SWNOVELXO Chapter 1438: Reward
Mewtwo could resolve the problem with the Soul-Heart, so things became much simpler.
Mewtwo applied its psychic power onto the Soul-Heart, and soon those black mists began to dissipate. Although they struggled, none could escape Mewtwo's expulsion.
Mewtwo's operation was incredibly precise, as only in this way could the consciousness of Magearna inside be left unharmed.
The expulsion process lasted for a full hour before all the black mist was completely dispersed. Although Yuga couldn't identify the source of the black mist, he could be certain that it was Dark-type energy.
After the black mist was completely cleared, Mewtwo restored the Soul-Heart to its original state and reassembled it exactly as it was. When Yuga took it back into his hands, he couldn't tell at all that it had ever been dismantled.
Yuga asked uncertainly, "Are you sure there's really no problem?" If anything went wrong, Zenith Academy would definitely come after him.
"Don't worry. There's definitely no problem," Mewtwo replied, somewhat impatiently, while simultaneously pushing Yuga out of the lab.
Seeing the lab door shut behind him, Yuga let out a sigh and took the Soul-Heart to Teacher Chiffon.
Ever since Yuga had left, Teacher Chiffon had been staying by Magearna's body without leaving for a single moment. When she saw Yuga enter the room, she stood up excitedly and asked: "How did it go, Mr. Shimizu? Did you find the problem?"
Yuga smiled brightly. "Mission accomplished. Not only did we find the problem, we solved it too."
"Re… really?" Teacher Chiffon was overwhelmed with joy. "That's… that's wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!"
Yuga carefully placed the Soul-Heart back into Magearna's chest, feeling a bit nervous, worried something might go wrong. Fortunately, the outcome was a good one.
As the sound of gears turning echoed from Magearna's body, it slowly opened its eyes. This time, its movements were no longer stiff or mechanical, but full of fluid vitality.
"Magearna?" Teacht Chiffon called out softly.
"Magearna~"
Magearna responded to Teacher Chiffon. Although they didn't see each other often, it still recognized her.
"It's really healed!" Teacher Chiffon was moved to tears, feeling as though she hadn't let down the tribe leader's trust.
"Magearna~ Magearna~"
Magearna didn't know what had happened during its period of slumber and asked in confusion why it was here. Yuga understood its question and took the initiative to explain everything that had happened.
"That's exactly what happened," Teacher Chiffon confirmed after Yuga finished his explanation.
Magearna came to a sudden realization and stood up to give Yuga a formal, traditional noble's bow, expressing its gratitude.
Only after the excitement faded did Teacher Chiffon remember to contact Fontaine. When Fontaine saw the lively Magearna through the video call, he was even more excited than Teacher Chiffon—because only he knew that Magearna's existence was tied to the mission and survival of the Fairy Remnants.
"Mr. Shimizu, thank you so much for your help. We at Zenith Academy will never forget your kindness," Fontaine said sincerely from the other side of the communicator.
Yuga waved his hand indifferently and said, "We agreed beforehand—I help you, you pay me. Nobody owes anybody."
Fontaine smiled warmly. "You're right. I'll send over the reward soon—you won't be disappointed."
Yuga was instantly pleased. "Then I'll be waiting."
After finishing the conversation about the reward with Yuga, Fontaine turned to Teacher Chiffon and said, "Chiffon, bring our guardian Pokemon back as soon as possible. Don't linger outside any longer."
Teacher Chiffon replied, "Yes, sir!"
Following Fontaine's orders, Teacher Chiffon indeed did not stay long in Verdanturf Town. Early the next morning, she left with the three students.
When Toyomi and Tanba left, they were still reluctant to go, as if they hadn't yet fully explored the new ecopark and were not satisfied with it.
Ayamu felt the same way. After finally returning home, she stayed for less than two days before having to leave again. But since her studies were a priority, she had no choice but to depart.
Fontaine was highly efficient. On the third day after Teacher Chiffon and the others left, Yuga received a delivery containing three items.
The first item was the Fairy Gems that Yuga had used to awaken Magearna. Not only did Fontaine return them, but he also sent some extra.
Now that's considerate!
The second item was a box. When Yuga opened it, he saw thirty-six neatly arranged Poké Balls inside.
Yuga picked up one and opened it, revealing a Ralts.
