Why Are You Here Again?

Time flew by quickly, and before anyone realized it, it was already time for the Kalos League Tournament. Since Ash was participating in the tournament, Yuga was at home watching the live broadcast that day.

This year's Kalos League Tournament was held several days earlier than in previous years, so what was originally supposed to be a summer event was now being held in late spring.

Ash's strength was still very solid—most people simply weren't his match—so he easily breezed through the preliminary rounds and made it into the main tournament.

In fact, according to Yuga, with Ash's current strength, there was really no need for him to continue participating in League tournaments. After all, he had already taken part so many times and even won the championship; continuing to participate wouldn't do much to further improve his abilities.

But traveling more wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Soon, the television broadcast showed Ash making another appearance. This round was the Top 16 to Top 8 match, so the atmosphere was noticeably more intense than the previous ones.

According to the rules, Ash's opponent chose a grassy battlefield and sent out a Barbaracle.

Just as Yuga was wondering which Pokémon Ash would send out to counter it, he saw a Pokémon appear that surprised him.

Hoopa! More precisely, it was Hoopa Confined.

Yuga had already learned from Wallace that Team Rocket had also gotten their hands on a Hoopa. Based on what he remembered from the original story, he deduced that the Hoopa they had obtained was likely its evil though.

Over a hundred years ago, Hoopa committed many misdeeds and had its evil thoughts extracted and sealed inside the Prison Bottle by the people of the Arche Valley. As a result, Hoopa transformed from its Unbound Form into its Confined Form.

Many years later, descendants of the Arche Valley left the valley with Hoopa Confined, intending to retrieve the Prison Bottle containing Hoopa's evil thoughts and restore it to its Unbound Form. That was how they encountered Ash and his friends, who were traveling at the time.

But due to Yuga's butterfly-effect-like interference, Ariana had already found the Prison Bottle in advance, so the subsequent events didn't unfold like they had in the original story.

Because Hoopa Confined never found the Prison Bottle, it didn't return to the Arche Valley. The descendants of the Arche Valley, for some special reasons, had to return to the valley and had no choice but to entrust Hoopa Confined to Ash. So, Hoopa had been staying with Ash ever since.

Also, because Team Flare had been dealt with early on by Yuga and the League, Zygarde's cores never encountered Ash and his friends either, and their whereabouts remained unknown.

In short, the development of events now had absolutely no connection to the original plot.

Although Hoopa Confined wasn't as powerful as its Unbound Form, it was still a mythical Pokémon. And judging from appearances, Ash had been training it quite a bit. So his opponent's Barbaracle was defeated in just one turn.

Afterward, Ash used Hoopa Confined to defeat the opponent's Heliolisk and Aurorus, achieving an impressive three-in-a-row victory and earning enthusiastic applause from the audience.

While Yuga was watching the match with great interest, King Robi, who had left Verdanturf Town days ago, crossed the Guli Mountain Range and arrived at a desolate, uninhabited wilderness area, where he preliminarily established a territory of his own.

On the way to the Guli Mountain Range, King Robi had more or less figured out what had changed in the world over the four hundred years he had been asleep. He also came to understand the strength of the League and the stability of its control.

He had no intention of challenging the League's authority for the time being, so he decided to leave the human world and first carve out a domain for himself in the uninhabited wilds.

After all, he was now a Pokémon, and if he wanted to expand his power, it would be far more convenient to start with other Pokémon.

He was adapting very well to his identity as a Pokémon. After entering the wilds, he quickly replaced a local lord and took over its territory and subordinates.

If Yuga were to see King Robi now, he would be shocked to discover that not only had King Robi's potential risen from indigo to purple, but his level had also increased several times. That kind of growth was not easy for a master level Pokémon!

Clearly, after entering the wilderness, King Robi had encountered some sort of great fortune.

Within a very short amount of time, King Robi gathered a large number of followers and occupied a vast territory.

However, life in the wilderness was not that easy. It was a place full of hidden talents and powerful beings. Even as a master level Pokémon, King Robi had to proceed with caution.

It is worth mentioning that King Robi unintentionally wiped out Team Radiance's base in the wilderness area.

Back then, Team Radiance had used Marshadow to establish a resource-gathering base in the wilderness area.

Although Team Radiance was later destroyed, this base managed to survive. It maintained contact with the outside world and, through special channels, transported resources found in the wilderness outward, helping certain individuals to amass vast amounts of wealth.

