Conceptualizing Signature Pokémon

"You're here."

Suzuki Koen heard Yuga voice and peeked her head out from behind the cash register to glance at Yuga.

"Yeah, how's business been lately in the shop?"

Yuga stood up and walked to the front of the cash register, asking.

Yuga had been busy lately and hadn't inquired about the shop performance.

Suzuki Koen pulled out a notebook from the drawer and flipped through it, saying, "It's been okay. Sales are generally on the rise. Though the increase is slow, it hasn't dropped."

"That's good."

Yuga nodded.

Currently, there hadn't been significant changes in the operation model of Ecopark compared to before. It lacked any unique features or attractions, so maintaining a regular profit was already good enough.

Yuga felt that he might need to find a way to change the current situation. Relying solely on Ecopark to turn things around wasn't very realistic at the moment; the growth of Pokémon takes time.

What exactly should he do? As Yuga pondered this, he walked to the shop entrance and leaned against the doorframe.

Utilizing the ordinary Pokémon obtained from the Day Care wouldn't be enough to change the current state of Ecopark. What Ecopark needed was something distinct from other Day Cares.

Anything needed to have its own unique feature, otherwise it wouldn't be able to stand out. The simplest example is that the starter Pokémon cultivated by the various regional Pokémon Leagues are all different, and each region has its own unique characteristics.

Because the various regional Pokémon Leagues are both a unified entity and in competition with each other, they promote mutual development.

For a Day Care to have its own distinctive feature, the most direct and apparent approach is to have signature Pokémon.

The term "signature Pokémon" doesn't just mean that having that kind of Pokémon makes your Day Care unique. It means you not only need to have them, but you also need to have a significant quantity of them and be able to continually breed this type of Pokémon.

Yuga pondered over which Pokémon from Hoenn region could become signature Pokémon. Of course, the reason for not considering Pokémon from other regions was mainly because compared to Hoenn native species, obtaining Pokémon from other regions would be more difficult.

Speaking of which, there are quite a few well-known Pokémon in Hoenn region.

Trecko, Mudkip, and Torchic, the three starter Pokémon, are already iconic representatives of Hoenn region.

Then there are the two pseudo-legendary Pokémon, Salamence and Metagross. It's worth mentioning that Hoenn is the only region with two pseudo-legendary Pokémon.

The above two categories of Pokémon are definitely not under consideration. The former is monopolized by the League, and the difficulty of obtaining them is even greater than introducing Pokémon from other regions. The latter are too rare; finding even one is a challenge, let alone breeding them.

There's also the Psychic Queen Pokémon Gardevoir and Steel Giant Aggron. However, these two Pokémon can't be considered either.

The former rarity is not better than that the pseudo-legendaries. As far as Yuga knows, currently no Day Care, including the League, has established a substantial scale of breeding for the Aggron line. At most, there are only a few.

As for the latter, the reason why it's not feasible to breed them in large quantities is a bit complicated.

Firstly, Aggron has a strong territorial instinct. It usually treats an entire mountain as its territory, so if you want to use Aggron as breeding stock, you need to have a mountain.

Secondly, its diet. It's not content with just a mountain; it eats the mountain itself. Rocks and minerals from the mountain are its food. Looking at its size, you can imagine how massive its appetite is.

Therefore, apart from Trainers individually cultivating one or two, or some Day Cares raising a couple at most, large-scale breeding is out of the question.

Speaking of which, breeding Pokémon is really not easy, with all sorts of problems.

In Hoenn region, there's another Pokémon whose fame rivals that of the pseudo-legendaries and starter Pokémon, and that's Milotic, known as the most beautiful Pokémon.

However, not mentioning the rarity and difficulty of breeding Milotic, no Day Care can sell Milotic because it's illegal.

"Selling fully evolved Pokémon is not allowed," this is a League regulation.

Once Feebas evolves into Milotic, it immediately becomes a fully evolved Pokémon and thus prohibited for sale.

Second-stage and third-stage evolved forms of Pokémon are classified as fully evolved, as are the initial forms of Pokémon older than two years. These are all items that are not allowed to be bought or sold according to League regulations.

Of course, no one would sell Feebas anyway because no one would buy it.

Apart from the aforementioned species, there are a few others that are eligible to be considered as potential signature Pokémon for Yuga. These include Altaria, Flygon, Medicham, Grumpig, Solrock, and Lunatone.

The first two are Dragon-type Pokémon, while the latter four are Psychic-type Pokémon. Each one is very rare and powerful.

Among these six Pokémon, Yuga top choice is Flygon.

Firstly, unlike most Pokémon that prefer to stay in their own territory, Swablu and Altaria migrate with the changing weather, making them hard to find. Those with definite habitats are all protected areas established by the League.

Medicham and Grumpig, Yuga hasn't heard any news about their habitats.

Solrock and Lunatone only inhabit the Meteor Falls, and their numbers are also limited, so they are protected by the League and not allowed to be captured.

As for Flygon, it's relatively easier to find its initial form, Trapinch.

Whether it's Trapinch, its evolved form Vibrava, or its final form Flygon, they all live in desert regions. And Hoenn region has the largest desert area.

Although Vibrava, once evolved from Trapinch, will also migrate, they only undertake short-distance migrations. No matter how they migrate, they won't leave the desert they originally lived in.

Trapinch numbers in Hoenn region aren't few; it's just that they inhabit the deep desert. It's hard for ordinary people to find them; venturing deep into the desert is not a simple task and could end fatally.

However, these issues aren't problematic for Yuga. He has a system backpack after all, and leaving aside everything else, the space alone is large. As long as he brings enough food and water, nothing is a problem.

So, the question is, which desert should he go to? After all, Hoenn region has quite a few desert areas of different sizes.

Yuga still remembers from the original anime that Ash and his friends accidentally fell into the underground of a desert and encountered a large group of Trapinch. They also witnessed the spectacular scene of Trapinch evolving into Vibrava.

Unfortunately, Yuga can only remember that such an event existed; he doesn't remember anything else. Where is that place? Or within which range? Yuga has no idea at all.

Speaking of the most famous desert in Hoenn region, it's undoubtedly Hoenn Great Desert. This is also the largest desert in Hoenn region and the most dangerous one.

After thinking it over, Yuga decides to go to Hoenn Great Desert. There's no other reason; it's just because Verdanturf Town is nearby, right next to Lavaridge Town.

Of course, Hoenn Great Desert not only covers the area near Lavaridge Town; a considerable part of the inland area of Hoenn region is also covered by Hoenn Great Desert. Its size is quite substantial.

Lavaridge Town and Verdanturf Town are the two towns nearest to Hoenn Great Desert and they are the only two towns in the vicinity of Hoenn Great Desert.