Yuga, feeling guilty upon hearing that, asked, "Is that very important?"
Mewtwo said irritably, "Everything I'm working on is very important!"
"Alright, I'm sorry," Yuga quickly apologized, "I'll be more careful next time. I brought you a gift, don't be mad anymore."
"What gift?" Mewtwo asked suspiciously. "Take it out and let me see."
Yuga took out the glowing stone and all the glowing plants from the system backpack.
"These two things are really amazing…"
Yuga told Mewtwo the results that Dr. Nanping had discovered, and Mewtwo immediately became extremely interested in both items.
Because Yuga had given him an advance warning, Mewtwo was very careful when opening the box containing the glowing plants. This stuff was deadly to Psychic-type Pokémon. Although Mewtwo was a mythical Pokémon, it still had to be cautious.
In order to study the two items, Mewtwo immediately got busy and tossed Yuga aside. No one knew how much time passed before it looked up and saw Yuga still standing there. So it spoke up and told him to leave:
"What are you still doing here? Hurry up and go, and be careful not to break my stuff!"
Just like that, Yuga was driven out of the lab. He had no choice but to wander around elsewhere. By the time he left the Ecopark, it was already almost noon.
After lunch, Yuga didn't go anywhere else. He stayed in the store to help the staff a bit. At that moment, Ash and his classmates walked in from outside.
"Yuga, when did you get back?" Ash was very happy to see Yuga.
Yuga replied in surprise, "I just got back yesterday. You came to buy something?"
Ash nodded and said, "I came with my classmates to buy some Pokéblocks."
During the time Yuga had gone to the Unova region, Ash didn't visit the YoYo Day Care very often. Unexpectedly, Yuga had just returned and Ash happened to bump into him.
Ash's classmates hadn't expected to see Yuga either. They all started whispering to each other excitedly on the side, looking very thrilled.
Yuga said to Ash, "You came at the perfect time. I brought you a gift."
Ash leaned in next to Yuga and asked, "What gift?"
Yuga took out a glowing stone about the size of a baby's fist and handed it to him, saying: "This is a magical stone I found in the wilderness of the Unova region. Not only does it glow, it also has the power to dispel illusions…"
Although Dr. Nanping hadn't fully figured out the glowing stones, he had confirmed that the stone was harmless to humans. That's why Yuga dared to take it out and give it as a gift.
After hearing that, Ash exclaimed in amazement, "That's so awesome!" and happily took the stone Yuga handed over, curiously rubbing it with his fingers.
The glowing stone Yuga gave Ash was of very high quality—crystal-clear like a gemstone, radiating a dazzling light that was almost dizzying.
"Oh right, help me give these few stones to Ryo and the others as well."
Saying that, Yuga took out three more glowing stones of roughly the same size and handed them to Ash. He wasn't someone who played favorites—if Ash got a gift, then naturally Ryo and the other three would get one too.
"Got it," Ash said as he accepted the stones and promised, "I'll deliver them to them once we're back at school."
Yuga nodded and said, "Alright then, go do your thing." As he spoke, Yuga headed out to the new store, planning to give Lain and his aunt and the others each a stone as a gift as well.
As soon as Yuga left, Ash's classmates surrounded him.
"Mr. Shimizu gave you something? Hurry and show us!"
"So jealous. If only Mr. Shimizu would give me a gift too."
"Wow, this stone is so beautiful. Is it some kind of gem?"
…
The classmates surrounded Ash and chattered endlessly, their tones full of envy toward him.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had passed since Yuga returned from the Unova region. The Pokémon he brought back were gradually becoming more and more accustomed to life in the Ecopark. Whether voluntarily or not, they were all adapting quite well.
That day, Ryo, Anlin, and Anmu returned from school during a break. Early in the morning, the three of them went together to the shop to visit Yuga. Just as they reached the entrance, they saw Yuga walking toward them from the opposite direction.
"Gym Leader, we're back!" Ryo took the initiative to greet Yuga.
But strangely, Yuga merely glanced at them, his gaze filled with unfamiliarity. Without saying a word, he lifted his foot and walked straight out of the shop.
The three of them looked at each other in confusion.
"What's wrong with the Gym Leader?" Anlin asked.
Anmu shook his head. "I don't know."
Ayaka, who had just finished sending a customer off, saw the three of them standing dazed at the doorway and asked curiously, "Why aren't you going in? Why are you standing around at the door?"
"Sister Ayaka, did you notice something weird about the Gym Leader?" Anlin told her about Yuga's strange behavior just now.
After hearing it, Ayaka suddenly understood what was going on and burst out laughing. "Haha... what you saw just now wasn't the boss at all."
