The Brawling Incident

Whether or not to send Spoink to the Anistar Gym wasn't a decision Yuga needed to make now. First, Gengar and the others still needed Spoink's help with their training. Second, Anistar Gym might not even agree to the request!

One day, Yuga discovered that two Growlithe in the Volcano Sub-Ecopark had fallen in love.

One of these Growlithe was Arcanine's child, whom Yuga had captured on Revival Herb Island, while the other had been sent to him by the Jenny family through Masato Shirai as a friendly gesture.

Yuga thought that since the two little ones were already in love, it was time to let them evolve; putting it off any longer wasn't ideal.

Previously, the Fire Stone mine had yielded quite a few top-grade Fire Stones, and there were still some left unused—just right for evolving these two Growlithe.

Although the chance of a blue potential Pokémon (both Growlithe were blue potential ) evolving into indigo potential with a top-grade evolution stone was almost zero, Yuga had no intention of using regular evolution stones on them; even a slight improvement was worth it.

So, Yuga took the two Growlithe to the cave where the Fire Stone mine was located.

All the top-grade Fire Stones were stored in the mine, where the concentration of Fire-type energy was high, ensuring that their quality wouldn't degrade.

Not trusting anyone else with his child, Arcanine followed along as well.

After this long period of mining, a spacious tunnel had formed within the Fire Stone mine. Numerous Pokémon were working in the tunnel, mining Fire Stones, and the occasional "clang clang" sounds were commonplace for Yuga.

Complete Fire Stones and Fire Stone fragments were sorted and stored separately.

Complete Fire Stones were typically put up for sale in the shop, while the fragments were partially allocated as rewards for the daily training of Fire-type Pokémon. The remaining fragments were used to produce Pokémon items like Pokeblock and incense.

Today, two Darmanitan were overseeing the Pokémon mining. When they saw Yuga entering the tunnel, they hurriedly waddled over to him.

Yuga waved them off, saying, "Carry on with your work, don't mind me."

Hearing this, the two Darmanitan left and waddled away once more.

Yuga took Arcanine, and the two Growlithe continued to the depths of the tunnel, where there was a stone chamber dug out by the Pokémon. The top-grade Fire Stones were stored there.

As Yuga stepped inside, he saw piles of vibrant, sparkling Fire Stones filling the chamber, illuminating the entire space.

He didn't let the Growlithe enter, instead asking them to wait outside—one misstep and the two could end up evolving on the spot if they accidentally stepped on a Fire Stone.

A hollowed-out spot on the wall held a chest. Yuga took it down and opened it, revealing four or five top-grade Fire Stones inside.

There used to be even more of these top-grade Fire Stones, but a few had been used up during the evolution of some Vulpix.

Yuga took out two stones, put the chest back in the hollow, and left the stone chamber.

"Catch!" he said as he tossed a top-grade Fire Stone to each Growlithe upon stepping out.

"Woof!"

The two Growlithe jumped up simultaneously, each catching a Fire Stone in their mouths, and soon their bodies began to glow brightly with the light of evolution.

As the light faded, two tall, majestic Arcanine appeared before Yuga.

Activating his Insight skill, Yuga confirmed that neither Arcanine had upgraded from blue to indigo potential; however, their quality halos had brightened slightly—not much, but better than nothing.

The two Arcanine, one male and one female, affectionately rubbed their necks together, completely forgetting about Yuga and their father who are standing nearby.

"Roar!"

The Arcanine father let out an angry growl, and only then did the two newly evolved Arcanine stop their affectionate display.

Although these two freshly evolved Arcanine were tall and mighty, they were still far from their father. Just standing there, the Arcanine father naturally exuded a dignified aura that drew respect from anyone nearby.

That was the mark of true strength, something the two young Arcanine still had far to go to achieve.

Now that the Growlithe had successfully evolved into Arcanine, it meant their bodies were fully mature, and they could live a carefree married life together from now on.

Yuga and the Arcanine father led the way out of the mine, with the two Arcanine lovers still cuddling as they followed behind.

"Now that your son has a mate, how about I find a wife for you too?" Yuga asked the Arcanine father.

Hearing this, the Arcanine father shot Yuga a look as if he were a fool and walked off without a backward glance.

"Hmph! No need—take care of yourself first!"

Yuga chuckled, shook his head, and quickly followed.

After leaving the Volcano Sub-Ecopark, the Arcanine father planned to head out on patrol.

