The leader of the Ditto group had extremely sharp perception. It hadn't been in the space for long before it sensed that something was wrong—its reaction was far faster than that of Yanmega and the others back then.
"Spearow~ Spearow~"
The Ditto leader was still in its Spearow form. It screeched while looking around; it was using the move Uproar to probe its surroundings.
Soon, the other Dittos also started imitating the leader to investigate the space. It didn't take long before they noticed something abnormal—a large group of Dittos transformed into Spearows began to ascend upward.
But Gengar and the others had limited abilities. The space they created had its limits. After flying to a certain height, the Dittos discovered that no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't ascend any further, as if some invisible force was blocking them.
So, the Ditto leader led its kind to fly forward, but the result was the same—after a short distance, they could no longer move ahead.
Yuga didn't enter the space himself. Instead, he sent Vivillon inside and remained outside to assist Yoshino and the others in finishing off the group of monkeys.
There weren't many monkeys left. With a flap of its wings, Salamence rose into the sky above the destroyed "castle," opened its mouth, and unleashed countless flames. Instantly, an intense fire ignited.
The scene resembled an evil dragon wreaking havoc.
The remaining monkeys fled in panic from the flames, but the fire had formed a ring around them—they had nowhere to escape.
Soon, all the monkeys collapsed. Yuga, Yoshino, and the other two immediately took out Poké Balls to capture the Pokémon.
There weren't too many monkeys, so Yuga and the other three didn't leave a single one behind—they captured them all, to avoid scattering them across different places in the future.
Yuga discussed with Yoshino and the others that all the Pansages, Simisages, and the Dittos they would soon deal with would be left to him. As for their share, he would reimburse them with his own merit points.
Of course, if they wanted to catch and raise a few Pansages, Simisages, or Dittos, they were free to pick as they wished.
But none of the three had any intention of raising Pansages, Simisages, or Dittos, so that was the final agreement.
However, when Yuga informed them that the "Spearows" were actually Dittos, all three were utterly shocked—they hadn't noticed at all.
When Yuga entered the space, Vivillon was already in the middle of an intense confrontation with the Dittos.
All the Dittos in Spearow form had surrounded Vivillon, but Vivillon showed no fear. Calmly flapping its wings, it coldly watched the Dittos. In the next second, it beat its wings and released waves of tan-colored powder toward them.
It was Sleep Powder.
The Dittos didn't take the Sleep Powder seriously at all. In their view, powder-type moves were not hard to deal with—especially while they were currently transformed into Flying-type Pokémon.
The "Spearows" flapped their wings rapidly, displaying perfect coordination. Powerful gusts of wind generated beneath their wings, and under this wind force, the Sleep Powder was blown right back.
The "Spearows" cawed smugly, as if mocking Vivillon for miscalculating.
But in the very next second, they could no longer be proud.
Vivillon flapped its wings, and in an instant, a pillar-shaped Hurricane formed. Under the force of the hurricane, all the Sleep Powder was sucked in.
Once all the Sleep Powder was absorbed into the hurricane, Vivillon made a small flick, and the hurricane swept out horizontally. The "Spearows" shrieked as they were swept into the vortex.
When the storm finally dissipated, the "Spearows" fell to the ground like dumplings, one after another, reverting to their Ditto forms. Some had fallen asleep due to the Sleep Powder, some were dizzy from being whirled around in the storm, and others had lost their fighting ability due to the blade-like winds within the hurricane.
Since the Dittos were all dealt with, Gengar and the others removed the independent space, and the Dittos reappeared before Yoshino and the others.
Although it wasn't their first time seeing this scene, Yoshino and the other two still found it utterly astonishing. That ordinary Pokémon could create alternate dimensions—it was simply unbelievable.
"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and come help!" Seeing the three of them spacing out, Yuga urged.
"Ah, coming, coming!"
The three of them quickly ran over to help Yuga deal with the Dittos.
"You guys really don't want to raise a Ditto?" Yuga asked again. "Dittos are really rare."
"Nope, no matter how rare it is, if it ends up in our hands, it'll just be traded for other resources," Alaid said with a wave of his hand.
They were all elite Trainers from the League and had long developed their own styles. Suddenly adding a Ditto, a Pokémon they had never worked with before, wouldn't bring them any real benefit.
