Chapter 27: C027 - Finding everything but not a Miltank
AN: I made a map. I'm no catographer, but this is roughly what I imagine Evergreen Meadow to be like. Two pictures, one pure nature, the other is what I roughly plan for the placement of plants and the farm house + barns. Yes, it will include a bridge. Yes, that is a waterfall near the mushroom hill. Yes, I purposefully didn't include dimensions because I didn't want to do the math for Pete having 83 trees that are 2.3m apart, growing at an angle of 13° sunward, etc. etc. Just imagine the whole picture's coastline is some kilometers.
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The Ambipom and the Aipom left after a short while celebrating, and the two Minccino the Zorua went back to playing amongst the three of them.
Solosis eventually flew over with Girafarig following behind cautiously. His psychic pokemon eventually asked if Pete could spare some berries for Girafarig's recovery.
Pete used quite a lot of berries for his pokemon in these past weeks, but he had learned by now that berries were actually very expensive, and nobody would give some to wild pokemon normally.
Seeing as his future farm was already set with Exeggutor teleporting whole trees and quite a few saplings over once he found the spot for his future farm, Pete could be more generous. He might need to run his future grass type pokemon a little ragged to speed up the growing process, but if his plans worked out, a giant Vileplume tribe would owe him a favor. And since Solosis rarely asked for anything, Pete would gladly comply.
Pete took out some berries and a potion spray from his bag as Solosis retold the story of Girafarig. Apparently, there was a small herd of these pokemon minding their own business in a valley not far from here. Earlier this morning, a group of Houndoom and Houndour came from the foot of the mountain to hunt and chose the Girafarig as their prey.
They were outnumbered and had the typing disadvantage, so the Houndoom of the group made quick work of the herd. In desperation, they decided to split up and come to this lake. Hours later, this Girafarig is the only one that made it to the lake.
It was pitiful, but this was nature. Not all pokemon were fine with just eating plants and berries, so there were bound to be predators in this world, and stuff like this would happen constantly everywhere.
Pete couldn't do anything for the missing eye, but some Rawst berry slices for the burn and a bit of Oran berry mush for the gashes and bites would probably help immensely with the recovery. He also found two sturdy branches nearby to splint the leg with some tape Pete had with him.
Solosis on her part used Heal Pulse a bit more often, and she got quite a bit of attention from the other wild pokemon at the lake doing it.
Done with the first aid Pete could reasonably provide, he got back to his pokemon and sat down next to Sunkern, who had asked to be dipped into the lake for a short moment earlier before enjoying the sun.
Solosis wanted Pete's attention for a short moment a bit later, but they were interrupted by a whole bunch of Aipom running toward them from the treeline.
The five Ambipom at the front of the group suddenly bowed toward the two Minccino and started placing items in front of them.
It started with berries and regular fruit, and eventually, they even started placing shiny metals and stones in front of them. Pete immediately noticed a particularly large Leaf Stone and a golden nugget both of which were the size of his head among the pile of items.
And it didn't end there because they even placed a pokemon egg in front of the two overwhelmed little Minccino. From the color scheme, Pete thought it unlikely to be an Aipom egg. It was a light earthen brown with a band of a light beige zig-zagging its circumference. He was sure thought despite the pattern, that this egg did not belong to a Zigzagoon. The colors were all wrong.
If they were to keep it, Pete would have to find out what it was later. Once the Ambipom were done placing a small mountain of items in front of the two chinchilla pokemon, they talked for a short moment before the monkey pokemon headed back to their forest. They seemed very eager to teach Double Hit to the rest of their colony.
"You two made quite the splash, eh?"
Pete got closer to his two Minccino and sat down next to them.
"They are yours because you taught them, but I could hold them for you for now. Are you okay with that? And the egg, do you want to keep it or give it to another pokemon to care for?"
The two Minccino didn't need to think and immediately nodded, coming to the conclusions that Pete takes everything, including the egg. Pete left out two Pecha berries, their favorites, and started placing the rest into his thankfully empty enough bag.
