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A little after 5 p.m., Sato rode Crobat back into Slateport City without incident. He first stopped by the Pokémon Center to have his Pokémon—who had endured long, grueling battles—treated, then found a nearby inn and checked in.
After entering his room, Sato used his psychic perception to confirm there were no abnormalities nearby. Only then did he take out all the spoils he had obtained from the Dragon Den and begin counting them one by one.
This time, his haul was truly astonishing. All the growth resources that Altaria had prepared for her offspring had been completely swept up by him.
His main gains were 82 Dragonblood Ginseng, 52 Dragonbone Fruits, 3 Dragon Crystals, and 1 Dragon Fang.
"So many Dragonblood Ginseng and Dragonbone Fruits… this should be more than enough for Dratini to grow smoothly into Dragonair. And these three Dragon Crystals—if used properly, Dratini's innate potential could be further enhanced. It might even reach perfect individual values without relying on Mew Gene Enhancement Serum."
Looking with satisfaction at the two piles of Dragon-type cultivation materials in front of him, then glancing down at the three baby-fist-sized Dragon Crystals in his hand, Sato felt delighted.
From the notes left behind by the Dragon-type Elite Four - Drake, Sato knew that for Dratini to naturally grow into Dragonair, aside from level requirements, it also needed to complete over 100 molting cycles. As for Dragonair growing naturally into Dragonite, that required 60 molts.
Dratini molted once every half year. In other words, for Dratini to naturally reach Dragonair, it would take at least 50 years.
Dragonair's molting interval was even longer—once per year. So for Dragonair to grow naturally into Dragonite, it would require another 60 years.
Therefore, if a Trainer wanted to raise a Dratini, they had to do everything possible to find treasures that accelerated Dragon-type growth. Otherwise, the Trainer might die of old age before ever seeing their Dratini become a Dragonite.
On paper, the Dragonblood Ginseng and Dragonbone Fruits Sato possessed were enough to accelerate growth by 186 years.
But in reality, both Dragonblood Ginseng and Dragonbone Fruit were resources meant primarily for juvenile Dragon-types. Their effectiveness dropped sharply once a Dragon-type reached the Dragonair stage.
That meant Sato's current resources were more than sufficient to help Dratini quickly transition into Dragonair—but were far from enough to push Dragonair rapidly into Dragonite.
"The road to raising Dragon-types really is long and arduous… but if Dratini can evolve into Dragonair in a short time, he'll already have considerable combat power. With his ability to freely manipulate the weather, he'll be more than capable of supporting the team."
After carefully considering the impact these resources would have on Dratini, Sato sighed softly—then his spirits lifted again.
Once he finished counting the gains from Altaria's nest, Sato began tallying the rest of the loot from the Dragon Den.
He had robbed quite a few poachers there. Among them, Hook was the fattest prize—this man had handed over not only Abra and two valuable Technical Machines, but also an anonymous bank card with a deposit of 10 million PokeDollars.
Half an hour later, Sato finally finished inventorying everything he had obtained from the Dragon Den.
A large portion of it consisted of gemstones. Piled up before him now was a mound nearly the size of a small hill—532 gemstones of various colors.
Though none were polished, Sato estimated that each could still sell for seventy to eighty thousand PokeDollars. If professionally cut and designed by jewelers, their value could easily multiply several times over.
However, with Altaria gone from the Dragon Den, Sato expected fearless Trainers to strip the place clean very soon. When that happened, gemstone prices in nearby cities would likely dip.
Because of this, Sato planned to sell this batch of gemstones as quickly as possible to maximize profit.
Aside from gemstones, a large number of anonymous bank cards were another major part of his gains.
Most of those poachers were League fugitives. To avoid detection, they couldn't use normal bank cards, instead relying on anonymous cards that allowed unrestricted deposits and withdrawals.
Of course, these cards weren't issued by legitimate banks, but by well-funded underground money houses. If Sato wanted to withdraw the full amounts, he would need to go to certain black markets.
From what he remembered, Slateport City happened to have a branch of one such underground money house—he could extract the funds there.
The final gain was the growth of his Pokémon themselves. Although it had only been a day or two, the experiences in the Dragon Lair had allowed Nidoking and the others to improve considerably.
At present, the Pokémon under Sato's identity as Raiden Suzuki had the following levels: Nidoking (55), Crobat (55), Tentacruel (45), Whirlipede (34), Roserade (62), Abra (18). Kecleon, who had been consistently participating in battle, had also reached level 45.
It was worth noting that Aggron officially left the team after Sato departed the Dragon Den. To be honest, this made Sato feel quite regretful.
Several hours later, dusk gradually fell and the night grew hazy. Once again, Sato moved through Slateport City in the guise of Tyler, a civilian Trainer from the Johto region.
Before long, he stopped with Pikachu in front of a lavishly decorated building—the Slateport Contest Hall, a high-tier venue.
At this moment, a long queue had formed outside the hall. Seeing this, Sato frowned slightly.
"Tyler, over here! Over here!"
Just as Sato was about to take out his communicator to contact someone, a hurried voice rang out from the entrance of the contest hall.
Looking toward the sound, Sato saw Flannery and Roxanne waving at him. A smile immediately appeared on his face, and he strode toward them.
Having just come through a brutal battle, he was both mentally and physically exhausted. Coincidentally, Flannery had invited him earlier to watch a high-tier Pokémon Contest.
Thinking it would be good to relax a bit, he had agreed without much hesitation.
"Hurry up, Tyler! The preliminaries are about to start! I heard Miss Hirako is competing this time—so exciting!"
The impatient Flannery rushed up, grabbed Sato by the hand, and dragged him toward the hall.
"Tyler… sorry about leaving without saying goodbye last time."
Roxanne followed closely behind, speaking softly with an apologetic look.
"It's fine. I'm just glad you're both safe."
Sato turned to her, shook his head, and replied with a smile.
Flannery, having overheard, scratched her head awkwardly and apologized as well.
In truth, their invitation to this contest was meant as an apology. Seeing that Sato wasn't upset at all, both women finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Thanks to their connections, Flannery and Roxanne had secured front-row seats with the best view. After buying their favorite snacks at the shop near the entrance, the three of them entered the arena.
At this point, the regular judges—Nurse Joy, Mr. Contesta, Mr. Sukizo, and the host Vivian—were already in place. All that remained was for the contestants to make their entrances.