Pokémon: Above the Top

Ariana hung up the call before finishing her sentence, but Voya understood the implication… if the two Star Hunters didn't escape, not even Ariana could protect her.

"Sato, were you sent by Arceus to punish me…?" Voya put down the communicator, her heart sinking into cold despair.

Back to the scene, the entire secret base was in chaos. Faced with Sato's sudden assault, aside from the initial wave of resistance, the rest had simply given up.

Everyone was fleeing in a panic.

'The response is fast… it seems there's no combat strength above Admin level in this base. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given up so easily.'

Sato thought to himself, but he didn't slow down. Since no one was coming out, he'd go in and find them himself. Every base should at least have a combat supervisor and a research supervisor.

Only by capturing them could he make Team Rocket feel a bit of pain.

"Speed it up. Gardevoir, just knock them all out. Houndoom, Zoroark, take care of any resisting Pokémon."

In less than twenty minutes, Sato had gone through the entire base. Everyone he encountered, he knocked out without hesitation.

If he saw someone dressed slightly differently, Sato would grab them and interrogate them directly. Several escape routes were revealed this way.

'Do I have to rely on luck? If only Mark were here…' After questioning, Sato casually tossed the person aside and muttered to himself.

"Awoo~?" Houndoom, still in Mega Evolution, was itching for a fight with a stronger Trainer, and couldn't help but urge Sato to decide which direction to pursue.

"No rush. In terms of success rate, escaping into the forest is most likely, but heading toward Olivine City would allow them to go into hiding much faster." After thinking it over, Sato didn't hesitate to choose the escape route leading toward Olivine City.

At that moment, Officer Jenny in Olivine City had already dispatched most of the police force, driving along the western coast in search.

"The Gym Leader of Shadownight Town… what's he doing here in Olivine City, and how did he even discover a Team Rocket base?"

Officer Jenny's car was at the front, and in the passenger seat sat Tetsuya, the "actual" Gym Leader of Olivine City, his tone tinged with anger and embarrassment.

Sato wasn't even a special investigator. This kind of cross-border strike against underground forces… wasn't that a bit disrespectful to him?

Officer Jenny glanced at Tetsuya but said nothing. No one would be in a good mood after being abruptly woken up in the middle of the night, but she didn't feel like entertaining Tetsuya's frustration either.

He couldn't handle things himself and now blamed someone who actually stepped in to help. If it weren't for Tetsuya's family tightly controlling most of Olivine City's maritime transport industry, he wouldn't even be sitting so comfortably as a Gym Leader.

"Fire over there!"

Suddenly, Tetsuya pointed to the coastline and shouted. A huge blaze had erupted, clearly visible even from afar.

"High alert! Prepare for battle!" Officer Jenny shouted into the communicator and instantly stepped on the gas, drifting sharply until they arrived at the cave entrance Gengar had blasted open.

Thump… Thump… Thump...

A rapid succession of Poké Balls opening echoed as the cave entrance was suddenly swarmed by Growlithe, Noctowl, and other Pokémon.

Tetsuya also sent out his Magneton and Ampharos, nervously watching the smoke-filled entrance.

"Everyone, once inside, do not engage! Find the Shadownight Gym Leader Sato and ensure his safety!" At Officer Jenny's command, she was the first to charge in.

Tetsuya hesitated slightly. Seeing so many people had already rushed in, he finally seemed to react, shouting and scrambling inside.

"Where are the enemies?!" Tetsuya shouted loudly, only to find everyone around him staring at him with odd expressions.

'Huh? Do I have something dirty on my face?' Tetsuya instinctively touched his face, then couldn't help but glance around.

"Wha… what… why is everyone already down? Where are the enemies?"

"We really underestimated him. They said we came to provide backup, but it's more like we're just here to clean up the aftermath," Officer Jenny said faintly.

"I'll check ahead. You all clean up here and bring everyone back," Officer Jenny rode off on her Arcanine without looking back, leaving Tetsuya and the others standing there awkwardly.

"Haha, well… I forgot to bring a ride Pokémon, so there's no way I can catch up now. I'll help you tie them up," Tetsuya said without the slightest embarrassment and walked straight over to the unconscious Team Rocket members.

The farther Officer Jenny rode Arcanine into the base, the more shocked she became. The entire base was dead silent, and the ground was littered with people.

If she hadn't specifically checked to confirm they were all still breathing, she would've been more than just shocked by Sato.

---

Elsewhere, Sato looked at the three Team Rocket members before him, flashing a smile that made the trio tremble with fear.

In the escape tunnel leading to Olivine City, Sato had intercepted the much younger-looking Poison Star Hunter, Gale Star Hunter, and a chubby researcher. Clearly, anyone being escorted by two Star Hunters had to be one of the core figures.

"Guess it's just your bad luck… Gardevoir!" Sato grinned as he spoke.

"Muk, Snarl!"

"Scyther, X-Scissor!"

Anyone who could become a Star Hunter wouldn't sit still in the face of danger. And Poison Star Hunter, as the strongest of them, was the first to reach Pseudo-Elite Four strength.

But Poison Star Hunter specialized in Poison-types...

Even a Pseudo-Elite Four Muk was no match for Gardevoir… and Scyther was even worse.

To avoid complications, Sato simply had Zoroark and Houndoom join in to end the fight as quickly as possible.

In less than three minutes, after the two had used up all their Protect, Substitute, and other survival moves, they could only fall unconscious under Gardevoir's psychic power in despair.

With no enemies left, Gardevoir instantly reverted to Ralts, lying on Sato's shoulder with eyes closed, resting.

Sato gradually realized that evolving into Gardevoir consumed a lot of energy. Every time a battle ended, Ralts would fall into a deep sleep for a long time.

'I can't let it evolve so easily next time,' Sato thought to himself, though seeing that Olivine City's reinforcements still hadn't arrived, he couldn't help but complain.

So slow!

After stripping the three of everything they had, Sato instructed Zoroark to carry them and began heading back.

This time, just as Sato returned to the base, he ran into Officer Jenny. Both paused for a moment, but clearly recognized each other, avoiding any awkwardness.

"These two…" Even though Officer Jenny had mentally prepared herself, she now had a much deeper understanding of Sato's strength.

"They're all yours. That researcher should be pretty important, he's the only one the Star Hunters tried to escape with."

With a wave, Sato had Zoroark casually toss the man to the ground, making Officer Jenny twitch at the sight.