The Ogerpon Citrus brought a surprise

In the blink of an eye, the weekend had arrived.

Nearly half a month had passed since Mingyou arrived in Kitakami. It had even rained once during that time. Spending every day at the Manor, he had almost lost track of time.

Over the past few days, he had found ten thriving apple trees and used up all his Applin cards on them. Their fruit would probably ripen by the end of the month.

As for his other cards, there were no oak trees nearby, so he could not use the Seedot cards. His only option was to look for bean sprout seeds at the Momozawa Shop so he could use up the Bellsprout cards. Bean sprouts took less than a week to grow, anyway... unfortunately, the shop did not sell any.

Fortunately, Grandma Momozawa had told him she would bring back some seeds when she went into the city to restock in a while. For now, he could only wait.

During that time, Ogerpon came over to play every few days, turning up at all sorts of hours with Berries in tow, then heading home after dinner.

Munchlax loved this randomly spawning "Berry merchant." Munchlax ate almost all the Berries and was growing visibly chubbier.

But Mingyou had not spent the wait for the Ogerpon Citrus to ripen doing nothing. Every morning, noon, and evening, he checked on the variant crops, recording their growth and keeping pests at bay.

He also worked on bonding with the Pokémon helping him tend the crops. Swinub, Applin, and the others had mostly reached around lv3 affection, while Ogerpon had already reached lv5...

Amid this daily routine, Mingyou finally made it to the day the Ogerpon Citrus ripened!

Early that morning, before he had fully woken up, he heard something tapping on his window.

Still in his pajamas, Mingyou yawned and climbed out of bed, half asleep. He pulled back the curtains, only to jump at the sight of two green vines outside his window.

"!!!"

Daylight had barely broken. Who would not be startled by that sight? Fortunately, he quickly recovered and realized Weepinbell was downstairs, tapping on his window with Vine Whip.

Something immediately occurred to him. Without even changing, he rushed downstairs in his pajamas and slippers, reached the Villa's front door, and looked toward the Orchard.

"Are they ripe already?"

"Bell~"

Weepinbell nodded. The other Pokémon were gathered nearby too, gazing curiously at the colorful, mouthwatering fruit hanging from the tree.

Brimming with excitement and anticipation, Mingyou walked over. Because the tree had grown so quickly, all its flowers had fallen off a few days ago, and their strange effect had naturally vanished as well.

The fruit set had not been as high as he had imagined, but there were still nearly fifty Ogerpon Citrus. Ordinary tangerines turned orange when ripe, yet these came in four colors—red, green, blue, and gray. They almost looked fake.

Yet the crystal-clear dew dripping from their skins and the faint fruity scent they gave off tempted anyone nearby to take a delicious bite. There was something oddly sensual about it... well, that was probably his imagination.

Still, Mingyou quickly calmed himself. Ignoring the morning chill, he began recording the fruit one by one and checking their information.

He found that green Ogerpon Citrus were the most numerous, with a full thirty of them. Perhaps being tended by Weepinbell and the others had increased the yield of the corresponding Grass-type fruit.

Then there were eight blue ones, five red ones, and four gray ones, for a total of forty-seven. Their quality varied too, so he selected the highest-quality fruit of each kind to examine...

〔Verdant Tricky Mikan (B-): A tangerine with a faint, fresh grassy fragrance. Its flesh is large and plump, juicy without crumbling, though its taste and texture are not yet ideal. Rapidly restores a Grass-type Pokémon's strength when eaten.〕

〔Additional effect: Increases the rate at which Grass-type Pokémon become familiar with their own power and accelerates physical maturation. Lasts two and a half hours. Eating more while the buff is active will not stack its effects. Has a 5% chance of changing a Pokémon's Tera Type to Grass.〕

"..."

Looking at the green Ogerpon Citrus before him, Mingyou froze. Was this not essentially a built-in experience boost lasting two and a half hours?

If he gave this fruit to a Bulbasaur that was just one step away from evolving, it could eat it, roll around a couple of times, and evolve straight into Ivysaur.

And since the buff increased how quickly Pokémon became familiar with their power, there was no need to worry about them losing control of their strength after an accelerated evolution...

"Isn't this just a buff version of an Exp. Candy?"

Mingyou suddenly thought of the items in the games that granted experience simply by being eaten. Rare Candy belonged to that category of special consumables too.

In this world, though, Rare Candy was merely a snack tailored to Pokémon tastes, without any special effects. His Ogerpon Citrus were different—they were food that genuinely granted experience!

At that thought, Mingyou nearly failed to contain his excitement. Fortunately, he managed to calm down and looked at the final line, a little puzzled. "But what's this about changing their Tera Type?"

Unable to make sense of it, he set it aside for now and looked at a blue Ogerpon Citrus...

〔Wellspring Ogre Mask (C-): A tangerine with a hint of mountain spring water's sweetness. Its peel is thinner and contains little oil, making it ideal for dried citrus peel. The quality of its flesh, however, leaves much to be desired. Rapidly restores a Water-type Pokémon's strength when eaten.〕

〔Additional effect: Increases the rate at which Water-type Pokémon become familiar with their own power and accelerates physical maturation. Lasts one and a half hours. Eating more while the buff is active will not stack its effects.〕

"I see. Quality changes the buff's duration. And this one doesn't have the line about changing Tera Types—is that because of its quality too?"

Mingyou nodded slightly, carefully analyzing the information in his head. He also noticed that aside from their corresponding types, the different Ogerpon Citrus varied in the properties of the fruit itself, such as taste and texture.

Then he looked at the two remaining varieties, the Fire-type and Rock-type Ogerpon Citrus...

〔Hearthflame Ogerpon Citrus (C-): A tangerine with a slightly fiery flavor. Better suited for cooking, such as in hot pot. Tossing it into a fire can also help fuel the flames. Rapidly restores a Fire-type Pokémon's strength when eaten.〕

〔Additional effect: Increases the rate at which Fire-type Pokémon become familiar with their own power and accelerates physical maturation. Lasts one and a half hours. Eating more while the buff is active will not stack its effects.〕

〔Cornerstone Ogerpon Citrus (C+): A tangerine with somewhat hard flesh and peel. Not very juicy, but it keeps for a long time. The higher its quality, the harder it becomes. It can even be used to smash cafeteria mooncakes. Rapidly restores a Rock-type Pokémon's strength when eaten.〕

〔Additional effect: Increases the rate at which Rock-type Pokémon become familiar with their own power and accelerates physical maturation. Lasts two hours. Eating more while the buff is active will not stack its effects.〕

"...Are those last two really edible?"

Mingyou could not help feeling doubtful. He hardly dared imagine what a spicy tangerine would taste like. And one that could smash cafeteria mooncakes... his teeth were certainly not up to that.

Although reading the effects of all four varieties had left him excited, he also had a question: could these buffs be like tugging on seedlings to help them grow, harming the Pokémon instead?

Just as he was considering that, another note suddenly appeared in his mind...

〔Note: The special effects granted by variant fruit, vegetables, and so on all stem from their unique nutritional value. They pose no danger to Pokémon or humans. Processing them into other foods or dishes will increase or decrease their effects accordingly.〕

"I see. So they can be processed too? Then I could turn any fruit that won't sell into snacks and sell those instead. No..."

Mingyou shook his head, then looked up at Weepinbell and the others around him. A smile spread across his face.

There was no need to make it so complicated. The fruit in this Orchard had originally been intended for these wild Pokémon, and he would carry on that way.

He would sell some of the fruit and share the rest with the Manor's Pokémon as thanks. Only after that would he consider turning a final portion into snacks.

"That's what I'll do!"