The Grass Vine Pokémon: Establishing Her Status as the Big Sister!
Great, another one of Father's friends?
Seeing the man call out his father's name, Lin Feng showed a hint of helplessness, but he also relaxed inwardly.
As long as they were Father's friends, they all seemed pretty easy to talk to.
"If you're talking about the former owner of the plantation in Wutong Town, then yes, he really was my father."
The burly man sprang to his feet and strode over to Lin Feng in a few large steps. He looked him up and down as if examining some rare curiosity.
Every now and then, he blurted out, "Ah, this build, these looks—they really do resemble him."
Finally, he gave Lin Feng two hard slaps on the shoulder and burst into laughter.
Although Lin Feng had no idea what he was laughing about.
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Lin Feng."
The burly man smacked his lips. "Your father and I were close back then. I'll take the liberty of calling you nephew. My name is Ye Mu, so just call me Uncle Mu. You said your family grows forage grass, right? Let me see the quality of it."
"...All right."
Lin Feng did not particularly care about forms of address.
He immediately took out a bundle of forage grass from the Storage Ball he carried with him. Before he could hand it over, a large hand snatched it away.
"Good stuff..." Ye Mu could not help but marvel at the forage grass just from its appearance.
For Grass Eater Pokémon like Miltank, there were only two key factors in producing high-quality Moo Moo Milk.
One was strength!
The stronger the Miltank, the more nutritious the milk she produced.
The other crucial factor was the quality of the forage grass. Even Energy Cubes could not replace that.
The better the forage grass, the better the quality of the Moo Moo Milk produced!
Ye Mu carefully felt the grass between his fingers, then tore off a little and put it into his mouth to chew. His eyes lit up. "This forage grass is excellent! It's the best-quality forage grass I've ever seen!"
"How much of it do you have? I'll take it all!"
Lin Feng inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and said somewhat awkwardly, "There actually isn't much. I only planted it for fun."
He then released all the forage grass from his Storage Ball, instantly piling it into a small mound on the ground.
There was probably a little over a hundred jin.
It was the forage grass left in the Storage Ball after the last harvest.
"Planted it for fun?"
The corner of Ye Mu's mouth twitched.
This was exactly the same answer that brat's father had given him.
Back then, Ye Mu had asked why the man had returned here to farm after challenging Gyms across the various Leagues. That guy had answered, "Planted it for fun."
But afterward, everything he grew had been top-notch.
Not to mention...
Even his current main Miltank had grown up eating the forage grass that man had planted.
Memories of the past flooded through his mind, and Ye Mu could not help sighing. "I never expected you to be no worse at planting than that freak of a father of yours."
"Ha... ha." Lin Feng cautiously asked, "Then this forage grass?"
"One hundred per jin. Your forage grass is of excellent quality, but it hasn't been planted long enough. It's like first-crop grass. Once the quality of the later batches improves, I'll raise the price."
"Then thank you, Uncle Mu."
Lin Feng did not know much about forage grass prices, and he was not that concerned about money now.
He simply felt that the man before him was easy to talk to.
He was probably Father's "friend" from back then.
So, Lin Feng carefully brought up the reason he had come. "Um, Uncle Mu... I also wanted to ask, are the Miltank in the ranch... for sale?"
"You want to raise Miltank too?" Ye Mu frowned. "I remember your plantation isn't very big."
Lin Feng hurriedly said, "No, I only want to raise two of them to produce some Moo Moo Milk, then sell it in my shop."
"I see..." Ye Mu raised his brows.
There happened to be a batch of first year Miltank at the ranch recently. They were going to be sold to other friends who wanted to open ranches, so setting aside one or two was no problem at all.
But then he suddenly remembered how, more than a decade ago, he had been utterly powerless before Lin Feng's father. Unable to resist, he said, "I can sell them to you, but first you have to challenge the Forage Gym."
That's right.
He had not been able to beat the boy's father back then, so now he would "teach his child a lesson."
It was a small bit of personal amusement, but he also wanted to see how well the man's child had done in Pokémon training.
Judging by his appearance, he probably had not gone to college. Otherwise, he should have been traveling at this time of year.
