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At 7:00 a.m. the next morning, with the help of his alarm clock, Sato awoke right on time from deep meditation. At the same time, Pikachu, Misdreavus, and Duskull also opened their sleepy eyes and gathered around him.
Seeing this, Sato smiled faintly and greeted them with a simple, "Good morning." Then, a flash of blue light gleamed in his eyes— and in the next instant, his figure vanished and reappeared in the washroom, where he quickly freshened up.
Half an hour later, Sato had changed into a gray Elite Trainer uniform and, full of energy, left his room with Pikachu and the others after breakfast.
As soon as he stepped out of the inn, he headed straight toward the nearest Pokémon Center.
Along the way, he used telepathy to command the Ditto on his left hand to swiftly transform into the human-skin mask of the person in the photo on his League ID card. Once the disguise was ready, he put it on.
At the same time, he temporarily recalled Pikachu into its PokeBall.
He hadn't forgotten—not even for a moment—that spies from the League and various factions were still searching for him.
To disguise himself as much as possible, he even sprayed himself with a bottle of strong perfume to mask his scent.
Sure enough, just as Sato had expected, even a Pokémon Center located in the outskirts of the city had its fair share of agents lurking both inside and outside, pretending to be ordinary Trainers while secretly watching.
Although they hid themselves well, under Sato's psychic perception, their every movement was laid bare before his eyes.
Fortunately, his disguise worked perfectly—his utterly forgettable, ordinary-looking face blended seamlessly into the crowd, which helped him slip by unnoticed.
Keeping his bearings normal, he entered the Pokémon Center without drawing the attention of any of the undercover watchers.
Once inside, Sato made his way quickly toward the Time Capsule Transfer Area. Entering one of the private booths, he used the communicator inside to contact Professor Oak.
Before the professor, Sato made no attempt to hide. He removed Ditto's transformed mask, revealing his real face. Professor Oak looked at him, his expression saying, I knew it, before greeting him.
"Ah, Sato," Oak sighed, shaking his head slightly. "You really stirred up a storm this time. You've grown strong, but not strong enough to handle something like that. Remember—greed always comes with a heavy price."
"For the time being, it'd be best if you went into the wild to train. That way, you can both keep improving your strength and stay out of sight from those who are desperately searching for you."
"If you do run into an opponent you can't handle," Oak added with a wry smile, "just drop my name. It's been a while since I've shown myself, but I imagine they'd still give this old man a bit of face."
When Oak saw that Sato was safe and sound, a faint smile appeared on his face. But his expression soon hardened again as he gave Sato a proper scolding.
Sato knew well that Prof. Oak was only showing concern, so he didn't argue back. He simply stood there, nodding respectfully through the lecture until it was over.
"Don't worry, Professor Oak," Sato said with a reassuring pat on his chest. "I know what to do. I'll keep a low profile from now on."
Satisfied by Sato's earnest response, Oak's tone softened a little. Then he instructed Sato to send over four Pokémon: Swampert, Crobat, Lapras, and the Pikachu he had obtained from the Team Aqua base.
Soon enough, Sato transmitted all four Pokémon to Oak's side through the Time Capsule transfer machine.
Afterward, they chatted briefly, and Sato transferred the five hundred million PokeDollars he had received from Giovanni into Oak's lab account before ending the call.
Right now, with various factions targeting him, keeping Swampert and Crobat—two Pokémon that would surely draw attention—by his side was far too dangerous. He had to relocate them as soon as possible.
And among all the safe havens Sato could think of, none compared to the security of Professor Oak's Laboratory. That was the reason for today's communication.
As for the Lapras and Pikachu he obtained from the Team Aqua base, he didn't have the time or energy to raise them. Originally, he had planned to release them back into the wild— but when Oak heard about it yesterday, the professor offered to take them in himself. Naturally, Sato had no objections; it was a far better future for those two Pokémon than the brutal wilderness.
After finishing the transfers, Sato put Ditto's mask back on and swiftly left the Pokémon Center.
About ten minutes later, he was already riding his mountain bike down the high-speed cycling road connecting Mauville City and Slateport City, moving fast toward Slateport.
He had been so busy with Captain Regold's rescue mission that he hadn't shown himself in Slateport under his Tyler alias for quite some time.
Although he had told a few friends that he'd be training in the wild for a while, it was still better to return soon—before anyone started asking questions.
However, just as Sato was thinking about getting back quickly, trouble found him halfway through the route.
He had run into road thugs—a gang of biker delinquents who ruled this particular stretch of highway.
This road connecting Mauville and Slateport was notorious for biker gangs. Sato himself had once participated in a mission to wipe out a gang that had begun cooperating with criminal organizations.
Now, as if karma had come full circle, he found himself surrounded by a large group of those same types—biker thugs demanding money.
In truth, Sato had sensed their ambush the moment they moved.
However, his bike couldn't match the speed of their high-performance sonic bikes. In no time, they caught up to him.
If Sato had still kept Swampert and Crobat with him, he wouldn't have cared about these thugs in the slightest.
But now, his strongest Pokémon was a Level 35 Pikachu—and that gave him a bit of a headache.
Even though Pikachu's mutated Thunder Orb granted it incredible offensive power, its stamina was severely lacking. Sato didn't believe it could take on more than twenty enemy Pokémon by itself.
"Heh heh heh~ Kid, if you know what's good for you, hand over everything you've got. Otherwise, our Pokémon might not be so friendly."
One of the bikers—a man with a ridiculous pompadour haircut—stepped forward, holding a Level 38 Weezing, and glared menacingly at Sato.
"Blaziken—use Flare Kick!"
Just as Sato was about to reveal himself as a Psychic-type and teleport away, a sharp, commanding female voice rang out from behind him.
In the next instant, a flash of red shot overhead—a powerful leg wreathed in crimson flames struck the biker's Weezing with lightning speed!