aoki noticed a mark he had been waiting for a long time.
If he hadn't seen this mark, which he had casually designed himself, Aoki would have almost forgotten something.
At this moment, when he was preparing to impersonate a Divine Cult member, his return could provide Aoki with considerable help. Aoki could entrust many inconvenient matters to the other party, things he couldn't personally handle or show his face for.
That's right, Brad, the subordinate Aoki recruited shortly after entering the valley, had returned after completing Aoki's mission.
He had been gone for nearly three months, and Aoki almost thought he had been dealt with by the Divine Cult. If it weren't for the fact that Aoki could always sense the existence of his Psychic Seed after the space blockade was broken, he would have almost forgotten Brad.
After seeing the mark Brad left today, Aoki had already locked onto Brad's location by sensing the Psychic Seed's position.
He was currently heading to Brad's location, a relatively secluded jungle.
"Who?!!!" A cold voice echoed from an unknown corner of the jungle. It was Brad; his vigilance was still good, and he discovered Aoki's approach immediately. However, this also had a lot to do with Aoki not concealing his presence.
"It's me," Aoki said in a deep voice, his psychic power suddenly activating, appearing not far in front of Brad.
This familiar, sudden appearance almost caused Brad and the person he had brought with him to attack together.
During this time, they had encountered Divine Cult members quite a few times. If it weren't for their combined strength being decent, plus Brad and Hydreigon having regained enough tacit agreement, they might not have been able to return to Aoki alive.
But before they could attack, they stopped. Brad heard that familiar voice.
"My Lord!" Brad respectfully called out. From his voice and expression, one could hear genuine respect and unconcealed joy.
The Psychic Seed, to a certain extent, would make the person who had it increasingly respect the owner of the Psychic Seed. After all, with the Psychic Seed present, one could not harbor any ill intentions towards Aoki.
The reason Brad was able to stop in time just now was not only because he recognized Aoki's voice, but more so because his head felt a swelling sensation.
A sense of lingering fear arose in Brad's heart. If he had really attacked Aoki just now, he might have suffered inhuman torment from the Psychic Seed, or even exploded and died directly.
Aoki was very satisfied with Brad's attitude. He had given him a Hydreigon that even Aoki himself felt pained to part with, and Aoki didn't want to recruit a foolish subordinate who didn't know his place.
However, Aoki's attention was not on Brad at this moment, but on a middle-aged woman who was still staring at Aoki with a vigilant expression.
She was still charming, and one could imagine that she must have been a little beauty in her youth. It was just a pity that the best years of her life were wasted in such a monotonous and dangerous place.
So this person... was actually still a "maiden," just a bit older.
She wasn't as disheveled as Brad was when Aoki first met him. At least the clothes she wore were normal, and apart from being a bit faded from washing, there wasn't much difference. She seemed to be someone who paid attention to her daily life.
Presumably, her spatial equipment hadn't been stolen, and girls usually carry a lot of clothes when they go out.
According to Aoki's understanding, people like Flannery, Cynthia, and Diantha reportedly used half of the space in their storage equipment for clothes.
Sometimes, even Aoki, who had lived three lives, still couldn't fathom the thoughts of these girls.
Unfortunately, the clothes this woman had could only be appreciated by the wild Pokémon here.
Aoki's appearance and Brad's words did not make the other party lower her guard; she merely lowered her attacking stance, but the Pokémon beside her still maintained sufficient vigilance.
Her gaze lingered on Aoki for a moment, then finally fixed on Darkrai, who stood behind Aoki.
Since he was here to recruit subordinates, Aoki didn't mind giving them a warning at the beginning, and Darkrai was undoubtedly the Pokémon in Aoki's hand that could most easily intimidate the other party at this moment.
Accompanying the woman was a Bellossom, but it didn't look weak at all; in fact, its eyes were a bit sharp.
If one underestimated it because of its appearance, they would likely suffer a great loss.
