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"Don't even think about it. Staryu, sharpen the edges of your body, then use Harden and follow up with Rapid Spin."
In this moment of extreme danger, Sato—who was the first to notice the enemy—reacted instantly. He immediately issued commands to Staryu, who had used Minimize to cling to his back.
"Staryu~!"
Upon receiving Sato's order, Staryu leapt off his back. While airborne, its body rapidly returned to normal size, and the edges of its star-shaped body sharpened at high speed.
Sato immediately grabbed Staryu, adjusted the angle for a horizontal throw, and hurled it with all his strength. In an instant, Staryu transformed into a high-speed spinning projectile, shooting forward with extreme precision toward the tentacles stretching out from the river channel.
The next moment, a sharp "shrrrk~" sound rang out.
Through the seamless cooperation between Sato and Staryu, the spinning Staryu cleanly severed a large number of tentacles extending from the waterway. As a result, the two mission operatives successfully broke free from the remaining bindings and ran toward Sato's group in a panic.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt."
Seeing the two teammates escape safely, Sato no longer had any concerns. He immediately ordered Pikachu, perched on his shoulder, to attack the enemy in the river channel.
"Pika—chu~~!"
Pikachu nodded, leaped into the air, and unleashed a thick bolt of lightning toward the waterway. The Thunderbolt struck the surface like the spear of a thunder god, detonating instantly.
In the blink of an eye, massive amounts of electricity surged wildly through the water. The surroundings were lit up as bright as day. Amid piercing screams of agony, six Tentacruel and four Sharpedo—each charred black—slowly floated to the surface.
When the others saw so many Tentacruel and Sharpedo lurking in the river, their faces turned pale. The two operatives who had just been grabbed by the Tentacruel's tentacles looked especially shaken.
It wasn't hard to imagine—if Sato hadn't intervened and they had been dragged underwater, the outcome would have been disastrous.
"Stick close to the walls as much as possible. The power plant's sewers connect directly to the sea. This waterway is home to many dangerous wild Water-type Pokémon."
After scanning the defeated enemies with his system and confirming that none had high aptitude, Sato turned and warned the rest of the team.
"Yes!"
Having personally witnessed Sato's vigilance and rapid decision-making, no one dared to underestimate this younger civilian Trainer anymore. They all nodded in agreement.
The two operatives Sato had just saved responded the loudest, now clearly treating him as their leader.
After a brief regroup and confirming no further enemies nearby, Sato and the others continued forward.
Not long after they left, a pair of crimson eyes suddenly opened on the pitch-black surface of the water. Immediately afterward, a massive creature climbed out of the river channel onto the passageway.
As soon as it emerged, Banette and Shuppet slipped out from the surrounding walls, bowing their heads respectfully before the creature.
The unknown being seemed quite satisfied with their attitude. It nodded slightly at them and spoke a few words.
Upon hearing its instructions, Banette and Shuppet instantly revealed vicious expressions. They nodded repeatedly to show they understood, then slipped back into the walls and vanished.
After watching its Ghost-type subordinates go off to carry out its orders, the unknown creature leaped back into the river. Within a few breaths, the waterway returned to silence.
There was no denying that the power plant's sewer system was extremely well-developed—complex and intertwined. Even with a structural map in Aina's hands, navigating the pitch-black tunnels still felt like stumbling around like headless flies.
Thankfully, Aina had been leaving markings on the walls with a special fluorescent pen along the way, preventing them from endlessly backtracking.
"According to the layout map, we should be very close to the designated location."
Aina carefully studied the densely packed diagram, trying to pinpoint their exact position. Her face flushed red as she spoke to the group.
In fact, this was already the third time she had led them the wrong way. If not for the fluorescent markers she'd left earlier, they would have been completely lost by now.
Still, no one blamed her. Anyone could see that the map was difficult to read—without exceptional spatial awareness, it was nearly impossible to determine one's exact location. Not getting lost at all was already fortunate.
At the same time, everyone grew even more convinced of Sato's reliability. If he hadn't warned them beforehand about the dangers of the sewers, this mission would have failed again—likely with heavy casualties.
After all, aside from the initial crisis, they had encountered over a dozen wild Pokémon attacks along the way.
The Pokémon living here had extremely strong concealment abilities and were well-suited for ambushes. Without Sato acting like a living radar, someone might already have died.
"Everyone, perk up. If I remember correctly, beneath the designated location is a channel used to process seawater—an artificial waterfall. Try listening carefully. Can you hear the sound of falling water?"
Seeing everyone looking exhausted, Sato smiled and spoke up.
The group jolted awake and immediately quieted down to listen.
Sure enough, once they focused, they soon heard a faint waterfall sound coming from the left.
"I hear it—there really is one!"
"Yeah, looks like we're on the right track. We'll reach the target location soon."
"That's great, I can't wait."
One by one, smiles returned to their faces as they spoke excitedly.
Following the direction of the waterfall's sound, they soon found an artificial waterfall with massive amounts of seawater rushing downward.
"Next, we just need our Pokémon to use Waterfall to take us up, and we'll reach the designated location."
Seeing the waterfall, Sato explained to the others.
Naturally, no one objected. They all released their Water-type Pokémon and prepared to climb together.
"Pikachu, Staryu, Lanturn—use Thunderbolt on the surrounding water surface."
However, to be safe, before setting off, Sato instructed Pikachu and the other Pokémon capable of Electric-type moves to clear the surrounding waters with Thunderbolt.
Seeing this, the others followed suit and ordered their own Electric-capable Pokémon to do the same.
Sure enough, Sato's caution proved correct. After a wave of powerful electric currents swept across the water, numerous aggressive Water-type Pokémon—such as Tentacool, Tentacruel, and Sharpedo—floated up to the surface.
Once safety was confirmed, everyone grabbed onto their Water-type Pokémon and prepared to ascend the waterfall.
But in the end, an accident still occurred.
Just as Sato was about to ride Lanturn up the waterfall, a massive Swampert suddenly burst out of the water and swung a fist the size of a sandbag straight toward Sato's head.