Under Doudou's comfort and guidance, the Lopunny cried as she recounted her experience. By the time she finished speaking, her emotions had finally calmed down quite a bit.
Yuga, afraid of causing an emotional relapse in Lopunny, had stood silently to the side the whole time. But after hearing her story, he was already deeply shocked inside.
Lopunny actually said that she had been given to Gillette by Chikai as a form of compensation in a certain secret deal between them.
So Chikai was actually entangled with Gillette?
Yuga had already felt a vague sense of something being off about Chikai before. The man was too good at socializing—he could quickly get familiar with anyone, even become good friends.
But is there really someone in this world who can get along with everyone? Yuga was more inclined to believe it was all calculated appeasement.
What he didn't expect was that such a person was secretly doing deals with scum like Gillette. Truly, you only know a person's face, not their heart!
Yuga suddenly thought of the Flabébé that Chikai had bought from YoYo Day Care. Following a Trainer who could give away his own Pokémon to a lowlife—what future could Flabébé possibly have? Yuga couldn't help but feel concerned.
No, he had to come up with a plan.
Yuga casually gestured, and Gengar and Mismagius instantly appeared at his sides out of thin air.
"Gengar, go find Gillette. Mismagius, head to Chikai. I want you both to keep a close eye on them. If either of them does anything suspicious, come back and report to me immediately."
Gengar and Mismagius responded with a nod and were about to leave when Yuga called them back again.
"Oh, right—Gengar, see if you can find the corpse of that Delphox that was killed!"
Killing a Pokémon is a major crime. As long as they could find evidence of that, Gillette wouldn't be able to get away.
Unfortunately, molesting Pokémon was considered a moral issue in the Pokémon world, and even if Gillette was confronted for that, it wouldn't have legal consequences.
After Gengar and Mismagius left, Yuga had Doudou take Lopunny to get some rest.
On the other side, Gillette had been searching for a long time without any sign of Lopunny, and his mood was getting more and more irritable. He walked along cursing under his breath.
Who knows how long he searched, but suddenly he pulled out his communicator and dialed a number—it was Chikai he was contacting.
"Why are you calling me at this time? Have you decided to take action?" came Chikai's voice from the other end.
"Take action my ass!" Gillette said angrily. "That Lopunny you gave me ran away!"
"Ran away?" Chikai was a little surprised, then laughed and said, "If she could escape from your hands, then that Lopunny must be something special."
Chikai didn't care whether Lopunny had escaped or not. After all, the Pokémon had been delivered to Gillette, and if he couldn't keep her, that was his own problem.
If Gillette's molestation of Pokémon got exposed because of this, then all the better—it would ruin his reputation completely.
Chikai had been displeased with Gillette for a long time.
Bullshit! Hearing the mocking tone in Chikai's voice, Gillette cursed internally. If it weren't for that damn Delphox, how could that Lopunny possibly escape? Not a chance.
Thinking of the Delphox he accidentally killed, Gillette felt his liver ache with rage.
That Delphox had been with him for many years. At first, she treated him just like Lopunny did—cold and distant. But after his "training" and "discipline," she gradually (or so he believed) became utterly devoted to him.
He never imagined that she would suddenly turn against him, secretly freeing Lopunny and helping her hide and escape.
If he hadn't noticed something strange by chance, he might never have known—even after Lopunny had left Verdanturf City.
He was so furious that he ended up killing Delphox by mistake in his rage.
"Stop giving me crap and help me find that Lopunny, or our deal is off!"
Chikai was stunned by what he heard—he had clearly underestimated how shameless Gillette could be.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Who's kidding! I'm serious. If you don't help me get that Lopunny back, don't expect me to lift a finger for you ever again!"
At this moment, Gillette wanted to find the Lopunny not just because he lusted after her body, but even more so to vent the anger in his heart.
After finishing his words, Gillette directly hung up the communicator, leaving Chikai on the other end fuming with rage.
"You..." Damn it.
Looking at the now black-screened communicator in his hand, Chikai let out a cold laugh.
"Heh... heh…"
He really thought he was something, huh? If it weren't for the need to conceal his current identity, would he even need Gillette's help? Just because he'd been flattered a few times by those in the underworld, he'd become so arrogant that he'd forgotten his own limitations.
