“Foma!”
After rolling happily around on the bed for a while, Fomantis suddenly remembered that Shiryu and several other Pokémon were still watching.
She hurriedly stood up and smoothed out the creases on her body in embarrassment.
A proper lady really shouldn’t behave so inelegantly.
Fomantis then looked directly at Shiryu before releasing the thick roots binding the Wooloo nearby.
Apparently, she had finally ended Ingrain.
Maintaining the move for so long had consumed a considerable amount of her strength, although Ingrain allowed her to draw energy from her targets to replenish herself.
In other words, the Wooloo had effectively been paying for their own imprisonment with their HP.
“Foma!”
Fomantis gestured toward the freed Wooloo, clearly telling Shiryu that he could take them away now.
Their deal was settled.
Shiryu, however, wasn’t in any hurry to leave.
He smiled at Fomantis.
“Fomantis, are you happy living in this botanical grove?”
“Foma?”
Fomantis, who had already been preparing to catch up on her sleep, stared at him in confusion.
“As far as I know, Fomantis usually live in groups, but you’re here all by yourself.
The only Pokémon around you belong to completely different species.
Doesn’t that ever get lonely?”
When Fomantis simply stared at him without answering, Shiryu continued.
“Would you like to become my partner?
I have a ranch southeast of here.
It’s still in its early stages, but eventually I’m planning to build a large botanical area there and raise plenty of Grass-type Pokémon.
It’ll be much bigger than this grove.”
“At my ranch, you won’t have to worry about food.
You’ll be able to make real friends, live however you like, and take your afternoon naps on beds even better than this one.
No one will bother you while you’re sleeping, and you won’t have to worry about someone rolling through and wrecking your nest again.”
Shiryu smiled.
“So, what do you think?
Want to come live at my ranch?”
As Fomantis began imagining the life he described, Shiryu reached out and gently touched the green bud on her head.
A soothing current of Viridian Power flowed into her.
The ability really was extraordinarily useful when it came to closing the distance between humans and Pokémon.
Shiryu found it much more persuasive than simply battling a Pokémon until it agreed to be caught.
One method relied on force.
The other relied on trust.
As the gentle energy washed through her, Fomantis’s emotions began to stir.
Shiryu had been right.
Fomantis were normally social Pokémon, yet somehow she had ended up alone.
She didn’t even know why she’d appeared near Postwick in the first place, and there were no other Fomantis anywhere nearby.
Eventually, she’d found this botanical grove and settled here.
But the native Grass- and Bug-type Pokémon had never truly accepted her.
To them, Fomantis was an outsider.
She had spent a long time alone.
What she really wanted was companionship.
A place where she belonged.
A home.
Through Viridian Power, Shiryu understood all of those feelings clearly.
He gently stroked Fomantis’s head before making one final attempt to win her over.
“You don’t have to decide right now.
Take some time to think about it.
If you ever want to live at my ranch, just follow this road southeast until you see a wooden house.
I’ll be waiting for you there.”
With that, Shiryu stood and looked toward the seven exhausted Wooloo.
“Come on.
Let’s go home.”
“Wooloo~!”
“Wooloo, wooloo~!”
The entire flock immediately brightened.
Fomantis watched Shiryu and the Wooloo begin walking away.
That was all it took.
“Foma!!!”
She hurried after them on her little legs.
At barely thirty centimeters tall, she had to move quickly just to catch up.
Once she reached Shiryu, Fomantis grabbed his pant leg with one leaf-like hand.
Shiryu stopped and looked down.
Fomantis raised her head toward him, tears clearly gathering in her eyes.
He immediately crouched and gently wiped them away.
“Do you want to come back to the ranch with us?”
“Foma!”
Fomantis nodded emphatically.
She didn’t want to stay in a grove where everyone treated her like an outsider anymore.
She wanted what those Wooloo had—a Trainer who would come looking for her when she was in trouble.
She wanted somewhere she could nap without being disturbed.
More than anything, she wanted a home.
Shiryu took out a Luxury Ball and gently touched it against her head.
Red light flashed, drawing Fomantis inside.
The Luxury Ball didn’t shake even once.
Click.
Shiryu had successfully caught his sixth Pokémon.
He returned to the ranch with Fomantis and the Wooloo, then placed the high-grade Pokémon bed on the second-floor balcony of the wooden house.
Fomantis hadn’t slept at all the previous night.
The moment she curled up on the bed, she fell into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Shiryu returned downstairs and stood beside the fields, already planning the next stage of the ranch’s development.
“Now that Fomantis is here, I’ve finally got someone who can handle the mowing.”
That had been one of Shiryu’s main reasons for wanting to recruit her.
Drilbur specialized in digging and wasn’t particularly efficient at cutting grass.
Seven Wooloo couldn’t possibly eat through enough vegetation to keep up either, leaving huge sections of the ranch buried beneath weeds.
Fomantis, on the other hand, knew both Leafage and Fury Cutter.
Either move could make clearing the fields dramatically faster.
Once she finished her nap, Shiryu was putting her to work.
[Zigzagoon discovered Doppel Bonnets in the forest.]
…
The sudden notification startled Shiryu.
“Oh?
So Zigzagoon disappeared first thing this morning because she was out finding something useful for me?”
He immediately brightened.
Doppel Bonnets were valuable mushrooms that could improve a Pokémon’s evasive ability.
If Zigzagoon had found a place where they grew in abundance, Shiryu might be able to collect enough for Beldum and the others and improve everyone’s ability to evade attacks.
“I’ll have to ask Zigzagoon where she found them when she gets back.
If there are more growing there, I’ll go collect some myself.”
For now, though, Shiryu had something much more important to do.
Three hundred square meters of farmland had already been planted with Wishing Wheat.
The ten Oran Berry saplings were planted as well.
Everything was ready.
All that remained was for the crops to mature.
It was finally time to see exactly what the Ranch Crop Growth Accelerators could do.
“System, use one Ranch Crop Growth Accelerator.”
[Ranch Crop Growth Accelerator used.]
…
The notification disappeared almost immediately.
Then the three hundred square meters of farmland and all ten Oran Berry saplings began growing before Shiryu’s eyes as though someone had fast-forwarded time itself.
The Pokémon on the ranch naturally noticed as well.
Drilbur and Aron had absolutely no idea what was happening.
Beldum, however, knew the answer.
The great magician had done it again.
Beldum stared at Shiryu with undisguised admiration.
His respect climbed another notch.
And another.
And another…
Roughly half an hour later, Shiryu caught the rich scent of ripened grain drifting through the air.
Every stalk of high-quality Wishing Wheat across the three hundred square meters of farmland had fully matured.
The ten Oran Berry trees were still growing, however, and had yet to reach maturity.