"Having someone like this holding a grudge against me is definitely not good news."
Sato looked coldly at the Team Magma Admin before him, whose eyes practically screamed that she wanted to tear him limb from limb. Killing intent welled up inside him, and he found himself regretting saving her life.
For a brief moment, he even considered using his psychic powers to turn her into an idiot. That way, she could still serve as a bargaining chip, while permanently eliminating any future threat. Wouldn't that solve everything at once?
Just as Sato was about to make a move against Courtney, Prof. Cozmo came running over, panting heavily.
"Mr. Tyler, thank you so much! If it hadn't been for you, my entire family and I would probably have been buried alongside this villain."
"There's no need to thank me. Since I agreed to your request, I naturally wasn't going to stand by and do nothing. That said..." Sato shook his head. "I'm afraid I've deeply offended Team Magma this time. You've seen this woman yourself—she's definitely the type to hold grudges forever."
There was an unmistakable hint of regret in his tone.
Prof. Cozmo, however, immediately understood what Sato was implying. As a Pokémon Professor, he certainly wasn't lacking in intelligence.
"Please don't worry, Mr. Tyler. I absolutely won't let you suffer a loss because of this. As for the reward I promised you earlier... I'll double it."
His voice carried obvious reluctance, as though the words themselves pained him.
"In that case, she's yours, Doctor."
A satisfied smile appeared on Sato's face as he nodded. At the same time, he abandoned the idea of turning Courtney into an idiot.
After all, if Courtney really became mentally disabled, neither the League nor Team Magma would be satisfied. Both sides wanted a healthy Courtney—not a fool.
The reward Prof. Cozmo had promised wasn't money.
It was Groudon's Blood.
In truth, it was precisely because Prof. Cozmo had coveted Groudon's Blood that Team Magma had targeted him in the first place.
Before Team Magma had set its sights on him, he had already successfully obtained one piece of Groudon's Blood from the League. Afterwards, using a detector he had invented himself, he had located several more fragments.
Although Team Magma had seized most of his collection, he had secretly retained three large pieces. The smaller fragments taken by Team Magma had merely been research samples.
Now, after being thoroughly "persuaded" by Sato, only one of those large pieces remained in his possession.
Receiving Sato's confirmation, the anxiety that had weighed on Prof. Cozmo finally disappeared, replaced by visible relief.
He then turned toward Courtney.
Instantly, anger spread across his face.
Perhaps because of the humiliation and threats he had endured over the past several days, he suddenly couldn't hold himself back any longer and began punching and kicking her.
Throughout the beating, Courtney never once gave him a proper glance.
Her face remained filled with contempt, as though she were looking at nothing more than a pitiful insect.
Eventually, either exhausted from striking her or unable to bear her disdain any longer, Prof. Cozmo flushed bright red and stormed away.
"Kid, did you get something good from that soft-hearted fellow? If you did, then you'd better hand over at least half of it to me. Otherwise, this old man isn't going to be happy."
At that moment, Mr. Moore finally walked over with an unhappy expression.
Unlike Flannery, who was rather straightforward and trusting, Moore wasn't so easy to fool.
The moment he learned that Flannery had received the information from Sato, he had immediately realized Sato's true intention—using Flannery to bring him here to resolve the situation.
It had been a mutually beneficial arrangement, and an open strategy at that.
After all, as Hoenn's former Fire-type Elite Four member, even though he had retired, there was no way he could ignore a large Team Magma force operating right next to his hometown.
That didn't mean, however, that he was willing to let Sato manipulate him without compensation.
The old man was unhappy.
And the most satisfying way to vent that dissatisfaction was naturally to claim a share of Sato's spoils.
"Well..."
The smile on Sato's face immediately froze.
"What's wrong? You don't want to?"
Moore's already unpleasant expression darkened further.
"Of course not! You've misunderstood me, sir. I wouldn't dare refuse." Sato hurriedly explained. "It's just that I haven't actually received the reward yet. Prof. Cozmo only promised to hand it over after his entire family returns safely. Right now my hands are completely empty—I don't have anything to give you."
At present, Sato still wasn't an Elite-Four level Trainer.
In front of Moore, he still had to act respectfully.
Besides, it was true that he had relied on Moore's strength to earn such generous rewards. Both morally and practically, it was only right to give the old man a share.
"Hmph. Good that you understand."
Moore's expression eased considerably, though he still didn't look pleased.
"It doesn't matter if you don't have it now. Once you do, just mail it over. Don't send it to me—send it to Flannery."
He paused before adding,
"And next time you've got something to ask, just come straight to me. Stop going around in circles. I hate that kind of thing."
With that, he climbed onto his Typhlosion, instructed his Blaziken to take Courtney from Swampert's custody, then turned and left without giving Sato any chance to reply.
"He really is worthy of being a Fire-type Elite Four member..."
Watching Moore's departing figure, Sato shook his head with a sigh.
"His temperament is as fiery as his specialty. Unfortunately... that's not my style."
Soon afterward, the battlefield cleanup was completed.
Large numbers of Team Magma members were captured by League personnel and escorted to the nearby town of Lavaridge.
Each prisoner could be exchanged with the League for a considerable amount of contribution points, and those points would later be distributed equally among all the Trainers who had come to assist.
This was the reward Sato had arranged for the Trainers who answered his call.
Thanks to Moore's presence, the battle had been overwhelmingly one-sided.
Not a single casualty had occurred on their side, yet everyone walked away with rewards.
It was a perfect outcome.
One noteworthy detail was that the gigantic Steelix, which had finally been subdued through Team Magma's combined efforts, was ultimately captured by Moore using a PokeBall.
His reasoning was simple:
A wild Pokémon that dangerous couldn't be allowed to remain near Lavaridge. It had to be placed under his personal supervision.
Although disappointed, Sato had no choice but to give up on acquiring such an incredibly powerful Steelix.
To be honest, on a battlefield, that Steelix was an absolute weapon of mass destruction.
In one-on-one battles, using it would practically be cheating in plain sight.
Against opponents of the same level, there were probably very few Pokémon capable of facing it alone.
"Good. Now that everyone's gone, it's time to get to work."
"Even though I lost half of my reward, there's still an opportunity here to make up for it."
"I can't let it slip away."
After confirming he was finally alone, Sato quietly emerged from the bushes and slowly walked toward the cave before him, whose entrance was now blocked by countless shattered boulders.
Inside the cavern excavated by the gigantic Steelix...
...an unknown quantity of Groudon's Blood still awaited his discovery.