New Gym Leader

[ Combee ]

Type: Bug, Flying

Ability: Honey Gather

Gender: Female

Potential: Yellow

Level: 8

Moves: Sweet Scent, Gust.

...

Yuga didn't expect to casually glance around and see a female Combee flying past him.

Female Combee are quite rare within Combee colonies; they are like a splash of red among a sea of green. Yuga was surprised that after all this time, another female Combee had been born.

The Vespiquen doesn't look favorably upon having female Combee among her offspring because female Combee signify that there will soon be a new Vespiquen competing with her for dominance over the colony. Whether the battle with the new Vespiquen is won or lost, it's not good news for the old queen.

This female Combee must have been born not long ago, which is why it hadn't been discovered; otherwise, Yuga suspected that Vespiquen No. 2 would have already made a fuss about it.

Despite being the offspring of the Vespiquen, research shows that the Vespiquen is not merciful towards female Combee born into her colony; it's common for her to harm them. There are even some particularly ruthless Vespiquen who will directly kill the newly born female Combee.

Of course, such situations are rare; most wild Vespiquen will choose to expel female Combee. However, female Combee often play along, pretending to be male. Even if expelled from the colony, they will disguise themselves as males and secretly remain within the colony to grow until they evolve into a new Vespiquen to contest for dominance against the old Vespiquen.

Watching the female Combee fly by, Yuga found Vespiquen No. 2 and asked her to keep an eye on this female Combee but instructed her not to harm it.

Vespiquen No. 2 had previously been unaware of this female Combee's existence; she had too many offspring to monitor each one, so when Yuga informed her of the female Combee's presence, she was somewhat taken aback.

However, she had no intention of doing anything to the female Combee. After all, she wasn't a wild Pokémon; she had once left her original colony alone and gradually formed this large family.

She hadn't contended for dominance against her mother, so she believed her offspring wouldn't do the same.

Yuga was unaware of Vespiquen No. 2's thoughts and didn't need to care, as he had never considered keeping this female Combee.

Male Combee cannot evolve; aside from gathering nectar and serving the Vespiquen, they are incapable of anything else. Moreover, unlike pseudo-legendary Pokémon, whose minimum potential is green, male Combee very rarely possess potential above yellow.

Because they have no training value, individual Combee are impossible to sell under any circumstances.

However, many people desired female Combee, but female Combee are different from ordinary Pokémon; the conditions for their birth are stringent.

Since mass breeding isn't possible, Yuga didn't plan to raise too many Vespiquen. After all, he couldn't use them all just for honey production! He already had two Combee colonies, and the sweet honey produced was far more than he could use.

Therefore, rather than keeping this female Combee, it would be better to sell it.

Don't underestimate this Combee's yellow potential; it is very valuable because the worth of female Combee lies not in training and battling but in their ability to evolve into Vespiquen that can produce a continuous supply of sweet honey.

The high market price of sweet honey isn't just due to its nutritional value; it's also because the number of artificially raised Vespiquen is low.

Scarcity increases value, and a shortage of Vespiquen means fewer Combee colonies. A Combee colony without a Vespiquen can easily perish, as male Combee have a very short average lifespan—less than three years. Therefore, once a Combee colony loses its Vespiquen, it is not long before that colony faces extinction.

Once outside the Ecopark, Yuga began thinking about finding a buyer for the female Combee. However, before that, he planned to give it a bottle of an innovation potion. A green potential Combee would certainly be worth more than a yellow one!

Although Yuga sold the innovation potions at a high price and limited their supply to various regions, producing the potions wasn't difficult, as his laboratory was already capable of mass production.

The key to producing the Innovation potion lies in a special organism known as "Microglow." This organism is difficult to survive under natural conditions and is now extinct. However, after the artificial intervention of ghost seawater, these Microglow has been cultivated in large quantities.

Yuga entrusted the task of delivering the innovation potion to Audino, who happily set off for the Ecopark. The newly arrived Cleffa, closely followed Audino without leaving its side like a little shadow.

After briefing Audino, Yuga thought for a moment and decided to call Reggie.

