The Bouffalant was rampaging wildly through the valley. Several Trainers from the clan try to stop it, but their strength was lacking, and all of them were sent flying by its charges.
Seeing this, Naya and Simon immediately released their own Pokémon and charged forward, but they were defeated after only a few exchanges.
Yuga thought for a moment and then released his Venusaur.
"Venusaur~"
The mountain-sized Venusaur let out a deep, muffled cry the moment it appeared, and the Bouffalant's attention was immediately drawn. With its head lowered, it charged straight at Venusaur.
From the large flower on Venusaur's back, two incredibly thick vines suddenly lashed out with great speed and wrapped tightly around the Bouffalant's large horns, preventing it from continuing its charge.
At the same time, Venusaur took the opportunity to use Aromatherapy. A wave of dazzling red gas began to drift gently out from the enormous flower on its back, spreading through the air with a faintly intoxicating scent.
Venusaur's Aromatherapy was different from normal—it carried a mild hallucinogenic toxin. Inhaling too much of it would cause dizziness, even hallucinations. So Yuga immediately instructed Naya and Simon to take their Pokémon and move away from the battlefield.
Seeing that Venusaur had already subdued the Bouffalant, the siblings obediently ran off.
"Bouffalant~ Bouffalant~"
The Bouffalant, bound by the vines, roared furiously with bloodshot eyes. It instinctively used Swords Dance, and its strength surged wildly, allowing it to suddenly break free of Venusaur's vines.
However, just a few steps after regaining its freedom—before it could reach Venusaur—it began to stagger and wobble. Because it had charged too quickly and didn't stabilize itself, it almost fell flat on the ground.
Whether it was due to two negatives making a positive or not, the stimulation of the Aromatherapy actually seemed to clear the Bouffalant's mind slightly. It stood in place, shaking its head repeatedly in an attempt to regain clarity. But the intense headache drove it into madness again.
At that moment, the massive, brilliantly colored flower on Venusaur's back began to gather an enormous amount of solar energy. When it had absorbed enough, a golden beam of light burst forth and completely engulfed the Bouffalant.
Solar Beam!
When the golden light finally faded, the Bouffalant had already collapsed in a faint.
Seeing that the Bouffalant was finally subdued, everyone around breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Simon turned to Naya and said, "Go check if the meeting over there is finished. If it is, let Elder Torre know what happened here."
"Got it!"
Naya recalled her Pokémon, released her Gogoat mount, leapt onto its back, and dashed off toward Arche Valley.
Yuga walked over to the unconscious Bouffalant and checked its condition. Seeing that it was not seriously injured, he finally let out a breath of relief.
However, he didn't rush to heal its injuries—who knew if it would go berserk again upon waking? It was better to let it stay unconscious for now.
When Simon came over, Yuga asked, "Does this Bouffalant behave like this often?"
Simon replied, "Its bouts of madness do happen regularly, but this is the first time it's ever rushed out and caused havoc."
Since there was clearly something wrong with the Bouffalant, Elder Torre obviously wouldn't leave it unattended.
At the entrance to the valley where the Bouffalant resided, Max had stationed one of his Pokémon to stand guard and keep watch over the Bouffalant.
Max is the gatekeeper of the Arche Valley. He spends most of his time guarding the outside and lives very close to the valley where the Bouffalant stays, so it's convenient for his Pokémon to watch over the Bouffalant.
After listening to Simon's explanation, Yuga asked in confusion, "Then how did this Bouffalant get out?"
Upon hearing this, Simon also furrowed his brows, shook his head, and answered, "I don't know either."
Yuga thought for a moment and said, "Let's go take a look over there."
Simon hesitated for a moment, then nodded and agreed, "O... okay." Although he had previously stopped Yuga from going to that valley because he wasn't sure of Yuga's strength, it was clear now that Yuga's strength was nothing he needed to worry about.
Before leaving, Yuga had Venusaur use some Sleep Powder on the Bouffalant, just in case it woke up halfway and caused more trouble. Then he handed it over to the others for supervision and set off with Simon to the valley where the Bouffalant originally stayed.
That valley was not far from the one they were currently in, so the two quickly arrived at their destination.
As they entered the valley, Yuga and Simon found it in complete disarray. There were still many traces of battle left behind, and the Pokémon Max had left there was already nowhere to be seen.
