Ninjask's Merit

After coming out of the Ecoark, Yuga had Florges awaken Magearna using fairy aura. Magearna felt very embarrassed about always troubling Yuga and solemnly apologized and thanked him.

After that, Yuga informed Teacher Chiffon.

When Teacher Chiffon saw the awakened Magearna, she was so emotional that she thanked Yuga profusely. "Mr. Shimizu, if it weren't for you, we really wouldn't have known what to do."

Yuga sighed and said, "Rather than always coming to trouble me, you should focus on addressing the root cause of Magearna's slumber."

Teacher Chiffon sighed at his words but said nothing more, and Yuga didn't press further. The matter was thus left at that.

Teacher Chiffon didn't stay long in Verdanturf Town. Early the next morning, she left with Magearna and returned to Kalos. She had come in a rush, and she left just as quickly.

Time passed swiftly, and the Kalos League Tournament ended soon after. Just as Yuga had expected, Ash won the championship.

Just like in the original storyline, Ash's final opponent was Alain. However, both of their strengths had significantly changed compared to the original. In the end, Ash emerged victorious.

Since this wasn't Ash's first time winning a League Tournament, he appeared very composed during the award ceremony, exuding a mature aura.

Yuga made a point to call and congratulate Ash. During the call, Ash told Yuga that he had decided not to participate in League Tournaments anymore and would instead strive toward reaching a higher level.

Ash had long since reached the pseudo-Elite level as a Trainer. The next step would be Elite level, but the transition from pseudo-Elite level to Elite level is a major hurdle. How long it would take to cross that barrier would depend entirely on Ash's personal efforts.

Two days later, Yuga received a second thank-you gift for helping Magearna again. Just like the first time, Zenith Academy sent Ralts, though the number was smaller this time—only thirty.

Yuga didn't mind the reduced compensation. If the guardian Pokémon of the Fairy Remnants kept running into problems, the principal of Zenith Academy would soon be so broke he'd be giving away even his underpants.

That day happened to be the first day on the job for the Ninjask, so while Yuga was working in the morning, he kept an eye on their activities from time to time to see whether they were performing competently.

YoYo Day Care's patrol team was divided into two major sections. One consisted of Arcanine, Linoone, and Persian—those who operated openly, patrolling the streets daily. The other consisted of Xatu, Crobat, and various Ghost-type Pokémon—those hidden in the shadows.

Among the covert group, the Xatu were responsible for daytime surveillance around YoYo Day Care, while the Crobats and Ghost-type Pokemon handled the night shift (though there were occasional adjustments depending on actual circumstances).

The Ninjask and Shedinja had been added to the covert patrol team. Ninjask would handle the day, and Shedinja would take care of the night.

With the addition of these two types of Pokémon, the original patrol team could finally rotate shifts. This meant the Xatu, Crobat, and Ghost-type Pokemon could work one day and rest the next, instead of constantly being on edge every single day as before.

The covert patrol team had it much harder than the open patrol team. Not only did they have to stay mentally alert at all times, but they also had to keep their presence hidden, unlike Persian and the others who could occasionally relax during their rounds and find chances to unwind.

Before officially starting their duties, the Ninjask and Shedinja had already been trained by the Xatu and Ghost-type Pokémon. In theory, there shouldn't be any problems, but since they were still new, Yuga felt it was necessary to keep an eye on them.

Ninjask were extremely fast fliers. They zipped around the area near YoYo Day Care so quickly that even when Yuga widened his eyes and stared carefully, he would sometimes only catch a fleeting shadow or two. So anyone not paying attention to their surroundings wouldn't be able to notice them at all.

Today was still the day for those small-scale Pokemon Day Care to come pick up goods. One of the owners, seeing that Yuga kept glancing outside, asked in confusion, "Mr. Shimizu, what are you looking at? Is there something unusual outside?"

Upon hearing this, Yuga quickly pulled his thoughts back and replied, "Ah… haha… it's nothing, I'm just looking around casually."

"Oh…" That owner didn't ask further and continued to carefully check the quantity and types of Pokémon to be taken this time.

Today, a total of eight small-scale Pokémon Day Care were scheduled to come pick up goods, all from towns near Verdanturf Town. Yuga was currently attending to the third one.

