I'm the Owner of the Pokémon Day Care In the World of Pokémon-Chapter 1477: A Date and a Kidnapping

To apologize to Duoduo, Yuga thought of many ways, but he quickly realized that a verbal apology alone wouldn’t calm it down.

When Yuga returned to the shop and saw that Duoduo wasn’t there, he searched around and finally found it at the storage area. Duoduo was working with Gothitelle and Clefairy, organizing Pokeblock to be moved to the store shelves.

He strode over with a cheerful smile and said, "Hehe... busy, huh?"

Duoduo gave Yuga a light glance and then silently lowered its head to continue its work.

Lately, everyone knew that Duoduo was mad at the boss, so when they saw the boss being ignored, Gothitelle and Clefairy couldn’t help but secretly giggle. Then they received a glare from the boss as a "glare attack."

Yuga pretended to be casual and said to Duoduo, "Ah, it’s been such a long time since we’ve gone out shopping together. I wonder if I’ll have the honor today..."

Hearing Yuga’s words, Duoduo paused for a moment, but quickly acted as if it hadn’t heard anything.

It was actually Gothitelle who knew that Duoduo had already stopped being mad at the boss. Seeing that it didn’t take the opportunity to ease the tension, she was worried that things would become more strained, so she grabbed the Pokeblock from Duoduo’s hands and pushed it toward the boss.

"Gothitelle~ Gothitelle~ Gothitelle~"

Go on, go on, you’re always so busy every day. Take this chance to relax for once.

Duoduo instinctively tried to resist, but after a moment of hesitation, it gave in to the opportunity Gothitelle had created and half-reluctantly walked over to Yuga’s side.

Seeing this, Yuga shot Gothitelle a grateful look and quietly gave her a thumbs-up. Then he happily grabbed Duoduo and headed outside.

"Let’s go, let’s head out. We’re not coming back for dinner today—we’ll eat outside."

Without a word, Duoduo let Yuga pull it out the door, with the faintest trace of a smile appearing at the corner of its lips.

On the way, they ran into Ninetales, who was returning from the Ecopark. Seeing the two holding hands, Ninetales was surprised and said, "You two made up? Where are you going? Take me with you!"

Yuga gave it a fierce glare and said, "Take you, my ass. Stay home and behave!"

Ninetales didn’t get angry, only pouted and muttered under its breath, "Heartless dog man!" Then it strutted away proudly, swaying its elegant tails.

Yuga indeed hadn’t strolled through Verdanturf Town in a while, so when the neighbors saw him going out with Duoduo, they were all surprised and then warmly greeted the two.

Duoduo had always been popular with the locals. It usually got three more stalks of scallions than others when buying vegetables. So now, with so many greetings coming their way, Yuga’s smile was almost frozen on his face.

After finally getting through all the greetings, Yuga turned to Duoduo with a bright smile and said, "Where do you want to go today? I’m all yours!"

"Audino~"

You said it?

Duoduo looked at Yuga and asked.

Yuga patted his chest and swore, "Of course!"

"Audino~"

Upon hearing that, Duoduo gave Yuga a look that said "follow me," and Yuga immediately trotted after it like a puppy.

What he didn’t expect was that Duoduo brought him to the part of the Pokémon Paradise that housed stray Pokémon—and had him spend half the day as a literal poop scooper.

Yes, a literal poop scooper. In the most literal sense.

Ever since the shelter at the Pokémon Paradise was established, it had never been empty. Stray Pokémon constantly came and went—some settled there, some were adopted by kindhearted people. In the end, they all found their place.

But the shelter needed to be cleaned regularly. Normally, the stray Pokémon did most of the cleaning themselves, and sometimes Pokémon from the YoYo Day Care would come to help. Today, Yuga was roped in as extra labor.

Fortunately, Yuga was strong and could handle cleaning work just fine.

By the time the shelter work was done, it was already noon.

At the Paradise Inn, after quickly tidying up his appearance, Yuga turned to Duoduo and said, "It’s noon already. I wonder if I might have the honor of inviting Miss Duoduo to share a lunch with me?"

After working together for half a day, Duoduo’s expression finally softened. The coldness on its face visibly faded.

"Audino~"

Since you’re saying it like that, I’ll reluctantly accept.

"Then let’s go!"

As he spoke, Yuga took Duoduo’s paw and started walking out of the Pokémon Paradise.

Duoduo was a little startled and pointed toward the nearby Paradise Restaurant.

"Audino~"

Not going there?