"Could Grandpa Max's Pokémon have run away?" Simon exclaimed, "That's impossible!" That Pokémon had grown up with them and shared a deep bond with Grandpa Max—how could it possibly have run off?
"Wait a minute!" Yuga suddenly said. "Look over there!" As he spoke, Yuga ran over.
Simon followed him, only to see six damaged Poké Balls and a torn spatial backpack scattered on the ground.
"Someone from outside came here!" Simon cried out in alarm.
Yuga didn't reply. Instead, he continued searching around the valley in several more loops, and one after another he discovered a few more items—shredded pieces of clothing, empty Pokeblock containers, a broken communicator, and so on. Yuga guessed that these things had all come from that spatial backpack.
As for the owner of the backpack, they might have already met a grim fate.
"Simon, come take a look!" Yuga called again, handing the newly discovered items to Simon.
Simon took the items and looked at them: "This... this is a feather from Honchkrow!"
Yuga nodded and said, "That's right."
Simon said angrily, "Just who came here and stirred up all this trouble!"
Yuga glanced around and suddenly pointed in a direction: "Look over there!"
Simon followed the direction Yuga was pointing and saw that the signs of battle stretched out that way. They were traces left by fire, burn marks leading further off.
The two looked at each other and said at the same time, "Let's go check it out!"
So they followed the trail of battle in that direction. They hadn't gone far when they saw a badly injured Pokémon lying not far ahead.
"It's Grandpa Max's Delphox!" Simon ran over quickly and picked up the unconscious Delphox.
"Delphox, Delphox, wake up! Please wake up! What happened?" Simon kept calling out to Delphox, but there was no response at all.
Yuga examined Delphox's condition and said, "Its injuries are too severe. Let me treat it!"
Simon nodded and handed Delphox over to Yuga. After Yuga used his healing ability, Delphox's condition finally stabilized and was no longer in life-threatening danger.
"Don't worry, it's going to be okay!" Yuga comforted Simon.
"What in the world is going on here?" Simon asked, eyes red with emotion.
At that moment, Yuga suddenly noticed a Fletchling standing on a tree branch not far away, curiously observing them.
Yuga walked to the base of the tree and, seeing that the bold Fletchling didn't fly away, took out a berry and tempted it by saying, "Can you answer a few questions for me?"
The Fletchling remained unafraid, tilting its head and chirping away.
"Fletchling~"
If I answer, that berry will be mine?
Yuga replied, "That's right."
The Fletchling was just about to get excited when it suddenly realized something and cried out in surprise, "You can actually understand what I'm saying!"
Yuga nodded with a smile and said, "That's right, I can understand."
The Fletchling suddenly became very interested in Yuga. It flew down from the tree and landed on Yuga's shoulder, saying, "Alright then, ask away."
So Yuga pointed to the unconscious Delphox and asked, "Do you know what happened to that Delphox?"
The Fletchling replied happily, "Yes, yes, I saw it!"
Two hours earlier, the Fletchling had been foraging nearby when it suddenly heard the sounds of a fight. Curious, it flew over to take a look, and then saw six Pokémon attacking the Delphox.
Because the battle was so intense and the Pokémon involved were too powerful, the Fletchling didn't dare to get too close. But it did manage to see what the six Pokémon looked like: Honchkrow, Vileplume, Arbok, Hypno, Espeon, and Venomoth.
All six Pokémon were extremely strong, and even though Delphox was a Champion level Pokémon, it couldn't withstand being attacked by all six at once.
After injuring Delphox, the six Pokémon left in triumph.
Yuga pressed further, "Do you know which direction they went?"
The Fletchling hesitated for a moment, then gently nodded.
Yuga asked softly, "Can you tell me?"
The Fletchling asked in a small voice, "Are you going after them to avenge Delphox?"
Yuga replied with a question of his own, "Can't I?"
The Fletchling responded with concern, "But they're really dangerous. You'd better not go."
Yuga didn't expect this Fletchling to be so kind-hearted. He smiled and said, "I'm very strong. I'm not afraid of them."
Seeing that Yuga was determined, the Fletchling had no choice but to point in the direction the six Pokémon had gone.
