Arrival in Saffron City

The next morning, Aoki left Verdanturf Town on the back of his Tropius.

For the foreseeable future, he would primarily be operating under his League identity, and since Tropius had already been shown numerous times in that capacity, it was the best choice for travel.

Last night, Aoki contacted the staff at Devon Corporation and had them book him a flight from Rustboro City to Saffron City in the Kanto region.

He couldn't help but reflect on how much he had gained from his association with Devon. While he hadn't paid much to join them, the benefits and conveniences they provided were undeniable.

Seated on Tropius' broad back, Aoki closed his eyes and focused on refining his Psychic Powers.

Ever since his Slowbro evolved into Slowking, his Psychic abilities had surged. He was now just one step away from being recognized as a true novice Psychic.

However, his control was lacking—while his raw Psychic energy had reached the necessary threshold, his actual mastery over it still lagged behind.

Aoki spent every spare moment meditating, similar to how Slowking would enter deep focus.

That said, Slowking's talent in Psychic Powers far outclassed Aoki's. The difference was like night and day. Aoki had to carefully refine his abilities, making sure to gain control over every bit of his Psychic energy.

According to System calculations, he had only mastered about 60% of his Psychic Powers.

Once he reached 80%, he would officially be considered a novice Psychic.

Reaching full mastery at 100% wouldn't offer much additional improvement, so there was no need to rush.

At his current pace, increasing by 1% every five hours was considered good progress. If he trained continuously, he could theoretically improve by 1% per day—though realistically, it would take two days per percentage point since he also had to train his Pokémon.

Never one to waste time, Aoki remained focused throughout the journey.

After three hours of flying, he arrived in Rustboro City.

Yesterday, he had contacted Steven and learned that he was once again out searching for rare stones. Aoki didn't bother mentioning his trip to Kanto—Steven was too absorbed in his passion for stones, and who knew? Maybe he really would find a Mega Stone somewhere.

For now, though, Aoki didn't have any Mega Stones in his possession, and it wasn't time to reveal the existence of Mega Evolution just yet.

At the very least, he needed to acquire a decent stockpile of Mega Stones before going public with the discovery.

Once he did, his reputation would skyrocket again. But he had to carefully weigh the benefits against the risks. If revealing Mega Evolution brought more danger than opportunity, he'd rather keep it to himself until someone else made the discovery.

Ideally, he would first gather Mega Stones for Gengar, Blaziken, and Aggron. Even if they didn't match his current team, having them as bargaining chips—whether with Team Rocket or the League—would be invaluable.

After all, until Mega Evolution was widely known, Mega Stones were essentially priceless.

If he happened to find a Beedrillite before Mega Evolution became public knowledge, he could offer it to Giovanni and explain its effects. Who knew? That might be enough for Giovanni to immediately promote him to an executive position within Team Rocket.

Aoki believed that with Giovanni's vision and ambition, such an outcome wasn't impossible.

Soon, he arrived at Rustboro Airport via taxi.

Devon Corporation staff were already waiting for him.

With great respect, they handed him a first-class ticket along with several sets of custom-made high-end suits.

Although his title as a Devon advisor was purely honorary, it still placed him among the closest associates of the chairman—someone with influence who could change the course of people's careers with a few words. Naturally, they spared no effort in catering to him.

In addition to his ticket and suits, they had also arranged everything he might need for the flight, made post-arrival preparations, and even booked a room at the most luxurious hotel in Saffron City.

Aoki was stunned.

So this was what life was like for the wealthy?

It was almost too much.

He was suddenly grateful that he only had a rich friend rather than being rich himself. Otherwise, he might have ended up repeating the mistakes of his past life.

Honestly, he had no idea how Steven managed to maintain his personality in the midst of such luxury.

For the first time, Aoki truly respected him.

The flight from Rustboro City to Saffron City took about five and a half hours.

At this point, Aoki didn't particularly care about the difference between economy class, business class, and first class. The main advantage of first class was the privacy—it allowed him to train his Psychic Powers without attracting attention.

Lunch was served on the plane, but he ate quickly and went back to his training. His Pokémon settled for Pokeblocks, as it wasn't the right environment for a proper meal.

After five and a half hours, he finally arrived in Saffron City.

Now that Slowpoke had evolved into Slowking, keeping him out in public would draw a lot of attention. So, Aoki didn't have any Pokémon out with him.

Of course, Haunter was still lurking in his shadow, ready to act at a moment's notice.

The entire day had been spent traveling, but since he had been training his Psychic Powers throughout, it hadn't been wasted.

Between yesterday and today, his control over his Psychic energy had increased by another 1%.

At this rate, in just twenty days, he would officially become a novice Psychic.

Previously, System calculations had estimated that this process would take over twenty years.

A terrifying difference.

After checking into the hotel Devon had booked, Aoki looked at the time. It was too late to visit the Breeder Assessment Center today, so he would go first thing tomorrow.

Tonight, however, he had another objective—visiting Saffron City's underground black market.

There, he planned to purchase some rare Pokémon from the Kanto region, either to train himself or to release into his private reserve in the mountains.

Most importantly, he intended to buy a large number of Shellder to assist with Slowpoke evolutions.

If possible, he would even try to find some with decent potential.