Bagon's Dream of the Sky

After Scolipede was once again restrained by Salazzle, she decided to roast it with her corrosive flames. Her fiery tongue licked across Scolipede's body in an instant.

It wasn't until the searing pain hit that Scolipede snapped out of Salazzle's hormonal allure. It rolled violently on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames, but the fire was too corrosive. In no time, its armored exoskeleton was left covered in pits and holes.

Without its protective armor, Scolipede's defenses were significantly weakened.

Saskia's Salazzle had been specially bred. Not only was its venom stronger than a typical Salazzle's, but it also had a unique combination of fire and poison, forming a special "venomous flame." The venom would break through defenses, while the flames did the attacking, making the combination extremely destructive.

If it weren't a life-or-death situation, Saskia rarely used Salazzle in battle. Most people only ever saw her parading around with her Arcanine, but in truth, her Salazzle was far stronger.

Under the torment of the venomous flames, Scolipede quickly lost its fighting spirit and collapsed soon after.

Seeing this, Busan Ming immediately tried to release another Pokémon, but Salazzle wasn't going to give him the chance. In a flash, she appeared in front of him. With a quick flick of her nimble tail, there was a crisp "snap" — Busan Ming's wrist, which held a Poké Ball, was broken.

The confined space of the sewer might have hindered the movements of other Pokémon, but for the agile Salazzle, it posed no problem.

"Aaah!"

Busan Ming screamed in agony from the pain in his wrist. Without hesitation, he turned and fled, but before he could run more than two steps, Salazzle reappeared in front of him. With a casual slap, she knocked him to the ground.

The slap was just a basic move, not very powerful. Moreover, Salazzle wasn't particularly skilled in physical attacks, so Busan Ming simply fainted rather than sustaining serious injuries.

While Saskia was finishing up with Busan Ming, Yuga had already dealt with the two crazed women, Bryony and Mable. His Breloom followed behind him, carrying one woman under each arm, and tossed them at Saskia's feet like garbage, leaving her speechless.

"That's a bit unfriendly to the ladies! Even if they're criminals..."

Luckily, Bryony and Mable were already unconscious from Breloom's hits. Otherwise, they'd feel deeply humiliated by Yuga's rough treatment.

Just then, Yuga heard Masato Shirai's Arcanine groaning in pain and casually asked Saskia, "Is it poisoned?"

Saskia nodded. "Yes, that Drapion's poison seems particularly tricky to handle."

Hearing this, Yuga recalled Breloom into its Poké Ball and sent out Chimecho.

"Chimecho, help out Arcanine."

"Chimecho! Chimecho!"

Chimecho floated happily above Arcanine, and the soothing sound of its bell-like body filled the air. Arcanine, whose face had been twisted in pain, immediately calmed down.

Masato Shirai looked on gratefully and said, "Thank you, Gym Leader Shimizu."

"No problem, we're all colleagues here. It's the least I could do," Yuga replied nonchalantly, waving off the thanks. "We should finish up here."

He glanced at Busan Ming, unconscious at Saskia's feet, but showed no sign of recognizing the man.

Busan Ming, in his unconscious state: ... All that caution for nothing.

With Bryony, Mable, and Busan Ming, the three leaders, out of the picture, the remaining members of Team Flare and the bounty hunter group were swiftly taken care of by Masato Shirai's reinforcements.

"Report: all criminals have been apprehended. There shouldn't be any stragglers!"

After a thorough headcount, Masato Shirai's subordinate reported the final results to him.

Masato Shirai nodded in satisfaction. "Good work, everyone. Make sure they're all taken back and properly detained!"

That night, neither Masato Shirai nor the police had any time for sleep. The Sunflora Generator was successfully recovered, but its core device had been dismantled. Verdanturf Town still needed specialized technicians to reinstall it.

The Sunflora Generator is a large machine, and it was fortunate that the spatial backpack containing its components hadn't been lost. Otherwise, moving the generator out of the sewer would have been a serious problem.

After a sleepless night, Masato Shirai not only had to handle the interrogation of the captured criminals but also had to contact the Kalos League to report on the capture of Bryony and Mable. He was overwhelmed with tasks!

