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

"Oh no... fell into the water again." The girl sat up in the fountain pool, looking dejected as she spoke.

It was only then that Yuga got a clear look at the girl's face: short golden hair, delicate features, and a very cute appearance. At the same time, he remembered who she was—Bianca.

Yuga could recall her because Ash had mentioned her during the Junior Cup. Bianca hadn't participated in the event, which Ash had regretted at the time.

The girl stood up from the pool, apologetically addressing Yuga, "I'm so sorry, I almost bumped into you—"

When she finally took a good look at Yuga's face, she suddenly pointed at him in surprise and exclaimed with delight, "Ah~! You're Mr. Shimizu!"

Bianca's slightly clumsy nature showed through as her loud exclamation attracted the attention of passersby. She quickly covered her mouth in embarrassment and smiled awkwardly at Yuga.

Yuga looked at her in surprise and asked, "Do you know me?"

Bianca immediately nodded her head enthusiastically.

It turned out that Bianca, as both a friend and rival of Ash, had not attended the Junior Cup but had watched the live broadcast of the matches, including Yuga's exhibition battle with Cynthia.

After hearing her explanation, Yuga nodded in understanding. "I see."

"By the way, you're all soaking wet—are you okay?" Yuga pointed to Bianca's dripping clothes with concern.

"Ah~! Oh no, a towel, a towel..." It was only then that Bianca remembered she was still standing in the water. She quickly climbed out of the fountain pool and began rummaging through the small bag slung over her shoulder in search of a towel.

Her bag was a compact mini space pouch.

"Ah... it seems I forgot to bring a towel!" After a long search, Bianca couldn't find one and anxiously continued digging through her bag.

Seeing this, Yuga took out a towel from his own bag and said, "Why don't you use mine? I haven't used it yet." For trainers on the road, towels were usually a must-have in their space bags. Bianca forgetting hers showed she truly was a scatterbrain.

Bianca scratched her head awkwardly. "Oh, I couldn't possibly..."

"It's no trouble," Yuga replied. "Just go ahead and use it; it's only a towel."

Only then did Bianca accept the towel.

Thus, the two started chatting.

Bianca's hometown was Nuvema Town, which was just next to Accumula Town, connected by Route 1. It was even closer than the distance between Undella Town and Striaton City, so Bianca often came to Accumula Town to play and was very familiar with the area.

As they talked, Yuga casually asked, "Do you know if there's any place in Accumula Town where one can buy Pokémon?"

Bianca found the question a bit odd. She remembered that Yuga himself ran a Pokémon Day Care, so why was he looking to buy Pokémon from others?

Still, she answered honestly. "There are two Pokémon Day Care in Accumula Town. One is the official Pokémon Day Care in the east, and the other is the Candy Breeding House in the west. They're easy to find."

Yuga shook his head and, lowering his voice, said to Bianca, "I'm not talking about official Pokemon Day Care. I mean... more unusual places."

Bianca's eyes lit up. "Are you here on some kind of League mission?" She seemed very intrigued by the idea of missions.

Yuga hadn't expected this seemingly clumsy girl to have such a sharp mind. Although he wasn't on a League mission, he did indeed have "special intentions."

"Hehe, no, I was just asking casually," Yuga chuckled, trying to brush it off.

But Bianca, seemingly filling in the blanks herself, gave him a knowing look and said, "I understand, it's confidential, right?"

"Ha~haha~ something like that," Yuga replied, too lazy to explain further and just letting her assume what she wanted.

Bianca glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby. Then she gestured for Yuga to come closer and said, "Once, I accidentally stumbled into a place that felt a bit like a black market…"

It turned out that early in her journey, Bianca had inadvertently wandered into a place resembling a black market. They sold all kinds of things there, including Pokémon.

When she tried to make a purchase, the seller asked her for some kind of token. That immediately alerted her to something suspicious, so she wisely chose to leave without looking back.

Later, she tried returning to the location but couldn't find the entrance again. Although the matter was left unresolved, it remained vividly in her memory.

Hearing Bianca's account, Yuga felt a jolt of realization. The place was undoubtedly unusual. He quickly asked, "Do you remember where it was?"

Bianca nodded enthusiastically, "Of course I remember."

Excited, Yuga said, "Could you take me there to have a look?"

"Sure, sure!" Bianca agreed cheerfully.

