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After hearing Tomoki's explanation, Sato nodded without asking further questions and, like the other Team Rocket recruits, found a place to begin treating his injuries and healing his Pokémon.
However, during this process, Sato's gaze frequently drifted toward Tomoki, suspicion flickering in his eyes.
Though he had outwardly accepted Tomoki's story, deep down, Sato remained skeptical. He firmly believed Tomoki still wasn't telling the full truth.
A trial ground built by Mew for ancient humans? That sounded far too conveniently structured. While everything Tomoki had said seemed to align with what they had encountered so far, Sato simply didn't buy it.
If he hadn't already known what Mew looked like, he might have been fooled. But as a reincarnated person with foreknowledge, he could now be certain this ruin, unlike what he had originally thought, had very little to do with Mew.
In fact, Sato had been carefully observing the ruins throughout their exploration—particularly the murals etched into the stone walls and the shattered statues lining the corridors. These were his primary focus.
Unfortunately, he hadn't found a single depiction of Mew among the murals or statues.
If Tomoki's claim were true—that these ruins were trial grounds built by the powerful being known as Mew for ancient people—then, based on ancient cultural practices, Mew would have been venerated as a guardian deity. There would surely be murals and statues depicting it all over the place.
And so, Sato was convinced that Tomoki was lying.
That said, Sato also confirmed one important point—Rocket Team had discovered Mew-related ruins somewhere on this island. That much could be inferred from Tomoki, a person with deep insider knowledge. He clearly knew about Mew's existence; otherwise, his lie wouldn't have been so detailed and convincing.
But now that Sato was certain this wasn't a true Mew ruin, his interest in this expedition had significantly waned.
He was almost certain this whole venture into the ruins was part of some larger scheme. Tomoki had gathered this many elite Team Rocket recruits here—surely for some secretive purpose.
'Could it be to eliminate dissidents?' Sato speculated. 'This place is just as dangerous as the island's central zone—maybe even more. And this guy knew that the Giant Golurk could resurrect the ancient puppet soldiers but deliberately withheld that information, which led to the deaths of three people.'
'But wait… if that were really his intention, then he wouldn't have needed to say that the Giant Golurk becomes weakened after using its resurrection ability. Nor would he have fought so desperately to kill the giant afterward. He could have just let it and the soldiers slaughter the uninformed members.'
'Hold on—what about those three who died? I remember they were lying right where they fell. Has anyone dealt with them?'
Sato continued observing Tomoki and his group while turning over countless thoughts in his mind.
Suddenly, he recalled the three people who had died during the fight. He quickly looked at the ground nearby—and was shocked to find that the corpses were gone.
Even their Pokémon had disappeared without a trace.
When those three had perished, everyone had been entirely focused on the battle. Even Sato hadn't paid attention to the now-irrelevant bodies.
And after the battle, everyone's attention had shifted to wondering what Tomoki and his subordinates were staring at above the hall. Sato himself had also looked up at the Unown that reappeared at the ceiling. Nobody had thought to check the ground.
After all, dead people—and Pokémon—were considered worthless. Who would waste time looking at them? Especially when the Unown had returned, grabbing everyone's attention. No one wanted to dwell on something as unpleasant as corpses.
Right now, most were either tending to their injuries or admiring the treasures they had just received.
Perhaps aside from Sato, no one had even noticed that the bodies had vanished.
So where had the corpses gone?
What exactly was this ruin?
Should he continue deeper into it?
These questions began circling in Sato's mind, and the next time he looked at Tomoki and his men, there was a deep wariness in his eyes.
Corpses don't just disappear without reason. The most plausible explanation Sato could think of was that the remains had been "devoured" by some evil being sealed within the unknown parts of these ruins.
The thought was chilling—but Sato was well aware that many ancient ruins housed sealed evil Pokémon. He had even purchased a spoon once on the underground black market in Saffron City that contained the sealed spirit of an ancient, evil Pokémon.
Now, remembering what Tomoki had said earlier—that the third floor housed the Regi trio, ancient guardians of the ruins—Sato became convinced. It was highly likely that some evil Pokémon was sealed within the third level… and it was on the verge of breaking free.
As for Tomoki and the others, they were likely under its influence—or, more boldly, perhaps they were planning to control the sealed creature using some twisted method.
At present, they were probably performing some dark ritual to help the creature escape its seal faster.
"Thomas, let's leave. We can't stay in these ruins. Don't ask me why now—I'll explain everything later."
After thinking things through, Sato made up his mind: he would abandon the ruins expedition. He sent the message via telepathy to Thomas.
Though he still didn't know what Tomoki's true purpose was in bringing them here, the fact that something was clearly wrong meant he couldn't afford to stay. Continuing onward would be far too risky.
The reasons were simple:
First, his original goal had been to find traces of Mew. But this clearly wasn't a Mew ruin—so there was no point staying. No trace of Mew meant no need to continue.
With less than half a day left before the second phase of the tournament ended, Sato would be free to leave this cursed island soon. If he died here because of some fake Mew ruin, that would be a tragic waste.
Second, even though he had noticed the strange happenings, he had no solid proof. If anything happened, Tomoki and his group could just brush it off as a casualty of a dangerous ruins expedition. No one would question that.
Plus, Sato was practically alone here. He stood no chance against Tomoki and his faction. If he stayed, he'd be placing himself in extreme danger.
And most importantly, these Team Rocket recruits were strangers to him. There was no way he was risking his life for people he didn't even know.
"Yes, Lord Sato. Wherever you go, I'll follow."
Thomas was stunned when Sato's urgent message reached his mind. He immediately stopped admiring the treasure in his box, closed it, and packed it into his spatial backpack, whispering respectfully to Sato.
Sato gave a satisfied nod. Then, without drawing attention, he released Natu and prepared to instruct it—via telepathy—to take him and Thomas back to the entrance of the ruins.
But just as he was about to issue the command…
A voice echoed in his mind—and the words sent a jolt of terror through his entire body. His hair stood on end.