Duang~
A dull crashing sound rang out abruptly, and the entire body of Skarmory looked like it had caved in a little.
Carr clung to Skarmory like he'd seen a ghost, terrified that he might fall from the sky the very next second!
At this moment, Sato had already flown close riding on Hydreigon, his face expressionless as he stared at Carr.
"You can't escape."
"SKARMORY, CHANGE DIRECTION!"
Carr ignored Sato, speaking directly to Skarmory instead.
Thud!
They had flown barely two meters when Skarmory slammed into the transparent wall again. Because it was too close and hadn't picked up speed, it was just a light bump this time.
But Carr didn't feel relieved at all. Instead, he ordered again, "Use Steel Wing and slice open that wall ahead!"
"SKREEE!"
Skarmory shrieked sharply, then swung its wings fiercely!
…But this time, it didn't hit anything, the Steel Wing slicing through empty air effortlessly.
Seeing this, Skarmory immediately darted forward!
…Only to thud into something again!
"..."
"I told you… you can't escape."
Sato stood silently to the side, watching like he was looking at an idiot.
Carr's face turned dark as he hissed, "Can't you just leave a way out…?"
Sato didn't even blink, completely ignoring the meaningless plea.
"When a person sees no hope of survival, he'll fight with everything he has…" Carr spoke as if to Sato, but also like he was convincing himself.
The next moment, Carr had already reached his right hand toward his battle belt.
'Hm…?'
Carr's brow furrowed, he realized he couldn't move!
"Gen~"
Next to Sato, Gengar was sitting cross-legged on a Spatial Barrier, as if resting in midair.
After giving a solemn nod to Carr, Carr finally saw the faint purple glow floating over Gengar's golden eyes.
Psychic!
As expected, he had been immobilized by Psychic.
Then, Gengar lifted its hand, and the Poké Balls on Carr's belt floated up lightly, each one quietly drifting into a separate space conjured by Gengar.
"NOOOO!"
Carr finally panicked.
For the vast majority of Trainers, once their Pokémon are taken, they're powerless, only able to [Trainer Move: Scratch] at best.
Carr himself wasn't weak. It was just unfortunate that the two Pokémon he had sent out were both 4x weak to Fire-types, and he had been overwhelmed.
If he had chosen to keep fighting Sato head-on, he could've lasted a few hundred rounds at least! Maybe even long enough for Team Rocket's reinforcements to arrive.
But by trying to flee, he gave Sato the perfect excuse. After all, Skarmory wasn't exactly known for its speed among Flying-types.
Now that Sato had snatched the rest of Carr's Pokémon, his chances of escape had vanished completely.
"AREN'T YOU A LEAGUE INVESTIGATOR!? How can you shamelessly steal another person's Pokémon like this!" Carr roared furiously!
But what he said only made Sato burst out laughing.
"Hah~ So you do know stealing Pokémon is shameless. Team Rocket really is quite self-aware!"
Sato gave a mocking thumbs-up, then had Gengar seal Carr's mouth as well, turned around, and flew back toward the battlefield.
As for that Skarmory, it had already been intercepted by the incoming Honchkrow supporting Sato.
Sato didn't believe for a second that Honchkrow, which surpassed Skarmory in every aspect, would lose to it.
What he needed to do now was personally escort Carr back to the battlefield, in front of all the remaining Team Rocket members still fighting.
'Your base commander has already been captured alive by me. What are you still resisting for?'
---◓---
Sure enough, when Carr's was dragged back by Sato, the few Team Rocket members still holding out gave up as well.
More of them were frantically trying to flee, but breaking through the League's already-established perimeter was no easy task.
Half an hour later, Team Rocket's Base A-12 was officially taken over by the Pokémon League, and Sato, as the commanding officer of this operation, freely explored the base.
"So some of them still escaped after all? Sigh…"
Sato found the destroyed escape tunnel and stared at the collapsed opening in front of him, shaking his head helplessly.
This was, after all, a Team Rocket underground base; how could they not have set up foolproof escape routes?
To Team Rocket, the combat units sent to face the League at this point were already cannon fodder by design. Their purpose was to give time for researchers, valuable documents, and Items to retreat in advance.
As for rank-and-file grunts, as long as economic disparity remained in the Kanto region, there would always be countless desperate people flocking to Team Rocket.