However, thinking about his son who was busy showing affection and wouldn't be joining him, the Arcanine father decided to go to the Grassland Sub-Ecopark to find the Zoroark family and ask if they'd like to patrol together. Zoroark's younger sister had been preoccupied with Lucario lately, so she hadn't been patrolling as much.

They often crossed paths on patrols, so they were quite familiar with each other.

As soon as the Arcanine father stepped through the light gate into the Grassland Sub-Ecopark, he was immediately hit by a large figure that was flying towards him, which then crashed into a Luxray nearby that was out for a stroll with his mates.

It turned out the one who had crashed into Arcanine was a newly evolved Diggersby.

After both Arcanine and Luxray were knocked down, a Weavile quickly ran over with a worried look at the downed Diggersby.

Why were Weavile and Diggersby in such a mess?

Recently, Sneasel had felt stuck in a bottleneck, so he asked Yuga for a Razor Claw, wanting to evolve from Sneasel to Weavile.

Seeing that Sneasel had indeed reached the stage for evolution, Yuga agreed.

Coincidentally, Diggersby had just recently evolved, so Weavile, who had long harbored resentment towards the Persian couple, decided today was the day for revenge.

But Weavile underestimated the strength of the Persian and his wives.

The Persian and his wives had been in the Ecopark for quite a while and never missed a day of training. Yuga had generously provided them with resources, so how could the newly evolved Weavile and Diggersby possibly stand a chance against them?

During the battle, Diggersby was struck and sent flying, which led to his collision with Arcanine and consequently involved Luxray as well.

Just as Weavile arrived, the Persian and his wives followed, looking at Weavile next to Diggersby with haughty expressions.

Although they didn't know why Weavile had started a fight, that didn't stop them from looking down on him.

However, the Persian and his wives failed to notice that Luxray, who had been caught up in the fray, was now on the brink of fury. Luxray had already disliked the Persian, and now, seeing its arrogant expression, he found it even more detestable.

"Roar!"

With an angry roar, Luxray's body surged with blue electric energy, striking the Persian along with the Delcatty behind him.

Luxray was an Elite level Pokémon, and he usually held himself above meddling with the Persian, but now they had provoked him.

Both Persian were left dazed from the electric shock. Realizing that it was Luxray who had attacked, they were instantly furious. Luxray had held them in disdain for some time, but they had likewise been annoyed by Luxray for a long time.

The rebellious Persian wasn't about to back down, regardless of Luxray's superior power. Without hesitation, he charged forward with his three wives right behind him.

Luxray initially intended just to teach the Persian and his wives a lesson, but when they dared to fight back, his anger flared even more.

Having been a wild Pokémon, Luxray was the kind who'd rather throw down than waste words. There was no way he would tolerate the Persian showing off in front of him.

The scene suddenly became chaotic. Luxray and his four Ampharos wives fought against the Persian and his three Delcatty wives, while Weavile, not one to miss a chance to stir things up, cheered Luxray and his partners on.

The Persian couple was no match for the powerful Luxray and his mate. Before long, they were sustained injuries, and Luxray and his partner showed no sign of relenting, continuing to beat down on the struggling Persian.

Standing on the sidelines, Arcanine found himself momentarily stunned.

Luxray's retaliation was understandable—after all, the Persian had initially dragged him into the mess. But Luxray's attacks grew increasingly fierce, crossing the line. As an Elite level Pokémon, his force threatened to make the situation uncontrollable.

Pokémon are highly emotional creatures, prone to extremes, like intense anger…

If this kept up, the Persian pair could easily end up dead. Even Weavile, who had initially enjoyed the show, began to sense that things were getting out of hand and immediately tried to drag the unconscious Diggersby away from the scene.

Just as Luxray was about to use Wild Charge on the now-motionless Persian, Arcanine quickly intervened with a Flame Wheel, knocking Luxray away.

Luxray, who had already lost his reason in the chaos of the battle, shifted his focus to Arcanine as soon as he blocked his path and charged at him with another Wild Charge.

Both Luxray and Arcanine had the Intimidate ability, and with Luxray already having activated his, Arcanine followed suit, activating his own.

Boom!

Luxray's Wild Charge and Arcanine's Extreme Speed collided, sending both of them flying backward.

Meanwhile, the Persian and his three Delcatty were completely out of action, and the four Ampharos set their sights on Arcanine, who was now fighting their husband.

