Houndoom stared at Lucas for a long while, silent.
"If you hadn't shown up, I'd still be ruling over hundreds of kin…"
Strangely, Lucas could almost read Houndoom's thoughts from its eyes.
Maybe it was because Houndoom was now middle-aged and had seen a lot; there was so much expression in its gaze.
After all, it even understood type matchups, once even targeting Dachsbun with "Sludge Bomb" in battle—smarter than Ash (who still sometimes forgot Ground was immune to Electric).
At Houndoom's mild "accusation," Lucas felt wrongly accused.
"Think about it: you'll still patrol your old turf, that Salazzle rival is gone, and here at the farm, you get all the face you want. The farm's safety depends on you now!"
Houndoom: "…"
I don't buy that for a second.
Since becoming a farm member, it had shed the arrogance of a leader whom everyone had to defer to—because this farm was teeming with hidden dragons.
Any random Pokémon here could intimidate the same Houndoom who could chase off elite trainers.
Especially when passing that oversized bug—the fluffy one said to only be a few days old from its egg—Houndoom's heart nearly broke.
That Victini—one touch, and the flames Larvesta gave off nearly burst Houndoom's "Flash Fire" ability by accident.
Crazy.
Instead of worrying about farm defense, Houndoom just wanted to stay safe itself. The "three rules"—no picking fights, no causing trouble, no snatching food—were obligations, since messing around here could get you seriously injured.
Seeing the unresponsive Houndoom, Lucas gave up. He missed the days of easily-tricked, newly hatched Dragonair and Growlithe—wide-eyed and gullible.
This Houndoom, though, was basically sentient.
Unseen, Houndoom's tail wagged a little—surprising itself.
Still, joining the farm had plenty of benefits: savoring the joy of defeating a longtime Salazzle nemesis, and the lure of all those delicious dishes…
Compared to expanding territory with fellow Houndoom, or becoming another trainer's partner, Houndoom preferred peacefully patrolling its "new land" and pre-retiring in comfort.
Having settled the clan's future, Lucas could finally relax. Farm expansion was, for now, complete.
All the wild Pokémon had been properly placed. Later, he'd have Oranguru put together a report to submit to the Paldea League. Just attach proof, wait for a staff member to inspect, and as long as there was no fraud, it was fine.
From here, it was just a matter of putting up more fences around the new land for future development.
There was still plenty to do: like developing the Tinkatink's little mountain, seasonal produce, or crops suitable for mountain planting.
But, first was building up the new orchard on the stream before Gym Leader Siebold—after finding his own path—visited the farm.
Lucas already had a plan in his mind.
How to make his name known worldwide, easily? Either by having a massive marketing budget and professional team, or slowly building reputation over time.
He chose a third way—riding on others' fame.
His original choice was Iono, but currently Iono wasn't the super influencer she'd later become in the game.
Instead, Siebold already had international renown thanks to his restaurant, and he listed the precise source of every ingredient on his daily menu.
If quality was assured and the dish was delicious, word of mouth would follow.
Of course, this required Siebold to actually take apples from the orchard for his recipes.
Lucas wouldn't exploit their friendship; it all depended on quality.
If Siebold wanted them, great. If not, he wouldn't push.
He wanted to outdo Kitakami Town, but not by force—just through excellent farm management, and making them lose face all on their own.
But for that, he needed to make the new orchard great. Every day Comfey led Eldegoss and others to enrich the grassland, Mudsdale and the Digletts improved the soil, and Politoed and Dragonair took shifts summoning rain.
He thought he'd done the best possible with these arrangements.
So what was missing?
"Well, maybe not a ton, but I still can't have only one Applin maturing the fruit—time to find more Applin to bring back to the farm."
Instead of catching wild Applin, Lucas preferred to find a farm specializing in their breeding.
That way, he could pick those with the "Ripen" ability and directly observe temperament and health.
After all, catching wild Pokémon was like opening a blind box.
…
That afternoon.
After his usual medical study, Lucas took Larvesta to the glass greenhouse.
Accompanying him were Luxray, Mimikyu, Ogerpon, and the Eevee sisters.
Fortunately, Lucas had paid dearly for a climate-controlled system in the greenhouse.
Even though the outside wind was freezing and leaves had gone yellow and blown away, those fallen leaves would decompose in the soil, enriching it and improving both water retention and aeration.
Inside the greenhouse, though, it was always spring; flowers bloomed everywhere—great for soothing the soul.
"Boniboniii!"
