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The secret passage to the underground black market in Saffron City that Sato remembered hadn't vanished. Using it, he smoothly reentered the underground black market, which was bustling with activity in the evening—the liveliest time of day.
Upon entering, Sato made his way straight to the auction zone in the heart of the market. A rare Pokémon like a pseudo-legendary Dragon-type would obviously fetch the highest value through an auction.
Besides, all auction houses here were fully operated by Team Rocket. As a member with Giovanni himself backing him, Sato didn't need to worry about being robbed or ambushed. In fact, he would receive the best service available.
Soon enough, under the guidance of a staff member, Sato was brought into an ornately decorated appraisal room. An elderly bald man wearing a monocle was currently examining a mysterious stone fragment engraved with strange symbols through a magnifying glass.
"Oh~ Welcome, welcome! Good evening, sir. What would you like to auction? Please bring it out for me to take a look."
The white-haired old man saw Sato's imposing presence and immediately put down the fragment. After gesturing for the staff to shut the door, he greeted Sato with a cheerful smile.
"This is it. I'd like you to appraise it and give me a good estimate."
Without wasting words, Sato took out a Luxury Ball from his pocket and handed it to the balding elder.
To cover up the fact that he had killed Ranka and stolen his Zweilous, Sato hadn't used the standard black Team Rocket PokeBall distributed on the mysterious island. Instead, he repackaged Zweilous inside a Luxury Ball.
"Hehehe~ Seems like a very precious Pokémon. Let me take a proper look."
The old man didn't associate Sato with anything extraordinary. He merely assumed he was another lucky Team Rocket member who had caught—or seized—a rare Pokémon. Stroking his white beard, he accepted the ball with a smile.
However, the old man's smile quickly froze.
He placed the ball onto a specialized portable computer with an inset groove for PokeBalls. The moment he read the data on the screen, his kindly expression stiffened and his breathing became noticeably heavy.
"Are you certain you wish to auction such a rare Pokémon? If so, we can lower the auction fee to just 5%."
Snapping out of his shock, the old man quickly returned to his polite demeanor and addressed Sato with a practiced calmness.
The auction house hadn't seen anything truly rare for quite some time, and interest had been declining. This rare pseudo-legendary Sato brought was guaranteed to reignite excitement.
From the displayed data, the Zweilous had a high level and was physically much more developed than others of its kind. If it was wild, that meant it had excellent potential and pure bloodlines.
Team Rocket had always prioritized rare pseudo-legendary Dragon-types, so their internal data on them was extremely thorough. Although not entirely accurate, the computer used a specialized system to estimate the Pokémon's attributes, allowing it to judge this Zweilous's potential as extremely high—even without a visual inspection.
While high-level Dragon-types like this were notoriously difficult to tame, that didn't reduce their market value. On the contrary, such difficulty only proved the buyer's unworthiness.
Even if it couldn't be tamed, pseudo-legendary Dragons had practical uses—like repeated breeding to produce high-quality offspring.
The Zweilous Sato brought in was undoubtedly a Pokémon with top potential. For powerful factions, the appeal was immense. Artificial methods could even be employed to encourage mating.
While Dragon-types were notoriously difficult to breed, as long as it was handled properly, this well-bred Zweilous stallion could produce several pseudo-legendary Dragon-type eggs—making this a no-risk investment.
The old man could already envision how the auction would explode in popularity over the next few days. Once word got out, major powers would come in droves to battle it out in fierce bidding wars, and he would take a handsome cut from it all. A delightful prospect.
But first, he had to make sure not to lose the trust of the Team Rocket member in front of him. Anyone capable of catching such a high-level Dragon-type pseudo-legendary had to be incredibly strong.
For Trainers like that, money alone wouldn't be enough. Most who brought in such rare Pokémon had special requests.
"Thank you. However, I have one small condition—I'd like to exchange a portion of the auction proceeds for a pseudo-legendary Dragon-type Pokémon egg."
The old man's professionalism had satisfied Sato, who gave a nod of approval and voiced his request.
In truth, Sato had already decided how to handle the Zweilous. His primary goal was to trade it for a pseudo-legendary Dragon-type egg. Money was a secondary concern.
He knew that Ranka's Zweilous was worth more than just an egg.
Its potential was incredible, and Ranka had poured countless resources into its development.
To others, this was a ready-made, high-level pseudo-legendary Dragon-type. If one could tame it, it would instantly become a powerful ace.
Moreover, Zweilous's known attributes made it far more reliable than a Pokémon egg, whose quality could only be guessed at—unless one knew the parent Pokémon.
Hearing Sato's terms, the old man fell silent. Having spent nearly a lifetime in appraisal and auctioning, he had facilitated more than ten transactions involving pseudo-legendary Dragon-types. He'd encountered clients like Sato before.
Special requests like these typically reduced auction profits significantly—especially when it involved something as hard to appraise as a Dragon-type Pokémon egg. Misjudging the value could mean unimaginable losses in PokeDollars.
"Hehehe~ That's quite a reasonable request. But why let a good deal leave the family? Team Rocket is rich and powerful. Our Saffron City base has a few pseudo-legendary Dragon-type Pokémon eggs in storage. Would you like to take a look?"
The old man's eyes lit up as he spoke with a grin—he'd thought of a solution.
The eggs in storage had originally belonged to the now-destroyed Golden Gang. Team Rocket had seized them along with other spoils.
Though their potential was uncertain, these eggs required a high exchange grade and significant contribution/merit points.
As a result, they'd been sitting unused in the vault—until now. This was the perfect opportunity to trade one for Sato's Zweilous.
If the trade succeeded, not only would they resolve the issue of the unappraised eggs, but Team Rocket's internal resources could be better optimized.
And on top of that, they could plan a proper auction for the Zweilous, maximizing profits. It was a win-win-win.
"If they're real, that would be perfect. However, I'll only view them here—and in strict confidentiality. Can that be arranged?"
Sato's eyes gleamed as he nodded in response to the proposal.
With that, he took a small object from his person and placed it on the table.
"No problem at all. I'll arrange it immediately. Please wait a moment, sir."
The old man's face changed dramatically the moment he saw what Sato placed on the table. Whatever small schemes he'd considered vanished instantly, and he stood up with a deep bow.