He actually dared to threaten him? Fine, I'll help you find the Lopunny—but just you wait!
Thinking this, Chikai took out a palm-sized device—it was a tracker.
That's right. Before handing the Lopunny over to Gillette, Chikai had already implanted a micro-tracker inside her body.
Since he already knew that Gillette wasn't trustworthy, of course Chikai would keep a backup plan.
However, when Chikai turned on the tracker, he was stunned. The tracker showed no signal at all.
What was going on? It was working just fine yesterday! Chikai tapped on the device in frustration, but the screen remained completely black.
What Chikai didn't know was that Lopunny had already been brought into the Ecopark by Doudou, and the system's Ecopark could completely block all external tracking.
Of course, the system didn't intercept all signals—otherwise, many things in Mewtwo's laboratory would be unusable.
Inside the room, Chikai's Pokémon noticed their Trainer's expression shifting unpredictably, and one by one, they trembled in fear and shrank into the corners, not daring to make a sound. The smallest, Flabébé, was so frightened that she hid directly under Swellow's wing.
Swellow gently patted its wing to comfort Flabébé, all the while thinking to itself: Chikai is becoming more and more strange.
"All of you, get out of here! Stop being eyesores!"
Chikai suddenly barked, startling the Pokémon, who all quickly fled the room.
While Gillette and Chikai were both furious and flustered, Gengar and Mismagius quietly appeared beside them. Thanks to their exceptional stealth ability, neither of the monitored individuals noticed a thing.
After Gillette ended his call with Chikai, he thought for a moment and decided to head back to his residence.
He had rushed out to find Lopunny, and Delphox's corpse was still lying at home unhandled!
Gengar followed Gillette all the way to his temporary residence in Verdanturf City—a villa that Gillette had rented temporarily, so he wasn't worried about any unexpected visitors.
As Gillette stepped into the villa's living room, he indeed saw Delphox still lying there. He found a bag and planned to stuff her corpse in to dispose of it.
At first, he even considered dismembering her, but then remembered that Delphox had been with him for so many years. A rare twinge of pity came over him, and he decided to let her keep her body whole.
However, the moment he touched Delphox's body, Gillette's eyes widened in shock—she was still warm. In other words, Delphox wasn't completely dead yet.
Sure enough, when Gillette pressed her body twice, Delphox twitched in response.
As expected of a Pokémon, her vitality was indeed tenacious! Gillette couldn't help but think.
But after checking Delphox's injuries, he still stuffed her into the bag. Her wounds were far too serious—unless he had a Max Revive from the Joy family, she would never survive.
But he didn't have any Max Revive. Even if he tried to get one now, Delphox wouldn't last that long—and besides, he had no way to obtain one anyway.
A highly sought-after item like the Max Revive was out of reach for someone like him involved in shady dealings. The Joy family certainly wouldn't sell to him.
Don't underestimate the Joy family just because they're a clan of doctors—their intelligence network is nothing to scoff at. Even if Gillette's actions had been well-hidden, if the Joy family wanted to investigate, they could still dig up plenty.
After hurriedly stuffing Delphox into the bag, Gillette left the temporary villa, all of his actions watched closely by the hidden Gengar.
Gillette drove with Delphox's body out of Verdanturf City. In a wooded area, he dug a pit and buried Delphox, then drove away.
Once Gillette was gone, Gengar dug Delphox back up. As a Ghost-type Pokémon, Gengar was very sensitive to life energy and could tell that Delphox still had a trace of breath left. Gengar let out a small sigh of relief.
Before leaving with Delphox, Gengar didn't forget to restore the pit to its original state.
Meanwhile, Yuga was on the phone with Masato Shirai, hoping to ask for help investigating Chikai to see if there was anything suspicious about him.
Yuga had some knowledge of Chikai's background—after all, he was a customer who had bought a Pokémon from YoYo Day Care. On the surface, there were no issues, but now that it was clear he was secretly connected to Gillette, things were definitely more complicated.
Chikai had done decently in the Trainer industry, but at best he was middle-tier. Among the tens of thousands of Trainers, he wasn't particularly noticeable.
And Gillette? Even though he had been dismissed by the military, it still couldn't be denied that his social status far exceeded Chikai's. Under normal circumstances, these two wouldn't cross paths at all, let alone conduct private dealings.
