General Damov's Kingdra fired off a Dragon Pulse at Yuga from a distance.
Boom!
The Dragon Pulse missed its mark and hit a corner of the passage's exit. In an instant, countless glowing stones rained down.
Yuga definitely didn't want Kingdra to destroy the passage's exit—otherwise, General Damov wouldn't be able to get out. Since the general had no self-awareness right now, he clearly wouldn't realize what kind of consequences Kingdra's reckless attacks might bring.
Kingdra launched another Dragon Pulse, but this time, it was intercepted mid-air by Vivillon's Signal Beam.
The two attacks clashed violently in the air and exploded. The resulting shockwave sent the glowing plants inside the stone cavern swaying wildly, releasing even more white light particles into the air, turning the entire cavern into a hazy white mist.
Though the white particles normally dispersed quickly in the air, there were so many this time that some drifted toward the passage where Yuga was standing.
Yuga suspected that General Damov and the others had ended up in their current state because of those glowing plants in the cavern, so he quickly retreated in fear.
The white particles wobbled and drifted into the passage, and Yuga immediately saw one land on a glowing green stone and instantly disintegrate.
Although both the stones and the plants glowed, the stones emitted green light, while the plants released white glowing particles. Even placed together, the differing colors didn't interfere visually. Yuga could see the phenomenon very clearly and distinctly.
This discovery sparked a thought in him.
However, because the white particles didn't last long in the air to begin with, Yuga couldn't immediately conclude that the glowing stones were a natural counter to the glowing plants.
He wanted to test it right away, but General Damov and Kingdra were already approaching. After thinking it through, Yuga decided to lure them out. He signaled his three Pokémon, turned around and ran toward the outside.
Soon, General Damov and Kingdra were successfully drawn out of the cavern filled with glowing stones. Once they were away, Vivillon no longer had to hold back and began fighting them at full strength.
To Yuga's surprise, although General Damov had lost his self-awareness, he still calmly and precisely commanded Kingdra in battle, and Kingdra obeyed his orders without hesitation.
Vivillon's Signal Beams flew like lasers, zipping around the maze in all directions. Kingdra countered with Dragon Pulses and Hydro Pumps. Soon, the entire maze became a chaotic battlefield.
As the battle dragged on, Vivillon used Quiver Dance repeatedly and grew stronger over time.
Although Bug-type Pokémon are typically lacking in stamina, a Champion-level Pokémon that had undergone multiple life evolutions was in an entirely different league from ordinary Bug-types.
Besides, Yuga's Vivillon was a special individual—not only was it a once-in-a-million "Butterfly King," it also inherited the legacy of Genesect. Regular Bug-types simply couldn't compare, and stamina was far from its weak point.
Kingdra also used Dragon Dance, but since Dragon Dance enhances physical attack rather than special attack, it didn't give Kingdra much of an edge in its special attack duel against Vivillon. The only clear benefit was that Kingdra's speed kept increasing.
The two Pokémon clashed fiercely for an unknown amount of time until Kingdra, slowed for just a moment, gave Vivillon the perfect opening. A Signal Beam struck Kingdra directly in the abdomen, causing it to howl in pain.
Kingdra tried to launch another attack, but there was no way Vivillon would give it the chance. Just as Kingdra began charging another Dragon Pulse, Vivillon threw out an Electric Web that landed squarely on its head.
Golden electricity surged through Kingdra's entire body. Screaming in agony, it was forced to cancel the attack.
One mistake and the whole battle was lost. Trapped inside the electric net, Kingdra was bombarded with another wave of Signal Beams and finally fainted.
General Damov still wanted to do something, but Vivillon reacted quickly—its wings flapped, and a breeze laced with Sleep Powder gently blew over. General Damov's body went limp, and he collapsed.
Yuga walked over to General Damov and checked his physical condition. When he didn't find anything wrong, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Vivillon, stay here and watch over General Damov and Kingdra. I'm going back in to take a look," Yuga said, pointing in the direction of the stone cavern.
"Vivillon~ Vivillon~"
Vivillon nodded and reminded Yuga to be careful.
Yuga returned to the passageway and stood at its exit, looking into the cavern. The white glowing particles that had been floating inside had now completely disappeared.
He thought for a moment and then picked up a glowing stone from the ground and threw it into the cavern. With a thunk, the stone fell into a cluster of glowing plants, smashing them into disarray.