Lose some? No problem. With a breeze in spring, a fresh wave would sprout.
As for Carr, the base's commander, he was naturally supposed to serve as the top-tier combat support for the evacuation. But because his Pokémon were heavily countered by Sato's, he accidentally ended up dragging himself down with them…
"Whatever. Capturing one of the Three Beasts alive is still a solid win. The League should reward me with something good for this." Sato shrugged, appearing indifferent.
He didn't have Mark's kind of luck, so he would just earn his treasures one step at a time through strength!
"Toto! Toto! Hurry up, come here! I found something good~"
Suddenly, Ralts's excited voice echoed in Sato's mind, and the next moment, his body was wrapped in a familiar Psychic force, he vanished on the spot.
A flash of white light, and Ralts had summoned -cough- used Teleport to bring him over.
Sato was stunned for a split second, but then something in Ralts's hands immediately caught his attention!
At first glance, it looked like a floating white water droplet, faintly glowing…
But after Sato stared at it for two seconds, he suddenly saw the droplet transform into a tiny transparent Blastoise.
Blastoise first let out a roar, then lowered its body and blasted two powerful Hydro Pump.
The next moment, the transparent Blastoise shattered and reverted back into a droplet. But then transformed again into a Magikarp, flopping cluelessly in place with Splash.
Next, the droplet morphed into Tentacruel, Kingdra, Golduck, Politoed… a wide variety of Water-type Pokémon.
Until suddenly, Sato felt a wave of dizziness in his head!
He shook it off and looked again.
In Ralts's hands was still the same faintly glowing water droplet.
"Let me think… let me think… I remember seeing this in one of Drake's old books…"
Sato furrowed his brow, trying hard to recall… until a sudden flash of inspiration lit up in his mind!
"This is…"
"Miragewater Orb, Toto, how could you not know about this!?"
"..."
Sato opened his mouth but closed it again, looking at the sly and proud glint in Ralts's eyes under its bangs. He couldn't help but laugh helplessly.
"You… Little… L-Loli!"
Ralts giggled cheerfully, completely unbothered if Sato got mad. Then it held out the Miragewater Orb to him.
"Here, take it!"
"Eh… You're just giving it to me like that?"
Sato was surprised. Back when Ralts found the Nightmare Orb, it hadn't handed it over so easily.
"I can't use it anyway. Give it to Shasha or Zozo. Both of them can absorb it."
"Shasha, Zozo…"
Sato couldn't help but feel exasperated at the nicknames Ralts had given his partners.
Still… 'Should the Miragewater Orb go to Sharpedo or Zoroark?'
"If I remember right, the Miragewater Orb creates semi-real illusions. Once a Pokémon absorbs it, it can generate clones of varying strength based on its own understanding of illusions, right?"
"That's about right! So even though Zozo isn't a Water-type, he really gets illusions. You should try giving it to it!"
"And for Shash- I mean, Sharpedo… would the benefits be significant if it absorbed the Miragewater Orb?" Sato corrected himself mid-sentence.
"In the best-case scenario, it might create a semi-corporeal little Sharpedo to fight alongside it. But since it's only semi-corporeal, it can only use Special Attack moves."
After Ralts finished, Sato had already made up his mind.
The Miragewater Orb could indeed be used by Sharpedo, but a semi-corporeal Sharpedo-chan~ wouldn't align well with its usual combat style. It wouldn't have that 'greater than the sum of its parts' effect.
On the other hand, Zoroark already had a deep grasp of illusions, and this Miragewater Orb might just help it break through the barrier that prevents Zoroark from further developing its Illusion Ability.
Thinking that, Sato didn't hesitate any longer. He immediately called Zoroark on the spot and handed it the Miragewater Orb.
"Zoro…?"
Zoroark tilted its head, then instinctively looked toward the Miragewater Orb.
And the moment it did, its eyes locked onto it, unmoving.
Seeing that, Sato grew even more excited and smiled. "The Miragewater Orb is yours. Absorb it well, and gain all you can from it."
"Zoroa! Zoro~"
Zoroark nodded enthusiastically, then carefully accepted the Miragewater Orb from Sato's hands.
"Zozo~ I was the one who found the Miragewater Orb for you, you know!"
