As Lance shouted, Raticate lunged with its gleaming front teeth, aiming directly for the soft part of Sato's lower back.
On the other side, Renji wore a cruel grin, as if he could already see Sato getting torn in half by Raticate!
But in the very next moment, Furuta's smile froze. All he saw was Raticate mid-leap, suddenly motionless in midair, completely suspended and unmoving.
'A… Psychic-type Pokémon!?'
Furuta immediately guessed, but then Gengar appeared.
…And slapped that theory in the face!
Gengar gave a solemn bow to Raticate, then casually waved one chubby little hand~
In that instant, Raticate flew backward like a brown cannonball, slammed into the wall, and stopped moving entirely…
A trick like that didn't even deserve Ralts-hime to show up!
Sato coldly smirked inside. He hadn't even glanced at the Raticate from the start, casually issuing his next command.
"Absol, Night Slash!"
"Sol~"
Absol glanced back at Sato, and only after confirming he was unharmed did it turn around and re-engage Kingler.
By now, Kingler was already running on fumes. Absol, on the other hand, was filled with rage over the sneak attack on Sato!
With that imbalance, Kingler couldn't withstand Absol's "fury" and soon followed the fate of its fallen allies.
Meanwhile, Lance saw how calm Sato was and, while relieved, also felt a twinge of irritation!
'Just because you have Gengar protecting you, you think you can do whatever you want…? Didn't you see those giant buckteeth were less than half a meter from your spine!?'
'Youth these days… cocky and theatrical!'
"Dragonair, stop playing. Use Thunder!"
Dragonair had been toying with Tentacruel, but the moment it heard Lance, its expression changed.
The orb under its neck suddenly sparked with brilliant electricity. A flash of Thunder crashed down without warning, striking Tentacruel dead-on.
One-shot victory!
Once again, the two Elite lvl Pokémon were effortlessly defeated by Absol and Dragonair.
Multiple flashes of red light appeared. Furuta Renji sent out his remaining four Pokémon in one go, but none of them were above Ace level.
Sato's eyes flickered with disappointment. He lowered the hand that was about to send out Drapion.
Four Elite opponents would be decent sparring for Absol and Dragonair.
"KILL THEM AAAALL!" Furuta roared, retreating quickly as he shouted.
He could still understand the strength of Absol and Dragonair. But that gold-eyed Gengar with its bizarre behavior reminded him of someone he'd seen once on TV…
Was there really another Gengar in the world with golden eyes?
Maybe. But would he be unlucky enough to run into them?
Shadownight Gym Leader…
Ace Tournament Champion…
'Yuga Sato… SH*T!'
Just by seeing Gengar, Furuta Renji had guessed Sato's identity and instantly chose to flee!
But the next moment, a Dragonite had already appeared silently behind him, staring up with those innocent, wide eyes~
Bang!
A flash of red light! Furuta threw out his only Ace level Pokémon: a Mid Ace Poliwrath.
Under Dragonite's wide-eyed, innocent stare, the Poliwrath didn't even have the courage to look it in the eye…
Dragonite… Mid Elite Four level!
"Surrender now, Furuta Renji! From the moment we walked through the door, there was no escape for you!"
In the blink of an eye, Sato noticed that Lance had suddenly changed into his Independent Investigator Combat Uniform.
The disguise on his face was completely gone. His red hair flared dramatically backward… not the least bit flattened by the wig he had just removed!
Sato blinked, wondering why that wasn't covered in their training. 'How come I never learned how to change outfits that fast…? This is definitely a must-learn!'
"Y-You… You're… You're the Flying Master… LANCE!?"
Sato: …Hahaha!
Lance: (＃ﾟДﾟ)!
"We're finished… IT'S OVER!"
"RUN FOR IT!"
Lance's transformation -no, his face reveal- became the final straw that broke the poachers.
Rumor had it that the rising Elite Four, Lance, was known for his hatred of evil. Criminals caught by him rarely ended up well.
Now that they had been targeted by Lance himself, many of them even felt a bizarre sense of pride… for a moment.
But that moment quickly gave way to pure despair, because they had no chance of escaping…
To support his captures, Lance had specially raised a Bug/Fly… sigh… Flying-type Butterfree. Its custom-trained String Shot was highly resistant to fire and corrosion.
Butterfree flitted through the chaos, elegantly weaving between the crowd. Despite its gentle appearance, it tied up every fleeing poacher with ruthless precision!
Sato also sent out his Ariados. Having been held back for toooooo long, it let loose with five consecutive blasts of String Shot, easily wrapping five men like dumplings.
Butterfree had never seen someone tie people up with such bulk and force before. Though it didn't dare say anything to Ariados, it secretly shook its head in disdain…
Very quickly, the entire Pokémon poaching gang was neutralized by Sato and Lance.
All over the building, people lay wrapped in sticky silk, unable to move, left only to await justice.
Next came contacting Officer Jenny in Vermilion City to handle the post-arrest procedures.
Lance walked Sato through the entire process, almost guiding him step by step like a hands-on tutorial.
"Even though I'm one hundred percent sure they're a poaching gang, we still need evidence to convict. Let's take a look before Officer Jenny gets here."
As he spoke, Lance began walking into the interior rooms. Outside, only Dragonair and Butterfree were needed to stand guard.
Sato, seeing this, gave a signal to Ariados and Absol.
With Ariados here, no one could possibly escape.
It deeply despised how Butterfree only spat tiny bits of silk at a time! Ariados would love nothing more than for someone to try breaking out, just so it could wrap them up into a cocoon itself.
'A big fat silken cocoon…' So satisfying to look at!
"Gengar, look for any hidden rooms!"
"Gen~"
A pair of golden eyes flickered within Sato's shadow, and Gengar slipped underground.
"Ghost-types really are handy sometimes. If only I had a Dragon/Ghost-type… I'd definitely catch one," Lance said enviously as Gengar vanished.
Sato stayed quiet. His memories of his previous life were growing fuzzier…
But in some distant region… there really was a powerful Dragon/Ghost-type Pokémon.
'Someday… maybe.'