An excellent Vespiquen could deftly direct her entire colony on an ever-changing battlefield.
With the Pokéblocks Yushu provided, Vespiquen's physical condition was steadily improving as well.
In a month, Vespiquen not only recovered completely, but also successfully advanced from the late advanced stage to the early elite stage.
Of course, Vespiquen was far from the only one who had improved over that month.
None of the other Pokémon had been idle either.
On the surface, they did farmwork every day.
Miltank hauled goods, Torterra tilled the Berry orchard, Luxray patrolled the ranch's perimeter, Staraptor scouted from the sky, and Rotom possessed various farming tools to maintain the equipment.
In reality, however, the Pokémon had all developed their own cultivation methods.
The ranch's piles of hay bales and wooden barrels full of fresh milk all needed transporting, so Miltank simply curled up around the cargo and used Rollout to move it.
At first, even rolling a short distance made it hard to maintain balance. Now, sharp turns and uphill sprints were all a breeze.
The impact of Rollout, bodily control, and endurance had all improved dramatically.
The Miltank of today was no longer the newbie from a month ago who could only moo. Miltank had successfully transformed into a self-aware pink tank.
If the Pokémon world had driving tests, Miltank could pull off a hill start.
Torterra's tilling trained control over Ground-type moves.
At first, Torterra could only use Earthquake in a simple manner. Now, Torterra could precisely control the range and intensity of the tremors, successfully tilling the soil without damaging the roots.
Torterra's understanding of Ground-type energy had reached a new height.
Luxray's patrols trained reaction speed.
Wild Pokémon were always stealing crops around the ranch. Luxray could now burst into a full-speed sprint at the slightest sound, maximizing the explosive power of all four limbs, with unmatched instantaneous acceleration.
[I'm not late, am I!]
Staraptor had the most creative training method, finding a large rock and gripping it with talons.
After flying for a while, Staraptor would drop the rock, dive down, catch it before it hit the ground, then fly back up, drop it again, and catch it again.
Combining weighted flight with catching practice trained wing strength and improved dynamic vision.
Rotom trained possession abilities, switching freely between different pieces of equipment.
Yushu had temporarily given the Plate fragment to Rotom, a decision he had made after careful consideration.
The main reason was that none of his Pokémon were Psychic-types, and Rotom at least had some connection to that. Rotom's possession ability involved manipulating mental power and energy, and the Plate fragment could greatly enhance those abilities.
The second reason was that Rotom was the only Pokémon at home who would not lose the Plate fragment.
Rotom could incorporate the Plate fragment directly into its own body and carry it around.
As it turned out, Yushu's judgment had been correct.
After equipping the Plate fragment, Rotom's possession of electrical appliances became much smoother and more natural.
Previously, possessing a new piece of equipment required several minutes to adjust to its internal structure.
Now, that process had shortened to a few seconds.
Possession was completed with little more than a thought.
Furthermore, the power of the moves Rotom used while possessing equipment had also increased significantly.
"Rotom!"
Rotom was extremely satisfied with its current condition, flying around the ranch every day and tirelessly possessing all sorts of equipment.
The Pokémon had practically turned their daily work into part of their training, improving their strength without realizing it.
After a month like this, all six Pokémon had advanced by one level.
"What exactly have you all been doing behind my back this past month...?"
Yushu stood in the courtyard, looking at the six Pokémon lined up before him with a complicated expression.
All six Pokémon looked bewildered.
No idea. What are you even talking about?
We were just doing farmwork. Weren't you the one who told us to? Why are you asking us now?
How are you, our Trainer, even more confused than we are?
Seriously, though, Yushu still had no particularly concrete sense of their strength.
Mainly, they had not battled, so there had been little opportunity to test it.
But that opportunity soon arrived.
One day, on an ordinary afternoon.
Yushu was picking ripe Berries in the orchard when he suddenly heard footsteps in the distance.
He looked up and saw a young boy walking toward him.
The boy was about fifteen or sixteen, wearing a blue jacket and carrying a backpack, with the travel-worn look unique to travelers.
One glance at that outfit was enough to tell he was a Trainer who frequently traveled.
Ritchie asked curiously, "Hello! I'm Ritchie! Are you training Pokémon?"
Yushu replied, "I'm Yushu. What do you mean, training? We're just doing farmwork."
"Farmwork?"
Ritchie froze for a moment, then looked past Yushu at the ranch behind him.
Torterra opened with an Earthquake, shaking all the dirt and rocks into the air, then used Leaf Storm, breaking all the rocks into gravel.
You call this fucking farmwork?
You're trying to pass off newspaper as spirit money. Who the hell are you fooling?
Ritchie shifted his gaze and saw Luxray using Discharge on Staraptor, who kept nimbly dodging.
Oh-ho, using Electric-type moves to train a Flying-type's evasion. That's pretty bold.
"This work of yours..."
Ritchie was just about to offer his opinion when he suddenly heard Yushu shout:
"Miltank, watch where you're going!"
Boom!
Ritchie turned and saw a Miltank smash a rock half a person's height to pieces with Rollout.
The rock shattered cleanly and completely, as though a demolition crew's steamroller had run over it.
Then Ritchie watched Miltank simply rub its head, give an honest, guileless smile, and return to work.
Holy fuck, is that Rollout really that tough?
If that hit one of my Pokémon, wouldn't it leave them black and blue?
Lies! No rancher is like this!
Ritchie did not believe it at all, looking as though he had seen through everything.
"Don't be modest! Your Pokémon are so well trained. You must be a veteran Trainer!"
"That wasn't training. They really were working..."
Yushu still wanted to explain, but Ritchie clearly was no longer listening. He bowed deeply.
"Yushu! Please battle me!"
"I'm challenging the Sinnoh League, and I've already collected four Badges! I need to battle more powerful Trainers to improve! Please accept!"
Yushu opened his mouth, wanting to refuse.
But before he could speak, he felt one burning gaze after another from behind him.
He looked back and saw all his Pokémon staring at him with shining eyes.
"Moo~" (Are we battling?)
"Torterra..." (A little exercise wouldn't hurt.)
"Roar!" (It's been ages since we got started.)
Staraptor even dove straight out of the sky and landed in front of Yushu.
"Staraptor!" (Let me do it! Let me do it! I've been waiting for this day forever!)
"Rotom!" (Fight! Fight!)
Even the usually composed Vespiquen flew out of her hive, clearly very interested in this battle as well.
Yushu: "..."
You lot never get this enthusiastic about anything except eating, but mention a fight and you're all excited, huh?
Where's your professionalism? What happened to loving work?
In the corner, Uxie quietly peeked out too, a curious glimmer flashing through those narrowed eyes.
A fight? Now that deserves a good look.