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

Seeing Yuga appear, Glenn shouted excitedly, "Yuga!"

Takee also showed a look of surprise, his tear- and snot-covered face breaking into a smile: Saved! Finally saved!

The moment the clocked man saw Yuga, his expression changed drastically. His first reaction was to throw Takee, who he was holding, into the vortex. With just one more person thrown in, the vortex gate would almost be complete.

But just as he lifted Takee, a bolt of lightning struck from the sky, hitting the unstable vortex directly. The vortex trembled violently, then began to spin again, showing signs of shrinking.

Seeing this, the clocked man cried out in terror, "No!" He tried again to throw Takee into the vortex.

However, Dragonite's Thunder attack struck right at his feet, stopping him in his tracks.

"Dusknoir!" the clocked man roared in fury.

"Dusknoir~"

With a deep growl, Dusknoir appeared above Dragonite in the next second. Its Ice Punch landed heavily on Dragonite's back with a thunderous crash, sending Dragonite plummeting from the sky.

It was then that Yuga realized how extraordinarily powerful this eerie Dusknoir was. Yet even with his Insight skill, he couldn't see through it.

Dragonite's crash created a massive crater in the ground, and the shockwave flipped the stranger nearby. Takee, who had been in his grip, was thrown aside as well.

Taking advantage of his freedom, Takee quickly scrambled to his feet and ran as fast as he could, reaching Yuga's side in the blink of an eye. He let out a long sigh of relief. At the same time, Glenn arrived at Yuga's side with his Sunflora and Blaziken.

Yuga ignored the two of them, frowning instead at the menacing Dusknoir. Its aura was filled with violent hostility as it slowly descended beside Dragonite and raised its fist again, preparing to strike with another Ice Punch.

"Dragonite~"

The rising Dragonite let out an angry roar and raised its fists to counter.

Dragonite's Thunder Punch clashed with Dusknoir's Ice Punch, and golden electric currents and white frost spread in all directions. Both Pokémon were knocked back significantly by the force.

In terms of power, the two Pokémon seemed evenly matched.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Within mere seconds, the two Pokémon exchanged dozens of punches, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Before long, both Pokémon were panting heavily. But Yuga didn't plan to let Dragonite continue fighting alone. He decided it was time to end the battle quickly. For some reason, he had an uneasy feeling in his heart, as if disaster were looming.

The most suspicious factor was, of course, the eerie black vortex.

Just as Yuga was about to send out Charizard to assist Dragonite, Gengar and Mismagius arrived.

The moment they saw the black vortex, Gengar and Mismagius were visibly shocked. They informed Yuga that the vortex was a gateway to the Ghost World.

The reason the Dusknoir appeared so terrifyingly sinister was that it had absorbed far too much life energy from living beings. Since Gengar and Mismagius originated from the Ghost World, they could see through the situation at a glance.

Dusknoir from the Ghost World have the ability to open gateways to it on their own. However, it's not easy for an ordinary Dusknoir to do so. This one was clearly not from the Ghost World, and it had used an unnatural method to open the gateway.

This method was a grave violation of natural laws.

They had chosen this location to open the gateway because it was one of the thinner points in the spatial barrier between the Ghost World and the Pokémon World. This was also why Cecilia had appeared here back then.

Additionally, today was the day when the connection between the Ghost World and the Pokémon World was at its strongest, making it the easiest time to open a gateway.

After understanding the abnormalities surrounding the Dusknoir, Yuga's gaze toward it was filled with disgust. For its power to rival that of Dragonite, it must have harmed countless lives.

Under Yuga's command, Gengar and Mismagius flanked the Dusknoir, surrounding it from both sides. Although Gengar and Mismagius weren't Champion-level Pokémon, their combined strength was no less than that of a Champion-level Pokémon.

Gengar and Mismagius each hurled a Shadow Ball. The Dusknoir, fully focused on dealing with Dragonite, was caught off guard and knocked to the ground. Dragonite seized the opportunity and slammed a fist onto its head, prompting a heart-wrenching scream from the Dusknoir.

Seeing Dusknoir in distress, the clocked man grew increasingly anxious. Dusknoir was the only capable Pokémon he had in battle. However, after some hesitation, he still pulled out Poké Balls and released two Dusclops and two Banette.

Like Dusknoir, the two Dusclops and two Banette radiated a brutal aura, evidence of the harm they had inflicted on other living beings to enhance their power.

The root of this evil lay with the man who had raised them!

Thinking of this, Yuga's gaze toward the clocked man became icier.

