New Life

After much deliberation, Yuga finally decided to send the Sharpedo to Licia's artificial breeding facility.

This male Sharpedo was an Elite level Pokémon with blue potential. The sperm bank at Licia's facility would undoubtedly need high-quality sperm from such an outstanding specimen.

Moreover, this Sharpedo was still young and vigorous!

With this Sharpedo at Licia's breeding facility, they could obtain as much sperm as they wanted. Given the excellent genetics of the parent Pokémon, the likelihood of producing high-quality offspring would increase significantly.

Since Reggie didn't want any of these Water-type Pokémon, Yuga figured he might as well exchange them for some Flying-type Pokémon from Licia. However, Yuga wasn't entirely sure whether Licia's facility had Flying-type Pokémon; during his visit, most of what he saw were Water-type Pokémon.

Yuga didn't keep all the Sharpedo, only the leader. The others were released because, among the Sharpedo and Carvanha, only the leader had exceptional potential. The rest were fairly average, making the leader possibly the sole "good shoot from a bad bamboo."

As for whether the Sharpedo and Carvanha would get bullied by other Pokémon after losing their leader, Yuga didn't care. These ferocious Pokémon probably relied on their leader to bully others in the ocean before, so if the tables turned, they could only blame themselves.

Besides, the Giant Tentacruel was now Yuga's Pokémon. It was perfectly reasonable for him to stand up for his own Pokémon.

That said, Yuga didn't go too far. Before leaving, he had Chimecho heal the injuries of the unconscious Sharpedo and Carvanha.

When Yuga returned to the beach, Audino was pacing back and forth, looking worried. As soon as it saw Yuga and the others coming back, it rushed over to inquire.

"Audino? Audino~"

Chimecho had left in such a hurry to summon Lapras earlier that it hadn't had time to explain the situation to Audino, which was why Audino was so anxious.

Yuga spun around in front of Audino and said, "Don't worry! See? I'm fine. But man, I'm starving. Do you have anything to eat?"

Audino sighed in relief upon confirming that Yuga was indeed unharmed. It then invited Yuga and Reggie to lunch, which Audino had already prepared before their return.

Thus, Yuga and the others spent the rest of the day by the seaside, playing until dusk before heading home.

After returning, Yuga stopped by the Pokémon Center and contacted Licia using the information she had provided. He explained the situation regarding the Sharpedo.

When Licia learned that the Sharpedo had blue potential, she couldn't have been happier. While their breeding facility wasn't short on Pokémon with green potential, there were very few with blue potential, and none of them at the Elite level.

Since they had already collaborated once before, this trade went smoothly as well.

The value of a blue potential Pokémon was vastly different from that of a green potential Pokémon, especially one at the Elite level. With just this one Sharpedo, Yuga was able to exchange for more than a dozen green potential Hoothoot.

Hoothoot was the only Flying-type Pokémon available at Locia's facility, and there weren't many of them. Yuga took them all and, as agreed, gave them to Reggie.

Reggie was thrilled to receive more than a dozen Hoothoot. Pokémon bred at artificial facilities had highly stable genetics. During the breeding process, both the mother and the sperm donor were carefully selected, and after generations of cultivation, the genetic stability of these Pokémon improved significantly.

The Pokémon from the League's artificial breeding facilities are mostly distributed to the League's various training centers as breeding stock.

Early the next morning, Yuga and Reggie said their farewells. Having stayed in Sinnoh for so many days, it was time for them to return.

Although Reggie was reluctant to part, he understood that Yuga had to manage his daycare and fulfill his duties as a Gym Leader. Staying too long in Veilstone City wasn't practical, so he didn't insist on them staying. Instead, he personally escorted Yuga, Shoryu, and Audino to the airport.

The first thing Yuga did after returning to Hoenn was take Shoryu to the prison to visit Koga. This was not only to show Koga that he had fulfilled his promise but also to reassure him so he could serve his sentence with peace of mind.

When Koga saw that his son had truly recovered, he burst into tears on the spot, thanking Yuga profusely and urging Shoryu to listen to Yuga's guidance.

He mentioned that he was behaving well in prison and might even be released early one day. If that happened, he could reunite with his son, even if they were no longer father and son in name.

This time, Yuga brought Shoryu to visit Koga under his own name. Since Shoryu and Koga were no longer officially connected, using the father-son relationship for the visit might invite unnecessary trouble later.