The only thing he didn't pack yet was the Leaf Stone. There was something a little different about it, but even after turning it over again and again, he couldn't figure it out. Pete mused it was just like that giant Moon Stone he had found at the three-way fight in the forest near Herbert's mansion. Simply bigger.
But Solosis once again roused Pete from his musing. He stashed the stone away to walk over to Girafarig and Solosis, but they had company this time. A tiny little Azurill and two Marill were looking at Solosis like the second coming of poke-jesus.
Solosis filled in why very quickly. The two parent Marill had seen Solosis use Heal Pulse and apparently the little Azurill had just cut itself while playing and as pokemon a little on the lower end of the foodchain here, they didn't have access to berries that could heal their little daughter.
That said, Solosis had told these pokemon about Pete's plan to live on a farm south from here, and all four pokemon had asked to join. Girafarig simply wanted to wait a little longer in case some more of her herd were arriving and convincing them to follow along. The other three only stayed in the lake because that was where they were born. If they had the strength, they might have already tried leaving.
Pete did say he wanted some water pokemon, and another psychic type that he could document a previously unknown evolution for was a nice bonus, too, but he was a little torn. So many pokemon to care for was a really tall order. Especially because he still wanted to convince a few Miltank to join.
Yet, he couldn't say no to getting three elusive fairy type pokemon, even if he wanted. A properly trained Azumarill with Huge Power was a force to be reckoned with.
And, he would head to Evergreen Meadow tomorrow and stake out his claim for the farm. Once that was done, it would all slowly take shape. Since it was like that, Pete got out four of the twenty empty luxury balls he had prepared for the trip to the outskirts of Goldenrod City and balled all the pokemon for a short moment.
Girafarig's last apprehension was lost the moment Pete fed it some of the food he took out for the four new pokemon to enjoy. Since the Azurill line usually only ate water plants which Pete had no idea how to cultivate or even differentiate yet, he took off his shoes and shirt, and got into the lake with the two Marill following along happily. Azurill meanwhile stayed with the Minccinos and Zorua to watch their game.
An hour later, there was no sight of any stray Girafarig or any Miltank. Pete had finished his short lesson on what plants Marills like to eat and instead enjoyed a refreshing swim with the two mouse pokemon to pass the time.
"Ah, look over there! Those are Pete's pokemon!"
Sophie's voice suddenly rang at the lake's shore. It looked like the twins and Exeggutor had found him.
Pete was only deep enough that his chest and head would be above water when his feet touched the ground, so he quickly walked to the shore to meet with Jasmine and Sophie.
"Hey, isn't that your friend over there in the water?"
And it looked like they had brought Whitney with them.
"And look, he's naked."
And Whitney was apparently eager to stir up some misunderstandings.
"Hey, you three. I'm not naked, I have shorts on. How was shopping?"
"The shops Whitney showed us were amazing! However, I'm tempted to go back to buy a cute bikini to take a dip myself. I left my swimsuit in the hotel before we went outside," Sophie gushed an excited smile.
"Oh, and Jasmine over here picked up two Rhyhorn eggs at customs. As gym leader, I could speed up the process," Whitney proudly announced with an upturned nose and a smug smile.
"It was like two minutes that we saved," Jasmine mumbled, so Whitney didn't hear.
"You're not at all bashful running around half naked in front of three cute girls like us, are you?" Whitney asked with a tilt of her head as she looked at Pete, who got out of the water to meet them and was wet and only had shorts on.
"Well, this isn't underwear, and we're at a lake," Pete answered with a shrug. He asked his Marill to try and user water type energy to dry him and his shorts.
Whitney pouted a little when she didn't get a rise out of Pete but quickly lost all her unwillingness when she saw Azurill hopping on its tail next to Sunkern.
"Oh dear Mew! What in the name of all cuteness is that pokemon!"
Whitney shouted loud enough to disturb all nearby pokemon. Good thing this was a safezone, and the weary and thirsty pokemon didn't take this as a cue to start a fight.
Chapter 28: C028 - Convincing Miltank with a Hyper Beam
AN: If you missed it last chapter, I made a map on my tablet for what I think Evergreen Meadow and how the rough layout of the farm would look like.