With Bianca leading the way, Yuga arrived at the northernmost part of the small town. The area was surrounded by sheer cliffs. Bianca pointed to one of the cliff faces and said, "That's where I felt something was off."

At the time, she had been trying to catch a Sawsbuck. The Sawsbuck had been climbing the cliffside with incredible speed. Feeling bold, she decided to climb after it, and that's how she ended up in the strange place.

Yuga looked in the direction she was pointing but saw only steep rock walls covered in dense vegetation. There was nothing else in sight.

After thinking for a moment, Yuga said to Bianca, "I've got the location. You should head back now." He didn't want her getting involved if the area turned out to be dangerous.

Bianca was tempted to stick around and see what Yuga's so-called "mission" entailed. However, realizing she might cause him trouble, she reluctantly replied, "Alright, I understand."

After Bianca left, Yuga explored the area further but found no sign of the entrance she had described.

"Could Bianca's memory be faulty?" Yuga wondered to himself.

Just then, Cosmoem quietly emerged from Yuga's shadow space. It fired a dark purple beam of light at one section of the cliff wall. Instantly, part of the cliff disappeared, revealing a massive cave that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere.

Yuga instinctively pulled Cosmoem aside to hide.

"What's going on?"

At that moment, someone walked out of the cave. They glanced around cautiously before calling back into the cave. A Reuniclus floated out in response.

"Why has the illusion disappeared?" the person asked the Reuniclus.

The Reuniclus tilted slightly, appearing confused, and shook its head to indicate it didn't know. It then used psychic energy to scan the surrounding area but found nothing.

The person, seeing no immediate threat, assumed the Reuniclus had malfunctioned. Frustrated, they scolded, "Be more careful. What if someone discovers this place?"

The Reuniclus remained silent and obediently followed the person back into the cave. Hidden in the shadows, Yuga saw a flash of light as the cave vanished once more, leaving behind the overgrown cliff face.

After the person and the Pokémon disappeared, Yuga let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Cosmoem had used its psychic power to mask their presence; otherwise, the Reuniclus would have spotted them, ruining everything.

Yuga released his Granbull and asked, "Does this place feel familiar to you at all?"

Granbull looked left and right, sniffing the air cautiously, but ultimately shook its head, indicating it had no recollection of the area.

Yuga thought to himself: Could this place be Team Plasma breeding facility? Or perhaps he had stumbled upon a new hidden location?

Whatever this place was, Yuga decided he had to investigate further. However, it would be safer to act at night to minimize risks.

With his plan clear, Yuga left the area and returned to the Pokémon Center.

At the Pokémon Center, Yuga ran into Bianca again. It turned out she was also staying there. Seeing Yuga, Bianca was thrilled and quickly approached him to ask in a low voice, "Mr. Shimizu, how did it go?"

Yuga replied, "It went smoothly, thanks to your help."

Bianca, a little embarrassed, said, "It's nothing, I'm just glad I could help."

To express his gratitude, Yuga later treated Bianca to a meal. Bianca was overjoyed to spend more time talking with Yuga.

Night soon fell. Taking advantage of the darkness, Yuga quietly left the Pokémon Center and returned to the cliffside he had visited earlier that day. With Gengar and Mismagius leading the way, he flew to the entrance of the cave.

Initially, Yuga had thought that the illusion was the only barrier concealing the cave. To his surprise, there was also a mental energy shield.

The illusion only distorted vision, but the mental energy shield actively prevented intruders from entering. Without breaking through the shield, Yuga had no way to access the cave.

However, violently breaking the shield would undoubtedly alert those inside, which would ruin everything.

Yuga was puzzled. With this mental energy shield in place, how had Bianca accidentally entered the cave before?

At that moment, Cosmoem emerged from Yuga's shadow space again. Afraid it might repeat the blunder from earlier, Yuga quickly stopped it and said, "My little troublemaker, please don't cause any more havoc!"

Cosmoem, clearly displeased, insisted it could take Yuga inside without alerting the shield's owner.

Yuga looked skeptical. "Really?"

Offended, Cosmoem pretended to charge at Yuga as if it would collide with him. Yuga quickly pleaded for mercy.

"Alright, alright, I believe you! Happy now?"

Considering Cosmoem's weight, a real collision would have left Yuga with serious internal injuries. Normally, Cosmoem used its psychic powers to control its weight.

