Pokemon Paldea [187-189] (Patreon)

Chapter 187: The Shadowy Figure Under the Night

Just the fifteen fully grown berry trees alone produce quite a few berries each month, not to mention the large fields of crops—one warehouse simply can't hold it all.

"I understand your concerns. Storing crops is a big challenge for any farm. Right now in spring it's manageable—crops last longer if kept in suitable conditions. But when summer comes..."

The foreman scratched his head and calmly stated the farm's critical issue.

"Other farms use cold storage, which consumes a lot of electricity and costs a fortune to build. At the very least, you'd have to buy lots of freezers. But your farm, well... it doesn't exactly have a modern feel, haha."

Lucas could tell the foreman was being tactful—he meant the farm lacked modern technology. The roads weren't paved, farm work relied entirely on Pokémon, and there weren't even streetlights at night—it was pitch dark.

Even the electricity came from a small line pulled in from nearby, just enough to power a single house. There was no way to run a cold storage or lots of freezers.

Lucas had already thought of a solution: before summer, he'd just add an Ice-type Pokémon or two to the farm. A natural icehouse would be just as good as a cold storage, wouldn't it?

Plus, Dragonite knew Ice Beam, and Swampert could use Ice Punch. The resources were there—making proper use of Pokémon is the way to go in the Pokémon world.

With this in mind, Lucas said, "Just build two more warehouses next to this one, same size. As for summer storage, I'll take care of it when the time comes."

The foreman had no doubts. Just looking at Lucas's Pokémon, anyone could tell he wasn't ordinary. He probably had plenty of solutions. Better to take the job and strengthen ties with this future big client.

After the foreman left with the new contract, Lucas stretched and muttered, "Meowstic's been gone for a while now, still no news."

He was really looking forward to hearing from his butler Pokémon—hopefully the application hadn't been rejected.

Ding-dong~

His phone rang in his pocket. Lucas quickly checked it and his eyes lit up when he saw the sender. "Speak of the devil…"

[Geeta: The Pokémon Butler Academy in Kalos is confirmed. When do you have time to go? I'll sign you up.]

Lucas checked the date. It was March 15th. Reggie and Paul had visited two days ago, he'd called the foreman yesterday to discuss the chicken coop, and today the work was finished.

The invitation from Siebold had a flexible time frame—between March and May he'd be in Kalos, and Lucas was welcome any time.

Spring break was already half over, and the new semester at Naranja Academy would start soon. If Lucas was going to Kalos, he'd have to free up at least seven days.

He needed to arrange the farm's affairs and deal with Growlithe and Moltres before leaving. After thinking it through, he made his decision.

[Lucas: I'll leave on March 21st. I'll contact them about the exact visit time once I arrive in Kalos. Is that okay?]

[Geeta: No problem.]

…

Late night.

With no streetlights, few Pokémon with good night vision wandered at night. Most chose to sleep early and rise early.

Luxray had just finished its last patrol and was a bit tired, not to mention the two little tails behind it—Growlithe and Dachsbun, who had volunteered for the night patrol.

The two pups were barely more than night-wandering ghosts at this point, staggering around with unsteady steps.

Luxray yawned discreetly, shot them a helpless look, and decided it was time to rest, leading the two Pokémon back to the house.

Long after Luxray left, a pair of big eyes suddenly opened in the grass near the farm fence.

It finally had its chance.

From its days of observation, it knew there were powerful Pokémon on this farm. It dared not invade during the day and only moved under cover of night, long after the strong guardian left.

Now that the guardian had gone to rest, and after days of watching, it knew the rest would last until dawn before patrols started again.

Now was the time to act!

The black figure in the grass nimbly climbed over the fence without making a sound, blending into the night as it made its way to the food storage.

After much observation, it was certain this was where the humans stored food.

Just like before, it wanted to poison the humans, as had happened on other farms.

But simply smearing poison on growing crops would arouse suspicion. This time, it would sneak into the warehouse and coat the food inside with poison from its fingertips.

As for the Pokémon—well, it couldn't help that they lived with the hateful humans who had abandoned it.

It wasn't afraid of being discovered. It knew its own abilities well: once eaten, its poison would appear just like the food's color and smell sweet and fragrant, not pungent.

Even Pokémon with sharp noses would just think it was the scent of food and become even more tempted—not a chance of being discovered before it was eaten.

It let out a few sickly chuckles, relishing its revenge, then deftly opened the window and slipped inside the warehouse to begin its work.

For a moment, the moonlight, filtered through clouds, shone softly, illuminating the little toxic lemur as it spread poison in the warehouse.

…

The next morning, Lucas rose early.

For breakfast, he planned to make berry puff pastries for his Pokémon.