At that moment, Yuga came downstairs from the upper floor. Ayaka pointed at him and said, "Look, isn't the boss right there? He never went out!"
The three of them were terrified. What... what was going on? Did they just see a ghost?
It turned out that what they had seen earlier wasn't Yuga at all—it was the leader of the Ditto group, who had transformed into him. The Ditto leader's transformation and mimicry skills had reached an advanced level, making it nearly impossible for the average person to detect any flaws. No wonder Ryo and the others had mistaken it for Yuga.
Since settling down in the Ecopark, the Ditto leader often left the park. Sometimes it would wander around the shop, and occasionally it would even go out for a stroll.
Most of the time, Ditto wouldn't reveal its true form. It would either transform into Douduo, Gothitelle, or other Pokémon that frequently helped out at the shop, or it would take on the form of Ayaka or Suzuki, the shop employees.
Occasionally, it would also disguise itself as Yuga.
At first, everyone used to get confused. Although Ditto's transformed appearance looked very similar to the person it was imitating, it didn't mimic their movements or expressions with much effort. Plus, it couldn't speak, so over time, everyone became less likely to be fooled.
Ryo and the others spent most of their time at school and had never encountered Ditto before, which is why they were deceived.
After Ayaka explained everything, the three of them finally understood and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Over on the street, Ditto walked out of the shop and began wandering around. The neighbors who saw it all greeted it warmly, clearly mistaking it for Yuga.
Ditto couldn't talk, so it simply smiled and waved at everyone it passed. Because of that, no one realized it wasn't the real Yuga.
Ditto used to be a trainer's Pokémon. Although it had lived in the wilderness for many years, it still occasionally longed for the days it had spent with its trainer. After returning to the human world, it greatly enjoyed walking around the streets like this.
Many of its memories from the past had become blurred. Now when it tried to recall its days living among humans, it felt like it was dreaming—it all seemed so unreal.
Verdanturf City was nothing like Ditto's original hometown, which made it feel somewhat disoriented. But even so, it still enjoyed strolling through the streets like this.
At that moment, Chatot and Fletchinder flew overhead and happened to spot "Yuga" below. They immediately descended, one on each of "Yuga's" shoulders.
"Dear, what are you doing out here so early in the morning?" Chatot asked.
These days, Chatot and Fletchinder had been training beside Ho-Oh's skeleton in the Island Ecopark. Today was their first time returning to the shop, so they had never seen the new member—Ditto.
However, thanks to their hard work these days, both Pokémon had become much stronger. Because Chatot was already at a high level, the change wasn't very noticeable, but it was different for Fletchinder, who was at a lower level—its level rose rapidly as if it had taken some kind of magical elixir, making many other Pokémon jealous.
"Yuga" turned his head to look at Chatot, then at Fletchinder, his eyes filled with confusion: Who are you two?
Chatot's expression suddenly changed. It flew up from "Yuga's" shoulder and squawked loudly.
"You're not my dear! Who are you? What's your purpose in turning into my dear?"
Chatot loudly questioned Ditto. Because it was so familiar with Yuga, it could very easily detect the differences between Ditto and the real Yuga.
Fletchinder, hearing this, also hurriedly flew up from Ditto's shoulder and stared at Ditto with a wary expression.
゛('◇')? Ditto looked at Chatot in complete bewilderment.
Chatot thought Ditto was just putting on an act. With a flap of its wings, a blade of air shot straight toward Ditto.
Because they were on a public street, Chatot didn't use its full power—the air blade was well-controlled and restrained.
However, because Chatot spoke so loudly, a crowd had already gathered. Seeing Chatot suddenly attack "Yuga," everyone gasped in shock.
Ditto hadn't expected Chatot to suddenly attack and was hit in the abdomen by the air blade. It let out a muffled groan, then with a soft "poof," it transformed into a lump of Ditto, squishy and bouncy, even bouncing twice on the ground upon landing.
"As expected, you're not my dear! Who sent you? What's your purpose?" Chatot questioned loudly.
Fletchinder also flew over in a fury, flames flickering from its body as it glared aggressively at Ditto. If Ditto made the slightest wrong move, Fletchinder was ready to attack.
Then, the Ditto on the ground twisted its body, and in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a perfect replica of Chatot, flying up to face the real Chatot, now locked in a standoff.
However, even though Ditto was a Pokémon of Elite level, it couldn't compare to Chatot in terms of presence and aura. Very quickly, it began to fall into a disadvantage.
"Flygon~"
At that moment, a dragon's roar echoed from the sky. Flygon descended from above, landing right between the two Pokémon.
It had been patrolling the skies and stopped by when it noticed something was wrong.
