Gary Oak and the Scholar Research Team

Yuga didn't take Cosmoem, Kartana, Abomasnow, or Decidueye with him this time.

So, the day after he returned, Yuga planned to check on Cosmoem and the others' training progress while he was away.

It was hard for Yuga to discern whether Cosmoem had improved, as his insight couldn't see its data, and Cosmoem only had two skills: Cosmic Power and Teleport.

Cosmic Power is a skill used to enhance defense, but Cosmoem's defense was already very high. Even without using Cosmic Power, it could stand still and generally wouldn't be affected by ordinary Pokémon.

Furthermore, Cosmoem's Teleport was even more refined than Sabrina's, making it even harder for Yuga to gauge any progress.

Regardless, when Yuga asked Cosmoem if it had been training hard these days, Cosmoem said it had, and Audino also confirmed that it had, so Yuga decided to take it at face value. Now that he was back, Cosmoem wouldn't have the chance to slack off anymore.

However, the progress of Kartana was quite obvious. According to Aegislash, during the time Yuga was away, it had consistently honed its swordsmanship daily, making significant breakthroughs in its training.

Unlike Cosmoem, which couldn't participate in battles, Yuga could easily assess Kartana's progress through practical combat.

Previously, Kartana's battle prowess could only match that of an ordinary pseudo-Elite level Pokémon. However, upon returning, Yuga had it spar with a Breloom. With its exquisite swordsmanship and elusive speed, it managed to hold its own against Breloom.

Although Breloom had only recently broken into Elite level, it was still an Elite level Pokémon. The fact that Karatana could fight it to a draw was already a testament to its hard work.

Of course, Kartana's rapid progress can't solely be attributed to hard work; talent is also an essential factor.

Consider Abomasnow and Decidueye: even though they are older than Kartana and have not been slacking off in training, there's no way they could match Kartana in a battle.

However, Abomasnow and Decidueye have made considerable progress during this time as well, especially since Abomasnow managed to break through to the pseudo-Elite level before Decidueye, achieving a comeback of sorts. Yuga speculated that this might be related to its status as a mutated Pokémon.

For Yuga's main Pokémon, breaking through to pseudo-Elite level is just the beginning of a focused training phase. It requires a lot of time for accumulation and solidification, and they need to endure loneliness to refine themselves.

Breloom, Bellossom, and Venusaur… each of them spent several years to break through from the pseudo-Elite level to their current Elite level.

The progress of Decidueye is evident in its archery skills.

During Yuga's absence, Decidueye spent a significant amount of time in Kanto training archery under Mr. Genzo, and this return was only a few days ago.

Mr. Genzo and Starla have been in close contact with Yuga since settling in Kanto. Starla even regularly calls Yuga to report on Decidueye's training progress, making Decidueye the only one among the little guys whose training progress Yuga is fully aware of.

Now, Decidueye can use its archery skills in conjunction with its Spirit Shackle technique to unleash a rain of arrows, covering a wide attack range. Pokémon that lack sufficient strength, once hit by the shadow arrows within the rain of arrows, become immobilized and unable to move.

Overall, Yuga is quite satisfied with everyone's progress.

After returning, Yuga enjoyed a few leisurely days. He either took his Pokémon out for strolls or welcomed guests at the shop… There were no major worries.

However, as the popularity of Yoyo Day Care grew, the shop became very busy with customers every day, which sometimes left Yuga feeling overwhelmed. He noticed that Suzuki Koen was working tirelessly, so he decided to hire an additional employee for both her and his Aunt.

Currently, most of the tasks in the old and new shops are handled by Suzuki Koen and his Aunt. Although they call themselves ordinary employees, they are essentially doing the work of branch managers.

As the workload in the shop increased, it became a bit too much for just the two of them.

Even though Yuga paid Suzuki Koen and his Aunt a decent salary, no matter how high the compensation, it wouldn't allow one person to become three or four, so hiring new employees became an urgent necessity.

Yuga resolved the hiring of new employees quite easily. He mentioned this to Ms. Kawahara, the director of the Forest House, and she recommended two people from the Forest House to him.

Since the development of Verdanturf Town has been progressing well, the town's financial revenue has been increasing, and the Forest House orphanage has received sufficient funding from the Verdanturf Town government. Life there has become much less difficult than before.

