After their victory, Sato and Wester advanced to the quarterfinals.
While Wester attended every remaining match, Sato used an excuse to slip away, focusing on investigating Ghost Ship's assassination plot.
When the attempted assassination of an Elite Four member had occurred in his past life, Sato hadn't yet been assigned to his mentor.
So he had no memory of the specific details surrounding the event.
Fortunately, at this point, his mentor wasn't too powerful yet, only holding the rank of Blue Badge Assassin.
Sato suddenly froze. Why had that thought crossed his mind?
Somewhere, deep down, he was already aligning himself with the Pokémon League.
He sighed. Becoming a legitimate Pokémon Trainer was far better than surviving in the shadows, always hiding, always struggling.
He never said it out loud, but his goal was clear... To stop the assassination attempt.
In his past life, he had seen too much of the world's darkness.
He had betrayed morals, spilled blood, and at times even drowned in it.
Had it not been for his mentor, a lone flickering light in the darkness, stubborn but weak, Sato might have embraced the shadows once again in this life.
He could have fully exploited his knowledge from the past, rising to power without hesitation, without regard for consequences.
So this time... he would stop the assassination.
And he would protect his mentor.
But his mentor was already a Blue Badge Assassin, and escaping the organization was nearly impossible. Unless he fled to an uninhabited island or vanished into the wilderness, there was nowhere to run.
Because of the Elite Four Battle Tournament, Mahogany Town had constructed a massive stadium.
Shops, vendors, and temporary stalls sprang up around it, turning the area into a bustling marketplace.
If both Elite Four members capitalized on the tournament's success, in ten years, this place might even become a city.
Wearing sunglasses, Sato wandered the streets like a regular tourist, seemingly carefree.
But in reality, he was meticulously scanning his surroundings, searching for any traces of Ghost Ship's activity.
His efforts were not in vain.
The assassination wasn't just targeting Elite Four Sen.
The stronger an assassin, the more they preferred working alone. They would never tolerate interference, always ensuring full control over their missions.
That meant a Gold Badge Assassin was likely assigned to Sen's assassination.
Meanwhile, Silver, Blue, and Green Badge assassins were responsible for eliminating key officials and promising trainers from the Pokémon League.
This was a direct slap in the face to the Pokémon League.
At present, the League was a recognized force for justice, but it was nowhere near as dominant as it would be in a decade's time, when it would govern over ten regions.
That night, after dining with Wester, Sato locked himself in his room.
Sitting at his desk, he typed rapidly on what, to him, was an ancient desktop computer. After so long, he had grudgingly adjusted to using it.
When it came to Sen's assassination, Sato's rank and strength left him with no direct means of intervention.
So, he opted for the simplest, yet most effective method.
A mysterious message sent to Sen's computer, a hidden Trojan script, set to auto-delete five seconds after being opened. A warning that would be delivered every day at the same time.
That was all he could do for now.
Next, it was time to deal with his mentor. The best approach was not to interfere.
In his past life, his mentor had not been captured in this operation, which meant he should be fine this time as well.
But that was assuming there were no unforeseen changes.
And Sato himself was the biggest variable.
The Pokémon League building in Cianwood Town stood ten stories high, already one of the tallest buildings in the area.
Inside a spacious top-floor office, Elite Four Sen and Yanagi sat side by side, their desks covered with scattered documents.
A quick glance revealed the contents, thick stacks of detailed reports on every participant in the tournament.
"What do you think about this one? Fujiwara, male, 13 years old, born in Violet City. His parents are ordinary company employees, his background is clean, and he's easy to train."
"Too arrogant. No significant progress in the past year. Low development potential."
Elite Four Yanagi's voice was cold, unwilling to say another word.
"Then how about this one? Chishima, female, 13 years old, a local of Cianwood Town. Her parents work within the Pokémon League, but their positions aren't influential."
"A girl? Too emotional when facing challenges at that age. Not suitable."
"Hey, hey, now that's just bias!"
Sen waved Chishima's profile in front of the ice block beside him, protesting.
"...Field operations would be inconvenient."
After realizing that his previous statement might sound prejudiced, Yanagi struggled for a moment before coming up with that half-hearted excuse.
"Alright, how about this one? Yuga Sato, male, 10 years old, from Cerulean City in Kanto. Orphaned, but possesses extremely high potential, already confirmed to have four Elite-level Pokémon. This one should be fine, right?"
Sen pulled out Sato's file, intrigued.
At their age, neither he nor Yanagi had been this strong.
"...His talent is too high. Not suitable either."
"What the hell?! I swear, I'm losing my patience!"
Sen, usually as warm as spring in front of outsiders, rolled up his sleeves, ready to smack Yanagi on the head.
Not too weak, not too strong, then what exactly were they looking for?!
"Don't forget, this kid is highly favored by the Joy family. I heard he even helped them make a fortune recently."
"That's true. There's no way they'd let him go. Even if they did, that brat himself wouldn't want to come. But the rest of these candidates are either too well-connected, too old, or-"
Sen clenched his jaw.
"I have someone in mind."
Yanagi paused for two seconds before speaking softly.
"He's one of the Top 16 contestants, the glasses-wearing boy who was eliminated by Sato and Wester."
"I remember him. Wait, let me pull up his profile."
As Sen opened his computer and started searching, he noticed an anonymous email. He clicked it casually.
"Yanagi, come look at this."
"On the day of the finals, assassins will attack. Targets include Elite Four Sen, high-ranking officials, and potential candidates."
Both of them frowned, intending to read it carefully, but in the next moment, the anonymous email vanished.
As if it had never existed.
The next day, Sato and Wester arrived at the stadium as usual.
Because of Sato's dominant performance the previous day, his elusive Gengar had completely overwhelmed the opponent, leaving them powerless.
As a result, many trainers who had previously only paid attention to Wester had now shifted their focus entirely to Sato.
He was now the center of attention.
"Who are we using today?"
"Alright, I'll go with Banette!"
"Haha, and it reached Elite-level too!"