The dizzy and disoriented Wishiwashi had no way to form their School Form, and naturally, they no longer had any fighting power. For a moment, Popo and Shaya didn't know whether they should attack or not.
Shaya and Yuga landed back on Popo's back. Looking at the Bruxish clutched in Decidueye's talons, Shaya asked in puzzlement, "What's going on?"
Yuga did not voice his own suspicion but instead pointed at the Bruxish and said, "Ask it yourself."
Although Bruxish was not some large fish-type Pokémon, its personality was quite ferocious, and its mouthful of sharp teeth carried considerable intimidation.
At first, it did not cooperate with Yuga and the others' questioning, wearing a vicious expression as if it might pounce at any moment to tear into them. But under Decidueye's intimidation, it soon had no choice but to surrender.
It turned out that when this Bruxish was very young, because its coloration was different from others of its kind, it had been driven out of its own group by the other Bruxish.
Later, while wandering, it encountered a group of Wishiwashi. At that time, the Wishiwashi school was nowhere near the size it was now, its overall strength pitifully weak, its always bullied by various other groups in the ocean.
Because its coloration was close to that of Wishiwashi, the Bruxish made friends with a few of them.
However, Bruxish's intentions were not pure. Born with exceptional talent and unusually strong psychic power, it could influence nearby Pokémon without them even realizing it. Under its psychic interference, those few Wishiwashi gradually became hypnotized into believing it was one of their own.
As time passed, more and more members of the Wishiwashi school were bewitched by the Bruxish. Eventually, they all regarded it as one of their kind, while the influence of its psychic power over the school grew stronger and stronger.
When the Bruxish became powerful enough, it had successfully taken the position of leader of the Wishiwashi school. But since the Wishiwashi had already been brainwashed, they didn't feel anything was amiss.
Although a single Wishiwashi was very weak, their species had a very special trait—when gathered together, they could become a powerful Pokémon. This ability allowed the Bruxish to thrive like a fish in water.
It demanded that the Wishiwashi actively merge their psychic energy into its own, and once they formed their School Form, they were to hand over control of their consciousness to it. And thus, a special kind of Wishiwashi school was born.
Because of this, the Wishiwashi school gradually gained a certain status in this part of the sea. Once their overall strength reached the Elite level, they became an overlord in these waters.
Over time, the Bruxish's control over the Wishiwashi school grew stronger, and the Wishiwashi also gradually developed a dependence on it, to the point that they could no longer leave it.
Having become the overlord of these waters, the Bruxish gradually became more and more overbearing, often leading the Wishiwashi to bully other Pokémon, to the extent that most of the nearby Water-type Pokémon had moved away.
This made the Bruxish very angry.
So, when Popo carried Yuga and the others into its territory, it noticed immediately. Having gone so long without bullying other Pokémon, the Bruxish couldn't wait to use Popo to regain its sense of presence.
Unexpectedly, it ended up being defeated in the end.
After explaining its own situation, the Bruxish lay under Decidueye's talons with a look of complete despair, its eyes half-open and half-closed, as if to say: There, that's it. Do with me as you will!
Shaya crouched down and poked the Bruxish with her hand, saying, "Didn't expect you to be pretty impressive!"
Being poked like that, the Bruxish opened its mouth full of sharp teeth and snapped its jaws a few times with a "ka-ka-ka" sound, as if it wanted to bite Shaya's fingers right off, scaring her into hastily pulling her hand back.
"Decidueye~ Decidueye~"
Don't cause trouble!
Seeing this, Decidueye stomped hard on the Bruxish, making it quickly shut its mouth in pain.
"How are you going to deal with this Bruxish?" Daigo asked.
Yuga thought for a moment, then took out a Poké Ball and tossed it, capturing the Bruxish inside.
"It's rare to encounter a Shiny Pokémon. It would be a pity not to catch it."
The Bruxish was quite tenacious. After being put into the Poké Ball, it quickly broke free, so Decidueye stomped on it hard twice more, and then it didn't dare to struggle again.
Because they no longer had the Bruxish's command, all the Wishiwashi gathered around Popo, gazing at it with hopeful eyes, no longer showing any of their earlier arrogance.
Yuga opened the Poké Ball, letting the Bruxish return to the sea, and said to it, "Take the Wishiwashi and follow along."
Because of the constraint of the Poké Ball, the Bruxish couldn't get too far away from Yuga, so it had no choice but to accept its fate.
As soon as the Wishiwashi saw their leader return, they rushed forward one after another to surround it, and before long they had once again formed their School Form. The Bruxish then disappeared into the mass of Wishiwashi.
"Let's go!"
