Pokémon: Above the Top-Chapter 238: Wager Battle

"Mega Stone for Tyranitar, huh?" Lance frowned visibly after hearing Sato's request. It wasn't that he didn't want to help... he just didn't have one.

"Just keep an eye out for me. Mega Evolution Stones for Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon are obviously rarer and more valuable. I'll trade something of equal value when the time comes."

If even the Joy family couldn't give one to Sato for free, there was no way the Dragon Clan, whose influence was limited to Kanto and Johto, would. And they didn't have one either.

"Alright, if I get my hands on one, I'll prioritize it for you. But even among Mega Stones, there's a difference in value."

Lance gave his word without hesitation but still couldn't help reminding him.

Was Camerupt's Mega Evolution Stone really equivalent to Tyranitar's?

"Don't worry, Lance. I won't let your side down," Sato said, smiling as he lifted the Pichu that had climbed onto his head.

"Alright, that's that," Lance nodded, he didn't even ask what Sato intended to trade. Sato had said "your side," clearly referring to the whole Dragon Clan, not just Lance himself, so there was nothing more to worry about.

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After ending the call, Sato played with Pichu for a moment, then pulled out a worn-out notebook filled with notes, ready to update his Pokémon's training plans.

Knock knock knock!

"Sato, something's wrong!"

Joseph's urgent voice came from outside the door. Sato paused, stood up, and quickly opened the door.

"What happened?"

Outside the door, aside from Joseph, there was a panting male nurse trailing behind him.

"Miss Joy said one of your companions is in danger and told me to come notify you as fast as possible," the nurse said between gasps.

Sato recognized him as one of Nurse Joy's trusted assistants. His identity wasn't in question.

'It's probably Mark. He said earlier he was going out for a walk.'

"Where is he?" Sato nodded, then turned to the nurse.

"The battlefield in the back courtyard."

"Alright, let's go." Sato stuffed the notebook into his bag and turned around.

"Running will take too long. Kirlia, use Teleport!"

Joseph had already instructed Kirlia to be on standby. Seeing that Sato was ready, he grabbed him and disappeared in an instant, leaving the confused nurse behind.

Sato only saw a flash of white light, and in the next moment, he and Joseph were already at the battlefield behind the Pokémon Center, which was now surrounded by a crowd.

Their arrival through Teleport placed them at the back of the crowd, avoiding too much attention.

Just as they landed, a mocking voice echoed from within the crowd.

"Hey kid, still want to keep going? You've already lost twice. If you give up now, both Arbok and Lapras are mine!"

Sato's eyes gleamed coldly at those words. He pushed through the crowd without hesitation, heading straight toward the center. Joseph followed closely behind.

"Mark, what happened?"

"Boss! I..." Mark lit up at the sight of Sato and Joseph, but then looked both aggrieved and furious. He pointed to the two people across from him, too flustered to explain clearly.

Sato turned to look. Across from them stood a teenage boy and girl, probably around seventeen or eighteen, both smirking insincerely.

Bounty hunters.

Sato's eyes narrowed. He hadn't expected to run into such familiar faces in such a remote place.

Hanasaki Mori and Hanasaki Aoi, two notorious bounty hunters who were eventually assassinated by the Ghost Ship Organization under a certain family's commission.

At that time, the operatives assigned to the mission were none other than Sato and his mentor, Deadfish Eyes.

So Sato knew exactly what this pair of siblings had done. And with just a glance, he could already tell what was going on.

"They cheated! It was two against one!" Mark finally managed to speak.

Sato turned to him. "At least you're not completely stupid. You knew you were being tricked."

Mark's face turned red, but then he looked at Sato with a pleading expression. He had agreed to the bet in a moment of anger and now deeply regretted it.

"What did you bet on?"

"Winning the match. The victor gets the opponent's battling Pokémon," Mark began, then quickly added in frustration, "But they ganged up on me two against one... It's cheating!"

"Oh my, we don't quite understand what this kid is saying," said Aoi mockingly. "The agreement was to wager on battles, one battle at a time, and we've always been two people, haven't we?"

She had a decent figure, but her makeup was way too heavy, her face and neck weren't even the same color tone.

Sato turned his gaze to the Pokémon beside them. All were at the Low Elite level. Nothing to worry about.

Bang!

Sato sent out Pupitar directly and pointed at them. "A wager battle. Same rules as before. If I win, you return my friend's Pokémon, and your Pokémon become mine."

"This little guy wants to trade one for four? That's not very fair, is it?" Mori's eyes lit up the moment he saw a 2nd stage Pseudo-Legendary, but he still spoke with greed.

"Do you even know what kind of garbage your Pokémon are? Just battle already," Sato taunted. A Fearow and a Golem... worthless.

"Sato! Don't get worked up! Just now..." Mark tried to stop him. He'd just lost his own Pokémon, if Sato lost something too, he'd regret it even more.

"Trust him. Sato's not as unreliable as you are," Joseph cut him off coldly, twisting the knife.

"Battle? Of course we will. But our Pokémon are tired from earlier, so how about we switch them out?"

Aoi grabbed her brother's arm and, without waiting for Sato's answer, withdrew Fearow and sent out a Low Elite Nidoqueen.

"Exactly! We're still in. Nidoking, you too" Hanasaki Mori followed suit, sending out a Mid Elite Nidoking.

The two shamelessly swapped their Pokémon and now stared at Pupitar with gleaming excitement, as if it was already theirs.

A few voices in the crowd protested that it wasn't fair, but were quickly silenced by others, who then glanced at the Hanasaki siblings with fear.

Sato took it all in. Clearly, these two had been here for some time, causing plenty of trouble.

And the fact that Nurse Joy only sent someone to warn them, rather than come herself, probably meant she had her hands tied somehow.

'Did these two have some kind of background?' Sato scoffed. Like he cared... Screw them.

"Don't say we're bullying you. Go ahead, little kid, you start first!" Hanasaki Aoi said with a grin so wide, Sato figured her caked makeup might start flaking off.

"Pupitar, Scary Face!"

"Tar!"

Sato didn't attack right away. He started by lowering their speed. After all, his opponents were being commanded by trainers. Though he appeared furious on the surface, Sato's mind remained icy calm.