I'm the Owner of the Pokémon Day Care In the World of Pokémon

Chapter 1082: Eternal Flower Floette

When Honchkrow returned to the Verdanturf Gym, Yuga wasn't there, as he was helping out at his shop, so it was Beidou who greeted the bird.

Beidou didn't recognize Ruri's Honchkrow nor could he understand what it was saying, so at first, he thought a wild Pokémon had accidentally wandered into the gym. It wasn't until he noticed that Honchkrow seemed to be desperately trying to communicate something to him that he decided to find Yuga.

When Yuga met Honchkrow, he quickly learned everything about what had happened in the Petalburg Woods: humans and Pokémon alike had suddenly fallen into a deep sleep.

After hearing Honchkrow's plea for help, Yuga initially thought of notifying the Verdanturf Town police to send a rescue team. However, given that the cause of the sleep was unknown, he abandoned that plan, thinking that sending the police might just lead them into danger.

The investigation team already had strong members like Ruri, Amber, and the forest ranger with them, so Yuga doubted that the police would fare any better. Since even they had fallen victim to the mysterious sleep, it was unlikely that the police could handle the situation safely.

The best plan now was for Yuga to personally go to the Petalburg Woods to assess the situation before deciding whether to carry out a rescue mission and how to go about it.

He had his trusted Pokémon, Chimecho and Florges, with him. Whether it was Chimecho's Heal Bell or Florges's Aromatherapy, both moves would be powerful methods to wake up those affected by the sleep.

Still, Yuga made a call to discuss the situation with Shirai Masato. He informed Shirai Masato that if he didn't return within a set time, they should consider alternative rescue plans.

Although Yuga was confident in his abilities, he wasn't so arrogant as to believe himself invincible.

After making all the necessary arrangements, Yuga rode on Dragonite and, guided by Honchkrow, hurried toward the Petalburg Woods as fast as possible.

There were no abnormalities in the outer or central areas of the Petalburg Woods. Yuga flew through those regions on Dragonite without issue; the Pokémon in the forest were going about their business as usual, unaffected by whatever was happening.

However, once he reached the central area of the forest, things changed. The surroundings suddenly grew eerily quiet—no sounds of bird Pokémon chirping in the trees, no rustling from Grass-type Pokémon in the bushes... The silence was unsettling.

To be cautious, Yuga decided to dismount from Dragonite and proceed on foot once he reached the forest's center.

On his way, Yuga found a Taillow that had fallen into the grass. He turned around to Chimecho and said, "Chimecho, try using Heal Bell to see if you can wake it up."

"Chimecho, Chimecho," Chimecho nodded in agreement.

The crisp and melodious sound of the bell rang out, and after a short while, Taillow slowly opened its eyes. Realizing it was lying in a human's hands, it panicked and hurriedly flew away.

Seeing Taillow awaken from Chimecho's Heal Bell, Yuga felt a sense of relief wash over him.

He then continued to find other Pokémon that had also fallen into a deep sleep, including Shroomish, Oddish, Tediursa, Wurmple, and Maril, alternating between having Chimecho use Heal Bell and Florges use Aromatherapy to wake them up.

After a series of experiments, Yuga finally deduced that the cause of the Pokémon's slumber was likely a Psychic-type move, Hypnosis.

While there are many moves that can induce sleep in Pokémon, the resulting sleep states differ from one move to another.

For instance, while Sleep Powder and Hypnosis ultimately have the same effect, when it comes to waking Pokémon up, Heal Bell is more effective against sleep caused by Hypnosis, whereas Aromatherapy works better for sleep induced by *Sleep Powder*.

In Pokémon medicine, Sleep Powder is categorized as a medicinal sleep, while Hypnosis falls under psychological suggestion.

Similarly, sleep induced by moves like Sing or Grass Whistle exhibits various symptomatic differences, which experienced Pokémon doctors and breeders can easily identify.

Though Yuga was neither a Pokémon doctor nor a breeder, he had learned a wealth of breeding knowledge online with Audino, so it wasn't for nothing.

The reason Ruri's Honchkrow had escaped this incident was partly due to its ability, Insomnia, and partly because it was a Dark-type Pokémon.

Dark-type Pokémon are immune to damage from Psychic-type moves, but they are not immune to status moves like Hypnosis. However, compared to other types of Pokémon, Dark-types tend to have a significantly higher resistance to Hypnosis.

For example, if Gengar were to use Hypnosis on both a Charizard and a Honchkrow, it would be noticeably harder to put Honchkrow to sleep.

