Late at night, a dark shadow quietly left the Pokémon Center. That shadow was none other than Yuga, who was planning to investigate Mayor Raul.
Since it wasn't possible to uncover the secret of the key through normal means, Yuga had no choice but to resort to some more unconventional methods.
Mayor Raul's house was easy to locate—Yuga had casually asked around during the day and found out everything he needed. He had even secretly scoped the place out once, so after leaving the Pokémon Center, he made his way to the destination with ease and familiarity.
Mayor Raul's residence was a mansion. Not only were there servants in the house, but also guards. Even though it was already deep into the night, there were still many figures moving around inside the mansion.
With the help of Gengar and Mismagius's invisibility powers, Yuga easily avoided detection by both the guards and the servants.
The stealth outfit he wore was crafted by Mewtwo using materials from Ghost Vines; it could mask Yuga's presence and life signals. Unless it was a special being like a Crobat that could detect with ultrasonic waves, even if he stood right in front of a Master level Pokémon, they might not notice him.
From the servants' conversations, Yuga easily located Mayor Raul's room. What surprised Yuga was that, even though it was so late, the mayor hadn't gone to bed yet—the lights in his room were still on.
Of course Mayor Raul hadn't gone to sleep. It wasn't that he didn't want to—it was that he couldn't. The person he sent during the day to keep an eye on Yuga had come back crying, claiming to have seen a ghost.
How could Raul possibly believe such nonsense? He knew right away that it must have been the target realizing he was being followed and putting on a ghostly act to scare off the watcher.
Just thinking about the fact that Yuga knew he was being monitored made Mayor Raul's scalp go numb—there was no way he could fall asleep.
He had been too careless. He shouldn't have sent someone to keep an eye on Yuga. Someone of that level—how could they not notice being followed?
At this moment, Mayor Raul was full of regret. He had panicked and made a foolish move. But just thinking about Yuga possibly taking that key out of Laverre City made him deeply anxious, which was why he was so desperate to know what Yuga was up to.
During the few days that Yuga was not in Laverre City, Mayor Raul hadn't been able to sleep at all.
Mayor Raul sat at his desk, deep in thought, when suddenly a Gengar appeared across from him. The moment he saw the Gengar, he knew—that man had finally come for him.
Raul wanted to call for help, but to his horror, he realized he couldn't move a single muscle—not even make a sound.
"Hehehe~"
Gengar grinned at Raul, eyes glowing with a faint blue light. The next second, Raul felt dizzy and disoriented, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.
Just before he completely blacked out, a thought flashed through Raul's mind: I'm done for!
When Raul woke up again, he found himself inside an abandoned warehouse. A dim yellow light flickered from the hanging lamp above, and he was tied to an old, broken chair.
"You're awake!"
At that moment, a masked figure dressed in black slowly stepped out from the shadows.
"You… you're Gym Leaders Shimizu…"
Yuga wasn't surprised that he guessed his identity. He simply pulled off his mask and said, "Seems like you already know very well why I brought you here."
Mayor Raul immediately howled loudly, "Gym Leader Shimizu, it's all a misunderstanding! A total misunderstanding! I've admired you for a long time—I just wanted to get to know you!"
Yuga said teasingly, "Oh? So your way of getting to know me is by sending someone to monitor me?"
Mayor Raul continued to argue, "It wasn't surveillance, no, not surveillance at all! I just wanted to learn more about you, that's all—no other intentions!"
Yuga paid no attention to his excuses. He directly took out the key and cut straight to the point: "Do you recognize this key? Tell me its secret!"
Mayor Raul shook his head vigorously, adamantly denying, "I don't recognize it. What kind of key is this?"
Yuga didn't bother wasting any more words with him. He simply beckoned to Gengar, who instantly understood, floated up in front of Mayor Raul, and used Hypnosis on him.
Yuga had originally thought that if this man confessed honestly, he wouldn't have to resort to this. After all, hypnosis causes mild damage to the human brain. But since this guy refused the wine offered and insisted on drinking the penalty wine, he had only himself to blame.
Under the effects of hypnosis, Mayor Raul quickly spilled all the secrets regarding the key.
It turned out that this key was not only a storage device, but also the key to a laboratory.
Inside this storage device were vast records of Raul's dealings with Team Flare. In fact, one could even say that Mayor Raul used to be nothing more than a puppet of Team Flare.
