Pokemon: The Legendary Trainer

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"It seems Team Magma is quite cautious. Realizing the capture of those six members could expose their plans, they probably chose to move their schedule forward and retreated overnight," Sato thought grimly as he surveyed the desolate dock and the broken ships scattered before him. 

A sense of unease crept into his heart.

Judging by the damage to the docked ships, Team Magma had left some time ago. However, they appeared to have been in a rush, destroying only the vital parts of the ships—such as the hulls and engines—without resorting to the drastic measure of blowing them up entirely.

What worried Sato more was the eerie silence blanketing the entire dock. It raised concerns about the safety of the people here. 

Team Magma was a criminal organization, and who knew if some of their more ruthless members might have decided to silence witnesses entirely.

"Come out, Golbat, Growlithe. Golbat, use your abilities to check if anyone is still around. Poochyena, Growlithe, you two assist in searching for survivors. If you find anything, alert me immediately."

Sato released Golbat and Growlithe and gave instructions, including Poochyena in the search efforts. The three Pokémon immediately sprang into action. 

Golbat soared high into the sky, emitting visible waves of sound as it used its echolocation abilities, while Growlithe and Poochyena exchanged glances before heading off in opposite directions to search the dock.

Meanwhile, Sato released his Swampert and Shiny Pelipper to accompany him in searching the wrecked ships, hoping to find one that could still be salvaged.

About five or six minutes later, Golbat, relying on its ultrasound to scan the area, seemed to have discovered something. It quickly returned to Sato and led him to an empty building. 

When they arrived, Poochyena and Growlithe were already there, sniffing the ground intently after breaking down the door.

With the help of his Pokémon, Sato eventually found a concealed door disguised as part of the floor beneath the bed in the master bedroom. The door was tightly sealed and made of a special alloy. 

Even Swampert's powerful punches couldn't dent it, though the house shook from the impact.

Realizing brute force wouldn't work, Sato instructed Growlithe to use its flames to melt the door. However, even under the intense heat, the door glowed red-hot without showing any signs of melting—it had an extremely high melting point.

Frustrated but undeterred, Sato began searching the room for any mechanism or hidden switch that might open the door. Unfortunately, despite thoroughly scouring the bedroom, he found nothing. 

He then asked Swampert to try digging around the door, only to discover that the floor beneath was made of the same alloy. It seemed this house was hiding a meticulously constructed secret base belonging to Team Magma.

Given how much time he had spent attempting to open the base's entrance without encountering any resistance, Sato surmised that the Team Magma members stationed here had likely already evacuated.

"Hmph, a door like this won't stop me. Growlithe, heat it up again. Pelipper, once it's red-hot, use Ice Beam on it."

As Sato pondered his options, an idea struck him: metals become brittle or even shatter when rapidly cooled after being heated. He immediately set his plan into motion.

Under Growlithe's intense flames, the metal door glowed red-hot once more. 

Sato then commanded his Pokémon to retreat a safe distance before instructing Pelipper to fire its Ice Beam at the glowing metal.

As the icy blue beam struck the superheated door, a dense cloud of white mist formed, followed by a loud explosion. Fortunately, Swampert used Protect in time, shielding everyone from the blast.

When the smoke cleared, the room was in shambles, and the floor now featured a large crater. At the center of the crater, a staircase leading down into the underground appeared before Sato's eyes.

"Damn it, here goes nothing. This should be Team Magma's secret base. Let's hope most of them have already left, or I'm walking straight into a lion's den," Sato muttered under his breath as he stood by the crater, observing for any movement below. 

After a long pause with no signs of anyone emerging, he decided to proceed.

Sato donned a human-skin mask created by his Ditto and recalled all his Pokémon except Golbat. Carefully, he descended the staircase into the underground.

The staircase wasn't very deep, about ten meters down. At the bottom, a passage wide enough for five or six people to walk side by side extended before him.

As Sato suspected, this was indeed a secret base built by Team Magma near the dock on Route 122. The Team Magma insignias adorning the walls confirmed it. The base appeared to be relatively small and hastily constructed. 

While the entrance was quite sophisticated, the interior seemed somewhat shoddy, resembling a glorified mining tunnel.

The passage was lined with metal panels on the walls, but the ceiling and floor remained bare rock. The numerous hanging lanterns illuminated the space, casting eerie shadows as Sato advanced, feeling like he was walking through an upscale mine.

The base seemed abandoned, as Sato had not encountered a single Team Magma member thus far. However, the Pokémon left behind to guard the place posed significant challenges.

Every few steps, Geodudes disguised as rocks would launch surprise attacks. These Pokémon seemed to have been given strict orders before Team Magma's retreat, going so far as to use Explosion to hinder Sato's progress.

At first, Sato narrowly avoided being caught off guard, thanks to Golbat's quick reflexes and use of Protect. After that, Sato released Swampert and Poochyena to deal with the threats.

Swampert's Damp ability was a natural counter to the self-destructive Geodudes and Graveler, rendering their Explosion unusable. 

Without commands from their trainers, the Team Magma Pokémon were quickly taken down by Poochyena's Ice Fang.

Sato intentionally allowed Poochyena to take the lead in combat. The experience gained from defeating the Geodudes and Graveler caused Poochyena to glow with a beautiful evolutionary light. 

Without the constraints of an Everstone, Poochyena was finally about to evolve.