It was his first time on a ship to Trial Island, finally free and unrestrained.
Previously, whether leaving or arriving, he had to stay in his room and couldn't leave. He couldn't even record the direction of the voyage. This time, no one could restrict him.
Trial Island was a mysterious island only discovered by Team Rocket, and it was unclear who proposed it, but it eventually became a special island for training new recruits.
Aoki paid a brief attention to it, then didn't focus too much, only letting Slowking leave psychic coordinates along the way at regular intervals.
Although it might not be very useful, it was a precaution just in case.
The ship sailed for seven days at sea before finally arriving at the familiar island again.
Everything here hadn't changed much. Before each new batch of trial participants arrived, the person in charge would restore everything to its original state.
Although there was a faint, hard-to-wash-off scent of blood around and inside the island base, for these new recruits, they only felt a slight oppressive atmosphere around them and didn't know the specific reason or situation.
After arriving on the island, Aoki went alone to the deepest part of the Team Rocket base and met the head instructor, Viper, again.
However, the current Aoki and the Aoki from back then were completely different. Viper showed surprise when he saw Aoki, but more than that, he showed respect.
He had already learned about Aoki's situation from his old friends, Dark and Shadow, and didn't feel uncomfortable just because Aoki had also come from Trial Island.
One of Team Rocket's most basic rules was: whoever had the hardest fist was the boss.
Viper should be glad that he had been almost fair in the past and had not targeted Aoki.
Although the incident with Koga had put pressure on Aoki, and it could be considered that he had disrupted a fair fight, he was helpless at the time. After all, the final trial was about to begin, and Koga, as one of the representative figures among the trial participants on Trial Island, could earn him benefits and resources.
Aoki had already come to terms with this matter at the time.
Whoever had the hardest fist, their words were the rules. Just like this time he came to Trial Island, even Viper, the head instructor, had to treat him carefully. After all, with Aoki's current strength, all the people on Trial Island combined might not be able to defeat one or two of his Pokémon.
However, Sakaki had not informed Viper about Jessie and James, so Viper did not know why Aoki was on the island this time, nor did he have the right to ask Aoki about his purpose.
Fortunately, Aoki did not interfere with Viper's training of this batch of trial participants.
The initial stage was to capture the Pokémon they were assigned, and nearly half of the people would die in this first stage.
Aoki specifically paid attention to the Pokémon Jessie and James chose.
Perhaps it was fate's trick, or perhaps it was simply arranged this way, but Jessie was assigned a Meowth, and James was assigned a Zubat.
When James released his Pokémon, his Zubat ignored him and disappeared into the forest at top speed.
Even though James chased for a while, he couldn't recall it with a Poké Ball.
Jessie, on the other hand, had a very smooth time catching Meowth, because it was a talking Meowth. After being released, it directly negotiated with Jessie, declaring its willingness to become her Pokémon, but Meowth was not a battle-type Pokémon. It could translate what wild Pokémon said, preventing them from being attacked by wild Pokémon.
So, James, who had lost his Pokémon, and Jessie, who had no other choice, could only agree to Meowth's terms.
The miraculous trio miraculously came together under these circumstances.
Although Aoki felt that given their situation, it would be difficult for them to survive on Trial Island, they had no sense of crisis about their future lives and were full of their own imaginations about the positions and rights they would have after leaving Trial Island.
The two seemed somewhat out of place with the people on Trial Island, and it was unclear how they had managed to survive and leave Trial Island originally.
However, Aoki later discovered that the trials this group experienced were completely different from the level of trials his group had gone through.
His group's trials had too many implications, while the trials Jessie and James participated in were just ordinary trials, perhaps only using one-tenth of Trial Island's size.
It was a complete waste of resources.
After confirming their initial safety, Aoki ventured alone into the interior of Trial Island.
This place was filled with too many memories for him. He summoned his three Pokémon, Honchkrow, Slowking, and Gengar, and it felt like returning to the days when he struggled to survive.
Honchkrow and the others also sighed with emotion at this.
Aoki hadn't summoned Honchkrow for battle in a long time, mainly due to identity restrictions.
Many people knew that Team Rocket executive Aoki owned a Honchkrow, which was his signature Pokémon.
Aoki also didn't want to cause too much trouble.
However, during the six months they lived on the island, Honchkrow and Weavile still had enough training and battles, otherwise, they wouldn't have their current quasi-Champion strength.
Under Slowking's Teleport, Aoki and his Pokémon arrived at the Gastly Cave again.
At this time, the Gastly Cave had produced many Haunter. Aoki and his Pokémon's arrival did not attract the attention of any Pokémon, and Gengar did not appear.
Given their current situation, it was probably best if Aoki and his Pokémon didn't appear and didn't disturb their lives.
Anyway, Aoki's purpose was only to investigate the dark underground cave from before, that underground cave filled with extremely strong Ghost-type energy, that cave where even the walls could yield top-grade Dusk Stones, that place where just the energy alone could cultivate a King-level Mismagius.
Aoki had always been very curious about this cave, but at that time, he didn't have the strength to delve deeper and explore it.
But now it was different. Ordinary King-level Pokémon were no match for Aoki.
Plus, he had just agreed to Giovanni's request, so, taking advantage of the situation, Aoki returned.
Standing in front of the stone pillar, looking at the extremely dense Ghost-type energy still emanating from it, Gengar inhaled it into its body with a single breath, feeling nothing.
In the past, just a wisp of this dense Ghost-type energy would have taken him a long time to absorb.
Aoki nodded to Slowking.
Yadon—
Slowking's eyes flashed, and Teleport took them back underground.
Into that pitch-black Ghost cave!