[I already heard about it, you followed the trail and caught the next link under Furuta Renji. Sharp instincts!]
On the other end of the call, Lance didn't hesitate to give Sato a thumbs up.
"Still a long way to go. All I caught were just some grunts," Sato replied.
[Even getting the grunts is pretty good. These guys are slippery, you know, easy to beat, hard to catch,] Lance said, shaking his head as if recalling some unpleasant memory.
Sato pursed his lips and thought of his Ariados, Ral-Kir-Voir, and Gengar.
'Honestly… it didn't really seem that hard?'
Lance's trained eye for spotting criminals didn't miss the expression on Sato's face!
[You've been planning to become an Investigator for a while now, haven't you? Otherwise, how come every Pokémon you've caught is so perfect for arrest work?] Lance hit him with a direct [Soul-Piercing Question] move!
Sato blinked. Truth was, his past life job had basically been… "Underground Investigator."
Same purpose, finding targets through any means necessary. The only difference was: before, it was to kill. Now, it was to arrest.
"Heh! Just coincidence. Didn't you catch a 'Butterfree' to assist too?"
Sato could've left it there, but the moment he mentioned Butterfree, Lance's face visibly darkened…
[If Dragon-types had decent Support Pokémon, why would I use a Bug-type like Butterfree!?]
"…It's Flying-type too."
[SAAAATOOOOOOOO!]
Lance's eyes bulged, but his angry expression didn't scare Sato in the slightest!
In fact, he couldn't help but laugh out loud~
"Hahaha! Okay, okay… Bug-type it is, our esteemed Dragon Master-sama!"
[...…]
Lance's face turned pitch black. He didn't bother replying and just hung up the call on the spot.
Staring at the now-black screen, Sato couldn't help but laugh again~
He hadn't expected Lance to care so much about being called a Dragon or Flying Master Elite Four.
Still, the netizen who once suggested that Lance's official classification be changed from Dragon to Flying was seriously gutsy… 'Fufufu…'
If you hadn't posted it anonymously and deleted your account right after, who knows how many people would've hailed you as a "legend!"
Sato tapped the keyboard to wake the black screen, then reopened the files he had just received.
Since he'd already traced two rotten fruits back-to-back, Sato wanted to see who else might be secretly orchestrating this counterfeit Pokémon item operation.
But very quickly, Sato's brow furrowed.
"The… Oat Family? Mmm…? Wester's family?"
Speaking of Wester, Sato remembered that he had once provided Gengar with high-quality Ghost-type specialty food over a long period.
But as a Trainer, Wester himself didn't have much talent. What had once seemed like a massive Family to Sato now counted as a minor force at best.
Because of Wester, the Oat Family had invested heavily in Shadownight Town, and naturally reaped substantial profits.
But perhaps due to the complicated web of interests, their relationship had become increasingly distant.
And now, with the counterfeit operation highly likely tied to Wester's Family, Sato felt, for a brief moment, unwilling to dig any deeper.
He scrolled back to the top of the gathered intel and carefully reread it from the beginning.
The more he read, the deeper his frown became. The more he understood, the more questions he had.
This intel felt like a flawless onion. Each peeled layer revealed more beneath, and ultimately, though still somewhat hazy, it firmly pointed the finger at the Oat family as the orchestrators behind it all.
Practically perfect!
But… maybe too perfect.
Sato had received this intel from Maki, and based on her way of operating, she always kept strict confidentiality over the origin and destination of information. She also never involved herself in verifying the truth of it.
If you wanted to buy it, you did. If not, she didn't care.
So then, who would deliver this intel to Maki, accurately predict that Sato would purchase it, and construct such a flawless case? Sato already had a vague answer in mind.
"Trying to sow discord…? That's about as blatant a move as it gets."
Sato sneered coldly. Any old Family with a long lineage had some gray revenue streams; the Oat Family certainly wasn't squeaky clean.
But what he didn't believe was that, by randomly pulling one rotten fruit off the vine, he'd just so coincidentally stumble upon one of the very few people he actually called a friend.
When all the coincidences line up, it's no longer a coincidence!
Without further hesitation, Sato began packing his things and prepared to leave Vermilion City.
His destination: the current base of operations of the Oat family, Goldenrod City, in the Johto Region.
And almost as soon as Sato left, a certain Underground informant in Vermilion City relayed the news elsewhere in near real-time.
Inside a private gym, a burly man with short blond hair and muscles like boulders was doing crunches while listening to his subordinate report.
"Investigator Sato departed today at 11:20 a.m. via flight to Goldenrod City in the Johto Region. He left in a rush and appeared very anxious…"
The blond musclehead finished a set of crunches, gasping slightly before grinning smugly.
"Hah! Still young after all. That little breadcrumb was enough to lure him away. Send that intel to the League. Let everyone know about the Oat family's situation!
Oh! And make sure it 'casually' slips out that their precious Investigator Sato is already on the case."
"YES, SIR!"
Smack!
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME 'SIR'! And no saluting! Around here, you call me Leader!"
The muscular blond man suddenly roared in anger, slapping his subordinate on the head.
The subordinate staggered to the side a few steps, wobbling from the blow, but forced himself to stay upright. He bowed his head and corrected himself.
"Y-Yes, Gym Leader!"
"Mmh. Now go do your job and don't interrupt my training again!"
"Yes!"
---◓---
Elsewhere, Sato finally felt the sense of being watched fade away only after boarding the plane.
As expected, his investigation into the counterfeit Pokémon items had already attracted the attention of the real mastermind, and they were starting to act against him.
His anxious rush and worried demeanor? All part of the act.
As the drone of the aircraft's engines filled the cabin, Sato closed his eyes and carefully retraced the entire series of events in his mind, analyzing every detail.
Whoever knew Maki's identity and could redirect the trail toward the Oat family so quickly…
Had to be either a vast underground force like Team Rocket, or a local power in Vermilion City.
After thinking over the underground groups that had any real reputation in Vermilion City these past few years, only one or two could've pulled it off.
'There's one that's especially easy to confirm. Just right for a visit to Goldenrod Gym… see how Whitney and Howard are doing.'