As YoYo Day Care's business grew bigger and bigger, the number of small-scale Pokémon Day Care that partnered with Yuga also increased. Just at the beginning of this year, five more joined.

After seeing that owner off, Yuga returned to the shop to continue waiting for the arrival of the next owners.

However, before the next owner arrived, Yuga instead saw Masato Shirai rushing in.

Seeing Masato Shirai in such a hurry, Yuga asked in confusion, "What's the matter? Why are you in such a rush?"

Masato Shirai replied, "It's not me—something happened to one of your Pokémon Day Care customers."

It turned out that the small-scale Pokémon Day Care owner who had just left had his vehicle—used to transport Pokémon and Pokémon eggs—robbed just after leaving Verdanturf Town.

Yuga's expression changed: "Who has the guts to stir up trouble in our Verdanturf Town!" And even targeted a customer of YoYo Day Care!

As he spoke, Yuga walked toward the outside, and Masato Shirai hurriedly followed.

Before leaving, Yuga told Suzuki Koen, "If any customers come to pick up goods, please attend to them first."

Once outside the shop, Yuga waved at the Arcanine that happened to be passing by: "Come, let's go for a run!"

Arcanine took large strides to Yuga, crouched down to let Yuga mount its back, and then, under Yuga's command, dashed off in a certain direction.

Arcanine's son and daughter-in-law saw this and quickly followed. Behind them trailed several Houndooms assigned to assist with patrols.

Masato Shirai also rode his own Arcanine and gave chase, but his Arcanine wasn't as fast as Yuga's and could only trail behind from a distance.

By the time Yuga arrived at the scene, even people from the Verdanturf Town police station were already investigating. The owner and several of his staff were sitting on the ground, wailing loudly, and they were even injured.

Seeing Yuga arrive, the owner scrambled to his feet, ran to Yuga, and said with a tearful face, "Mr. Shimizu, you have to stand up for me! All my Pokémon were stolen, even the vehicle was driven away!" As he spoke, he kept wiping away tears.

Yuga comforted him, "Don't worry, I will definitely give you a proper explanation." He was speaking from the standpoint of a Gym Leader of Verdanturf Town.

"Okay, okay… sob sob… Mr. Shimizu, I'll leave it to you," the owner said while clutching his injured arm and crying.

"Take care of your wounds first. I'll go over there and ask about the situation." With that, Yuga walked toward the police officers searching for clues.

"Gym Leader Shimizu!"

Seeing Yuga approach, a police officer immediately saluted.

"Any findings?" Yuga asked.

The officer replied, "Not many clues, but judging from the situation, it seems like it was done by someone familiar."

"Familiar?" Yuga asked in surprise.

The officer nodded and said, "Very likely. According to Mr. Morita, the perpetrators seemed to have been lying in wait here in advance and even knew him."

Morita was the name of the owner. The batch of Pokémon in his vehicle were all of average potential. Even if some of the species were a bit rare, they didn't carry enough value to be deliberately targeted.

If it really was the work of some robbers, instead of making such a big scene to snatch a truckload of low-potential Pokémon and eggs, it would've been more worthwhile to rob someone else of a single high-potential Pokémon—it's simpler and less likely to get caught.

To be honest, with low-potential Pokémon like these, unless someone has a very specific need, not many people would target them, because the cost-performance ratio is just too low. If you have the energy to rob a whole truck of these, wouldn't it be better to steal a few high-potential Pokemon instead? They're even easier to sell. (Here, "sell" means to find a buyer.)

What's more, those people even asked for Mr. Morita's name when they arrived. They only made their move after confirming his identity.

Taking all the evidence into account, it's pretty clear this was an inside job.

After asking the officers a few more questions, Yuga turned to the three Arcanine and several Houndoom and asked, "Well? Can you smell anything unusual?"

The Arcanine and Houndoom lowered their heads and sniffed the ground back and forth, but in the end, they just shook their heads at Yuga. It seemed the perpetrators had used a Pokémon's Sweet Scent before leaving, masking all other scents.

After thinking for a moment, Yuga released Chimecho and said to it, "Go back and call all the Ninjask over."

"Chimecho~"

Chimecho responded with a soft chime and vanished instantly using Teleport.

Before long, Chimecho returned with dozens of Ninjask in tow.

Seeing that Yuga had summoned so many Ninjask, Masato Shirai asked, "Are you planning to have them track those people down?"