Stepping outside, he saw Luxray sniffing the ground, looking confused. Lucas asked, "What are you doing?"

"Luxray~."

Luxray looked up, troubled. It sensed a strange new scent on the ground that puzzled it.

"Oh."

Lucas nodded, told Luxray to keep sniffing, and reminded, "I'm going to get some berries from the warehouse. You keep at it."

Luxray kept searching for the scent. Lucas smiled at its diligence.

Wearing new slippers, Lucas reached the warehouse door.

He noticed the window was open and frowned, puzzled. "Did I forget to close the window yesterday?"

He scratched his head, opened the main door, took a deep breath of the rich aroma, and said, "The berry smell is getting stronger—these will make great berry puffs."

Chapter 188: The Poison-type Pokémon

Lucas walked over to the stored berries, thinking.

The pie would be a bit sweet. Pecha Berries were juicy and soft—not great for baking.

But Oran Berries were crisp and sweet, not too juicy, perfect for pies.

He set down his basket and reached for the fragrant Oran Berries.

At that moment, a line of bright red text flashed across his vision:

[Alert: The item the host is about to touch contains toxins. Please stop this dangerous action immediately.]

Lucas froze, heart skipping a beat.

Was he seeing things? The system was warning him about toxins in the berries?

He frowned. If this was real, it was a big problem.

"How's it going, Luxray?"

He looked at Luxray, who was sniffing each basket of produce.

"Luxray~."

Luxray shook its head and pointed with its right paw at a few baskets set aside.

It had found the same strange scent in only those baskets—apparently the culprit had only enough poison for those few.

"I see."

Lucas's calm voice was full of suppressed anger.

He hadn't expected an actual poisoning incident on his farm—almost identical to what had happened at the neighboring Jones Farm. There, the poison had been smeared on growing crops; here, it was on harvested ones.

Who the culprit was didn't matter yet. The fact that someone had ruined crops that his Pokémon had worked so hard to grow made Lucas furious.

Serperior was also fuming. Its underlings—Comfey, Dolliv, and Eldegoss—had worked so hard to grow these crops.

To think their hard work could be spoiled overnight—Serperior's tail lashed the ground in anger.

If its feet hadn't regressed after evolution, it would be stomping mad.

"Sss-serpi~!" (Wasting food is shameful.)

Ceruledge's ghostly flames flickered with emotion. Having once been abandoned, Ceruledge knew what it was like to go hungry, which sparked its interest in cooking.

For it, wasting food was an affront to its beliefs. Such villains could not be forgiven! Ceruledge vowed to take up its sword when it found the culprit and teach them the value of food.

Sad cries reached Lucas's ears. He looked over—Comfey, Dolliv, and Eldegoss hung their heads low, devastated that their hard work had been so carelessly ruined.

Even Mudsdale, Dragonair, and Politoed, who did the daily farm work, felt the same. The crops were the fruit of everyone's labor—no wonder they were upset.

Lucas took a deep breath and told his Pokémon, "First let's notify Officer Jenny. Maybe she'll have some leads."

He wanted to try finding the culprit. If things remained unclear, he wouldn't hesitate to use his system's powers.

…

Officer Jenny soon arrived with a report, looking serious.

"It's confirmed. The poison on the berries matches that found at Jones Farm—same color as the fruit, sweet scent, causes paralysis but no lasting harm. All the features match."

"I think both incidents were caused by the same Poison-type Pokémon, but what species and why, we still don't know."

Lucas nodded, unsurprised. If cases were that easy, every region wouldn't need its own evil team.

But a few things Jenny mentioned caught his attention.

The poison was the same color as the fruit—did that mean the culprit could change its poison's color? That narrowed the possible suspects.

Officer Jenny was very grateful for Lucas's patience and support—it gave her time to investigate properly.

But she was also troubled. Poisonings weren't unknown in Los Platos, but they were usually from battles or accidents, never targeted food poisonings like this. For some reason, the higher-ups had given strict orders to crack this case quickly, putting her under a lot of pressure.

A Poison-type Pokémon's toxins are affected by its environment, diet, and more—no two are exactly alike, but there's so much variety that it's hard to identify the species just from the poison.

Testing and analysis take time, but investigations demand speed. Every delay reduced the chances of solving the case and finding the hidden culprit.

Though Lucas had reported the incident, all Jenny could do was ask him to wait for updates.

The culprit was sly—even trained Growlithe couldn't pick up a scent.

Jenny tried to piece the clues together but always felt something was missing, which frustrated her.

Just then, Lucas hesitantly spoke up: "Could it be a Grafaiai?"

Jenny's pupils contracted. She nodded, then shook her head. "We've considered that. Grafaiai can change their poison's color based on what they eat, which fits the clues."

