After setting things in motion with the Bibarel leader, Aven headed to the abandoned orchard.
On the grasslands outside, Torterra was still lounging lazily, restoring the peaceful vibe of days past.
Many villagers now strolled through the grasslands calmly, even greeting the Raticates in the bushes.
Once feared, the Raticate had gained newfound respect for their help in defending the village.
"How's the recovery going, Torterra?" Aven asked with a smile.
"Tooar, toooar~" Torterra replied with a nod, still relaxing in the sun.
Passing through the fields, Aven reached the abandoned orchard, now fully plowed and planted with Berry seedlings.
He had planted them himself—and they would become part of the Pokémon food supply.
The orchard now housed many Grass-type Pokémon, responsible for tending the seedlings and helping them grow strong.
"Awoo, awoo!" —Suddenly, a pack of Mightyena ran across the field.
They were the patrol Pokémon of Fruitvale Village.
Every day, they patrolled the area and were compensated with food.
They were a perfect example of Pokémon earning through labor.
"Rhyyy~ Rhyyy~!" —On the field's edge, a Rhydon ran with several Rhyhorn, churning the earth behind them.
Rhydon was using Rototiller, a move it now had fully mastered.
Aven's next goal was to build large grasslands and berry orchards between the village and the Black Forest Coast.
Rhydon's Rototiller wasn't just for farming—it was the first step in preparing for the full development of the Black Forest.
…
The Pokémon Breeding House had recently become overwhelmingly popular.
Perhaps spurred on by the recent defensive battle, the trainers' passion for training had reached an all-time high.
They had truly experienced the importance of having strength.
Facing elite knights, their own abilities had been far too weak—they hadn't even been able to participate meaningfully in the fight.
This had kept Olai and Link, the two apothecaries, extremely busy. On top of their regular duties, they now had to prepare healing potions and hadn't had a moment's rest.
Likewise, Aunt Eren, in charge of making Pokémon food, had her hands full.
Uncle Mike's farm house had effectively turned into Aunt Eren's Pokémon food factory.
Every morning, Uncle Mike would collect the vines produced by the Tangela and deliver them to the farm.
Inside, many middle-aged women from Fruitvale Village were busy working.
They were close friends of Aunt Eren, and in this traditional world—where women rarely worked the fields—joining the Pokémon food creation gave them a valuable source of income.
As a result, the status of women in the village had risen significantly, and they carried out their work with great enthusiasm.
Each day, after the blue vines were collected, the women would perform the initial processing before handing them off to Aunt Eren.
Aven hadn't held anything back from his uncle and aunt, teaching Aunt Eren everything about making Pokémon food.
Of course, the core techniques remained a tightly kept secret. Aunt Eren fully understood the value of those food-making methods.
In the kitchen, she was now performing the final steps—processing the ingredients into small brown pellets of Pokémon food.
"Gloo Gloo~"
At her side was a Gloom, who had evolved from the first Oddish to join the farm.
Ever since it evolved, Gloom had remained on the farm and become part of Aunt Eren and Uncle Mike's household.
It often helped with daily chores, including the preparation of Pokémon food.
"Thanks, Gloom," Aunt Eren said warmly, patting its head affectionately.
Soon, she had turned all the ingredients into Pokémon food, piling it high on the table.
"Are we out of ingredients again?" she asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she stepped into the backyard.
Due to the war, the demand for Pokémon food in Fruitvale Village had skyrocketed.
They were working around the clock to keep up with production.
Ironically, the bottleneck was now how fast the Tangela could produce vines.
Even with the help of growth fertilizer, the amount of vine Tangela could generate remained limited.
"Yeah, we're all out," Uncle Mike said helplessly as he returned from the fields.
"Looks like we'll have to wait until tomorrow."
In the orchard, the Tangela were lying exhausted on the ground.
They had truly reached their limits—completely drained.
Their leader let out a long sigh. It had also been pushing itself to produce vines, to the point where it had shed and regrown its vines multiple times.
At that moment, the vines left on its body where so short it look like a ball, leaving it feeling practically naked.
But as it continued pushing its limits, it began to notice a strange change happening within its body.
After a brief rest, it began practicing Ancient Power—a move it trained daily without fail.
As time passed, the vines on its body began to grow again, but this time… they were no longer just blue.
Instead, they began turning deep navy blue and became thicker and stronger.
Under the effects of Ancient Power, its body seemed to undergo a reversion to an ancestral form, as a primordial bloodline began awakening within it.
"Taaaannn~"
Tangela murmured to itself in a deep, low tone, its voice gradually growing louder and more resonant.
Suddenly, its entire body erupted in a brilliant white light, and its form began to shift!
When the light faded, a towering figure emerged—wrapped in dark blue vines, now over twice its original size. Its limbs had transformed into massive vine-formed arms.
This was Tangrowth, a powerful evolution triggered by awakening its ancient bloodline through the move Ancient Power.
"Tang!" it roared softly as it examined its new body.
Almost instantly, the vines on its body shot out in all directions!
In the blink of an eye, the entire field was completely covered by vines, forming what looked like a vine forest.
Uncle Mike, pushing a cart toward the orchard, intended to check on the Tangela and collect more vines for food production.
But as he approached, he stopped in his tracks—staring in disbelief.
He rubbed his eyes vigorously, confused by the sight.
"What… what is this full dark blue vines?"
It didn't take him long to suspect it had something to do with the Tangela—but he couldn't be sure what exactly had happened.
"Star star!" —Just then, a Starly, noticing the anomaly, flew over.
Mike quickly asked it to find Aven.
"Tangela… something happened to them?" Aven muttered as he arrived, equally stunned by the scene before him.
Then, realizing something, a smile appeared on his face.
"Looks like Tangela just evolved."
"Lil Lil~" —Petilil, who had come with Aven, focused its senses.
Sure enough, it could still sense Tangela's presence—though its energy now felt different.
"Evolved?" Mike blinked in surprise, eyes widening.
"Tangela can still evolve?"
Then he remembered Vileplume, and gave a nod—evolution wasn't all that surprising anymore.
"Uncle Mike, did Tangela show any special changes lately?" Aven asked.
"It hadn't evolved all this time—why now, all of a sudden?"
"Special changes?" Mike thought for a moment and replied, "Well… we've been running low on vines lately, so…"
Hearing that, Aven paused in thought.
"So… the constant forced vine production triggered a change in its body—awakening its inner strength?"
This seemed like a surprisingly effective form of training for Tangela.
"Uncle Mike, let's cut through these vines."
"Tangela might need help—it probably hasn't learned how to fully control its new power yet."
Working together, Aven and Uncle Mike cut their way through the thick vines, eventually revealing the now two-meter-tall Tangrowth.
"Tang…" it mumbled, looking embarrassed.
It clearly hadn't expected to get tied up by its own vines right after evolving.
"Tangrowth, congratulations on your evolution! How are you feeling?" Aven stepped forward to examine it.
Compared to before, the energy radiating from it was now incredibly powerful, pulsing with vitality.
It could likely produce massive amounts of vines in an instant.
"Tang!" the Pokémon nodded confidently.
It could feel that it was in excellent condition after the evolution.
"Lil lil~" Petilil watched with envy.
It immediately began questioning Tangrowth about how it managed to evolve using Ancient Power.
It had once wanted to evolve using Ancient Power as well—but ended up learning Nature Power instead, which had left it disappointed for a long time.
Now, seeing Tangrowth succeed, its heart burned with passion again.
(End of Chapter)