The glowing plants weren't very tall—fully grown ones only reached up to Yuga's knees. But they had broad, oval-shaped leaves, and a fully developed leaf was about the size of Yuga's palm.
The entire plant was ghostly pale—from the roots and stems to the leaves, all of it the same color. There were no flowers, but both the leaves and stems were covered in fine hairs.
Yuga noticed that the white glowing particles he had seen earlier were attached to the wide leaves of these plants. Before floating into the air, the particles just quietly clung to the leaf surfaces. Only when the plant was slightly disturbed would the particles drift up and then dissolve into the air.
As Yuga closely observed the glowing plants, he suddenly noticed that part of the cluster hit by the stone had turned black and showed signs of withering.
Was it because of the stone?
The blackened parts of the plant were exactly where they had come into contact with the stone.
Yuga quickly picked up a few more stones and tossed them at other plants. Sure enough, those plants also started to blacken and wilt not long after.
Seeing this made Yuga very excited. If these glowing stones were truly a natural enemy of the glowing plants, then perhaps they were the key to undoing the abnormal conditions afflicting General Damov and the others.
Yuga thought for a moment and figured he should also gather some plant samples to study their characteristics. Maybe that would help in figuring out how to reverse the strange symptoms.
With that in mind, he called out Gengar.
"Gengar, use Psychic to collect a few of those plants for me."
"Gengar~"
Gengar responded and its eyes lit up with a purple glow as it extended its psychic power into the stone cavern.
However, the moment Gengar's psychic energy touched the plants, it completely disintegrated. It couldn't grab hold of the glowing plants at all. Gengar tried several times, but all attempts failed.
Seeing Gengar's face twist with frustration, Yuga asked in confusion, "What's wrong, Gengar?"
Gengar withdrew its psychic power and conveyed its experience to Yuga.
"You can't touch the plants with psychic energy?" Yuga exclaimed in surprise. At that moment, he became even more certain that the glowing plants were the source of General Damov's and the others' abnormal conditions.
He then called out Mismagius and Chimecho. As expected, their psychic power also failed to interact with the glowing plants. The moment their energy touched the plants, it dissipated completely.
Truly unbelievable!
With no other choice, Yuga released Serperior.
"Serperior, help me gather a few of those plants."
Serperior nodded and lashed out with its vines, successfully collecting some of the glowing plants with ease.
Since Serperior gathered them so effortlessly, Yuga had it collect a bit more—he planned to take some back to Mewtwo as well. Who knows, Mewtwo might really like this kind of plant.
Yuga didn't dare approach the plants directly. Instead, he threw a few boxes over from a distance and had Serperior put the plants into the boxes and seal them before retrieving them.
Yuga also noticed that many Poké Balls were scattered across the stone cavern. Guessing that they might belong to General Damov and the soldiers, he had Serperior collect those as well.
General Yukishiro was pacing anxiously, occasionally checking the condition of the unconscious soldiers.
At that moment, Venusaur suddenly let out a cry. She turned her head and saw Yuga slowly walking out from a passageway, alongside a Sawsbuck. On Sawsbuck's back was a person—none other than General Damov (Kingdra had already been returned to its Poké Ball).
General Yukishiro ran over joyfully and asked, "Mr. Shimizu, are you alright?"
Yuga shook his head and replied, "I'm fine. I fulfilled the mission—I've brought General Damov back."
General Yukishiro helped General Damov down from Sawsbuck's back. "Is the General in the same condition as the soldiers?"
Yuga nodded. "Yes. I might have found the cause of their condition, but how to return them to normal will take more time to figure out." Yuga then told her everything he had seen in the depths of the maze.
General Yukishiro was at a loss for what to do and could only accompany Yuga in bringing the soldiers back to meet with General Leo and the others.
General Leo and the rest had long been waiting impatiently—especially General Chiba. If General Leo hadn't stopped him, he might have rushed into the maze himself to find Yuga and the others. This showed just how highly General Damov was regarded by the troops.
So when everyone saw Yuga and General Yukishiro return with General Damov and the soldiers, they were so overjoyed some nearly cried. They were endlessly grateful to Yuga for finding General Damov.
"Alright, we've found everyone. Let's leave this place immediately," Yuga said to the group.
Everyone had been eager to leave for a long time. The moment they heard Yuga's words, they erupted in cheers.
