Chapter 1092: The Unexpected Bug-Electric Pokémon

After the ranch manager's accident, the League quickly sent a new person to take over. This time, Mayor Ishida was cautious and personally supervised the progress of the project almost the entire time.

The wild Pokémon that originally lived at the ranch were relocated to a reserve near Venderturf City, arranged by the League. This reserve was specially established for Pokémon that had lost their homes. It not only provided abundant food throughout the year but also had dedicated rangers to guard it.

Recently, Yuga continued to diligently train the Sunflora at the town's training facility every day. After some time of training, some of the Sunflora were already able to use Solar Beam, albeit clumsily.

The training facility had advanced equipment, including rooms specifically for guest training. The advanced rooms could simulate various special environments, such as sunny, snowy, or rainy days.

These special environments were beneficial for training specific skills.

Yuga spent some money to let the Sunflora train daily in a simulated intense sunlight environment. This allowed them to fully experience sunlight and taught them how to efficiently collect sunlight and convert it into attack energy.

Before teaching the Sunflora Solar Beam, Yuga first taught them Photosynthesis. This skill was much easier to learn than Solar Beam, and since most Grass-type Pokémon naturally suited this skill, learning it wasn't too difficult as long as they weren't too slow.

Photosynthesis greatly helped improve the efficiency of Grass-type Pokémon in collecting Solar Beam. In fact, the first Sunflora to master Solar Beam were those with good Photosynthesis skills.

Since Photosynthesis wasn't used in Pokémon battles, Yuga didn't require them to master it immediately. Even if some Sunflora used it a bit awkwardly, Yuga didn't blame them much.

Yuga believed that as they gained more experience over time, they would master both Photosynthesis and Solar Beam effortlessly, as practice makes perfect!

During this time, Ash and May visited Venderturf Town specifically to bid farewell to Yuga.

With their League and Pokémon Contest tournaments over, Ash planned to challenge the Battle Frontier in Kanto, while May intended to experience the newly emerging Pokémon Contests in Kanto.

There was not much change from the original plot, except that Ash finally won the championship at the Hoenn League, which was quite an achievement! Yuga regretted not being able to watch the match live.

The Pokémon Contests in Kanto had only recently become popular. The format and content of these contests differed slightly from those in Hoenn, so it was beneficial for May, as a new Coordinator, to gain more experience.

One day, Yuga returned from a dinner invitation from Shirai Masato, who had invited him to thank him for his timely help in saving Kotono Jenny.

Actually, since Shirai Masato and Kotono Jenny were transferred to Venderturf Town, Yuga hadn't interacted with them much.

Although Shirai Masato had always been friendly towards Yuga, Yuga had been busy since their transfer, leaving no opportunity for interaction. The dinner allowed both sides to understand each other better.

"Murkrow! Murkrow!"

When Yuga returned, he heard an unpleasant "cawing" sound at the door. The owner of the sound was the Murkrow Yuga had captured at the ranch.

Yuga had gone out for a meal at the invitation of Shirai Masato as a thank you for his help in saving Kotono Jenny.

Originally, Yuga hadn't planned to bring Murkrow back. It was a low-level red-aptitude Pokémon, which he found unimpressive.

However, while dealing with the ranch's aftermath, Yuga had kept Murkrow in hand, and after getting used to it, he had forgotten about it and brought it back to the Yoyo Breeding House.

After returning, Yuga decided to release the little guy since the issue was resolved. Although it had been suspected of causing trouble, Yuga thought it was better not to hold it accountable, given that humans had made mistakes first.

Unexpectedly, the little guy wasn't grateful and harbored strong feelings of revenge. It not only ignored Yuga's goodwill but also planned to retaliate against him.

When Murkrow flew out of the Yoyo Daycare, it happened to encounter the local leader, Persian, patrolling with a group of lackeys in tow, looking quite pompous.

To be honest, Murkrow envied Persian. It dreamed of one day living a life of such grandeur. However, its strength didn't allow for such a life—realistically, it would never have that opportunity!

Murkrow didn't know the local situation or that Persian was a Pokémon from the Yoyo Daycare. Seeing Persian's impressive demeanor, Murkrow flew up and struck up a conversation, subtly hinting that Persian should cause trouble for Yuga.

Even though Murkrow was being indirect, Persian wasn't easily fooled. Persian had been around before Murkrow even existed and was quite astute. It immediately recognized Murkrow's intent to cause trouble for Yuga.

Here's the revised translation:

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**Translation:**

Persian usually acts without talking, finding Murkrow's chatter annoying. After all, it has been with Yuga for many years, and Yuga has always treated it well, so it's impossible that they haven't developed any feelings for each other.

So, without listening to much of what Murkrow had to say, Persian immediately swiped it down with a paw. Murkrow's small frame couldn't withstand a swipe from the well-trained Persian.

After knocking Murkrow out, Persian carried it to Yuga and told Yuga everything about Murkrow's attempt to stir up trouble.

Yuga, seeing that Murkrow's feathers had been scratched off by Persian, felt a bit sorry for it, thinking that it's still young and decided to give it another chance, so he let it go.

This time, Murkrow didn't think of seeking revenge on Yuga, but it held a grudge against Persian. So, it sought out Sister Liepard.

Sister Liepard, like Persian and the others, patrols outside all day, so it wasn't surprising that Murkrow found her.

However, Sister Liepard's family has a good relationship with Persian's family, so it's unlikely that they'd be swayed by Murkrow's words.

Generally speaking, Pokémon raised by humans are more cunning than wild Pokémon, especially those like Persian and Liepard, who are inherently intelligent.

Sister Liepard had been very irritable recently, hesitating whether or not to continue pursuing Luxray, so Murkrow's chatter hit her nerve.