When Reggie received Yuga's call, he was a bit surprised.

"Why did you suddenly think of calling me?"

Since taking over his grandfather's Pokemon Day Care, Reggie has been extremely busy, especially after his grandfather completely relinquished control over the Pokemon Day Care.

However, he and Yuga kept in touch every few days, mainly with Reggie reaching out to Yuga. Yuga had been a boss for much longer than him, and now that he was so successful, as a newly appointed boss of the Pokemon Day Care, Reggie certainly wanted to exchange experiences with him frequently.

Without wasting time, Yuga got straight to the point: "I have a female Combee here. Do you want it? If you do, I'll set it aside for you."

"Female Combee? Are you serious?" Reggie exclaimed on the other end of the line. "I want it! I really want it!"

Reggie had actually long been envious of the two Vespiquen are rare, and female Combee are not easily born, so he could only drool silently!

Combee colonies have great appeal to those running Pokemon Day Care because if newly hatched Pokémon cubs can have sweet honey as a supplementary food source, it not only makes them healthier but also reduces their chances of falling ill.

Higher-standard Pokemon Day Care usually purchase sweet honey from outside, but sweet honey is expensive; if used in large quantities, the breeding costs will increase significantly.

However, if one raises their own Vespiquen, it would be a different story!

Upon hearing this, Yuga laughed and said, "Since you want it, I'll set it aside for you, but I must clarify in advance that I won't be giving you any discounts!"

With close brothers, one must be clear about money matters. Although he and Reggie were friends, they needed to be transparent about financial transactions to avoid confusion in the future.

Reggie replied grandly, "Don't worry; I'll pay you the full amount!"

Although female Combee are expensive, they are worth the investment. He certainly had the means to pay for it, and others who wanted to buy it had no way to do so! This was all thanks to his dear friend!

"No wonder you're my good brother! You're simply my lucky star!" After getting the long-desired Combee, Reggie began to flatter Yuga profusely, praising him endlessly without any hesitation.

Excited, Reggie pulled Yuga into a longer conversation. After hanging up, he eagerly ran to find his grandfather to share this good news.

As Paul walked through the door, he just happened to see his brother running around wildly.

This year, Paul had been traveling alone, and with the end of the year approaching, he decided to return home for a while. Little did he expect that upon his return, he would find his brother in such a frantic state.

Maylene who was training with Lucario in the neighboring yard, happened to see Paul and paused her movements to wave happily, "Paul, you're back! Want to have a match with me?"

Paul flatly refused with a blank expression, "Maybe another day; I have something to do!" He needed to see what his brother was up to!

Thanks to the butterfly effect Yuga had created, Paul reached an understanding with his brother earlier than in the original story, and his personality wasn't as extreme as in the original.

Feeling a bit disappointed, Maylene replied, "Alright then, I'll wait for you!" After saying this, she continued her training with Lucario.

When Paul entered the house, he could hear his brother and grandfather laughing from afar. He suddenly felt that maybe his brother inheriting their grandfather's Pokemon Day Care was more joyful than he had imagined.

While discussing Yuga with their grandfather, Reggie saw Paul enter the room and exclaimed, "Paul, you're back! Why didn't you call ahead?"

As he took off his slung bag, Paul replied proudly, "What's the point of calling? I just came back!"

Reggie helplessly took the bag from Paul's hands and said, "You child…"

…

On Yuga's side, just after finishing the call with Reggie, Audino come out from the Ecopark with the female Combee. Unfortunately, the use of the Innovation potion on the Combee had failed.

However, a failure is just a failure; after all, Reggie wasn't raising the Combee to battle. It didn't matter whether it was yellow potential or green potential.

Of course, cultivating a yellow potential Combee into a Vespiquen would require more effort than a green potential one.

Yuga ultimately sold this female Combee to Reggie for 200,000. Considering it was a Pokémon with yellow potential, this price was quite absurdly high, but for a female Combee, it was just right.

After handling the Combee matter, Yuga was feeling pleased when he suddenly received a call from Steven.

"Coming to the Verdanturf Gym for an internship? Wait, isn't he supposed to be the Gym Leader of Unova? Why would he come all the way to Hoenn for an internship? Is he bored?"