Yuga kept pulling Duoduo along and said, "It’s rare that it’s just the two of us today. What’s the point of going there again? It’s not like we haven’t eaten there before. Of course, we’re going out to eat this time—something new!"

"Audino~"

Waste of money!

Duoduo muttered under its breath, but its heart was secretly happy.

Once out of the Pokémon Paradise, Yuga took Duoduo to a newly opened restaurant.

Although the restaurant was new to Verdanturf Town, it was already well known in the Hoenn region, with chain stores in various places.

After ordering, Yuga enthusiastically began introducing each dish to Duoduo. Although it was also his first time there, he had done a bit of homework on the way.

Of course, that only amounted to a superficial understanding.

Duoduo didn’t mind Yuga stumbling over the descriptions. Seeing him putting in effort for its sake, it was quite pleased.

After lunch, the two found a tea shop to rest for a while, and in the afternoon, their "date" officially began.

As for the half-day earlier? Just forget about it!

In the afternoon, Duoduo finally stopped making odd requests like it did in the morning and properly went shopping with Yuga.

The pair first visited the aquarium, then the amusement park, followed by a trip to the mall and a movie. They stayed busy all afternoon. Duoduo was no longer angry and returned to its usual cheerful self, with a smile on its face the entire time.

By the time they came out of the movie theater, it was already evening. The orange sunset was slowly sinking into the horizon. The two walked leisurely along the street, getting ready to head home.

While passing a clothing store, Duoduo’s attention was suddenly caught by an apron displayed on a mannequin in the window. It pointed to the apron and requested Yuga to buy it.

Yuga had bought Duoduo an apron before, which it often wore while doing chores. That one was already quite old, although it hadn’t fallen apart yet thanks to its excellent quality.

However, that apron had been yellow and white, while the one Duoduo had its eyes on now was blue and white.

Yuga looked at the apron, then at Duoduo’s soft, pink body, and thought the blue and white combination didn’t really suit it.

"You really want this one?" Yuga asked.

Duoduo nodded firmly.

"All right then, I’ll buy it for you." With that, he pulled Duoduo into the shop.

The store clerk recognized Yuga and was very friendly. She went to the storage room and brought out an apron identical to the one on the mannequin for Duoduo to try on. Then she fell silent for a moment.

"Gym Leader Shimizu, I don’t think this apron really suits Audino..." She hesitated but still voiced her opinion.

Yuga agreed upon hearing this: "Right? You think so too? I knew it—my taste couldn’t be wrong."

So you’re saying my taste is the problem? Duoduo glared fiercely at Yuga after hearing that.

Suddenly, the clerk had a bright idea and said, "Oh, right! We actually have this apron in many different colors. Would you like to take a look?"

Yuga looked at Duoduo. "How about trying a few?"

Duoduo looked at itself in the mirror, hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded.

Sure enough, besides the blue-and-white version Duoduo initially picked, the apron came in various other colors such as pink, navy blue, reddish-purple, light gray, dark green, and black.

Yuga and the shop assistant spent quite a while choosing, and in the end, both agreed that the pink apron suited Duoduo best.

Looking at itself in the mirror wearing the pink apron, Duoduo had to admit that Yuga and the shop assistant were right. Compared to the cool-toned blue-and-white, the warm-toned pink indeed suited it much better.

After leaving the store, Duoduo wore the apron directly and decided to put the old one away as a keepsake when they got home.

Speaking of which, that old apron had been bought together with the one for Coco. To be precise, Yuga had bought it for Duoduo while buying one for Coco at the same time.

I wonder if Coco will be jealous when she sees my new apron! Duoduo couldn’t help but think.

After buying the apron, the human and Pokémon continued walking home. On the way, they saw two children coming toward them, one with a Chikorita and the other with a Buneary. It was Haruki and Natsuhiko, who had previously bought something from YoYo Day Care.

Natsuhiko seemed to be trying to bully Haruki, constantly pulling and tugging at him. Chikorita kept glaring angrily at Natsuhiko.

Eventually, Buneary couldn’t hold back anymore and, when no one was looking, gave Natsuhiko a hard smack on the butt. Natsuhiko covered his behind, teary-eyed, angry but not daring to speak up, and finally behaved himself.

When Haruki saw Yuga, his eyes lit up. He ran over quickly and politely greeted him, "Hello, Uncle Shimizu!"

Yuga and Verdanturf Town both had working relationships with the Devon Corporation, so he knew both Haruki and Natsuhiko’s fathers, which is why Haruki came over to greet him.

Aside from that time at YoYo Day Care, Yuga had seen both families again afterward, so they had become quite familiar with each other.