Later, when Team Flare was eradicated by the League and most of its members were arrested, Mayor Raul miraculously managed to keep his identity hidden. He then decided to sever ties with his past involving Team Flare.
However, the once formidable power of Team Flare left such a deep impression on him that Raul didn't dare to betray them completely. That's why he kept this storage device.
Because this key could unlock a very important secret laboratory of Team Flare, if he destroyed it and Team Flare somehow made a comeback one day, he would surely not survive.
While still following Team Flare's orders, Raul had controlled a crucial laboratory. The storage device in his possession not only contained related data from the lab but also served as the key to unlock it.
Originally, the lab had two people in charge and two keys were required to open it—both used simultaneously.
But the other person in charge of the lab was caught by the League. Before his arrest, he seemed to have sensed something, so he passed his key to Mayor Raul as well.
Not long ago, there was a theft at Mayor Raul's home, and one of the keys was stolen. This threw Raul into a panic, and he secretly sent people to hunt down the thief.
During the escape, the thief accidentally dropped the key near a trash can, where it was later picked up by Klefki by sheer coincidence. This was why Raul's people later pursued Klefki too.
After that escape, the thief realized the key might be something important and attempted to recover it. That was what led to the robbery incident Yuga encountered in the park.
Unfortunately, not only did the thief fail to retrieve the item, but he also landed himself in jail.
Following Raul's instructions, Yuga finally figured out how to open the storage function of the key. With a clicking sound, the key split in the middle, revealing a data interface.
Yuga took out his communicator, connected it to the storage port, and entered the password he had obtained from Raul. Soon, the contents of the storage device appeared before him.
After reading everything, Yuga couldn't help but sigh. No wonder Raul had tried so desperately to retrieve the key—once anyone discovered what was stored inside, his flashy career as mayor would be over.
Inside the storage device were not only records of the numerous times he had covered up crimes for Team Flare, but also documentation of how he had secretly raised funds for them, engaged in smuggling, and committed a host of other crimes.
The rest of the data was laboratory-related material. Yuga decided he would go through those once he found the lab and then figure out what to do.
Having gotten all the answers he needed, Yuga brought Mayor Raul back to his home and found the second lab key in Raul's study.
This key was also a storage device, but it didn't contain criminal records—only the lab data.
After leaving Raul's home, Yuga returned to the lab, made a separate copy of all the criminal records stored in Raul's key, and quietly delivered the copy to Valerie.
In a city, the only one with the power to sanction the mayor is the Gym Leader. They have the responsibility of mutually supervising each other with the mayor.
Sure enough, the next day, Mayor Raul's mansion was surrounded by Valerie and her team, and Mayor Raul himself was also placed under control.
After the interrogation last night, Mayor Raul had been in a deep sleep. It was only this morning that he opened his eyes, only to discover that his home was completely surrounded by Valerie and the police department.
With the matter resolved, Yuga brushed his sleeves and left. He didn't show himself but decided to go search for that laboratory on his own. According to the intel he obtained from Raul, it seemed the Flare Team had placed great importance on that lab back then — the only question now was, what secret was hidden inside?
Much of the data stored in the key was recorded using highly specialized terminology, and Yuga couldn't understand most of it.
At the same time, far away in the Kanto region, after repeatedly failing to contact Ariana, Giovanni finally realized that something might have happened to her.
He quickly instructed his Matori, to cancel some of Team Rocket's ongoing operations and also ordered certain personnel at some bases to retreat immediately.
As Team Rocket's executive, Ariana knew far too many secrets. If something really had happened to her, it would mean that Team Rocket would face a huge blow, so Giovanni had no choice but to grit his teeth and temporarily suspend part of their operations.
Moreover, Hoopa was the centerpiece of many of Team Rocket's plans. Now that Ariana had gone missing and Hoopa had also vanished, many of Giovanni's strategies had to be adjusted accordingly.
When Matori received Giovanni's orders, she was utterly confused. Everything had been progressing so smoothly—why did they suddenly have to halt everything?
But Giovanni didn't give her an explanation. Ariana had always been executing top-secret missions outside, only maintaining contact with a very small number of Team Rocket executives like Giovanni himself. Her disappearance was still being kept secret, and Giovanni didn't want to expose it too early.
Unable to get an answer, Matori could only obediently carry out Giovanni's instructions.