Ralts is an exceptionally rare Pokémon. Yuga himself had only ever obtained a few earlier on—Gardevoir and Gallade. Even after years of breeding, their numbers remained small, nowhere near enough to sell. He never expected Fontaine to send such Pokémon.
This particular Ralts had green potential and was especially obedient. It wasn't shy either; it curiously examined Yuga with its bowl-cut hairstyle, looking very adorable.
Yuga then checked the other Poké Balls. Besides one Gardevoir and one Gallade, the rest were all Ralts. The Gardevoir and Gallade had blue potential, while the Ralts were all green potential.
He couldn't help but admit this was a grand gesture.
Yuga guessed that the Fairy Remnants must have been breeding quite a significant number of Ralts clans.
The last item Fontaine sent was a beautiful wooden box. When Yuga opened it, he found two thick volumes lying inside, each as thick as the Oxford dictionary from his previous life.
The pages had yellowed with age but were very well preserved. Yuga picked up one volume and flipped through it casually, discovering it was a notebook.
The notebook appeared to record various research notes and experimental records, though the contents were like scribbles and barely understandable. He only noticed the signature at the end: "Masato."
Who was Masato? Yuga didn't know.
Then he picked up the other volume, which was also a notebook. Just like the first, it was filled with almost illegible scribbles.
But Yuga recognized the signature on the back of this one: Nikola, a famous great inventor.
Yuga thought that any notebook placed alongside Nikola's must belong to someone truly extraordinary.
He just couldn't understand why Mr. Fontaine would send these two notebooks to him. Did he really look like someone with the temperament of an inventor?
Unable to figure it out, Yuga searched for a mirror in his room to take a look at himself.
Hmm… quite handsome. As for inventor temperament… that was hard to say. But it was safe to say that most inventors weren't as good-looking as him.
Still puzzled, Yuga finally decided to hand these two notebooks over to Mewtwo, believing that Mewtwo would definitely be interested.
Next, Yuga took the Pokémon and the notebooks to the Ecopark. In the main Ecopark, he placed the thirty-six Ralts (along with the Gardevoir and Gallade) there.
Originally, the main Ecopark had about a dozen Gardevoir and Gallade, among which the strongest one was an indigo potential Gallade at the psudo-Elite level. This was the offspring of the pair of Gardevoir and Gallade that Yuga and Wigglytuff had brought back.
When the older members learned that new kin had moved in, they welcomed them warmly, offering to help the newcomers become familiar with the home. Yuga was very pleased to see this.
Though the numbers were still not very large, the Ralts, Gardevoir, and Gallade had finally formed a clan. Yuga appointed the original indigo potential Gallade in the main Ecopark as the leader of this new clan, entrusting it to manage its kin well and strive to expand the clan's influence as soon as possible.
Gallade was still very young and hadn't expected Yuga to entrust it with the responsibility of managing the clan. For a moment, it felt the weight of its mission and, full of a sense of duty, promised Yuga that it would take good care of the clan.
After settling the Ralts (along with the Gardevoir and Gallade), Yuga went to the Haunted House Sub-Ecopark to find Mewtwo.
When he entered the stone fortress, Yuga noticed the ghost vines growing beside it. In just a few days, they had sprouted new tendrils, some already climbing up the stone fortress. Their vitality was incredibly strong.
Yuga even felt that, in this special environment of the Haunted House Sub-Ecopark, the ghost vines seemed to grow even more robust.
Spiritomb resided on the ghost vines; upon seeing Yuga arrive, it opened its eyes lazily, gave a casual greeting to Yuga, and then closed its eyes again to rest.
Without the interference of the seal, the energy inside its body no longer leaked out, and it wasn't afraid that the ghost vines would absorb its energy.
When Yuga entered the laboratory, Mewtwo was instructing its new assistants on their work. The new assistants were two Metagross, selected by Yuga from the Metagross clan the day before. Mewtwo was fairly satisfied with them.
Noticing Yuga's arrival, Mewtwo said, "You're here. I just happen to have something to tell you."
Yuga asked, puzzled, "What is it?"
"Come over here!" Mewtwo beckoned Yuga, then took out several slightly transparent threads.
"What's this?" Yuga was confused, not understanding why Mewtwo wanted to show him some threads.