In the end, not only did Sister Liepard beat up Murkrow, but she also found a rope, tied it to Murkrow's leg, and dragged it around like a kite, venting her anger on it whenever she was in a bad mood. Murkrow didn't dare to resist because Sister Liepard was not to be trifled with.

Yuga was surprised to see Murkrow being dragged around by Sister Liepard. He had clearly already let it go.

After learning what Murkrow had done, Yuga could only think, "Serves you right!"

So, after Sister Liepard was done playing with it, Yuga found a sturdy cage and locked Murkrow inside, hanging it under the eaves as punishment to prevent it from stirring up trouble again.

It stayed locked up for several days, with Yuga instructing Chansey to give it a berry each day, ignoring its cries otherwise.

Customers coming and going thought that Yuga had deliberately placed Murkrow there to attract business. Since they couldn't understand what Murkrow was saying, they assumed it was happy, darting around! The lively scene at the entrance indeed attracted customers.

Yuga explained it this way to everyone, and they believed him unconditionally.

Ignoring Murkrow's cries, Yuga stepped into the store.

This Murkrow was indeed full of schemes, still not willing to surrender. So, Yuga decided to keep it locked up for a while longer.

However, as soon as he entered the store, he heard Suzuki Mina mention that Akihiro and Sena had called earlier and asked him to call them back.

Curious, Yuga went upstairs to return the call.

It's been a while since those two returned. Last year, they were delayed by some matters in Sinnoh and couldn't come back for the New Year. They did return briefly after the New Year but left again after just a couple of days.

This time, they went to the Alola region.

The two have recently become obsessed with adventure, hardly participating in battles anymore, often disappearing into the wilderness and becoming unreachable.

The phone was quickly answered, and Akihiro's voice came through.

"Hello, is this the Gym Leader? It's Akihiro."

Yuga replied with some annoyance, "I know it's you, Akihiro. You still remember to call back? I thought you two had gone missing!"

Yuga had reason to reprimand them; they hadn't called home to check in for nearly three months!

"…"

Akihiro wasn't good with words and got stuck after Yuga's two sentences.

"Alright, alright! What do you want? You wouldn't call unless something's up, especially leaving a message to call back."

"Well, it's like this…"

It turned out that Akihiro and Sena had, by chance, captured two Charjabug with green aptitude. Since neither of them specialized in Electric-types or liked Bug-types, they thought of sending the Charjabug back to Yuga.

When Yuga heard that they were Electric-type Pokémon, he was delighted. It was just what he needed! With two Charjabug, he'd be halfway to completing his side quest.

The investment over the years hadn't been in vain; there was finally some return!

However, despite his happiness, Yuga continued to admonish them. These two aren't loners; their families would surely worry with no news for such a long time!

After discussing the Charjabug, Akihiro added, "There's one more thing. We'd like to send two Pokémon back. Could you look after them for us and make sure they don't slack off in training?"

Yuga thought, "Well, looks like they're doing well out there, even having extra Pokémon to send back!"

Sena and Akihiro have always followed an elite route, adhering to the principle of "quality over quantity," so they didn't have many Pokémon. Yuga felt gratified that they now had Pokémon to send back.

"Alright, go ahead and send them back. I'll take good care of them."

"Thank you, Gym Leader! I'll send them right away!" Akihiro said cheerfully before hanging up.

Yuga's gym had a Pokémon transfer device, so he soon received the Poké Balls that Akihiro and Sena had sent back—five in total. Besides the two containing the Charjabug Akihiro mentioned, the remaining three held Sena's Espeon, and Akihiro's Umbreon and Ursaring.

After receiving the Poké Balls, Yuga released Espeon, Umbreon, and Ursaring to check on their progress. These three Pokémon had been with the two for a long time.

In terms of talent as Trainers, Sena and Akihiro were still quite far behind Ash and Brandon, even though they had started their journeys several years earlier, yet their strength still wasn't as strong as Ash and Brandon.

It was quite disheartening!

Actually, Sena and Akihiro's talent as Trainers was above average, with Akihiro being slightly more talented than Sena. But neither could be considered geniuses, still within the range of normal people, at most comparable to Ritchie.

After checking their Pokémon's progress, Yuga settled them into the gym's small eco-park, then took the two Charjabug to the insect park.

Charjabug would be placed in the insect park, as Yuga hoped they would evolve into Vikavolt soon and then have some offspring!

The powerful Bug-type Pokémon in the insect park had never really thrived. Even Scyther, who had grievances with Pinsir, had bred with it, but their numbers still hadn't increased much, making them far from ready for sale.

The newly arrived Charjabug were a bit dazed. After Yuga released them from their Poké Balls, they kept spinning around on the ground. But seeing that they looked a bit sluggish, Yuga thought they might be hungry.

Besides Pokéblocks, Charjabug also needed to absorb some electricity since they were Electric-type Pokémon that couldn't generate their own electricity. They used electricity stored in their bodies that had been absorbed from the environment.

Yuga took out two batteries and placed them in front of the Charjabug, and they immediately huddled around and began absorbing the electricity.

These batteries weren't for electrical appliances but were specially designed tools for replenishing the energy of certain Electric-type Pokémon, capable of being recharged and reused.

Since the Galvantula and a few Joltik in Yuga's eco-park often needed these batteries, there was plenty of stock in his store. They came in handy this time, saving Yuga the trouble of going out to buy more.

After draining four or five batteries, the Charjabug finally let out a satisfied burp, their energy levels restored.

Though four or five batteries didn't seem like much, Yuga's were custom-made, each storing a significant amount of electricity. Normally, a single Galvantula would only consume that much, so the Charjabug must have been starving.

But this appetite also indicated that they were in good health!

After eating, the two Charjabug finally had the energy to explore the Insect nest sub-park.

(End of chapter)