Let Yuga Become The Champion

Chatot and Spoink were busy, with one handling the fortune-telling and the other collecting the money.

"Are you two doing fortune-telling? Can I get one too?"

"Oh, it's you!" Upon hearing this voice, Chatot looked up and saw Steven. "Are you here looking for our boss? The boss is at home."

Steven's arrival instantly caught everyone's attention; after all, he was the Champion of Hoenn, and everyone recognized him. However, although many people wanted to talk to Steven, they hesitated to approaching him due to his status.

"Are you two doing fortune-telling? Let me give it a try," Steven said, looking at Spoink's pearl, finding it amusing.

Spoink didn't know Steven and, upon hearing him, was about to perform a reading. But Chatot didn't dare to mess around, shouting, "Ah, ah... Let's take you to find our boss instead!"

After saying this, Chatot murmured something to Spoink and flapped its wings, flying toward the shop.

Spoink watched Chatot gradually fly away and then looked back at Steven, floating away in confusion.

My fortune-telling ability is definitely not a joke! Spoink muttered silently, but no one heard or understood it.

With Spoink and Chatot gone, the crowd that had gathered to watch the fortune-telling also began to disperse.

When Steven entered the shop, Yuga was busy placing an order with Windy for another small breeding house and was very surprised to see Steven.

"What brings you here? Why didn't you let me know in advance?"

"I wouldn't dare to disturb you, such a busy person, without a good reason," Steven teased.

Yuga invited Steven to the reception room, saying, "If you're here, it must be important. So, what's going on?"

Steven rummaged through a small spatial bag he had and flipped it over, causing a series of clattering sounds as several Poké Balls fell onto the table.

"What's this?"

"Your reward," Steven replied.

It finally dawned on Yuga; the Hoenn League was supposed to reward him for his achievements in capturing Archie and the Black Leader. Earlier, since the New Year was approaching, the League hadn't figured out what to reward him with, so they decided to postpone it until after the holidays. In the meantime, Yuga completely forgot about it.

"Oh, there's something else I need to tell you," Steven continued.

It turned out that the chip found on the Black Leader had finally been cracked by the League. As a result, they learned about the past of cloning the Black Leader and the White Leader (which was a very one-sided perspective from Gilruta), as well as the Ritter family secretly cultivating the Heaven Organization.

Now, the people who are connected to the Ritter family had been captured, and it was believed that this would soon make the news. Meanwhile, the infamous second young master of the Ritter family, Milolovade, was also being hunted by the League.

From the chip's memory, the League obtained many secrets about the Heaven Organization, including some of their bases. Unfortunately, by the time the League sent people to raid them, the main bases had already been evacuated, and those people that they captured were not the core members.

It was likely that the White Leader, upon learning that the chip had been taken, anticipated that the League would eventually come for them and moved their people elsewhere.

However, the League didn't come away empty-handed. Due to insufficient time, with so many members of the Heaven Organization and hidden bases, the White Leader only took away some important members, leaving the rest to become casualties.

Especially since the League had found quite a few lists of names, and these people were all undercover agents for the Heaven Organization, used to lure in civilian children.

Some training camps that they hadn't managed to evacuate were also dismantled. The trainees there were all adolescents, who were prospective members of the Heaven Organization.

With the destruction of these training camps and the elimination of their undercover agents, the Heaven Organization would find it very difficult to recruit new blood in the short term.

Unfortunately, the memory chip only contained fragments of the Black Leader's memories. The White Leader had kept too many secrets from the Black Leader; otherwise, the League might have even been able to uproot the Heaven Organization completely.

"Thanks to the memory chip, the League has really put a lot of resources into your reward," Steven said, his tone unexpectedly showing excitement.

"Really? What did I get?" Steven's words successfully piqued Yuga's interest.

Steven picked up the one luxurious Poké Ball on the table, opened it, and a cute little Drilbur appeared in front of Yuga.

"Drilbur?" Yuga said, slightly surprised.

Steven wore a look that suggested Yuga didn't know its value. "Don't underestimate this Drilbur; it has indigo potential!"

"Indigo potential?" Now Yuga was genuinely shocked; he hadn't expected the League to be so generous.

...

[ Drilbur]

Type: Ground

Ability: Sand Rush

Gender: Male

Potential: Indigo

Level: 18

Moves: Scratch, Rapid Spin, Metal Claw, Dig, and Fury Swipes.