Natsuhiko hadn’t planned to greet Yuga, but Buneary gave him another nudge secretly, so he reluctantly mumbled, "Hello, Uncle Shimizu."

Yuga noticed the small interaction between Buneary and Natsuhiko but he didn’t mind. Smiling kindly, he said to the two kids, "Hello. Are you heading home from school?"

Haruki nodded obediently. "Yes."

Yuga patted his little head. "Good, then hurry home. Your parents will worry if you’re late."

"Got it. Goodbye, Uncle Shimizu." Haruki waved goodbye to Yuga, while Natsuhiko silently followed behind him.

After watching the two children walk away, Yuga suddenly grabbed the shoulder of a young man as he passed by.

"W-what are you doing?"

The young man immediately panicked and instinctively tried to back away, but he was far too weak compared to Yuga and couldn’t move at all.

"You’re following those two kids, aren’t you?" Yuga said with absolute certainty. He had already noticed the man while talking to the kids earlier.

"I d-don’t know what you’re talking about. Let... let go of me, or I’ll call the police!"

The young man tried to struggle, but Yuga didn’t let go. The grip on his shoulder made his face twist in pain.

Yuga, however, just smiled and said, "Perfect. I’ll take you to the police myself."

The young man’s expression finally changed. He reached for his lower back with his other hand and quickly pulled out a Poké Ball, releasing a Sudowoodo and shouting loudly, "Sudowoodo, Sucker Punch!"

Yuga didn’t panic. He slightly shifted his body to the side and easily dodged Sudowoodo’s sudden attack. But as a result, he let go of the young man’s shoulder.

The young man didn’t continue attacking Yuga. Instead, he turned and tried to flee with Sudowoodo. But Duoduo was already blocking their path.

"Get out of the way!"

The young man shouted loudly, and when he saw that Duoduo didn’t respond, he directly commanded Sudowoodo to strike.

Sudowoodo used Hammer Arm and smashed fiercely toward Duoduo, but Duoduo caught the blow with ease.

Although Duoduo was considered one of the less combat-oriented Pokémon at YoYo Day Care, its level was undeniable—an Elite level Pokémon. How could a single Sudowoodo possibly do anything to it?

Seeing the scene before him, the young man was shocked and turned around, trying to flee in another direction.

Duoduo first knocked out Sudowoodo with a dazzling Dazzling Gleam, then followed it with a Shadow Ball aimed at the ground right in front of the young man’s feet. The man instinctively froze in place.

Seeing his Sudowoodo taken down, the young man dropped to his knees with a thud and began crying, begging for mercy. "I’m sorry! Please let me go! I was just possessed for a moment—I didn’t really intend to hurt those two kids!"

Yuga questioned, "Then why were you following them?"

The young man sobbed as he explained, "I... I just saw that one of the kids had a Chikorita, and I... I wanted to steal it."

Yuga silently glanced at the unconscious Sudowoodo lying nearby. Though it had been easily defeated by Duoduo, it was still undoubtedly a pseudo-Elite level Pokémon.

He didn’t believe that a trainer who possessed a pseudo-Elite level Pokémon would follow two children just for that reason. It wasn’t impossible—just unnecessary.

Haruki’s Chikorita, while rare, was only a yellow potential Pokémon. It was highly unlikely to attract the attention of a pseudo-Elite level trainer.

"I think I’ll still take you to the police station. Things like this are best left for the authorities to handle," Yuga said after a moment of thought.

Seeing Duoduo about to carry both him and Sudowoodo to the police station, the young man panicked even more and began crying out, "Wait, wait! If you let me go, I’ll give you something really valuable!"

Yuga stopped walking and asked, "Oh? What valuable thing?"

The young man replied, "Let me go, and I’ll give it to you."

Yuga turned his head away and signaled Duoduo to keep heading toward the police station.

"Wait! I’ll give... I’ll give it to you!"

As he spoke, he fumbled around on his body for a moment and pulled out a smooth, round stone—it was unmistakably a Mega Evolution Stone.

When Duoduo saw the Mega Stone, something inside it stirred. It couldn’t help but glance at the stone more intently.

Yuga snatched the Mega Stone from the man in surprise and said, "I didn’t expect you to have something this valuable."

The young man looked devastated. "N-Now can you let me go?"

Yuga put away the Mega Stone and said with a puzzled look, "Hm? When did I ever say that?"

"You!!!"

The young man stared at Yuga in utter disbelief.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at f(r)eew𝒆bnov𝒆l.com Only