The next morning, Silas woke feeling refreshed for the first time in quite a while.
Not because life had suddenly become easier but because things were finally becoming organized.
For months, he had been surviving one crisis after another. Mount Silver, assassins, dangerous wild pokemon, league pressure, Team Rocket politics. Every victory had simply led to another challenge.
Now, however, he finally had something stable.
A base, subordinates, resources, and most importantly a path forward.
Silas quietly released Froakie and Teddiursa inside his room. Froakie immediately bounced around excitedly.
The small frog pokemon had spent so much of its life weak and trapped within the golden cocoon that simply existing freely now filled it with endless energy. Froakie stretched, leapt onto the bed, then launched itself onto Silas' shoulder proudly.
Silas smiled warmly. These moments with his pokemon when seeing their genuine happiness were important to Silas.
"Excited to finally train properly?"
"Froakie!"
The pokemon nodded rapidly.
Teddiursa, meanwhile, yawned sleepily before rubbing its eyes and stumbling toward Silas for breakfast first before training. Silas chuckled while preparing food for both pokemon.
Unlike Froakie's explosive enthusiasm, Teddiursa approached life with comfortable laziness whenever battle wasn't involved.
Still, once training began, the little bear became terrifyingly serious.
Silas intentionally kept Teddiursa hidden while leaving the pokemon center.
His public identity and Team Rocket identity needed separation. Teddiursa would become one of Odin's signature pokemon.
As he walked toward the Team Rocket base, Silas browsed through his updated TR device.
The moment he opened the faction section, he noticed something had changed.
He was now officially registered as the leader of a nameless faction. Silas immediately changed the name to Spartan.
The word now appeared boldly across the screen beneath his identification profile.
Faction Balance: 110,000 RP
Silas nodded thoughtfully.
The recent Mount Moon operation had rewarded them handsomely. Mid-grade Moon Stones alone were worth ten thousand Rocket Points each.
Team Rocket clearly valued useful resources heavily.
Once Silas arrived at the base, he immediately had Jessie and James formally register under Spartan.
The faction management system was surprisingly detailed.
Silas studied it carefully.
Vice Leaders could access faction funds without approval and authorize spending up to twenty-five percent of total resources.
Core Members could independently access up to five percent.
Inner Members could only request access.
Outer Members were unregistered affiliates with no official benefits.
Silas could also manually alter permissions for individual members. The system was honestly genius. It promoted internal competition and organizational growth while still maintaining enough structure to prevent complete chaos.
Giovanni truly understood human ambition.
Silas immediately designated Jessie and James as Core Members.
Not because they were especially capable yet, but because trust had to begin somewhere.
Afterward, Silas led the group toward one of the private underground training rooms.
The facility was extensive.
Battle arenas. Weight rooms. Breeding labs. Medical stations. Simulation chambers.
The Cerulean Team Rocket base clearly existed primarily as a developmental facility for lower-ranking members.
Once inside the training room, Silas released all the pokemon. Immediately, training began.
Monferno practiced combining Aura Sphere with Flame Wheel repeatedly. The fighting-fire pokemon was attempting to stabilize the rotational force around Aura Sphere without losing explosive power.
Several failed attempts detonated violently across the room.
Monferno only became more determined.
Electabuzz focused entirely on Thunder Break.
Again and again, it practiced combining Brick Break and Thunder Punch into one explosive strike. The attack was powerful already, but Electabuzz wanted speed.
Faster activation.
Less energy loss.
Cleaner execution.
Teddiursa practiced Close Combat nearby while Jessie's Teddiursa copied its movements carefully.
The sibling-like interaction between them was honestly adorable despite the brutality of the move they practiced.
Meanwhile, Silas had already spent some faction points purchasing a specialized weighted vest for Zubat.
The vest didn't physically restrict movement.
Instead, it increased gravitational pressure around the body.
Perfect for flying-type training.
Silas personally helped James secure it around Zubat.
"Keep this equipped at all times," Silas instructed. "Only disable it during life-or-death situations."
