Early in the morning, after Yuga finished his morning exercise and was on his way back, the Trainers he met along the road all greeted him very warmly and enthusiastically.
During this period of time, he frequently went to help out at the Pokémon doctor's place and had rescued quite a number of people. He had also helped many others during missions, so now everyone held great respect for him—not just the kind of awe that comes from facing a top-tier Trainer like in the beginning.
Yuga was drenched in sweat. After returning to his room and tidying himself up, he suddenly heard one of General Toyama's guards calling from outside.
"Mr. Shimizu, are you there?"
Yuga opened the door and asked with a puzzled expression, "Does General Toyama need something?"
The guard respectfully replied, "Yes, General Toyama requests your presence."
Yuga was full of confusion. Every morning before the teams set off, he and General Toyama would go on stage and say a few words to everyone, so they would meet very soon anyway. Why was he being summoned ahead of time?
When he arrived at General Toyama's office, he heard the other say, "Mr. Shimizu, something has come up on the military side, and I'm being temporarily transferred over there. So I won't be present at the base for the next few days. Please take care of things here."
Seeing General Toyama's serious expression, Yuga asked, "Is the situation at the frontlines very tense?"
General Toyama nodded and said, "It's not looking good. Recently, we've suffered several setbacks, and the enemy's desire to attack seems to be growing stronger and stronger."
Yuga nodded and said, "Then go take care of things over there without worry. Leave this place to me, it'll be fine."
General Toyama visibly relaxed and a smile finally appeared on his face. "Then I'll leave it to you."
General Toyama left in a hurry. After briefing Yuga on some matters regarding the base and leaving a few personnel for support, he departed in a rush.
At the morning assembly, when everyone noticed that General Toyama didn't show up, they were puzzled. Then they heard Yuga say:
"General Toyama has some matters to attend to and won't be able to take care of things here for the time being. So all of you need to behave yourselves—don't cause me trouble.
Also, be extra cautious during missions. These are things I've repeated many times, and I don't want to keep repeating them. Over the past few days, you all have experienced firsthand how dangerous this mission is. I don't want to come back from a mission and find someone's corpse waiting for me."
After this round of "stern advice," each squad set off one after another.
Before leaving, Yuga left behind Bellossom, Shroomish, Roserade, Torterra, Charizard, and Dragonite at the base.
Previously, when General Toyama was still around, he would always rush to assist whenever someone from another squad called for help. Now that he was gone, Yuga had no choice but to leave some of his own Pokémon behind to handle emergencies.
Although General Toyama had left Yuga a few people, their strength was limited. If they encountered powerful Pokémon, they wouldn't be able to handle it.
Before leaving, Yuga solemnly reminded the people guarding the base: "If someone sends a message asking for help, you must bring along one of the Pokémon I left behind—at least one."
The reason Yuga left several Pokémon was because he was worried that if many people asked for help at once, one or two Pokémon wouldn't be enough.
The previous death had sounded the alarm for Yuga. He didn't want that kind of situation to happen again. Since he was the general commander of this mission, of course he hoped everything would go smoothly.
The team involved in the previous incident still couldn't go out on missions because of the death of their captain.
"Yes, we've got it!"
After everything was arranged, Yuga set off with Yoshino, Raizo, and Allard. Today, they were not heading to the previous swamp area.
The mission had already been ongoing for some time, and the faster-moving squads had already finished clearing the regions they were responsible for. Yuga's team was the same.
Today, they were heading to a valley. This area was originally part of a region assigned to another team, but several members of that team had previously suffered serious injuries and had to rest for a few days. Naturally, their progress slowed down, so this section was reassigned to Yuga and his team.
The valley was located at the intersection of the forest and the grassland, so both the environment and the terrain were relatively unique.
When the four of them arrived outside the valley, Raizo gruffly said, "Why is it so quiet here?"
Yuga replied, "Be careful. The more abnormal a place is, the more likely it is to be dangerous."
"Yes," Yoshino and the others responded in unison.
The four of them cautiously walked into the valley, but what they saw in front of them gave them quite a scare. The valley was filled with thick vines, layered and intertwined together, looking just like a massive green fortress.
Raizo was dumbfounded. "Is this really the valley they mentioned?"
Yoshino shook his head seriously. "No. According to the intel, this is supposed to be just an ordinary valley."