And so, the four of them rode on Popo and continued their journey, with the Bruxish leading the School Form Wishiwashi obediently following behind.
With such a huge force as the Wishiwashi school trailing along, Yuga and the others' journey became even safer. Several days later, the four successfully arrived at the port of Slateport City.
Before they entered the port, Yuga and the others dismounted from Popo, as Popo would be returning on its own.
Shaya reluctantly said goodbye to Popo: "Popo, travel safely. When I have time, I'll come back to visit you!"
"Wailord~"
Popo swam farther and farther away, letting out a series of long calls, also reluctant to part from Shaya.
Yuga also did not allow the Wishiwashi and the Bruxish to enter the port. He handed Bruxish's Poké Ball to Lapras, letting Lapras lead them to rest in an uninhabited stretch of water next to the port.
Since it was already getting late, Yuga and the others decided to stay in Slateport City for the night before continuing on.
"Let's go to my aunt's place!" Robert suggested.
Hearing this reminder, Yuga remembered that Robert's aunt's family ran a seaside resort hotel in Slateport City called "Seaside Home." Back when he brought his store employees to Slateport City for team building, they had stayed there.
The four of them then headed for Seaside Home, and before going, Robert gave his aunt a call to let her know.
When the four arrived at Seaside Home, Robert's uncle was already standing at the hotel entrance waiting for them.
He still remembered Yuga, so upon seeing them, he greeted them with great warmth, ushering them inside while saying, "Why come so suddenly? If you had told us earlier, we could have made some preparations."
"The League had a mission, and we've just returned from completing it," Robert replied. "What's there to prepare? Just arrange something casually; we're not outsiders."
As they talked, the conversation turned to Robert's cousin, Chris.
"That child never comes home. Sigh… she's like a wild girl."
Although Robert's uncle complained with his mouth, when he spoke of his daughter, his face was full of smiles. He didn't look angry at all—in fact, there was a faint pride in his expression.
Like her cousin Robert, Chris was a Coordinator. Although she wasn't as famous as Robert, she was still fairly well-known within the industry and often had to go out to participate in competitions and performances. As a result, she was away from home most of the time.
After entering the hotel, Yuga and the others also met Chris's mother, Robert's aunt. She was even more enthusiastic than Robert's uncle, quickly arranging rooms for Yuga and the others and preparing a sumptuous dinner.
It was Shaya's first real glimpse of the human world—beautiful architecture, bustling crowds, dazzling varieties of food—all of it left her wide-eyed and overwhelmed.
After dinner, Steven stayed behind at the hotel to write the mission report for this trip, while Yuga and Robert were dragged out by Shaya to go explore and broaden her horizons.
Slateport City was one of the most famous tourist cities in the Hoenn region. Being a seaside city with a rather special climate, even though it was already autumn and winter, the weather here was pleasantly mild. Once night fell, tourists out enjoying themselves were everywhere.
Although Shaya was already several hundred years old, because she had lived on the secluded Dragon Island in the past, her personality was extremely simple and pure.
Upon seeing the lively bustle of a human city, she had long since thrown to the back of her mind all those vows she once made about staying by her ancestor's side. Along the way, she kept buying and buying without stopping, while Yuga and Robert followed behind her paying for everything.
Fortunately, both of them could be considered wealthy and didn't care about such an amount, so they simply let Shaya do as she pleased. Moreover, although Shaya bought many things, none of them were particularly valuable.
It was not until midnight that the three of them finally returned to Seaside Home.
Originally, Steven was full of resentment at being left behind alone in the hotel to write the report, but upon seeing Yuga and Robert returning with their bodies covered in large and small bags, he felt that staying in the hotel to write the report wasn't such a bad thing after all.
Even the space backpacks weren't enough to hold it all!
They didn't stay long in Slateport City; the next morning they were already preparing to leave.
At this point, the group was about to part ways.
Steveb was returning to the Hoenn League Headquarters. The dense fog in Verdanturf City earlier and this trip to Dragon Island both needed him to go back to headquarters to make a report. Besides, he wanted to quickly wrap up this mission so he could head off to explore Unova!
Robert decided to stay at his aunt's place for two more days, while Yuga and Shaya would return together to Verdanturf City.
Because Shaya didn't have any form of identification and was still technically undocumented, she couldn't take any public transportation. Yuga had no choice but to travel back to Verdanturf with her by Pokémon.
Since the Wishiwashi would be traveling with them as well, Yuga decided to take the water route. Although it was a bit of a detour, it didn't matter.
Thus, the two rode on Water-type Pokémon, bringing along the Bruxish and the Wishiwashi. First, they followed the coastline into a river, then continued along the river into the interior. After several days, they finally returned to Verdanturf City.
