Pokémon: Above the Top

The Forest of Shadows was the territory of the giant Honchkrow, and its dominance was ensured by the tens of thousands of Murkrow under its command.

If this "force" were ever used to invade Shadownight Town, the town would have almost no means of resistance; even if Sato were there, it would be the same.

Fortunately, Sato had "accidentally" caught the little Murkrow and had gone to great lengths to maintain that relationship.

In addition to regularly offering gifts and lending a hand, even though the giant Honchkrow didn't seem too fond of Sato on the surface, it had already come to regard him as a friend.

The Forest of Shadows was vast, but the giant Honchkrow knew it inside and out. Sato only had to mention two keywords -"coast" and "lighthouse"- and it immediately knew where he wanted to go.

After flying for over an hour, Olivine City finally came into view, with the lighthouse on the coast standing as the best proof of its identity.

"Fly left along the coast, and slow down," Sato patted Honchkrow and leaned in to speak.

"Krow!"

Honchkrow nodded, tilted its body, and curved along the outskirts of Olivine City, heading toward the coastline.

Flying straight into a city was out of the question. The sudden intrusion of a Totem Pokémon would immediately trigger a city-wide alert, and with the slightest mishap, it could be classified as a major Pokémon attack incident.

"Fly lower," Sato ordered again. Honchkrow let out two grumbling cries but still obediently lowered its altitude.

Team Rocket was extremely well-funded, so they had established numerous Research Camps across both the Kanto and Johto Regions. As long as they had money, they loved experimenting with things beyond human limits.

In his past life, Sato had heard that Team Rocket had actually succeeded in creating a Pokémon on par with a super-legendary. But they lost control of it, which led to the exposure of their Rocket Hideout in Viridian City.

Who would have thought that the strongest Gym Leader in the Kanto Region at the time, Giovanni, was actually the leader of Team Rocket, the most powerful underground organization?

Once that was exposed, the League's reputation took a massive hit. Enraged, they launched the most intense purging operation in history to win back public trust.

The scope was enormous, and the crackdown was severe. Underground forces were struck with fear and retreated across the board.

Team Rocket's influence shrank again. The hideouts and camps that remained undiscovered went into hibernation, halting any activity that might risk exposure.

Soon after, Team Aqua and Team Magma -who were just beginning to gain strength in the Hoenn Region- were destroyed. Then Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos... one after another, not a single ringleader escaped.

Of course, in the present timeline, Team Aqua and Team Magma had already been preemptively crippled by Sato. But whether other underground factions would rise up later… was hard to say.

"Found it…" Sato was immersed in memories of his past life, but his eyes stayed locked on his search for the secret base.

A crescent-shaped bay appeared before him. It looked completely unremarkable, yet hidden within this location was an extremely important Team Rocket base…

The Lugia Research Camp.

This intel was something Sato had learned in his previous life, and he had never used it until now because he didn't want Team Rocket to constantly keep an eye on him.

However, sometimes staying out of trouble wasn't enough… especially now that he had officially become a Gym Leader of the League, making conflict with Team Rocket unavoidable.

"Wait for me here," Sato instructed Honchkrow to land on the coast and jumped down alone.

"Krow!"

Honchkrow flapped its wings and soared high into the sky, being airborne was where it felt safest. As for helping Sato fight, its size was too large to maneuver inside a base like that.

"Ralts, evolve." Sato stood on the beach and gave the command calmly, while also tossing out the Poké Balls for Zoroark and Houndoom.

"Zoroark, 'Dark Energy: Energy Amplification'. Houndoom, Mega Evolve."

In less than a moment, Sato was surrounded by one Elite Four and two Pseudo-Elite Four-level Pokémon.

"Gengar, go scout that mountainside over there. Once you find the entrance, just smash it open."

"Geng~"

Gengar floated off toward the mountain near the beach, vanishing from Sato's sight in the blink of an eye.

---

Sato, with his three Pokémon, walked toward that direction at an unhurried pace. Meanwhile, inside the Team Rocket hideout, most of the members were still fast asleep in bed, dreaming away.

Then…

BOOM!

A loud explosion rang out. The base's alarm began blaring non-stop, and everyone scrambled up in panic, having no clue what had just happened.

Sato looked at the massive hole Gengar had blown open and was quite pleased. Since the base was going to be destroyed anyway, making a bold move had an even stronger intimidation effect.

"Don't hold back, destroy everything!" Sato straddled Houndoom's back and continued issuing commands, while also pulling out the communicator distributed by the League.

Beep~beep~beep~ "This is Sato, Leader of Shadownight Gym in Shadownight Town, Johto Region. Is anyone there?"

"Hello, please proceed!" came a clean and concise reply from the other end.

"There is a large-scale Team Rocket base located on the western coast of Olivine City. I've already been detected and require support." Sato quickly adjusted his tone and reported.

"Understood. We are contacting the Olivine City security forces. Please hold out until reinforcements arrive!"

"Please hurry. The facility might be conducting research on the Legendary Pokémon Lugia. If you're late, the related data could be completely destroyed," Sato warned in advance, to avoid blame later.

"Understood. I will report this immediately!"

After that, Sato hung up. By now, Team Rocket's grunts had already swarmed over.

"Houndoom, Heat Wave. Zoroark, Night Daze. Gardevoir, Psychic."

The three Pokémon attacked simultaneously, and these low-level Team Rocket grunts had no way of resisting. Under Gardevoir's control, they couldn't even call for backup before collapsing.

"Advance at full speed." Sato didn't expect to gain anything from the base. The so-called Legendary data meant nothing to him.

---

While Sato was tearing through the Team Rocket hideout with unstoppable force, on the other side, Voya quickly received news of the attack and her eyes were filled with disbelief.

…But then she remembered how even Ariana had suffered a defeat at his hands over half a year ago. Taking down one base didn't seem that impossible anymore.

'SATO'S A LUNATIC!' Voya's hands were trembling. The Shadownight Town hideout was under her jurisdiction, and now Sato had made good on the threats he'd thrown at her.

There were quite a few subordinates around her just now, so there was no way to keep this quiet. In fact, it would have to be reported immediately.

Voya pulled out her communicator and was just about to dial when Ariana's incoming call popped up on the screen.

"Huff~ Lady Ariana..."

"The top combat power at the Olivine City base is Poison Star Hunter and Gale Star Hunter. They're no match for Sato. I've already ordered them to retreat. You better hope they make it out, otherwise…"