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Sato didn't slack off on the physical training of Pichu, Natu, and Kecleon either, though their routines were much lighter compared to what Swampert and the others went through.
Pichu's training was quite simple—it just involved running for half an hour inside a treadmill wheel. As for Natu, it had to fly twenty laps around the midair flying circuit above the training field without relying on its Psychic abilities.
Kecleon, on the other hand, was tasked with running across the training field while remaining invisible, and was also required to occasionally leap by propelling himself with his tongue.
All in all, Sato's goal was to get Kecleon accustomed to moving freely while cloaked and to flexibly use his long, powerful tongue for both mobility and offense.
That invigorating morning training session lasted around two hours. Afterward, Sato gave his Pokémon a massage to help them relax, then recalled them into their PokeBalls and left the training grounds.
"Excuse me, sir! Hello—I'm Miyuki Akiyama, a Pokémon breeder. Could we talk for a moment?"
Just as Sato stepped out of the training field entrance, a tall, slender woman with long black hair—dressed in a midriff-bearing shirt and a floral mini-skirt—hurried up behind him, slightly out of breath as she addressed him.
Pichu clearly took a liking to this scantily dressed beauty. He immediately flew off Sato's shoulder and tried to nuzzle her face with his cheek.
But for once, Pichu's go-to tactic of shameless snuggling was shot down. Before he even got close, Miyuki Akiyama had already grabbed his ear and was inspecting him like a curious lab mouse.
"This Pichu clearly has extraordinary potential. His development is also quite healthy. Not only are the electric sacs in his cheeks fully charged, but his fur is practically sparking. I'd estimate he's already capable of using Thunderbolt."
After that quick inspection, Miyuki handed a miserable, dejected Pichu back to Sato and said with a cheerful smile.
"Hello, I'm Sato. If you've got something to say, go ahead and say it now. Please keep it brief—I'm in a hurry and won't have time for a long chat."
Noticing how she gleaned so much accurate information about Pichu from a single glance, Sato's opinion of her improved slightly. He nodded, realizing she probably wasn't an ordinary Pokémon breeder.
"Don't worry, I'll only take a few minutes of your time, Mr. Sato. But this isn't really the best place to talk—could we move over there?"
Seeing that her words had caught Sato's interest, Miyuki's eyes lit up as she shook her head quickly and gestured toward a nearby location.
A few minutes later, the two of them were seated at an outdoor café next to the training facility. Sato now wore a deeply displeased expression as he listened to Miyuki speak animatedly across from him.
"Ridiculous. My Pokémon are not breeding stock. If you want to find Pokémon for mating, go ask someone else. I will not let my Pokémon participate in some weird genetic project."
Before Miyuki could finish her proposal, Sato cut her off coldly and rejected her outright with a firm stance.
As it turned out, Miyuki was from the Goldenrod Breeding House, located south of Goldenrod City. She had approached Sato today to discuss something related to Pokémon egg breeding.
Sato had long heard of the Goldenrod Breeding House—it was the largest facility of its kind in the region and had reportedly been founded by a former high-ranking League official. Its mission was to provide the League with top-quality Pokémon.
In short, in the Johto region, the Goldenrod Breeding House served as the most crucial Pokémon resource hub for the League.
Each year, the Breeding House supplied the Johto League with a large number of high-potential Pokémon, solving the otherwise difficult problem of distributing quality starters to new trainers.
This time, Miyuki—an intermediate-level breeder trained at the facility—had set her sights on Sato's Swampert, Nidoking, and Shiny Pelipper, whose talent had left a strong impression on her during yesterday's training.
She wanted Sato to leave those three Pokémon at the Breeding House so they could breed with compatible, high-quality female Pokémon of the same species.
Naturally, this wasn't a favor without compensation. Miyuki offered a very generous deal—10 million PokeDollars and 10,000 League Contribution Points.
Frankly, for the average trainer, that kind of reward would be hard to refuse. In fact, if this were offered to most civilian trainers, over 90% would probably agree on the spot.
After all, the deal only required their Pokémon to "fall in love" with another of the opposite sex and breed once—not to be handed over as permanent stud Pokémon.
Just one breeding session, and they could walk away with 10 million PokeDollars and 10,000 Contribution Points. For ordinary trainers, that was like free money falling from the sky.
Unfortunately for Miyuki, neither of those rewards meant much to Sato. He was outright disgusted by the idea of treating his Pokémon like breeding machines.
"Why reject it so firmly?" Miyuki asked, frowning. "Mr. Sato, you're clearly very strong. You must be affiliated with the League, right? This is just a standard egg-breeding collaboration. The whole point is to provide quality Pokémon for future League trainers."
"Please rest assured, our Goldenrod Breeding House has a solid reputation. We never use those harmful aphrodisiacs some unethical places use to force Pokémon to breed."
She clearly hadn't expected such a flat-out refusal and was now visibly upset—but still unwilling to give up.
Miyuki had thought he might turn her down politely, not outright reject her offer without a second thought.
She had noticed Sato wasn't carrying a League trainer's ID or Pokédex, and from his mannerisms, she had inferred he wasn't a League insider—just a powerful civilian trainer. That's why she sweetened the deal with 10,000 Contribution Points, which held far more value inside the League than money ever could.
In the League, PokeDollars didn't buy much. Contribution Points were the real currency, allowing access to exclusive resources and playing a key role in career advancement.
Even Team Rocket's internal ranking system was modeled after the League's Contribution Point system—only by accumulating enough points could one be promoted.
"It's simple," Sato replied flatly. "I don't trust handing my Pokémon over to someone I barely know. Swampert and the others are my core team. Leaving them with you would severely weaken my combat strength."
"As for the 10 million PokeDollars—forget it. I can earn that much just by taking a few tougher missions. The 10,000 Contribution Points? That's tempting, yeah. It'd take many high-difficulty League tasks to earn that."
"But a trainer's strength lies in the Pokémon they've raised. As someone who started from nothing, I understand this better than most. Sorry, but we're just strangers. I don't trust you. I won't entrust the Pokémon I've trained with my own hands to you."
Seeing that Miyuki still hadn't given up, Sato laid it out bluntly: he didn't trust her.
Harsh as it sounded, it shut Miyuki up. She could only sit there silently and watch as Sato got up and walked away.
Still, she was incredibly frustrated.
As an intermediate breeder with sharp eyes trained by years of experience, Miyuki could see that Sato's Pokémon ranked among the very best she had ever encountered.
She had recently applied for promotion to Senior Breeder, and one of the exam requirements was to personally breed 10 high-potential Pokémon eggs within a year.
To pass, she needed elite Pokémon like the ones Sato had—but high-potential Pokémon were precious to any trainer, and no one would entrust such Pokémon to a stranger, let alone give up rights to the resulting egg.
After being rejected over and over, Miyuki had shifted focus to under-resourced civilian trainers—those who lucked into high-quality Pokémon but didn't know their true value. She'd managed to borrow breeding rights from a few of them that way.
If she could just get Swampert and the others, she'd have a real shot at passing the most difficult part of her promotion exam.
'Sigh… No wonder the veterans say I lack the foundation to become a Senior Breeder. My network is way too thin. All the top trainers already have breeders they trust. What am I supposed to do? At this rate, I'm going to fail this promotion exam…'
Thinking back to Sato's firm rejection, Miyuki couldn't help but feel disheartened.