James nodded seriously.
The vest was currently set to two-times gravity.
Zubat barely remained airborne for more than a few minutes before crashing onto the floor exhausted.
Still, after resting briefly, it tried again. Silas approved silently. Determination mattered more than talent sometimes.
One by one, Silas assigned structured training regimens to every pokemon present.
Then his attention shifted toward Meowth.
Silas scanned him carefully.
Meowth (M) — Level 19
Ability: Technician
Potential: F
Moves: Rank C Fury Swipes, Rank C Scratch, Rank D Fake Out, Rank F Growl
Silas frowned seeing these abysmal stats. This was honestly terrible. Meowth possessed almost no meaningful foundation outside of Technician and decent mastery over Fury Swipes.
Still…potential wasn't absolute and with Meowth's terrifying intellect, he was worth investing in.
"Meowth," Silas asked calmly, "do you have any more Normal Gems?"
Meowth shook his head immediately.
"That was my only one," he admitted. "But crushing that Murkrow made it worth it."
Silas chuckled. For such a weak pokemon, Meowth possessed genuinely vicious instincts when enraged.
"I can't afford liabilities within Spartan," Silas said bluntly. "So you'll need proper training."
Meowth lowered his ears slightly.
Silas continued.
"I know your potential is poor. But we can change that."
Meowth froze.
For years, he had long since abandoned dreams of becoming powerful. Compared to most pokemon, he was mediocre at best. Deep down, the desire for power still existed.
So when Silas offered him a real path forward, Meowth agreed immediately. Silas purchased another weighted vest specifically for Meowth.
This one only operated at 1.3x gravity initially.
Then Silas quietly opened the system shop.
BP Balance — 665 BP
He purchased several Vitamin Pills.
Afterward, Silas crushed the pills into powder before mixing them carefully with diluted Phoenix Lake water and concentrated Omni Berry juice.
Using intermediate breeder techniques Hermes helped optimize, Silas compressed the mixture into several crystal-clear pokeblocks.
These specialized blocks were designed specifically to improve poor constitutions and weak potential gradually over time.
Last night, Hermes had already spent hours constructing optimized training regimens and dietary formulas for every pokemon currently within Spartan.
The true foundation behind all of this was Phoenix Lake Water.
Even diluted heavily, the water guaranteed increased nutritional absorption and accelerated growth.
Silas handed one of the transparent blocks toward Meowth.
"Eat."
Meowth obeyed immediately.
The moment he swallowed it, energy surged faintly throughout his body.
His eyes widened.
Silas then pointed toward a training post.
"Practice Scratch until it naturally becomes Slash."
Meowth nodded fiercely and began immediately.
He used Scratch repeatedly.
Again.
Again.
Weighted gravity strained his body constantly while his claws repeatedly carved into reinforced training targets.
Silas watched silently. He finally had time now.
Time to improve as a breeder, to experiment, and to optimize.
After assigning everyone's routines, Silas spent eighty-five thousand Rocket Points purchasing an Intermediate Breeder Manual directly from Team Rocket's internal marketplace.
The book itself took nearly four full hours to finish.
Silas absorbed every page carefully.
He occasionally paused to monitor the others.
Jessie and James had already bonded surprisingly well with their new pokemon.
The Nidoran siblings practiced together constantly while building stamina through repeated movement drills and basic attack repetitions.
James treated Zubat surprisingly gently despite the pokemon's occasionally difficult personality.
Jessie spoiled Teddiursa endlessly between training sessions.
Meowth, however trained like a man possessed.
By evening, Silas scanned him again.
Meowth (M) — Level 20
Ability: Technician
Potential: D-
Moves: Rank C Fury Swipes, Rank C Scratch, Rank D Fake Out, Rank F Growl
Silas blinked slightly.
The improvement was immediate. The specialized pokeblocks were absurdly effective. Hermes quickly explained why.
"The nutritional compounds only activate efficiently when the pokemon continuously expends energy through training."
Meaning:
hard work amplified the effects.