A ripple appeared in the shadow space, and under Yuga's command, a Palossand, in its shrunken form, quietly emerged.

The two Dusclops and two Banette, upon being released, immediately lunged ferociously at Gengar, Mismagius, and Dragonite. However, their strength was too low. Gengar fired a Dark Pulse, and Mismagius unleashed a Mystical Fire. The four Pokémon were all defeated in an instant.

Seeing this, the clocked man cursed inwardly at the Ghost Pokémon he had used to capture Glenn and the others for being utterly useless. If not for their involvement, Yuga wouldn't have been drawn to this location in the first place.

The cloaked man recognized Yuga. He had been to Verdanturf Town and had seen Yuga from afar, but Dusknoir had warned him not to approach.

He had been cautious all along, but still, things had gone awry.

Initially, he thought that after today, everything would be settled. The disappearance of two people was a small matter he wasn't worried about. What he didn't expect was for Yuga to find him so quickly.

The cloaked man frantically searched himself for any remaining Pokémon, but he came up empty-handed. All the Ghost Pokémon he had enslaved had been sacrificed to Dusknoir, leaving him with nothing.

With the assistance of Gengar and Mismagius, Dragonite quickly defeated Dusknoir. Realizing the situation was hopeless, the cloaked man turned around to flee.

At that moment, the Palossand suddenly transformed into a massive castle. With a gaping mouth, it swallowed the fleeing man whole.

Inside Palossand's belly, the man desperately searched for an exit. Before long, he felt his strength draining away, leaving him unable to stand.

Palossand was slowly siphoning away his life force.

Watching the cloaked man collapse inside Palossand, Yuga sneered coldly. "You used the lives of others—both Pokémon and humans—to strengthen your Pokémon. Now it's your turn to experience that."

Inside Palossand's body, the man, convinced he was about to be drained dry, was terrified out of his wits. He had seen others who had their life force completely sucked out, leaving them in a ghastly state. He didn't want to end up like that.

However, by now, he didn't even have the strength to struggle.

Seeing that the situation was under control, Yuga called out to Palossand, who opened its mouth and spat out the man. Gasping for air, the man, grateful to be alive, looked at Yuga with sheer terror in his eyes.

Yuga glanced at the still-active vortex and asked Gengar and Mismagius, "Do you two know how to shut this thing down?"

If the portal to the Ghost World remained open, there was a high risk that Ghost Pokémon and spectral creatures from the other side could spill out, causing chaos. The priority was to close it immediately.

Gengar and Mismagius exchanged glances before shaking their heads in unison. If this were a proper portal to the Ghost World opened through normal means by a genuine Dusknoir, they could close it without much trouble. However, this portal was created by unnatural methods, and neither of them knew how to handle it.

Yuga then turned his gaze to the man. "Since you know how to open it, you should know how to close it, right?"

The man, under Yuga's intense stare, felt his scalp go numb. He struggled to back away, but his body was completely drained of strength, leaving him writhing helplessly on the ground.

"I don't know! I really don't know…"

Yuga found the man utterly pathetic. To think that someone capable of using such cruel methods to raise a powerful Dusknoir could be so spineless.

Since the man refused to tell the truth, Yuga decided to resort to Hypnosis to extract the information. Against someone so vile, there was no need for mercy.

"Gengar!"

At Yuga's command, Gengar immediately used Hypnosis on the man to interrogate him.

The man's willpower was weak, and Gengar easily extracted all the information. It was then that Yuga finally understood why the Dusknoir had looked at him so strangely when they first met—it truly did recognize him.

The man's name was Mizuno. He had once been an ordinary Trainer, but one day, he came into possession of a relic belonging to a Ghost World Emissary, through which he learned some of the Ghost World's secrets.

Later, during one of his adventures, he stumbled upon a Poké Ball containing a Dusclops.

This particular Dusclops had a significant connection to Yuga.

Back when Yuga was capturing Flygon and Gliscor in the underground world of the desert, he had encountered this very Dusclops. Due to prolonged exposure to the intense negative energy in the area, the Dusclops had become exceptionally violent and bloodthirsty, attacking people with the intention to kill them.

Yuga, along with Wigglytuff, Swellow, and the others, had defeated it but chose not to keep it. Instead, he sealed it inside a Poké Ball and buried it somewhere.

At the time, Yuga had just arrived in the Pokémon world and was still heavily influenced by his previous life's values, so the thought of killing the Pokémon never crossed his mind. As a result, he left behind this hidden danger.

