After Chikai and Gillette were arrested, Yuga and Masato Shirai didn't rush to interrogate them. They simply kept the two of them locked up quietly.
Chikai was a bit better. Ever since his identity was exposed, he had been in a dazed and blank state, as if his soul had left his body. Naturally, he became extremely obedient.
Gillette was different. He kept shouting every day that he had been wronged. When no one paid attention to him, he said he wanted a communicator to make a phone call and even threatened to sue the Verdanturf City police station for illegal detention—clearly acting like he was trying to call reinforcements.
Three days later, Chikai's parents arrived in Verdanturf City. They wanted to see Chikai, but Chikai actually refused to meet them. No matter how much the police tried to persuade him, he was unwilling to come out.
Just as Masato Shirai was considering dragging him out by force, the prison guards suddenly informed him that Chikai had committed suicide, catching Masato Shirai completely off guard.
However, before Chikai died, he left behind a letter. It was addressed to Chikai's parents.
Rather than a will, it was more like a letter of repentance. In it, he detailed exactly how he met the real Chikai, how he murdered him, and how he came to impersonate him.
The letter was filled with remorse. It was clear that the fake Chikai had truly come to regard the real Chikai's parents as his own, which was why, once his identity was exposed, he felt too ashamed to face them.
Once his identity was exposed, he could no longer live as Chikai, and he couldn't bear to face that fact—so he chose suicide.
But in Yuga's opinion, Chikai's mindset was likely already abnormal. Perhaps it was related to the trauma of being kidnapped by the Paradise Organization as a child.
In the end, Chikai's remains were claimed by his parents. As for how they chose to handle it, that was their personal matter.
The real Chikai's Pokémon were also taken away by his parents. Their son was gone, and for the rest of their lives, they could only seek comfort in the Pokémon he had left behind.
Only Flabébé was kept by Yuga. The money Chikai had used to purchase Flabébé was refunded to Chikai's parents by Yuga.
Aside from his apology to his parents, Chikai's letter didn't reveal anything else. But even though the man was gone, the investigation still had to continue.
The key to the investigation lay with the Pokémon that the fake Chikai had left behind. These Pokémon had been with him since his days in the Paradise Organization, unlike the ones he used as a cover to imitate the real Chikai. These Pokémon knew nearly everything about Chikai.
At first, the Pokémon were tight-lipped and refused to disclose anything about Chikai. But after learning about his suicide, they spilled everything, including the things Chikai did as a bounty hunter and his purpose for coming to Verdanturf City.
With their Trainer gone, what was the point of staying silent?
It was also then that Yuga learned Chikai had been targeting his own giant stone fragment. His dealings with Gillette had also been part of a plot to seize the fragment.
To be honest, there weren't many people present during the initial struggle over the giant stone fragment. It wasn't surprising that someone suspected Yuga of keeping it. Who could say for sure that people hadn't also suspected Steven, who was also present?
But since the League never pursued the matter deeply, what could others really say? After all, most of the giant stone fragments had already been handed over to the League.
Yuga also learned from Chikai's Pokémon that, not long ago, Chikai had pledged allegiance to someone. However, Chikai had done so secretly, so even his own Pokémon knew very little about it.
Though Yuga was curious about whom Chikai had allied himself with, he had no choice but to give up when he couldn't get an answer.
Since Chikai's Pokémon had already confessed, things were even simpler with Gillette. The two of them had been colluding together for a long time. Combined with the evidence found in Gillette's residence earlier, it was enough to keep him behind bars for life.
Chikai's Pokémon also revealed a great deal of information about the crimes and whereabouts of former members of the Paradise Organization. Yuga recorded all of it, intending to submit it to the League.
After returning home from the police station, Yuga went to see Lopunny and Delphox again to tell them about the new developments in the case. When the two Pokémon learned that Gillette's crimes had been confirmed with solid evidence, they were both overjoyed.
Yuga asked, "After Gillette's situation is over, do you two have any plans?"
The two Pokémon looked at each other, unsure how to answer for a moment.
"How about you two stay here?" Yuga asked tentatively. "From what I've seen these past few days, you've been getting along well with everyone here."
There was already a Lopunny group living in Yuga's Ecopark, and over the past few days, this Lopunny had been getting along very well with its kin, making friends with many of them. Everyone had been treating it very kindly.
