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Of course, aside from receiving the mission rewards, Sato also got the location for his next mission through the communicator—and that destination was Cinnabar Island.
"Cinnabar Island, huh? That makes it pretty likely that the Team Rocket rookie competition is going to be held on one of the southern islands off the Kanto region. Makes sense—a remote and uninhabited place like that is ideal for holding a large-scale Team Rocket event."
Looking at the screen on his communicator displaying the new mission location, Sato mused thoughtfully.
He had a fairly deep impression of Cinnabar Island.
Located on a small island south of Pallet Town, Cinnabar Island was home to an active volcano. The island's long-time resident and the current Gym Leader of the Cinnabar Gym was the famed former Kanto Fire-type Elite Four member, Blaine.
And Sato knew Blaine's real identity. This powerful former Elite Four member wasn't just a Gym Leader—he was also Team Rocket's Chief Scientist. He had worked with another scientist named Dr. Fuji to create the man-made legendary Pokémon, Mewtwo.
From what Sato understood, Mewtwo was born on Cinnabar Island, which made this distant island a crucial research base for Team Rocket.
"What a shame. Even though I completed the mission perfectly, I still didn't get a chance to meet Giovanni in person. That's a real pity... Could it be because I destroyed his house? Nah, that can't be it—Giovanni's way more generous than that. A bit of repair money wouldn't bother him at all."
Sato quickly put away the communicator and shifted his thoughts to the previous mission, feeling a little regretful that he didn't get to meet Giovanni in person.
About ten minutes later, he heard his name called over the loudspeaker in the waiting area. He promptly made his way to the front desk to collect the PokeBall containing his Swampert and then left the Pokémon Center.
After that, Sato headed to the nearest Pokémon supply shop and spent over two million PokeDollars to buy enough high-grade Pokémon food to last his team for a month or two.
He also gathered some common ingredients used to make specialized food for the Pikachu line.
When Sato had received the Mutated Thunder Orb from a Team Rocket member named Mia, he'd also gotten a rare, annotated Pokémon guide focused specifically on raising Pikachu. The book contained a detailed recipe for crafting food specifically tailored to the Pikachu evolutionary line.
Lately, Sato could feel the signs of life in his Pichu egg growing stronger. He estimated that in a day or two, the little Pokémon that had been incubating for so long would finally hatch.
So he had to prepare in advance, to create the best nurturing environment for it.
Though he hadn't yet found the key ingredient—leaves from the Electrowood tree, vital for making Pikachu-specialized food—according to the guide, he could still use common ingredients to create a lower-tier version of the same food.
(Note: Electrowood leaf, an Electric-type ingredient. This refers to a miraculous tree that was once deadwood but was struck by lightning and miraculously revived. Its entire body contains vast amounts of pure Electric-type energy)
That said, the book may call these ingredients "common," but that was only in comparison to the extremely rare Electrowood leaves. They were still hard to find in their own right.
So far, Sato had only managed to buy one of the four necessary ingredients for the low-grade Pikachu food from a supply shop in Viridian City.
That ingredient was Electro Berry, a fruit infused with traces of Electric energy. It's the most basic component used in crafting the low-tier food, and large quantities of it are needed.
The other three common Electric-type ingredients were: Ampharos's electric wool, Magneton's powdered magnet fragments, and Heliolisk's shed skin. These ingredients have stable supply sources and, with enough money, aren't too difficult to find on the market.
Aside from these four ingredients, Sato also needed to prepare berries like Pecha, Oran, Persim, and Cheri as base materials.
After exiting the Pokémon supply shop, Sato hopped on his Acro bike and began heading south out of Viridian City. On the way to Cinnabar Island, he would need to pass through the famous Champion Town—Pallet Town.
Even though he hadn't gotten to meet the elusive Giovanni, Sato still felt excited at the thought that he might encounter the not-yet-departed-on-his-journey Ash.
By Sato's guess, Ash would probably still be just a little brat. He figured it'd be fun to show off a little in front of him—to make a grand impression and act cool in front of the future legend. Just the thought of it had him pumped.
But when Sato reached a secluded, wild path on the southern outskirts of Viridian City, a burly and familiar man suddenly leapt out from the tall grass nearby and blocked his path.
"It's him—Orm."
Seeing the towering man standing squarely in the middle of the path, Sato paused for a moment before remembering who he was—Orm, one of Giovanni's elite personal guards and one of the three Beasts.
Realizing the man wasn't an enemy, Sato quickly canceled the motion of pulling out a PokeBall. Instead, he looked at Orm with a confused expression, wondering why this guy had suddenly popped out like a mid-boss in a game.
"Kid, this is something the Boss asked me to give you. Don't lose it. Also, the Boss said—this time, you'd better place in the top ten."
Without any pleasantries, Orm tossed a small ornate box at Sato. Then, after saying those few words, he rode off into the sky on two Jumpluff.
The weather was bright and sunny, and with Chlorophyll triggered, the two Jumpluff moved at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, Orm had vanished from Sato's sight.
"A good thing indeed… Looks like Giovanni has officially accepted me as one of his direct subordinates. That's amazing. Now I've got real backing in Team Rocket—and not just any backing, the biggest one there is."
Sato carefully opened the black ornamental box and, upon seeing the black-and-green emblem inside, his eyes lit up with joy.
He'd seen this style of emblem before. When he'd bribed Joe Kondo, one of Giovanni's direct subordinates, the man had proudly shown it off and explained what it meant.
According to Joe, only those who possessed this emblem could be considered true direct subordinates of Giovanni.
And now that Sato had it, for any future Team Rocket mission he took on, he would receive an additional 10% in rewards—plus access to various forms of free support.
That 10% bonus was sponsored by Giovanni himself—one of the perks of being in his inner circle.
In short, this emblem came with a mountain of benefits. With Giovanni backing him now, Sato would have nothing to fear in Team Rocket. No matter what trouble came his way, just flashing this emblem would make others think twice.
Now in high spirits after receiving the black-and-green emblem that symbolized his status, Sato happily rode his Acro bike into a nearby wild Pokémon habitat, speeding off in the direction of Pallet Town.