Barely through the door, Ogerpon dashed excitedly toward the flower field.
Like any Grass-type, Ogerpon was in love with all natural plants—especially this dreamlike flower meadow.
Eevee sisters followed—light-footed, trailing joyfully. Their tiny black noses twitched as they became intoxicated by the floral scent.
It had been two months since the Eevee sisters joined the farm.
The shiny Eevee sister's innate health issues had, through a gentle medicinal regime, mostly healed up. She could now jump and play, even joining her sister for tag-team battles.
And the healthy big sister had further honed her talents under Lucas's care. Their earlier win against Houndoom was proof of their progress.
Lucas was content, though he couldn't help but wonder:
What forms would these two sisters eventually evolve into? It wasn't urgent; he resolved, as with his Vulpix before, to let things happen naturally.
Holding the blissed-out, half-lidded Larvesta next to the flower field, Lucas warned, "Try not to release any fire, okay?"
Such a beautiful field, carefully tended by Comfey, would be a great loss if burnt.
Lucas had learned from the Naranja Academy library and Alder's guide to feeding Larvesta that, while this Fire-type could grow on flames alone, eating nectar was best for developing its Bug-type abilities—which would affect its eventual evolution.
Otherwise, he'd never have risked bringing Larvesta here for the real nectar, instead of just feeding it honey from his Combees.
"Baa~"
With its familiar bleat, Larvesta toddled to a bright red flower and, clumsily, tried to suck nectar—but unlike Butterfree, it lacked the right mouthparts and found this difficult.
Nearby, Mimikyu and Luxray watched anxiously.
Luckily, help soon arrived.
The fast-beating wings behind him belonged to Vespiquen.
When Vespiquen returned, Lucas's eyes lit up. "Vespiquen, help us out here!"
Maybe she didn't want to be too connected to the daughter she exiled, or felt guilty and didn't want to compete for resources—Vespiquen hadn't sent any worker Combee to the farm for honey in a long time. Lately, all the honey was made by Vespiquen herself.
A "skilled" Vespiquen could surely teach Larvesta how to eat nectar without special mouthparts.
Vespiquen, delighted to see Lucas after days of farm work kept him away from the greenhouse, still remembered when Lucas rescued her from a traumatizing Combee swarm and cared for her.
Buzzing to signal, Vespiquen flew above Larvesta and instantly understood what was wrong.
No problem—she felt kindly toward any "newborn" on the farm.
Some signal went out, and soon, more buzzing—worker Combee flew out from Vespiquen's beehive-like "skirt."
Following instructions, several Combee circled Larvesta and began demonstrating how to gather nectar without special mouthparts.
Larvesta watched, quickly learned the trick, chirped "baa," and began feeding happily.
The sudden appearance of so many Combee didn't surprise Lucas—he already knew.
In fact, inside Vespiquen's "skirt," there lived many larvae, more larva-like than even immature Combee. When they matured, they'd naturally grow into Combee. Under Vespiquen's pheromone command, they could perform special moves—Attack/Defense/Heal Order.
Fascinating.
Seeing these Combee caught Lucas off-guard the first time; had he seen the herd of Miltank eggs afterward, he'd have blown a gasket.
Initially, he thought some wild bug had abducted Vespiquen, and wanted to track them down.
But Oranguru talked him down, and he pieced the truth together: Vespiquen seldom left the greenhouse; inside, there were only the Shuckle siblings as remaining Bug egg group Pokémon. The younger Shuckle was too cowardly for that sort of thing—it was more likely parthenogenesis.
Whatever the answer, these new Combee lightened Vespiquen's workload; now she didn't have to make all the honey and build all the hives herself.
Once Larvesta finished up, Lucas accepted some fresh Combee honey from Vespiquen.
He sat in a scenic gazebo, admired the flowers, sipped a simple but delicious honey water, and spent a while interacting with Vespiquen before calling for Luxray to help unload the new appliances Clemont had recommended, which were arriving one after another.
Two days of peaceful life passed in a flash.
…
October 21st.
Early in the morning, Lucas received a celebratory call from Nemona's group: they had successfully challenged Glaseado Glaseado Gym, completed Paldea's eight badges, and Nemona now qualified for the Champion League challenge.
That night, the grand final of the Silver Conference would begin.
The winner would be crowned Champion of the Silver Tournament.
The competitors: cross-regional challenger Harrison, from Hoenn, and Pallet Town's own Ash, who had stormed into the finals with an explosive run.
…
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