Would someone like Gillette even bother to engage with someone that much lower than himself?
So there had to be something off about Chikai's identity.
Just as Yuga hung up with Masato Shirai, Gengar appeared in his room carrying Delphox.
Yuga didn't immediately realize that Delphox was still alive—he simply exclaimed in surprise, "This must be the Delphox that Lopunny mentioned."
"Gengar~"
Gengar immediately began to explain frantically what it had seen at Gillette's place and begged Yuga to treat Delphox quickly.
After hearing everything, Yuga rushed forward to check Delphox over. Sure enough, she still clung to a thread of life. He quickly pulled a Max Revive from the system backpack and fed it to her, then used his healing ability to help her absorb the medicine quickly.
Over the past few days, Yuga had been regularly using the fruit from the sacred tree growing on Torterra's back. His healing ability had greatly improved, and very soon, the effects of the Max Revive began to kick in, and Delphox's wounds started to heal rapidly.
About half an hour later, Delphox slowly opened her eyes.
...
[ Delphox ]
Type: Fire, Psychic
Ability: Magician
Gender: Female
Potential: Blue
Level: 68
Moves: Ember, Howl, Psybeam, Fire Spin, Will-O-Wisp, Psyshock, Trick Room, Fire Blast, Mystical Fire, Dazzling Gleam, Psychic Terrain, Fire Pledge.
...
This was a Pokémon with both a high level and a solid potential.
Still dazed upon waking up, Delphox wondered vaguely—Am I not dead?
"Delphox~"
When she spotted the unfamiliar Yuga and Gengar standing nearby, Delphox looked even more confused, but she still kept her guard up as she should.
"Delphox, you're awake!" Yuga said with a smile. "You're probably still feeling a bit groggy, so let me introduce myself..."
After a brief self-introduction, Yuga also told Delphox how Gengar had rescued her. When he mentioned that Lopunny had also been saved by him, Delphox finally let down her guard.
However, she requested to see Lopunny.
Of course, Yuga didn't refuse, so he brought Delphox to the Ecopark.
The Ecopark had a self-protection system—any Pokémon who had entered it would be unable to speak of its existence or reveal any information related to it, so Yuga directly led Delphox inside.
When Lopunny saw Delphox, she was naturally overjoyed. Although she hadn't spent a long time with Delphox, if it weren't for her, she would never have escaped the claws of that monster.
Delphox, seeing that Lopunny was safe and sound, finally relaxed. Right before she had nearly died, her biggest worry was that Lopunny would be captured again by Gillette.
The reason she had helped Lopunny escape was because she had seen her past self reflected in her. After enduring humiliation and hardship for so many years under Gillette's side, she had finally done something meaningful.
Seeing the two Pokémon filled with emotion, Yuga said, "You two can stay here and rest for now. I'll make sure Gillette is brought to justice!"
Although Delphox's injuries had mostly healed, she was still weak and needed time to recover properly.
After speaking, he turned to Delphox and said, "You don't still have any lingering attachment to that man, do you?" He had heard from Lopunny that Delphox had followed Gillette for many years, so there was a chance she could have been brainwashed.
"Delphox~"
Delphox immediately shook her head. She had dreamed of leaving Gillette, but never succeeded. How could she possibly have any affection left for that scumbag?
Yuga nodded. "That's good."
After thinking for a moment, Yuga said to Delphox, "I heard from Lopunny that you were with Gillette for a long time. You should know some of his secrets, right? Could you tell me about them?"
Lopunny hadn't been with Gillette or Chikai for long and didn't know much about either of them. But Delphox was different.
Delphox agreed without hesitation and let Yuga pull her to the side as the two began whispering.
At the same time, Mismagius made a remarkable discovery at Chikai's place.
After chasing all the Pokémon out of the house, Chikai sat in front of a mirror and examined his own face. Suddenly, he started touching around his face.
Mismagius was shocked to see Chikai actually peel off a layer of "human skin" from his face, revealing an entirely different face underneath.
It was a face even younger than his previous one—he looked like he wasn't even twenty years old.
Casually tossing the "human skin" onto the table, Chikai rubbed his face and said, "Still, my own face looks the best."