Shiryu walked over to the fully ripened Wishing Wheat and plucked one of the heavy stalks.
The grains were plump and clearly defined, and the fragrance alone was enough to make them seem appetizing.
“As expected of high-quality Wishing Wheat.
With this much, the Pokémon on the ranch should have enough food to last quite a while.”
Shiryu was delighted.
Even if he sold the harvest instead, Wishing Wheat of this quality ought to fetch a very good price.
Just then, however, the system interface suddenly flashed with a new notification.
[Side Quest Triggered: Defend the Ranch.]
[Quest Description: A Scyther that enjoys grain-based foods has caught the rich scent of the Wishing Wheat and intends to steal it.
Defeat the intruder.]
[Quest Reward: Special Herb and a small quantity of Exp.
Candy.]
[Special Herb: Negates recoil damage from a move.
For example, it can prevent the recoil caused by Steel Beam.
The Special Herb is not consumed when used and can be activated again after its cooldown ends.]
[Note: The Special Herb can negate recoil damage only once every 24 hours.]
…
“Special Herb?”
Shiryu’s eyes immediately lit up when he read the reward description.
Beldum’s Steel Beam was incredibly powerful, but its greatest drawback was that firing it cost roughly half of Beldum’s maximum HP.
With this Special Herb, though…
Didn’t that mean Beldum could fire Steel Beam once every day without suffering any recoil at all?
A free full-power blast.
The item might as well have been designed specifically for him.
Shiryu was still admiring the reward when a green shape came flying toward the ranch from the distance.
The Pokémon had a green body, transparent wings, and long scythe-like blades in place of forearms.
A Scyther.
The moment it entered the ranch, a new set of information appeared on Shiryu’s interface.
[Pokémon: Scyther (♂)]
[Level: Lv.
16]
[Type: Bug / Flying]
[Ability: Technician — Powers up weaker moves.]
[Individual Values: HP (25), Attack (31), Defense (28), Sp.
Atk (21), Sp.
Def (23), Speed (31)]
[Moves: Leer, Quick Attack, False Swipe, Fury Cutter, Wing Attack, Double Team]
[Egg Move: Night Slash]
[Held Item: None]
[Potential: Elite Four Candidate Tier]
…
“Elite Four Candidate potential?”
Shiryu paused in surprise.
“I really didn’t expect the area around Postwick to have a Gym-tier Fomantis and an Elite Four Candidate-tier Scyther.”
Then he remembered something.
“Oh, right.
And there’s Aron, who’s got Elite Four-tier potential.”
Shiryu scratched his head.
For such a small, overlooked town, Postwick’s surroundings were hiding an absurd number of high-potential Pokémon.
Maybe the League and traveling Trainers had ignored this area for so long that all kinds of valuable resources had simply been left untouched.
“Scy!”
The Scyther looked half-starved.
The moment it landed, it sprinted straight toward the Wishing Wheat field.
For a Scyther that enjoyed grain-based food, the aroma of ripe Wishing Wheat was almost irresistible.
Combined with an empty stomach, the temptation was simply too much.
Drilbur reacted immediately.
Just before Scyther reached the field, he used Dig, burst out of the ground, and planted himself directly in its path.
Scyther stopped short.
Apparently, it hadn’t expected another Pokémon to stand between it and its meal.
Its expression hardened.
“Scy!”
“Scyther!”
Furious, Scyther swung its right blade and launched a Fury Cutter at the obstacle in front of it.
“Drilbur, block it with Fury Swipes!”
The confrontation had already gone too far to avoid a battle.
“Dril!”
Drilbur raised his sharp white claws and struck Scyther’s right blade head-on.
Scyther immediately followed with its left blade, chaining another Fury Cutter into the attack.
Drilbur answered with Fury Swipes again, catching the second strike as well.
At that moment, Beldum and Aron joined the fight.
Neither had any intention of standing by while an intruder tried to steal food from the ranch.
“Scy!”
Seeing two more opponents closing in, Scyther’s eyes sharpened.
It accelerated suddenly and used Night Slash, intending to take one of them down before they could surround it.
“Aron, use Rock Tomb to cut off Scyther’s path!
Beldum, meet it with Iron Head!”
In the span of a heartbeat, Shiryu had already mapped out the exchange in his head.
“Aron!”
Several heavy rocks crashed down ahead of Scyther.
Rock Tomb completely blocked its direct route.
Scyther wasn’t strong enough to simply smash through the obstruction, so it was forced to veer around it.
And that was exactly what Shiryu had been waiting for.
A silver blur shot across the battlefield.
Beldum slammed Iron Head straight into Scyther’s abdomen.
“Scy…”
Already starving, Scyther doubled over when the heavy blow struck its stomach.
The pain was so intense that it nearly lost consciousness on the spot.
“Aron, use Rock Tomb again!
This time, hit Scyther directly!”
The moment Shiryu saw Scyther’s movements slow, he knew the opening had arrived.
There had been a reason he hadn’t ordered Aron to attack with Rock Tomb from the start.
Scyther was simply too fast.
Aron would’ve had almost no chance of landing a direct hit while Scyther was moving freely.
So Shiryu had used Rock Tomb to control the battlefield instead, blocking Scyther’s path and creating the opening Beldum needed.
Now Scyther was clutching its abdomen with one blade and barely moving.
There was little chance it could avoid what came next.
And against a Bug/Flying-type like Scyther, a Rock-type attack would be devastatingly effective.
Bang!
The first boulder struck Scyther squarely.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Several more came crashing down immediately afterward.
“Scy…”
Scyther let out a muffled groan beneath the heavy impacts before collapsing and losing consciousness.
[Beldum, Aron, and Drilbur worked together to defeat Scyther.
Each received 1,690 Exp.]
[Beldum reached Lv.
14!]
[Aron reached Lv.
12!]
[Drilbur reached Lv.
18!]
…
[Quest Complete: Defend the Ranch.]
[Rewards obtained: Special Herb and a small quantity of Exp.
Candy.]
…
Shiryu glanced at the interface.
“Withdraw the Special Herb and the Exp.
Candy.”
[Rewards successfully withdrawn.]
A multicolored herb and several pieces of Exp.
Candy appeared in his hand.
Shiryu slipped the candy into his pocket before examining the herb more closely.
A faint white mist drifted around its colorful leaves, giving it an oddly mysterious appearance.
There was clearly some unusual power contained within it.
Shiryu walked over to Beldum and held the herb out.
“Beldum, keep this with you.
It’ll let you ignore recoil damage once.”