After returning to Laverre City, Yuga once again checked into the Pokémon Center, where he unexpectedly ran into Valerie.
Valerie was very surprised to see Yuga. "Gym Leader Shimizu, when did you get back?"
Yuga smiled gently. "I just arrived today. Looks like I ran into you at just the right time."
Valerie chuckled. "I didn't expect us to be this fated. Oh right, did you manage to find that place called Windrest Ravine on Mount Belljade?"
Yuga replied, "Yes, I did. I really have to thank you all—otherwise, I wouldn't have found it so quickly."
Valerie shook her head. "It's good that we could help you. No need to thank us."
The two of them chatted for quite a while in the Pokémon Center before parting ways. Before she left, Valerie even invited Yuga to visit the Laverre Gym as a guest, but he politely declined.
After completing the check-in procedures at the Pokémon Center, Yuga returned to his room and dialed a call to Diantha.
At that time, Diantha was filming on location. Ninetales was by her side, and when she saw Yuga calling, she assumed he wanted to see Ninetales, so she called the Ninetales over as well.
Ninetales had just finished shooting a scene and was covered in mud and dirt, clearly uncomfortable. Although it was usually extremely clean and tidy at home, it was incredibly professional on set. Not only could it endure hardship, but it wasn't afraid of getting dirty or tired.
Of course, the psychological aversion was still very much present.
But Ninetales' hard work had not gone unrewarded. As of now, it had gained a bit of fame in the Kalos region and even had some fans. Its appearance fees had also increased significantly.
However, that fame was still limited to the Kalos region. In other places, it was still just an unknown minor character.
But Ninetales didn't really care. Beings of its level already had extremely long lifespans, and especially for a unique species like Ninetales, which was known for its longevity, there was no need to worry about such trivial matters.
Although the original reason it started acting was to earn some money, by now, it had come to enjoy acting as a small hobby—something to add a bit of joy to its long and seemingly endless future.
Now, Ninetales still had Yuga with it. But having already gone through the death of one Trainer, it knew that Yuga would one day die too. When that time came, having a hobby might help it avoid feeling too lonely.
Yuga himself was also a special being—his lifespan might be even longer than his teacher's—so technically it was still too early to think about these things. Still, Ninetales couldn't help but ponder them sometimes.
After all, the pain of being parted from one's Trainer by death was not something easy to forget.
Ninetales shook its body, flinging off some of the mud, then walked over to Diantha and asked, "Why did you call me over?"
Diantha waved the communicator in her hand and said, "It's your Yuga on the phone. You've been filming for so long without going home—of course he's worried."
As soon as Ninetales heard that, it slightly raised its head and pretended not to care. "He's worrying over nothing. What could possibly happen to me?" But the faintly joyful tone in its voice betrayed its real feelings.
Diantha saw through it immediately. She smiled cheerfully at Ninetales, causing it to feel a bit awkward under her gaze. Annoyed, Ninetales muttered, "Hurry up and answer the call!"
With that, it hopped onto the chair across from Diantha, its bright eyes fixed on the communicator, ready to speak with Yuga.
On the other end, Yuga noticed that no one was answering for quite a while. He just assumed Diantha was still filming and hadn't noticed the call, so he didn't hang up.
Once Diantha answered, Yuga began to explain everything that had happened in the Arche Valley. He asked her to notify the League and bring people to meet him in Laverre City.
What Yuga said was so shocking that even after he hung up, Diantha was still frozen in disbelief.
Ninetales, who had been waiting off to the side, noticed the call had ended and looked at Diantha in disbelief. "Why did you hang up? Didn't he ask about me?"
Hearing this, Diantha finally came back to her senses. "Something happened on his end. He called this time to tell me about it."
Upon hearing this, Ninetales became extremely angry. With a cold snort, it jumped off the stool and walked away without looking back, thinking: Hmph, no matter how big the matter is, can't he at least take a moment to greet me? Clearly, he doesn't care about me at all!
Diantha saw that Ninetales was angry and felt very embarrassed. She wanted to go comfort it, but after thinking about it, she felt it would be better to contact the League first, so she could only leave Ninetales to be alone for a while.
Upon learning about this matter, the League took it very seriously. They quickly held discussions on which personnel to send to Arche Valley to negotiate and investigate the issue.
As the Champion of the League, Diantha was of course required to go. So the filming on her end had to be put on hold.
