Chapter 177:
After Hayashi Kaede hung up the phone,
Serperior beside him spoke up, "Serperior?" (She's going to compete?)
"Mhm." Hayashi Kaede nodded.
"Serperior~" (Can we go too?)
"Probably, right?"
The "one year" restriction for the Junior Cup is calculated from when a Trainer obtains their first newborn Pokémon.
Even at full count, Serperior's age absolutely wouldn't exceed one year.
"Serperior?"
"Strength?" Hayashi Kaede, seeing Serperior's eager expression, shook his head. "They're probably far weaker than you."
In previous years, even the winning Trainer's Pokémon in the headquarters region of the Junior Cup seemed to be only around Gym level or slightly above?
Having Serperior compete felt a bit like bullying.
Hayashi Kaede had Rotom pull up last year's Junior Cup headquarters finals video. After Serperior watched it, its interest greatly diminished.
It was a battle between a fully evolved Venusaur and a Staraptor.
Clearly, Venusaur was the final winner.
It used the classic "Substitute, Protect, Toxic" strategy, coating Razor Leaf with poison to defeat Staraptor.
But in Serperior's eyes, such a battle—whether Staraptor or Venusaur's "Substitute, Protect, Toxic" tactic—was easily breakable.
"Substitute, Protect, Toxic" couldn't stop Leaf Storm's ever-increasing power.
Moreover, this Venusaur seemed so much weaker in aura compared to itself.
"Let's go check it out that day. If there really are suitable opponents, we can give it a try too," Hayashi Kaede reassured.
He felt Serperior was somewhat wronged by staying with him.
Because even as a Snivy, it had loved battling, and that hadn't changed after evolution.
But the reality was, aside from the baby cup battles when it evolved from Snivy to Servine, Serperior hadn't had any real battles.
There was no helping it; its strength increased too quickly.
In just over two months, it was already nearing Elite Four level.
It was simply not on the same level as the Trainers currently coming to the Breeding House.
But speaking of which, at this rate of strength increase, the Pokémon League Conference three months later would be perfect for Serperior to finally satisfy its battle cravings?
Should they try?
Hayashi Kaede felt tempted.
Winning the Pokémon League Conference championship would earn an official Elite Four-level Trainer certificate from the League, along with a substantial prize.
The troublesome part was that participating required challenging eight official Gyms.
He didn't have time to travel and challenge them one by one.
If he decided to challenge them, he could just have Dragonite carry him, and have Gardevoir speed-run them in a day.
Or maybe ask the Champion for some kind of proof?
"Serperior."
Serperior's voice interrupted Hayashi Kaede's thoughts. "What's up?"
Serperior lowered itself slightly. "Serperior?" (That human from the construction team is here. He said the path connecting the garden and the second Berry Plantation is open.)
"Oh? Really?"
Hayashi Kaede's eyebrows rose with interest.
The path being open meant the second Berry Plantation was fully enclosed. Next was handling the soil inside and clearing away the debris and gravel.
Although there were plenty of Pokémon in the Berry Plantation now that could handle these tasks, Hayashi Kaede felt it should be left to Sandshrew.
That kid hadn't been around for a long time.
He had seen it helping dig soil during the first few days of road construction, but after the digging was done and it wasn't needed, he saw it less often.
When Squirtle was still here, it could bring some tasty food back for Sandshrew.
But now Squirtle was gone too, and the Berry Plantation rarely needed tilling, so Sandshrew didn't come by on its own.
It didn't have Squirtle's "thick-skinned" nature~
But sometimes, when Sandshrew saw Hayashi Kaede on the road, if he gave it some food, it wouldn't refuse. On the contrary, it would carefully accept it and eat slowly.
He could also give it a "salary"—a small daily portion of Energy Cubes to take home.
Or give it some money? So it could learn to buy Energy Cubes itself later?
Anyway, the cashier now was Indeedee.
And there was no rush. It could till a little, and he could plant some Berry trees bit by bit.
That's right,
This new Berry Plantation—Hayashi Kaede planned to use it entirely for planting Berry trees!
Moreover, this Plantation's area was larger than the current one by at least a third.
It extended all the way to the river near the forest.
For Milotic to water this new Plantation, it would have to go through the water channel to the river first, then water the new Plantation.
This would also increase Milotic's activity, letting it go out occasionally.
"Alright, let's go take a look~"
Hayashi Kaede immediately passed through the barn and looked toward the garden.
From this angle, on the left was a newly built kitchen, and on the right was the new Berry Plantation. "Newly built" really just meant enclosed with wooden fences.
Then, a circle of thorn seeds was planted around it. These thorns would grow into dense thickets in about a month.
First, for privacy, and second, to prevent other Pokémon from entering—though privacy was the main goal.
Then, all the reclamation work still needed to be done by Hayashi Kaede himself.
This reclamation included weeding, tilling soil, removing gravel and debris.
Hayashi Kaede walked to the end of the garden, opened the gate left here, and stepped inside.
Weeds were everywhere, just like when Hayashi Kaede first took over the original Berry Plantation.
But thinking back, Hayashi Kaede had needed to pull weeds with Snivy back then. Now, times had changed, and these weeds were very easy to handle.
So, Hayashi Kaede looked at Serperior.
A reminiscent expression also appeared on Serperior's face; clearly, it remembered the days of pulling weeds with Hayashi Kaede.
Back then, it even fought Hayashi Kaede for weeds to eat.
Thinking about it now was embarrassing.
Now, seeing Hayashi Kaede smiling, it couldn't help but put on a cold face, which left Hayashi Kaede, who was about to ask Serperior to help "weed," utterly confused.
He pondered; his relationship with Serperior had been pretty good lately, right?
He hadn't done anything to offend it.
"What's wrong?" Hayashi Kaede asked.
But Serperior just gave him a look, then feeling ashamed, wriggled its body away and slithered forward. As verdant green energy began to emanate, the vitality of the surrounding weeds started to dissipate entirely.
Hayashi Kaede couldn't figure it out immediately, so he didn't dwell on it.
Just watching Serperior use Grassy Terrain and seeing those weeds vanish swiftly, a thought inexplicably occurred to him.
These weeds withered because their growth vitality was absorbed by the gras spurred by Serperior's power.
So in the future, if he encountered a Pokémon that used Ingrain in battle, could he use Grassy Terrain to compete with it for nutrients?
The thought flashed by; Hayashi Kaede felt it was something to try if the opportunity arose.
Now, in just two or three minutes, all the weeds in this Berry Plantation, larger than the previous one, were cleared.