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Right now, Sato had eight Pokémon on him: Crobat, Bellossom, Swampert, Ditto, Growlithe, Pichu, Meowth, and Arbok. Including the Shiny Beautifly that was about to be transferred over, that would make nine Pokémon in total.
Which meant he had to quickly deal with Pichu, Meowth, and Arbok somehow.
There was no doubt—Pichu was going to be entrusted to the gorgeous and reliable Elsa.
In fact, Pichu, who naturally had a fondness for beautiful creatures, was quite taken with Elsa. He didn't mind at all being temporarily left in her care.
As for Meowth and Arbok… now that was a headache. Meowth had, without a doubt, landed himself squarely on Elsa's blacklist. There was no way he could be left with her again.
And Arbok? That terrifying, venomous serpent didn't even need discussion. His danger and trouble levels far surpassed Meowth's. The idea of dumping him on Elsa made even Sato feel like it was crossing a line.
With no better option, Sato finally decided to temporarily house Meowth and Arbok at the most reputable and best-rated Pokémon daycare center in Cinnabar.
"Meowth might have a few quirks, but nothing major. As for Arbok—you really, really need to be careful with him. His temper isn't exactly mild. Both Pokémon need to follow the daily schedule exactly as written, and also—"
Before leaving, Sato gave the daycare caretaker endless instructions. He talked for over half an hour before finally leaving, still looking quite anxious.
But since Sato had just dropped a hefty deposit of 2 million PokéDollars in care and service fees, the male caretaker was nothing if not enthusiastic.
Though overwhelmed by Sato's barrage of instructions, the man still took out a small notebook and carefully jotted everything down in detail.
And as it turned out, he would be very grateful for that notebook in the days to come—those notes were practically a matter of life and death.
Once the arrangements for Pichu, Meowth, and Arbok were complete, Sato released Crobat and had him fly toward the harbor.
When it came to professional medical advice, Sato knew better than to ignore it. Growlithe's condition was a bit unique, so he wasn't going to let it battle again for the next 12 hours.
But that didn't mean preparations for the second stage of the Rookie Competition could come to a halt.
According to Maya's explanation, Team Rocket would temporarily store all belongings of the participants during the match, and each contestant would be given a designated storage bag, a set of equipment, and limited supplies.
In other words, players weren't allowed to bring their own items into the tournament.
Well—not entirely. Contestants could bring in a few personal items.
After all, wealth was a kind of power. Completely banning "pay-to-win" strategies would be unfair to some very well-funded participants.
And such a ban would undoubtedly spark outrage among the elite second-gens and Team Rocket's core circle of trainers.
However, the items contestants could bring in didn't include standard supplies, spatial gear, or high-damage tools. And whatever they brought had to fit within the tournament's designated bag.
(Note: The tournament-issued spatial bag has a maximum volume of only 2 cubic meters—very small.)
Yes, this rule significantly nerfed "pay-to-win" tactics, drastically lowering the overall power level of wealthy players.
But there was still room to work around it. With enough money, you could stuff some very nice things into that tiny 2-cubic-meter space.
Cinnabar Island was a technological hub in the Kanto region, ranking high in scientific advancement across the Pokémon world. It was also heavily influenced by capital forces, which meant you could always find some rare, high-end tech here that you wouldn't see anywhere else.
Of course, if you went through official channels, outsiders had little chance of acquiring those high-end items from the tech centers. You might even get caught.
So if you wanted to get your hands on the good stuff from Cinnabar's tech labs, you had to go through… special channels.
Unfortunately, the only real downside to these "special channels" was the sky-high price tags.
Yes, the special channels were none other than the black market.
Cinnabar Island's black market was massive—and thriving.
Its prosperity was largely thanks to the many mad scientists in the region. Most of the materials they needed for their secret experiments were banned by the Pokémon League, so the black market was their only option.
In return, these perpetually broke (or bald) mad scientists would occasionally sell off the fruits of their experiments.
This twisted kind of mutual benefit was one of the main reasons why the Cinnabar black market thrived.
Sato, with a current liquid net worth of over 300 million PokéDollars, was absolutely a "pay-to-win" participant in this rookie tournament—and among the top tier, no less.
So, in order to make the most of his financial advantage and secure maximum benefits in the tournament, Sato was about to enter full-on shopping mode tonight.
Money had to be spent to turn into actual power. If he didn't use it now, his wealth would just be a bunch of useless numbers for the next three weeks of the island tournament.
Cinnabar's black market was located at the harbor—specifically, on an enormous luxury cruise ship docked at the pier.
Whenever the market opened, the ship would sail a bit offshore to evade prying eyes and dodge Pokémon League patrols.
Once Sato arrived at the docks, he quickly and skillfully found a broker selling tickets to the black market cruise.
Inside one of the small boats docked at the port—heavily guarded by bodyguards at every passage—Sato now sat in a well-lit cabin, negotiating with a chubby, good-natured-looking man.
"Will there be good stuff tonight? I mean the kind with serious tech behind it. And if so, where should I go to buy it?"
Wearing a human-skin mask crafted by Ditto, Sato smiled as he handed over 100,000 PokéDollars in cash for a ticket to the black market cruise.
Then, he casually placed another stack of cash—worth another 100,000—on the table.
The chubby broker squinted at him, silent, staring.
That silence made a few of the muscular guards in the room shift forward slightly, eyes locked on Sato like hawks.
Then, finally, when Sato placed a rare gold coin—worth at least 500,000 PokéDollars—on the table, the broker's eyes lit up, and he grinned.
"Of course, you're in luck tonight. A batch of premium goods just arrived on board. The deals are happening on the top floor. When you get there, just tell the staff the word 'Fatty'—they'll take you to the right room."
As he spoke, the chubby broker nonchalantly swept both the stack of cash and the gold coin off the table and into his own pocket.