Izumi's vision went dark, a sudden and complete blackness that swallowed her consciousness whole. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in the previous scene, the transition so seamless it was disorienting. Aoki was still standing in front of her, his posture unchanged, and everything was exactly the same as before, with Walrein lying motionless nearby where it had fainted. Sharpedo and Crawdaunt had also lost their ability to battle, scattered across the rocky ground. In a daze, Izumi finally understood what had happened; she seemed to have inadvertently experienced a dream, a vivid and forceful vision that felt more real than any ordinary fantasy. Or rather, the clarity and detail suggested an external source.
"That dream just now, did you show it to me?" Izumi stared at Aoki warily, her voice tight with suspicion and confusion, not knowing his purpose or the meaning behind this invasion of her mind.
Aoki spread his hands in a casual, almost dismissive gesture and said, "This is not just a dream." His tone was calm, leaving no room for simple dismissal.
Izumi was slightly stunned by the assertion, her mind reeling from the implications. Not just a dream? What else could it possibly be?
Aoki revealed a profound and mysterious expression, his eyes seeming to look through her as he stated, "This is a prophecy." The word hung in the air between them, heavy with significance.
"Prophecy?" Izumi murmured, repeating the word as if tasting it. It sounded a bit absurd, fantastical even, yet the experience had felt so undeniably real, not just the surrounding environment in the dream, but also Archie's appearance, his personality, his habits, and so on. The most real, the most terrifyingly tangible thing, had been Kyogre. As a member of Team Aqua, Izumi had never seen Kyogre's true appearance, having only seen stylized depictions of it in some ancient ruins and fragmented documents. But in the dream just now, she could feel the overwhelming, primal aura of Kyogre, a pressure that threatened to crush her spirit. Especially its new form after consuming the special crystal Archie had taken out and that Indigo Orb. She felt that Kyogre in that powerful, transformed state truly deserved the title of God of the Sea, its power absolute and terrifying.
Suddenly, Izumi thought of the key point, the detail that made the entire vision so unnervingly plausible. The Indigo Orb! How could Aoki know what the Indigo Orb looked like? It was depicted so realistically in the dream, with perfect clarity. Not only her, but even Archie could only barely describe the Indigo Orb from ancient texts, never having seen its true form with his own eyes. And how did he know that the Indigo Orb could change Kyogre's appearance, triggering its Primal Reversion? There were many things that Izumi, with her current chaotic mind, couldn't figure out or understand, a tangled web of questions with no clear answers. But her heart was also very uneasy, filled with a cold dread just afraid that the scene she had witnessed would one day become a devastating reality.
Aoki looked at Izumi, who was lost in a daze, and smiled without speaking, allowing the silence to press down on her. At this time, anything he said would only be counterproductive; it was best to let her figure it out herself, to let the seeds of doubt and fear take root in her mind without his direct influence.
After a long time, the sounds of distant battle finally shaking her from her thoughts, Izumi came back to her senses, looking at Aoki with a complex expression, her initial wariness much diminished but replaced by a deep-seated confusion. Now, there was no reference for anything; no matter how real the dream was, no matter how much she turned it over in her mind, she couldn't come to any solid conclusion or find a path forward.
"What is your purpose in showing me this... prophecy?" Izumi asked, her voice quieter now, laced with a need to understand his motives.
Aoki stared at her for a while, his gaze intense and evaluating, until she felt a little unnerved and looked away, then he smiled and said, "Haven't you realized that you played a crucial role?" He let the question hang, watching her process it.
"A crucial... role?" Izumi was stunned again, her mind flashing back to the dream, to her presence beside Archie in that moment of cataclysm. But she felt that what Aoki said made a lot of sense, that her position and actions were indeed central to the events that unfolded.
"I'm not forcing you to do anything. We're all intelligent people; you'll have a chance to verify this prophecy for yourself, to see if the pieces fall into place as foretold. However... to prevent you from doing anything out of line again, from acting rashly before you understand the full scope, I need to leave something on you!" His tone was reasonable, yet firm.
Saying that, Aoki slapped her forehead again with a swift, precise motion before she could react or pull away. Fine, almost imperceptible threads of psychic power, intricately wrapped with some spatial energy, silently flowed into Izumi's mind, a subtle and complex imprint being laid down.
"What did you do?!" Izumi reacted a moment later, immediately stepping back two paces and shouting sharply, her hand flying to her forehead as if she could wipe away the sensation.
"Nothing much, just adding an extra layer of insurance for myself, a small precaution. I won't arrest you today. I'll give you time to prove this prophecy, to see the truth of it with your own eyes." Aoki spread his hands, his expression one of calm assurance.
"You're not arresting me?" Apparently, Izumi's focus was not on the 'insurance' Aoki mentioned, the psychic imprint seeming a minor concern compared to her unexpected freedom. It was just a tap; how much lasting effect could it truly have?
