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After Sato used the Move Tutor to teach his five battling Pokémon the five Hidden Power TMs, five Protect TMs, and the Thunderbolt TM, he prepared to leave his room to start the afternoon's Pokémon training.
However, as he opened the door, he was met by a female trainer who had been waiting for some time. Her purpose was straightforward: she was requesting Sato to heal her Pokémon.
Sighing internally, Sato agreed and released Bellossom to heal the trainer's Pokémon. Since Bellossom's Grassy Terrain move was boosted by the Miracle Seed, she could heal up to six Pokémon at once.
Word had spread among the trainers on the ship that Sato's Bellossom could heal multiple Pokémon at once, and at a rate of only 1,000 PokeDollars per Pokémon—half the cost of the Pokémon Center's standard fee of 2,000 PokeDollars.
Thus, besides those trainers who had already required healing from battles, others now sought him out for Bellossom's healing.
After completing the healing of the female trainer's Pokémon, another trainer was already waiting outside the door. Seeing Bellossom nod that she could continue, Sato agreed to heal once more.
In total, over the course of an hour, Bellossom healed 32 Pokémon from 8 different trainers.
By then, Bellossom was tired and needed rest, giving Sato a reason to politely decline further requests for healing.
Thanks to Bellossom's ability, Sato earned 32,000 PokeDollars, though he wasn't particularly concerned with the money.
What mattered to him was that he'd made positive connections with each trainer he helped, leaving good impressions and potentially gaining future allies.
"Although the earnings aren't much, it's a good way to build connections. Who knows, maybe some of these people will be able to lend me a hand in the future," Sato thought.
After seeing off the last trainer and closing his door, Sato gave Bellossom two gem-grade PokeBlocks as a reward, then returned her to her PokeBall.
With his friendly, affordable healing services, Sato had exchanged contact numbers with sixteen trainers, and even secured two as regular buyers for his PokeBlocks, earning an additional 100,000 PokeDollars from sales and bringing his total funds back to over 300,000.
Afterwards, Sato stepped out of his room and quickly entered the nearest common area. When he reappeared, he was in a different outfit and had a different face.
Since Sato's identity had become quite well-known on the ship, he decided it was best to switch identities to avoid any unwanted attention for the tasks he intended to undertake next.
Although training time had been delayed by an hour, it was only a little after 4:00 pm, which left enough time for the Pokémon to have dinner by 7:00 pm.
Now disguised, Sato kept a low profile as he moved along the ship, with no one greeting him or approaching him for help or trouble.
He kept Growlithe by his side, hoping to spot the person responsible for the previous attack on him.
While he didn't locate his attacker, he did run into a few trainers who had joined Fujiwara in assaulting him the previous night. Upon spotting Growlithe beside him, these trainers paled, seemingly recognizing Sato.
They quickly lowered their heads and hurriedly disappeared from sight.
Though Sato was tempted to teach them a lesson, he refrained, as there were unrelated people in the corridor. Acting as though he hadn't noticed anything, he kept a steady pace until he reached the ship's training area.
The public training area was bustling, with many trainers lined up to register.
A quick glance at the signboard behind the registration desk informed Sato of the reason: the St. Louis Pokémon Tournament.
Apparently, the tournament was a joint event held by the captain of the St. Louis and a wealthy merchant on board to thank the trainers who had helped defend the ship the night before.
The prize for the champion was a Mystic Water, provided by the captain, and a reward of 5 million PokeDollars from the merchants.
Prizes extended to the top eight, though only the top three received substantial rewards: 3 million PokeDollars and a Silph Co. discount voucher for the second place, 1 million PokeDollars and a round-trip luxury ticket on the St. Louis for the third, and 200,000 PokeDollars each for the fourth to eighth places.
Unsurprisingly, the grand prize was what drew so many trainers, especially the 5 million PokeDollars alone, which was enough to drive trainers with limited resources to join.
Judging by the line, most participants were modestly dressed civilian trainers who probably didn't expect to reach the top three but felt confident about making it to the top eight.
For these trainers, even 200,000 PokeDollars was quite a tempting reward, and they were further encouraged by the fact that the tournament would cover any medical costs for their Pokémon.
Noticing this medical provision, Sato realized that he was quite likely the person expected to handle it.
"Just me, an amateur at best, having to provide medical care for this many people's Pokémon? This is ridiculous," Sato thought with a twinge of regret, eyeing the thirty-plus registrants and beginning to doubt his hasty decision to volunteer as the tournament's medical personnel.
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