"But most Grafaiai live in the Poco Path or Arboliva's Forest. The environment around Los Platos isn't their usual habitat, so we didn't list them as suspects at first."

"But it's a lead. We'll look into it. There could be a lone Grafaiai in the area for some reason."

Chapter 189: Growlithe's Final Test

After Jenny left, Lucas worried about the investigation's progress.

With so few clues, and the culprit seemingly very familiar with humans and able to evade even Officer Jenny, Lucas wasn't optimistic about a speedy resolution.

He decided it was time for his cheat system to help and asked in his mind, "Any clues?"

[...]

[Hint: Perhaps in four nights, that little black shadow will visit your farm again.]

"Riddles?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow, but didn't press for details.

From the hint, he deduced a few things:

First, the culprit was lying low. Without a breakthrough, finding it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Second, if the system said it would show up again in four days, then as long as he increased security and didn't alert the culprit, he could just wait for it to take the bait.

No need to rush—just be patient and catch it red-handed.

Lucas had no idea why a Poison-type Pokémon would target his farm, aside from the Stunky that once attacked the Eldegoss.

Why would it poison his crops?

It puzzled him.

…

The next morning, Lucas was woken by something wet.

He opened his eyes to find an excited Growlithe licking his face.

Lucas didn't blame it—Growlithe had been looking forward to today for a long time.

Once Growlithe passed its test, Lucas would let it evolve—Moltres would take them to a volcano, where Growlithe would evolve using magma energy instead of a Fire Stone, becoming the legendary Pokémon that runs across the land.

Yawning, Lucas scooped up Growlithe, ruffled its head, and smiled. "Looks like you're ready. Let's get going."

"Woof woof!"

Growlithe's tail wagged even harder.

After washing up and having breakfast, Lucas recalled Growlithe, hopped on Dragonite, and, watched by all the Pokémon, flew out of the farm.

"Hisss?" (Worried?)

Serperior glanced at Moltres and asked.

Moltres shook its head. "Caw." (I've taught it everything I can. The rest is up to it.)

…

Meanwhile, Lucas rode Dragonite high above, wind roaring in his ears. He patted Dragonite and asked, "Are you sure the Pokémon you found near the Tera Crystal yesterday is a good match for Growlithe?"

"Drago~"

Dragonite didn't even look back—totally confident.

It had observed for a while. That Pokémon was about as strong as Growlithe, though its type gave it a slight advantage.

Lucas: "…"

Now he was worried if Growlithe could actually win.

Dragonite flew quickly. Soon a deserted beach appeared below, with a sparkling Tera Crystal in the center.

Since this was wild country, the Tera Crystal had been left alone, which gave Lucas the chance for Growlithe to have a real battle.

His eyes narrowed as he spotted the opponent: a Pokémon with a massive right pincer, blue shell, and long yellow antennae—Clawitzer, a pure Water-type.

Clawitzer's body gleamed with crystalline light—it was Terastallized, with a water-shaped crown.

Lucas chuckled, "You really found Growlithe a tough opponent."

All Clawitzer have the Mega Launcher ability—like Mega Blastoise, boosting pulse and aura moves by 50%, like Dragon Pulse, Water Pulse, Dark Pulse, or Aura Sphere—a very offense-oriented ability.

With its Water Tera Type, its power would be off the charts.

"Drago~?"

Dragonite hovered innocently. Growlithe always hung out with Moltres—shouldn't it face a real challenge?

"You troublemaker, I'll settle with you later."

Lucas tapped Dragonite's head, directing it to land.

Before Dragonite landed, Clawitzer spotted them. Water surged in its huge claw—a torrent more like a flood than a Water Pulse shot out.

"Drago~" (How rude…)

Dragonite dodged easily, landed Lucas, and, ignoring Clawitzer's warning, pinned it with glowing green Dragon Claws, rendering it immobile.

Clawitzer had ruled this beach for a long time, attacking anyone who entered its territory. But this time it had picked the wrong fight.

Pinned effortlessly, it struggled in vain, despairing.

"Cool~"

Lucas whistled, impressed by Dragonite's display.

But he didn't forget the real task. He released Growlithe and smiled. "Growlithe, here's your opponent. Ready?"

Growlithe wiggled its rear, tail wagging, curious about its surroundings.

Then it spotted Clawitzer, still pinned by Dragonite.

Growlithe became even braver—after all, it used to dominate Dragonite in play. Dealing with a Clawitzer pinned by Dragonite should be easy, right?

"Woof woof!" (Dragonite, let it go! Let me handle it!)

Growlithe barked excitedly, eager to roast Clawitzer's blue shell red.

Seeing Growlithe impatient for a challenge, Dragonite released Clawitzer and stepped back to watch.