Pokémon: Above the Top

Whoosh!

A vine suddenly lashed out from the ground, striking toward Sato. In a split second, he rolled sideways, narrowly dodging the attack!

It's him!

The powerful Power Whip, the stealthy ambush and precise attack angle, Sato recognized them instantly!

The next moment, a massive Arbok sprang from beside Mismagius, forcefully blocking Zoroark's attack!

Dead-Eyes!

Sato hadn't expected that for the third assassination attempt, the Ghost Ship Organization would actually send his former mentor!

Sure enough, a sharp bird cry suddenly pierced through the air. Two blue Air Slashes came cutting toward him. Sato had no choice but to roll out of the way again!

Above, Fearow hovered menacingly, locking eyes with Gengar, its old rival. And on its back... Dead-Eyes himself!

"Zoroark, Night Daze! Gengar, Clear Smog!"

"He's trying to escape!" The woman quickly realized, ordering Mismagius to use Mean Look!

A dense gray smog quickly engulfed the battlefield. Mismagius cast Mean Look, but by the time the smoke cleared, Sato and his Pokémon were gone!

"He entered the cave!"

"In there? But I didn't sense a thing…" The woman hesitated. There was no other entrance nearby.

"He definitely went inside. Even Natu couldn't locate him!" The burly man stroked Natu's small crest. "Leader, do we pursue?"

Dead-Eyes remained silent, gripping Fearow's back slightly before nodding.

"Into the cave!"

The three assassins quickly recalled their unnecessary Pokémon, leaving only Natu, Persian, Mismagius, and Dead-Eyes' Ice-type Pokémon: Sneasel!

The chase was on!

----

Once Sato spotted Fearow, escaping to the port town was no longer an option. Instead, he had to use the cave's complex structure to his advantage.

Riding on Sharpedo, Sato rushed through the tunnels at high speed. Eevee was already secured inside its Poké Ball, while Gengar followed closely behind, covering the rear.

After ten minutes of running, Sato stopped at a crossroad!

"Houndoom, leave prints on the left path. Sharpedo, splash some water in the middle path. Zoroark, mark the right path."

"Move 500 meters in, then Gengar, recall everyone into their Poké Balls."

Three minutes later, Gengar returned with the Poké Balls, while Sato silently doubled back, hiding in a small ice cave near the entrance to observe.

A few minutes later, the three assassins cautiously arrived at the intersection.

Looking at the three obvious sets of tracks, they knew it was a deliberate misdirection. But it worked!

They quickly recognized that two sets of prints belonged to Houndoom and Zoroark. And since Sharpedo had left water trails the whole way, that didn't mean Sato couldn't have switched to a different mount!

"It was intentional!"

"Should we split up?" The slender woman hesitated. Even together, they had struggled to capture Sato. Splitting up would be far too risky, they could be picked off one by one!

"You two take one path. I'll take another. If we find nothing, we regroup at the third path."

Dead-Eyes made a swift decision.

"Understood, leader!" The burly man didn't question it, immediately heading toward the right tunnel.

The woman hesitated, glancing at Dead-Eyes with an unreadable expression, then followed after the other assassin.

Once the two were gone, Dead-Eyes slowly turned back, scanning the area carefully. Then, without hesitation, he walked into the left tunnel.

Inside the ice cave, Sato frowned. Dead-Eyes' last glance around, had he already figured out what Sato was planning? And that look in his eyes... was he asking to meet him?

Right now, the best strategy would be to turn back and escape to the port town, leaving Seafoam Islands immediately.

"Tch…"

Sato let out a frustrated sigh. Then, he stepped out of the ice cave and headed straight into Dead-Eyes' tunnel.

---

After carefully navigating the narrow pathway, Sato finally spotted a figure ahead.

Dead-Eyes stood right in the middle of the tunnel, unmoving.

His expression remained unchanged, his lifeless eyes locked onto Sato, silent and unreadable.

Beside him, Sneasel quietly sharpened its claws, staring at Sharpedo with a provocative glint in its eyes.

"Why did you save me last time?"

Dead-Eyes' voice was as lifeless as his gaze, yet Sato found it strangely familiar.

"Save you? I just wanted to take all the credit for myself, but I overestimated my abilities and failed to keep you there," Sato replied with a smug smile.

"…"

However, the more Sato tried to cover it up, the more it confirmed Dead-Eyes' suspicions.

Sato had no idea what kind of conclusions Dead-Eyes was drawing in his mind. He only wanted him to back off voluntarily.

It didn't matter how, if another fight was necessary, so be it.

"The next time you encounter an assassin, don't hesitate. Even if they might have helped you before."

With those words, Dead-Eyes walked past Sato without another word, leaving without a second thought.

What?

Sato stood frozen.

What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was he…?!

Impossible!

Sato fell into deep confusion.

He watched as Dead-Eyes disappeared down the tunnel, unable to make any sense of what had just happened.

It wasn't until Gengar tugged at his sleeve and pointed behind him that he snapped out of his daze.

They're back already? That was fast!

Sato wasted no time. He dashed deeper into the cave.

With Dead-Eyes clearly not interested in killing him, the other two were no longer a real threat. He could stall them for now.

If he killed them, however, it would leave Dead-Eyes as the only survivor; which would be difficult to explain.

Besides, if Sato had already eliminated two of them, the next batch of assassins from Ghost Ship would likely be far beyond his ability to handle.

And just like that, this assassination attempt ended abruptly, fizzling out into nothing.

In the complex network of tunnels, finding someone was no easy task. Especially with a traitor actively covering his escape.

Sato wasn't too worried.

Assassination after assassination… at some point, you just get used to it.

For now, it was time to focus on finding Sneasel!

---

As he ventured deeper, more Pokémon began to appear before him; Seel and Shellder were by far the most common.

Occasionally, he spotted a few Swinub and Delibird, but they would quickly scurry away.

As for Sneasel, he had spent an entire day searching and had only found two.

But neither had the talent he was looking for. They didn't meet his standards for capture.

The thing about searching for Pokémon was that: It was hard at the start, hard in the middle, and hard at the end.

Sneasel's rarity was far beyond what Sato had expected!

Day two, day three, day four…

A week passed.

In all that time, he had only encountered a dozen Sneasel, and not a single one was worthy of his team!

"Guess I'll check the outer mountain."

With that decision, Sato prepared to brave the relentless blizzards of the outer peaks, hoping to finally find the Sneasel he was looking for.