Pokemon Paldea [230-231] (Patreon)

Chapter 230: New Farm Members!

For Geeta, the Naranja Academy was undoubtedly one of the places she valued the most.

As a rising league, the Paldea League was severely lacking in talent across various fields. And where does talent come from?

The Naranja Academy, being the largest and oldest academy in the Paldea region, treated every student as a treasure and the future of Paldea. Geeta would absolutely not allow a few bad apples to destroy Paldea's future. No matter who was involved or what forces were behind them, she would uproot them entirely.

After all, the internal factions of the Paldea League hadn't taken root to the extent of the Kanto or Johto Leagues, so dealing with them didn't require as much caution.

When Geeta left, Lucas and Harrington could clearly sense the anger hidden beneath her calm expression.

Lucas and Harrington exchanged a glance, and Harrington awkwardly spoke up: "The chairwoman is really going all out this time. She's even planning to use league insiders to handle the academy's affairs directly. I imagine we'll see results soon."

"Even though you only gave a few examples, Chairwoman Geeta understands a key principle—when you see one cockroach in your house, there are already dozens or hundreds hiding in the cracks of the walls."

Harrington's metaphor was a bit odd, but Lucas had to admit it was apt. These incidents were definitely not isolated cases; he knew that better than anyone.

As long as things continued like this, the bullying that led to the rise of Team Star would be put on pause, and the entire Naranja Academy would return to a state of clarity and peace.

Lucas didn't know what changes revealing all this early would bring, but at least a group of suffering students would be able to return to normal lives.

Thinking of this, Lucas glanced at the sky outside the window and saw it was already pitch black. He quickly stood up and said to Harrington, "Director Harrington, I'll take my leave now."

Harrington was about to nod, but he hesitated as if suddenly remembering something and asked, "Teacher Lucas, do you remember if Young Master Ortega showed any abnormal changes about two months ago?"

"."

After a moment of silence, Lucas said gravely: "At the time, I observed that the classmates who usually hung around him were down to just two. Judging from his followers' reactions in class, Ortega was probably being ignored or isolated by the class."

"But don't worry, he has two real friends by his side now, so there's no issue anymore."

With those words, Lucas didn't linger and quickly walked out of the office.

Harrington leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor as if drained of strength. He covered his face and muttered to himself in a low voice: "Whether it's the young master's issues or the students' problems, I didn't notice any of it. How can someone like me deserve the position of director?"

…

That night, many people stayed up all night, working overtime to review the surveillance footage from the public areas of Naranja Academy.

Search teams composed of Pokémon appeared in every corner of the Naranja Academy campus, using their special abilities to investigate.

Meanwhile, Lucas, who had just returned to the farm, handed the washed lunch boxes and clothes to Oranguru and received his home clothes from it in exchange.

Since it was approaching 11 PM, Lucas only gathered some of the Pokémon living inside the house to introduce the five new members joining the farm.

The Pokémon that usually lived indoors included Luxray, Serperior, Mimikyu, Ceruledge, Dragonite, the Eldegoss, Dolliv, Alcremie, and Comfey.

Moltres lived in the birdhouse built for it outside. Arcanine couldn't even fit through the door due to its size, so Lucas had temporarily set up a small shed for it between the chicken coop and the warehouse. Dachsbun followed its boss and slept outside as well.

At that moment, eleven Pokémon gathered together, intently watching the new arrivals, including intimidating figures like Dragonite and Luxray.

The two Skiddos had never seen such a scene before. They panicked and looked around, realizing that Lucas was the only familiar face from that morning.

The two Skiddos scampered behind Lucas, trying to curl up and hide behind his legs, occasionally letting out uneasy bleats.

Lucas helplessly squatted down and gently stroked the Skiddos' horns, conveying his soothing emotions to them.

Evolved Gogoats could read their trainer's emotions through their long horns, and Skiddos could actually do the same.

After a short while, the two Pokémon's emotions gradually stabilized.