When Yuga got home, the first thing he saw upon entering was Ninetales perched on a chair, directing Gothitelle to dress it up. Looking surprised, Yuga said, "You're back? Why'd you return after just a few days? Were you cast in a minor role with barely any scenes?"

Hearing Yuga's sarcastic tone, Ninetales wasn't angry. Instead, it gave him a calm glance and replied, "What do you know? I'm just on break for a few days."

Unlike human actors, Pokémon could simply use the transfer device machine to travel home—quick and convenient.

Of course, they couldn't do this every day since the transfer fees weren't cheap.

From Ninetales' tone, Yuga was baffled. What's up with this guy today? Normally, if he dared to be sarcastic like this, Ninetales would clap back immediately. But today, it was unexpectedly pleasant.

Did it take the wrong medicine?

Yuga quickly got his answer. Ninetales gestured to Gothitelle with its eyes, and Gothitelle, as if prepared in advance, pulled out a card and placed it on the table.

"Here, this is my pay for this job. I got it in advance to show you I'm not freeloading," Ninetales said proudly, lifting its head.

Watching this unfold, Yuga nearly burst out laughing. This pompous act—could it have rehearsed this whole scene before his return? No wonder it even had Gothitelle "serving" on the side; turns out it was all for show.

"Ahem…" Yuga suppressed his laughter, cleared his throat, and asked, "Did your payment come through that quickly?"

Ninetales maintained its composure and replied, "It's okay. This is just part of it; there's more to come later. For now, I'll contribute this to the household expenses. Stop saying I'm freeloading."

Contribute to household expenses? Like I'm short on this little money! Yuga thought, barely holding in his laughter. Outwardly, he pretended to be delighted and said, "Alright then, I'll accept it."

Since you love acting so much, I'll play along.

But then Yuga thought again: If Ninetales is putting on this much of a show, maybe the payment really isn't small?

"All done. You can get back to your business now," Ninetales said.

Having finished its performance, Ninetales hopped off the chair, proudly swishing its nine tails. It called Gothitelle to follow and sauntered away, swaying its hips.

Yuga went to check the amount on the card. Well, he thought Ninetales had earned a fortune—it was just a little over 100,000.

For a Pokémon actor who hadn't been in the industry long, this pay wasn't bad. But for Yuga, it was only enough to cover a few trips to the beauty salon for Ninetales.

And that—Ninetales could still be so proud of itself over such a small achievement. If it ever became a superstar like Diantha, Yuga suspected it might just ascend to the heavens.

After Ninetales left, Yuga took Shoryu back to the gym, instructing Beidou to take extra care of him. From that day forward, Shoryu officially became one of the gym's apprentices.

After settling Shoryu, Yuga went to the Ecopark to resettle the Tentacruel and Tentacool, and to check how the Pokémon sent back from Sinnoh were adapting to their new environment.

Yuga first brought the Tentacruel and Tentacool to use the Innovation Potion, and unexpectedly, the majority of them successfully evolved their potential.

Due to the hardships they had endured, the remaining members of the Tentacruel group were all elites, with relatively high aptitude and levels.

If not for the Sharpedo leader being exceptionally powerful and its group large in number, Yuga felt the Tentacruel might have been able to defeat them.

Apart from the mutated giant Tentacruel, which had blue potential, and two or three others with green potential, most of the Tentacruel and Tentacool originally had yellow potential.

Perhaps this is the natural selection of the wild.

Their group had once numbered over ten thousand, but after being weeded out by nature, fewer than a hundred remained.

Of these fewer than a hundred Tentacruel and Tentacool, over 60% successfully evolved to green potential after using the Innovation Potion.

Yuga divided the Tentacruel and Tentacool into two groups—one group was sent to the New Ecopark with the help of Audino, while Yuga took the other group to the Shallow Sea Beach Sub-Ecopark.

The Shallow Sea Beach Sub-Ecopark already housed a pair of medium-sized Tentacruel and their offspring. Yuga entrusted the giant Tentacruel and its companions to this family.

This pair of medium-sized Tentacruel had been coaxed into the Ecopark by Yuga. Their child had been gravely injured by an Eelektross, and Yuga had promised to heal it and let them leave afterward.

Now that their child was healed, the medium-sized Tentacruel pair had forgotten about leaving, and Yuga conveniently "forgot" as well (not really).

