After scolding the two Pokémon, Yuga finally let them leave. As for the grassland of the ranch that had been destroyed, Yuga had Florges to restore it.
For Florges, this was a piece of cake. She completed the task effortlessly.
On the way back, Gothita whispered to Hoopa, "Didn't you say that one was your little underling? It didn't listen to you at all, it just full of hot air!"
Hoopa felt humiliated, thinking it was terribly embarrassing, so it glared fiercely at Hydreigon and decided to ignore Gothita.
From the little ones' whispered conversation, Yuga finally understood clearly—so the fight between Hydreigon and Salamence had all started because of Hoopa's vanity.
"I've got to tell Ash about this when I get back!" Yuga said sternly to Hoopa.
"No, don't! Don't tell Ash!" Hoopa looked pitifully at Yuga. "Ash will be mad!"
Yuga said, "Ash will be mad, but do you think I won't be?"
Hoopa circled around Yuga and said, "Hoopa won't do this again, never again."
Finally, Yuga pretended to reluctantly agree. "Then you better behave really well from now on, or else I'll..."
Before Yuga could finish his sentence, Hoopa quickly promised, "Hoopa will be good, Hoopa will behave!"
In the following days, Hoopa still came to YoYo Day Care to play every day, and just like it said, it really became a lot more well-behaved and didn't cause any shocking incidents again.
As for the "falling out" it declared with Gothita, it completely forgot about that the very next day. The Pokémon were happily playing together again, and every day, the Verdanturf Gym echoed with their joyful laughter.
At the same time, Salamence surprisingly didn't hurry to leave Verdanturf either. It stayed at the Sunflora Ranch for several days. Aside from teaching its son, Hydreigon came looking for a sparring match almost every single day.
Eventually, the two of them got smarter—whenever they were about to fight, they would fly beyond the boundaries of Verdanturf, to some uninhabited place, and battle to their hearts' content.
After a few rounds, the two Pokémon's bodies had loosened up, and their moods improved accordingly. Even Ash could tell Hydreigon was in a better mood when he returned from classes.
These past few days, schoolwork had kept Ash very busy, so he hadn't gone to Yuga's place and was unaware of what had happened with Salamence. That's why he found Hydreigon's good mood puzzling.
Ash didn't dwell on it and just carried on as usual.
However, in those battles, Hydreigon was almost always the one losing. This struck a blow to Hydreigon's long-standing pride.
It had once been a mighty overlord in its own territory. Later, lured out by the dark thoughts of Hoopa's shadow, it had stepped outside only to suffer humiliating defeats. Afterwards, it kept losing to one strong Pokémon after another, which made it realize that there were still many powerful Pokémon in the world.
It used to live in a small, sheltered corner of the world with little exposure. But now, after seeing the strength of others, it resolved to strive for greater heights.
Although Hydreigon was a bit simple-minded, it was still very ambitious. It wouldn't allow itself to be weaker than others!
Before long, Ash noticed that Hydreigon had begun training with even more dedication, and this strictness extended to how it treated the rest of his Pokémon team as well. While this made Ash happy, it also left him wondering what had happened.
While everyone was working hard to improve themselves, Yuga was diligently practicing making Pokéblocks and incense, and at the same time, racking his brain about how to complete the system's main quest.
The main quest required Yuga to cultivate and list one or more Bug-type Pokémon. Wanting to achieve a higher rating than the previous quest, Yuga felt he couldn't slack off like last year again. Otherwise, the system's reward would definitely be as "lackluster" as his efforts.
In truth, Yuga's Bug Paradise already had many Bug-type Pokémon. The problem was that there had always been a shortage of high potential Pokémon, which meant they didn't meet the criteria to be listed.
Although Bug-type Pokemon reproduce quickly, their chances of producing high potential offspring are lower compared to other types. Adding to that, there weren't many of them to begin with when they were first introduced to the ecological park, so progress had always been slow.
Bug Paradise is a special Sub-Ecopark that naturally improves Pokémon genetics, but its effects don't show significant results in the short term.
Yuga could clearly feel that among the newly born Bug-type Pokémon, the number of red and orange potential Pokémon had significantly decreased, the yellow potential ones had the most stable birth rate, while the birth rate of green potential or higher Pokemon was pitifully low.