At this moment, Bellossom was also looking at Darkrai with full vigilance. It felt a strong threat from Darkrai, a threat that couldn't be measured by simple aura or level.
Bellossom felt that if it made even a slight inappropriate move, it might be met with a storm of attacks, and attacks that it couldn't resist.
As the woman who had spent so much time with Bellossom, she could naturally feel the inner fear beneath Bellossom's stubborn exterior, just like her own fear at this moment.
Someone who could use a Darkrai that had broken through the first hurdle of the Champion level was definitely not an ordinary person.
Moreover, the woman could also feel that if she didn't give the other party a satisfactory answer today, this might be her burial ground.
Unconsciously, she felt a sense of regret for agreeing to come to such a place with Brad to meet a so-called "Lord."
But the temptation to return to the Pokémon world was simply too great for her, so great that she risked her life to meet this "Lord" Brad spoke of.
Facts proved that this Lord's strength was terrifying, and perhaps the other party could really take them away from this damned Space-Time Continent.
"My... My Lord," the woman was silent for a long time before she opened her mouth and softly uttered a few words.
But these few words indicated her compromise, her determination, and the dangerous aura she felt from Aoki.
Upon hearing the words "My Lord," Aoki's expression suddenly changed, revealing a seemingly gentle smile. The woman felt as if she had suddenly entered a warm spring from a cold winter.
The pressure she had felt from Aoki and Darkrai just now was real. If she didn't compromise, Darkrai really might attack. This was her first and most important thought at the time.
"My Lord, she is Katherine, she was once..." Brad wanted to introduce Katherine to Aoki, but he was interrupted by Aoki's hand gesture halfway through his sentence.
Aoki glanced at the somewhat restrained and somewhat feigned respect, then looked at the Bellossom beside Katherine.
At this moment, Bellossom's data was already displayed in front of Aoki.
Pokémon: Bellossom (Light Blue)
Gender: Female
Level: 83
Type: Grass
Ability: Chlorophyll
Held Item: Miracle Seed
Egg Moves: Synthesis, Ingrain, Teeter Dance, Nature Power
Basic Moves: Absorb, Growth, Sweet Scent, Acid, Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Mega Drain, Lucky Chant, Moonlight, Giga Drain, Toxic, Nature's Madness, Grassy Terrain, Magical Leaf, Razor Leaf, Leaf Blade, Sunny Day, Quiver Dance, Petal Blizzard, Petal Dance, Leaf Storm
Learnt Moves: Snore, Hone Claws, Gastro Acid, After You, Uproar, Drain Punch, Seed Bomb, Worry Seed
TM Moves: Protect, Safeguard, Solar Beam, Attract, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Substitute
Overall, this Bellossom's data was quite good, both from a training perspective and other angles.
Aoki stopped Brad from speaking because he had no interest in this person's past. Having been away from the Pokémon world for so long, it was clear that her identity had no bearing on Aoki, and he believed it had no bearing on her either.
Everything was far less important than how much help she could provide Aoki.
"You don't need to tell me about her past. Compared to that, I'd rather know her current strength, goals, or ideals. These things are clearly more important to her." Aoki smiled.
Brad respectfully remained silent. What he needed to do, he had already done. As for what happened next, it would depend on Aoki's choice or Katherine's performance.
Katherine saw how respectful Brad was to Aoki, and her apprehension towards Aoki couldn't help but increase by another degree.
However, the temptation to return to the Pokémon world was ultimately something she couldn't escape. She slowly said, "My... My Lord, can you really take us back to the Pokémon world?"
Before coming to the Space-Time Continent, Katherine and the others had desperately wanted to enter, but after staying there for twenty-five years, Katherine felt like she was truly on the verge of collapse. She now had only one thought: to return to the Pokémon world, or to die directly. She would not choose to wait any longer.
"Yes!" Aoki said decisively, looking directly into Katherine's eyes, seeing tiny glimmers of hope ignite within them because of his words.