Read advance chapters for both of my work, exclusively on Patreon at - www.patreon.com/Sniperwoof
-----------------
While Sato and the other new Rocket recruits were attending a mysterious island orientation organized by Team Rocket's internal management, similar orientation sessions were being held at Team Rocket bases in the island's other three sectors.
In fact, the Team Rocket base where Sato was located was on the eastern coastline of the island—just one of several bases Team Rocket had built along the coast.
Team Rocket had established four heavily fortified coastal bases on the mysterious island's eastern, southern, western, and northern edges. Building these nail-like outposts had come at a steep cost.
Among those costs were the lives of four pseudo Elite-Four level reserve Cadres—one of whom had been a trusted general under Team Rocket's original boss, a seasoned veteran at the high Elite-Four level.
However, in return, Team Rocket had also gained staggering profits from the island. Just the high-quality Pokémon they captured annually from this island earned Team Rocket tens of billions of PokeDollars.
It's no exaggeration to say that the secret to Team Rocket's explosive growth in recent years was this secluded, mysterious island. The benefits it offered were immense.
With access to an abundant reserve of high-quality Pokémon from the island, Team Rocket had vastly improved its overall strength and combat readiness. The steady stream of powerful recruits and Pokémon allowed the organization's overall battle capacity to grow steadily.
The average potential of Pokémon on the island was clearly a tier above those found elsewhere. In fact, Sato's Crobat and Arbok both originated from this mysterious island.
Now, thanks to advanced tech deployed across the four sea bases, Team Rocket had effectively established a surveillance grid over the entire island, allowing for shallow-level monitoring.
The bases were tightly connected and supported by four powerful Psychic-type Pokémon—personally trained by Sabrina—that were at the Elite-Four level in strength. With their help, Team Rocket constructed four massive teleportation arrays. If one base ever faced a serious crisis, the other three could instantly send reinforcements.
After the orientation meeting ended, Sato and the others exited the conference hall and followed a few logistics staff to their assigned temporary accommodations.
Personnel stationed at the island bases constantly lived under threat, but since the island was a massive treasure trove, Team Rocket's upper management spared no expense in ensuring the best possible living conditions for their stationed forces.
Thus, even the so-called "temporary" quarters allocated to Sato and the others were spacious and luxuriously decorated, furnished to a standard on par with VIP rooms in star-rated hotels.
As soon as Sato entered his assigned quarters, he immediately took out the island map and note materials distributed during the meeting. Based on the information from the map and his memory, he began jotting down notes.
Naturally, he was writing down key details he had heard during the orientation. Although his memory had improved significantly after becoming a Psychic, it wasn't flawless.
So, while everything from the meeting was still fresh in his mind, he had to quickly record the most important information—notes that would serve him well in the coming island challenges.
After roughly thirty minutes of concentrated work, Sato had filled the paper with the essential points from the orientation.
Had Shibata Toyo or any of the other presenters seen Sato's notes, they would have been shocked—the accuracy of what he'd written was nearly identical to the key content they had shared.
Once he finished writing, Sato released all six of his Pokémon and took out a stack of Pokémon canned meals to feed them.
He and his Pokémon hadn't eaten all day. After so much activity, they were all starving, so now that they had a chance to rest, it was time for a feast to regain their strength.
"Tomorrow we're heading out," Sato said as he munched on his own meal, addressing the group. "Eat well tonight. Over the next few days—except for Arcanine—the rest of you may be separated from me for a while. So you'll need to behave, no being picky or causing trouble."
Truthfully, Sato was very worried about having to separate from Pokémon like Swampert for a while.
Not because he was worried about their safety, but rather their diet.
Especially Swampert—a big eater whose daily food consumption wasn't exactly cheap.
Sato had specifically crafted personalized Pokémon food for him, far more expensive than normal meals—and with far superior taste.
He was genuinely concerned that he had spoiled their palates. Without him around, if they couldn't get used to the local food, they might go hungry.
Naturally, all of Sato's Pokémon followed his commands unconditionally. Though they looked a little downcast at the news, they still nodded obediently in agreement.
"Don't worry. I'll bring you all back soon. For now, eat up and get some rest," Sato said warmly when he saw their disappointed expressions.
In addition to survival advice, the orientation had also covered the contest rules in detail. As Sato had already heard, this year's trial had shifted from a brutal death match to a hardcore survival challenge.
According to the rules, each participant was only allowed to take one Pokémon with them at the start. After obtaining their ID badge, Team Rocket staff would teleport the rest of their Pokémon to them using special methods.
Until then, their other five Pokémon would be handed over to base staff for temporary care and feeding.
Naturally, many participants were upset by this rule. However, after a few who voiced their complaints were publicly punished, no one dared raise their objections again.
After finishing their hearty meal, Sato returned his Pokémon to their PokéBalls to let them rest. Then, he opened the door of his temporary room, grabbed a bulging black sack, and stepped outside.
The earlier wild Pokémon ambush had nearly put him in danger, but in an unexpected twist, it also delivered him a valuable windfall—the sack full of PokéBalls he now carried.
At this base, those PokéBalls represented both honor and a significant amount of PokeDollars.
While chatting with the Team Rocket veterans stationed here, Sato noticed they made no effort to hide their interest in the Pokémon-filled bag he carried.
If anyone knew the island best, it was these long-term veterans. Aside from acting as guards, they also doubled as Pokémon hunters, often venturing into the island together for treasure hunts.
Sato's plan was simple—use this sack of PokéBalls to strike deals with the Team Rocket veterans in hopes of acquiring more inside knowledge about the island.
But more than just information, what caught Sato's attention was the base's supply of medical products.
He had personally witnessed a Team Rocket veteran whose chest had been punctured, seemingly fatally injured. But after receiving an injection of an unknown drug from another veteran, the man practically came back to life on the spot.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, Sato never would have believed such a miraculous medicine existed. But now that he had, there was no way he wasn't going to try to get his hands on a few doses—for a potion like that was practically worth a life.
After some inquiries, he learned that the miracle drug was called Revival Serum, Team Rocket's latest breakthrough. It was rumored to be formulated from the mythical Revival Herb, said to bring recently deceased Pokémon back to life.
This revealed just how exorbitant the drug's production cost was. Currently, only personnel stationed on the mysterious island were eligible to receive it.
And even then, it wasn't available for redemption with points—it required a massive amount of military merit to acquire.