The Verdanturf Town police made significant contributions this time by simultaneously capturing the remnants of Team Flare and a bounty hunter group. Both the League and the Jenny family highly praised Masato Shirai and Saskia for their excellent work.

After receiving all the accolades, Masato Shirai absentmindedly hung up the phone, suddenly remembering what Liliana had said to him before she left: "Working in Verdanturf, you've hit the jackpot!"

Come to think of it, this accomplishment really fell into their laps. Aside from leading the team to make arrests, he and Saskia Jenny hadn't contributed much else.

When Yuga had informed him the previous night to bring a team to the sewers for an arrest, Masato Shirai had found the request a bit sudden, but now he was immensely grateful that he hadn't refused.

In retrospect, didn't they just win effortlessly? Masato Shirai finally understood why Liliana had been promoted so quickly!

After this incident, Masato Shirai realized how invaluable a good teammate could be. Having worked at many different police departments, he had encountered all kinds of League colleagues. Some didn't just fail to help with the work but would even drag you down.

Having received such an easy and significant achievement, Masato Shirai thought he should take Yuga out for a meal sometime as thanks.

While Masato Shirai was neck-deep in work, Yuga was much more relaxed. After the arrests, the situation was no longer his responsibility.

With the League tournament having recently ended, there were very few challengers coming to the gym, so Yuga devoted all his work to training the Sunflora.

However, the main force behind the Sunflora's training was his Grass-type Pokémon, and since the Sunflora were already making good progress, Yuga had some free time to engage in a bit of "personal use of public resources."

Anyway, since the League was covering the expenses for the training facility, Yuga figured there was no harm in using it to train his own Pokémon.

It had to be said—getting free access to such a place was fantastic! The training equipment here really did boost efficiency, like the gravity chamber and the projectile machines.

Cosmog, being in a special situation, usually had limited training options, mostly meditating, but the gravity chamber was perfect for assisting its training.

While Yuga's Chimecho could also use the Gravity move, its gravity had no effect on Cosmog. Cosmog would simply use its psychic power to create a psychic terrain, neutralizing Chimecho's gravity with ease.

However, the gravity in the chamber was different. It wasn't formed by a Psychic-type's mental power, so it couldn't be neutralized by psychic force.

In order to resist the gravity in the chamber, Cosmog had to constantly use its psychic abilities to protect itself, using Cosmic Power to strengthen its defense. This not only increased its mental strength but also honed its control over its psychic powers.

Human technology was impressive at times—the gravity multiplier in the chamber could be adjusted, and at its highest, it was even stronger than Chimecho's Gravity.

Another example was the projectile machine in the training room, which could fire disks at super high speeds, making it ideal for Kartana to practice its swordsmanship.

Kartana's speed was so fast that as its sword skills improved, normal training methods were no longer effective. But the super-high-speed disks shot by the projectile machine could sharpen its eye-hand coordination, accuracy, reaction speed, and strike precision.

Though the training provided by the projectile machine was quite basic, mastering the basics was the key to success.

Currently, Yuga's Grass-type Pokémon were all training under Florges, while Absol and the others had gone to the Distortion World, leaving only a few young ones like Bagon and Mimikyu under Yuga's watch.

However, Yuga had noticed that Bagon had been acting strange lately. Often, during training, it would zone out.

Sure enough, today, when Yuga instructed it to swipe its claws at a punching bag a thousand times, it slowed down before even reaching a hundred.

Mimikyu, who was next to Bagon practicing Shadow Claw, noticed Bagon's sluggish movements and couldn't help but poke it, using its eyes to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Bagon?"

Bagon turned its head, puzzled, looking at Mimikyu, clearly not understanding the message in its gaze.

Mimikyu: "…Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? And now you're asking me!"

Noticing their little interaction, Yuga called out, "What's going on with you two?"

"Bagon!"

Bagon shrugged its shoulders (or claws) in confusion, looking innocent, as if to say, "Mimikyu was the one who distracted me first."

Mimikyu: "…Seriously?!"

For the first time, Mimikyu, who usually acted as the elder, tattled on Bagon—claiming it wasn't focusing on training!

In fact, Bagon wasn't pretending to be innocent. It simply hadn't realized that its movements had slowed down.