Thanks to a few Swoobat guiding them, Yuga and the group easily found the exit of the maze cave.
However, upon exiting, Yuga looked at the unfamiliar surroundings and turned to ask the Swoobat leader, "This isn't the same place we came in through, is it?"
The Swoobat leader replied with an innocent face, "Well, you never said we had to go out the same way. This exit was closer to us."
This exit was actually known to almost no one. The Swoobat leader had only stumbled upon it by accident.
"Fine," Yuga sighed. Since they were already out, they couldn't very well go back in and walk the whole way again.
Meanwhile, the lord of the grassland was still loyally waiting for Yuga and the others at the original exit.
Because the new exit led to an unfamiliar place, Yuga's group had to spend quite some effort finding their way back. Fortunately, they had Flying-type Pokémon with them—otherwise, it would've been far harder to locate the path.
However, halfway through the journey, General Chiba suddenly fumed, "We're just going back like this?"
Thinking about how they had been tricked and trapped in the maze cave by the lord of the grassland for so long, General Chiba felt extremely indignant. It was unacceptable to just walk away without doing anything.
General Leo understood how General Chiba felt, so he asked, "Then what do you want to do?"
General Chiba looked at the Swoobat next to Yuga and said, "Mr. Shimizu, your Swoobat probably knows a lot about the lord of the grassland's affairs, right? Does it know where its's army is stationed?"
As soon as General Chiba said this, everyone instantly understood what he meant.
The Swoobat leader was deeply trusted by the lord of the grassland—virtually acting as its's intelligence chief—so of course, it knew the location where the enemy's army was stationed.
Sensing everyone's eyes on it, the Swoobat leader shrank behind Yuga and squeaked twice.
"What do you all want? I will never betray the lord of the grassland!"
The others couldn't understand the meaning behind the Swoobat leader's squeaks, but Yuga understood clearly.
General Leo said, "Forget it. If we run into it, none of us here would be a match for it."
What General Leo said didn't include Yuga—Yuga wasn't part of the Pioneer Army. He didn't want to morally pressure Yuga into helping them for free, acting as their enforcer.
In the Pioneer Army, the only one who could stand against the lord of the grassland was General Damov. Now that General Damov was unconscious, if they really did run into it, the rest of them wouldn't stand a chance.
However, Yuga was quite interested in General Chiba's proposal. He still wanted to take the opportunity to capture more Pokémon. So he silently recalled the Swoobat leader and released another Swoobat.
"Do you know where the lord of the grassland's army is stationed?" Yuga asked.
This Swoobat immediately nodded. It was perfectly willing to speak about what the Swoobat leader wouldn't.
Although the ordinary Swoobats didn't know the whereabouts of General Damov and the others, they did know where the enemy's army was stationed.
Yuga nodded with satisfaction, then said to General Chiba and the others, "I can go with you to raid the lord of the grassland's army, but when it comes to capturing Pokémon, I get first pick."
General Chiba didn't even have to think and immediately agreed: "No problem at all—pick however many you want."
The lord of the grassland had been delaying the Pioneer Army for too long. If they could use this opportunity to eliminate it, not to mention letting Yuga pick first—even if they handed over all the Pokémon to Yuga, General Chiba wouldn't object.
The Pioneer Army usually dealt with captured Pokémon by sending high-level ones away and returning low-level ones to the wilderness. They typically wouldn't capture them for themselves because the Pokémon in this region were too fierce and didn't get along well with humans, making them difficult to handle.
Of course, it was a different story for Pokémon with exceptionally high potential or those that someone took a particular liking to—such Pokémon were worth investing the time to bond with.
General Yukishiro thought this action was too risky and was about to voice her objection, but before she could, General Leo said, "If Mr. Shimizu is willing to help, this truly is an opportunity."
Hearing this, General Yukishiro could no longer object.
And so, the decision to attack the lord of the grassland's army was made. However, not everyone would be participating in the operation—General Yukishiro would lead a portion of the team to escort General Damov and the unconscious soldiers back to base.
Before parting, Yuga took out a box containing the glowing plants and a space backpack containing the glowing stones and handed them to General Yukishiro, asking her to give them to the legion's Pokémon doctors for research to see if a method could be found to cure General Damov and the others of their abnormal condition.
At the same time, he told her about the strange properties of the glowing plants and urged her to be cautious.