Aoki's face, however, had turned a little pale from the effort. Although Izumi didn't actively resist, she hadn't completely dropped her mental guard against Aoki either. Forcing psychic power into someone else's mind like this, to leave a lasting impression, was Aoki's first attempt, a dangerous and delicate procedure. This was only barely achievable after he obtained special training methods for psychic power from the cult and had significantly improved his fine control over it.
"Yes, I'm not arresting you. Anyway, you can't cause much trouble here today in your current state. After all, you need to verify the truth of the prophecy, don't you? You need to be out there to see it unfold." Aoki smiled, his complexion slowly returning to its normal hue as he recovered from the strain.
Without saying anything more, offering no further explanations or threats, Aoki turned and walked out, his figure moving confidently through the rocky passage.
"You... who exactly are you?! Aren't you afraid I'll expose you to the League?" Izumi watched Aoki leave and asked loudly, the question echoing slightly in the cavern.
Aoki, with his back to her, didn't turn around, just raised his hand and waved in a casual, dismissive gesture.
"I'm just a young fellow who's just started to make a name for himself in the League." As he spoke, a slight, knowing curve slowly appeared on his lips, a smirk of confidence.
Expose him? Expose what? That he let her go? No, he didn't simply let her go. The opponent had completely lost the ability to battle, all her Pokémon fainted. Wasn't achieving a victory, however it was secured, enough? He had directly defeated a top executive of Team Aqua in combat. Although it might have been an unfair victory, involving psychic interventions and strategic advantages, winning was winning in the end. Moreover, with Aoki's current prestige and growing reputation in the League, no one could easily discredit him without solid proof. After all, his contributions to the League, every League member fighting in this war, had witnessed them firsthand! After this war ended, they would all become Aoki's loyal supporters, spreading tales of his prowess and bravery! Especially those trainers whose lives Aoki had directly saved on the battlefield. If Izumi were to report something as outlandish as that, who would give it any credence?
Putting away the few Pokémon around him, he sent Mismagius and Gengar back into the shadows, their forms dissolving into the darkness. In the battle with Izumi, all of Aoki's Pokémon were fighting above their usual level, pushing past their limits, and the gains from such an intense conflict couldn't be seen in a short time. Going back and slowly consolidating the experience, meditating on the battles, would definitely lead to greater rewards and growth for his team.
He walked out of the tunnel disguised by the alternate dimension with his team: Slowking, Tyranitar, Aggron, Blaziken, Florges, and Drapion emerging around him. Upon returning to the giant main cave, he found that the League army, Team Aqua, and Team Magma's armies had already fully clashed in a chaotic, large-scale engagement. Overwhelming skills were visible everywhere, flashes of fire, water, earth, and lightning illuminating the vast cavern; now the entire cave was completely in chaos, a maelstrom of conflict.
Aoki swept his gaze across the entire field, assessing the situation with a practiced eye, and saw that Drake was still battling Archie fiercely. At this time, however, Archie was completely on the defensive, only able to stall Drake with desperate maneuvers and prevent him from intervening in other people's battles, but clearly unable to mount a proper offense. Norman and Maxie, however, were still fighting back and forth with immense ferocity, their battle having entered a white-hot stage where a single mistake could decide the outcome. Phoebe, who had arrived later leading a contingent of League reinforcements, was now battling Team Magma's Courtney and Team Aqua's Matt simultaneously. Fighting two top executives by herself, she didn't fall into a disadvantage, her Ghost-type Pokémon moving with eerie grace and power; her position as an Elite Four member was truly well-deserved. Steven and Tabitha's battle had also reached its peak intensity, the metallic clashes of Steven's Aggron against Tabitha's Mightyena echoing through the cave, and the outcome between the two would be decided in the next few clashes.
The greatest pressure now, however, was on Agatha and Wallace, as well as the remaining Elite Four-level experts of the League. Team Magma and Team Aqua were inferior to the League in terms of the pure quality and refinement of their Elite Four-level trainers, but they far exceeded them in sheer quantity. Agatha and Wallace each fought two official Elite Four-level trainers from the enemy teams, their Pokémon engaged in complex, multi-layered duels. Another Alliance Elite Four-level trainer also held back an official Elite Four-level Team Magma executive in a fierce stalemate. But there were still many executives who had just entered the Elite Four level, who could only be held back by groups of three of the Alliance's quasi-Elite Four elites, their coordination just barely keeping the powerful opponents in check. Yet, there was still a gap, a numerical superiority that the League was struggling to overcome. Now, things were already somewhat precarious, the League lines bending under the relentless assault.
Besides the main battlefield, Aoki also noticed Professor Soledad, dressed in his distinctive archaeological attire, currently being controlled and escorted by two Team Magma and Team Aqua executives. They were carrying delicate instruments and actively exploring the cave's ancient markings, their scholarly work continuing despite the raging battle around them. The conflict beside them seemed to have nothing to do with them at all.