Normally, the soothing work would be handled by Comfey, but it had been busy all afternoon and was now completely drained of both energy and stamina. It was currently sprawled out asleep on Dragonite's head.

Compared to the Skiddos, the three Nacli were much bolder in their reactions.

They boldly moved up to Ceruledge, shook their bodies, and directly sprinkled the salt they had specially accumulated onto Ceruledge's armor.

This sudden action from the Nacli surprised not just Ceruledge, but Lucas and the other Pokémon as well. Lucas even doubted his own memory for a moment.

Nacli shouldn't have learned Salt Cure yet.

But looking at the Nacli, it didn't seem like they were attacking out of fear.

Ceruledge was utterly bewildered as it was covered in salt. It felt a bit aggrieved inside—sure, it was a Ghost-type Pokémon, but was there really a need to sprinkle salt to ward off ghosts?

But when Ceruledge felt the dents in its armor from practicing with Swampert during the day slowly recovering due to the salt's effects, its eyes widened slightly, as if realizing something.

These little guys' salt could heal injuries?

The Nacli happily bounced up and down, their cheerful voices rapidly increasing the goodwill of all the Pokémon present toward them.

"Nacl Nacl~" (No pain, no pain Sprinkle some salt and the wound won't hurt anymore~)

Lucas: "."

It was a good thing the Nacli knew their salt had healing effects; otherwise, this act of kindness could have turned into a disaster scene.

True, rubbing salt in the wound.

The Nacli quickly won everyone's favor, making the two Skiddos peeking out from behind Lucas feel a bit envious. At the same time, they realized that these powerful-looking Pokémon seemed quite friendly.

The two Skiddos remembered that before Lucas took them away, the elder Gogoat in the pasture had pulled them aside and earnestly advised them to build good relationships with the locals to establish themselves outside.

The Gogoat had seen many of its kind who couldn't integrate into new environments and were sent back. It didn't want the Skiddos to face the same fate.

They had to build relationships quickly!

The two Skiddos exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with determination. They stepped forward to the center and, under the puzzled gazes of the other Pokémon, lay down, rolled over, and exposed their bellies.

Chapter 231: Pokémon with Maxed-Out Skill Points

"Baa baa baa" (Come drink some milk)

For the Skiddos, their nutrient-rich goat milk was their proudest offering. Inviting the Pokémon to drink it was like giving them their most prized gift.

This would let them make friends at lightning speed.

The two Skiddos couldn't help but feel a bit smug inside.

Even though the two Skiddos' faces were full of invitation, the entire room fell silent as if muted by them.

Through the telepathic translation synced from Oranguru, Lucas couldn't help but cover his face, feeling his brain tremble.

The Skiddos were openly inviting the Pokémon to drink their goat milk. Lucas couldn't fathom what kind of bizarre thought process led to such an action.

None of the Pokémon dared to openly drink the Skiddos' milk under so many watchful eyes. But as the Skiddos' expressions grew more and more off, even showing signs of distress, Lucas felt a chill in his heart.

He exchanged pleading looks with Luxray and the others, but they all averted their gazes.

If this continued, the bold Skiddos might end up shutting down from this epic failure, which was something Lucas didn't want to see.

The Pokémon on the farm should be full of vitality, healthy, and happy.

As if resigning himself to fate, Lucas took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and under the admiring gazes of the Pokémon, walked toward the panicking Skiddos.

If I don't go to hell, who will?

…

April 3rd, morning.

Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating Lucas, who was curled up in a ball under the covers on the bed.

"Guru, guru guru."

Oranguru patiently shook Lucas. Though it was urging him to get up, its tone was very slow and gentle, as if being considerate of something.

Lucas, hiding under the covers, had actually woken up long ago—even when Serperior and the others went out to tend the fields.

It was now 9 AM, and Lucas rarely slept in this late. Though his mind was clear, he kept replaying last night's socially mortifying scene, robbing him of the courage to leave the covers.