"This isn't a matter of willingness; he's a Normal-type, and I'm Grass-type. The Gym types don't match!"

"I'm telling you, don't create trouble for me! Why would you want to send someone my way? There are so many experienced Gym Leaders in Unova!"

"Fine, fine, you win! Just send him over! But I'll tell you, this won't happen again; I don't have time to entertain guests for you!"

…

It turned out that the Unova League was planning to open a new Gym in Aspertia City, and the new Gym Leader was a young trainer appointed directly by the League.

This trainer felt he lacked experience in being a Gym Leader and was worried he wouldn't be able to handle the new role, so the League decided to arrange for him to intern at a well-established Gym for a while.

The saying goes, "Fame comes with its burdens," and it seemed that Yuga had become quite well-known recently, which is why the new Gym Leader's internship location was designated as Verdanturf Gym, and it was specifically requested by the Unova League.

There must be deeper reasons for choosing Verdanturf Gym as the location. Steven mentioned that the Unova League was likely trying to establish connections with him.

Because of the innovation potion, Yuga is now a favored guest among various leagues; they all want to establish good relationships with him, hoping to secure more allocations of the potion.

Although relying on a rookie Gym Leader to build relationships seems a bit unreliable, who can say for sure about friendships? What if Yuga really hits it off with him and they become good friends? Mr. Alder also has a pretty good relationship with Cynthia!

Regardless of whether it works out in the end, the Unova League doesn't lose anything in this situation.

Since this isn't a big deal and the Unova League specifically named Verdanturf Gym, the Hoenn League naturally wouldn't want to refuse for the sake of brotherhood among leagues, so Steven had no choice but to call Yuga.

Aspertia City, Cheren...

After hanging up on Steven's call, Yuga began to contemplate these two names.

He had a bit of an impression but couldn't recall anything!

Forget it! I'll know once I see him! Yuga thought, shaking his head.

Steven was very quick in his actions; on the third day after the call, the new Gym Trainer named Cheren unexpectedly appeared at the door of Verdanturf Gym, pulling a suitcase behind him.

Before he arrived, Yuga really had no clue.

In the afternoon, when Yuga went to the gym, he saw a young man quietly standing at the entrance with a suitcase, initially thinking he was some challenger!

Upon hearing Yuga's footsteps, the young man suddenly turned around.

"Excuse me, are you Gym Leader Shimizu?"

This was, of course, merely a polite greeting; Cheren had seen Yuga's photo before coming, so he naturally knew that the person in front of him was the one he was looking for.

"Yes, I am. Are you a challenger?" Yuga replied, slightly taken aback.

Cheren shook his head, saying, "My name is Cheren. Mr. Steven should have mentioned me to you."

"Oh, so you are Cheren!" Yuga exclaimed, suddenly realizing, "Why didn't you notify me before you came? Steven didn't even tell me when you'd be arriving!"

Saying this, Yuga invited him into the gym.

"It's not Mr. Steven's fault; I was in a rush, so I arrived earlier than scheduled," Cheren spoke very politely, which reminded Yuga of when he first met Robert, who also spoke like that.

Of course, the difference in their appearances was quite contrast! Robert had blonde hair and blue eyes, while Cheren had black hair and black eyes.

"I apologize; recently, there haven't been many challengers, so the gym looks a bit deserted," Yuga said while leading Cheren inside and introducing him to the gym's situation.

After a few kids went to the ranch, only Beidou and a few staff members remained in the gym. Since there were no challengers, the staff didn't show up either, making the gym look very empty.

Yuga couldn't understand why the Unova League would send Cheren to intern at such an inconvenient time.

Couldn't they have waited until next year? By then, the new League competitions would be starting, and there would be more challengers, making it suitable for an internship.

"It's okay; I should be the one apologizing for causing you trouble," Cheren replied.

He was also aware that his timing for the internship was not ideal, but that was how the League had decided it, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Now that he was here, Yuga didn't want to complain any further. After settling Cheren into the room that had been arranged for him, he showed him around the gym a bit.