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Pete, Jasmine, and Sophie were sitting on the shore with their backs against an overturned log. Whitney was sitting on a rock opposite them with Azurill in her lap. She had by now accepted Pete's explanation about the rare birth of Azurill and the fact that it is a fairy type pokemon, which meant they were rare to begin with.
Even Marill's weren't very widespread. They were among the most commonly raised fairy pokemon, however.
"So you came here for Miltanks but didn't find any?"
"Yep, their milk is simply too good to pass up for a farm. Ideally, I would get a small herd, to be honest," Pete answered Whitney with a sigh.
"Hmm, your information isn't wrong, there is a small Miltank herd that comes here for water," Whitney said as she was looking at the map on Pete's tablet.
"So I was just unlucky?"
"Yeah, very likely. Or what you said about that poor Girafarig herd happened to the Miltank herd, too," Whitney mused with a sad look and shook her head.
Pete looked to Girafarig, who shook her head, too. The pokemon didn't know if this happened regularly to other herds. Her herd had kept mostly to themselves.
"You don't think your uncle would sell me a few Miltank?" Pete asked the young gym leader with a worried look.
"No chance, my uncle would not part with his Miltank no matter how much money you offer," Whitney immediately answered.
"Then I'll just have to either come back later or try another Miltank hotspot like the two routes between Olivine and Ecruteak," Pete sighed. Jasmine and Sophie looked bummed out because Pete's plan didn't work out.
"Well, we could try a different spot that your map didn't mention. My Miltank isn't one of my uncle's but from a herd of wild Miltank that refused to live on my uncle's farm. It's in a valley, here let me show you on the map?"
Whitney stood up with Azurill in her arms and sauntered over. She bent down with straight legs in front of Pete to point at the map he had open on the tablet.
"See there? Your map probably doesn't mention any pokemon there because it wasn't long that this valley was completely flooded and home to a Kingdra couple. They were super territorial, too. Nobody could get close. But one day, the deep lake filling the are was gone and only the valley was left," Whitney said.
"So it dried out? What happened?" Sophie asked curiously.
"My mom said it was Entei, but I'm not too sure about that. Because, if Entei was truly angry with the Kingdra and dried out the valley, why would it not go out of its way to make it a place for fire pokemon to thrive in?"
"What if Suicune watched over Entei and calmed it down before it went too far? It did happen near water," Pete said while thinking out loud.
Whitney looked at Pete and wanted to answer, but she tried to think of a comeback and couldn't find one. With a pout, she sat back down and played with Azurill in her hands.
"Alright, who wants to keep Girafarig company while she waits for others of her herd, and who wants to stay here?" Pete asked to see who wanted to do what. He wanted to keep the team together, but he also wanted to accomodate Girafarig, who had only just joined and still wanted to wait here at the lake.
Rapidash, Blitzle, and Ponyta wanted to come along, so Pete had to leave Golett here to look after Zorua, the two Minccino and Sunkern. The rest was coming with him in their pokeballs. The Marill were positively vibrating on the spot at the prospect of leaving the lake for the first time.
Once ready, Pete and Whitney showed Exeggutor the map, and the pokemon understood where to go quickly.
They arrived in the valley and quickly looked around. Exeggutor let out a soft hum to calm everyone. It didn't detect any hostile pokemon nearby.
Whitney released her Miltank and asked her to look for her original herd, which the cow pokemon happily did right away.
When the group eventually found a group of Miltank, the eyes of Pete's three Farfetch'd shone like stars, and they immediately waddled over to participate.
Roughly twenty Miltank were standing near a cliff wall, and one Miltank looked like a drill sergeant as she ordered the other Miltank to use Rollout against the wall one after the other.
Eventually, it was Whitney's Miltank's turn, and once it did well, the drill sergeant herd leader looked very pleased. She did, however, look very confused when the three Farfetch'd walked over with their spring onions and started hitting the rocks with the vegetables.
When she wanted to tell them to stop, the Farfetch'd used flying type energy and left some shallow cuts on the rock without destroying the stalks. Done with their show, they proudly waddled over to the drill sergeant and saluted. The leading Miltank didn't really know what to make of this and returned the salute before turning a questioning look to Whitney's Miltank.