While Giovanni was urgently consolidating his forces, the Hoenn League also received the documents Yuga had sent over — the documents he had sorted from Ariana's personal belongings.
Originally, Yuga planned to return to Hoenn and submit the materials in person, but then he realized that time waited for no one. So as soon as he arrived back in Laverre City, he sent the data over.
Because the documents from Ariana's belongings were all in paper format, they couldn't be transmitted online, and courier delivery would be too slow. So he carefully photographed all the data and sent the photos to Wallace.
After receiving the documents, the Hoenn League immediately contacted the Kanto League and the Johto League.
Both the League and Team Rocket were doing everything they could to buy more time.
Meanwhile, after finishing the Kalos League tournament, Ash didn't immediately leave the Kalos region. Instead, he continued traveling with Bonnie, Clemont, and Serena, along with Hoopa Confined.
That day, they arrived at a place called Dendemille Town, where they took a short rest. Afterward, they planned to leave and head for Couriway Town.
However, just as they had barely left Dendemille Town, Little Hoopa suddenly seemed to sense something and cried out in great pain, "That guy… that guy is coming… so scared… so scared!"
Ash immediately asked with concern, "Hoopa, what's wrong? Who's coming?"
Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena also rushed forward, looking at it with worry, but Little Hoopa was still in deep pain.
At that moment, the sky suddenly darkened, and a massive black cloud appeared above Ash and the others. A gigantic golden ring slowly materialized within the dark clouds, and from within the ring emerged an enormous Hoopa.
"Hahahahaha…" came a burst of wild laughter. "Hoopa has finally found you!"
The one who had come was none other than Hoopa's evil thoughs that had escaped from Zygarde. It had originally been one with Hoopa Confined. Now that it had regained its freedom, of course, it had come to reclaim its original power.
Looking at the suddenly appeared Hoopa's evil thoughts, Little Hoopa dove into Ash's arms, trembling uncontrollably, constantly muttering, "So scared, very scared, that guy is so scary!"
Yuga shielded Little Hoopa and shouted sternly at Hoopa's evil thoughts, "Who are you? What do you want?" As he spoke, he took out a Poké Ball.
Hoopa's evil thoughts grinned and said, "Hoopa is Hoopa. Hand over the one in your arms!"
Although Ash had never seen Hoopa's evil thoughts before, he had already guessed its identity at this point. After all, back then, Meray and Baraz had taken Little Hoopa away from the Valley of Creation in order to search for the Hoopa's evil thoughs that had been sealed in the Prison Bottle. Little Hoopa also often talked about Hoopa's evil thoughts by Ash's ear.
Little Hoopa originally thought that, after receiving many years of teaching from Chief Ghris in the Arche Valley, it could now control its evil thoughs. But now that it had truly encountered it, Little Hoopa realized it couldn't do it, and was deeply terrified in its heart.
"Give that guy to me!" Hoopa's evil thoughts suddenly became very angry and immediately launched a Dark Pulse attack.
Pikachu, who was on Ash's shoulder, suddenly leapt up and struck the Dark Pulse with a Thunderbolt. At the same time, the Poké Ball in Ash's hand flashed red, and Greninja appeared in front of him.
Boom!!!
Pikachu's Thunderbolt dispersed the Dark Pulse, and Greninja followed up with a Water Shuriken, which hit Hoopa's evil thoughts directly in the face, making it even angrier.
"You all… you're all hateful! Hoopa… Hoopa is angry now!" Hoopa's evil thoughts roared in fury and once again launched a Dark Pulse.
At this moment, Clemont had already released his Luxray, and Serena had also sent out her Braixen. The two Pokémon simultaneously used Thunderbolt and Flamethrower to counter Hoopa's evil thoughts's Dark Pulse.
But the power difference between the two Pokémon and Hoopa's evil thoughts was too great. The shockwave from the exploding attacks instantly sent Ash and the other three flying.
Pikachu and Greninja leapt into the air simultaneously, attacking once more with Thunderbolt and Water Shuriken, but were knocked away by two Shadow Balls casually swung by Hoopa's evil thoughts.
"Greninja!"
At that moment, Ash shouted. Greninja quickly got back up, turned around to look at Ash. Trainer and Pokémon, their minds were as one, and their bond resonated deeply.
Greninja was wrapped in flowing water, its appearance changed drastically, and in the blink of an eye, it completed Bond Phenomenon Evolution, transforming into Ash-Greninja.