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The appearance of Maya and Janine here meant only one thing—Malos had never truly shaken off their pursuit. His every move had been exposed to the two of them.
All in all, in Sato's eyes, Malos was basically a dead man walking now.
If not for the fact that Maya and Janine were concerned that killing Malos outright would make themselves the prime suspects, Malos would likely have already died at their hands.
'These two women aren't ones to be messed with—especially Janine. I'd bet Malos ended up like this because of her. Yeah... Malos was just too young, after all.'
Watching the two women—one smiling, the other cold-faced—walking toward him, Sato wore a blank expression as he thought to himself.
"What did Malos give you just now? Tell me."
Janine was never one to beat around the bush. The moment she stood before Sato, her face was ice-cold, and she asked her question in a commanding tone, her eyes devoid of emotion from start to finish.
Faced with her cold and interrogative attitude, Sato immediately frowned.
Yes, she was the daughter of Koga, the Poison-type Elite Four member—but he wasn't one of Koga's subordinates. He was a direct subordinate of Giovanni, the Team Rocket Boss. That meant he had no obligation to answer Janine at all.
'I thought Malos was already pretty arrogant, but this woman's on another level. No wonder he tried to screw her over. They probably couldn't stand each other even on a good day.'
That was the impression Janine left on Sato upon their first encounter.
As for strength, Sato didn't think he was weaker than her. In his view, Janine's strength lay mainly in her extreme survivability and stamina.
Thanks to that, she could constantly harass her enemies like a top-tier assassin—always disappearing after a failed hit, then striking again when her prey was weakened and vulnerable.
But, like her, Sato was the trainer of a Crobat. No matter what illusions or escape tactics she used, they wouldn't work. Crobat was the perfect counter to someone like Janine, whose specialty was assassination.
Not to mention, with Bellossom—his support Pokémon who had Heal Bell and Aromatherapy—Janine's powerful poison techniques posed little threat to him.
So while Malos might fear her, Sato didn't. If Janine dared make a move, he'd show her what it meant to mess with him.
As he frowned, Swampert and Arbok had already stepped in to guard him from left and right. Bellossom appeared behind Maya and Janine, wielding her twin leaf blades. And Crobat hovered silently in midair, four meters above the two women.
All four of Sato's main Pokémon now stared Janine down, murderous intent brimming. If either Maya or Janine made the slightest wrong move, they would strike instantly and tear them to pieces.
With Sato's intimidating silence and the threatening presence of his Pokémon, the atmosphere grew intensely tense in seconds—like a powder keg ready to blow.
"Ahahaha~~ Mr. Sato, I'm so sorry! Please believe me—Janine didn't mean any harm. She's just… like that. She's not very good at expressing herself, so please don't take it to heart."
Just then, Maya—who was quick to read the room and had recently learned how to play peacemaker—stepped forward. She walked cautiously and smiled warmly at Sato.
But the very next second, she felt a sharp object press against her back, making her hair stand on end. She didn't need to look to know—it was Janine, poking her with a kunai.
Still, Maya had spent enough time with Janine to understand her a bit. Janine was the textbook "cold on the outside, warm on the inside" type of kunoichi.
When it came to enemies, she was merciless. But toward bystanders—so long as they didn't deliberately provoke her—she didn't really care. Overall, she wasn't someone who killed indiscriminately.
Unfortunately, Janine's father, Koga, hadn't exactly been a good parent. Though he taught her powerful skills, he didn't teach her how to interact with others. As a result, Janine had the social IQ of a rock.
Maya had already seen plenty of situations where Janine offended people just by opening her mouth. To prevent things from spiraling out of control—and dragging her into the mess—she often had to step in as the mediator.
Maya had a good idea of how dangerous Sato was. The image of his Swampert blasting a pseudo Elite-Four level Gyarados into the air with a single punch was still fresh in her mind. The last thing she wanted was to make an enemy of him because of Janine.
Sato, meanwhile, had realized by now that Janine didn't mean to be insulting—she was just socially inept. He waved his hands lightly, signaling his Pokémon to stand down.
"It's nothing. Just a partial manuscript on Pokémon training methods. He tried to use it to rope me into helping him, but I turned him down."
After thinking for a moment, Sato casually made something up—part true, part false—and told them.
"You made a wise decision."
Janine didn't even bother to verify the claim. After saying this, she turned and walked toward the sea. A moment later, she rode off alone on a Tentacruel and disappeared.
Even though he knew she was just socially clueless, Sato still found her behavior extremely irritating. He was now seriously reconsidering whether he wanted to trade that toxic essence with her. She clearly wasn't someone worth dealing with.
Before long, Janine's figure vanished from view.
"Aren't you going with her, Miss Psychic?"
Sato raised an eyebrow when he saw Maya hadn't followed Janine. From what he knew so far, Maya should've been playing the role of her follower.
In truth, Sato and Maya had gotten along fairly well. Back on the Rocket aircraft, she had taken the initiative to approach and befriend him, showing goodwill.
Sato could tell she was quite savvy when it came to dealing with people. Her staying behind now likely meant she had something important to discuss with him.
As expected of a veteran and a psychic, Maya only needed to glance at Sato's expression—and lightly scan him with her subtly glowing blue eyes—to roughly guess what he'd just been thinking.
"Mr. Sato, I think you may have misunderstood something. I'm not some flunky of that awkward ice queen. I owed her a favor, and now I've repaid it. Oh, and I'd prefer you call me Maya. 'Miss Psychic' sounds way too rustic."
She puffed her cheeks a little in dissatisfaction as she corrected him.
"I see. In that case, Miss Maya, I'd also ask you not to use your psychic powers to try to gauge my thoughts again. That's extremely impolite."
Having had his recent thoughts seen through, Sato's expression turned a bit darker. He averted his eyes from hers and spoke in a rather unfriendly tone.
"My apologies, Mr. Sato. That's just a bad habit of mine. I promise I won't try to read your thoughts again."
Maya sensibly extinguished the blue glow in her eyes, then gave him a small bow in apology.
"The truth is, Mr. Sato, I came here today hoping we could form an alliance. Do you know the rules for the second phase of the Rookie Competition?"
She lifted her head, her expression turning serious as she posed the question.