Because she was the League Champion, if there was a conflict between her acting career and League duties, the acting would naturally have to give way to League responsibilities.
Once the League had more or less finalized the arrangements, Diantha went to find Ninetales.
"Ninetales, Yuga is already in the Kalos region now."
Ninetales' ears twitched slightly, but it didn't say anything.
Diantha continued, "I happen to need to go meet up with him. Come with me."
Only then did Ninetales turn its head and say, "Since you've said that much… then I suppose… it's not like I can't go with you…"
Seeing that Ninetales had cooled down, Diantha smiled and said, "Then get ready—we'll depart tomorrow."
After that, Diantha called Yuga again to inform him of the League's general arrangements.
After finishing the call with Diantha, Yuga patiently waited in Laverre City for the League's people to arrive.
However, since Diantha still had to meet up with the other League members, it wasn't possible for her to reach Laverre City right away.
The next day, Yuga got up early. Seeing the bright and sunny weather outside the window, he decided to take a stroll around Laverre City. After all, the last time he came he had been in a hurry to find Windrest Ravine and had no time at all to appreciate the scenery of the city.
Laverre City had a strong classical charm, which was very rare in the highly technologically advanced Kalos region. It was quite similar in flavor to many places in the Johto region.
Perhaps this was one of the reasons why Valerie had taken up the role of Gym Leader here—after all, her hometown was said to be in the Johto region.
Even though he had no one to accompany him, Yuga still enjoyed wandering around alone. He let his Pokémon out one by one, playing and eating along the way, which had its own kind of fun.
While Yuga was shopping, in a corner of Laverre City, a few men dressed in black suits and wearing black sunglasses had cornered a trembling Klefki.
One of the men in suits commanded his Barbaracle: "Catch it!"
Barbaracle let out a roar and lunged at Klefki with a Fury Swipes attack, waving both of its claws.
Klefki was extremely frightened. It had no idea why these people were determined to capture it and kept darting back and forth in the air to dodge. The keys hanging from its body clinked against each other, producing a constant jingling sound.
Seeing that Barbaracle still hadn't caught Klefki, its trainer lost patience and yelled to his subordinates, "What are you all standing around for? Get moving!"
"Yes, sir!" The subordinates immediately commanded their Pokémon to join in the attack on Klefki.
Klefki grew more and more terrified. Suddenly, a pink light burst forth from its body, sweeping over all the Pokémon present.
But the move didn't seem to do much—after a momentary pause, the Pokémon all lunged at Klefki again.
"Klefki~ Klefki~"
Klefki kept crying out as it instinctively used Fairy Wind, which instantly sent all the suited men tumbling backward through the air.
With the men in black suits no longer blocking the way, the Klefki quickly bolted out of the alley.
The leading man in the suit climbed to his feet and barked at his Barbaracle, "What are you standing around for? Go after it, now!"
However, the Barbaracle and the other Pokémon had barely taken a few steps before it seemed as if something was trapping them—they couldn't move any further no matter how hard they tried.
It turned out that the move Klefki had used at the beginning was Fairy Lock. This move temporarily trapped all the Pokémon in that corner, making it impossible for them to leave.
The man in the suit viciously kicked his Barbaracle and cursed with an ugly expression, "Useless trash!" The Barbaracle trembled in fear and didn't dare make a single sound.
Meanwhile, Yuga who is tired from walking around with his Bellossom, was resting on a bench in the park. He took out a pastry he had just bought and began eating it with Bellossom.
This pastry was a specialty of Laverie City. Seeing how many people were buying it, Yuga had joined the line out of curiosity and bought two pieces.
Yuga handed one pastry to Bellossom and said, "Go ahead and eat it. Tell me if it's good."
"Bellossom~"
Bellossom took the pastry in its hands, took a bite, and seemed to really enjoy it—its eyes narrowed happily.
"Is it really that good? Then I'll try it too." Yuga asked with a cheerful smile.
Just as Yuga brought the pastry to his mouth, something suddenly fell from the sky and landed right on top of his head.
"What the heck?"
Yuga reached up to feel around his head, then pulled down a fainted Klefki.
"Where did this Klefki come from?" Yuga said in confusion.
Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the Klefki was actually injured—it had a lot of tiny cuts and scrapes on its body.
"No wonder it fainted!"
Muttering to himself, Yuga began using his healing ability to treat the injuries. At the same time, he activated his Insight skill to examine the Pokémon.
...
