Sato counted the Poké Balls Gengar had confiscated and found a total of seventeen; most of which didn't even belong to the Hanazaki siblings.
As soon as he handed them over to Nurse Joy, several Trainers immediately came over, thrilled to reclaim their Pokémon.
Naturally, Sato accepted their heartfelt gratitude once again.
"Sato, are you familiar with the Hanazaki family?" Nurse Joy asked with a slightly serious expression after dealing with the group of Trainers.
"You're asking this because of those two just now?"
Sato immediately understood what she was worried about. The Hanazaki siblings did have ties to the League... and not minor ones.
The Hanazaki family had an old Elite Four member holding down the fort: Hanazaki Azuka, the current Grass-type Elite Four of the Hoenn Region.
And Hanazaki Mori and Hanazaki Aoi were his direct grandchildren, third-generation core family members.
Unfortunately, aside from the patriarch, the rest of the Hanazaki family was mediocre at best. Scrambling to drag the old man down.
Judging from how the siblings behaved, it was hard to believe their grandfather was a public figure Elite Four in Hoenn.
In his past life, once Hanazaki Azuka -the great tree- fell, the Hanazaki family declined rapidly, and the siblings even became bounty hunters, ultimately assassinated by GS.
Thinking of this, Sato nodded slightly at Nurse Joy, who looked like she had more to say but held back, indicating that he would be careful.
This incident was clearly the siblings' fault, and if it came to light, it would only hurt the family's reputation.
So, direct retaliation wasn't likely; they'd only dare pull something behind the scenes.
But as for schemes? Sato feared no one.
Back in the room, Joseph was scolding Mark non-stop; telling him not to be so impulsive and whatnot, rambling on and on.
Mark slumped on the couch like a deflated cat, not saying a word, occasionally glancing at Sato.
Sato ignored him. Seeing that Joseph had said enough, he turned and entered the studio to get back to his own tasks.
He open his notebook and reviewed the current levels of his Pokémon.
Peak Elite: Zoroark, Weavile, Gengar
Mid Elite: Houndoom, Ariados, Pupitar
Low Elite: Sharpedo, Umbreon, Cacturne
On standby: Little Murkrow
Pet: Pichu -battle power negligible-
Excluding little Murkrow and Pichu, the rest of his Pokémon formed three clear tiers of strength.
That was the advantage of high potential. There wasn't a single weak link in the team, and their power had been steadily rising.
Well, "steadily" might be an exaggeration. Most of them had some kind of special opportunity that accelerated their growth.
In the Elite stage, which normally required slow accumulation, Sato's Pokémon were progressing like they were on steroids; it was unbelievable to outsiders.
And in truth, they had been using "steroids"... all sorts of them.
But for now, most of their power had stabilized. Zoroark and Gengar had only recently broken through, so further short-term progress was unlikely.
Ariados and Pupitar were in the same boat, both still consolidating their strength.
Sharpedo had just received a Water-type Energy Crystal, but the effects hadn't surfaced yet. Still, Sato hadn't forgotten that the Rainbow Feather was still missing Suicune's trial.
Could it be that Suicune simply wouldn't appear in the Hoenn Region, and that's why it had stalled? Sato couldn't help but wonder.
Houndoom, Cacturne, and Umbreon still hadn't accumulated enough, and without something like an energy crystal, their progress would only come slowly.
That left only Weavile. In fact, Sato didn't value it as much as his other Pokémon.
First, because its level had already reached Peak Elite, which naturally required more time to build up; any obvious progress in the short term would be difficult.
Second, because it's always the crying child that gets the milk.
Weavile wasn't young. Compared to the overall youthful team Sato currently had, Weavile could already be considered mentally mature, like an adult.
On top of that, Weavile usually acted aloof and indifferent toward everyone, which led to Sato often forgetting to pay it attention, and as a result, their closeness never really grew.
There was a reason why trainers preferred to invest a lot of time and energy raising young Pokémon instead of capturing strong wild ones directly.
Because whether it was, "friendship or bond power", both were just too hard to improve; but this invisible strength only became more important later on.
During this time, Sato had been traveling with Weavile, and he noticed something a bit disheartening.
Weavile was actually preparing to break through on its own!
It hadn't asked for his help. Weavile chose to improve itself by relying entirely on its own strength, and that made Sato feel pretty awful.
On the one hand, he blamed himself as a trainer for not noticing his Pokémon's condition in time. On the other hand, he was frustrated by the lack of trust from his Pokémon.
Weavile had always been an extremely proud Pokémon. Even in the wild, it sat at the top of the food chain as a hunter.
Sato's lack of attention didn't mean Weavile would give up on becoming stronger. In fact, it would work even harder, just to prove itself.
'I'll focus entirely on Weavile's training next!' Sato thought as he heavily circled Weavile's name on the page.
The next day, the trio officially headed deeper into the Sand Arc Forest.
Once inside, as usual, each of the three sent out one Pokémon to start: Kirlia, Weavile, and the eternal fool Arbok.
The Pokémon near the entrance of Sand Arc Forest had become scarce. After all, many trainers had been exploring the area lately.
The trio didn't waste any time and ran straight into the forest depths.
After witnessing Sato's explosive strength, even encountering Pseudo-Elite Four level Pokémon wouldn't scare them, so they charged ahead without hesitation.
Straight line approach!
Weavile led the offense, Kirlia assisted, and Arbok, just like Mark, generally didn't get involved.
Weavile's power was undeniable. Although its level hadn't increased since being captured, its physical strength, control, and combat instincts had all significantly improved.
And when it released that Peak Elite aura... the Pokémon-grinding effect was insane. Occasionally, if a wild Pokémon got too bold, Weavile would knock it down in a single strike.
Before long, they reached the deeper part of Sand Arc Forest and encountered their first Elite Pokémon: Forretress!
Aside from its 4x weakness to Fire, Forretress had excellent resistances and an absurdly high physical defense.
But even Forretress didn't pose much trouble for Weavile. Icy Wind for slowing it down, followed by Brick Break for brute force. Before long, Forretress was down.
Seeing this, Sato realized helping Weavile break through was not going to be easy.