The Pokémon responsible for triggering this sleeping incident must possess immense power; otherwise, it would be impossible for it to require both the Insomnia ability and Dark-type characteristics to achieve this effect.

Yuga had already spotted a Dark-type Pokémon, Nuzleaf, and another with the Insomnia ability, Ariados, but unlike Honchkrow, they hadn't been so fortunate.

With this suspicion in mind, Yuga became increasingly cautious; if he drew the attention of that particular Pokémon, it was uncertain whether he could escape unscathed. Better to be careful than to take unnecessary risks.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally located the survey team, guided by Honchkrow. They were sprawled across the ground in disarray, with a group of Nuzleaf also caught in a deep slumber not far away.

What surprised Yuga, however, was that a small Fairy-type Pokémon was currently trying to assist the unconscious humans and Pokémon. It was struggling to move the inspection team members together, attempting to use Aromatherapy to wake them up.

But it seemed this little Pokémon was injured, as it lacked the strength to effectively use Aromatherapy and was unable to rouse any of them.

Yuga's arrival quickly attracted the attention of the small Pokémon.

"Floette!"

The Pokémon hurriedly hid behind a large tree, then cautiously peeked its head out to glance at Yuga before quickly retreating again.

Floette? Yuga was astonished to see this Pokémon.

What was a Floette doing here, and not just any Floette, but a shiny one?

Unconsciously, Yuga activated his Insight.

...

[ Floette (Eternal Flower) ]

Type: Fairy

Ability: Symbiosis

Gender: Female

Potential: Unknown

Level: Unknown

Moves: Vine Whip, Fairy Wind, Lucky Chant, Leaf Blade, Wish, Magical Leaf, Grassy Terrain, Petal Dance, Aromatherapy, Misty Terrain, Moonblast, Petal Dance, Solar Beam, Captivate, Magic Reflect, Photosynthesis, Sunny Day, Energy Ball, Dazzling Gleam, Light of Ruin.

...

After reading the details, Yuga was truly taken aback.

Eternal Flower Floette? This was the very Floette AZ had been searching for!

No wonder AZ had come to Hoenn; he must have been tracking Floette, but since Floette had chosen to hide from him, he couldn't find it and had resorted to entering the Phantom Tower to sleep instead.

Thinking about it, it made sense; if Floette wanted to evade AZ, the best course of action would naturally be to leave the Kalos region. It just hadn't anticipated that AZ would follow it there.

Now that Yuga understood Floalette's identity, he didn't dare approach recklessly; who knew if Floette was truly as benevolent as legends suggested?

Thus, both Yuga and the Pokémon remained motionless, each studying the other.

However, as Yuga observed the sleeping Gary and the others, he suddenly felt that their condition was eerily familiar. It resembled the situation of Team Rocket's trio when they were in the Mirage Tower.

Could it be that the Pokémon causing the creatures in the forest to fall asleep was Darkrai? Darkrai's ability Nightmare, activates automatically when it puts its opponents to sleep, causing those affected to experience continuous nightmares.

At this moment, while the members of the inspection team weren't screaming like Team Rocket did, their brows were furrowed, and some were even murmuring in their sleep.

This was nearly identical to the effects caused by Darkrai's Nightmare ability; it was evident they were experiencing nightmares.

With this thought in mind, Yuga took out the lunar feather that Cresselia had gifted him from his system backpack.

Sure enough, as soon as the lunar feather appeared, the eerie atmosphere in the forest shifted, and the members of the inspection team who are drenched in cold sweat, abruptly sat up. The other awakened Pokémon also panicked and scattered.

At the same time, upon sensing the presence of Cresselia, Darkrai, who was in the central garden of the forest, felt something stir: Cresselia's aura—she had come? But didn't she say she was going back to Sinnoh?

"What happened?" Gary who is now awake, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looking bewildered.

"Gary, are you alright?" At that moment, Ruri walked over to ask with concern.

"I'm fine, Ruri. How about you? Are you and Amber okay?" Gary asked, equally worried.

Ruri glanced at Amber, who was still in shock not far away, and shook her head. "Don't worry; we're all fine."

"What on earth happened? Why did we suddenly fall asleep?" May asked in confusion.

The incident had occurred too suddenly, and she hadn't fully processed it yet. The nightmares she had experienced were far too terrifying; her heart was still racing.

No way! Am I really going to be ground into the dirt by that guy Ash? Impossible! Gary scoffed inwardly.

Just as Ruri was about to respond to Gary, she suddenly saw her Honchkrow rushing over with a joyful expression. At that moment, she was still unaware that Honchkrow had gone to seek help from Yuga in order to save them from their predicament in Verdanturf Town.

