Chapter 48: The Poliwag Who Wants to Get Stronger

When it comes to Pokémon suitable for raising on a ranch, there are plenty of choices.

First, there are Mareep and Dubwool, both known for their high-quality wool.

Mareep's wool is loved for its unique warmth in winter and coolness in summer, while Dubwool's wool makes clothes and carpets with amazing durability and strength.

Then there's Miltank for its famous Moomoo Milk, and Skiddo for goat's milk.

Moomoo Milk is famous all over the Pokémon world—not only is it rich and sweet, it's also highly nutritious.

Skiddo's milk isn't as well-known, but it's still a valuable tonic.

Mudbray and Tauros are also good for ranches. Mudsdale, Mudbray's evolution, can use rare farming moves to improve the fields, while Tauros and Miltank can produce eggs to hatch more Miltank or Tauros.

Tropius isn't bad either—the banana-like fruit around its neck tastes amazing.

However, to bring new Pokémon into the ranch, the entire fence around the farm needed replacing.

Sean was right—the fence was so old even a Caterpie could bust through, never mind powerful Pokémon.

Lucas sighed, "So really, I need to save up to buy new fencing for the whole farm first."

Adding up his daily expenses and today's earnings, he had 57,350 League coins—just over 57,000.

He'd checked with the Machoke Construction Team before: replacing all the fences would cost at least 80,000 League coins.

"Looks like I need to work even harder to earn money..."

Lucas decided he should first expand the planting area, and then start building the ranch and lake areas.

…

The next morning.

At dawn, Lucas was already busy in the fields.

Today's main task was clearing out single-harvest crops.

Tomatoes, strawberries, and cabbage could fruit multiple times, but eggplants gave a much smaller and lower-quality second crop.

While clearing, Eldegoss was getting the two freshly evolved partners used to the field and the work.

With more hands, tending the field was much more efficient, though expanding further would still stretch them thin.

Lucas noticed this but didn't plan to add new Pokémon right away.

Just feeding the current dozen-plus mouths was a big expense. Without a plan, adding more members could break the farm's finances.

After the farm work, it was noon.

Lucas quickly set about making lunch for the Pokémon. Meals weren't as fancy as before, but it wasn't too hard.

Once everyone was fed, Lucas was about to take a nap when the Poliwag boss, having finished watering, came to him.

Lucas glanced behind but didn't see the three Poliwag underlings that always followed the boss. "Where are your little guys?" he asked.

Poliwag shook its head. It had sent its underlings back to Thunder Lake to rest before coming to see Lucas alone.

"Poli-poli!"

With a serious gaze, Poliwag used body language to explain its intent.

First, it ran a few circles around Lucas on its now well-trained legs, then opened its wide mouth and shot a stream of water at the ground, leaving a wet patch.

That was Water Gun.

Next, Poliwag whacked a small stone with its round tail, though not very hard—it only knocked the stone a short distance.

That was Pound.

Then Poliwag used Mud Shot, Bubble Beam, and Haze—demonstrating all the moves it knew.

Its odd behavior made Lucas thoughtful. Then, when it looked at Swampert and Ceruledge sparring with envy, Lucas was almost certain.

Poliwag seemed to want to get stronger.

That's why it came to Lucas, who had trained Swampert and the others, to seek advice.

It wasn't just his imagination—when Poliwag demonstrated, Lucas noticed a deeply hidden trace of fear and anxiety in its eyes.

What was it worried about?

With a guess in mind, Lucas gladly accepted Poliwag's request.

After a moment's thought, Lucas brought Poliwag over to Growlithe, who was watching Swampert and Ceruledge spar.

Since Poliwag wanted to get stronger, here was a perfect training partner. At the same time, Growlithe could get used to resisting Water-type moves, which were four times effective against it. A win-win!

When Lucas came over, Moltres, who had been watching Growlithe, was finally able to relax and go nap.

Ever since watching the Gossifleurs evolve, Growlithe had been restless all night, leaving Moltres sleep-deprived.

So, having Lucas take over was just what Moltres wanted.

The sparring between Swampert and Ceruledge was too dangerous for the still-weak Growlithe and Poliwag, so Lucas found a safe open area nearby for their training.

On the way, Lucas pondered how to plan Poliwag's training.

As the boss of its little group, Poliwag had the potential to evolve into Politoed—and Politoed's defining feature was its ability to control the weather.

Lucas had previously checked the abilities of the four Poliwags.

Two had Water Absorb, one had Damp.

But this boss Poliwag had the Hidden Ability "Swift Swim"!

A Poliwhirl with Swift Swim, when evolved into Politoed, would gain the ultra-rare "Drizzle" ability.

Lucas knew of only three Pokémon with the Drizzle ability.

Pelipper, Politoed, and Kyogre—the creator of the seas itself!

A Drizzle Pokémon's weather control was leagues above a normal Pokémon that just knew Rain Dance.

If Poliwag could evolve into a Drizzle Politoed, it would become the core Pokémon of the entire farm!