Because Ariana had a grudge against Yuga, all six of her Pokémon were familiar with him, so the moment they saw Yuga, they immediately reacted as if facing a great enemy.
The Honchkrow, which had built its nest atop the cliff, dove down at once, using Sucker Punch to strike at Yuga.
Among the six Pokémon, this Honchkrow was the strongest. It made the first move in order to buy time for the other five Pokémon to escape.
That's right—these six Pokémon had no intention of confronting Yuga head-on. They knew Yuga wouldn't let them off easily, and they also knew they likely weren't his match, so their first reaction upon seeing him was to flee.
Of course, Yuga wasn't going to let them escape. Just as the Honchkrow swooped down, he sent out his Charizard.
"Charizard~"
Charizard stood in front of Yuga, shielding him behind its body. It suddenly spread its wings wide, channeling all its strength into its arms, and grabbed the Honchkrow's descending wings in one swift motion.
Bang!
Charizard was pushed back two steps by the impact, but it quickly stabilized itself and then violently swung its arms, flinging the Honchkrow away in one powerful toss.
The Honchkrow, tumbling through the air, hadn't even had time to regain its balance before Charizard opened its mouth and spewed a deep red Flamethrower, instantly blasting Honchkrow away.
The Honchkrow slammed into the cliff wall, cracking it in multiple places as rubble and stone fragments tumbled down.
Seeing this, the other five fleeing Pokémon instinctively froze in their tracks, and by then Yuga had already released Vivillon, Absol, Lapras, Venusaur, and Roserade. Each of them intercepted one of Ariana's Pokémon.
Among Ariana's six Pokémon, only Honchkrow was at the Champion level; the others were merely Elite level, so it was easy for Yuga's Pokémon to stop them.
In the bushes, a Fletchling peeking through the gaps in the leaves was watching the scene unfold. When it saw Charizard injure Honchkrow in just one strike, its tiny beak dropped open in disbelief.
In its memory, Honchkrow was the fiercest Pokémon it had ever seen!
But looking now at Charizard—wow! It was even fiercer!
Fletchling's eyes immediately turned into stars of admiration.
After seeing its teammates all get intercepted, Honchkrow grew anxious. With a beat of its wings, it unleashed a Dark Pulse aimed directly at Yuga.
Charizard opened its mouth again, unleashing a torrent of crimson flame that clashed directly with the incoming Dark Pulse.
But clearly, Honchkrow was no match for Charizard in terms of strength. Charizard's Flamethrower quickly gained the upper hand, dispersing the Dark Pulse and continuing on its path toward Honchkrow.
Seeing this, Honchkrow flapped its wings in panic and narrowly dodged the attack. But Charizard had already taken flight, and in the blink of an eye, it was beside Honchkrow, raising a Dragon Claw and slashing toward its head.
Honchkrow instinctively tilted its head, causing Charizard's Dragon Claw to strike the base of its wing instead. Honchkrow let out a miserable cry as it plummeted from the sky, crashing to the ground with a heavy thud.
The fallen Honchkrow struggled to take off again, but the excruciating pain from its wing joint made it impossible to spread its wings.
Charizard descended from the sky, landing nearby. With a swing of its Iron Tail, it smacked Honchkrow once again, sending it flying. Honchkrow crashed into a large tree, snapping it in half before collapsing to the ground unconscious, its head lolling to one side.
Seeing Honchkrow defeated, the remaining five Pokémon completely lost their composure and were quickly captured one after another.
Since their original Poké Balls had already been destroyed, Yuga had no trouble at all in capturing them with his own Poké Balls.
Fletchling, who had been watching from the bushes, was so excited to see Yuga defeat six Pokémon so effortlessly that it flew out immediately, landing on Yuga's shoulder and chirping excitedly.
"You're amazing! So amazing! It's my first time seeing someone so powerful!"
Yuga turned his head and smiled at it. "Didn't I tell you I was really powerful?"
Fletchling tilted its head and thought for a moment. "Oh right, you did say something like that."
But it immediately chirped again, "But you're even more powerful than powerful, you're… you're… super powerful!"
"How powerful is super powerful?"
"It's just… just…"
…
This little Fletchling was quite a chatterbox. Once it got excited about a topic, its little beak would immediately start chirping away nonstop. Yuga, however, patiently answered all of its questions without getting annoyed.
Just then, the sharp-eyed Yuga seemed to spot something on the half-built nest of the Honchkrow, so he gave Charizard a look. Charizard immediately understood and flew up.
Staring in awe at the tall and imposing Charizard, Fletchling said with admiration, "It's so powerful. Do you think I could become as powerful as it one day?" As it spoke, it began fantasizing about the day it would defeat all enemies in the world.
