The next morning, Yushu pushed open his door and was greeted by an absurd sight.
The Pokémon lay sprawled all over the yard.
Miltank and Torterra were flat on their backs on a pile of grass, limbs splayed.
Luxray was curled up under the eaves, and Vespiquen lay in a tree pit.
Staraptor was hanging straight off the clothesline, wings drooping, like an oversized towel freshly washed and hung out to dry.
Rotom?
Nowhere to be seen.
"..."
Yushu stood in the doorway in silence for a long while before finally coming to his senses.
"Lazybones."
Every last one of them was a lazybones, just as he had thought.
They had been so fired up yesterday, only to show their true colors today.
It seemed choosing to run a farm really had been the right call.
With this sleep schedule, in this state, enter a League tournament? Wouldn't that just be feeding kills?
They would probably struggle even in the town's Little Cup.
Yushu shook his head without waking them.
Whatever. It was their first day. He had to give his employees some time to adjust.
He quickly washed up, fried himself two eggs, and toasted two slices of bread.
After finishing breakfast in short order, Yushu changed into old clothes, put on a straw hat, and left the house.
He had only one main task today.
Plant the Berry seedlings he had bought yesterday.
There weren't that many seedlings, but for someone who had never seriously farmed before, this was no small challenge.
The most successful thing he had grown in his previous life was probably the pothos on his balcony.
And even that was the sort watered only once a week, surviving on sheer hardiness.
Yushu had already scanned the entire Berry orchard plot with the Eye of Detection.
The conclusion was: the soil had good fertility and was very suitable for growing Berries.
Preparing the land would be a hassle, though. Should he wait for the Pokémon to wake up and work together?
With that thought, Yushu went over to take a look and was stunned.
"Holy shit, seriously? Torterra did this? That's awesome!"
The whole plot had been completely transformed, as though a large rotary tiller had just gone over it.
"Was the work really that efficient?"
Even the furrows had been dug. All he had to do was sow the seeds.
This was more efficient than a machine.
So this was Torterra's true calling.
Yushu couldn't help giving Torterra a mental thumbs-up.
What did being a professional look like? This was what it looked like.
Making Torterra challenge Gyms before had been a waste of talent.
Having Torterra till the soil now was putting that talent to proper use.
(Torterra: I'm the god who commands the earth.)
(Groudon: Then what am I?)
After marveling at it, Yushu bent down and began planting the seedlings.
He placed the Pecha Berry, Oran Berry, and Wepear Berry seedlings into the holes in turn.
He covered them with soil, tamped it down, and watered them with clean water drawn from Lake Acuity, working methodically.
All forty tree pits were finished.
The tender green saplings swayed gently in the breeze, arranged in neat rows.
Yushu straightened up and brushed the dirt from his palms, speaking softly.
"Now it's up to you to grow well."
Planting done, work finished.
Just then, the roar of an engine came from the farm entrance.
Yushu looked up. A medium-sized truck had stopped at the gate, and a middle-aged man climbed out.
It was Qingmu, the father he had inherited.
"Oh, honored Father, what brings you here to deliver them yourself?"
Yushu was a little surprised.
Yushu was a little surprised. He had thought Qingmu would arrange for someone to ship them over, not that his biological father would make the trip himself.
"Obviously. If I didn't come myself, would you know how to get these Pokémon settled?"
Qingmu held a box with a whole bunch of Poké Balls on top and tossed them out.
Bang, bang, bang!
Light flashed as a pile of Poké Balls opened.
Miltank, Mareep, and the like all popped out in quick succession.
And sure enough, every one of them was sturdy and strong, clearly carefully selected.
"Well? Your dad has a good eye, doesn't he? I picked all of these from the best breeding farm in Hearthome City."
Qingmu stood beside the truck bed, looking pleased with himself.
Yushu activated the Eye of Detection, and panels of light unfolded before his eyes.
[Pokémon: Miltank] [Type: Normal] [Ability: Thick Fat] [Level: late intermediate] [Condition: healthy, well-developed, normal milk production.] [Recommendation: switch to customized feed high in protein and calcium to further improve milk quality and yield.] [Pokémon: Mareep] [Type: Electric] [Ability: Static] [Level: late beginner] [Condition: healthy, good wool quality, slight buildup of static electricity.] [Recommendation: increase water intake and provide appropriate electrolyte supplements to improve wool quality.]
Yushu looked through them one by one.
All thirty Pokémon were healthy, with none suffering from malnutrition.
Qingmu really had put thought into this.
"Well? I've got a pretty good eye, haven't I?"
Though Qingmu was always finding fault with Yushu out loud, deep down, he still hoped his son could get this ranch going.
"More than good. You really are the best, Dad. Your eye is second to none."
Yushu meant every word.
"All right, all right, enough of that fluff. Come on, I'll help you get the Pokémon settled."
"Come on, Dad, I'd feel bad making you do it all alone. Let's do it together."
"Obviously. Did you really think you wouldn't have to help at all?"
Father and son worked for nearly half an hour before finally settling all thirty Pokémon into the sheds.
The Mareep were still unfamiliar with their new surroundings and huddled together, refusing to spread out.
The Miltank, on the other hand, adapted quickly.
"All right, that's about it."
Qingmu brushed the bits of grass from his hands and stood in the doorway of the shed, looking at the Pokémon crowded together inside as he said:
"I loaded ten tons of feed for you. It's in the truck bed. That should last you a while. Let me know when you run out, and I'll arrange more."
"Ten tons? That much?"
Yushu froze for a moment.
Ten tons of feed-how big a pile would that be?
"Is ten tons a lot? You've got thirty mouths to feed. Have you worked out how much they'll eat in a day?"
Qingmu rolled his eyes at him.
"Fair point..."
Yushu scratched his head.
Although Pokémon feed lasted quite a while, with this many mouths, a rough calculation suggested it would probably only last three months.
Professor Oak's achievement in raising Tauros was looking more impressive by the minute.
"All right, show your dad around. It's been a long time since I came back."
Qingmu turned around and looked at the vast ranch before him, a trace of complicated emotion flashing in his eyes.
He had been born here, grown up here, and learned here from Yushu's grandfather how to feed the cattle and sheep, repair the sheds, and read the weather.
Later, he had left, gone to the city to work in transportation, and left this land to time and weeds.
After all those twists and turns, his son had now come back.