Perfect.
The Cerulean Rocket Base itself proved surprisingly useful over the following days.
Unlike larger operational bases, this location primarily functioned as a developmental facility, rest station, breeding location, and training center.
Giovanni considered it relatively low priority compared to major Rocket operations elsewhere.
Archer had already left Silas extensive notes within the TR device explaining many operational details like this.
After fully digesting the intermediate breeder information alongside Hermes, Silas began upgrading his food production immediately.
Intermediate pokeblocks essentially involved:
crushing poffins into specialized pokeblock mixtures.
The synergy created dramatic increases in effectiveness when done correctly.
Silas called these upgraded mixtures:
Puffin Blocks.
The pokemon absolutely loved them.
Even picky eaters devoured them eagerly.
Silas initially tested most formulations on Meowth first.
If mistakes occurred, the losses would remain manageable.
However, the results shocked him. Over the course of the next week, Meowth improved rapidly.
His potential was now D rank, he grew to level 22, and managed to learn Metal Claw.
The small pokemon practically worshipped Silas now.
Not out of fear but out of gratitude.
No one had ever genuinely invested in Meowth's growth before.
Silas also carved out personal time daily for Teddiursa and Froakie.
Several times throughout the week, the trio traveled onto nearby routes for field combat training.
Most battles involved the common Pokémon around Cerulean; Mankey, Spearow, Ekans, Rattata, & Sandshrew.
Good opponents for sharpening fundamentals.
Teddiursa's progress became especially frightening.
Through repeated Belly Drum conditioning, the little bear could now safely handle approximately two-and-a-half times its normal physical output temporarily.
When combined with Slash or Close Combat, the destructive power became terrifying. The problem was its speed. The Ursaring evolutionary line was notoriously slow.
Silas already planned solutions.
According to Hermes' research, there were numerous examples of pokemon like Feraligatr and Scrafty learning Dragon Dance despite not being dragon-types themselves.
The underlying theory was that any pokemon capable of learning moves like Dragon Claw or Outrage potentially possessed latent dragon compatibility.
If properly stimulated through specialized nutrition, blood infusions and or energy conditioning, then additional dragon-type techniques might emerge.
Silas intended to test this theory eventually using diluted dragon-blood solutions.
Because an Ursaring capable of using Dragon Dance would become horrifying.
Afterward, Silas shifted Teddiursa's focus heavily toward speed training.
Every morning started with a run and every night ended the same way.
Soon, the other pokemon joined voluntarily.
The training environment inside Spartan slowly became unified.
Everyone worked together. Everyone improved together. Two weeks eventually passed within the Cerulean City area.
During that time, Silas fully established his secondary identity.
Odin.
Archer had provided specialized skin-mask technology capable of subtly restructuring facial appearance through layered synthetic material and light manipulation.
The disguise was terrifyingly effective.
High-level psychic pokemon or special individuals could still expose the disguise under scrutin but because Odin wasn't impersonating a real person, the risks remained minimal.
Now, throughout portions of Route 9 and nearby areas, trainers slowly began hearing rumors.
A rising Team Rocket trainer named Odin with a Teddiursa and Froakie.
Silas intentionally allowed Froakie into the Rocket persona as well.
To the outside world, Froakie had always been sickly.
If "Silas' Froakie" eventually disappeared publicly, nobody would question it heavily
.
After another successful route battle, Silas scanned both young pokemon carefully.
Froakie (M) — Level 26
Ability: Protean
Potential: B
Moves: Rank C Pound, Rank C Water Gun, Rank C Toxic Spikes, Rank C Growl, Rank C Water Pulse, Rank C Quick Attack, Rank C Lick
Teddiursa — Level 30
Ability: Pickup
Potential: C+
Moves: Rank C Slash, Rank C Growl, Rank C Bite, Rank C Payback, Rank D Close Combat, Rank D Belly Drum
Silas nodded in satisfaction.
His Team Rocket pokemon had finally reached sufficient strength.
The operation against Bill could now begin.