Coincidentally, Lucario arrived with the Zoroark family, having heard the commotion. Without hesitation, Lucario intervened to stop the Ampharos from attacking Arcanine.

Lucario didn't know exactly what had happened, but he understood that this fight could not continue unchecked.

Although Lucario's strength was about on par with Ampharos, he found himself struggling against all four of them at once. But the Zoroark family wasn't about to stand by and do nothing while their "son-in-law" was bullied—both parents, the sister, and his mate all jumped in to help.

In an instant, the four Ampharos were subdued.

However, the Zoroark family couldn't do much about the fierce clash between Arcanine and Luxray, since both of them is an Elite-level Pokémon.

With rage-clouded their eyes, Luxray relentlessly used Wild Charge to attack Arcanine, who repeatedly dodged with Extreme Speed. Yet, Arcanine quickly realized that simply dodging wouldn't solve the problem; he couldn't let Luxray continue his rampage unchecked.

So Arcanine began to face Luxray head-on with his full power.

Although both Arcanine and Luxray were Elite level Pokémon, Arcanine was already at the peak of the Elite level, almost reaching Champion level, whereas Luxray had not yet reached even the peak of the Elite level.

Once Arcanine unleashed his full strength, it didn't take long for Luxray to lose the ability to continue fighting.

The incident had caused such a commotion that it was impossible for the other Pokémon not to report it. Yuga soon found out and he was furious.

Once the injured Pokémon had recovered, Yuga gathered all the remaining Pokémon who are involved in the fight together.

"You've all grown some nerve, haven't you? To thinking you guys gathered together to fight and creating chaos like this!" Yuga roared.

In truth, he didn't mind the Pokémon sparring or having friendly bouts now and then, as long as it didn't get too serious. But this time, both Weavile and Luxray had crossed the line.

"And you, Weavile! Why did you have to go and mess with Persian and his group?" Weavile was the main target of his reprimand.

"Weavile!"

Weavile scratched his chin with his claw, looking unconcerned by Yuga's scolding.

Seeing its lack of remorse only made Yuga angrier. "From today onward, you're confined to the Snowy Mountain Sub-Ecopark. You can only come out when you've understood your mistake." Yuga immediately instructed the system to restrict Weavile's access to the various Sub-Ecopark, a privilege currently only "enjoyed" by the three Malamar.

Usually a fan of stirring up trouble, Weavile instantly deflated upon hearing this punishment. It tried to plead, but under Yuga's stern gaze, it wisely kept silent.

Then, Gengar picked up Weavile and tossed it into the Snowy Mountain Sub-Ecopark to serve its time.

After dealing with Weavile, Yuga turned his attention to Persian.

"Can't you behave yourself for once? Just look at this mess! You've managed to offend Pokémon everywhere you go, and now you're suffering the consequences." Yuga sounded exasperated, as if he'd given up on Persian.

Persian, for his part, knew himself well. He was aware that he wasn't popular among many Pokémon, so he listened to Yuga's reprimand with head bowed, without showing any defiance. As for whether he would change in the future, that remained to be seen.

After finishing the reprimand, Yuga announced Persian's punishment.

"From today, you'll be separated from your three Delcatty wives for a while. They'll stay in the Grassland Sub-Ecopark, and you're going to the Desert Sub-Ecopark. You can come out after you've done some reflecting."

With that, Yuga also restricted the Persian's access to other areas and had Mismagius escort him to the Desert Sub-Ecopark.

Hearing Yuga's decision was like a bolt from the blue for Persian. How could he possibly live without his three wives around?

Finally, it was Luxray's turn.

"Everything should have a limit. Persian offended you, so a bit of payback would've been enough. Why go so overboard?"

Luxray had been a wild Pokémon before, and since joining the Ecopark, Yuga had admittedly been lax in disciplining him. Such a fierce nature didn't quite suit life in a communal environment.

A strong spirit was good, but it shouldn't be taken too far.

After thinking it over, Yuga decided to entrust Luxray to the care of the Archeops for a period.

Archeops also a former wild Pokémon and it had worked his way up step by step with its green potential to the Champion level through sheer tenacity and effort, fighting his way forward bit by bit. Compared to the harsh conditions Archeops had endured, Luxray's little "games" were child's play.

If Luxray wanted to act tough, Yuga figured, he should be shown what true toughness looked like.

With years of managing the Mandibuzz tribe under his belt, Archeops was a seasoned pro. And let's not forget—the Mandibuzz tribe was also a troublemaker back in the day!