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Early the next morning, at the Pokémon Center in downtown Mauville City, Sato woke up right on time at 7 a.m. After washing up, having breakfast, and completing his morning training routine, he began preparing to leave Mauville.
Before departing, however, he made a special trip to the second floor of the Pokémon Center, hoping to find a suitable mission in the task hall that he could complete along the way.
His next destination was Lavaridge Town. Based on the route, he would have to pass through Route 111 and Route 112. But Route 111 was extremely long—if he relied on an off-road bicycle, it would take at least several days to traverse.
Moreover, the central section of Route 111 connected to the largest desert in Hoenn, making the journey particularly difficult. This trip to Lavaridge Town was bound to take quite some time.
Sato was not someone who liked wasting time. If he could complete some tasks along the way during his journey, he would be more than willing to do so.
At present, his Tyler identity had just a little over 5,000 League contribution points left.
After accepting his promotion mission, his contribution points had been nearly depleted. If he hadn't helped Wattson resolve the blackout crisis in Mauville midway, his contribution points would have dropped below four digits.
Although Tyler was still only a peripheral member of the League, his exchange permissions within the League system had increased significantly—only slightly below that of Raiden Suzuki, who held a B-rank bounty hunter status.
In short, even rare Technical Machines like Swords Dance were now within reach for him to exchange under this identity.
At the moment, Sato wasn't particularly short on money. Unfortunately, many things couldn't simply be bought with money—such as high-level TMs like Swords Dance, Taunt, and Acupressure.
This was where the League's advantage truly showed. With its deep foundation, the League controlled a vast number of rare resources. As long as you had enough contribution points and the right permissions, you could exchange for them.
Right now, Sato's primary goal was to strengthen Swampert, but he wouldn't neglect the growth of his other Pokémon either.
At present, the TMs he most wanted were Acupressure and Taunt. The former would allow Tentacruel to rapidly boost its own strength, while the latter would give Kadabra the ability to shut down opponents' status moves.
As their levels increased, Tentacruel and Kadabra were becoming increasingly important members of Tyler's team.
Tentacruel, with its mirrored-type techniques, could almost ignore type disadvantages. Combined with Aqua Ring, barrier moves, Giga Drain, and its naturally high Special Defense, its durability had reached astonishing levels.
Moreover, as Tentacruel mastered fighting with multiple tentacles simultaneously, its offensive capability had also improved significantly. It had now become a powerful frontliner capable of both tanking and dealing damage.
Once Tentacruel mastered Acupressure, its speed weakness would no longer be a limitation, and it would gain the ability to sweep entire teams.
As for Kadabra, after learning Magic Bounce and Ally Switch, its strategic value had risen tremendously—both in Sato's 'Tyler' identity and his 'Raiden Suzuki' identity.
Magic Bounce was the nemesis of all status moves—even powerful techniques like Taunt were rendered useless before it. With this ability, Kadabra could greatly enhance Sato's survivability, eliminating the threat of moves like Taunt and Mean Look.
As for Ally Switch, its power spoke for itself. When used properly, it was a god-tier move. Sato had once used it to trap and kill Hoshimura, a future high-ranking executive of Team Magma.
Thus, for now, Kadabra's role—despite its still-developing psychic strength—was not focused on defeating enemies directly, but on protection and disruption.
However, this level of protection and disruption was still not enough. Both Magic Bounce and Ally Switch were reactive moves—they lacked offensive pressure.
That was where Taunt came in. This aggressive move would significantly enhance Kadabra's disruptive power. With its ability to use Teleport, it could launch sudden attacks that were nearly impossible to evade.
Just imagine: an opponent on the battlefield tries to use a defensive move like Protect, only for Kadabra to suddenly appear and hit them with Taunt. The despair would be immediate.
Unfortunately, neither Acupressure nor Taunt were moves that could be exchanged with just over 6,000 contribution points. Acupressure required 30,000 points, while Taunt cost a staggering 50,000.
For comparison, Sato had only spent 15,000 points to obtain Swords Dance. This showed just how rare and valuable these two moves were.
In fact, if it weren't for the fact that very few Pokémon could learn Acupressure, its cost would likely rival that of Taunt.
...…
By the time Sato arrived at the task hall on the second floor of the Pokémon Center, it was already past 9 a.m. At that hour, the place was filled with Trainers looking to pick up suitable missions.
There was never a shortage of tasks in the hall—especially in a densely populated and highly developed city like Mauville, where countless issues arose every day.
With his newly issued League ID, Sato entered the inner hall smoothly, under the envious gazes of the many ordinary Trainers still searching for tasks in the outer hall.
Unlike the outer hall, which catered to regular Trainers, the inner hall was reserved for official League Trainers. The missions here were more difficult, more rewarding, and far more diverse.
Generally, League missions fell into three categories:
Protection Missions – Escorting or guarding a person for a period of time or to a specific destination.
Hunting Missions – Searching for specific items or dealing with rogue Trainers and Pokémon.
Training Missions – Assisting in training Pokémon or helping with specialized training tasks.
Compared to the crowded outer hall, the inner hall had very few people. Including Sato, there were only fifteen League Trainers present.
After briefly observing the other fourteen and confirming he didn't recognize any of them, Sato turned his attention to the mission board on the walls.
Finding a mission that could be completed along his route wasn't easy. After circling the walls once, he finally identified three reasonably suitable tasks.
The first was essentially a delivery job. The task required delivering a letter to a person somewhere along Route 111. However, the recipient had a peculiar personality and carried no communication device.
As a result, the mission provided no exact coordinates—the person had to be located through exploration.
Perhaps due to this uncertainty, the reward was quite low: only 1,000 contribution points.
The second mission was a hunting-type task. It required capturing ten different species of Ground-type Pokémon from the desert.
The client was a junior Pokémon researcher who wanted to study the shared habits of desert-dwelling Pokémon. The reward was 3,000 contribution points.
The third mission was the most interesting—and also the most dangerous. It was a protection mission requiring the escort of a ruins exploration team for two weeks in the desert.
The reward was extremely generous: 20,000 contribution points, along with additional bonuses.
And the client behind this mission was none other than the famous explorer—Brandon.