The speed of progress was no longer deliberately emphasized.
After finding the trail of Solrock, Aoki slowed down slightly.
Perhaps in the blink of an eye, the Pokémon would be seen.
The longer he walked through the area, the more familiar his surroundings felt.
As a place once conquered by the strongest Pokémon in his previous life, Aoki often dreamed of it while sleeping at night.
He would dream that the Pokémon had been taken away, and as a result, he had missed the opportunity to grow stronger.
Every time he woke from these dreams, Aoki would laugh at himself—his obsession with that Pokémon in his past life had been too strong. Now, he had Larvitar, with its deep cyan potential, and the broken armor of Groudon subtly enhancing it. There was also Torchic with its dark blue potential and the Speed Boost ability, the dark blue potential Aron, the blue potential Marshtomp, and the light blue potential Poliwag.
It could be said that Aoki's current team had terrifying potential. With his training methods, reaching blue-tier potential in the future was almost guaranteed.
Not to mention, he already had a near-blue-tier potential Slowking.
As a Shiny Pokémon, Slowking had immense potential, and its talent for psychic powers was even more extraordinary—something Aoki needed to nurture carefully.
Additionally, the rest of the Pokémon in Aoki's first-tier team already had more than enough potential.
In such a short time, Aoki in this life was already approaching the strength he had worked so hard for over many years in his previous life.
This was the greatest affirmation of his efforts.
After passing a fork in the path, a large group of Lunatone came into view.
Lunatone and Solrock were somewhat different in appearance, though their typing and abilities were the same. The main difference was that Solrock leaned toward physical attacks, while Lunatone specialized in special attacks. Additionally, Solrock could use some Fire-type moves, whereas Lunatone could not.
But for Aoki, the difference wasn't significant.
At a glance, there were about a dozen Lunatone gathered here.
"Interesting. The passage here isn't large, yet so many Lunatone are gathered. Does that mean this area is more important?" Aoki mused with a slight smile.
He took two Poké Balls from his waist, releasing Drapion and Honchkrow onto the field.
At the same time, the Gengar hidden within Aoki's shadow emerged as well.
Though Honchkrow wasn't particularly suited for such a confined space, it didn't matter. As a Dark-type, it had nothing to fear from Lunatone's psychic attacks—it only needed to avoid their Rock-type moves.
Moreover, Honchkrow's Overconfidence ability could play a huge role here.
Was there any Pokémon better suited for stat-boosting than Lunatone?
"Woo~~" Once all the Pokémon rushed into battle, Mismagius appeared beside Aoki.
Over the past month, Mismagius had grown somewhat accustomed to living outside its shadow, and Aoki no longer forced it to remain hidden at all times.
With no one else around, there was no issue with Mismagius appearing openly.
However, over the past month, Aoki's efforts to instill battle concepts into Mismagius had yielded good results.
Now, Mismagius had a basic understanding of battle.
Like a child, Mismagius had become highly dependent on Aoki. It listened to most of what he said, even if it didn't always fully comprehend his instructions.
Aoki didn't force Mismagius to participate in battle directly.
Though the idea of having a champion-level Pokémon was tempting, Aoki wasn't willing to push Mismagius—whose mind was still childlike—into combat prematurely.
Instead, he slowly introduced the concept of battle, explaining what it required and what could be gained from it.
And Mismagius had begun to develop a basic understanding.
It had to be said that Mismagius's mentality was similar to that of Torchic and the others, but the power it possessed was on an entirely different level.
Now, as the other Pokémon engaged in a full-scale battle, Mismagius emerged from the shadows, eager to see what this "battle" Aoki spoke of truly looked like.
The fight was completely one-sided. The teamwork between Honchkrow and Weavile made it a slaughter.
Honchkrow and Weavile could outright ignore most of Lunatone's attacks, cutting through them with ease. Drapion rampaged through the group of Lunatone, its pincers striking with precision. Meanwhile, Slowking and Gengar stood at the back, bombarding the enemy with long-range attacks.
Gengar, in particular, was treating Shadow Ball like machine-gun fire, its rapid barrage making its sustained damage output nearly equal to Slowking's.
Mismagius watched with wide, gleaming eyes.
Was this battle?
They looked so… happy.
Was fighting something to be enjoyed?
Aoki had said that immersing oneself in battle could bring fulfillment.
But injuries could happen during battle, and injuries hurt.
What was pain?
Just as Mismagius thought this, it saw one of the Lunatone land a Stone Edge on Drapion's exposed flank.
Drapion let out a pained screech, but in response, its pincers swung even harder, its expression growing fiercer.
Seeing the wound on Drapion's body, Mismagius's young heart trembled slightly.
Was this pain?
Did it hurt?
It must have.
But just as it worried over Drapion's condition, it saw the Floette perched on Aoki's shoulder wave its flower. A grassy terrain spread beneath Drapion's feet, and its wounds visibly closed. At the same time, Drapion seemed to gain a renewed vigor, fighting even more recklessly.
With a dedicated healer on the team, the Pokémon could afford to take risks, knowing their injuries would be mended.
Healed!
Mismagius's expression brightened with surprise.
It looked at Drapion, now fighting with even greater ferocity, then at the diligent Floette standing on Aoki's shoulder.
If there were such reliable allies… then getting hurt wasn't so bad, was it?
Their bond was so strong!
They trusted each other completely!
A faint light began to glow in Mismagius's eyes. As it continued watching Drapion and the others fight, that light grew brighter and brighter.
So this was battle.
This was what Aoki had been talking about.
Was this the purpose Pokémon were meant to fulfill?
Aoki glanced at Mismagius, floating beside him with rapt attention, and allowed himself a satisfied smile.
Mismagius was finally beginning to understand battle.
Just as the team was about to defeat the last of the Lunatone, Aoki's sharp eyes caught movement deep within the dark tunnel—small, intelligent eyes gleaming with unmistakable envy.
It was him!