Then sending out an Elite-level Pokémon should be enough.
"Huh?" Lin Feng said in surprise. "But I didn't bring any Pokémon."
"It's fine. Gym challenges start in the afternoon. Prepare properly and come back then."
"Moo!"
After Ye Mu spoke, the Miltank beside him cried out, seemingly displeased that Ye Mu had walked away halfway through milking her.
He waved a hand, and Lin Feng wisely stopped bothering him. He turned around, took out his phone, and started hailing a ride.
"Vine?"
After returning home, Lin Feng explained what had happened, and the Grass Vine Pokémon nodded to show she understood.
At some point, Alolan Vulpix had woken up as well. She leaned against the Grass Vine Pokémon with considerable dependence, blinking her ice-crystal-like eyes curiously at Lin Feng.
It almost felt as though the Grass Vine Pokémon was her Trainer.
Lin Feng had no idea what the Grass Vine Pokémon had done to Alolan Vulpix while they had been at home to make an Ice-type Pokémon not dislike a Grass-type Pokémon.
Still, seeing them get along so well was exactly what Lin Feng wanted.
"Vine?" (Should we bring Alolan Vulpix along?)
Without her by their side, no one would take care of Alolan Vulpix. For a newly born Pokémon, that was still too much.
Lin Feng thought for a moment. "Forget it. This time, Milotic and Pidgeotto will go. You stay home and take care of Alolan Vulpix. She seems to like you quite a bit."
Since the Forage Gym was a Grass-type Gym and also had Miltank, if there happened to be a Miltank with the Hidden Ability Grass Eater, half of the Grass Vine Pokémon's moves would be useless.
Pidgeotto, as a Flying-type Pokémon, happened to counter Grass-types.
As for bringing Milotic, that was purely to make things more reliable.
After all.
A City-level Gym challenge was aimed at the period right after high school graduates had just begun their journeys. There was no way the other side would use Main Gym-level Pokémon, right?
The Grass Vine Pokémon shook her head, indicating she did not care about this battle.
She happened to have some ideas to instill in Alolan Vulpix at home~
She needed to establish her status as the big sister!
That was the important part.
The Pattern Behind Miltank Milk Production
After returning to Huaqiao Town, Lin Feng's goal was much clearer.
He needed to challenge the Forage Gym and buy two Miltank.
But before he even reached the Gym, Lin Feng spotted Ye Mu at the entrance to the grass field. This made him curious, because logically speaking, this was when Rookie Trainers were setting out on their journeys.
A City-level Gym Leader like Ye Mu should have been quite busy.
Only afterward did Lin Feng learn.
As Wutong City's only Grass-type Gym, most locals were actually unwilling to challenge it.
Especially in standard battles.
Because the Forage Gym's Gym Leader, Ye Mu, had a Venusaur among his main Pokémon. Within the Forage Gym, Venusaur could practically use Grassy Terrain as an Instant Cast.
Combined with Leech Seed, Protect, and Toxic tactics, this made it difficult for Pokémon of other types to gain any advantage unless they had a type advantage.
It was the legendary Substitute Toxic strategy, with the added advantage of terrain.
"You came pretty quickly."
Watching Lin Feng arrive under the blazing sun, Ye Mu smiled.
Lin Feng nodded. "What format will this challenge take?"
He truly wanted to bring two Miltank home as soon as possible.
Yet Ye Mu shook his head. "Come with me first." As he spoke, he headed forward.
Lin Feng did not understand why, but he followed. Before long, he learned where Ye Mu was taking him.
—The Cow Shed.
It was a fairly simple Cow Shed, built from wooden fencing and surrounded by plastic roll-up curtains. A low sunshade canopy blocked out the heat from outside. Each Miltank inside had her own stall, lying on dried forage grass and taking a bite from time to time, looking thoroughly comfortable.
The moment he walked in, Lin Feng felt refreshed all over.
Then he noticed that the Cow Shed actually had air conditioning installed?!
At two in the afternoon, the sun was at its fiercest. Even Miltank, who loved eating grass, were unwilling to wander around outside.
Before you continue