In the blink of an eye, half a month passed. Sato finally chose to bid farewell to Brandon and resume his journey across the Hoenn region.
Although Brandon sincerely wished to keep Sato around as a Psychic, Sato had no intention of staying any longer. Swampert's advancement was simply too difficult in the desert environment, and he was unwilling to continue wasting time there.
Left with no other choice, Brandon allowed Sato to leave and rewarded him generously.
In fact, Sato had completed his two-week escort contract a week earlier. However, the expedition had been going through its most difficult period at the time, and at the requests of Brandon and Cynthia, he agreed to stay for an additional week.
Among the expedition members, Hughes and Lucy had left long before him.
The two had gained quite a lot from the ruins expedition, and they also owed Sato several huge favors. Had Sato not stepped in to help them on multiple occasions, they would have died long ago.
Over the course of nearly a month of escort work, Sato's gains had been tremendous.
Leaving aside the large number of valuable ancient artifacts he acquired, simply forging deep friendships with Brandon and Cynthia—two future Champion-level Trainers—made the trip worthwhile.
One notable event was that Brandon finally succeeded in capturing the first of the Legendary Titans, Regirock.
With Regirock's power, he was also able to finally eliminate his long-time enemy, Abyss.
During the expedition, Sato had contributed greatly. He had successfully used Teleport to snatch back the PokeBall containing Regirock from Abyss, preventing the villain's scheme from succeeding.
With the ruins expedition over, a new adventure was about to begin.
Two days later, at the western edge of the desert, Sato—his exposed skin now tanned bronze by the relentless sun—finally walked out of the scorching sands and once again stepped onto the lush green grass of Route 111.
Several more days later, after a dusty journey, Sato successfully arrived in Lavaridge Town.
The first thing he did upon arriving was transfer Nidoking, Crobat, Scolipede, Roserade, Duskull, Misdreavus, and several other Pokémon to Professor Oak.
Afterward, he sent Lanturn, Cloyster, and Tentacruel to Elsa, keeping only Swampert, Pikachu, Kecleon, Starmie, Blastoise, Kadabra, and Vibrava with him.
During his time in the desert, Sato had finally come to a realization.
Although multi-space PokeBalls allowed him to carry many Pokémon for extended periods, they did not help those Pokémon grow. Moreover, with so many Pokémon on hand, it was becoming impossible for him to properly care for all of them.
Pokémon quality mattered more than quantity.
This was a lesson he had learned from Brandon and Cynthia.
Over the past month, he had frequently sought guidance from these two Elite-Four level Trainers. In particular, Brandon—a fellow Trainer from a common background—had taught him a great deal.
According to Brandon, a Trainer without a stable source of resources should focus first on helping their strongest Pokémon reach Elite-Four level as quickly as possible. From there, they could gradually build their own influence and secure a reliable stream of resources.
Sato found this advice deeply convincing and decided to follow it.
There was another important reason as well.
As Pikachu, Kecleon, Blastoise, Starmie, and Kadabra continued to grow stronger, combined with the addition of his ace Swampert, the identity of "Tyler" had finally moved beyond its vulnerable early stage.
He no longer needed to rely on hidden "external forces" to accomplish things.
As long as an Elite-Four level Trainer wasn't involved, he was now fully capable of handling problems on his own.
Because he had only been able to use Tyler's Pokémon during the expedition, their strength had improved significantly.
Their current levels were:
Swampert — Level 69
Pikachu — Level 51
Kecleon — Level 52
Blastoise — Level 45
Starmie — Level 46
Kadabra — Level 43
Vibrava — Level 39
After settling matters regarding his Pokémon, Sato logged into the League's internal exchange system using a Pokémon Center computer.
Then, gritting his teeth, he spent 50,000 League Contribution Points to purchase a TM for Taunt.
When Brandon had distributed rewards, Sato specifically requested that as much of his compensation as possible be converted into League Contribution Points.
Brandon had readily agreed.
As a result, Sato received a whopping 40,000 Contribution Points from Brandon alone. Combined with his previous savings and rewards from League missions, his total finally exceeded the 50,000-point mark.
A TM worth 50,000 Contribution Points was naturally extremely valuable, and delivery was astonishingly fast.
In less than an hour, the Taunt TM was in Sato's hands.
Following his original plan, he immediately taught the move to Kadabra.
As a result, Tyler's team now possessed a Pokémon capable of using Taunt—and one that also possessed Magic Bounce.
After completing that task, Sato moved on to the next objective:
Challenging the Lavaridge Gym.
Lavaridge Town wasn't particularly large, and Sato quickly found the gym.
Standing at the entrance waiting for him was the cheerful and energetic Flannery.
In fact, the morning after Sato had sent her a message, Flannery had already rushed to the oasis where he was staying.
With Sato's assistance, she successfully captured that stubborn Numel she had wanted.
As a result, Flannery was extremely grateful to him. Upon learning that he intended to challenge the gym, she personally came out to welcome him.
"Hahaha! Tyler, you've finally arrived! Come on, hurry up and follow me! Grandpa's been waiting for you!"
The moment she spotted Sato in the distance, Flannery bounced over excitedly and immediately grabbed him by the arm, dragging him into the gym.
Soon, under Flannery's guidance, Sato arrived at the gym's backyard.
There, atop a steaming field of heated sand, stood a standard battle arena.
At the far end of the battlefield stood an elderly man with his hands clasped behind his back.
Beside him lay an aged Typhlosion.
Sensing their arrival, the old man slowly turned around and fixed Sato with a pair of cloudy yet still piercing eyes.
This elderly man wearing reading glasses was none other than Flannery's grandfather—
Mr. Moore, the former Hoenn Fire-type Elite Four member and current Gym Leader of Lavaridge Town.
"Come."
Moore's voice rang out with vigor.
"Interesting young man. Let us have a proper battle on this battlefield where geysers erupt without warning."
He looked directly at Sato, his eyes shining with anticipation.