Goldenrod City, was thrown into a state of complete and palpable chaos, a turbulence that rippled through its streets and back alleys, all because of the significant and much-anticipated arrival of the formidable Trainer, Aoki.
But in truth, these widespread events and the ensuing upheaval had little direct relationship with his personal actions. His arrival served primarily as a powerful symbol, giving the already determined Qiangwei, whom the world knew as the influential Rose, and her key lieutenants a substantial surge of confidence and unwavering support. Aoki himself didn't even make a public appearance, remaining an enigmatic figure in the background.
He chose to stay within the secluded, state-of-the-art training ground specially provided for him by the Goldenrod City branch of his organization, the Sky Hunters. Although this private facility was not as sprawling and vast as the spacious backyard he enjoyed back in his quiet hometown of Verdanturf Town, it was more than sufficient for the rigorous and focused training regimens required by his team of Pokemon.
After a Pokemon reaches the revered Champion level, it can be clearly felt that it becomes exponentially more difficult to improve their strength in any significant way. One of the main reasons for this plateau is the stark lack of suitable, equally powerful opponents to test their limits against, leaving long-term, consistent training and spirited sparring matches between his own Pokemon as the only reliable methods for gradual improvement.
Fortunately, no major crises occurred during this period, and Aoki did not have to participate in any special, high-stakes battles in the short term, allowing him and his entire team to calm down and focus completely.
Whether it was the first team, they could all calm down and train slowly, honing their skills and deepening their bonds. Another crucial point of progress was that Carbink had successfully undergone the transformation into the Mythical Pokemon, Diancie, and Aoki had also successfully subdued the artificial Pokemon, Magearna. The acquisition and integration of these two remarkable Pokemon had a profound and noticeable impact on the development and morale of all of Aoki's Pokemon.
Aoki had tried an experiment with Diancie, utilizing her unique Mega Evolution Stone. As he had somewhat expected, Mega Evolution could not be performed directly; the profound relationship and the deep, unbreakable bond between the human Trainer and the Pokemon were still a little lacking, not quite reaching the perfect synchrony required for such a transformation.
Therefore, Diancie was temporarily unable to produce the legendary Eternal Crystal Diamonds, and the ambitious birth of the envisioned Small Diamond Kingdom had to be delayed for a while longer.
Although Diancie could not yet create the massive Eternal Crystal Diamonds, if the task was simply to produce ordinary, yet stunningly beautiful pink diamonds, there would not be much of a problem. These pink diamonds were essentially the byproducts, the left-over crystalline structures from Diancie's repeated and earnest attempts to create the perfect Eternal Diamonds.
Rather than let them go to waste, these radiant pink diamonds became the primary food source for the ever-hungry Tyranitar and Aggron. The pure, concentrated energy contained within these pink diamonds was vastly richer and more potent than that found in the diamonds painstakingly crafted from the smaller, less potent Carbink.
Of course, given their truly immense appetites, it was impossible for Diancie to produce enough pink diamonds to fully satiate them, but if Aoki mixed in a generous amount of standard ores acquired through resource exchanges with the Team Rocket store and supplemented them with ordinary diamonds, that combination proved to be enough.
The resulting nutritional value wasn't much weaker than a diet of pure, unadulterated diamonds. Because of the incredibly rich energy provided by the pink diamond infusion, Tyranitar and Aggron's own physical growth and power accumulation rates had been noticeably accelerated.
Furthermore, the very act of creating these diamonds served as an excellent and productive form of training for Diancie herself, helping her to better control her extraordinary powers. In line with Aoki's principle of not wasting any valuable resources, giving the excess pink diamonds to Tyranitar and Aggron to consume was an efficient and practical way to make use of what would otherwise be a byproduct.
Aoki had also tried, on a small scale, to ask Rose to find a discreet and trustworthy dealer to sell a few of these exquisite pink diamonds on the open market. The amount he initially took out was not very large at all.
After all, things are precious and valuable because they are rare, and sometimes flooding the market with a large quantity does not necessarily lead to a higher overall price; it often does the opposite.
Aoki would much rather let the excess production be consumed by Tyranitar and Aggron than risk devaluing the pink diamonds by allowing them to circulate in large quantities throughout the Pokemon world.
There once was a so-called diamond lie on Earth, a clever marketing campaign that created immense value for a common stone.
Even after the lie was eventually exposed, people still chose to buy diamonds because the perception of their value was already deeply rooted in the collective consciousness. There was no such established concept or term in the Pokemon world, but Aoki didn't mind being the pioneer of it.
He proposed a slogan to Rose: "A diamond is forever!" He tasked Rose with spreading this banner far and wide, focusing exclusively on the pink diamonds. This focus was crucial because while there were many diamond mines and sources of small, common diamonds in this world, making ordinary diamonds valuable but not exceptionally so, the pink diamonds were in a league of their own.
As long as Aoki strictly and carefully controlled the circulation volume, he believed pink diamonds would definitely become the object of desire and pursuit by the wealthy and elite across the entire world. As far as he knew, only a Diancie could create these specific pink diamonds, and the pressing question was, how many Diancies were there actually in this world? What Aoki held in his hands, through his Diancie, might very well represent the entire amount of genuine pink diamonds circulating in the world.