Yuga nodded, then addressed the Ninjask: "It's time for you to earn your merits—I need you to find a vehicle for me." As he spoke, Yuga described what Mr. Morita's truck looked like in detail.

Once they received the instructions, the dozens of Ninjask immediately scattered in all directions. Their speed was incredibly fast; they disappeared into the sky in the blink of an eye.

Masato Shirai frowned and asked, "Is this really going to work?"

Yuga replied, "As long as those guys haven't had time to get rid of the truck, the Ninjask will definitely catch up."

The Ninjask had spread out in a radial pattern in all directions, so no matter where those people fled, they would eventually be found.

...

Deep within a forest, a cargo truck was bumping along a rough road—that was the truck stolen from Mr. Morita.

The man driving turned to the man sitting in the passenger seat and said, "Bro, we've already come this far. I don't think anyone's going to catch up to us now, right?"

The man beside him replied, "Keep driving. Don't get complacent."

"Alright…" the driver muttered. Then he asked, "The boss told us to get rid of this batch of goods. How are we supposed to do that?"

Hearing this, the man next to him looked troubled. If it were a truck full of high-potential Pokémon, they would at least have some channels for offloading them. But with low-potential Pokémon…

Low-potential Pokémon are usually sold to people as pet Pokémon, and even then, one might fetch ten thousand at most—only if it's a rare species. Common types only go for a few hundred to a thousand.

For guys like them, all their selling channels are linked to Trainers, and Trainers don't want low-potential Pokémon. In the market, low-potential Pokémon are neither expensive nor hard to get. Who would risk dealing with them just to buy those?

"Bro, why'd you even take this job? The pay's crap and it's nothing but trouble," the driver couldn't help but complain.

The man beside him shook his head and said, "No choice—I owed someone a favor."

Just as the two were talking, a Ninjask silently appeared behind the vehicle.

It first quietly approached the window, took a glance at the two people inside the car, then flew to the back of the truck. Using the move Fury Cutter, it sliced open a gap in the truck compartment without making a single sound, and slipped inside.

After confirming that the vehicle was indeed the one transporting the Pokémon and Pokémon eggs, it flew out again and emitted a series of high-pitched insect chirps from its uniquely structured mouthparts—sounds that were barely audible to human ears.

Not long after, another Ninjask appeared behind the vehicle. The two Ninjask silently communicated with each other for a moment, and then one of them swiftly flew off.

The remaining Ninjask flew beneath the truck. With a light swipe of its sharp claws, the vehicle's tires burst.

Boom~

"What's going on?"

The man driving the vehicle hurriedly stopped and got out to check the situation. By this time, the Ninjask that had caused the problem was already hiding in a corner of the vehicle, out of sight.

"What happened?" the other man in the vehicle shouted loudly.

"Boss, the tire blew out. I need to replace it!"

The older man got out of the vehicle, puzzled. "How did a perfectly good tire blow out?"

The younger man, while removing the tire, replied, "We're driving on a mountain road. Who knows what might've punctured it."

The older man thought about it and figured that was indeed possible, so he urged, "Then hurry up. We're still on a tight schedule."

...

Back on the other side, Yuga quickly saw the Ninjask that had returned to report. After listening to the information from the Ninjask, he said to Masato Shirai, "We've found them. Let's go catch them!"

When Mr. Morita heard that his goods had been found, he didn't even care about his injuries anymore and ran over, saying, "Mr. Shimizu, you must help me get my goods back!"

His Pokémon Day Care was very small in scale, and the finances were always tight. If this batch of goods was lost, it could very likely lead to a complete financial collapse.

It's no exaggeration to say that small Pokémon Day Care live on the edge of survival.

Very soon, Masato Shirai took two others and went with Yuga in the direction pointed out by the Ninjask.

By the time Yuga and his team arrived, those two men had already changed the tire and left, but the Ninjask that was following them had left marks along the way, allowing Yuga's group to track them all the way.

At this point, Arcanine's nose also became useful, since the other side had not used Sweet Scent to mask their trail any further.

When those two men saw Yuga and the others directly chasing after them in the rearview mirror, they were shocked and immediately tried to speed up and escape. At that moment, the Ninjask that had been following them made a move again, and with another Fury Cutter, burst their tires once more.