Once I had shared the psychological problems I had spotted with them, I told Horus/Xatu and Tatsumaki/Alakazam to share everything we had seen while scouring Palossand's memories with Gwen/Gardevoir so that she could gain an understanding of the underlying reasons for those issues were. Speaking of those memories, I could not help but ponder over an issue that stood out to me since it should frankly not have happened twice much less as many times as it did. The fact that so many Sandygast had spawned in this place should all things considered have been impossible.
All I saw while checking out this area was a bunch of houses ravaged by the desert and time. Honestly, the number of buildings was low enough that I would actually hesitate to call the place a village, but even if we stretched things and assumed that it used to be a village, that was still not enough to justify the spawning of so many Sandygast. The Hoenn Desert definitely fulfilled the conditions for the spawning of Sandygast and a bunch of other ghosts, of that there was no doubt. For Sandygast in particular it was a lot of battles taking place atop an area of sand that led to their formation. To be specific, the emotions released, the blood and tears being shed during the battle, and maybe even the death of one of the participants had to flow into/stain the sand over years before a Sandygast could possibly form.
Now taking those spawn conditions into account and contrasting them with the conditions of the area we were in, it was hard to imagine how even one Sandygast could have formed in this place much less 9, or even more considering the very real possibility that Palossand was not the first Sandygast to spawn and that the Sandygast I caught was not the last one that would spawn either. I mean, if we assumed that the village did not simply suffer due to the desert conditions and time after being abandoned, but that the village inhabitants suffered an attack and met a grizzly end leading to the bloody/brutal destruction of the village, then it could maybe support the creation for one Sandygast, especially if we added some coincidental battles taking place after the desert had claimed the village.
However, even if that hypothetical scenario was true, that would only lead to the formation of a single Sandygast. Once that happened, it would theoretically be impossible for another one to form under normal conditions. Yet, Palossand's memories and her existence along with that of Sandygast showed that the impossible had actually taken place, multiple times at that, so all I could conclude was that there was something in this place/area that was bringing about this situation. If the situation was naturally impossible then it had to be artificially made after all. The question of why someone would do that aside since I could think of a few obvious reasons for that one, I was definitely interested in finding out how they had accomplished it and if I could take it away or at least replicate it.
I knew that it was possible since I had found multiple books/scrolls on the matter in my super library, but I had to reach a pretty high level on the spectral path to access the knowledge, whether that was as a Spiritualist, Exorcist, Medium, or any other branch. Honestly, the fact that the spectral path had methods to create actual ghost spawn spots if one reached a high enough level would have caused me a lot of regret over not focusing on it first if not for the existence of Utopia and the fact that it allowed me to have as many Pokemon as I wanted. That the conditions of Utopia would likely amplify the spawn rate once I had a single member was not lost on me, but I still did not regret starting with the aura and psionic paths since I would have had a harder time reaching my current situation/status without them.
Still, I was obviously going to investigate this area to get to the bottom of what was causing this unusual Sandygast spawning even if I had to turn this area of the desert upside down. There was just no way I would let the chance to possibly learn how to replicate it slip through my fingers, now that I had a possible lead to get the knowledge without having to spend years working on yet another extensive (occupation/ability) path. While I could literally try to dig through the whole area to investigate the source/cause of the Sandygast, I had a better and likely faster alternative.
I was going to use ghosts to phase through the sand and scour this entire area for me. Whatever was causing the creation of the Sandygast had to use/manipulate spectral energy so they would have an easier time detecting it. That I coincidentally happened to have a literal army of ghosts I could use for the search might have been a factor in my decision as well. Since we were in a desert, I decided that using Golurk, Cofagrigus, and Runerigus would be enough, so I called over all of those 3 species, including their bosses. After giving the assembly order, I just watched everyone interacting with Palossand and one another while I waited for the ghosts to come over.
It didn't take long for them to appear in sight and their arrival obviously attracted the attention of everyone else. Palossand and Sandygast along with the Trapinch and Gligar were startled as well as nervous when they saw the approaching ghost parade, but the others calmed them down by telling them that they were Utopians as well, which caused them to stare at me in awe since they could tell how strong the approaching parade was. The ghosts were using their energy to speed up their flight/levitation, most likely because they wanted to please me by following my order as swiftly as possible, and since they were doing that, their prowess was revealed in the process.
