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"That's right. Is there anything I can help you with, Mr. Sato?"
Seeing Sato suddenly speaking to him so kindly, Thomas—who had an excellent sense of self-preservation—immediately understood what Sato meant. He quickly nodded and replied sincerely.
"Very good. I have a brilliant plan that I need your help with. Yes, our next target is none other than our mutual enemy—Ranka."
"But first, tell me: which direction did your other teammate who escaped run off to? Where were you all planning to regroup? And do you know how many contestants are still left in that area?"
Sato's smile grew brighter as Thomas continued to be so cooperative. He nodded to him with a kind expression, then fired off question after question.
Right now, Thomas was at the mercy of Sato—like meat on the butcher's block. Having clawed his way up from the bottom of society, he knew exactly what he had to do. So, he answered every question without hesitation.
Sato maintained a friendly face, but in truth, he was still wary of this 'seasoned' Rocket Grunt. He returned Thomas's Rapidash and Houndoom, but kept everything else for himself with a smile.
Of course, to ensure Thomas gave his full cooperation, Sato also promised that once the mission was complete, he would return his number tag and other belongings "untouched."
Thomas understood perfectly why Sato was trying to find out where his other ally, Maitel, had gone. Sato didn't want Maitel's number tag falling into Ranka's hands, boosting the strength of his opponent.
At the same time, Sato wanted to get to Maitel before Ranka did and take his number tag.
In fact, Thomas and his group had already made backup plans in case of failure. But that plan only worked if all three of them managed to escape unscathed. Since one of them had been captured, the designated regrouping point was scrapped.
Both Thomas and Maitel had seen their third teammate get caught by Ranka, so they had no intention of meeting at the original rendezvous.
So now, Thomas truly had no idea where Maitel might be. The only thing he knew was that Maitel had fled north. But after so much time had passed, pinpointing his location was nearly impossible.
After hearing this, Sato decisively gave up the idea of chasing down Maitel's number tag. Time was tight, and he couldn't afford to go on a wild goose chase.
Still, preparation was key to execution. He needed to fulfill three specific conditions in order to take down Ranka's Aggron. Only when he had all three would he initiate the plan.
These three conditions involved three specific Pokémon: Kecleon, Golduck, and Slakoth.
As for why Sato chose these three Pokémon—it had everything to do with their abilities and moves.
According to his plan, if those three Pokémon were used together, they could unleash enough power to topple even the mighty Aggron.
Of the three, Kecleon—being the tactical core—was already in his possession. Slakoth would be relatively easy to find too; the Slakoth Forest he had previously visited had plenty of them. Golduck, however, would be harder to locate.
Sato didn't tell Thomas any of this. Instead, he handed him a spatial storage backpack containing only a single PokeBall and some food. After ordering Bellossom to finish healing his Rapidash, Sato sent him off to Slakoth Forest in the east to catch a Slakoth.
He also instructed Thomas that once he captured the Slakoth, he should head straight to Mount Tauros to rendezvous with him.
Now that Sato had Thomas's number tag and the special device needed to contact the base, if Thomas wanted to stay in the game and leave the island safely, he had no choice but to obey.
Thomas, being a smart man who wanted to avoid disqualification and survive, didn't hesitate. He jumped on Rapidash and galloped eastward toward Slakoth Forest.
"A smart man indeed."
Sato watched Thomas ride off without trying to bargain or argue. Once the man was out of sight, Sato's smile faded. He gave a small nod of approval at Thomas's good judgment.
If Thomas had tried to haggle even a little, Sato wouldn't have hesitated to kill him right there.
After all, Ranka had far more hatred for him than Thomas did—and with a massive bounty hanging over his head, if Thomas had tried to sell him out, it would have been a disaster.
Fortunately, this ordinary Rocket member named Thomas was both smart and ambitious. He clearly didn't want to be eliminated so easily. Even if Sato might go back on his word later, Thomas still chose to follow through.
That was exactly why Sato lowered his guard a bit. The ones with nothing to lose—those were the hardest people to control.
But now, with Thomas desperate to stay in the game, and Sato holding both his number tag and the device needed to return to base, Thomas was essentially under Sato's control.
Not long after Thomas left, Sato also began his own journey to search for Golduck. As for his original plan to capture a Scyther—that would have to wait.
In this current plan, Golduck was the second most important component. One of the moves it could learn upon leveling up could become a critical trump card in defeating Ranka's Aggron.
Actually, according to Sato's plan, he didn't necessarily need a Golduck. A Psyduck would suffice, technically—but to be safe, he preferred capturing a high-level Golduck.
Though both Golduck and Psyduck were amphibious Pokémon, they mostly lived near bodies of water.
What annoyed Sato, however, was that their habitats were not fixed—and his map didn't specify where Golduck or Psyduck could be found.
He did recall seeing a high-level Golduck once near Carvanha River. That gave him a lead. But what puzzled him was that during the battle there, not a single Psyduck had shown up.
This suggested that Psyduck were probably rare in that area. Which made sense—compared to the intelligent Golduck, the often-headache-ridden and dazed Psyduck weren't exactly known for their survival skills.
And with so many Sharpedo in Carvanha River, it would be extremely difficult for Psyduck to survive there.
After thinking it over, Sato abandoned the idea of returning to Carvanha River. Instead, he decided to head north. The area he was currently in seemed to be a forest called Gloomwood.
According to the map, there was a major tributary of the Crescent River to the north of Gloomwood. This river flowed from the central region and had many offshoots that stretched through nearly every surrounding zone.
In fact, Carvanha River was one of those the Crescent River's tributaries—or more precisely, a sub-tributary.
Therefore, Sato believed there was a good chance he could find Golduck along one of these waterways.
Of course, the real reason he chose to head north was that he still harbored hopes of intercepting Maitel and taking his number tag.
If he could get his hands on his Swampert in addition to what he already had, the chances of defeating Ranka would rise significantly.