Upon hearing that, Yuga activated his Insight Vision and looked at the Fletchling.
...
[ Fletchling ]
Type: Normal, Flying
Ability: Big Pecks
Gender: Female
Potential: Orange
Level: 18
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Quick Attack, Thief.
...
Uh… with these conditions, becoming as powerful as Charizard might be a bit difficult… but Yuga didn't want to crush Fletchling's enthusiasm, so he dodged the question and said, "Then you'll have to work very, very hard."
Fletchling didn't pick up on the hidden implication in Yuga's words and remained immersed in its fantasy.
Not long after, Charizard flew down from the cliff carrying a bundle. Yuga took the bundle and opened it to find quite a number of items inside.
There were evolution stones, elemental gems, Pokeblock, accessories, and other such items. They were probably Ariana's leftover belongings, which the six Pokémon had gathered together.
At that moment, Yuga suddenly saw a stack of papers. He picked them up and casually flipped through them, and his expression immediately became serious.
The pages didn't just record the Rocket Team's power distribution across various regions; they also detailed their plans to capture various Legendary Pokémon. The recent actions involving Dialga and Palkia were just one part of this larger plan.
Based on the information recorded, Team Rocket seemed to be scheming something particularly major.
Yuga carefully packed up the documents, deciding to hand them over to the League once he returned.
Since Ariana's Pokémon had all been captured, Yuga decided to head back. He recalled the other Pokémon, mounted Absol, and started the journey back.
As they neared the valley where Bouffalant lived, Yuga noticed that Fletchling was still chattering away excitedly on his shoulder, so he asked, "We're almost there. Aren't you going home?"
Fletchling, who had been chirping energetically, fell silent all of a sudden.
Seeing the sudden silence, Yuga asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
Fletchling hesitated for a moment, then said with some internal conflict, "Um… um… could you take me with you?"
Yuga looked surprised. "You really want to come with me? My home isn't here. Once you leave with me, it'll be hard to return."
Fletchling visibly hesitated again after hearing this, but in the end, she said firmly, "I want to go with you."
Yuga quite liked Fletchling. Although it didn't have great potential, it was very interesting. So he said, "Alright then." As he spoke, he took out a Poké Ball.
Fletchling understood what Poké Balls were for. She raised her wing and tapped the button on the ball, then was promptly absorbed inside.
After successfully capturing it, Yuga released it again.
"Fletchling, I'll be counting on you from now on!"
Fletchling excitedly patted Yuga's hand with its wing, then chirped happily and landed on his shoulder.
When Yuga returned to the valley, Elder Torre had already arrived, and his Delphox had also regained consciousness.
Seeing Yuga, Simon immediately ran over and asked, "How was it? Did you find the culprit?"
Yuga nodded and told them about Ariana's six Pokémon, though he didn't hand them over. Those six Pokémon were now his spoils of war, and he had no intention of giving them away.
Once he sold those Pokémon, he'd make a handsome profit.
However, Simon and Elder Torre didn't question him further. Since Yuga said the problem was resolved, they naturally believed him.
That didn't stop them from being furious at Team Rocket's actions. The disaster in the Arche Valley was entirely Team Rocket's fault.
Even though the Arche Valley had never interacted with Team Rocket before, this hatred now ran deeper than the ocean.
In the following days, Diantha continued negotiating with the Arche Valley about joining the League, while Yuga, who had nothing to do, was taken on strolls through the Valley and Mount Belljade by Simon and Naya.
In Mount Belljade, Yuga encountered many high-level Pokémon. It was only after introductions from Simon and Naya that he learned those high-level Pokémon had been placed there by the elders. Their purpose was to drive away adventurers who tried to trespass into Mount Belljade.
For so many years, Mount Belljade had only existed as a legend in Laverre City, with no one able to uncover its secrets. These high-level Pokémon were the "main culprits."
On the fourth day of Diantha's visit to the Arche Valley, the matter of the valley joining the League was finally settled.
According to the plan, the League would designate the entirety of Mount Belljade as an autonomous zone for them. In return, they would send a portion of their high-level trainers to join the League, to be dispatched as needed.
Moreover, Master level, Champion level, and Elite level trainers from the Arche Valley would be required to comply with the League's commands in times of major crises.
At the same time, the League would provide a period of free resource support to the Arche Valley, covering areas such as food, clothing, housing, and daily necessities.
However, these were only broad agreements. The specifics would still need to be negotiated between the Arche Valley and the League, which no longer required Diantha, the League Champion, to personally oversee.
After the matter was concluded, Yuga left Mount Belljade with Diantha and the others and returned to Laverre City. But since Diantha and the rest still had important business, they didn't stay long and left the same day. Yuga's Ninetales also left with Diantha — their filming work hadn't been completed yet.