"Can I have the berry now?" After answering Yuga's questions, the Fletchling stared longingly at the berry in Yuga's hand and swallowed a little drool involuntarily.
"Here you go."
Yuga smiled and handed the berry to the Fletchling. To his surprise, the Fletchling swallowed it in one gulp, then stared longingly at Yuga again and asked, "I'm still hungry, do you have more?"
Small body, big appetite.
Yuga chuckled and took out a few more berries, handing them to it. He said, "If you can't finish them, save them for later and eat them next time!"
Seeing that Yuga gave it so many berries at once, the Fletchling was overjoyed. It quickly picked up the berries one by one and carried them up to the tree, then burrowed into the leaves.
Just as Yuga was about to leave, the Fletchling suddenly poked its head out from the foliage and chirped twice.
"Be careful!"
Yuga glanced back at it, smiled without saying anything, and just waved his hand at it.
After returning to Simon, Yuga relayed all the information he had gathered from the Fletchling and instructed him, "I'm going to chase after those Pokémon. You stay here and take care of Delphox. When your elders arrive, tell them everything that happened here."
Simon originally wanted to suggest waiting for the elders to arrive before making any decisions, but when he thought of Yuga's strength and figured he probably had his own reasons, he nodded and agreed.
The Fletchling hiding in the tree saw that Yuga had left. After a moment of thought, it flew out from the leaves and chased after Yuga.
As Yuga was walking, he suddenly felt something land on his shoulder. When he turned his head to look, it turned out to be the Fletchling.
Yuga asked in confusion, "Why did you follow me?"
The Fletchling replied, "I just came along to see. If you end up in danger, I can go back and call for reinforcements."
Yuga couldn't help but laugh and said, "Then I'll thank you in advance."
The Fletchling added, "But I'm not going to help you fight. I can't beat them."
Yuga was amused by that and said, "You don't need to help me fight. I should be able to handle them."
The Fletchling shook its head, clearly not convinced. It knew just how powerful those six Pokémon were. When they fought the Delphox, it had nearly fallen off the tree from fright. Just thinking about it still made it shudder in fear!
Just like that, Yuga continued walking while asking the wild Pokémon he passed along the way for information. He kept following the trail.
Being a native of Mount Belljade, the Fletchling knew quite a lot of the local Pokémon and helped Yuga gather quite a bit of information. Eventually, they arrived at the bottom of a cliff.
Yuga immediately spotted a crooked tree growing at an angle on the cliffside. A Honchkrow was nesting in the tree, and the other five Pokémon below the cliff were digging and building nests as well.
Clearly, they intended to settle down here.
Seeing them, Yuga more or less guessed where these Pokémon had come from.
Zygarde had once said that Ariana died by its hand. Unsurprisingly, these six Pokémon belonged to Ariana.
Yuga had interacted with Ariana before and found these Pokémon vaguely familiar. Connecting that with what Zygarde had said, it wasn't hard to deduce their origins.
Yuga's guess was indeed correct. When Aria a died, her dimensional backpack had been damaged but not completely destroyed. Since Zygarde and Hoopa were in a hurry to flee, they never thought about retrieving it, and it was left behind in Mount Belljade.
A Mankey in the mountains happened to stumble upon it and, by chance, brought it to the valley where Delphox and Bouffalant lived.
While rummaging through the backpack, the curious Mankey took everything out, including the six Poké Balls.
Driven by intense curiosity, the Mankey opened one of them, releasing the Vileplume, and was immediately frightened away by it.
Once Vileplume regained its freedom, it naturally released the other five companions as well.
The valley belonged to Delphox and Bouffalant. With the sudden appearance of six new Pokémon, conflict was inevitable.
Originally, the two Champion level Pokémon could barely manage to deal with Ariana's six Pokémon, but unfortunately, Bouffalant suddenly had a seizure, not only attacking its own comrade Delphox but also running out of the valley.
Two fists could not fend off six hands. Before long, Delphox was defeated, and the six Pokémon escaped.
With their Trainer no longer around, the six Pokémon discussed among themselves and eventually decided to settle in Mount Belljade.
The moment the Fletchling saw the six Pokémon, it was so frightened that it flew off Yuga's shoulder and hid in a nearby tree.
At the same time, the six Pokémon also noticed Yuga.