Mewtwo explained, "This is material I extracted from the tendrils of the ghost vines."
Hearing this, Yuga was surprised: "Oh? Is there something special about them?" He thought to himself that if there was nothing special, Mewtwo probably wouldn't have bothered to show them to him.
"I discovered through research after extracting this material from the ghost vines that not only is it extremely tough," Mewtwo said, tugging on the thin threads. The slender strands did not break and even emitted a metallic 'clang' sound, "but it also has very strong energy resistance."
After speaking, Mewtwo called over one of its Meowstick to strike the threads with an energy ball, yet the threads still did not break.
Seeing this, Yuga said, "That's amazing! Is there anything else special about it?"
This material reminded Yuga of the protective suit the League had given him before, though he wondered which was better in comparison.
Mewtwo shook its head and said, "I haven't yet fully studied this material, so I can't say if it has other properties."
Yuga then asked, "So what do you plan to use it for?"
Mewtwo countered, "What do you think would be a good use for it?"
Yuga blurted out, "Make protective clothing?"
Mewtwo thought for a moment and said, "That's not a bad idea. I'll continue researching it."
Yuga nodded, "Alright then."
"By the way, did you come here to see me about something?" Mewtwo glanced at the wooden box Yuga was still holding in his hand and asked.
"Oh, right." Yuga slapped his forehead. "I almost forgot." Saying that, he handed the wooden box to Mewtwo. "This is for you."
"What is it?"
Mewtwo took the wooden box over with curiosity, opened it, and took out one of the booklets inside. Slowly flipping through it, Mewtwo immediately became absorbed in the contents.
After quite a while, Mewtwo finally looked up and asked, "Where did you get this from?"
"It was sent from Zenith Academy!" Yuga hadn't expected Mewtwo to be genuinely interested in it. Truly, its range of interests was wide.
But then again, Mewtwo usually didn't have any other hobbies besides research, so liking something like this wasn't surprising.
"I understand. You can go now."
With that, Yuga was gently pushed out of the laboratory by Mewtwo. Once the door closed behind him, Mewtwo resumed studying the booklet in its hands, even instructing a few assistants not to disturb it.
"Is it really that captivating?"
Yuga mumbled quietly while staring at the lab door, feeling like he was being used and discarded. Then he turned and left the Haunted Mansion's secondary garden.
For the following period, Yuga returned to his routine life. After receiving the two research notebooks, Mewtwo never left the laboratory again, dedicating itself to work day and night without rest.
During this time, Mewtwo also asked Yuga to purchase a batch of instruments and materials for it, all of which were extremely expensive. However, Yuga did not refuse. Since he didn't understand them anyway, he just bought whatever Mewtwo needed. Before he realized it, over a hundred million had been spent.
When Yuga finally realized how much money had been spent, his jaw nearly dropped. Research really was incredibly costly, especially those experimental devices — each one more expensive than the last.
When Ninetales found out that Yuga had spent over a hundred million on Mewtwo's behalf, it almost scratched Yuga's face to pieces and scolded him.
"I spend money grudgingly when I go to the beauty salon, and you won't even pay for it. You even hid the fact that the town clubhouse would give you a discount. Now that Mewtwo needs money, you hand over over a hundred million without batting an eye? That's seriously biased!"
Yuga retorted, "Can you really compare yourself to Mewtwo? Mewtwo isn't spending money on itself — it's handling official business. It's spending for the whole day care!"
Ninetales was displeased. "Am I not spending for myself? I'm doing it all for you!"
Yuga looked incredulous. "For me? When did you ever do it for me? You just love to beautify yourself!"
Ninetales declared righteously, "If I make myself look beautiful, don't you feel proud when you go out with me?"
Yuga: ...
In any case, these two never really settled their argument. Ninetales was so angry that it ignored Yuga for two or three days. Then it was taken by Diantha, who called, to go film a movie. While Ninetales was gone, Yuga didn't see it for several days.
Although Yuga was the one who spent the money on Mewtwo's behalf, he had no idea what Mewtwo was researching after getting those two notebooks. He did go to the lab to take a look, but faced with all those strange instruments, he honestly didn't understand much.
Especially since Mewtwo often complained that Yuga was in the way whenever he was in the lab and told him not to wander around unnecessarily. After that, Yuga rarely went into the laboratory anymore.