Making Fertilizer

Apothecary Contact Point.

After the two left, Hawk and Link immediately started arguing.

The shopkeeper accused Link of ruining his business, while Link laughed at him for being shortsighted and caring about nothing but money.

"Enough. Give me those eight bottles of Healing Potion. I want to take them to my teacher to have a look."

After their spat, Link suddenly dropped his joking tone and spoke with complete seriousness.

The shopkeeper also sensed that something was wrong and asked, puzzled, "Is there something wrong with these Healing Potions?"

Link was silent for a moment before explaining, "I could only detect one ingredient in these potions: Orange Fruit."

The shopkeeper needed a moment to process that. Then his voice suddenly rose, and he exclaimed in astonishment, "You made Healing Potions using only Orange Fruit? How is that possible?!"

Link nodded in agreement. That was why he wanted to take the potions to his teacher.

"Oh, and save me a few of those rotten fruits, too. I want to see how they're supposed to be used to make potions." As he was leaving, Link suddenly added.

The shopkeeper nodded, but his attention was no longer on Link. Instead, he kept muttering, "Ten times the profit, ten times the profit!"

Outside City of Ambition.

Uncle Darby and Aiven sat in the carriage on their way back.

Every so often, Uncle Darby glanced back at the Rotten Tree Fruit in the wagon bed.

The shopkeeper had stocked quite a few Rotten Tree Fruits, but Uncle Darby really couldn't understand why Aiven wanted them.

"These Rotten Tree Fruits are great stuff. They can make flowers smell sweeter, grass grow greener, and fruit grow more abundant," Aiven said with a smile, but his uncle still looked utterly baffled.

They're for making fertilizer... Aiven added silently. He hummed a little tune, in a very good mood.

Now that he had fertilizer, he could begin planning the first stage of training for the Pokémon in the orchard.

As soon as they returned to Darby Farm, Aiven got busy. He asked Uncle Darby to find two large, airtight wooden barrels and put them in the yard.

Uncle Darby scratched his head at Aiven's inexplicable actions, but decided not to ask for now. Excitedly, he went inside to share the joy of their earnings with his wife.

Four gold coins—four whole gold coins! It made them feel, all of a sudden, as if making money was easy.

But when they remembered that they had nearly run out of Orange Fruit on the farm, they sighed silently. Their most urgent task was to find a way to get more.

With that in mind, Darby put on his farming gear and hurried off to the Fruit Grove. He had to figure out how to increase the Orange Fruit yield.

Little Andy saw his father heading to the Fruit Grove and clamored to go along. He wanted to play with the Mukkuru in the grove.

Glad to have the yard to himself, Aiven got to work on his fertilizer-making plan without interruption.

First, he filled the barrels with water and checked that they were airtight.

After giving them a quick rinse, he moved them into the sun. Then he took the Rotten Tree Fruits from the wagon bed and tossed them into the barrels.

He stirred them around with a stick, crushing the rotting Orange Fruits, then added a certain amount of clean water and put the lids on.

He carried out the steps with practiced ease. Aiven let out a small sigh of relief and left the barrels to bake in the sun.

As the fruits rotted and fermented, microorganisms would slowly release the various nutrients they contained, allowing him to obtain a nutrient solution of a specific concentration.

After further processing the solution, he could use it to make a special fertilizer.

Different fruits produced fertilizers with different effects. By mixing different fruits in certain proportions, he could also make more potent fertilizers.

For example, by mixing a certain amount of Yakai Fruit or Xiangluo Fruit with two other fruits of any kind, he could make "Super Effect Fertilizer."

Orange Fruit contained abundant life energy and could help Pokémon recover their stamina, so fertilizer made from it was a kind of "Growth Fertilizer."

"I wonder what Bulbasaur is doing now."

"And Gardevoir and the others. They must be worried after I disappeared out of nowhere, right?"

"No, maybe I didn't disappear. The me in that world might already be dead. They must be heartbroken."

Looking at the barrels in front of him, Aiven sighed deeply once more. Memories of all the moments he had shared with his Pokémon resurfaced in his mind.

Bulbasaur was his very first Pokémon. He had learned how to make fertilizer while traveling with her. Those days really had been carefree.

Once he finished his work, Aiven headed to the Fruit Grove as well.

In the distance, he saw little Andy running around happily, while a Mukkuru flew ahead of him in a panic.

"This familiar feeling... It's nice."

Watching little Andy chase after the Mukkuru in the grove, Aiven smiled warmly. It gave him a little of the feeling of being with Pokémon in his previous life.

A world where humans and Pokémon lived together in harmony would come someday... He repeated the words to himself. At least the farm was like that now.

Aiven watched for a while, then continued toward the Fruit Grove. He saw Cherubi and Petilil outside, enjoying the sun.

Petilil stepped into the sunlight and stretched, then slowly made her way toward the regular orchard.

When she reached the boundary between the two orchards, Petilil stopped. Then she gazed at the distant sky, motionless.

In the distance, the Mukkuru flapped back and landed on the wooden fence. It glanced calmly at Petilil, then began preening its feathers.

Only when a white cloud blocked the sunlight did Petilil finally turn her gaze away, looking dejected. In silence, she returned to the grove.

Aiven watched everything quietly, a thoughtful look on his face.

Over the next few days, Aiven came to the orchard at the same time every day to help clear away weeds and rotten fruit. He also kept an eye on the Pokémon.

Whenever he went to the Fruit Grove, he saw Petilil standing where the two orchards met, basking in the sunlight as she gazed at the distant sky.

She's lonely... Aiven silently concluded. Petilil reminded him of a little bird trapped in a cage, yearning for the open sky.

"A Petilil longing for freedom?"

"To feel that way even in this grove... I have to admit, I'm tempted."

"I just don't know whether she'd be willing to become my Pokémon and accept my training."

Aiven thought it over. He now had everything ready to raise a Pokémon. All that remained was to officially catch one.