"Helloooo~ Are you excited to see me again? I kept my promise. Your daughter is my ace and is very well trained," Whitney greeted with a cute smile. The leading Miltank's eyes turned to hearts. It was apparent it liked Whitney very much. The two exchanged a few more words and moos.
"I brought some friends with me this time. One of them was looking for some strong and cute Miltank like you guys to live on a faraway farm. He said he will have to battle some scary and ugly spiders first before he can make his home there. Do you think some Miltank in your herd are interested in that?"
Whitney still acted all cute, and the leading Miltank ate it all up. But when it came to moving the herd's home of letting some members of her herd leave, she became serious.
The Miltank regarded Pete, then eyed most of his pokemon one by one. The Farfetch'd were weird. The Blitzle and Ponyta looked young and weak, but the Rapidash looked like a power house.
"Miltank!"
The Miltank moved over to Rapidash, and it looked like she wanted to initiate a spar. If it was a test, Pete didn't know what for. So when Rapidash looked to him to ask if she was supposed to agree, Pete could only shrug.
"How about this, Miltank; you have the Thick Fat ability, which means you likely won't take too much damage from the potential burns. I still don't want my Rapidash to be hurt too much. Can you decide the winner in one move?"
The Miltank nodded, thinking a well placed Body Slam should make quick work of the big horse.
The cow pokemon moved with a speed and nimbleness you wouldn't expect from such a rounded body. Yet it didn't matter at all.
Rapidash had heard the words 'decide in one move', and there was only one move she had that would make sure she won. Hyper Beam. She opened her mouth lightly, gathered the needed energies, and for the first time since learning the move, shot the Hyper Beam at her target.
Rapidash had practice aiming such a beam of energies with her move Flamethrower, so Hyper Beam hit Miltank square in the chest despite her fast speed. The herdleader was smashed into the rocky wall the herd had used as target practice for Rollout and didn't stand up immediately. She would have never agreed if she had known that Rapidash knew such a move.
Yes, it was powerful. But even though Miltank couldn't stand up to retaliate in the short term, the Rapidash had to take deep breaths to get back her bearings and was more or less rooted on the spot. It was the perfect move for a one-move showdown. In a full fight it wasn't certain who would stand up first after the Hyper Beam to continue the fight.
Pete walked over to Rapidash and fed the pokemon a full Leppa berry to fill up her stamina. Then he walked over to Miltank and handed her an Oran berry.
"Here. Sorry, I kind of took advantage of you a little bit, right?"
The Miltank accepted the berry and ate it in one, peel and all. Once done with the chewing, Miltank shook her head and said a few words and moos that made it sound like Miltank didn't mind losing in such a fashion.
After standing up and shaking her messed up fur back into place, Miltank led the group of people to the rest of the herd. Not all the members were fighters, and they trained in shifts, so Pete was shocked to find a herd that, including the ones training, had a good 90 pokemon. Not all of them were Miltank.
Pete spotted two male Tauros, a few Sandslash, and a bunch of Girafarig, for example. Since Miltank were an all female species, the new Miltanks had to come from somewhere.
The girls were oddly quiet the whole time. At first, they didn't want to mess up Pete's chances with the Miltank, especially the twins. Whitney had already done her part she felt like and only wanted to observe the 'cute boy'.
She would have never expected one of his pokemon to know Hyper Beam. It didn't look very powerful, but if Rapidash only learned it recently, there was still a whole lot of room for growth.
The leading Miltank told the group to wait while the girls looked at Pete and Rapidash with mesmerized expressions, all for different reasons.
Some time later, Miltank came back with two Miltank and an egg in each han- in both hooves.
One of the new Miltank looked battle-hardened and likely a little old. It had a few scars here and there, especially on her back, and she was missing one of the two small horns Miltank usually had.
The other new Miltank looked much younger. And, most importantly, it wasn't the same pink color as the other Miltank. No, this was a skyblue shiny! All three girls let out an unnatural squeal when they noticed the variant Miltank.
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