Oranguru was a bit helpless. Actually, after the initial burst of laughter, the Pokémon who came to their senses greatly admired Lucas.

They could foresee that if they were ever in the Skiddos' position in the future, Lucas would probably help them out too.

Under Oranguru's guidance, Lucas finally mustered the will to leave the covers. And just as Oranguru said, the Pokémon were especially clingy to him today, as if drawing a sense of security from him.

Lucas had Alcremie on his left shoulder, Mimikyu on his right, and nothing on his head... wait, no Pokémon on top. Comfey had gone off to perform its routine Grassy Terrain.

Led by Oranguru, Lucas reached the door and spotted a row of wooden feeding troughs leaning against the wall.

It had been pitch dark when he returned last night, so he hadn't noticed them.

"Did you make these?"

Lucas examined the finely crafted wooden troughs in surprise. They seemed to be made with joinery techniques to avoid any risk of injuring the Pokémon, without a single nail.

Oranguru nodded. Not only that, but it had designed them to fit perfectly on the pasture fences based on their dimensions.

However, it couldn't have done this alone.

Oranguru's gaze fell on Mimikyu on Lucas's shoulder, and its telepathy rang out: "Thanks to Mimikyu, Ceruledge, and the others for cutting the wood, and Dragonite and the rest for polishing with Air Slash. Otherwise, I couldn't have done it on my own."

"No matter what, thank you for your hard work, Oranguru! And you too, Mimikyu!"

Lucas felt that Oranguru refreshed his perceptions every day. Picking such a butler with maxed-out skills in multiple areas—his luck was truly absurd.

Lucas was about to say, "Let's move the troughs to the pasture area right away, then let the Skiddos still in their Poké Balls get familiar with the environment."

Suddenly, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Lucas took it out, unlocked the screen, and his eyes lit up upon seeing the new message and photo.

"Oranguru, look!" Lucas handed the phone to Oranguru.

"Guru~?"

Oranguru took the phone curiously, its steady expression freezing for a moment before breaking into a relieved smile.

[To the esteemed Mr. Lucas and Oranguru: After my continuous efforts and explanations, Luxio has forgiven me and agreed to become my partner and return with me to Lumiose City. From now on, every day we'll grow together—not just to become a competent Gym Leader, but I won't neglect my inventions either.]

[Through this lesson, I've deeply understood how important communication is. Luxio and I have decided to create an invention that allows people and Pokémon to understand and communicate with each other. We already have some ideas.]

[Finally, Luxio asked me to say hello to Butler Oranguru on its behalf. Luxio is very grateful for the guidance and food it provided during that time. If we get the chance, we'll definitely visit Paldea—Clemont and Luxio.]

After Clemont's heartfelt words, there was an attached photo.

The background was the Lumiose Gym. Meyer had his arms around Clemont and Bonnie, with Luxio sitting proudly in front of them. Both people and Pokémon wore big smiles, bringing a warm grin to anyone's face.

Lucas and Oranguru exchanged smiles, and Alcremie let out a happy laugh.

In regions and cities they weren't in, the friends they knew were also improving—truly a heartwarming thing.

"These are the Skiddos. They'll be living in the pasture from now on, so everyone, get along harmoniously."

Lucas gently nudged the Skiddos, whose affection for him had maxed out due to last night's events, toward Mudsdale and the Sawbucks.

Seeing these three tall Pokémon, especially the strong-looking Mudsdale, the Skiddos hesitated for a moment. But remembering last night, they boldly approached.

Mudsdale wasn't particularly interested in the newcomers. As long as the Skiddos didn't mess with its beloved mud pits, even adding two more roommates to the spacious pasture was fine.

The Sawbucks, perhaps because they had spent time in herds themselves, could understand the Skiddos' urgent need to integrate into the farm environment. Plus, sharing the Grass-type affinity, the two Sawbucks extended their goodwill—

They lowered their heads and gently licked the Skiddos' faces, just like they used to lick the young Deerlings in their herd.