...

After observing closely, Yuga confirmed that this was indeed an indigo-potential Pokémon.

The number of indigo-potential Pokémon that the League could cultivate was very small; it was difficult to find even one in several years. He didn't expect to receive one today.

"If you don't believe me, you can go have it checked yourself." Seeing Yuga's expression, Steven thought he was skeptical.

"Of course I believe you; if you say so, it must be true." Yuga detected a slightly sour tone in Steven's voice and didn't want to provoke him.

"The League initially wanted to give you a indigo-potential Grass-type Pokémon, but they temporarily didn't have one. They also couldn't exchange one from other League branches, so they decided to give you this Drilburinstead," Steven explained.

Yuga waved his hand. "There's no need to go through all that trouble; Drilbur is great! I really like it."

Since Yuga didn't plan to train a main Pokémon for now, he didn't mind whether it was a Grass type. Drilbur was quite good, too. Look at those big, round eyes—so spirited and incredibly cute!

Seeing that Yuga truly liked Drilbur, Steven didn't press the issue further.

"You have so many merit points now that you can't possibly use them all, so the League hasn't rewarded you with many more merit points. Considering that your Pokemon Day Care is thriving, they decided to convert your rewards into Pokémon instead." Steven pointed to the remaining Poké Balls. "These Pokémon were all exchanged from other League branches; you probably don't have any of them in your Day Care yet."

Since Yuga became a Hall of Fame-level Trainer, he hadn't been short on merit points, which led to this arrangement from the League.

Yuga hadn't expected the League to be so considerate. After recalling Drilburinto its Poké Ball, he opened the other Poké Balls one by one to check them.

Among these Pokémon, there were five Totodile, four Heracross, six Shellos (three pink and three blue), four Sandile, and four Drilbur, totaling 23 Pokémon, all with green potential.

It must be said that as Yuga provided more innovation potions to the League, the number of high-potential Pokémon in the League gradually increased, resulting in increasingly generous rewards for Yuga.

After handing out the rewards to Yuga, Steven began to chat casually with him, during which Yuga learned that Steven was considering resigning from his position as Champion.

"You've only been Champion for a few years; are you really thinking about quitting already?" Yuga knew about Steven's intention to pass the Champion title to Wallace, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Steven shrugged and said, "You know how I am; my biggest hobby in life is collecting rocks. I really can't just sit in the Champion's seat all the time."

"But you've only been Champion for a few years—less than four! The Elite Four competition isn't even up yet. If you quit now, who will be the next Champion?" Yuga thought Steven was being truly reckless; he was on track to break the League record for the shortest term served as Champion.

Steven replied, "You might not know this, but there are actually other ways to succeed the Champion aside from the Elite Four competition."

As long as a Trainer has more than four Champion-level Pokémon, receives a recommendation from the current Champion, meets the merit point requirements, and simultaneously defeats the current four Elite Four members and the Champion, they can be appointed as the new Champion by the League's higher-ups and headquarters without going through the Elite Four competition.

Usually, as long as you win the Elite Four competition, you can become the Champion even with just one Champion-level Pokémon, but to succeed mid-term, having four Champion-level Pokémon is essential.

Steven didn't mention this, and Yuga truly hadn't known about it.

"If you want to resign, it's probably going to be tough to find someone to succeed you," Yuga said with a frown.

Steven might already have that kind of strength, but Wallace was a bit weaker than Steven, and at the moment, he likely didn't have the strength of four Champion-level Pokémon.

Of course, this was just Yuga's estimation; he didn't know Steven and Wallace's true strengths very well.

Steven smiled at this: "That's why I'm here looking for you."

In Steven's mind, Yuga was the most suitable successor.

There was no question about strength; Steven believed Yuga had certainly met the requirements. Defeating the four Elite Four members wouldn't be a problem; he could even let Yuga win a little.

As for the appointment from the League's higher-ups and headquarters, Steven felt that was even less of a problem. Thanks to the innovation potions, everyone in the League practically treated Yuga like a revered ancestor. If Yuga was willing to become the Champion, not only the Hoenn League, but even the League headquarters would be eager to have him.

Since Yuga was also an ally of Devon Corporation, having Yuga become Champion would ensure Devon's position in the League.

Steven's primary purpose for personally coming to deliver rewards to Yuga was this; otherwise, there would be no need for a Champion to deliver rewards in person.

