novelnext Chapter 396: Aipom
Chapter 396: Aipom
March 3rd.The weather was still bright and sunny.
After reaching an agreement with Skwovet yesterday, Lin Feng arrived at the berry fields early in the morning to wait.
The moment the sun rose, his Aura sensed them approaching.
"Skwovet, Ponyta, Lechonk, Meowth… and Furret?"
Lin Feng blinked in surprise.
He had not expected Skwovet's social circle to be this wide.
The Pokémon it knew were all completely different types.
Meowth and Furret were understandable, but where exactly had Lechonk and Ponyta come from?
Were those really Pokémon that should appear deep in the forest?
Still, the moment he realized a Furret had shown up, Lin Feng's eyes immediately lit up.
That fluffy, ferret-like Pokémon looked irresistibly adorable.
After sensing them through Aura, Lin Feng quietly remained where he was and waited for the group to arrive.
…
Meanwhile, Skwovet proudly led the small group of Pokémon across the bridge toward town.
It walked boldly, looking completely fearless.
Even when it spotted Uncle Liang sighing while fishing on the bridge.
For some reason, even though spring had arrived, fish were becoming harder and harder to catch lately.
Because of that, even the Alolan Ninetales no longer bothered coming over to play with him.
"Lechonk…"
(Are we really okay doing this?)
The timid Lechonk glanced nervously at Skwovet ahead of it.
There was always an invisible boundary between the human world and the Pokémon wilderness.
If a large group of wild Pokémon wandered too close to a human town, they would usually be driven away.
"It's fine, it's fine~"
But Skwovet was not scared at all.
That human had told it personally yesterday: when they came today, they could simply cross over from here.
Beside them, Meowth secretly glanced down at the water.
And immediately regretted it.
Under the sunlight, a faint blue shadow stretched beneath the river's surface.
After looking more carefully, Meowth realized the shadow was actually as long as the bridge itself!
It nearly scared the fur off its body.
Meowth instantly stopped looking into the water and hurried closer beside Skwovet instead.
Ponyta, meanwhile, looked much more energetic.
Its little hooves clicked lightly against the concrete bridge, a sensation it had never experienced before.
As for Furret, it simply lay sprawled upside down across Ponyta's back, completely motionless.
After crossing the bridge and walking a little farther along the blue stone path, they finally reached the orchard area.
There were already plenty of people nearby today.
Because it was Challenge Day, many visitors had gathered around the orchard to watch or participate in battles.
The noisy atmosphere immediately frightened the wild Pokémon.
Even Skwovet, one of the boldest among them, felt its heart pound after recalling yesterday's image of Pidgeot diving down from the sky.
"Skwovet…"
(We're here… we're here…)
But very quickly, it spotted Lin Feng waiting outside the berry field.
Its eyes instantly lit up.
Then it sprinted toward him without hesitation.
Even though they had only known each other for a single day, Skwovet already believed this human was definitely a good person!
The other Pokémon froze when they saw Skwovet suddenly accelerate.
Then the group split in two.
Ponyta immediately sped up as well, following Skwovet toward Lin Feng.
But the timid Lechonk panicked from the sudden movement. It turned around and bolted straight back toward the forest.
"Lechonk…!!"
Σ(っ °Д °;):
I'm not eating anymore! I'm going home!
Digging in the dirt is perfectly fine too!
This place is way too scary!
Meowth remained rooted in place awkwardly.
It looked back at the fleeing Lechonk, then at Ponyta and Skwovet ahead of it.
Finally, after gritting its teeth, it followed after them too.
"I brought friends~!"
Skwovet happily pointed behind itself toward the other Pokémon.
But when it turned around, it suddenly realized that the original group of four had somehow become three.
"Lechonk ran away, huh?"
Watching Lechonk disappear into the forest, Lin Feng could not help laughing.
Truthfully, he had already been thinking about what kind of work each Pokémon could do.
Although Lechonk was too short to climb trees, Lin Feng had still come up with a suitable job for it.
Loosening the soil around the berry fields.
That was already something Lechonk excelled at naturally.
Unfortunately, since it had fled halfway through, there was nothing he could do about it.
Lin Feng turned toward the remaining Pokémon.
"Skwovet…"
Skwovet was still muttering in confusion, wondering why Lechonk had suddenly abandoned them at the last second.
"You brought three friends, so later I'll give you six extra Oran Berries."
Lin Feng patted Skwovet on the head.
Then, while the other Pokémon were still slightly dazed, he led them into the orchard.
Among these Pokémon, only Ponyta was bad at harvesting berries.
Meowth, Furret, and Skwovet could all handle the job without issue.
But since Lin Feng had accepted Ponyta as well, naturally he already had another task prepared for it.
Transportation.
The harvested berries would all be wrapped inside cloth bundles. Since these Pokémon were not especially strong, the final sorting work would still need to be handled by Indeedee.
Originally, Lin Feng had considered asking Alolan Ninetales to handle transportation duty.
But after thinking it over carefully, considering how obsessed Alolan Ninetales currently was with training schedules, he decided it was better not to interrupt its momentum.
It had even dragged Blaziken into training alongside it lately…
So now, Ponyta was clearly the best candidate for the job.
Yesterday, Lin Feng had taught Skwovet how to harvest berries.
So today, Skwovet quickly passed those instructions on to the other Pokémon.
Watching from the side, Lin Feng nodded in satisfaction.
Compared to the others, Skwovet's harvesting speed was average.
If it worked all day, it could probably clear berries from more than ten trees.
Then there was Furret.
Earlier, it had remained curled up on Ponyta's back, making Lin Feng think it might be shy.
But now he saw the truth.
Once it started moving, Furret was astonishingly fast and efficient.
Its long body darted smoothly between the berry trees, and before long, it had already harvested an entire tree by itself.
Ponyta was equally enthusiastic.
It tied the harvested berries into bundles using cloth strips, then carried them toward the courtyard.
Originally, Lin Feng had considered rewarding whichever Pokémon harvested the most.
But after thinking about it more carefully, he ultimately decided against it.
After all, he had never set quotas for any of them.
As long as they helped harvest, even if they only picked berries from a single tree, Lin Feng would still give them the corresponding reward.
That way, they could work whenever they wanted and leave whenever they no longer felt like it.
After all…
They were only wild Pokémon.
And besides, the special recruitment reward system he had promised Skwovet earlier was still fully active~
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