"How can we leave here? The entrance we came through collapsed during the battle with the Crawdaunt," Robert expressed concern when it came to leaving.
"Speaking of familiarity with this place, we should ask the locals!" Seeing Robert's worried expression, Yuga had a clever idea.
Locals? At this moment, Robert thought of the Clawitzer and Clauncher that Yuga had tamed. Yes, asking them would surely reveal the location of the exit!
However, the Pokémon Yuga released was different from what he expected.
"Yes, what do you think? Handsome, isn't it?" Yuga said triumphantly.
Greninja, having been treated by both Chimecho and Yuga, was recovering quite well. After all, its injuries were much lighter than those of Linoone.
Looking at the Greninja before him, with its arms folded and a cold gaze, standing tall, Robert couldn't help but admit it did look quite handsome.
"Did you just catch it down there?"
Yuga nodded, then turned to Greninja and asked, "Greninja, do you know where the exit leading outside is?"
Greninja pointed down towards the water.
"You mean beneath this body of water?" Yuga asked in surprise.
Greninja nodded in a cool manner.
"Are you saying that if we go out from here, we might drown?" Yuga pointed towards the water below and turned to Robert.
"It's unlikely. For now, we'll have to trust Greninja. If it becomes unbearable, we can always return. At least now we know where the exit is," Robert was more composed than Yuga, having found out the location of the exit.
"Alright, that seems to be the only option."
Finally, led by Greninja and Milotic, Yuga and Robert entered the water.
Beneath the water was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything. Yuga held his breath, feeling extremely suffocated.
After a while, Yuga saw several Chinchou with their own light sources swimming around. By this time, he felt he could hardly hold on any longer, and he let out a large breath, choking on several mouthfuls of seawater.
Greninja, cradling Yuga, seemed to notice his distress and sped up, ultimately leaping out of the water just before Yuga would have suffocated.
As Yuga emerged from the water's surface, he clung tightly to Greninja, taking deep breaths of the long-missed air. He felt he might develop a psychological aversion to the sea after this.
Robert, following closely with Milotic, emerged from the water as well. Similarly, he took deep breaths, his cheeks flushed red. His condition wasn't any better than Yuga's; he appeared quite disheveled.
"We're finally here. I thought I was going to drown in there." Having recovered his breath, Yuga said to Robert.
"Me too! I never want to experience something again. I was so na?ve; I thought there wouldn't be any danger!" Robert was also shaken by the experience.
Having survived the ordeal, both of them looked at each other's disheveled appearances and couldn't help but burst into laughter.
"The coast is over there. Let's hurry over!" Yuga pointed towards the faintly visible coastline.
Their current location was still quite far from the coastline. It seemed they would have to spend some time in the water.
By the time they reached the shore, dusk was approaching. Luckily, though, Yuga and Robert hadn't strayed far from Hoenn. They had returned to the same beach they left from. However, there was no one on the beach now; it seemed that Yuna and the others had listened to their advice and returned earlier.
Both of them recalled Greninja and Milotic into their Poké Balls. Robert said, "Let's head back to the Seaside Hotel. quickly. Otherwise, everyone might be worried."
When Yuga and Robert returned to the Seaside Hotel, they saw Luna and Rand sitting on the steps at the entrance, their chins propped on their hands, lost in thought.
Yuga waved and shouted towards the two at the entrance.
Hearing Yuga's voice, Luna and Rand suddenly looked up, their expressions lighting up with surprise. Luna quickly dashed towards Yuga.
Reaching Yuga's side, Luna embraced him tightly, then burst into tears.
"Wow, wow... Big Brother Yuga, where did you go? You took so long to come back!"
Luna's voice was truly impactful, possessing the ability to penetrate human eardrums.
Yuga hadn't expected that Luna's first reaction upon seeing him would be to burst into tears, and such unrestrained ones at that.
"Big Brother Yuga, you were gone for so long, I thought you were lost forever!"
While sobbing uncontrollably, Luna continued to speak.
Yuga hadn't anticipated that Luna would cry so intensely out of concern for him. He had always thought that kind of reaction was more fitting for his idol, Robert.
"Alright, alright, look, I'm back now, aren't I?" Yuga comforted Luna by patting her head.
It took Yuga quite a while to calm Luna down, though her sobbing still caused her to shake and shiver a bit.
Rand, who had come along with Luna, didn't speak, but his eyes also revealed his deep concern for Yuga.
Seeing that Luna had stopped crying, Yuga held her hand and said, "Okay, let's go inside." He then pulled both Rand and Robert into the Seaside Hotel.
Once inside, they encountered Kris's mother, who was walking towards them. Seeing that Yuga and the others had returned, she said, "You're back. Have you had dinner? Would you like me to prepare something for you?"
Yuga and Robert hadn't eaten anything for almost a whole day. They were so hungry that their stomachs were touching their backbones, so they readily agreed.
At first, Yuga and Robert were puzzled by Kris's mother's calm reaction to their one-day disappearance. Later, they found out why.
It turned out that after Suzuki Koen anf the others had returned, they hadn't told Kris's family that Robert and Yuga had gone on an adventure to an unknown place. They had simply said that the two of them had gone out for something. That was why Kris's mother was able to talk to Yuga and the others so calmly.
Silently praising Suzuki Koen and the others, otherwise they would have to be nagged when they came back.
Upon learning that Yuga and Robert had returned safely, Suzuki Koen and Windy also let out a sigh of relief. Throughout the entire day, they had been on edge, fearing that something might have happened to Yuga.
After taking a comfortable shower and eating the dinner Kris's mother had prepared, Yuga said to Suzuki Koen, "I'm going to the Pokémon Center later. My Pokémon sustained some injuries. Can you watch over Luna for me? It seems she was quite scared today."
Upon hearing that Yuga's Pokémon were injured, Suzuki Koen quickly asked, "Your Pokémon are hurt? Are you okay?" In Suzuki Koen's eyes, Yuga was quite strong, so if his Pokémon were injured, he must have encountered danger.
Yuga smiled and replied, "I'm fine, and my Pokémon are actually okay too. I just want to take them to the Pokémon Center as a precaution."
In truth, after being healed by Chimecho's heal pulse, neither Linoone nor Greninja had any major issues. However, Yuga still wanted to take them to Nurse Joy's at the Pokémon Center just to be sure; after all, she was a professional.
Once Suzuki Koen was certain that Yuga was indeed fine, he nodded in agreement.