The Shallow Sea Beach Sub-Ecopark, as the name suggests, is mostly composed of shallow sea areas, making it challenging to accommodate a massive creature like the giant Tentacruel. The medium-sized Tentacruel pair searched for quite some time before finding a spot that could barely pass as a deep abyss to settle the giant Tentacruel group.

Being Tentacruel themselves, the medium-sized pair felt it was nice to have companions around. They even moved their family to live near the abyss. The giant Tentacruel group welcomed this warmly; it not only expanded their numbers but also helped them adapt better to the new environment.

After settling the Tentacruel group, Yuga took the opportunity to check on recent arrivals like Piplup, Prinplup, Empoleon, Wooper, and Croagunk at the Shallow Sea Beach.

Leaving the Shallow Sea Beach, he visited Tropius, Skorupi, Kangaskhan, Gible, Torterra, and others, finding that they had all been well cared for by Wigglytuff. This put his mind at ease.

Having worked alongside Audino for so long, Wigglytuff had become increasingly organized in its tasks. While Yuga and Audino had been away, it had managed the entire Ecopark beautifully.

Seeing that the Pokémon were all adapting well, Yuga left the Ecopark.

Ninetales didn't stay home for long before leaving again, and Yuga returned to his usual routine.

During this period, something rather troublesome happened that gave Yuga a headache: the Tentacruel group and the Sharpedo group got into a fight. Since they both lived in the sea, it was inevitable that they would run into each other.

Having spent so much time living in fear outside and bearing grudges against the wild Sharpedo groups, the Tentacruel had become a bit sensitive.

When they saw the Sharpedo living in the Shallow Sea Beach Sub-Ecopark, their first instinct was to launch an attack on them.

The Sharpedo here, however, were not wild Pokémon and were far from ferocious. Being suddenly attacked by the Tentacruel left them completely stunned.

But just because the Sharpedo weren't ferocious didn't mean they lacked spirit. Being attacked for no reason, they naturally fought back once they recovered from the shock, and a fight broke out between the two groups.

The Sharpedo group had been living in Yuga's Ecopark for quite some time and trained daily according to a set schedule. Their overall levels were higher than those of the wild Tentacruel.

After all, the original Tentacruel were not high-potential Pokémon, so even after countless battles in the wild, their levels couldn't improve as quickly as the high-potential Sharpedo, especially since the Sharpedo were following a meticulously designed training plan by Yuga.

So, although the Sharpedo lacked extensive combat experience, they didn't fall behind in the battle.

However, the Tentacruel group had a giant Tentacruel, and the Sharpedo group didn't have a comparable leader. As a result, the Sharpedo inevitably suffered losses later in the fight. If not for the timely intervention of the medium-sized Tentacruel couple, who knows how far the battle would have gone?

Unable to win the fight, the Sharpedo went to complain, which was how Yuga learned of the incident.

Since the Tentacruel were clearly at fault, Yuga comforted the Sharpedo and even offered them some compensation. Then he had a talk with the Tentacruel.

The Tentacruel were new to the Ecopark and still adjusting to their new environment, so Yuga didn't blame them. Instead, he explained to them how to get along with the other Pokémon in the park and asked the medium-sized Tentacruel couple to help guide them more.

To prevent future incidents, Yuga divided territories for the Tentacruel and Sharpedo groups, making it less likely for them to encounter each other.

Once the Tentacruel fully adapt to their new environment, they might become less hostile to the Sharpedo group in the future.

With that, the Tentacruel started their new life all over again.

Time passed quickly, and soon the summer vacation at Verdanturf Town's Trainer School came to an end. Early in the morning, Yuga took Shoryu to enroll in school.

Since Shoryu was now an apprentice at Verdanturf Gym, it was important to start teaching him Trainer knowledge from a young age.

Aside from Beidou, there was no one else at the gym, so Yuga thought sending Shoryu to Trainer School would allow him to interact with kids his own age, which was much better than staying cooped up at home.

Having had little interaction with strangers, Shoryu was a bit timid, so he needed to spend more time with peers his age.

Moreover, Beidou didn't have experience caring for children as young as Shoryu, so the school's teachers would definitely be more thorough in their teaching.

At only four years old, Shoryu was enrolled in the preparatory class at the Trainer School. The knowledge taught there was very basic, mostly focusing on Pokémon-related common sense to let the children absorb it through exposure.

After a period of recuperation, Shoryu was now a completely healthy child and had even stopped taking the pills made by Dr. Maury.

Shoryu was very happy about the opportunity to attend school. It meant he was about to start a new chapter in his life.