Seeing Honchkrow nuzzling against her affectionately, Ruri reached out to touch its pointed cap and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

At that moment, Yuga stepped forward.

Upon seeing Yuga, the members of the survey team were very surprised.

"Mr. Shimizu, what are you doing here?" Lila asked in confusion, then seemed to guess something. "Did you wake us up?"

Yuga nodded, saying, "That's right. Your Honchkrow came to Verdanturf Town for help after you all inexplicably fell asleep in the forest, which is why I came."

Yuga explained the entire chain of events.

After learning the details, Ruri hugged Honchkrow and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Honchkrow." Without it, they might have starved to death in their slumber in just a few days.

"Why did we suddenly fall asleep?"

"This place is too dangerous; we should leave Petalburg Woods as soon as possible!"

...

For a moment, the members of the inspection team started discussing among themselves, while Yuga approached Nakamichi and Reisuke, the two rangers who had come to assist the inspection team.

"Is there any record of Darkrai being active in Petalburg Woods?"

Nakamichi and Reisuke exchanged glances and said, "Are you suspecting that our sudden sleep is related to Darkrai?"

"I have some suspicion," Yuga replied, nodding.

"We've never encountered Darkrai in Petalburg Woods," Reisuke said. They had been stationed there as an area rangers for quite some time and were very familiar with the distribution of Pokémon in most areas.

"True," Nakamichi agreed with Reisuke. However, he thought for a moment and added, "But it's not impossible. The center of Petalburg Woods is a place we rarely visit; sometimes we can't even figure out what Pokémon might be hiding there."

Upon hearing this, Yuga fell silent. He glanced at the Floette hiding in the distance; its injuries likely came from the Pokémon he suspected to be Darkrai.

This Floette may not seem particularly bold, but its strength was undoubtedly considerable, as Yuga sensed its aura was no weaker than other legendary Pokémon he had encountered.

In other words, this was a Floette that had ascended to godhood.

If that Pokémon really was Darkrai, was it connected to the one in the Mirage Tower? Or was it the very same one from the Mirage Tower?

In any case, Yuga didn't think that a Pokémon like Darkrai could be so common as to find two of them casually.

After some discussion, the members of the survey team ultimately decided to return to Verdanturf Town, while Yuga chose to stay behind and continue investigating the cause of the Pokémon falling into a deep sleep along with the rangers.

This issue needed to be resolved; otherwise, the safety of the towns surrounding Petalburg Woods would remain uncertain. As a Gym Leader, Yuga felt it was his responsibility to get to the bottom of it.

Gary was very interested in this "mysterious Pokémon" and wanted to stay behind to investigate with Yuga, but he was forcibly dragged away by Ruri and Amber, who strongly opposed the idea.

After thinking for a long time, Yuga decided to talk to the Floette.

He called Chimecho over to protect him and walked to the spot where Floette was hiding. Upon seeing Yuga approach, Floette burrowed deeper into the grass.

"Floette, can we talk?" Yuga softly called out to the grass.

After a while, a rustling sound came, and Floette head poked out from the grass.

"Floette?"

What do you want to talk about?

Floey trembled as it spoke, having not seen humans for so long that it didn't know how to communicate with them anymore.

"Do you know who made the Pokémon suddenly fall asleep?"

"I know," Floette nodded.

"Can you tell me who it is? Where are they now?"

"If I tell you, will you help me drive it away? It took my home!" Floette looked at Yuga with eager eyes.

Yuga: ...You can't deal with it yourself, so how can I help?

So he replied, "I can't guarantee that I can help you drive it away, but I can heal your injuries."

Floette felt the pain from its wounds and finally nodded. Although it could heal those injuries on its own, it would take time, and it hurt too much right now!

Upon learning that Yuga was going to meet the "mysterious Pokémon," Nakamichi and Reisuke immediately expressed their desire to accompany him. Maintaining the stability of Petalburg Woods was their duty as rangers.

However, Yuga declined. He was only going to scout the situation; if the other party was indeed Darkrai, he could get away faster alone—adding more people might hinder him.

With Floette leading the way, Yuga eventually encountered Darkrai. With just a glance, he recognized it as the one from the Mirage Tower.

As soon as Floette and Yuga got close, Darkrai sensed them. Initially, it thought it would only be dealing with Floette and planned to teach it a lesson. But upon seeing Yuga, it was taken aback.

What the hell, how is it you?

The pain brought to it by Absol was still fresh in its memory.