[ Klefki ]
Type: Steel, Fairy
Ability: Prankster
Gender: Female
Potential: Indigo
Level: 50
Moves: Fairy Lock, Fairy Wind, Metal Sound, Spikes, Draining Kiss, Trick Guard, Tantrum, Mirror Shot, Recycle, Play Rough, Heal Block, Switcheroo, Thief, Lock-On, Iron Defense, Magic Bounce, Electromagnetic Levitation.
...
Yuga was genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected to randomly pick up a Pokémon with such high potential. A huge smile spread across his face.
But then he had a second thought—could this Pokémon already have a Trainer?
So after finishing the treatment, Yuga took out a Poké Ball and gently pressed it against Klefki. The Klefki turned into a beam of red light and was absorbed into the ball.
It worked? It didn't pop back out!
This rare Indigo potential Pokémon really didn't have a Trainer, and Yuga immediately felt at ease. Encountering a Pokémon with such a rare potential, of course, he didn't want it to belong to someone else.
Thinking for a moment, Yuga released the Klefki again.
Klefki's injuries weren't severe, so it woke up shortly afterward. When it saw Yuga, it was extremely alarmed and instinctively tried to flee, but Yuga held it down.
"Don't move, your wounds haven't healed yet!"
Perhaps sensing the aura on Yuga that naturally made Pokémon want to approach, Klefki indeed stopped struggling, but it still seemed very frightened.
Bellossom quickly stepped forward and spoke to Klefki, praising Yuga to the skies, especially emphasizing that Yuga was a good person. Klefki finally began to slowly let go of its guard toward Yuga.
Seeing how in tune Bellossom was with him, Yuga cast her an appreciative look, and Bellossom playfully blinked at Yuga twice.
Klefki had been pursued for several days and was now both exhausted and hungry, so when it saw the pastry in Yuga's hand, it couldn't help but drool from the corner of its mouth.
Seeing it staring intently at the pastry in his hand without blinking, Yuga asked gently, "Do you want to eat this?"
"Klefki~"
Klefki quickly nodded.
Klefki's mouth was especially small, so Yuga tore off a tiny piece and handed it to her. Klefki immediately devoured it ravenously.
Seeing this, Yuga quickly advised, "Eat slower, no need to rush, there's plenty more!"
Klefki glanced at the large remaining piece of pastry in Yuga's hand and hesitated for a moment before beginning to eat more slowly.
"Um… hello!"
Just then, a sudden voice came. Yuga looked up to see a young man standing opposite him with a Pyroar.
Yuga asked in confusion, "Is there something you need?"
The young man stammered, "This Klefki is my Pokémon. Could you return it to me?"
Upon hearing this, Yuga frowned: "Your Pokémon? Do you have any proof?"
The young man was stunned for a moment, then became somewhat forceful and said, "It is my Pokémon, I don't need proof!"
Yuga looked down at Klefki and asked, "Klefki, do you know this man?"
Klefki immediately shook its head—it really didn't recognize the man in front of it.
Yuga looked up at the young man and said, "You see, Klefki says it doesn't know you. You'd better leave."
The young man's expression immediately turned extremely ugly: "Since you won't return Klefki to me, I'll have to take it myself. Pyroar!"
Pyroar roared loudly and lunged forward, baring its sharp fangs.
"Pyroar!~"
Under the young man's command, Pyroar leaped at Yuga with its jaws open. Klefki was so frightened that it closed its eyes.
However, in the next second, the young man widened his eyes in disbelief.
Bellossom had gracefully spun in front of Yuga. Sharp leaf blades appeared in both of her hands, and with swift arm movements, she struck repeatedly. Pyroar cried out in pain as it was sent flying.
Seeing this scene, the young man instantly realized he had messed with the wrong person. He forced a smile and explained, "A misunderstanding, it was all a misunderstanding! I mistook the Pokémon. This isn't my Klefki. I'll leave right away."
After speaking, he recalled his Pyroar and turned to leave, but how could Yuga let him go so easily?
Bellossom waved her hand and sent out several Magical Leaves, which embedded themselves with bang bang bang at the young man's feet, forcing him to stop.
"Please, spare me! I really did mistake the Pokémon, I apologize to you!" the young man cried out for mercy.
Yuga smiled and said to him, "In broad daylight, you commanded your Pokémon to attack a passerby. You'd better come with me to the police station and explain yourself to Officer Jenny!"