Satisfied, Cosmoem's body emitted a blue light that enveloped Yuga, Gengar, and Mismagius. In an instant, they crossed through the mental energy shield effortlessly.

Once inside, Cosmoem returned to the shadow space, and Yuga concealed himself using Gengar and Mismagius's abilities.

The cave was a long tunnel. Although it was nighttime, the tunnel was not dim, as electric lamps were hung along its walls.

There were even two guards stationed inside the tunnel, further deepening Yuga's confusion. How had Bianca entered unnoticed before?

What Yuga didn't know was that when Bianca had stumbled upon the place, it was still in its early stages of construction. The operations weren't fully organized, and there were no guards at the time.

Additionally, the previous owner of this place was not the same as the current one.

Yuga continued moving forward. Listening in on some conversations, he finally pieced together what was happening. This place was indeed a sort of black market. However, unlike conventional black markets, it only opened once a month and exclusively admitted guests who possessed identity cards issued by the owner.

Passing through the tunnel, Yuga arrived at a spacious hall-like area. He guessed this was the main trading venue. However, since it wasn't an open day, the place was rather deserted. Apart from some staff, there were only empty booths and shelves scattered around.

Yuga also found the warehouse here, where he discovered numerous items such as evolution stones, medicinal herbs, held items, Poké Balls, and more. Even though Yuga now had substantial resources and a successful business, he couldn't help but be tempted.

In addition to the warehouse, Yuga discovered a peculiar area that appeared to be a secret room. Inside were about twenty or thirty Reuniclus surrounding a machine, continuously emitting psychic energy. Lying atop the machine was a slumbering Zoroark.

Yuga quickly deduced the purpose of the secret room. The illusions outside originated from the unconscious Zoroark, while the psychic barrier came from the Reuniclus.

The reason Bianca had accidentally stumbled into this place before was not only because it had just been established and its operations were incomplete, but also because the machine in the secret room, which amplified the powers of the Reuniclus and Zoroark, wasn't fully functional at that time.

Since the Reuniclus' focus was entirely on the machine, they didn't notice Yuga's presence. Without disturbing them, Yuga quietly withdrew from the secret room after observing for a while.

Upon exiting the secret room, Yuga unexpectedly encountered someone—Maxie.

It turned out that this place was indeed tied to Team Plasma. After Maxie and the remnants of Team Magma joined Team Plasma, Colress assigned this site to Maxie to manage.

That machine was also one of Colress' creations—or more accurately, it was modified by Colress.

Initially, this location hadn't belonged to Team Plasma but was instead built by a wealthy man from Accumula Town. The man constructed this place simply to gather with his friends and flaunt his wealth.

The machine initially only served to enhance the psychic power of the Reuniclus, with the sole purpose of concealing the location. It didn't form a psychic barrier but merely slightly disrupted people's perceptions.

Later, the wealthy man was persuaded to join Team Plasma, and this site became one of their facilities. When Bianca accidentally stumbled upon this place, it was during the transition of ownership between the two masters.

After being modified by the scientific genius Colress, the machine in the secret room gained the ability to generate a psychic barrier using the psychic power of the Reuniclus and create illusions through Zoroark's Illusion ability.

Maxie emerged from a hidden room, and after he left, Yuga stealthily entered the hidden room. Inside, he found numerous documents, through which he learned the origins of this location.

Yuga also discovered that this site was connected to the Team Plasma breeding facility he was investigating.

Team Plasma's breeding facility was dedicated to supplying Pokémon to their top-ranking members. However, during the process of breeding Pokémon, it was inevitable that some Pokémon with less-than-ideal potential would emerge. Team Plasma used this site to sell off those Pokémon.

Those who came here were lower-level recruits of Team Plasma, bringing in their own networks. While these people conducted transactions, Team Plasma would secretly observe them. If anyone seemed suitable, they would send someone to approach them and recruit them into Team Plasma when the opportunity arose.

The identity cards used to access this place were given to them by the person who introduced them. The cards existed to prevent individuals from the Pokémon League or other organizations from infiltrating the site.

Although this hidden room didn't contain any major secrets about Team Plasma, Yuga now had a clear understanding of the general situation here.

Finally, Yuga decided to hold back for now and wait until he found the breeding facility before taking any action.