Of course, because the wild Pokémon in the wilderness area were very repulsed by humans, this base had always been cautiously hidden.

While expanding his power, King Robi accidentally discovered this base, and casually wiped it out, transforming the location into his own headquarters.

After stabilizing his power, King Robi didn't rush out to stir up trouble, but instead decided to first rest and recuperate, using the wilderness area's abundant resources to store up strength.

The wilderness area had never been developed and possessed immensely rich resources. However, due to the wild Pokémon's extreme hostility toward outsiders, it was nearly impossible for humans to exploit the area. But now that King Robi was a Pokémon, he no longer had such concerns.

King Robi had his own ambitions, but he knew that even if he went out now, there wasn't much he could achieve. So, he decided to lie low for the time being.

Anyway, he now had a long life ahead of him, with plenty of time to prepare and wait for the right opportunity.

As for King Robi's plans, Yuga was unaware. He stayed home and watched a full day of the League tournament broadcast.

The next morning, after finishing breakfast and getting ready to continue watching the tournament, Yuga was informed by Duoduo that a guest had arrived.

Yuga went downstairs and was surprised to find that the visitor was none other than Teacher Chiffon. This time, she came alone, with no one else accompanying her.

"Teacher Chiffon, what brings you here?" Actually, what Yuga really wanted to say was, "You're here again?"

Teacher Chiffon forced a smile and said, "Mr. Shimizu, can we talk somewhere else?"

Yuga nodded. "Come with me." Saying this, he led Teacher Chiffon into the reception room.

Once inside, Teacher Chiffon spoke gravely to Yuga: "Mr. Shimizu, I would like to ask you to help us awaken Magearna once again."

Yuga asked in disbelief, "Magearna's having problems again?" How long has it even been?

Teacher Chiffon nodded grimly.

"What exactly have you been doing to Magearna? Why does it keep having issues?" Yuga asked, confused.

Teacher Chiffon didn't answer, only shook her head with a troubled expression. In truth, she didn't know the exact situation either. The details were known only to the clan leader. Besides, even if she did know, she couldn't casually disclose such things to outsiders.

Seeing that Teacher Chiffon remained silent, Yuga said helplessly, "I can help, but you need to address the root of the problem. You can't just keep treating the symptoms but not the cause. Even if I don't mind the trouble, aren't you tired of running back and forth every few days?"

After all, Zenith Academy was located in the Kalos region. All that traveling back and forth must be quite time-consuming.

Seeing that Teacher Chiffon still didn't say anything, Yuga stopped speaking further and said with resignation, "Fine, hand Magearna over to me."

Upon hearing this, Teacher Chiffon showed a look of joy and took out Magearna's Poké Ball, handing it to Yuga.

"Alright, I'll notify you after I've awakened Magearna."

After Yuga finished speaking, he called over Duoduo and asked it to escort Teacher Chiffon to the Paradise Hotel to settle down first.

After sending off Teacher Chiffon, Yuga took Magearna's Poké Ball and headed to see Mewtwo.

Mewtwo was busy. When it saw Yuga arrive, it asked, "Here to see Latias and Latios again?"

After Yuga had spent a significant amount of money, Latias and Latios could now move freely. Their injuries had basically healed, though they remained very silent and wouldn't interact with anyone.

Because Yuga wanted to emotionally reach them as soon as possible, he would visit them from time to time.

Although Latias and Latios didn't want to communicate with others, since Yuga held a token of their bond, they were extremely obedient to his commands. If he told them to bite a dog, they wouldn't go chase chickens instead.

Yuga was already quite satisfied with this.

However, he still hoped to truly win them over emotionally, rather than just using them like machines.

Hearing what Yuga said, Yuga shook his head and replied, "No, it's something else I want your help with."

"What is it?" Mewtwo asked, stopping what it was doing.

Yuga took out Magearna's Poké Ball and released it. Upon seeing Magearna, Mewtwo said, "It's having problems again?"

Yuga replied helplessly, "Just take a look at it first."

Mewtwo didn't say anything else. With the previous experience, it handled things much faster this time. Yuga didn't have to wait long before hearing Mewtwo say, "Alright, the rest is up to you."

Once the black aura around the Soul-Heart was removed, all Yuga needed to do was have Florges use Fairy energy to awaken Magearna.