A few moments later the ghost parade made it to our side, and they all landed in an orderly fashion, with the 5 platinum sub-bosses standing at the front of the ghost army. The (mid) platinum Golurk, the two (low) platinum Cofagrigus, and the two (low) platinum Runerigus 2 saluted and announced that they had brought all their subordinates just like I had ordered. Aside from the bosses, there were 93 dark gold stage Golurk, 158 gold stage Golurk, 289 dark gold stage Cofagrigus, 375 gold stage Cofagrigus, 77 dark gold stage Runerigus, and 152 gold stage Runerigus. A grand total of 1149 ghosts ranging from the platinum stage to the gold stage.
I could feel the awe radiate from the Utopia newbies, and I heard YM Gligar state in awe that a group like that could probably compete for the hegemony of the core area and consequently the whole Hoenn Desert. While I was skeptical of that, I was sure that a group like this could carve out a good chunk of territory in the core area. As for Hegemony, that was probably improbable since I was pretty sure that one or more palladium-stage Pokemon were living in the desert. I mean, there were some in the Viridian Forest and the Mt.Moon Mountain Range, so I did not think that there would be none in a vast area like THE Hoenn Desert.
Still, I did not correct Gligar and turned my gaze to the Ceruledge as well as two Aegislash that came flying from the same direction as the army. The ghost army leader and his two assistants landed beside the 5 sub-bosses and saluted me before admitting that they had come over because they were curious why I had called over only a part of their group. Ceruledge offered to lead everyone to fulfill any task I needed them to carry out before inquiring what it was that needed to be done. I chuckled a bit before telling them that I did not need the whole ghost army for this job before telling him as well as his deputies to stand aside and just watch. Ceruledge nodded before moving to our side with the two sword ghosts, leaving me once more face-to-face with the 5 sub-bosses and their army.
For propriety's sake, I first thanked the leaders and the rest of the ghosts for following my summon so swiftly. I could feel that the ghosts all felt happy by my acknowledgment, but they remained silent and continued to listen to me, showing a discipline no other group in Utopia had, except for maybe the Beedrill unit led and trained directly by Prime. Anyway, I explained to the ghosts and everyone else present what I wanted the army to do, which was to spread out within a certain range of the ruins and dive into the sand to check for anything unusual, especially if it had spectral energy. Once they found something they were to report to me so that I could check it out.
The sub-bosses saluted and confidently told me to leave it to them, before turning to their underlings, who had saluted at the same time as their leaders. The ghost leaders addressed their minions and asked if they understood their assignment which earned them a resounding yes. Satisfied they turned to me and declared that they were ready, so I nodded and moved the ghost army along with my usual desert exploration group out of Utopia, though I told Gwen, Horus, and the others to take care of those that stayed behind first.
Seeing how there were so many ghosts ready to work, I decided to let them dig through a decently sized area, so I told Golurk and his fellows to look through everything in a 20 km radius of our current location. They saluted before barking orders to their minions, who began to disperse and dive beneath the sand after receiving the order. Meanwhile, the 5 platinum ghosts stayed behind and waited with us for their minions to return with any findings/reports. While we were waiting I decided to ask the ghost leaders how they and their fellow ghosts were doing in Utopia along with what they were thinking of their new life as Utopians.
They were quite enthusiastic with their answers, which was surprising in Golurk's case since they were usually known to be rather stoic. Still, according to them living in Utopia was wonderful and all of them loved it there due to the abundance of energy in the environment/atmosphere and other resources with spectral energy. They compared it with their old place in the spectral/ghost dimension and declared that their new home in Utopia had their old place beat, especially since no one was trying to challenge them for it.
Apparently, life in the ghost dimension was rife with strife. Golurk told me to not look at their group and think that they had to have had an easy time in their old place. Despite the size and strength of their group, they had to face various challenges to hold their territory, ranging from easy challenges by small groups to full-blown territory wars. Compared to that, living in Utopia was completely stress-free, so much so in fact, that the leaders had noticed many of their members starting to slack in their training due to the lack of pressure, which had them consider whether they would have to interfere if things continued that way.
They actually thanked me for the chance to spread their wings so to say and requested that I call them more often if I needed them to do anything. According to them, it would be even better if what I wanted them to do involved combat since they were hoping to see those to prevent their member's motivation from slipping too much. Hearing their sincere request I could not help but think back to some of the ideas I had when we played the dungeon/labyrinth as well as castle defense games. With the number and strength of the ghosts, there should be no problem using them to create some proper dungeons/exercises that were hard enough even for Mothra and the others.
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