Additionally, Mayor Ishida has consistently promoted the Forest House, leading to frequent donations from various sectors of society.

This time, Yuga was only hiring two salespeople, so Ms. Kawahara introduced him to a boy and a girl who had just turned sixteen. The boy's name was Kyo, and the girl's name was Ayaka.

These two children had lively personalities and were articulate; after the interview, Yuga promptly hired them. Kyo was assigned to the new shop to assist Aunt Mihoko, while Ayaka was placed in the old shop to help Suzuki Koen.

After a few days of observation, Yuga noticed that these two kids were very hardworking and quickly adapted to their tasks. Every day, they buzzed around like diligent bees, running in and out, which significantly lightened the burdens of Suzuki Koen and his Aunt.

With the addition of the two new employees, Yuga found his days much more relaxed. However, this easygoing time didn't last long before it came to an end.

One day, Yuga was at the gym giving a bath to a newborn Meowth. This Meowth was one of the descendants of the four partners of the Persian, who had taken in one of the younger cats from their group.

Most of Persian's younger companions were stray Pokémon, and after being taken in by the Persian and his partners, they patrolled the streets and alleys of Verdanturf Town every day.

Since they were all light and agile feline Pokémon, they could navigate various locations, often gathering unexpected news, making them one of Yuga's informants in Verdanturf Town.

For this reason, Yuga would pay them (in food).

As the quality of life improved, these Pokémon gradually began to have offspring.

However, since these Pokémon had poor potential to begin with, their offspring naturally weren't much better, so most of the newly born Pokémon were adopted by average families seeking companions, thanks to Yuga's connections.

Feline Pokémon are generally cute and gentle, so there were quite a few people willing to adopt them, which prevented the gym's small Ecopark from being overwhelmed with these new Pokémon.

In fact, in most cases, Yuga didn't pay much attention to the Pokémon in the gym's small Ecopark. Even distributing food to them was primarily handled by Miltank or Blissey.

With the Persian and his partners looking after them, and since they were all stray Pokémon, they could take care of themselves as long as they had enough food. There was no need for Yuga to overly concern himself.

Yuga had come here today on a whim.

After just sending off a challenger, Yuga thought he would take a look at the situation in the gym's small ecological garden. Although Beidou usually took care of the garden, it wouldn't be right for him to ignore it completely.

In the small Ecopark, Yuga spotted a Meowth that seemed to have just been born not long ago. The reason Yuga noticed this Meowth was because when he instinctively activated his insight, the green light emanating from the Meowth was simply too conspicuous.

This Meowth was the only high-potential Pokémon among the offspring of the stray Pokémon over this period.

Seeing the Meowth covered in mud, which it must have picked up from who knows where, Yuga decided to fill a basin with water to give it a bath.

However, washing the Meowth was no easy task. As soon as Yuga placed it in the water, the Meowth let out a cry like a pig being slaughtered, splashing water everywhere from the basin.

If Yuga hadn't reacted quickly, the Meowth might have scratched his face.

While Yuga was creating chaos trying to wash the Meowth, he received a phone call from Professor Birch.

Professor Birch was calling to ask Yuga for a favor.

It turned out that a team of Pokémon researchers from Kanto wanted to visit the Petalburg Woods to study the ecosystem of the Pokémon there. Professor Birch hoped Yuga would host this research team and allow them to temporarily stay at Verdanturf Gym.

Since the research team would be conducting academic studies and discussions, including a series of activities like meetings and classes, staying at a hotel or Pokémon Center would be quite inconvenient.

The reason Professor Birch was so concerned about this research team and even came to ask Yuga for help was that the team leader was his junior from the same school.

Professor Birch had once been a student of Professor Oak and had worked as an assistant alongside this research team leader under Professor Oak.

Later, Professor Birch became a renowned Pokémon researcher in Hoenn, while this team leader joined Professor Oak's research team.

Don't be fooled by the fact that there aren't many people at Professor Oak's research institute in Pallet Town. As the most famous Pokémon researcher in the league (without exception), he has a large research team elsewhere, consisting entirely of elite members.

