After watching the construction team disappear down the road, Wade guided the Miltank herd from the meadow into their newly finished greenhouse.
He watched with quiet satisfaction as they explored their new home. Some buried their heads in the feeding troughs with curious snuffles. Others gently lapped at the clear water flowing through the fresh troughs. A few rolled in contented circles on the straw bedding, kicking their hooves in the air like overgrown calves.
From now on, the herd would have a proper shelter—warm, dry, and safe from the elements.
They weren't like the Pokémon Girls in the cabin, whom he cherished as lovers. But they were his responsibility nonetheless. Not just because their milk would build his brand, but because they had been entrusted to him by his grandfather's oldest friend.
I'll prepare some special Pokémon feed later.
Lost in thought, he turned and beckoned to Lilligant, who had accompanied him. "Let's head back—"
"Bu lu!"
A flash of pink and steel barreled toward him.
Tinkaton, who had been sitting bored on the cabin threshold, sprang to her feet the moment she spotted him. She hadn't left with the construction crew. She'd been waiting.
"You want to... join us? Train with us?"
Under Gardevoir's psychic translation, her intent became clear.
"Bu lu bu lu~"
She nodded eagerly, her eyes gleaming with hope.
Wade couldn't help but laugh. A Pokémon who showed up at a farm just because she wanted work? That was a new one.
He reached out and ruffled her little head.
For a Tinkaton bursting with unspent energy, a growing farm full of construction opportunities was probably the perfect playground.
Satisfied that she'd made her intent known, Tinkaton bounced back a few steps. Her grip tightened on the massive hammer. Her beautiful eyes sharpened.
She dropped into a fighting stance.
Wade understood immediately. This was the wild Pokémon way—before joining, there must be a battle.
"Mienshao. You're up."
Facing the violent loli whose every move screamed close combat, he sent out his own graceful martial artist.
"Bu lu."
Tinkaton studied her opponent. Mienshao's aura was calm, controlled, powerful. But rather than falter, Tinkaton's fighting spirit blazed hotter.
"Then... let the battle begin!"
Rosa, self-appointed referee, swept her arm down in a crisp arc.
"Bu lu——!"
Tinkaton exploded forward.
She raised the steel giant hammer—a weapon twice her size—with both hands. The air itself seemed to recoil. Purple energy wreathed the hammerhead, gathering force like a coming storm.
Beneath her feet, the flat ground shattered. Cracks spiderwebbed outward in violent ripples, as if a stone had been hurled into a mirror-still lake.
Then she leaped.
Her body twisted in midair, hammer arcing down with all the weight of her momentum behind it. Silver light trailed behind the strike like a comet's tail.
[Gigaton Hammer] : The user swings a massive hammer with a full-body turn. This move cannot be used twice in succession.
"So amazing~!"
"Balu~!"
Rosa and Serperior, having long retreated to the sidelines, gaped at the display. For two veterans of the Cypress Carnival's Top Four, this wild Tinkaton was unleashing power that rivaled—no, exceeded—the main Pokémon of the League Conference's strongest competitors.
How will Big Brother handle this? Rosa's mind raced. Counter with a move? Dodge and retaliate?
But Wade did neither.
"Take it."
His voice was calm. Unbothered. Almost bored.
"Mi—nuo."
At the instant the mountain-crushing hammer should have struck—
Mienshao vanished.
No. Not vanished. She flowed. Like water seeking the lowest point, like wind slipping through a crack, she simply was at the very bottom of the hammer's arc when it should have annihilated her.
"BU LU?!"
CRASH——!
The impact cratered the earth. A ring-shaped gully several meters deep erupted from the point of impact, soil and stone spraying outward like shrapnel.
And there, at the center of the devastation, Mienshao stood.
Two fingers.
She held the infinitely powerful iron hammer aloft with two fingers.
"..."
Tinkaton hung in the air, suspended by her own weapon, her expression frozen somewhere between disbelief and dawning respect.
Rosa's mouth fell open. Words failed her entirely.
She just... took it? Just like that?
Her mind raced. Was Big Brother really just a farm owner? Or was he some kind of super Trainer who had retired to the countryside in secret? She'd seen Champions battle. She'd watched the Cypress Carnival's finest. But even they might not have neutralized Tinkaton's attack so effortlessly.
Wade, for his part, found nothing remarkable about it.
On paper, Gigaton Hammer was devastating—a move with 160 base power, the kind of nuclear option that ended battles in a single stroke. But level suppression was a cruel mistress. And when you added the double blessing of [Combat Suppression] and [Lightning Speed] , Mienshao's physicality and reaction time existed in a different dimension entirely. Taking the hit—redirecting it—was simply a matter of applied physics.
"Now. High Jump Kick. Use her momentum."
Tinkaton hung helpless in midair, her hammer trapped, her body off-balance.
Before she could react, Mienshao moved.
A blur. A flash of graceful violence.
"Mi—nuo~"
[High Jump Kick] : The user jumps and strikes the opponent with a knee. If it misses, the user suffers damage instead.
It did not miss.
"Bu... lu..."
Tinkaton's eyes rolled back. The world dissolved into soft, spinning darkness.
The last thing she saw was a red-and-white Poké Ball arcing toward her.
Click.
After securing his newest addition, Wade headed to the kitchen to prepare the Miltank's special feed.
He opened the cupboard.
He stared.
Where there had once been shelves groaning with fresh berries, there was now... half a shelf. Maybe less. A trail of tiny juice stains led accusingly from the cupboard to—
He turned.
A pair of wide, innocent blue eyes met his.
"Wuwu... Master~ Skitty was just a little bit hungry, nya~"
Click.
In a shimmer of light, the Skitty transformed. Where a mischievous cat Pokémon had stood, now a cat-eared girl pressed herself against him, all soft curves and pleading eyes. Her close-fitting pink dress did nothing to hide the plush swell of her breasts, which molded gently against his chest with each subtle movement. The fabric shifted in rippling waves of pale warmth.
And those ears—those impossibly fluffy, velvety ears—twitched and swayed just at the edge of his vision, practically begging to be touched.
"Hungry or not, you can't eat half the stash. I need those for—"
He knocked lightly on her head. A token reprimand.
Then his fingers found her ears.
"Mas... ter~"
The cat girl's delicate frame trembled at the contact. Her pink ear tips, so sensitive, flushed darker under his touch. She leaned closer, pressing deeper into him. Beneath her swaying skirt, the soft curve of her bottom shifted in unconscious, eager little motions.
Wade's sigh was equal parts exasperation and affection.
"...Fine. But no more sneaking."
"Mew~!"
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