As soon as Chatot saw Flygon, it started squawking again.
"Big guy, look! I found a suspicious Pokémon. It turned into Yuga—there's definitely some shady conspiracy going on!"
Flygon instantly recognized Ditto and gave it a friendly nod. Then it flicked its tail and swatted Chatot twice. Although it wasn't a hard hit, it sent Chatot tumbling in the air with two somersaults.
"What are you doing?! The enemy is over there!" Chatot protested angrily.
"Flygon~ Flygon~"
He's a new Pokémon at the Day Care.
Flygon explained.
"R-Really?"
Chatot was stunned when it heard that. After a long moment, it finally responded awkwardly with a single sentence.
Fletchinder also felt secondhand embarrassment for Chatot…
Seeing the misunderstanding had been cleared up, Ditto landed on the ground again and transformed back into Yuga's form, turned around without a word, and walked off expressionlessly.
The onlookers, seeing that the situation had calmed down, also went back to their own business.
"Flygon~"
Don't make such a fuss next time.
Flygon dropped one last comment and then flew away.
Chatot looked at Flygon, then at Ditto, who was walking farther and farther away, and after a bit of thought, it led Fletchinder to chase after Ditto.
The two little birds once again landed one on each of Ditto's shoulders. Chatot said with a big smile, "Big bro, sorry about earlier. I was too rash. I'm here to apologize."
Who's your big bro?! Ditto turned its head and gave Chatot a glance, thinking: This guy has no shame!
Seeing that Ditto didn't respond, Chatot wasn't upset. Instead, it became even more enthusiastic and said, "Big bro, you just arrived in Verdanturf City, right? You must not be very familiar with the place yet, huh? How about I show you around? There's no place in Verdanturf that I don't know!"
Fletchinder, sitting on Ditto's other shoulder, thought to itself: As expected of Chatot—truly a role model for our kind!
Ditto stopped in its tracks upon hearing this, looked at Chatot, pondered for a few seconds, and then nodded.
Chatot immediately burst into laughter and said, "Let's go, let's go… I'll take Big Bro to experience the prosperous and lively Verdanturf City!"
Over on Yuga's side, after chatting with Ryo and the others for a while, he sent them off and turned to head into the Ecopark, intending to check on whether Mewtwo had made any progress in researching the glowing plants and glowing stones.
He hadn't gone to see Mewtwo in over ten days—not because he didn't want to, but because Mewtwo had specifically sent an assistant to inform him not to disturb the lab unless necessary.
Yuga didn't understand. How was he disturbing anything! He was clearly just being caring toward Mewtwo!
Seriously, heartbroken!
But Yuga had indeed not stepped a single foot into the Haunted House Sub-Ecopark for over ten days.
Now, as he re-entered the Haunted House Sub-Ecopark, the Jellicent couple brainwashing speeches had already been discontinued for several days. Currently, the Frillish and Jellicent group were living quite peacefully in the Ghost Sea.
Yuga was walking along the path toward the lab when he suddenly caught, out of the corner of his eye, a faint white glow coming from a corner of the stone castle.
Curious, Yuga followed the direction of the glow, but when he saw clearly what it was, he was startled and jumped.
"This… this…" Yuga pointed at a small flowerbed full of glowing plants and asked, "You planted all this?"
Mewtwo was there too, holding a watering can and watering the glowing plants.
"Yes," Mewtwo replied, not even lifting his head.
"This is very dangerous. If you plant it here and it hurts other Pokémon, what then?" Yuga asked worriedly.
"Oh, there's no need to worry about that."
As he spoke, Mewtwo floated above the flowerbed and clapped his hands. A "boom boom" sound echoed in the air.
Only then did Yuga notice that the entire flowerbed was enclosed in a transparent shield. The glowing particles floating up from the plant leaves dissipated immediately upon touching the shield and couldn't escape at all.
"I added a bit of powdered glowing stone to the materials used for the shield, so it isolates the toxins from the glowing plants very well. You don't need to worry," Mewtwo explained. "I was afraid the glowing plants you brought back wouldn't be enough for research, so I grew a few myself."
The glowing plants had been carried back by Yuga in the system's backpack, and some of them still had intact root systems and remained alive.
The environment in the Haunted House Sub-Ecopark was quite suitable for the growth of glowing plants, so it didn't take long before they started thriving again.
After hearing Mewtwo's explanation, Yuga finally felt reassured: "As long as… you're happy with it."
Then Mewtwo added, "Why don't we give this plant and the stone a proper name? It feels awkward to keep calling them by your temporary names."
Yuga said indifferently, "Sure, I don't mind."
"You brought them back, so you name them," Mewtwo said.