From the side, Ralts instantly Teleported onto Sato's shoulder, making sure it was noticed.
"Zoro!"
Zoroark chuckled and thanked Ralts immediately. It was already used to the nickname "Zozo" by now.
After returning Zoroark -who was busy absorbing the Miragewater Orb- into its Poké Ball, Sato, with Ralts and Gengar, meticulously searched the area again.
Unfortunately, they didn't find any other treasure that caught their interest…
'Good thing the attack came as a surprise. Otherwise, Team Rocket wouldn't have left behind such a precious Item~'
Sato thought to himself as he exited the base.
---◓---
At the same time, news of Sato's successful takedown of Team Rocket's A-12 underground base spread quickly throughout the League.
Some were amazed, some skeptical, some dismissive, and some curious… but they all knew one thing: Investigator Sato was not someone to mess with!
It wasn't until a full week later that the League publicly announced the operation led by Sato and the League Trainers to take down one of Team Rocket's major bases.
In an instant, Sato's reputation and popularity skyrocketed who knows how many times!
Previously, Sato was just the champion of the Ace Tournament, which merely meant he was strong… But now, he had put that strength to use in protecting the people and fighting against the Underground Organizations!
Naturally, public recognition of him skyrocketed as well.
At this point, Sato was becoming more and more like Fly… ahem… Dragon Master Lance!
A rising national idol~
The general public rejoiced!
The League was in high spirits!
But the Underground Organizations and forces in the Kanto region were far from happy…
One Lance had already made their lives miserable, and now a second Lance lookalike seemed to be emerging right before their eyes… how could they just sit back and do nothing!?
"Put a bounty on his head. Send the Ghost Ship and Thorn Hall assassins! Take him out before he fully becomes an E4 lvl Trainer!"
In the end, the leaders of the Underground Organizations reached a tacit agreement: they had to eliminate Sato before he matured completely!
The two most notorious assassin groups among the Underground -Ghost Ship and Thorn Hall- both received the bounty order simultaneously.
And suddenly, every shark that smelled blood had its eyes locked on Sato…
---◓---
Sato was still staying in Vermilion City; not because he didn't want to leave, but because someone had asked him to stay.
[The Underground Organizations have officially placed a bounty on you. In their eyes, you're the second Lance, so your bounty is even higher than that of an average Elite Four Trainer.
Don't leave Vermilion City for now. We'll send reinforcements to protect you. I'll also have someone watch over your companions in Shadownight Town to ensure they're safe.]
Charles Goodshow personally called Sato and said this to him in a serious tone.
"…President, I can't hide forever. To me, these people are a source of motivation."
In his previous life, Sato had been an assassin himself. He'd seen all kinds of hits!
While he couldn't claim he'd walk away from everything unscathed…
He was confident he could at least keep his own life intact.
And if his life wasn't at risk… why not kill a few of them and make the rest tremble in fear, scared to come again~?
[RECKLESS!]
Charles Goodshow didn't know about Sato's background in this area, so to him, Sato just seemed cocky after a big win.
Still, worried that Sato might be emotionally unstable right now, he quickly softened his tone and earnestly tried to persuade him.
[Don't act tough… You still need time to grow. Right now, the entire League is your solid backing...]
Sato pursed his lips, thinking, 'Yeah… not really.'
---◓---
In the end, Sato remained in Vermilion City for the time being. Thanks to Nurse Joy's "gentle yet firm persuasion," he even limited his activity range to the Pokémon Center.
"You're the League's precious gem now. I can't just let you run around. Be good and stay put, okay~? Whatever you want to eat or play with, just tell nee-chan~"
Nurse Joy spoke to him like she was coaxing a child, and Sato had no idea how to respond…
'I'm the champion of the Ace Tournament… The brightest rising star among Independent Investigators!
…Do I not deserve any dignity!?'
Sato angrily bit into the dango Nurse Joy had bought for him!
…It was actually pretty good…
The next day, a refined woman in a suit-skirt combo and black-rimmed glasses walked into the Pokémon Center in Vermilion City.
"You're here~ Sato's resting in his room. I'll take you to him," Nurse Joy greeted her warmly, clearly already acquainted.
The woman smiled and nodded, and very quickly, Nurse Joy led her to the door of Sato's room.
Knock knock knock…