As it turned out, making a plan before taking action definitely helped improve efficiency.
In just one short day, Chase had already contacted the families of Vileplume and Lombre, and after paying a certain price, got them to agree to bring their tribes over to help out.
He had figured it out: since he couldn’t find a sufficiently powerful Grass-type Pokemon to hold the fort, he would win by sheer numbers.
Even the weakest Grass-type Pokemon would have no problem independently watching over a single Berry tree sapling and ensuring its survival.
Moreover, as their strength increased, the number of Berry trees they could manage would also go up.
However, after careful calculation, Chase realized that aside from the saplings themselves, the growing environment and soil conditions were also crucial factors in ensuring their survival.
The environment issue was indeed tough to solve.
He could only place his hopes on the efforts of every Grass-type Pokemon.
If it really came down to it, he would just arrange for several of them to work in shifts.
Then there was the soil issue.
First of all, planting trees obviously required suitable land, and it couldn’t be in areas where trees were already dense.
Otherwise, the saplings would easily be robbed of nutrients and fail to grow.
Although Chase’s main goal in planting trees this time was to get the system reward, it would certainly be even better if these Berry trees could actually mature.
The location wasn’t too hard to pick.
Recently, Zangoose, having greatly increased its strength and successfully becoming the local overlord of the surrounding area, had expanded its territory.
Finding a spot with sparse vegetation within it and clearing it up a bit would make for a perfect Berry planting site.
He just needed to pay a little attention to the water source at most.
Currently, out of the twenty-plus Pokemon in the Vileplume family, five had reached the mid-level stage.
They were the Vileplume couple who acted as the leaders, and three Gloom.
The rest were either low-level Pokemon or Oddish that were just born this autumn and still in their infancy.
The situation on the Lombre’s side was a bit worse.
The entire tribe only had three mid-level Pokemon just over level 30, along with seven or eight Lotad.
Their overall strength was quite average.
It was only because the weather had recently turned cold, and the Pokemon living around Clear Heart Lake were unwilling to come out and move around after gathering enough Berries for the winter, that these guys hadn’t been driven out already.
Therefore, when faced with Chase’s invitation, the leader Lombre was the most eager to agree, and their hiring price wasn’t even a third of the Vileplume tribe’s.
Winter was almost the hardest time for these Grass-type Pokemon.
Even the Vileplume tribe, who had already stored a round of food, couldn’t refuse the temptation of more, let alone the Lombre tribe, who had just moved to the area and missed the previous harvest season.
Furthermore, Chase generously stated that during their employment, he would also provide their meals.
This immediately attracted both tribes, who brought their entire families and all their members along.
But even so, the number of Grass-type Pokemon was still far short of what Chase calculated he needed.
…
“Zangoose, are you telling me that aside from that Breloom, you seriously don’t know a single other Grass-type Pokemon?” Inside the Ranger station’s workshop, Chase looked at Zangoose, somewhat unwilling to give up, but the answer he received was no different from before.
“Zan, Zangoose Zangoose.” Zangoose spread its hands helplessly, indicating that those Grass-type guys were all incredibly laid-back, preferring to just lie flat under the sun all day.
Except for that Breloom, who still had some fighting spirit, the others didn’t even spark its interest enough to bother picking a fight with them.
“Sigh!” Chase had no choice but to give up on finding a breakthrough through Zangoose, and could only hope that the bounty notices he had recently issued to the Pokemon living nearby would yield some results.
Meanwhile, although Blaze didn’t know why Chase was suddenly looking for Grass-type Pokemon, as its boss and guardian, it felt it should contribute something too.
“Woof, woof, woof, woof!” How about we take a trip to the east side of the forest?
I remember a lot of Grass-type Pokemon live around there.
Thanks to the link provided by the Capture Styler, Chase had no trouble communicating with the two Pokemon in the room.
“The east side?” Chase pulled out the recently drawn topographic map, his eyes locked onto the several Pokemon icons on it.
Given the conditions of the forest, the one thing it wouldn’t be lacking was Bug-type and Grass-type Pokemon; they just weren’t very common in the area where Chase was stationed.
Moreover, he had every reason to suspect that this situation arose because Zangoose, this battle maniac, went looking for fights every day, causing them to move away, unable to bear the constant harassment.
…
“Victreebel, Carnivine, Sunflora, Shiftry, Wormadam…” Chase read out the names of various Grass-type Pokemon one by one.
Among them were both solitary loners and grouped Pokemon tribes.
If he could get all of them to come over, let alone keeping 100 Berry trees alive, even doubling that number wouldn’t be a problem.
However, when Chase excitedly led Zangoose over there, a bucket of cold water completely doused his enthusiasm.
It wasn’t that none of them agreed.
The Sunflora and Wormadam tribes, for instance, were willing to send a few of their members out for the sake of the Pokeblocks, but the majority still had to stay behind to guard their territories.
After all, this place was quite a distance from the Ranger station.
If they all left their nests empty like the Vileplume tribe did, they might return from the job only to find their territories taken over by other Pokemon.
In fact, if it weren’t for the respect they had for the previous Ranger, they probably wouldn’t be willing to lend a hand even with room and board included.
As for the solitary loners, let alone them.
Chase went through a massive effort and only managed to find a single Carnivine with Zangoose’s help, which then led to an intense PVP.
Surprisingly, Zangoose actually lost by a narrow margin!
However, the opponent didn’t come out unscathed either.
It took several direct hits from Zangoose’s [Ice Punch], ultimately fleeing in a somewhat sorry state.
It couldn’t be helped; Carnivine didn’t have a logistics and medical support person like Chase backing it up.
So, even though it held the upper hand in the fight, it didn’t dare to let the battle drag on.
If it sustained severe injuries, Zangoose had someone to treat it, but Carnivine didn’t.
That was just how wild Pokemon operated.
Since Chase was a Ranger, he couldn’t just catch them on a whim, so he could only head back to the station with his meager results.
During the time he was out, the invited Diglett family had already turned the soil for the Berry tree planting site inside and out several times.
Fully satisfied, they collected their wages and headed back to hole up for the winter.
After all this running about, time had already crept into November, yet Chase’s side was still severely lacking in Grass-type Pokemon.
Just as Chase was racking his brains, a Lombre timidly made its way over to him.