After Lin Feng hung up the phone, the Serperior beside him spoke softly, its voice elegant and lilting.
"Shi-shiu?" (Is she going to battle?)
"Yeah." Lin Feng nodded.
"Shi-shiu~?" (Can we go too?)
Lin Feng thought for a moment. "We probably can."
The age restriction for the Junior Cup was based on when a trainer received their first Pokémon. By that rule, Serperior was well within the one-year limit.
"Shi-shiu?" (How strong are they?)
Lin Feng chuckled, seeing the eager sparkle in Serperior's eyes. "Nowhere near your level."
He remembered past tournaments in the main region. Even the champions there barely reached the standard of gym-level battles. Letting Serperior compete would feel like using a legendary against beginners.
Still, out of curiosity, Lin Feng asked Rotom to pull up last year's Junior Cup finals. They both watched the video together.
The match featured a fully evolved Venusaur against a Staraptor. The battle ended with Venusaur's victory, relying on the typical "Substitute-Protect-Toxic" strategy. It unleashed a barrage of poisoned leaves to wear Staraptor down.
To Serperior, though, the fight was boring. Whether it was the Staraptor's predictable dives or the Venusaur's sluggish defense, everything seemed full of openings.
Substitute and Toxic couldn't stand up to a properly charged Leaf Storm, and Lin Feng could tell that Serperior's power already far exceeded that Venusaur's.
He smiled and stroked its smooth emerald scales. "We'll check it out when the day comes. If we find a worthy opponent, maybe we'll give them a taste of a real battle."
Serperior's eyes shone with quiet anticipation.
Lin Feng sighed inwardly. He knew Serperior had been holding back for a long time. It had loved battling ever since it was a Snivy, and that spark hadn't faded even after evolving twice.
But the truth was, since its evolution, it hadn't had many chances to fight. It had simply grown too strong, too fast.
In just over two months, it had nearly reached Elite level. Compared to the young trainers who visited the ranch for practice, Serperior was in an entirely different league.
Still, if it kept improving like this, then by the time the Continental Tournament came around in three months, it might be ready for real competition.
That thought made Lin Feng's heart stir. The Continental Tournament's champion was awarded an official Elite Trainer certificate and a substantial cash prize.
The only problem? To qualify, he needed to challenge all eight official gyms first.
"I really don't have time to travel that much…" Lin Feng muttered.
Then, an idea struck him. He could have Dragonite carry him across the region and let Gardevoir handle the teleportation logistics. If they planned it right, maybe they could clear all eight gyms in a single day.
Or, he mused with a grin, maybe the Champion himself could write him a recommendation letter instead.
Before he could think further, Serperior's voice interrupted him again.
"Shi-shiu~" (That human from before came back. He says the path connecting the garden and the second orchard has been opened.)
"Oh? Really?" Lin Feng's eyes lit up.
That meant the second orchard area was now fully fenced and ready for development. All that remained was clearing the rocks and preparing the soil.
There were plenty of Pokémon who could help, but Lin Feng preferred to leave that task to Sandshrew.
It had been a while since the little Ground-type had visited. He'd last seen it a few days ago when it was helping dig the foundation. Once the digging was done, it had stopped coming around.
Back when Squirtle was still here, it often brought Sandshrew snacks as a friendly gesture. Now that Squirtle had gone off for training, Sandshrew had become more reserved, rarely showing up unless it had something to do.
Unlike Squirtle, who shamelessly begged for treats, Sandshrew was shy but proud. Still, whenever it happened to meet Lin Feng on the path, it never refused his kindness. If he gave it a snack, it would clutch it carefully in its little claws and nibble slowly, savoring every bite.
Lin Feng smiled at the thought. Maybe he should start paying Sandshrew a small "salary" a few energy cubes a day for helping out or even some cash so it could learn to buy its own cubes someday.
After all, Audino handled the ranch's cash register now.
He wasn't in a rush anyway. Sandshrew could clear the soil bit by bit, and he could start planting berry trees as they went.
That's right this new orchard would be entirely for growing berry trees.
And this new area was much larger than the one under his feet now at least one-third bigger, stretching all the way to the river near the forest.
Milotic would need to travel through the irrigation channel from the river to water it. That would give her more exercise and a chance to swim freely from time to time.
"Alright," Lin Feng said, smiling. "Let's go take a look."
He walked past the stables and across the garden path. From here, he could see the new layout clearly on the left stood a newly built kitchen, and to the right, the fenced-off orchard.
Calling it "newly built" was generous it was mostly wooden fencing for now, with a row of thorn seeds planted along the border. In about a month, they'd grow into a dense wall of vines, both for privacy and to keep wild Pokémon out.
It wasn't much yet, but it was a start.
Of course, there was still a lot of work to do: clearing weeds, loosening the soil, removing stones all the hard labor that came with starting a new field.
Lin Feng walked to the far end of the garden and opened the gate leading into the new orchard.
The place was overrun with weeds, just like the ranch had been when he first took it over.
Serperior followed behind him, gazing over the wild patch of green. Lin Feng could tell it was remembering those early days, back when it was just a small Snivy helping him pull weeds by hand.
He chuckled at the memory. There had even been times when Serperior fought him for the weeds he was trying to collect, thinking it was some kind of game or snack.
The thought made Serperior blush. It turned its head away quickly, trying to hide its embarrassment, while Lin Feng grinned from ear to ear.
But then, as he was about to ask it for help again, Serperior gave him a cold look. Lin Feng blinked in confusion.
"What's wrong?" he asked, genuinely puzzled. He was sure their relationship had been great lately he couldn't think of anything he'd done to annoy it.
Without answering, Serperior slithered forward gracefully. Green energy began radiating from its body, rippling across the ground like waves.
The wild grass around them started withering instantly.
Lin Feng's eyes widened. "So that's how you want to do it…"
It wasn't brute force it was a clever use of nature itself. Serperior had cast Grassy Terrain, then drained the life energy of the weeds into the fresh grass it conjured. Within minutes, the field transformed from a messy tangle of weeds to a clean stretch of soft earth covered in faint, glowing moss.
Watching the transformation, Lin Feng had a sudden thought:
If Serperior could absorb life force through Grassy Terrain, could it also use that against Pokémon that relied on rooting or draining attacks?
It was an intriguing possibility, one he'd have to test in a future battle.
For now, though, the results spoke for themselves. In just two or three minutes, the entire orchard larger than the previous one was completely cleared.
Lin Feng looked over the freshly restored land, feeling a wave of quiet satisfaction.
"Good job," he said warmly.
Serperior flicked its tail proudly, pretending not to care, though a faint, pleased smile tugged at the corners of its mouth.
The new orchard was ready. Soon, it would be filled with rows of berry trees, gentle streams of water from Milotic, and the rustle of Pokémon helping with the harvest.
As Lin Feng gazed out over the land, his thoughts drifted again to the future gym battles, tournaments, and the journey ahead.
Maybe this really was the calm before the storm.
And when the time came, Serperior would finally get the battle it had been longing for.
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