Although Giratina, the master of the Reverse World, was also a Dragon/Ghost-type, both Sato and Lance had tacitly excluded such an "impossible-to-catch" existence from their conversation.
And while the two were still talking, Gengar had already finished circling the underground and quickly located a hidden space beneath the floor.
"Gen~"
Gengar reappeared before Sato shaking its head and sighing. Sato immediately guessed that it must've seen something unpleasant.
"Sigh… Let's go. Only by seeing it for ourselves can we understand how utterly inhuman these scumbags really are."
Lance spoke with a low voice, also reminding Sato to brace himself.
But what he didn't know was that Sato, in his past life, had long grown used to darkness and bloodshed… No mental preparation was needed.
"Gengar, lead the way."
"Gen~"
Gengar turned and leapt toward one of the walls in the living room, hurling several Shadow Balls as it moved.
Boom! Boom! Boom…
As the explosions cleared, Gengar waved its hand to disperse the smoke, revealing a staircase leading to a basement.
Immediately, a foul, fishy stench wafted up, making both Sato and Lance instinctively frown.
They donned face masks and began descending the stairs. Soon, the full scope of the basement unfolded before them.
"…What a bunch of bastards!"
Even though Lance had mentally prepared himself, he still couldn't help cursing aloud at the scene.
The basement was massive; it wasn't hard to guess that the space extended beneath several buildings.
The entire basement was divided into two parts. On the left side stood a series of enormous worktables.
Not a single table was unused. All were stained deep red, clearly the remains of dissected Pokémon bodies…
Sato could even identify several species from the anatomical features left behind.
Behind the tables were piles of harvested parts waiting to be sold: the red orbs from Tentacool's head, Goldeen's horn, Slowpoke's tail, Shellder's hard shell…
The sheer quantity was shocking!
On the right side of the basement, only a single iron sheet separated off a smaller section, packed with tanks and water basins. Crammed full of Water-type Pokémon.
Many of them were already dead and rotting. Others were on the brink of death, barely clinging to life as they awaited their turn on the tables…
Only a few tightly sealed tanks had decent conditions, housing rarer Water-types. These were worth more alive than dead.
"Look, there are a few Horsea too."
Sato pointed to two small blue seahorse Pokémon curled up in a corner, trembling, and spoke to Lance.
"A-Almost there. Just a little longer and you'll all be free…" Lance muttered, still trying to suppress his anger.
Compared to him, Sato remained much more composed.
Soon, noises from upstairs reached them, prompting Sato and Lance to quickly exit the basement.
"Officer Jenny of Vermilion City, reporting to Investigator Lance and Investigator Sato!"
With Ariados and the others guarding the entrance -and a Dragonite present- Jenny had no intention of barging in recklessly.
When she finally saw Lance and Sato emerge, Jenny quietly exhaled in relief and signaled her Arcanine to stand down.
"Officer Jenny, hello. This was a poaching gang specialized in marine Pokémon. Including their leader Furuta Renji, the entire group has been apprehended.
All evidence is in the basement. You can access it through the hole in the living room wall. The rest is in your hands."
Lance spoke crisply and decisively. Officer Jenny returned a salute in acknowledgment without hesitation.
Soon after, Jenny and her team got to work.
Confiscating Pokémon, detaining suspects, collecting evidence…
But before long, those officers collecting evidence came running back out, all with pale faces, some even throwing up violently by the flowerbed.
Only then did several officers sneak a glance at Lance and Sato, who both stood calmly nearby.
They'd obviously gone down to the basement too, but their composure far exceeded that of the seasoned field officers…
No wonder they were Investigators!
Seeing that Officer Jenny was now officially taking over, Sato and Lance's mission was effectively complete.
After saying their goodbyes, the two no longer held back and took to the sky -Lance on Dragonite, Sato on Honchkrow- heading for the Pokémon Center in Vermilion City.
After handing over their battle-worn Absol and Dragonair to Nurse Joy for treatment, they sat down together in the rest area.
"Alright, I've fulfilled my duty as your training officer. From here on out, you'll be handling and executing all your tasks alone. Got any last questions?"
Lance took a swig of soda, slightly hopeful that Sato would ask something!
But Sato just shook his head.
"Mmh… None."
"…You're sure you've got it all down!?"
"More or less," Sato replied casually; but truthfully, he'd memorized everything already.
"Alright then…"
Lance smacked his lips, suddenly feeling like his soda didn't taste sweet anymore…
Watching Lance disappear into the sky on his Dragonite, Sato looked around and realized!
This time, he was truly on his own.
Pop!
A flash of red light, Pikachu appeared, leaping onto Sato's shoulder in two quick hops and nuzzling his cheek affectionately.
"Mmh. You're all still here."
"Pika pi!"
"From now on, I'll be taking on missions solo… Hopefully I won't run into any of those people from before."
"Pika?"
"Of course you wouldn't know them. They were… old friends, from a long, long time ago…"
"Pika~"
Sato chuckled softly and gave Pikachu a pat before turning and heading back into the Pokémon Center, to his room.
He opened the League's internal network, logged into his account, and navigated to the Investigator interface. Soon, he pulled up the details of the mission he and Lance had just completed.
Although they hadn't faced particularly strong opponents, the cruel nature of the case had caused quite a stir.
And since this was also Sato's very first mission as an Independent Investigator, the mission log made special note of his participation.
Without lingering, Sato began browsing available assignments.
The Investigator intranet had a number of standard missions, scouting Team Rocket bases, arresting members of underground organizations and forces, and so on.
There were also high-level emergency orders; those typically assigned directly to specific individuals.
But as a newcomer with no track record, Sato had yet to be contacted for anything directly.
So for now, all he could do was actively search for his own tasks.
"No wonder it's called 'Independent' Investigator. It really is independent…" Sato said to himself with a wry smile, then expanded the entire Kanto Region map.
From what he remembered, Team Rocket's foothold in Vermilion City was nothing small…