Weak limbs, a foggy mind—Sato's sciousness stirred, and the first thing he did was instinctively assess his surroundings. The air was filled with noise, chaos, and an intense heat pressing against him.

  As a newly promoted gold-ranked assassin, he forced his eyes open immediately, his senses on high alert. What came into view was a vil engulfed in fmes—both familiar and fn at the same time.

  "You're awake! Sato is awake! My poor child!"

  An elderly woman with graying hair gasped in both shod relief. She rushed to embrace Sato, her voice trembling with sorrow.

  "Bang!"

  For over twenty years, no one had ever been able to get close to him. Instinctively, Sato shoved the woman away with his left hand while his right hand moved toward his lower back, reag for the on that had bee aension of himself.

  "…?"

  His brows furrowed. His lower back was empty. Not evetle belt essential for a Pokémon Trainer was there.

  A flicker of panid sharp hostility fshed through his eyes as he prepared to escape—until, out of the er of his eye, he saw the elderly woman rising again.

  Wait… why did she seem so tall?

  "Sato, I know you're hurting too, but the dead ot be brought back to life. If you don't mind, let this old woman…" she whispered, her voice gentle as she pulled him into aight embrace.

  Sato turned his dazed gaze toward the burning vil. A buried memory in the depths of his mind suddenly surfaced, slowly aligning with reality.

  "This… is my home?"

  "Sato… wuuu…" Hearing his words, the old woman held him even tighter, sobbing untrolbly without further expnation.

  Satled to free his arms.

  A pair of small haered his sight—pale and unblemished. No scars from past missions, no calluses from releraining. They looked nothing like his own.

  'Are these… my hands?'

  A sudden realization struck him—he had been reborn.

  But why? Given another ce at life, yet still utterly alone…

  His rational mind told him that in such a fire, survival was impossible.

  His parents' faces had already faded in his memory, and even now, they remained unclear.

  Breaking free from the old woman's arms, he rummaged through fragmented memories.

  This woman… she seemed to be his neighbor. Her son, like his parents, was a well-known mert in Goldenrod City.

  Because the adults were always busy, this grandmother—whose name he had long fotten—had taken care of him as a child.

  Rebirth, a raging fire, and the panions he had spent years with—Zoroark and the others…

  Even with his mental fortitude, Sato found himself overwhelmed, lost in a tangle of thoughts.

  Wait! The Power of Darkness!

  Closing his eyes, he focused on his body's internal state. A surge of pure, dark energy stirred within him, and for a brief moment, his eyes turned pitch bck before returning to normal.

  "Haah…" Sato let out a small sigh of relief. The Power of Darkness was still there, unged—even its iy was exactly as it had been before his rebirth.

  Wait… exactly the same? If he had truly been reborn, why hadn't the Power of Darkness ged at all?

  Uo find an answer, Sato buried the question deep within his heart for now.

  Beside him, the old woman tinued her incessant rambling.

  As Sato activated the Power of Darkness, he vaguely sensed a lingering energy within the burning vil—something unusual.

  "Hey! Sato, e back! It's dangerous over there!"

  The old anicked as Sato moved toward the vil, but she was too old to stop him.

  However, the fire had drawn a crowd, and the onlookers quickly rushed forward to restrain him.

  "I won't go inside!"

  Judging from the timeline, Sato was still uen years old. He knew very well how powerless he was pared to adults, so he stopped after moving just a little closer. The ed adults who had rushed in to stop him hesitated—if he wasn't going to enter, should they still hold him back?

  Ign them, Sato subtly eled the Power of Darkness again.

  His eyes turned pitch bck as he honed his senses. He clearly perceived a familiar emotion—pt. But it gradually faded into silence.

  Taking aep forward, he tried to get a better feel of the energy, but the crowd immediately tensed, fearing the child might recklessly throw himself into the fmes.

  Unfortunately, the energy was too faint. Within moments, it had pletely dissipated.

  Sato withdrew the Power of Darkness. He hadn't yet processed his thoughts wheiced the ring of unfamiliar people surrounding him.

  A wave of warmth rose in his chest—but as someone who had lived in the shadows for twenty years, he didn't know how to express gratitude. So, he simply took a step bad stopped approag the fire.

  "Sato…"

  The old woman's nagging tinued, but Sato remained silent.

  To others, he must have seemed too devastated by the loss of his parents to speak. But in truth, his mind was already adapting—twenty years in darkness had ditioned him to adjust quickly.

  Right now, he was thinking about something else.

  Was this fire deliberately set? The unusual energy he had sensed earlier couldn't have been an illusion!

  The first extension of the Power of Darkness—Energy Dete.

  Dark-type energy articurly sensitive to six types—Dark, Psychic, Ghost, Bug, Fighting, and Fairy.

  The correspondiions were excitement, pt, and loathing—simple and direct.

  The lingering energy had triggered the pt emotion in the Power of Darkness. That meant it had definitely bee behind by a Ghost-type or Psychic-type Pokémon.

  Either way, both were highly skilled at silent assassinations and arson.

  Finally, the police arrived—just as the house was about to burn down pletely.

  A squad of Water-type Pokémon quickly got to work, using Water Gun and Hydro Pump in turn to extinguish the fmes.

  From the smoke-filled ruins, folduck carried out two stretchers.

  The old woman immediately covered Sato's eyes, not wanting him to see the se.

  He didn't resist her kindness—but at that moment, an utterly loathsome presence roag. Pushing past the hands c his eyes, Sato silently observed the ining Officer Jenny.

  Years of underground life had made him extremely sensitive to this kind hteous aura."

  But at this moment, to everyone else, he was just a child. He had no choice but to py the role.

  Suppressing his inner revulsio Officer Jenny's gaze with silent questioning.

  "...Apologies. There was a sudden road colpse on the way here, deying our response. Please accept my dolences."

  Officer Jenny wasn't sure why, but when she saw Sato's clear yet stubborn eyes, she felt an urge to expin herself—before she could even assert her usual authoritative presence.

  Sato lowered his head, cealing the cold gleam in his eyes.

  He was certaiher in this life or the st—his parents' deaths had not been an act.

  But Jenny wasn't here just to apologize.

  Not giving Sato any time to process his thoughts, she got straight to the point.

  "Sato, given your situation, I file an application for you to stay at the Pokémon League's designated orphanage. You'll be able to plete your education there, and when you reach adulthood, your parents' estate will be transferred to you."

  "Alright."

  "You don't have to worry, we— oh, that's good."