If it were today and Yuga encountered such a vile Pokémon again, he wouldn't hesitate to eliminate it, no matter how many lives it had.

Somehow, the Poké Ball was later dug up by a burrowing Pokémon and brought out of the underground world, eventually ending up in Mizuno's hands.

Using the secret techniques left behind by the Ghost World Emissary, Mizuno subdued and released the Dusclops.

This malicious spirit naturally thrived on draining life force. Without the emissary's techniques, Mizuno wouldn't have been able to control it.

Mizuno, being a man of dubious character, had acquired a naturally malevolent Pokémon and mastered Ghost World secrets. He then began a spree of atrocities, using countless lives to forcefully evolve Dusclops into the powerful Dusknoir.

However, that wasn't even the most critical part. Mizuno was most intrigued by the methods recorded in the relic: opening a portal to the Ghost World and achieving rebirth as a Ghost World Emissary.

The Ghost World Emissaries are chosen and appointed by the consciousness of the Ghost World itself, a process completely beyond the control of outsiders. However, that particular Ghost World Emissary had documented a secret technique in his notes, and Mizuno couldn't resist the temptation.

Thus, Mizuno and the Dusknoir endured countless hardships, collecting a large number of Ghost-type Pokémon. Eventually, they located a place near Verdanturf Town where the barriers between the Ghost World and the physical world were weak.

Their plan was to open a portal to the Ghost World at this location.

The only thing Mizuno was dissatisfied with was the Gym Leader of Verdanturf Town, who was far too powerful. He didn't dare to act recklessly, and the Dusknoir had also warned him to avoid provoking the Gym Leader, as that person was far beyond what it could handle.

The moment the Dusknoir saw Yuga in Verdanturf Town, it immediately recognized him as the person who had sealed it away. If Yuga had still been at the same strength as before, the Dusknoir would have torn him apart on the spot.

But when it sensed an aura from Yuga that terrified it, the Dusknoir urged Mizuno to stay cautious.

Being controlled by Mizuno's secret technique, the Dusknoir's fate was tied to Mizuno's. If Mizuno fell, so would the Dusknoir. It had no interest in seeing Mizuno fail, as it was counting on him to take it to the Ghost World, where Ghost Pokémon truly belonged.

As long as it could quietly reach the Ghost World, seeking revenge on Yuga wasn't important anymore.

After leaving the desolate underground world, free from the influence of dark energy, the Dusknoir had regained much of its rationality.

And so, Mizuno and the Dusknoir secretly plotted for nearly six months before finally getting their chance.

But to their dismay, just as they were one step away from success, everything fell apart.

After listening to Mizuno's confession, Yuga scrutinized the man and thought that while his abilities were limited, his ambitions were boundless.

Yuga suspected that even though Mizuno had used the secret technique to control the Dusknoir, he had likely been subtly influenced by it over time. Otherwise, with Mizuno's level of courage and intellect, he wouldn't have been capable of orchestrating something this grand.

Just as Yuga was about to ask Mizuno how to close the Ghost World portal, an inexplicable ripple suddenly emanated from his Shadow Space. Yuga's heart skipped a beat, and a sense of foreboding washed over him.

Sure enough, in the very next moment, the black vortex began to tremble violently. Within seconds, it expanded from the size of a door to the size of an entire room. The pitch-black vortex seemed to come alive.

Then, Yuga saw a giant translucent human face emerge from the vortex.

The face had lifeless eyes and a vacant expression, like a corpse, but it radiated an overwhelming aura of authority.

The moment the face appeared, the Ghost World Origin Stone in Yuga's Shadow Space began to tremble violently, as if it was about to burst out in the next second.

"Gengar~!"

"Mismagius~!"

The instant Gengar and Mismagius saw the enormous translucent face, they screamed in terror. Yuga distinctly heard them shout, "Ghost World Consciousness!"

The Ghost World Consciousness had appeared because it sensed the presence of the Ghost World Origin Stone! This thought flashed through Yuga's mind.

However, the Ghost World Consciousness seemed unable to fully emerge from the vortex. It struggled violently but was ultimately restrained by the laws governing it.

Eventually, it gave up trying to force its way out. Instead, it extended half of its face and opened its massive mouth, sucking in with immense force.

The first to suffer were Mizuno, who was immobilized, and the unconscious Dusknoir. They were both sucked into the vortex in one gulp. Yuga could clearly see the Ghost World Consciousness smack its lips twice afterward.

It seemed the two of them tasted quite good.