In the Volcano Sub-Ecopark, there was also a Braixen, which had evolved from a Fennekin that Professor Sycamore had previously given to Yuga. However, Delphox didn't have a particularly close relationship with that Braixen, but it was quite popular among the Lopunny group.
Upon hearing Yuga's suggestion, the two Pokémon's eyes lit up.
"Delphox~"
Really? Can we?
Delphox asked. It really liked it here. It had secretly wished it could stay, but never expected Yuga would offer first.
Delphox was aware of Yuga's identity and strength. It knew that if it could stay here, its life would finally be safe and secure.
All those years following Gillette, it had lived in constant fear and anxiety.
"Of course you can," Yuga replied—it was exactly what he wanted too!
Hearing Yuga's answer, both Delphox and Lopunny were thrilled. Without a trace of hesitation, they decided to stay.
After leaving the ecological park and returning to his own room, Yuga found Flabébé staring gloomily out the window, lost in thought.
"Flabébé, what's wrong?" Yuga walked over and asked.
Flabébé turned around, and Yuga saw that its eyes were brimming with tears.
"Why are you crying? Did Gothita bully you again?" Yuga asked angrily.
(Gothita: Hey! Don't go accusing people without evidence!)
However, Flabébé shook its head and, with a sob in its voice, asked Yuga if Chikai had died.
Yuga froze when Flabébé asked that question. Ever since Flabébé had returned, he had been careful not to mention Chikai in front of it, hoping that its memories of him would fade gradually over time.
"Did someone say something ridiculous to you?" Yuga asked gently.
Flabébé shook its head and said that Ninetales had already told it everything about Chikai.
"What nonsense have you been feeding Flabébé when you've got nothing better to do?!"
Just then, Ninetales happened to be walking by the door. Yuga glared at it fiercely, and Ninetales immediately blew up.
"I was just doing it for the little one's own good. What's the point of hiding it? Sooner or later, it's going to find out anyway!"
"That doesn't mean you had to be in such a rush. What's the harm in waiting a little longer?" Yuga shot back stubbornly. He knew that keeping it from Flabébé forever wasn't a solution, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it.
He had been thinking that if he gave it time, maybe Flabébé would forget Chikai little by little, and it wouldn't be so painful then.
Ninetales snorted coldly. "Better to rip the band-aid off quickly. What do you know? You just don't appreciate good intentions!"
Yuga waved his hand. "Just go away, stop causing trouble."
Ninetales ignored Yuga, snorted twice, and walked off without looking back.
Flabébé was very understanding. Though it was sad, when it saw Yuga and Ninetales arguing over it, it quickly wiped away its tears and tried to comfort Yuga, saying it was fine and not to worry. Yuga's heart ached so much, he cursed Chikai for being such a monster.
If he hadn't been so good at pretending, how could he have fooled everyone so thoroughly? How could he have tricked Flabébé into giving him its genuine affection?
But since Ninetales had already let the cat out of the bag, Yuga went ahead and told Flabébé everything about Chikai.
"So, he wasn't the real Chikai. All his kindness and gentleness were an act. The way he treated you before—that wasn't his true nature."
In fact, Flabébé had already sensed that there was something off about Chikai. The Chikai who went through the test at YoYo Day Care and the Chikai who took it back home were like two completely different people. Now that Yuga explained it like this, Flabébé finally understood where the problem lay.
After Yuga finished comforting Flabébé, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
A few days later, Verdanturf City decided to transfer Gillette to the League Headquarters. The crimes committed by him and Chikai had basically been confirmed. Since Chikai was already dead, his case naturally came to an end, but there was no way Gillette could escape.
Gillette had always tried to talk his way out of guilt, but unfortunately, the evidence in the hands of Yuga and Shirai Masato was overwhelming—there was no room for him to deny it.
However, a few of Gillette's backers eventually found out that he had been arrested and tried to pull some strings to get the Verdanturf City Police Department to release him.
But how could that be possible? Was Yuga afraid of anyone?
Yuga turned around and made a call to his master, informing him of everything regarding Chikai and Gillette. With his master backing him, all those so-called demons and monsters immediately vanished without a trace.
It wasn't that Yuga didn't have any status himself. Although he was strong and held the title of Hall of Fame Trainer, his actual position in the League was just that of a Gym Leader. He didn't have deep connections with various departments of the League. If he really wanted to use authority to suppress others, his master's name was more effective and much faster.