"That's not surprising. Because of the previous Pokémon disaster, the distribution of Pokémon in this wilderness has already been disrupted. Clearly, other Pokémon have now taken over this place," Yuga explained.
At this moment, the previously eerily quiet valley suddenly became lively. One after another, Spearow emerged from the green "fortress."
Spearow's cries were extremely unpleasant. Just one could give a person a splitting headache, let alone who knows how many were here now.
The Spearow were calling out one after another, so loud that Yuga and the others couldn't even hear each other speak clearly.
However, when Yuga activated his Insight skill, he immediately noticed something wrong.
...
[ Ditto ]
Type: Normal
Ability: Limber
Gender: None
Potential: Orange
Level: 23
Move: Transform
...
What appeared in the Insight skill results and what Yuga saw with his own eyes were completely different. These weren't Spearow at all—they were all Ditto!
Yuga continued scanning the other "Spearow," and as expected, every one of them was a Ditto in disguise. What surprised him even more was that these Ditto could imitate Spearow so perfectly that not even the slightest flaw could be seen.
While Ditto do indeed have the ability to transform, except for those with the hidden ability "Imposter," most Ditto need to practice their transformations extensively. Otherwise, what they transform into usually looks quite strange.
But training Ditto isn't easy. Many Trainers who own Ditto can't guarantee that their Ditto will perfectly imitate anything.
The reason Ariana became famous was because of her skills in training Ditto and coordinating with Ditto's transformation abilities. If it were easy, wouldn't there be "Ariana" everywhere?
All the more so for wild Ditto.
Without anyone specifically training them, wild Ditto would only imitate things (Pokémon) around them based on instinct. Even if they could eventually mimic familiar things (Pokémon) around them flawlessly, the moment they try to imitate something unfamiliar, they would immediately expose themselves.
However, although there were many bird Pokémon in this grassland and forest area, Spearow weren't particularly common. At least, Yuga hadn't seen any so far.
So how had these Ditto managed to mimic something so rare with such accuracy? Yuga was full of questions.
That said, Ditto were indeed an exceptionally rare species of Pokémon. Even though they might not necessarily be strong, their unique transformation ability made them popular and loved by many.
Moreover, Ditto's appearance was also somehow… adorably cute.
The "Spearow" were still chirping and squawking, trying to drive Yuga and the others, these intruders, away—but their wish was destined to remain unfulfilled.
"Mr. Shimizu, this is way too noisy, let's just hurry up and deal with this flock of Spearow already!"
Raizo shouted loudly while covering his ears, clearly not taking the Spearow group seriously. But that was understandable—after all, in the eyes of most people, a group that didn't even contain a single fully-evolved Pokémon would be incredibly easy to handle.
However, Yuga clearly knew that among this group of Ditto, there were some high-level individuals.
Upon hearing Raizo's words, Yoshino and Allard both released their Pokémon. The Dittos, upon seeing this, realized they couldn't drive Yuga and the others away. They squawked and chirped as they dove back into the green "fortress," unwilling to engage Yuga and the others head-on.
This was their way of survival.
"Heh heh... they actually know fear!" Raizo chuckled happily. With the noisy racket now gone, everyone finally experienced how wonderful silence could be.
But unfortunately, right after Reizo finished speaking, the noise started up again—this time it wasn't bird cries but the squawking of monkeys.
One after another, green monkeys emerged from the fortress, bouncing around and causing a lively commotion. They were clearly a group of Pansage and Simisage.
Yuga used his Insight skill to check and confirmed that these monkeys were indeed real monkeys, no longer Dittos in disguise.
The monkeys chattered noisily. One second, they were making faces at Yuga and his group in an attempt to provoke them; the next second, they launched a sudden attack. Countless green seeds were spit out at Yuga's team in a bombardment.
It was Seed Bomb!
Raizo was startled by the sudden barrage and yelped as he quickly ducked behind his Luxray. His Luxray was tall and strong—though Raizo himself was a burly man, it could barely manage to shield him completely.
Blue electric currents burst out from Luxray's entire body, instantly charring all the incoming seeds into ash and sending them tumbling to the ground.
Yuga, Yoshino, and Allard didn't just stand there watching either—they all began commanding their Pokémon to counterattack.
Yuga had brought along his Salamence, since he wanted to give more training to his lower-level ones, so recently he had been using Salamence, Kartana, Abomasnow, and Decidueye more frequently.
