Pokemon: The Legendary Trainer

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The pink-haired girl looked to be about the same age as Sato. She wore her short hair in a neat, refreshing style, with a delicate and pretty face.

Perhaps due to her active lifestyle, her skin had a healthy wheat tone, and her figure was perfectly shaped from regular exercise.

At the moment, she was wearing a sleeveless checkered dress in red and white, completely free of wrinkles. On her head was a fashionable floral sun hat, her ears adorned with pink diamond studs.

In her hands she carried a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses and a cute Clefairy handbag, and she wore elegant white high-heeled sandals on her feet.

From her outfit alone, it was easy to see she was a young lady from a wealthy family—one of the very wealthy. Judging by the way Daisy treated her, the two were clearly close friends; after the girl spoke, Daisy had immediately apologized to her.

Sato had, in fact, noticed this rich young lady following behind Daisy much earlier, using his external psychic sense. He also knew exactly who she was: Whitney, the Gym Leader of Goldenrod City.

But her status was not limited to being the leader of the Goldenrod Gym—she was also the granddaughter of Howard, owner of Moomoo Ranch, the Johto region's most famous Miltank milk production base.

The Miltank milk produced at Moomoo Ranch was renowned worldwide, considered the very finest among all Miltank milk.

It was widely regarded as one of the best nutritional products for raising young Pokémon. Because production was limited, Moomoo Ranch milk was almost always sold through preorders, and its price never dropped.

Rumor even had it that Moomoo Ranch produced a special kind of Miltank milk that could not only promote healthy growth in Pokémon, but—with long-term consumption—could even improve a young Pokémon's potential.

In short, Whitney's family controlled an extremely valuable and rare Pokémon-related resource. They had both wealth and influence, ranking among Johto's most powerful families—on par with the family of James.

For Sato, however, Whitney's family background was less striking than her Gym Leader status. In the Gold/Silver/Crystal games, she had been one of the hardest Gym Leaders to defeat.

Anyone challenging her as soon as they arrived in Goldenrod City would almost certainly get their entire team swept by her Miltank's deadly combo of Defense Curl and Rollout.

"Whitney, let me introduce you. This is the trainer I told you about before—Sato. Sato, this is Whitney, currently the acting Gym Leader of Goldenrod. She's very strong… just a little weaker than me," Daisy said with a smile after settling things with Whitney, introducing her two friends to each other.

Sato was more than happy to meet a young, influential figure like Whitney. Expanding his network of talented peers was always a good thing—especially when this particular heiress was the successor to Moomoo Ranch. If he could obtain some high-grade Miltank milk through her, that would be even better.

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Sato, a traveling trainer on a journey for training and growth."

Thinking so, Sato removed the Ditto-skin disguise mask he'd been wearing, stood, and stepped forward to greet her. His demeanor was calm—neither arrogant nor servile—showing no trace of intimidation or inferiority despite Whitney's prestigious background.

Whitney, being Daisy's close friend, clearly had a kind personality. She didn't put on airs despite her status. She was also experienced enough to judge people well; after seeing Sato and his Pokémon with her own eyes, she could tell Daisy hadn't exaggerated—this trainer, who carried an air of righteousness mixed with something slightly unsettling, was truly skilled.

Whitney knew exactly how strong Daisy was—she had battled her before. Though Daisy hadn't used her best Pokémon at the time, she had been clear that Sato's Pokémon were at about the same level as the ones she used then.

What did that mean? It meant this trainer of common birth had defeated Daisy of the prestigious Oak family in a fair battle.

Whitney understood perfectly what that implied: in terms of raising Pokémon, Sato's talent was no less than Daisy's—perhaps even greater.

Give it five or six years, and this young man might very well be a Elite Four level, or a pseudo Champion-level trainer—someone even her father and uncle would treat with full respect. Truly, never underestimate a young underdog.

More telling still was Whitney's Miltank's reaction. The Pokémon, hand-picked for her by her grandfather from among countless Miltank at the ranch, had a special danger-sensing ability. Now, it was shrinking back and watching Sato with clear fear in its eyes.

This ability had saved Whitney from danger many times in her adventurous youth. In fact, the only other time she had seen her Miltank this scared was when her father had taken her to meet Johto's Ice-type Elite Four member, Pryce—known as the "The Teacher of Winter's Harshness."

Pryce was a man feared by all of Johto's criminal organizations, a trainer so powerful that some claimed he surpassed even the current Johto Champion. In truth, that was likely correct—he had simply declined the Champion position due to his age.

Seeing the same reaction from her Miltank now, Whitney immediately understood: Sato was dangerous. The kind of person you could befriend, but must never offend.

"My name's Whitney. I'm very glad to finally meet you, Sato. I've heard about you from Daisy for a while and wanted to get to know you. I'm especially happy you beat her—she's always bullying me, so you winning is kind of revenge on my behalf," Whitney said with a bright smile as she shook his hand, half-joking.

"Oh, and here—this is Miltank milk from my family's ranch. It's top quality. If you ever need more, you can contact me. Moomoo Ranch has branches in major cities across the regions."

From her Clefairy bag, Whitney took out a bottle of Miltank milk that glowed with a faint milky-white light. She handed it to the eager Pichu beside Sato, then gave him a gold-edged business card with a sunny smile.

"These are some little souvenirs from my travels. I think you'll like them."

Seeing Pichu already drinking the milk happily, Sato decided to reciprocate. He thought for a moment, then took out two pigeon-egg-sized pink diamonds, handing one to each girl.

These pink diamonds had been given to him by Vanna as thanks for his help—just a small part of a pouch containing hundreds of high-grade gems. These two, however, were the largest he had, each worth at least two to three million PokeDollars on the market.

As expected, women loved shiny things—especially beautiful and rare pink diamonds. Whitney and Daisy's eyes were instantly fixed on them, and when Sato handed them over, the two girls couldn't stop smiling.