Yuga walked over and said, "Thanks for the trouble." He didn't immediately awaken Magearna there, but planned to do it elsewhere.

Mewtwo nodded and returned to its work.

Right now, it was researching the black water Yuga brought back from the underground palace. The composition of this black water was extremely peculiar, and no matter how hard Mewtwo tried, it couldn't figure it out. So, lately it had become obsessed with studying it whenever it had the time.

Just then, Latias and Latios flew in one after the other. Yuga smiled and asked the siblings, "So? Did you have fun outside?"

After recovering from their injuries, the two had stayed cooped up in Mewtwo's lab, refusing to go out. In the end, it was Yuga who had to issue a direct order to get them to go out for some fresh air—though even then, they only went as far as the Haunted House sub-garden.

Hearing Yuga's question, the two siblings only gave a perfunctory response, showing little reaction. Yuga didn't mind.

The injuries they had suffered weren't just physical, but emotional as well. While physical wounds were easy to heal, emotional ones were not. Yuga had decided to slowly reach out and soothe them.

"Oh right, since you haven't been outside here much, let me take you to the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark. I'm sure you'll love it!" Yuga suddenly said.

The siblings didn't seem too enthusiastic, but then Mewtwo looked up and said, "Just go have a look. What's the point of moping around in here? Besides, sulking all day over someone like that—where's your dignity?"

Yuga had already told Mewtwo everything about the siblings, so it was quite disappointed in them and found their behavior frustrating.

Mewtwo's personality was rather decisive. From its point of view, if it were in their shoes, and that person had already abandoned them, why keep thinking about them? The sooner you forget, the better. Otherwise, what's the point of keeping that rot around?

But Mewtwo's experiences were unique, and its way of thinking was different from other Pokémon. Most Pokémon are simple and stubborn, easily influenced by emotions (bonds). Latias and Latios' reaction was actually a normal one for most Pokémon.

After being provoked by Mewtwo's words, the siblings followed Yuga out.

Once they arrived at the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark, Yuga excitedly introduced it: "Look, this is the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark. So, what do you think? Isn't it great?"

The entire Ecopark was full of vitality: Swablu and Altaria were flying in the sky, Helioptile were running across the grass, Horsea and Seadra swam gracefully in the water, and not far away, Hakamo-o were practicing martial arts… In short, the place was teeming with life.

The two Seviper that Yuga brought back from the underground palace were also settled here.

Unlike Latias and Latios, they integrated into the area in no time, quickly becoming familiar with the Seviper and Arbok clans that already lived there. Now, they were thriving in both groups.

Compared to the dark and sunless underground palace, the colorful and vibrant Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark was clearly much more to the liking of the Seviper.

Although these two Pokémon also originated from the underground palace, they were not King Robi's Pokemon. They were merely guarding the tomb in accordance with the wishes of their ancestors.

It was their ancestors who had once been King Robi's Pokemon, but those had long since passed away during King Robi's slumber.

The Pokémon in the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark all looked curiously at the flying Latias and Latios. From the stirring Dragon-type bloodlines within their own bodies, they could sense that these two Pokémon were anything but ordinary.

Yuga brought Latias and Latios to the edge of Dragon Lake and said, "This is Dragon Lake. The water here is very beneficial for Dragon-type Pokémon. Would you like to give it a try?"

Upon hearing this, Latias and Latios dove into the water one after the other. The moment they entered Dragon Lake, they felt themselves wrapped in a special power that continuously nourished their bodies.

Although their injuries had healed, the two had overdrawn their life force during the ordeal. Naturally, their bodies still carried some lingering aftereffects. But now, Dragon Lake was actually helping to eliminate those lingering issues—something even Yuga hadn't anticipated.

After a while, Latias and Latios poked their heads out of the water one after the other. Yuga smiled and asked, "So, how is it? Do you like it here?"

Latias and Latios did indeed like it here very much, and so they nodded obediently.

Seeing this, Yuga happily said, "If you like it, you're welcome to stay here permanently. There are many Dragon-type Pokémon here—I'm sure you'll be able to make friends."

Regarding that last part, the siblings didn't give much of a response. They simply lowered their heads and dove back into Dragon Lake.

When Yuga left the Dragon Den Sub-Ecopark, the siblings didn't follow him. It seemed they really did like it there, and Yuga was glad to see it.

It's good to see them take a liking to something. What he feared most was them having no desires or goals at all.