Yuga settled the Bruxish and the Wishiwashi in the Green Jade River. He had no plans to put this group of fish into the Ecopark.
The Green Jade River was the mother river of Verdanturf City, winding around the entire city and sustaining it. Therefore, Yuga decided to raise a group of fish in it to protect the Green Jade River—Bruxish and the Wishiwashi were perfect for the job.
However, when Yuga brought Shaya back, a huge misunderstanding occurred.
The store employees, Aunt Hisako, and the others saw Yuga bring home a "young" and beautiful girl, and they thought Yuga had found a girlfriend. One after another, they gossiped about it for quite a while.
It wasn't until the matter reached Yuga himself that they learned it was a misunderstanding.
Because Shaya was so simple-minded, Yuga had her stay for a while with the girls Misaki and Lain, so she could learn from them the common sense needed to live in the human world.
The girls quickly became close friends.
When Shaya learned about the misunderstanding that had happened with Yuga, she said to Lain and the others in shy embarrassment, "What are you all thinking? That guy would be too young to even be my grandson! How could there be anything between us!"
Only then did Lain and the others realize that this little girl, who looked only about ten-something years old, was actually already several hundred years old, and for a moment they were utterly astonished.
A few more days passed, and Shaya obtained the League's official citizenship. She was no longer undocumented, and her place of birth was registered as Verdanturf City.
After returning, Steveb reported Shaya's matter to the higher-ups. The League did not pay much attention to Shaya's origins, and very easily agreed to Steven's request to help Shaya obtain League citizenship.
Shaya's identity was special—her birthplace could not be listed as Dragon Island, so it could only be recorded as Verdanturf City.
At the same time, regarding Dragon Island, the League established confidential files about it. Clearly, the League did not intend to interfere with Dragon Island's development, nor did they plan to reveal information about Dragon Island.
The League had always taken a peaceful stance toward powerful groups of wild Pokémon. This was also one of the conditions that allowed them to cooperate with Legendary Pokémon and borrow the power of these Legendary Pokémon.
After some time, Shaya gradually adapted to life in the human world—or rather, she adapted extremely well—and she was also very well-behaved.
On Dragon Island, Shaya had lived a carefree life without any concept of laws. Yuga had initially been worried she would not be able to adapt to a human society full of rules, but in fact, the opposite was true—she thrived in the human world.
The novelty of the human world had long since made her forget all the unpleasantness she had experienced on Dragon Island.
However, there was one issue—she spent her days doing nothing at all. If she wasn't lazing around at home, she was wandering aimlessly outside. Yuga felt that this couldn't go on forever.
So, one day, he sought out Shaya.
"You've been in Verdanturf City for a while now. What are your plans for the future?" Yuga asked.
"Plans?" Shaya looked completely puzzled. "What plans?"
Yuga said helplessly, "Don't tell me you're just going to spend every day doing nothing? I can't possibly support you for the rest of your life!"
"Oh… right…" Shaya finally reacted. "I can't just keep spending your money…" After speaking, she wore a thoughtful expression.
During her time living in the human world, she had already come to fully understand the importance of money. Now that Yuga had reminded her, she truly felt it wasn't right to keep eating Yuga's food and living under Yuga's roof.
Seeing that Shaya had taken his words to heart, Yuga said with satisfaction, "Have you thought about what you want to do? No matter what, you need to find something to occupy yourself with."
Shaya thought for a long time but couldn't think of anything she could actually do. Finally, she said to Yuga: "How about you hire me as an employee at your store? The salary doesn't have to be high—just provide food and lodging, and that's fine."
Yuga was amused and asked helplessly, "And what do you think you can do in the store?"
Right… I don't seem to be able to do anything!
Hearing this, Shaya realized that working at YoYo's Day Care might not suit her. She couldn't sell things, couldn't attract customers, couldn't care for Pokémon, and couldn't make Pokéblocks or incense.
"Ah! What a bother!" Shaya scratched her hair in frustration. "The only thing I can do is sing!"
"You can sing?" At this moment, Ninetales' voice suddenly came from outside the door. "Really? Sing for me!"
"You're back!" Yuga saw that it was Ninetales and casually greeted it.
During the time Yuga had been back, Ninetales had been staying with Karuna, and it was obvious that it had just returned today. Seeing Yuga treat it so offhandedly, Ninetales didn't mind in the least—it still looked extremely interested in Shaya.
Shaya was already used to Pokémon who could use telepathy, and seeing Ninetales so enthusiastic, she happily said, "Sure, sure!"
So Shaya sang a short piece for Ninetales right then and there.