Pokemon: The Legendary Trainer

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After successfully completing his registration, Sato followed the crowd into the Goldenrod Department Store and began reading the event flyer he'd just received, which detailed the competition's schedule and rules.

Backed by deep financial resources, the Goldenrod Department Store had chosen to hold the event at the city's central battle arena, a large-scale venue perfect for this kind of tournament.

The format of the competition was simple—directly modeled after the regional Pokémon League tournaments. It would begin with 1-on-1 preliminary rounds. Once 120 participants remained, it would shift to 2-on-2 battles. When only eight competitors were left, the format would change again to 3-on-3 battles. Only the semifinals and finals would adopt full 6-on-6 battles.

Due to the store's concurrent promotional sale, the entire twelve-story Goldenrod Department Store was absolutely packed. Unable to squeeze into the elevators, Sato had no choice but to take the stairs all the way to the 9th floor, where the TM (Technical Machine) specialty section was located.

Just as Sato had expected, while there was a wide variety of TMs available in the specialty area, the vast majority were fairly common ones.

There, he managed to find Rock Tomb and Sandstorm, two TMs suitable for NidoKing. However, he saw none of the other moves he was hoping to find—such as Power-Up Punch, Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, Sludge Wave, Sludge Bomb, Aura Sphere, Shadow Claw, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Iron Tail, Poison Tail, or Drill Run.

"Guess I'll just go with these two," Sato muttered as he brought Rock Tomb and Sandstorm to the counter and addressed an elderly male clerk behind it.

"Rock Tomb, 500,000 PokeDollars. Sandstorm, 1,000,000 PokeDollars. Total: 1.5 million. But we're currently running a storewide sale—everything in the TM section is 20% off. So that brings your total to 1.2 million PokeDollars. Just a heads-up, we only accept card payments here," the clerk stated after giving the TMs a quick glance.

Sato nodded and pulled out an unmarked golden bank card containing close to 190 million PokeDollars. He handed it over, letting the clerk handle the transaction with the card reader.

This older clerk had been working in the TM specialty section of the 9th floor for almost four years. Over time, he had developed a keen eye for distinguishing between wealthy Trainers and struggling ones.

Although Sato wore an advanced Trainer uniform, that wasn't anything special to the clerk—he'd seen plenty of people dressed like that. In fact, he even noticed that Sato's uniform wasn't the latest model. But what did shock him was the golden, anonymous League bank card Sato had just handed over.

If his memory served him right, that card was a custom-made VIP card issued by a large private bank in the Kanto region, with a minimum deposit requirement of 100 million PokeDollars. Just possessing it signaled an elite status.

Though the store had no official policy about how staff should treat customers like Sato, as a seasoned clerk, he knew exactly what to do.

Why did the owner open this massive department store in Goldenrod City? To make money, of course. And TMs were a goldmine. Even though the Pokémon League tightly controlled the distribution of rare TMs, the store owner clearly had the connections to acquire them through "special channels."

These TMs weren't part of the official stock—they were reserved for special customers and wouldn't appear in normal sales records.

"Sir, we actually have a few... special items available, but they're a bit pricey. Would you be interested?" the clerk asked respectfully, lowering his voice as he returned the golden card to Sato.

Sato's eyes lit up. He studied the older man with a knowing smirk and gave a subtle nod to signal him to continue.

He had long suspected something like this. A store as large and resourceful as the Goldenrod Department Store couldn't possibly limit itself to selling only common TMs. There had to be more beneath the surface.

So that's what this was about—he just hadn't shown the right level of "sincerity" before.

'I guess my perspective was too narrow. Seems like this unmarked card represents more than just money... The world of the wealthy really is different from what I imagined,' Sato thought, glancing at the shimmering card in his hand.

Seeing Sato's positive response, the old clerk was thrilled. In these kinds of unofficial transactions, he'd receive a 1% cut of the sales—a sum that easily exceeded his monthly salary.

"You can take your time browsing online. Once you've made your decision, just place your order and provide a delivery address. We'll make sure it reaches you as quickly as possible," the clerk said with a servile smile as he discreetly slipped a small paper slip to Sato from under the counter.

Sato nodded. Without checking the contents immediately, he calmly stored the slip inside the spatial wristband he wore, then turned and left.

Ten minutes later, Sato exited the crowded department store and walked into a nearby ice drink café.

Finding a quiet seat in the corner, he ordered some drinks and ice cream for himself and his Pokémon. Once everything was on the table, he pulled the slip from his wristband and began examining its contents.

The note contained a URL, a default username, and a password.

Sato retrieved his slightly dusty laptop from his spatial wristband, connected to the café's Wi-Fi, and navigated to the website listed on the slip.

A login page popped up. Sato entered the provided username and password and successfully accessed the site.

Clearly, this was a dark web platform secretly operated by the Goldenrod Department Store. Of course, there wasn't a single mention of the store's name anywhere on the site.

For Sato, who was currently hunting for TMs to train his Nidoking, this website was nothing short of a blessing. It had plenty of rare TMs he had been struggling to find.

For example, the Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Ice Beam TMs—ones he couldn't get his hands on even in the Saffron City underground market—were all available here. The site also listed other essential TMs like Power-Up Punch, Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, and Iron Tail, all of which were compatible with Nidoking.

The only downside was that inventory was extremely limited. Many of the TMs he wanted had already been purchased and were now listed as out of stock.