Yuga did not give the documents found from the six Pokémon to Diantha. Since Team Rocket didn't have a strong presence in the Kalos region, it was better to take them back and hand them over to the Hoenn League, who would then pass them on to the Kanto or Johto League.
After all, Kanto and Johto were where Team Rocket's influence was the deepest.
Yuga decided to stay one more night in Laverre City and set out the next day for Zenith Academy, to visit Ayame and deliver the gem belonging to Mew to them.
That evening, Yuga initially wanted to contact Licia to sell her Ariana's six Pokémon, but after thinking about it, he decided to wait until he got home. It wasn't urgent — those Pokémon wouldn't die from going hungry for a few days.
The next morning, Yuga was awakened by Fletchling's "singing." Fletchling didn't like staying inside a Poké Ball, and Yuga didn't force it.
Fletchling's singing wasn't exactly pleasant, but it worked just fine as an alarm clock.
After a quick wash, Yuga packed up his things, went out for breakfast, and planned to leave Laverre City right after finishing his meal.
However, not long after he sat down in the Pokémon Center's cafeteria, he sensed that someone seemed to be watching him. Without showing any reaction, he calmly finished breakfast together with Fletchling, then headed to the station of Laverre City.
There were a lot of people at the station. Yuga slipped into the crowd, and with Gengar secretly concealing him, the person who was tailing him instantly lost sight of him.
However, Yuga did not leave. Instead, when that person turned to leave, he quietly followed him.
When they reached a deserted place, Yuga instructed Gengar to stealthily abduct the person.
Suddenly being grabbed by a Ghost-type Pokémon, the man was scared half to death. He thought it was an evil Ghost-type that wanted to absorb his life energy.
Yuga, held by Gengar and invisible while standing next to it, suddenly spoke: "What were you planning to do by following that person just now?"
That man thought it was Gengar speaking and became even more terrified. His eyes rolled back as he was about to faint, but how could Gengar give him that chance? It extended its long tongue and wrapped it around him with a flick.
Lick move activated.
Just as he was about to faint, the man suddenly felt a wave of intense pain surging through his body, followed by a jolting, numbing sensation. His desire to faint disappeared entirely.
Due to the paralysis, the man collapsed stiffly on the ground, convulsing nonstop, but his mind remained surprisingly clear.
"I'm asking you a question. Why won't you answer? What were you doing following that person? If you still don't answer, I'll eat you."
After Yuga finished speaking, Gengar very cooperatively stuck out its tongue and licked his face twice. Bzzzzt... bzzzzt...
N-N-Now it's numb again!
Under Gengar's relentless torment, the man who had refused to speak finally opened his mouth.
"I-It was... Mayor Raul... Mayor Raul asked me... to keep an eye on you. I don't... I don't know anything else!"
Mayor Raul?
Yuga didn't expect that answer at all. He had originally thought it was that farmer named Joel who was behind this. After all, in Laverre City, the only people he'd had dealings with—besides Gym Leader Valerie—were just those two.
But what connection did he have with Mayor Raul? Could it be that Mayor Raul was also after that key? Yuga instantly had a suspicion. Other than that, he really couldn't think of any other reason why Mayor Raul would send someone to follow him.
"The Mayor Raul you mentioned—is he the mayor of Laverre City?" In order to confirm he hadn't guessed the wrong person, Yuga asked again.
"Y-Yes… yes, it's… it's him." Because of the paralysis, the man was stammering even more as he spoke.
Yuga had met Mayor Raul once—on the day Diantha and the others were about to leave for Mount Belljade. He had come together with Gym Leader Valerie to pay a visit to Diantha and the League representatives. But Yuga had only exchanged greetings with him and barely got acquainted; they hadn't exchanged a single meaningful word.
Was that key really that important? Even Raul, a city mayor, was so desperate for it. Yuga couldn't help but wonder.
After the interrogation, Yuga didn't make things any harder for the man and had Gengar dump him on the main street.
After all, the man had only followed him for a short while and hadn't committed any major crime. A small punishment was enough.
Because of this incident, Yuga decided not to rush out of Laverre City. He resolved to first figure out what secret that key actually held.
When he returned to the Pokémon Center again, Nurse Joy was very surprised.
"Gym Leader Shimizu, didn't you already leave? Why have you come back?"
Yuga smiled and said, "Something came up at the last minute. I won't be leaving today."
"All right then. I'll keep your previous room for you." As she spoke, Nurse Joy once again helped Yuga check in and handed the room key back to him.
As soon as Yuga returned to the room, he released Klefki and took the key from it to study again. But the situation remained the same as before—he couldn't find anything unusual about the key.
Yuga thought to himself: Looks like I'll have to find another way!