The other two felt the same way as Alaid.
"All right then," Yuga didn't try to persuade them anymore.
After obtaining the Ditto leader, Yuga thought for a moment and released it again—he wanted to clear up his questions about the Ditto group.
After some simple treatment, the Ditto slowly opened its eyes, but in the next second, it curled itself up into a ball. The look it gave Yuga and the others was full of wariness.
It didn't dare make a move either, because just moments ago, the Vivillon who had defeated its entire group was still watching it like a hawk.
Seeing this, Yuga smiled and said, "No need to be nervous. Since you've already been caught by me, I won't do anything else to you."
Who knows what it suddenly remembered, but the Ditto leader actually relaxed a little. This made Yuga even more curious.
This Ditto seemed to be a little different from the other wild Pokémon in this wilderness.
Yuga didn't beat around the bush and directly asked the questions he had in mind.
The Ditto leader figured it had already been captured, so it didn't resist and honestly explained everything to Yuga.
It turned out that the Ditto wasn't originally a native Pokémon of this area—it had once had a Trainer. And its Trainer had been a member of the pioneer army.
Its previous Trainer hadn't been anyone particularly important—just a very, very unremarkable foot soldier in the frontier army.
He had originally been from the Kanto region, and later, due to a twist of fate, was transferred to the Unova region's pioneer army. But once he arrived, he never made it back.
The Ditto clearly remembered that day—it was the last day of the year. The whole unit was celebrating the upcoming New Year. Since these soldiers couldn't go home to be with their families, they could only celebrate within the base.
But even during the New Year, the army had to perform routine patrols, and that day just so happened to be the Ditto leader's Trainer's turn. He had no choice but to go to the area he was responsible for under orders from his superior.
Actually, there were other soldiers on patrol that day too.
But since it was so close to the New Year, everyone had let their guard down a bit. Plus, they were unhappy about having to be out patrolling at such a time. So, after a petty argument over something trivial, the two of them split up to patrol separately instead of staying together.
The area Ditto's Trainer was assigned to patrol was quite a distance from the base. At the time, he was grumbling about being unlucky and cursing his partner for being petty. But in the very next moment, he was ambushed by a wild Pokémon.
That wild Pokémon was extremely powerful. Ditto's Trainer stood no chance and was quickly killed. His corpse was then dragged deep into the grasslands by that Pokémon.
By the time his comrades realized something was wrong, Ditto's Trainer had long since vanished without a trace—only a pool of blood remained on the ground.
All of the Trainer's Pokémon were killed, except for Ditto, who at the time hadn't been strong enough to be released and thus survived by not being called out. Its Poké Ball was dropped in the wilderness when the wild Pokémon dragged the Trainer's body away.
Later on, the Poké Ball was picked up by another Pokémon in the wild. That Pokémon accidentally released Ditto, but Ditto did not gain freedom because of it. Instead, it became that Pokémon's slave and suffered endless abuse.
After a long time, that Pokémon was killed by other Pokémon in the wilderness, and only then did Ditto regain its freedom.
Although Ditto's Trainer had been unremarkable in the army, his family had previously specialized in training Dittos for a living, so he possessed unique skills in raising Dittos. Thanks to this, Ditto had mastered the ability to transform freely.
Relying on this ability, Ditto was able to avoid countless dangers in the wild. Through its own efforts, it became stronger and stronger, and even experienced a few fortunate encounters.
It was precisely thanks to those few lucky encounters that Ditto, despite only having green potential, was able to break through to the Elite level.
As for the matter of Ditto's Trainer going missing, it did not cause much of a stir in the army.
Although the pioneer army and the wild Pokémon had generally coexisted peacefully over the years, small-scale conflicts had never stopped. Countless soldiers had lost their lives this way.
After a round of searching yielded no results, the army simply passed the news of the Trainer's death to his family, and the matter was left unsettled and forgotten.
After wandering in the wild for several years, Ditto met its current group.
At that time, the group was still a pitiable target for others to bully. Ditto helped them once, and in return, received an invitation to join their group.
Having wandered alone for several years, Ditto gladly accepted the new group.