Originally, Gillette had been quite pleased when he heard that his backers were putting pressure on Verdanturf City, but he stopped laughing soon after. From the moment he was transferred from Verdanturf City to League Headquarters, then subjected to a second trial, sentencing, and final judgment—all of it happened in one smooth process. His so-called backers didn't even dare to show their faces again.
After Gillette was handed over to the League Headquarters, Yuga's life returned to normal. Day by day, he continued practicing the making of Pokéblocks and incense as usual. Not only was his skill at creating top-tier Pokéblocks becoming more and more refined, allowing all his Pokémon to enjoy energy blocks made by their own trainer, but his incense-making technique was also progressing steadily.
It's worth mentioning that with the help of short video tutorials, Lain told Yuga that lately, she increasingly felt she was getting closer to becoming a top-tier incense master.
In addition to that, Delphox and Lopunny had completely settled down at YoYo Day Care.
At the end of this month, Yuga suddenly received a notification from the system: his main storyline task had finally been settled and completed.
Yuga's main storyline task was to collect one or more Electric-type Pokémon and cultivate at least one of them to a level where it could be listed and sold.
Yuga had only put up a Helioptile for sale last month, and because of the limited time, that was the only Electric-type Pokémon he had collected. The task wasn't fully settled until the end of this month, and because of the delay, Yuga had almost forgotten about it.
Since he had only met the minimum requirement set by the main storyline task, Yuga received a "Good" rating.
As soon as the system completed the task evaluation, the rewards were issued. The last time Yuga completed a main storyline task, he had received an evolution stone Vein, so naturally he was quite looking forward to what he would get this time.
However, when he saw what the reward was, he felt a little disappointed. It was several large bags of Apricorn tree seeds—and although the variety was quite complete, including Red Apricorns, Yellow Apricorns, Blue Apricorns, Green Apricorns, Pink Apricorns, White Apricorns, and Black Apricorns, with each type clearly labeled and neatly packed—it still couldn't compare to the evolution stone vein he got last time.
Although Apricorns were indeed useful and could be used to make Poké Balls, compared to an evolution stone vein, this reward felt far less exciting.
Still, something was better than nothing. After all, it was his own fault for not working hard enough and only achieving a "Good" grade.
Apricorn seeds weren't a bad thing either. Once he planted an entire Apricorn orchard, he'd be able to harvest a large quantity of Apricorns and sell them to Poké Ball manufacturing factories. That would give him a continuous stream of income.
Modern Poké Balls like the standard Poké Ball, Great Ball, and Ultra Ball were all products of high technology and made through assembly line manufacturing—there was no use for Apricorns in their production. Only the crafting of special balls like the Heal Ball, Friend Ball, and Sweet Ball required Apricorns, and these balls were all handmade.
Although Poké Ball factories mainly produced standard Poké Balls, they also employed and trained ball crafters specialized in making special balls.
Of course, even though modern special Poké Balls were handmade, they were still enhanced by advanced technology, making them more effective than ancient versions.
Special balls were expensive not only because of their unique effects and the labor-intensive process of making them but also because of the low yield of Apricorns.
Why was the Trainer profession restricted to nobles in ancient times? It was precisely because Apricorns were rare and tightly controlled by the aristocracy, and the technology for crafting Poké Balls was monopolized by them.
Even now, Apricorn yield hadn't significantly improved.
One of the key reasons the Trainer Liberation Movement—which overthrew the aristocracy and was led by the League—succeeded was the birth of modern industrial Poké Balls.
While modern industrial Poké Balls had their strengths, handmade special balls had their own advantages as well. Poké Balls crafters were still highly skilled and respected professionals. The most representative example was Mr. Kurt in the Johto region.
After thinking things through, Yuga no longer felt disappointed that the system had rewarded him with Apricorn seeds. Although he didn't know how to make Poké Balls himself, just selling Apricorns would still be quite profitable.
As for Apricorn trees being hard to grow, Yuga wasn't worried at all. His Ecopark had never let him down when it came to plant cultivation. No matter how demanding a plant's environment needs were, once it was planted in the Ecopark, it would grow lush and healthy.
After reviewing the reward, Yuga didn't immediately retrieve it. Instead, he turned his attention back to the system's task panel.
Since his previous main storyline task had been completed, it was only natural to expect a new one to be announced soon.
Sure enough, before long, a new main storyline task appeared on the system's task panel!