A Scare

After seeing Genos off, Suzuki Koen brought a package for Yuga to sign for. Yuga opened it and found it was the Water Stone he had ordered yesterday.

So, Yuga took the Water Stone to the Ecopark, intending to help Eevee, who wanted to evolve into a Water-type Pokémon, complete its evolution.

Upon reaching the Grassland Sub-Ecopark, Eevee's evolution went smoothly. The moment it touched the Water Stone, the evolution was completed, and it happily went off with its partner.

Next, Yuga took out two Poké Balls, each containing the Crobat and Kirlia from the previous night.

Once he released Crobat, it looked at him with extreme vigilance until a Mismagius emerged from Yuga's shadow. Crobat was immediately too scared to move.

The psychological trauma from Mismagius's last night was still fresh!

Terrified by Mismagius, Crobat quickly submitted. It was a Mobile Pokémon raised by the Genos family and had no specific owner. It obeyed whoever held its Poké Ball, which is why it yielded to Yuga without resentment.

Seeing its compliance, Yuga didn't trouble it further. He summoned Swellow and had it take Crobat back to join its fellow Flying-type Pokémon.

Next up was Kirlia.

As soon as Yuga released Kirlia, it attempted to attack him, but Mismagius effortlessly blocked its attempt. However, Kirlia's eyes glinted with resentment toward Yuga.

Yuga realized that this one couldn't be easily tamed. He promptly recalled Kirlia back into its Poké Ball.

Even if it harbored hatred towards Yuga, there was little it could do. Its own trainer's actions had put it in this situation.

Initially, Yuga hadn't intended to harm Butler if he had been cooperative, but Butler had dared to sneak into the Day Care.

Yuga's Day Care was his "forbidden ground" with his biggest secrets. Anyone trying to pry into Yuga's affairs would not be spared easily.

He had considered handing Butler over to Officer Jenny, but he worried that if he did, Genos might intervene to retrieve Butler. That would be a dangerous situation.

Yuga didn't want to end up facing unintended consequences.

In reality, Yuga's concern had merit. Genos didn't particularly care about Butler's fate, but he did owe Butler a favor. If Butler asked for help, Genos wouldn't refuse. Even if Yuga handed Butler over to the police, Genos, with his connections, could easily get him released on theft charges.

Originally, Butler had intended to use this favor with Genos to take back of his Groudon's body fragments in Yuga possession. However, since Butler hadn't succeeded, the favor remained.

Genos, as someone involved in gathering intelligence, valued his reputation. If Butler genuinely needed his help, Genos would provide it.

So, Yuga's only choice to prevent potential problems was clear.

Watching Crobat fly away with Swellow, Yuga suddenly noticed two Mr. Mimes assisting the Miltanks in transporting Pokéblocks to other Pokémon. They were even chatting and laughing with the Miltanks, which pleased him.

Had their condition improved?

These two Mr. Mimes happened to be a male and a female, seemingly a married pair. They had experienced the least psychological trauma among the group and appeared to have recovered well.

Yuga decided not to disturb them, to avoid causing unnecessary scares. Even if they were now interacting with other Pokémon, it didn't necessarily mean they would accept Yuga as a human.

Afterward, Yuga made a quick trip to the medicinal herb field, mainly to check on the Revival Herbs he had planted.

Originally, Yuga had no confidence in growing such precious herbs, but after studying under Mr. Kuni'o, he had specifically asked for guidance on cultivating Revival Herbs.

So, Mr. Kuni'o explained to Yuga the steps of preparing the cultivation soil for Revival Herbs and told him that to ensure the successful growth and maturity of Revival Herbs, he should use his unique abilities to aid their growth; this was the key to artificially growing Revival Herbs.

With Mr. Kuni'o's guidance, Yuga managed to get the Revival Herb seeds he had planted to sprout, and they were now growing well.

When Yuga arrived at the herb field, five Lotad were lined up neatly on the field's ridge, staring intently at the lush herbs in the field.

These five Lotad were responsible for watering the herb field, and although they initially struggled, even causing some of the herbs to rot at the roots, they were now perfectly capable of their duties.

Among these five Lotad, three had hatched later, while the two leading ones had been in the Ecopark for a considerable time.

Surprisingly, the two leading Lotad still hadn't evolved to their second stage, unlike the two Surkrit that had come with them, which had already evolved into Masquirain and moved to the Flower Sea Sub-Ecopark.

Surkrit, after evolving into Masquerain, lost its Water typing, so it typically left its original water source, where it was still Surkrit. Therefore, the two Masquerain moved to the Flower Sea Sub-Ecopark.

Bug-type Pokémon usually evolved quite quickly, so it wasn't strange for Surkrit to evolve into Masquerain in a short time.

Watching the Lotad on the ridge with their goofy expressions, Yuga found it quite amusing. He walked over to play with them, but they didn't cooperate much and remained in their dazed state.

Seeing that the Lotad weren't paying him much attention, Yuga, uninterested, walked into the herb field and used his unique abilities to nourish the Revival Herbs.

Just as Yuga was about to finish and leave, one of the Lotad approached his feet. It had somewhat vacant-looking eyes and stared fixedly at the green light emitting from Yuga's hands.

"Do you want to give it a try?" Yuga extended his right hand, bringing the green light in front of the Lotad.

The Lotad nodded gently and appeared eager to rub against Yuga's hand.

Yuga lifted the Lotad from the ground, and using his unique abilities, both of his hands emitted green light, gently massaging the sides of the Lotad's body.

After some exploration, Yuga understood that his unique abilities could soothe a Pokémon's body, making them feel extremely comfortable sensorially. However, Yuga's abilities weren't strong enough yet to heal Pokémon.

As Yuga softly massaged the Lotad, it made contented noises. Its usual emotionless expression faded away, replaced by a lazy one.

Continuing the massage, the Lotad suddenly emitted a dazzling white light, surprising Yuga to the point that he involuntarily closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a Lombre lying in his arms, blinking at him without a break.

Yuga was startled and almost threw the Lombre out of surprise. He stared wordlessly at the Lombre for over ten seconds before silently suppressing his impulse.

There was no way around it; the somewhat eerie appearance of Lombre, compared to the cute and endearing Lotad, was a bit unsettling.