Although the Innovation Potion could improve the aptitude of yellow potential Pokémon, there were simply too many Pokémon that needed enhancement, and it was impossible for Yuga to use the potion on all of them. Moreover, he had to provide a fixed amount of it to the League every month.
Besides, using the Innovation Potion on some Bug-type Pokémon was far less cost-effective than using it on other types of Pokémon.
All these reasons added together had led to Bug Paradise becoming the slowest-developing Sub-Ecopark out of all of Yuga's facilities.
So, there were only two ways to improve the current dilemma of Bug Paradise: one was to increase the production of Innovation Potions, and the other was to bring in more high-grade Bug-type Pokémon.
Producing the Innovation Potion required the use of White Crystals produced by Glimmering Organisms. After continuous breeding, the Glimmering Organisms cultivated in the lab had now stabilized, and the production of White Crystals had also become steady, meaning the production of Innovation Potions had reached a fixed amount.
But when it came to these Glimmering Organisms, which were ancient lifeforms, Yuga never dared to let them reproduce freely. Who knew what kind of consequences might arise if their population exploded?
History had proven that anything in excess would lead to disaster, so Yuga always had Mewtwo strictly control the population of the Glimmering Organisms.
Too much of anything is as bad as too little.
Since he couldn't take action from the Innovation Potion side, the only remaining option was to introduce more high potential Pokémon to speed up the gene optimization process of Bug-type Pokemon in Bug Paradise.
In the process of breeding Pokémon, constantly optimizing their genes was the most fundamental way to solve the low birth rate of high potential Pokémon.
Just as Yuga was thinking about how to bring in new Pokémon, a recruitment mission posted by the League caught his attention.
It turned out that not long ago, a pioneering army of the Unova League had developed a piece of wilderness, extending the League's territory. However, due to a shortage of manpower, this newly developed area hadn't been cleared yet.
So, the Unova League issued a special recruitment mission to internal League trainers, asking them to help clear out the area. Whatever they obtained within the region would belong to the trainers themselves.
Normally, the League rarely issued this kind of mission, because newly developed areas often represented abundant resources. How could the League, after working so hard to open up an area, allow just anyone to enter?
But this time was special. The reason the Unova League's pioneering army had developed this area was due to a recent Pokémon disaster there—high-level wild Pokémon had suddenly launched a collective invasion of the pioneers' base for unknown reasons.
Although the pioneering army eventually repelled the Pokémon and seized their territory, they suffered heavy losses and had to remain on high alert in case of a counterattack. As a result, they had to outsource the clearing operation.
Clearing land that had once been wild wasn't something just anyone could do—it required trainers with strong capabilities; otherwise, they would be throwing their lives away. It also demanded a large number of trainers, and the Unova League couldn't mobilize that many people on short notice, hence the need for this mission.
Coincidentally, Bug-type Pokémon were one of the representative local specialties of the area to be cleared.
This type of mission was rare not just because of resource concerns, but also because the League had been stable for many years. There weren't many pioneering army actively expanding territory anymore—most of them just guarded their regions.
Yuga thought about it and realized he didn't have anything urgent to deal with recently, so he signed up to participate in this mission.
As for Mr. Gasai's invitation to him to take part in the exchange match—that would still take a while.
The academic exchange between the two schools was scheduled to last three months, and the exchange battle would only happen at the end. It had only been less than ten days since the program started, so Yuga would have more than enough time to return in time.
That mobilization mission only required one month anyway. Even if some time would be wasted on the round trip, it would still be completely manageable.
Since he had already made up his mind, Yuga informed Duoduo that he would be away and entrusted the household matters to it.
Afterward, he went to see Beidou and entrusted the gym to his care.
Both Duoduo and Beidou were already used to Yuga heading out on trips from time to time, so they naturally agreed without any fuss.
Because the destination this time was a remote wilderness far from human civilization, Yuga made thorough preparations before departure. Even if he was going to be out in the wild, the quality of life couldn't be allowed to drop too much.
However, the day before he set off, Yuga suddenly received a call from the Unova League.
The Unova League hadn't expected someone as high-profile as Yuga to sign up for this mission. So, once they confirmed that the person who had signed up was indeed the Gym Leader Shimizu they knew, they immediately made this call.