After understanding the full scope and potential of Aoki's ingenious idea, Rose was instantly amazed by his business acumen. She saw him as a true business wizard! If he could really achieve this level of market control, not to mention the bigger strategic picture, as long as Aoki could indeed create a continuous, albeit limited, supply of pink diamonds, he would undoubtedly secure a place among the top one hundred richest people in the world. This potential for immense wealth was just one of the many manifestations of Diancie's immense value. Rose meticulously put all the pink diamonds that Aoki cautiously released into the largest and most prestigious auction venues in each major region. Then, she would discreetly arrange for his own agents to buy back all the diamonds at a super high price, creating a false perception of demand and driving up the market value. The share of the final bid price taken by the auction house was completely negligible compared to the actual, long-term value that could be generated in the future from this artificial scarcity. This was market manipulation and hype at its simplest and crudest form. No matter how much money they had to initially put in to facilitate these buys, there was only one overarching purpose: to drive the price of pink diamonds to astronomical heights, establishing a foundation from which they could slowly and steadily make money for years to come.
A single, fist-sized pink diamond was successfully hyped up by the agents Rose arranged to a staggering price of over one hundred million Pokecoins. Suddenly, every pink diamond that entered circulation was not priced a single Pokecoin lower than this benchmark. Pink diamonds almost overnight became the ultimate object of desire and pursuit, a symbol of ultimate luxury. This was especially true for the ladies and high-society matrons from influential and wealthy families; ordinary diamonds were already considered very gorgeous things, but when compared with the unique allure of pink diamonds, they were seen as mere common glass balls. The perceived value of pink diamonds had skyrocketed beyond all previous expectations. Aoki strictly controlled the amount of diamonds released into the market. He adhered to a philosophy of preferring to make less money in a single, quick transaction, instead opting for a long-term approach to ensure steady and sustainable profits over time. The Sky Hunters' financial flow and treasury saw a sudden and massive increase, bolstering their operations significantly.
At the same time, riding on the wave of profits and the powerful gimmick brought exclusively by the pink diamonds, Rose also masterfully opened a dedicated Sky Auction House within the secretive black market of Goldenrod City.
They launched this new venture with the impact of a pink diamond, using it as their flagship product, and the Sky Auction House was opened to immediate fanfare and demand. The Sky Hunters had gained a massive financial boost, providing them with unprecedented resources. And under Aoki's strategic leadership, the Sky Hunters swallowed up the entire underworld of Goldenrod City with astonishing speed and efficiency.
Now, the entire black market and all illicit operations within Goldenrod City were under the firm and managed control of the Sky Hunters! The white, legal areas of the city, of course, remained under the strict management of the official Pokemon League and the respected Goldenrod City Gym, but all the shadowy, black market areas were now exclusively managed by the Sky Hunters.
Without even making a public declaration, Aoki had effectively become the underground emperor of Goldenrod City. He was the uncrowned king of the city's underbelly! Except for a few senior, trusted members of the Sky Hunters like Rose, no one else knew much about this mysterious leader.
The rank-and-file members only knew that the leader of their Sky Hunters was an incredibly mysterious and powerful figure, and that direct contact with him was a privilege reserved only for those who achieved the rank of cadre. This aura of mystery only intensified after the Sky Hunters completed their takeover of Goldenrod City; the sudden and massive expansion of personnel made Aoki's presence even more elusive and legendary.
The Sky Hunters, having occupied and now controlling an entire major city, also officially came under the scrutiny and attention of the Pokemon League. It was just that the Sky Hunters were very well-behaved and surprisingly orderly under Aoki's careful guidance and strict rules.
Under the disciplined management of the Sky Hunters, the dark side of Goldenrod City saw its crime rate drop significantly, and the overall public security of the city improved noticeably, which ironically pleased the League authorities.
That was the primary reason the League turned a blind eye and did not interfere too harshly. If all underground forces conducted themselves like the Sky Hunters, the top leaders of the League would probably wake up laughing in their dreams from the improved peace and order.
The Sky Hunters themselves also needed a considerable amount of time to properly digest the enormous cake that was Goldenrod City. They chose to rest and recuperate temporarily, and this period of consolidation and internal strengthening was expected to continue for a long time.
All these monumental changes and developments occurred during the time that Aoki quietly stayed within Goldenrod City. But he, the central figure and mastermind, didn't pay much direct attention to the day-to-day operations.
It was just that every once in a while, Rose and the other senior cadres would come to his training ground to report the situation and seek his guidance. All one could say was that he, as a truly hands-off boss who trusted his subordinates, lived a really comfortable and focused life.
With the current immense size and influence of the Sky Hunters, the organization could now provide the vast majority of the rare and expensive resources that Aoki needed for his Pokemon's training and development.
He had to admit that after investing so many resources, so much manpower, and such vast financial resources into the Sky Hunters in the early stages, he was finally starting to see the substantial returns on his investment.
With the robust and seemingly endless resource support of the fully established Sky Hunters, Aoki's personal development and the strength improvement of his Pokemon team were set to become more stable and accelerated than ever before.