After leaving the special gourmet store, Aoki did not leave the black market directly but prepared to buy some necessities for survival in the wild, including a large amount of food and various medicines.
Aoki didn't touch the food in this specialty gourmet shop at all.
Regis and the others ate with relish because many of the ingredients in this store used Pokemon.
The tail of the Slowpoke and Farfetch'd with green onions were the specialties here.
But Aoki's bottom line was that while he could eliminate Pokemon that might threaten him, eating food made from Pokemon was still unacceptable.
The League also explicitly prohibited this kind of food production that used Pokemon as ingredients.
It's just that as long as these things were not placed in the open or publicly exposed, the League would turn a blind eye.
After all, many families also had this hobby.
This time, Aoki bought a backpack with a huge storage space in the black market and then stuffed a lot of clean water and sealed food inside, which could be stored for a long time.
According to Aoki's estimate, this time it should be the fable island, but whether it had already been discovered by Team Rocket at this time, Aoki could not say for certain.
All that could be said was that there was an 80% chance.
In addition to some food and necessary equipment potions, Aoki specially added a batch of Pokeballs.
From the lowest level of standard Pokeballs to the more expensive specialty balls, he stocked up on a variety.
Then he replaced all his Pokemon's Great Balls with expensive but comfortable Luxury Balls.
Going to the island would likely be handled by his younger Pokemon, like Larvitar, and since they wouldn't be outside for long, a Luxury Ball would provide a comfortable place for them.
After replacing the Pokeballs for his Pokemon, Aoki left the black market with the help of the King of Silence.
Returning to his room at the Pokemon Center, Aoki released his Pokemon, then sat on the sofa and reviewed the information Regis had given him about the people entering the island and some details about the island itself.
When he opened the first page, he was greeted by a photo of Regis's smug expression.
But the things described below were not impressive to Aoki.
An expert in Electric-type Pokemon, he was a direct subordinate of Lt. Surge, one of the three major Team Rocket executives.
Was that really all?
Looking at the Pokemon information about him below, Aoki felt the credibility was not very high.
At least two or three Pokemon were either missing or their true strength was concealed.
After a cursory glance, Aoki flipped directly to the back.
According to Regis, he had sorted the strength of the others, excluding the four of them, from weakest to strongest based on the information they had shown.
The first page was Regis, the second page was Hansong, the third page was Qingfeng, and the fourth page was Qingmu.
No matter which of the four, the information collected was not very detailed, especially for Aoki.
Aoki's presence in the Hoenn region made it difficult for Regis to get information on him.
And now, Aoki was the focus of Sakagi's attention and was directly connected to the Shadow Team. Many within Team Rocket couldn't intervene directly, so they had no way of learning more about Aoki.
Much of what was written about Aoki's strength was speculation.
Fortunately, even if Regis only had this limited information about him, others wouldn't be able to dig up much more either.
Turning further back, the pages were densely packed with small characters detailing specific information.
It was clear that Regis, despite his arrogance, considered this person to be a serious threat.
The strongest person participating in this operation was named Luo!
A single character as both a name and a letter.
And the Pokemon he specialized in were extremely rare but powerful Dragon-types!
A Team Rocket captain specializing in Dragon-type Pokemon.
His strongest Pokemon was a Flygon at the peak of the elite level. If it took just one more step, it could become a pseudo-Champion-level Pokemon.
It was one of the few peak elite-level Pokemon in this mission.
Moreover, it was a Dragon and Ground-type Pokemon, making it a major threat in Regis's eyes.
Flipping through the pages one by one, Aoki saw the profiles of many people.
Some descriptions were detailed, while others were vague. It was unclear whether this was due to incomplete information or Regis not considering them significant.
After half an hour, Aoki, having finished reviewing the booklet, let out a long breath.
Simply put, the participants this time were quite strong and relatively young. They were trainers specifically selected by Team Rocket executives from among their subordinates—capable individuals with potential.
If the mission went smoothly, there could be a few participants with pseudo-Champion-level strength by the end.
But what relieved Aoki was that he didn't see one particular name.
Furukai!
Guga's older brother should have been a Team Rocket captain with pseudo-Champion strength. However, since he had already reached that level, he wasn't included in the list.
Given his abilities, he must have been thinking about Aoki ever since learning that Guga had failed to leave the trial island.
Whether or not Aoki was responsible for Guga's death, Furukai would come after him.
Fortunately, after Aoki left the trial island, he went straight to the Hoenn region. On top of that, the developments in Hoenn had been smooth, and Sakagi's constant attention made it impossible for Furukai to act in secret.
Originally, this mission was a perfect opportunity. Without Team Rocket's direct surveillance, it wouldn't have been unusual for someone to die on the island.
However, since this mission only allowed elite-level participants, Furukai's application was outright rejected.
Still, Aoki believed that Furukai would keep paying more and more attention to him. When he could no longer hold back, he would make his move.
Because he knew that he and Aoki could never coexist peacefully. Even if Furukai didn't seek revenge, Aoki would come for him eventually to eliminate the threat entirely.
"Let's see how long you can endure," Aoki muttered.
As long as he reached the pseudo-Champion level, he would no longer have to worry about Furukai.
With time and the realization of his potential, the gap between himself and Furukai would only widen.
Furukai was a Poison-type specialist, and Aoki had already known this in his past life.
His Pokemon were common within Team Rocket: Arbok, Weezing, Crobat, Muk, Vileplume, and others. That he had trained these relatively ordinary Pokemon to such a high level was a testament to his skill.
Unfortunately, his younger brother had foolishly made an enemy who would stop at nothing.
And with Aoki's extraordinary potential, he was only becoming more of a threat to Furukai.