Chapter 407:
"Whew, finally found it."
3:00 PM.
Hayashi Kaede landed on the sea's surface, looking at the island before him with considerable emotion.
Mewtwo, Salamence, and Dragonite had all spent time in Team Rocket's research facilities, so they naturally knew the locations.
But flying over to check now, the previous facility's location had long since turned into an empty shell. Not only were there no instruments inside, but even the slightest trace of Pokémon data had vanished without a trace.
It seemed that once a facility's location was exposed, Team Rocket would immediately, vigilantly relocate.
That was quite normal.
After all, with such large assets, caution was only natural.
However, the previous facility had been destroyed in such a short time. Kaede guessed that if they wanted to rebuild, it must be near that old facility.
Fortunately, he decided he and Salamence would just endure a bit of fatigue, using his Aura Power to search the nearby sea area directly.
Actually, it wasn't that hard to find. Because most sea areas have depth, it wasn't very likely for a research facility to be built thousands of meters deep in the ocean.
It wasn't like the Seafloor Cavern or anything, so it was probably near an island.
Using this guess, it took about two or three hours to find it.
"Alright, Salamence, you go back for now. We can't rush this. We need to find as many facilities as possible, then take them out in one fell swoop."
Kaede patted Salamence, who obediently nodded.
Once Salamence returned to its Poké Ball, Kaede didn't immediately float down.
With his Aura Power, he could sense that the island was now covered in surveillance. Acting rashly would definitely alert those below.
So, he definitely couldn't go down directly.
But no matter, there was Teleport~
Although Kaede could sense strong psychic fluctuations below—from two Psychic-type Pokémon with strength roughly at the Elite Four level—
Psychic-types of that level were really too easy to handle.
Kaede immediately summoned Gardevoir in the sky.
With two Psychic-type Pokémon present, to prevent them from causing a commotion, Kaede readily decided that both Pokémon he brought would act together, aiming to not stir up any disturbance.
"Come on, you two handle it, then bring me over."
After issuing the command, Mewtwo and Gardevoir instantly vanished from their spots.
Kaede watched the instantly disappearing Gardevoir and Mewtwo with some envy.
Although he also had psychic abilities, his application of them was definitely not as skilled as Gardevoir and Mewtwo's.
The main thing... was he simply didn't know how to use Teleport...
*'Sigh, I need to study properly when I get back, see how Teleport works.'*
For now, Kaede, stuck watching from the sky, could only sigh helplessly at the scene below.
Fortunately, the wait wasn't long.
For the two Psychic-type Pokémon, facing Gardevoir and Mewtwo meant almost no resistance before they fell into a deep sleep.
"Let's go!"
Seeing Gardevoir and Mewtwo return safely, Kaede placed a hand on each Pokémon. A blink later, their reappearance was already inside the research facility.
Before them was an Alakazam, one of the two Psychic-types Pokemon.
Even with surveillance covering the outside and the presence of these two Pokémon inside, the interior of the facility still seemed heavily guarded.
Suspended baskets above and below, iron walkways—everywhere were patrolling Team Rocket uniformed members.
And surveillance cameras all around.
But at this point, it became easy.
Just randomly pick a Team Rocket squad, knock everyone out, then use Viridian Power to search their memories.
Speaking of which, the effects of maxed-out Viridian Power were great. Not only could he see a Pokémon's past, but he could also search human memories.
"Just two small fries," Kaede frowned after checking the memories of several patrol teams.
These were just low-level grunts. On one hand, they were used to protect the base; on the other, they were also there to keep watch over those researchers.
To prevent the researchers from escaping or getting any strange ideas.
But it wasn't a big problem.
Even small fries had their squad leaders.
Next was finding their squad leaders, then using leaders to find leaders, eventually reaching the high-ranking officers here.
But before that...
"Here, Mewtwo, wipe their memories."
Kaede still needed Mewtwo to wipe their memories.
This time, he planned to first quietly figure out the locations of all Team Rocket's facilities.
The lower ranks might not know, but the upper ranks definitely would.
Following the trail one by one, gathering all the locations and evidence, then sending it all at once to the Kanto League higher-ups.
Finally, taking them down in one swoop!
Otherwise, relying on just himself, he could at most handle one or two facilities. Then immediately, Team Rocket's members would retreat. While that might have some impact, probably making Team Rocket more restrained about capturing Pokémon for experiments from then on, what Kaede wanted was to completely resolve this matter.
So naturally, it would take a bit more effort.
Once Mewtwo finished cleansing the memories of these two Team Rocket members,
Kaede wasted no time, having the two Pokémon Teleport him to the squad leaders above these two grunts.
Layer by layer, Kaede didn't mind the tediousness. As he made contact with higher and higher-ranking personnel, he soon gained a fairly comprehensive understanding of this facility's overall situation.
It turned out this was a relatively important Team Rocket research facility.
Especially back when Salamence, Dragonite, and that group of Dragon-type Pokémon were here.
Team Rocket's research discovered that Dragon-type Pokémon's energy possessed a special vitality.
Whether in temporarily boosting a Pokémon's combat power or in agriculture, it had unique effects.
Places where Dragon-type Pokémon resided were often lush with flowers and luxuriant trees.
So, in Team Rocket's research, they utilized the former point: using high-level Dragon-type Pokémon's blood, combined with research on Psychic-types Pokémon's, they produced a batch of black Poké Balls.
These Poké Balls, when capturing a Pokémon, would overdraw the Pokémon's potential in advance to exchange for temporary, powerful strength.
Moreover, because the balls were equipped with powerful psychic energy, after being captured by such a ball, the Pokémon would also obey the captor.
However, the manufacturing process for these balls was also very difficult, prone to failure. Moreover, the earlier chaos caused by Mewtwo, had led to most Dragon-type Pokémon escaping, thus the number of these balls wasn't very high. Only a few specific high-ranking officers possessed them.
This made Kaede feel relieved internally, while also soon discovering a place that surprised him.