"Huh? What did you just say? I think I might have an issue with my ears; could you say that again?" Yuga said while digging at his ear with his pinky.

"I said… I want to ask you to take over… my position!"

Steven purposely raised his voice by a notch.

Ah… so I didn't hear wrong earlier! Yuga reached out to touch Steven's forehead.

"I want to check if you have a fever or something."

Steven swatted Yuga's hand away. "What are you talking about? I'm not feverish."

"Are you sure it's not you who's talking nonsense? You're all over the place! Asking me to be the Champion—what a ridiculous idea!"

Yuga had a look on his face that seemed to say, "What kind of fool are you?"

"How is what I'm saying nonsense? You have the strength, you have the reputation; who could be more suitable than you?"

"I refuse," Yuga said firmly.

"Why?" Steven asked, confused.

"It's nothing; I'm absolutely refuse it. You don't want to be the Champion, so you're trying to drag me into this? That's so sneaky!"

As Steven said, he currently had the strength, the reputation, and he was reasonably well-off—so why would he want to take on the burdens of being Champion? It sounded exhausting.

"Just think of it as helping me out! I'm begging you!" Steven said, putting on a pitiful expression.

Yuga remained resolute: "Why don't you go ask Wallace? He has a good relationship with you; he would definitely be willing."

Steven sighed in resignation. "I want to ask him too, but he's not ready yet!"

"Well, then just work a bit harder for another two years. Once he meets the requirements, it won't be too late for you to step down and let him take over," Yuga advised.

Steven spent a long time earnestly trying to convince Yuga, but Yuga stubbornly refused to budge, so Steven had no choice but to give up.

"Alright, since you don't want to, I won't force you. I'll be on my way now; you can focus on your own things."

After sending Steven out of the shop, Yuga shook his head helplessly. He truly hadn't expected Steven to come back and ask him to take over the Champion position.

After Steven left, Yuga sent the Pokémon to the Ecopark.

Five Drilbur were sent to the Mining Sub-Ecopark, five Totodiles were sent to the Heart Lake on Island No. 1 of the Shallow Sea Sub-Ecopark, six Shellos were sent into the waters of the Shallow Sub-Ecopark, four Heracross were sent to the Insect Nest Sub-Ecopark, and four Sandile were sent to the Desert Sub-Ecoaprk, as their living environments were similar.

It was a pity that there wasn't a single Electric-type among these Pokémon; otherwise, he would have been one step closer to completing his side quest.

Had he known the League would send so many Pokémon to him, Yuga thought it would have been great if they could send over a few Electric-type Pokémon as well.

But alas, you can't buy foresight with money!

After finishing all this, Yuga wondered if it was time to list new Pokémon on the Day Care's website.

The main quest required Yuga's Day Care to list at least three different types of high-potential Pokémon within a year. Several months had passed, and he hadn't listed a single one yet! He needed to hurry!

As he walked, Yuga contemplated which Pokémon to list. Considering the number of various species in the park, the unlisted Pokémon with a larger number included Xatu, Buneary, Pachirisu, Swellow and Staraptor, as well as the Mantyke and Remoraid species.

If these groups were to be evaluated based on listing standards, only Xatu barely met the requirements.

However, Xatu had always been responsible for surveillance around YoYo Day Care and if they were to be listed, it would undoubtedly impact the group's reproduction.

This left Yuga feeling conflicted.

While Ghost-type Pokémon also undertook surveillance tasks, they didn't like to stay outside during the day and preferred to operate at night; thus, the primary force for daytime surveillance at YoYo Day Care was still the Xatu.

Moreover, all Xatu here had undergone special training, with the older generation teaching the younger ones, making each of them exceptionally skilled at their jobs.

Thinking about it that way, Yuga felt reluctant to list them.

After much contemplation, Yuga ultimately decided to wait a bit longer; after all, there was still some time before the task deadline, so there was no rush.

Just as he left the Ecopark, Yuga received a phone call from Reggie.

The Bluesky Day Care had successfully cultivated a batch of excellent-quality Skorupi and Drapion over the past two years. As the numbers of Skorupi and Drapion gradually increased, Reggie wanted to discuss with Yuga the possibility of using Drapion in exchange for introducing some new Pokémon that weren't available in Sinnoh into YoYo Day Care.