The reason for the Unova League's call was to invite Yuga to serve as the general commander for this mobilization mission.
Since the participating trainers were coming from different regions—and all were elite trainers—it would definitely be hard to manage them. On top of that, the pioneering force had already been tied down and couldn't spare any manpower. That's why, upon noticing Yuga's registration, the League quickly reached out.
If a powerful trainer like Yuga could be on site to hold down the fort, those unruly trainers would naturally be deterred and not stir up trouble.
After understanding the real reason behind the Unova League's call, Yuga neither agreed nor refused. Instead, he said, "Let's talk again once I arrive."
The Unova League had no choice but to accept that answer.
The next day, Yuga boarded an aircraft bound for the Unova region.
Trainers who were participating in the mobilization mission had to first gather in Lacunosa Town in Unova. From there, the League would arrange for an aircraft to transport them to the base of the pioneering army.
Yuga was one of the earlier arrivals. When he arrived at Lacunosa Town, the League specially asked the town's mayor to personally pick him up.
Because the gathering point was set in Lacunosa Town, the mayor there was also responsible for organizing and managing the trainers participating in this mobilization mission.
On the night Yuga arrived in Lacunosa Town, the Unova League sent someone to meet him to discuss the matter of him serving as general commander of the mission.
"Mr. Shimizu, we really are short on manpower, which is why we're asking this of you. Honestly, your registration for this mission was a completely unexpected surprise for us," the League official in charge of negotiations said sincerely.
Yuga waved his hand and said, "Let's set other things aside for now. If I do take on the role of general commander for this mission, what would I be responsible for?"
"You wouldn't have too many tasks," the official explained. "Your main role would be to keep some of the more unruly trainers in check. As for the minor details, the vice commander and their team will handle everything."
The vice commander was originally appointed as the chief commander for this mission, but due to Yuga's unexpected arrival, he was reassigned from chief commander to vice commander.
"I understand." The task sounded simple and wouldn't require too much effort. Yuga nodded. "I accept."
When the official heard this, his face immediately lit up with joy. "That's wonderful news. Thank you very much, Gym Leader Shimizu, for supporting the League's efforts."
Yuga humbly waved his hand and said, "As a member of the League, it's my duty."
And just like that, Yuga's role as the general commander for the mobilization mission was officially settled.
Three days later, most of the trainers participating in the mission had already arrived. As for those who hadn't made it yet, the League's aircraft wasn't going to delay the schedule just to wait.
Before departure, all the trainers were gathered at a plaza, where the mayor of Lacunosa Town came up to speak.
"Thank you very much to all the League elites who have joined this mission..."
He didn't say much, just a ten-minute speech filled with encouragement and a few stern reminders. Then he added, "Now, let's welcome the general commander of this mission, Mr. Shimizu, to the stage."
As soon as the mayor of Lacunosa Town finished speaking, a wave of murmurs erupted from the crowd below.
Mr. Shimizu? Could it really be that Mr. Shimizu?
Yuga walked up on stage and gave a simple greeting to everyone.
"Hello, everyone. I'm Shimizu Yuga, the general commander for this mission. Please take care of me for the coming month."
After Yuga took the stage, the chatter among the trainers below grew even louder. They had never imagined that the general commander for this mission would actually be the famous Mr. Shimizu himself.
"I believe most of you know Mr. Shimizu," said the mayor of Lacunosa Town.
Indeed, Yuga was well-known among League trainers. More than ninety-five percent of the trainers participating in this mission had heard of Yuga's name.
"The fact that the League was able to invite Mr. Shimizu shows how seriously we're treating this mission. Therefore, I hope everyone will cooperate fully with the League's command. Please don't act on your own whims. The wilderness is unlike any other place—it's extremely dangerous. A single careless move could cost you your life. I hope you all keep that in mind."
When Yuga heard the mayor's words, he almost rolled his eyes. You guys weren't planning to invite me at all before!
But he didn't expose the truth. He was already used to how League officials always knew how to say the right things to the right people.
After introducing Yuga to the group of trainers, everyone boarded the League's aircraft and departed.
This aircraft was a new model with an incredibly high speed. Three days later, Yuga and the rest successfully arrived at the pioneering army's base, where they were greeted by the vice commander for this mission—who was also a deputy general of the pioneering force.