After hearing Mimikyu's explanation, Yuga called Bagon over. "Bagon, come here for a second!" He knew Mimikyu was telling the truth; he had also noticed that Bagon hadn't been in top form these past few days.

"Bagon?"

What's up?

Bagon walked over to Yuga, tilting its head up with a puzzled look. Its big, clear eyes were filled with innocence.

Yuga felt like his heart had taken a critical hit—cuteness overload! Especially since Bagon wasn't even aware of how adorable it was being.

To be honest, Bagon was a special case. Since it was born, it had always been well-behaved and never caused Yuga any trouble. But having raised so many Pokémon, Yuga knew that some challenges were bound to come sooner or later.

Yuga squatted down, gently patting Bagon's head, and asked with a concerned tone, "Bagon, have you been troubled by something recently? If there's anything on your mind, feel free to share it with me."

Hearing Yuga's words, Bagon seemed a bit uneasy. It glanced over at Kartana in the distance, looking as if it wanted to say something but hesitated.

Following Bagon's gaze, Yuga saw Kartana swiftly moving through the air. Confused, he asked, "What about Kartana?"

Bagon shook its head but remained silent.

Sighing, Yuga gently encouraged, "Bagon, you can tell us your worries without hesitation. We're family, after all."

"Bagon, Bagon, Bagon?"

Bagon shuffled its feet nervously and then asked Yuga a question.

Yuga nearly fell over laughing when he heard it—Bagon had asked, "Why can everyone fly, but I can't?"

Yuga wasn't sure how to respond to such an innocent yet profound question. Maybe Groudon would like to ask the same thing.

It wasn't surprising that Bagon had such a concern, as most Bagon dreamt of flying. This desire seemed ingrained in their very DNA.

Many of Yuga's main Pokémon could fly—Dragonite, Charizard, Vivillon, Chimecho, Lapras, Gengar, Mismagius, Decidueye, Cosmog, and Kartana. Surrounded by so many Pokémon that can flying, it was no wonder Bagon was envious.

But no matter how envious Bagon was, it simply couldn't fly yet.

Yuga could only console it by saying, "Bagon, if you keep training hard, you'll be able to fly once you evolve into Salamence. There's no need to rush."

"Bagon…"

Bagon's expression fell as it heard this. It knew that it would take a long time to evolve into Salamence, but it wanted to fly now, more than anything.

Seeing Bagon's dejected face, Yuga felt both helpless and heartbroken. Bagon was usually so well-behaved, and the more upset it became, the more Yuga's heart ached.

Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon like Bagon required a lot of time to evolve. The only reason Dratini had evolved into Dragonite so quickly was due to the help of the Yellow Orb. Bagon didn't have such luck.

Thinking this over, Yuga said, "Bagon, would you like to experience what it's like to fly?"

"Bagon?"

Really?

Bagon's eyes lit up with excitement, its large, bright eyes sparkling with hope. There was even a touch of admiration in its gaze, as if Yuga were its hero.

Yuga's ego swelled with pride.

"Come on! Let's go try it out!"

Overcome by Bagon's cuteness, Yuga boldly picked it up and, with a sense of mission, carried it out of the training room.

"Gengar, Mismagius, come here!"

Once outside, Yuga called on Gengar and Mismagius. With their Psychic powers, they lifted Yuga and Bagon into the air.

By now, autumn had settled in Hoenn. While it was still warm on the ground, the temperature was much cooler at higher altitudes, with a cold wind blowing. Yuga felt a bit chilly, but Bagon was exhilarated. It looked down at the rapidly shrinking Verdanturf Town below and let out a cry of excitement.

Seeing Bagon this happy for the first time, Yuga thought it was worth enduring the cold.

Carried by Gengar and Mismagius, they flew a great distance and eventually reached the edge of Petalburg Woods, yet Bagon was still full of enthusiasm.

The little guy became more and more excited, eventually deciding that flying with Mismagius wasn't thrilling enough. It asked Mismagius to drop it from the sky so it could experience real flight!

Yuga's face turned pale at the request. This little guy was way too bold! How could it ask for such a dangerous thing? From this height, a fall would be fatal!

In the end, Yuga couldn't resist Bagon's hopeful gaze and agreed. But, of course, he made sure that Mismagius would use Psychic to catch Bagon before it hit the ground.