The Culprit

Observing Ursaring's self-assured demeanor, Yuga couldn't help but think that Ursaring might not be lying, and perhaps it wasn't her who stole the Sweet Honey.

Considering the vast number of Pokémon in the Ecopark, all freely moving between Sub-Ecoparks, it was possible that any Pokémon had sneaked in and stolen Snorlax's Sweet Honey.

Although Snorlax's analysis sounded logical, there was no concrete evidence to support his claim. Blaming Ursaring without any substantial proof seemed unfair.

However, given the multitude of Pokémon in the Ecopark, finding the culprit wasn't going to be an easy task.

Nevertheless, both of them engaging in a fight without any restraint was unacceptable. Yuga scolded them harshly.

After reprimanding both Pokémon, Yuga called over Shiny Ariados, who had been lounging on the spiderweb, and asked, "Ariados, you're their neighbor. Do you know anything about this?"

Shiny Ariados's two antennae above its abdomen twitched involuntarily as it blinked its eyes. It then shook its head when facing Yuga.

Yuga found Ariados's hesitant gaze suspicious, especially considering its earlier gloating attitude.

"Really, tell the truth, or..."

Yuga continued to press for information.

Faced with Yuga's subtle threat, Ariados firmly shook its head again, staunchly claiming ignorance.

"If I find out you had anything to do with this, you'll be in big trouble."

Yuga's words caused Ariados's heart to skip a beat, and its eyes darted around nervously.

Seeing Ariados's reaction, Yuga became even more skeptical of its honesty. He then said, "Since you don't know, you can go for now."

In a flash, Ariados climbed up the tree and disappeared into the treetop's canopy.

However, what it didn't realize was that as it left, Gengar, concealed in Yuga's shadow, slipped out and quietly followed it.

Seeing both Ariados and Gengar leave one after the other, Yuga turned to Snorlax and assured her, "Don't worry; I'll find the culprit who stole your Sweet Honey. If we can't find them, I'll have the Combee deliver some more to you."

Upon hearing Yuga's assurance, Snorlax's eyes squinted with joy, and his mouth almost stretched from ear to ear.

In truth, Snorlax didn't care much about finding the culprit as long as he could recover his missing Sweet Honey.

As for Ursaring on the side, who was watching Snorlax's happy face reaction drew a disdainful expression. She thought, "Tsk, what's so great about it!"

But when Ursarig remembered the beating she had taken for no reason, she couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.

Seeing Ursaring's discontent expression, Yuga knew she had felt wronged earlier. He smiled and said, "Don't be upset. I'll have the Combee bring some Sweet Honey for you too."

Hearing this, Ursaring's irritation disappeared, and she quickly expressed her gratitude, even performing a courteous gesture, which left Yuga amused and wondering where she had learned such manners.

Meanwhile, in another part of the park, after Ariados disappeared into the trees, it followed the silk threads it had left behind, gradually making its way toward its nest in Oasis No. 1.

Ariados's nest was within a dense grove of trees, with snow-white silk threads hanging everywhere, forming intricate spiderwebs that securely enclosed the surroundings.

Climbing onto the center of one web, Ariados scanned its surroundings for anything unusual. When it found nothing, it continued deeper into the forest.

Before long, it stopped on a tree branch, where two Pokémon were suspended, unconscious, caught in its silk threads.

Ariados reached the end of the silk thread and gently touched one of the Pokémon, seemingly attempting to wake them up.

At that moment, Gengar suddenly emerged from the ground, making a scary face at Ariados. Startled, Ariados lost its grip on the silk thread and fell.

Shaken and covered in dirt from the fall, Ariados managed to climb back up. It looked at Gengar, who was grinning and making faces at it, with extreme surprise.

It was obviously very careful, so how did Gengar follow it without anyone noticing?

Clearly, the inexperienced Ariados didn't realize the vast gap in power between itself and Gengar, who was a pseudo-Elite level Pokémon.

Ariados was a somewhat clever Pokémon and would often look down on its two robust neighbors. Occasionally, it would play pranks on them, leaving them bewildered.

Watching how these two stronger Pokémon were sometimes left spinning in circles due to its antics gave Ariados a sense of smug satisfaction. However, today it hadn't expected Gengar to catch it red-handed.

Gengar, floating in the air, waved his hand lightly, releasing the two Pokémon that had been hanging from the tree due to the silk threads. He then took them and Ariados to fly to Yuga direction.

Ariados, who was controlled by Gengar with psychic powers, tried to struggle, but was restrained tightly by Gengar and could not move at all.

At this time, Ariados understood a truth: cleverness has no effect in the front of absolute power.

Flying above Yuga and the others, Gengar directly threw Ariados down, and then placed the two Pokémon still tied by spider silk on the ground.

Kecleon?

Could these two Kecleon be the culprits who stole Snorlax's Sweet Honey? Considering Kecleon's unique concealment abilities, Yuga felt that the possibility was very high.

Yuga was quite surprised to see these two still unconscious Pokémon.

Like Gardevoir and her family, these two Kecleon had originally come from Motohara with Yuga.

However, their talent for concealment was incredibly strong, combined with the complex environment of the Ecopark, they had vanished as soon as they entered, rarely seen even by the Miltank, who usually cared for the Pokémon.

Yuga hadn't seen them once since their arrival, and he hadn't expected to encounter them in this manner.

Yuga asked, "Ariados, tell me, what's going on? Why did you tie them up?"

To be honest, Ariados was quite afraid of Yuga, its master. When it was first captured on Illuma Island, it had received quite a few beatings. Now, seeing Yuga's odd demeanor, it trembled with fear.

Terrified, Ariados realized it couldn't hide the truth any longer and began to explain what had happened.

It turned out that Kecleon couple had settled in Oasis No. 1 long ago. However, their innate invisibility had allowed them to go unnoticed by the other three Pokémon living there.

But later, the female Kecleon accidentally became pregnant, and in order to nourish her, this couple set their sights on Snorlax's Sweet Honey.

This theft was witnessed by Ariados as it happened to pass by. Seizing the opportunity, Ariados captured the couple and hid both them and the stolen Sweet Honey.