Because Salamence's level hadn't yet reached the Elite level, it was being used especially often.
"Roar~!"
Salamence opened its mouth and released a burst of flames. All the seeds instantly turned to ash and drifted away on the wind.
Yoshino used a Charizard—his first Pokémon, and a rather strong one too. A wave of intense flames swept out, burning everything in its path.
Allard used a Glaceon, which unleashed a blast of freezing air. All the seeds turned into icy pellets and dropped to the ground.
Allard's Glaceon and Yoshino's Charizard didn't get along very well. The two Pokémon seemed to be competing with each other—one stronger than the other, as if their strength knew no bounds. Before they even got tired, the monkeys on the other side were already worn out.
Seeing that they couldn't deal with Yuga and the others, the monkeys began scratching their heads and seemed to be discussing something among themselves. After a moment, all the Pansage and Simisage raised their arms, tilting their heads up toward the sky—or more accurately, toward the sun.
"What are they doing?" Reizo asked cluelessly.
"Idiot, they're using Solar Beam," Allard replied irritably.
After so many days together, the group had gradually grown familiar with each other. Their relationships had become quite friendly, and their way of speaking had become more casual too.
By now, everyone had more or less developed an understanding of each other's personalities.
Raizo might look clumsy and even act a bit clumsily, but he had a great personality. He rarely got angry at others and was very considerate.
Allard, on the other hand, had a bit of a bad temper. Sometimes, he just wouldn't let things go even when he had the upper hand—but his nature was still fundamentally good.
Yuga figured this temper of his was probably spoiled out of him by his family. He was almost thirty and still had a childish side to his personality. He probably didn't have many friends in his daily life either.
He got along best with Raizo, mainly because Raizo had a high tolerance for his bad temper. After a few back-and-forths, the two of them ended up becoming the closest pair among the four.
Sure enough, right after Allard finished speaking, the "broccoli heads" on top of the Pansage and Simisage began to gather solar energy, glowing with golden light.
At that moment, Yuga shouted toward his Salamence: "Salamence, Draco Meteor!"
Solar Beam was a move that required charging up, so Salamence had plenty of time to prepare Draco Meteor.
"Rooaaar~!"
Hearing the command, Salamence raised its head and roared to the sky, spitting out a massive golden energy ball that soared into the air. It then exploded violently, and one meteor after another began to rain down from the sky.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions echoed in succession. Countless meteors fell upon the green "fortress," and in no time, the fortress was blasted into pieces. The Solar Beam being charged by the Pansage and Simisage were also forcefully interrupted.
With the "fortress" destroyed, the "Spearow" fluttered out, chirping in a flurry, creating a chaotic mess.
Most of the Pansage and Simisage had been knocked out by the Draco Meteor; only a small portion had luckily avoided the fate. These survivors waved their arms and legs while speaking to the Ditto, and then a particularly plain-colored "Spearow" slowly flew out from among the group, casting a look of disdain at the Simisage leader.
Absolutely useless!
The Dittos had initially hoped to use the Simisage's strength to drive the enemies away. Who would have thought this group of monkeys would be so completely unreliable?
Yuga happened to notice that particular "Spearow."
...
[ Ditto ]
Type: Normal
Ability: Limber
Gender: None
Potential: Green
Level: 72
Move: Transform
...
This was the highest-leveled Ditto Yuga had seen so far, and he hadn't even noticed its presence until now.
Moreover, this Ditto had actually managed to break through to Elite level with just green potential—that was truly rare. For a green-potential Pokémon to reach the Elite level was something close to impossible.
Just judging from its appearance, this Ditto was utterly unremarkable.
No one knew exactly what that Ditto had said to the Simisage leader, but the two of them clearly had a falling out. The Simisage leader was now agitatedly scolding the Dittos.
But the "Spearow" paid no more attention to the Pansage and Simisage. One after another, they flapped their wings and flew up into the sky. Judging by their actions, they were clearly planning to flee, showing no intention of fighting Yuga and the others.
But how could Yuga possibly let them leave so easily? He had long planned to take this group of Dittos for himself.
Gengar, Mismagius, and Dusknoir were already waiting invisibly in the air. The moment Yuga gave the command, the Dittos unknowingly slipped into the independent space.