"This is bad. I underestimated Ninetales' sense of smell."
Sato had been quietly observing the surroundings with his psychic power all along. The moment he saw Ninetales turn its head in his direction, he knew things were about to go wrong.
"Ninetales, burn that tree."
Courtney reacted quickly, and her methods were ruthless. She didn't care who was hiding in the tree—she simply ordered Ninetales to burn it down.
Ninetales obeyed Courtney without question. As soon as the command was given, the tips of her nine raised tails produced nine dark-blue fireballs, which shot one after another toward the tree where Sato was hiding.
The dark-blue flames burned at an extremely high temperature. In an instant, the entire tree became a gigantic torch.
At the same time, numerous Team Magma members surrounded the tree with their Pokémon.
However, much to Courtney's displeasure, the tree burned for quite some time without anyone appearing from the branches, nor did any screams of someone being burned emerge.
"What's going on? Did Ninetales make a mistake? No, Ninetales has never been wrong. That person must have escaped using some strange method. Listen up, everyone! Send out your Poochyena and Mightyena and have them use Odor Sleuth. That person has to be nearby!"
Though she found the situation odd, Courtney quickly dismissed the possibility that Ninetales had been mistaken and immediately ordered her subordinates to begin a search.
Her prestige within Team Magma was obviously very high. As soon as she spoke, the nearby members released their Poochyena and Mightyena and ordered them to use Odor Sleuth.
Meanwhile, Sato was already perched in another tree ten meters east of his original location.
The instant Ninetales attacked, he had used Teleport to escape and narrowly avoided disaster.
"Looks like hiding is no longer an option. This woman is truly ruthless—better to kill the wrong person than let one escape."
Using his psychic senses, Sato observed the growing number of Poochyena and Mightyena searching the area.
He knew there was no point trying to remain hidden any longer.
He would have to run.
"Come out, Starmie. Vibrava. You two are taking me out of here by air."
Without wasting a moment, Sato released Starmie and Vibrava, communicating through telepathy.
Upon hearing the order, Starmie flattened its body and used its telekinetic powers to hover in midair, allowing Sato to climb aboard.
Meanwhile, Vibrava grabbed onto Sato's back and used both its Levitate ability and rapidly beating wings to reduce as much of his weight as possible.
It was worth mentioning that Vibrava had been with Sato for over two weeks now.
During that time, Sato had successfully tamed it using more than a dozen Energy Sand Particles (used for creating Soft Sand) and had further won its loyalty with Dragon Blood Ginseng and Dragon Bone Fruit.
Those treasures truly lived up to their reputation as premium resources for raising young Dragon-type Pokémon.
After consuming only two stalks of Dragon Blood Ginseng, Vibrava had already shed its exoskeleton twice and grown noticeably larger.
According to the training notes given to him by Drake, Vibrava needed to molt at least thirty times before it could successfully evolve into Flygon naturally.
Under normal circumstances, it only molted once per year.
In other words, those two stalks of Dragon Blood Ginseng had effectively saved Vibrava two years of natural growth, leaving twenty-eight years until its normal evolution schedule.
Of course, Dragon Blood Ginseng and Dragon Bone Fruit couldn't be consumed too frequently.
If a young Dragon-type Pokémon ate too much at once, it could suffer indigestion or even harmful side effects.
The ideal frequency was once every week.
"Found him! He's over there!"
The moment Sato exposed himself, a sharp-eyed Team Magma member spotted him and immediately shouted.
"Catch him! Don't let him escape!"
Upon hearing the report, Courtney turned toward Sato. Her expression instantly turned cold as she issued the order.
The next second, several Team Magma elites released Swellow—the most common Flying-type Pokémon in Hoenn—and mounted them in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Starmie had already carried Sato into the air.
The three appendages on both its front and rear sections simultaneously pointed in the same direction and unleashed six high-pressure streams of water.
Using the tremendous recoil generated by the water jets, Starmie propelled itself forward at incredible speed.
In the blink of an eye, it had carried Sato dozens of meters away, leaving the pursuers far behind.
"This... this works?"
"Starmie can be used like that?"
"It can actually fly that fast?"
The Team Magma members who witnessed Starmie racing through the sky were completely dumbfounded.
However, Swellow were exceptionally capable flying Pokémon.
Their competitive nature could not tolerate being outpaced in the air by a Pokémon that wasn't even a Flying type.
Without needing instructions from their Trainers, they pushed themselves harder, using Agility and Tailwind to accelerate.
Although Starmie's unconventional flying method was extremely fast, it had an obvious flaw—its endurance was limited.
As the water stored inside its body gradually depleted, its speed began to decrease.
After carrying Sato more than a thousand meters, Starmie started running out of steam.
Its body even shrank noticeably from dehydration.
By then, the pursuing Team Magma elites had begun closing the distance.
"This distance should be enough. Heh, sometimes being unknown has its advantages. That woman thinks I'm just a minor grunt and only sent her subordinates after me."
Sato had long noticed Starmie reaching its limit.
Turning to look at the Team Magma elites chasing him, he smiled calmly.
Eventually, he had Starmie land in a patch of dense grass and quietly waited for his pursuers to arrive.
"Hehehe~. What's wrong, kid? Not running anymore? Surrender peacefully, or we won't be so polite."
"That's right. Though I'll admit, you've got some skill. Training a Starmie into a flying mount is pretty impressive—and fast, too."
"Stop wasting time talking. Tie him up already. Lady Courtney isn't known for her patience."
Soon, six Team Magma elites arrived overhead on their Swellow.
They formed a neat encirclement around Sato, looking down on him while taunting him from above.
"Everyone's here, right? Good. Then let's begin. Come out, Pikachu. Use Thunderbolt."
Sato paid no attention to their words.
After confirming there would be no more pursuers, he leisurely took out a PokeBall and looked up at the six Team Magma elites with a mocking smile.
The moment his words fell, Pikachu burst from the PokeBall.
An instant later, a bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky.
One of the Team Magma elites—the loudest and most arrogant among them—along with his Swellow, immediately rolled his eyes, his body turning pitch-black from electrocution as he plummeted from the sky.