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After much careful consideration, Sato ultimately decided to change his plans for the next day and instead join Tomoki's team to explore the ruins.
In truth, Sato hadn't let himself be blinded by temptation—he had assessed the risks thoroughly.
Based on his evaluation of Tomoki and the others' strength, as well as the fact that they had managed to leave the ruins unharmed, Sato came to the conclusion that the ancient guardians in this particular ruin weren't overwhelmingly powerful.
If the exploration team could work together with full cooperation, their chances of defeating the Regi Trio were fairly high. And even if they couldn't win, escaping shouldn't be a problem.
Maya had previously mentioned that in addition to inviting him, Tomoki had also extended invitations to Vanna, Ailes, and Rin Akikaze—well-known strong trainers. Among them, Vanna and Ailes had already confirmed their participation.
Sato was very familiar with Vanna and Ailes's capabilities. With them on board, the risk of the ruins expedition could easily be reduced by at least 50%. That wasn't an exaggeration—it was backed by fact.
While Vanna didn't possess the same psychic abilities as Ailes, her wilderness survival skills were far beyond those of Sato and the rest. She'd grown up in the wild and was a born tracker, exceptionally skilled in navigation and pursuit.
With her around, even if the ruins were as complex as a labyrinth, the team didn't have to worry about getting lost. And thanks to her heightened instincts and keen intuition, she had a high chance of detecting hidden dangers within the ruins, further minimizing the risk.
Moreover, Vanna was a fierce fighter. She owned a tremendously powerful Kommo-o. Considering Regirock, Regice, and Registeel were all weak to Fighting-types, her Kommo-o was guaranteed to shine in the upcoming battles.
As for Ailes, there was no need to elaborate—he was an exceptionally powerful psychic. He could teleport and use telekinesis to levitate objects with ease.
Additionally, he had several Psychic-type Pokémon capable of teleportation, such as Alakazam, Gallade, and Xatu.
His participation was undoubtedly a morale booster for the team. If they encountered an overwhelmingly powerful enemy or an extremely dangerous situation, Ailes would serve as the team's last line of defense.
However, as far as Sato was concerned, placing his life in someone else's hands was not an acceptable strategy.
For that reason, he was seriously considering whether he should capture a Psychic-type Pokémon that could use Teleport. If he had one of those, the danger of the ruins expedition would be significantly reduced.
Maya had said the deadline to join the team was 5 p.m. the next day. That gave Sato ample time to find a Psychic-type Pokémon that could use Teleport.
In fact, during this island exploration period, Sato had already encountered quite a few Psychic-type Pokémon.
The problem was, none of them showed any interest in joining a trainer with such a low level of psychic power. Not a single one had voluntarily approached him.
Sato couldn't do much about that. He didn't want to force these proud Psychic-types. But since he was heading into a high-risk ruin, he had no choice but to resort to more assertive methods for now.
At the moment, Sato knew of a few locations where Psychic-type Pokémon regularly appeared. All of them could use Teleport proficiently.
Every time he ran into one, they vanished in the blink of an eye, leaving him with no chance at all.
"Tomorrow, I'll go searching again. Hopefully I can catch one this time."
Having made up his mind, Sato, now nestled in his sleeping bag, stopped overthinking and gradually emptied his mind.
With the help of the high-tech sleeping bag's sleep-inducing function, he quickly drifted into slumber.
Thanks to the presence of Swampert and the other Pokémon, the camp remained quiet through the night. Nothing unexpected occurred.
The night passed uneventfully.
At 7 a.m. the next morning, Sato and Thomas woke up promptly to the sound of their alarms. The two of them quickly handled breakfast for themselves and their Pokémon, then began another day of exploring the island.
Riding on Arcanine and Rapidash respectively, Sato and Thomas soon arrived at a place known as the Misty Fog Forest.
This forest was so named because every morning, from pre-dawn to early light, it would be shrouded in thick fog.
It was still early, and Misty Fog Forest was still cloaked in a blanket of white mist. However, with the blazing sun rising overhead, signs of the fog dispersing were already visible. It would likely clear up completely within ten minutes or so.
Misty Fog Forest was a place where Sato had repeatedly spotted Psychic-type Pokémon. It seemed to be a particularly favored location for them.
Here, he had seen Abra, Ralts, Spoink, and Slowpoke, among others.
Spoink and Slowpoke had even formed a small colony in the forest.
In fact, Sato had considered capturing a high-potential Spoink or Slowpoke from those groups to resolve his embarrassing situation of having no Psychic-type Pokémon despite being a psychic himself.
But when he saw how all the Spoink and Slowpoke looked equally blank and dopey, he gave up on the idea.
Currently, the dominant Pokémon group in Misty Fog Forest was a flock of Spearow. As such, the moment Sato and Thomas, two strangers, entered the forest, they were immediately targeted by these bad-tempered birds—who clearly had forgotten their past beatings.
Spearow were aggressive, but they were also the classic bullies—bold against the weak, but fearful of the strong. They also held grudges and were selectively forgetful.
Soon, under the electric onslaught of Sato's Crobat's Hidden Power: Electric and Thomas's Magnezone's Thunderbolt, the aggressive flock chose to make a hasty—though likely temporary—retreat.
Sato and Thomas spent quite some time circling around Misty Fog Forest. They ran into numerous Spoink bouncing through the trees and Slowpoke dawdling beside small streams—but they didn't even catch a glimpse of other types of Psychic Pokémon.
"Lord Sato, aside from Spoink and Slowpoke, these Psychic-types are sharp. I bet they know we're out to catch them. They're probably all in hiding."
After several fruitless rounds, Thomas—his legs sore from riding—spoke with some discouragement.
"Let's make one more round. If we still don't find anything, we'll head somewhere else."
Sato responded, his tone tinged with helplessness.
Just as Thomas had said, most Psychic-type Pokémon were extremely sharp. With their incredible powers, it wasn't impossible they had sensed what Sato and Thomas were up to.
Ten minutes later, after yet another sweep of the forest, they were still empty-handed.
Just as they were preparing to leave Misty Fog Forest and check out other known Psychic-type locations—
BOOM!!!
A thunderous explosion echoed from the central lake of Misty Fog Forest. The entire forest shook with the sound.
Sato and Thomas exchanged glances and instantly urged their Arcanine and Rapidash to sprint toward the source of the blast.