Professor Oak is a renowned scholar in Pokémon ecology, and this exploration of the Petalburg Woods is organized by his research team to help train newcomers. Among the team members, there is a very important person—Professor Oak's grandson.

Professor Oak personally contacted Professor Birch, asking him to take good care of his grandson. However, Professor Birch was temporarily unable to return to Hoenn because he had to go to Kalos to attend an academic exchange conference hosted by Professor Sycamore, which is why he called Yuga.

There are four large towns surrounding the Petalburg Woods: Oldale Town, Verdanturf Town, Petalburg City, and Rustboro City.

Among them, Oldale Town and Littleroot Town are closely adjacent. If Professor Birch were at home, it wouldn't be a problem for the research team to stay at his institute.

Unfortunately, there is no such scenario.

Although Petalburg City and Rustboro City are next to the Petalburg Woods, their geographical locations are not favorable (relative to the Petalburg Woods). It would be much more difficult and dangerous for the research team to enter the Petalburg Woods from these two cities. After all, most of the members of the research team are scholars rather than trainers; they may have some strength, but it's unlikely to be very strong.

Therefore, entering the Petalburg Woods from Verdanturf Town became the optimal choice. Otherwise, Professor Birch could have easily asked his friend Mr. Norman for help instead of troubling Yuga.

After finishing the call with Professor Birch, Yuga immediately received a phone call from Shirai Masato, both of them discussing the same matter.

Liliana has been reassigned from Verdanturf Town back to the Jenny family headquarters, and currently, the chief of the Verdanturf Town police station is Shirai Masato.

It has been decided that the research team will come to Verdanturf Town.

In fact, even if Professor Birch hadn't called, as the gym trainer, Yuga has the responsibility and obligation to cooperate with the research team's work. Shirai Masato's call was just to inform Yuga about this matter.

For Yuga, this matter isn't really a hassle. He just needs to provide accommodation and ensure the safety of the research team while they are in Verdanturf Town; everything else isn't really his concern.

After hanging up with Shirai Masato, Yuga took the freshly bathed Meowth and wrapped it in a towel to dry it off. While drying it, he thought about what Professor Birch mentioned on the phone regarding Professor Oak's grandson.

This grandson should refer to Gary Oak, right? Yuga wondered if Professor Oak had any other grandsons; he wasn't quite sure about that.

According to the original anime storyline, Gary became a Pokémon researcher after losing to Ash at the Silver Conference. Now that Ash is stronger than in the original story, Gary would definitely lose again.

After drying Meowth with a towel and using a hairdryer to fluff up its fur, Yuga rubbed its soft coat and scratched its chin, causing Meowth to emit a contented purring sound.

After thinking for a moment, Yuga carried Meowth out of the gym hall and informed Beidou about the research team's upcoming arrival, asking him to prepare the guest rooms.

Four days later, the research team arrived in Verdanturf Town as scheduled. Shirai Masato went to the airport to pick them up and then brought them to the Verdanturf Gym.

When the research team arrived at the gym, Yuga was busy accepting a challenge from a challenger, so they were received by Beidou, the gym's "head butler."

Since the rooms had already been prepared, after the research team settled in, Beidou and Shirai Masato accompanied them for some casual chatting in the living room.

Seeing that the gym leader had yet to make an appearance, Gary from the research team turned to Beidou and asked, "I wonder if I could go and watch Gym Leader Shimizu's gym battle?"

Shimizu Yuga was a name Shigeru had heard his grandfather mention several times, always with great admiration. Therefore, he had long wanted to meet this gym leader.

Gary had heard about Yuga's achievements to some extent; for a trainer, meeting such a strong figure is an honor.

Although Gary was planning to become a Pokémon researcher, it didn't mean he had given up on his identity as a trainer. The person he admired most was his grandfather, and of course, he hoped that one day he could become someone like him.

His grandfather, Professor Oak, is not only a leading figure in academia but also a benchmark for many trainers.

Many people thought he switched careers to become a researcher because it was too embarrassing to lose to Ash at the Silver Conference, but that's not possible. The stronger Ash became, the more challenge Gary felt.

Because someday, he would also become someone like his grandfather!

Hearing Gary's words, Beidou smiled slightly, "Of course you can!"