As it bonded with the group, Ditto began to teach its transformation skills to its fellow Dittos. Having suffered much abuse in the past, the other Dittos trained diligently. That's why Yuga and the others had now witnessed such flawless transformation abilities.
With this skill, whenever other Pokémon tried to target them, the Ditto group would immediately migrate and then transform into another species of Pokémon to resume living. No one could find them.
Gradually, the Ditto group became a mysterious and elusive presence in the wilderness. Though their strength might not be top-tier, ordinary Pokémon had a hard time locating or catching them.
Later, the Ditto leader encountered the very same Pokémon that had killed its Trainer. By then, it had already broken through to the Elite level, so it was able to avenge its Trainer with ease and officially became a member of the wild Pokémon community.
In the blink of an eye, the Ditto leader had already been living in the wilderness for nearly twenty years.
Not long ago, the lord of the grassland attacked the pioneer army's base. After the attack failed, this region fell into chaos. The Dittos' place of residence was also affected, so they moved to the current valley.
However, a group of Pansage and Simisage had already settled in the valley.
The Ditto leader was reluctant to give up such a good place, so it relied on its glib tongue to persuade the Simisage and Pansage to accept them.
Years of constantly changing identities had trained the Ditto leader to be a master of smooth-talking—knowing how to speak one way to people and another to ghosts. It not only talked the Simisage and Pansage into accepting them but even tricked them into offering the Ditto group good food and drink every day.
Just now, after Yuga had defeated the Pansage and Simisage group, the Ditto leader shamelessly turned its back on them and tried to flee with its companions—truly bringing the meaning of "shameless" to the extreme.
Over the years, this wasn't the first time it had done such a thing. Usually, as long as they could avoid direct conflict, the Dittos would take the initiative to stay away from trouble. Even when they were forced to fight, they would always trick someone else into being the cannon fodder first—like today's Pansage and Simisage.
Hearing all this from Ditto, Yuga couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for the Pansage and Simisage. They were truly pitiful.
After explaining everything, Ditto looked at Yuga and asked, "Now that you've captured me, will you take me back to the human world?"
Yuga replied with a question of his own: "Do you want to go back?"
Ditto hesitated for a few seconds, then gently nodded. The reason it had shared everything about itself so openly was precisely because it hoped Yuga would take it back to see the world again.
After spending over ten years in the wilderness, constantly living in fear and scheming against others, Ditto was tired. If it hadn't been for the group it had to lead, it might have already left this place long ago.
Now was clearly an opportunity—an opportunity to take the entire group away with it.
It was willing to trust Yuga because it knew that anyone who could make it here must be, just like its former Trainer, a member of the frontier corps. From the conversation between Yuga and Yoshino's group, it had already guessed this much.
"Alright then, I'll take you out of here," Yuga said.
Upon hearing this, the Ditto leader immediately asked again, "What about my followers?"
Yuga continued, "I'll take them too, just like I'll take you."
The Ditto let out another sigh of relief.
"Alright, let's take another look around," Yuga said.
Having dealt with the Ditto matter, Yuga turned to Yoshino and the other two.
So, the four of them searched all around the valley again, but they didn't find anything else.
According to the intelligence they had originally received, there weren't supposed to be any special Pokémon in this valley—just a few loners living here. Judging from what they saw now, those loners had most likely been driven away by the Pansage and Simisage.
Afterward, Yuga and the others walked around the area surrounding the valley and even ran into members of another squad. Everyone greeted each other cordially before going their separate ways again.
By the time the sky began to darken, the four of them returned to the base together.
There hadn't been many injured people today. When everyone returned to base, there were smiles on their faces—it was obvious that today's results were quite good.
The base, which had been gloomy for several days, was finally filled with some rare moments of laughter and cheer.
In the blink of an eye, another three or four days passed. The missions these few days had gone very smoothly. As time went on, the number of Pokémon in this area was steadily decreasing. The number of high-level Pokémon also dropped, and the danger level of the missions had likewise decreased significantly.
Although everyone was capturing fewer Pokémon, they had found a lot of other resources. The harvest was still abundant.
That evening, as Yuga returned from a mission, he suddenly saw a soldier running toward him in a rush. The soldier looked anxious and shouted loudly at him:
"Mr. Shimizu, something terrible has happened!"