Chapter 179:
[SSS-grade Ingredient - Darkrai's Nether Stone: Long-term attachment by Darkrai has imbued it with intense Dark-type emotional energy...
Note: Water soaked with this stone can be used as a certain seasoning.]
Wasn't this the stone Darkrai gave to Kazephyr that day?
Did this street-roaming rascal steal the stone from Kazephyr?
That wouldn't be good, would it?
Hayashi Kaede quickly turned, wanting to ask Mew if it had taken this stone from Kazephyr.
But before he could speak, Mew, perched on his shoulder, had already flown into the sky and vanished in the blink of an eye.
This made him inwardly complain, 'No wonder everyone calls you a street-roaming rascal....'
But he thought to himself that he must ask it during dinner tonight.
Where exactly did this stone come from.
Hayashi Kaede looked back at Serperior, only to find it swiftly slithering away toward the Berry Plantation.
He could only sigh helplessly.
"Whatever, let's go find Sandshrew...."
After meandering out of this yet-to-be-formed Berry Plantation, he followed the Bluestone Trail to the town entrance, near the road.
This was where most of the town's residents gathered, and Takagi Megumi's home was also here.
When Hayashi Kaede arrived at Takagi-ojii-san's house, only Sandshrew was inside.
As the Pokémon that helped Takagi-ojii-san with farm work, it didn't need to stay in a Poké Ball every day; in fact, it probably didn't even have the concept of a Poké Ball.
When he explained to Sandshrew why he had come, the little Pokémon's expression visibly brightened with excitement, but it held back from immediately agreeing. Instead, it clasped its paws together, saying it needed to ask Takagi-ojii-san first.
Hayashi Kaede wasn't in a hurry.
He waited at the entrance of the small Western-style house, watching Sandshrew eagerly roll toward the road construction site. He couldn't help but shake his head with amusement. "So easily pleased..."
A short while later, Sandshrew rolled back, arriving in front of Hayashi Kaede and nodding repeatedly.
Clearly, Takagi-ojii-san had agreed.
So, Hayashi Kaede took it to the new Berry Plantation.
"Sandshrew~"
Sandshrew's eyes widened at the sight of such a large plot of land, followed by sheer delight.
So much land! How long would it take to work on!
How many bowls of Spicy Noodle Soup would it be worth!
Hayashi Kaede stood beside it, watching its astonished expression, and said, "Because the area to be tilled this time is quite large, and we need you to be meticulous—removing all the stones from here—let's take it slow and be careful, okay?"
"Sandshrew!" (Mhm, mhm!)
Sandshrew's expression instantly turned serious.
Hayashi Kaede entrusting such a large plot of land to it meant he trusted it, so it absolutely had to do this job well for him.
After Hayashi Kaede showed it the area to be tilled today, the little one immediately got to work.
Watching it work so diligently, Hayashi Kaede couldn't help but smile.
Sandshrew was much more honest and simple in this regard.
It would finish whenever the work was done, not like Snivy in the past, which had automatically mastered the skill of "slacking off."
In this way, this Sandshrew personality was a bit like of the Combee.
Shaking his head, Hayashi Kaede stopped focusing here and instead thought about going to buy some Tamato Berries later.
Although his Berry Plantation no longer produced Tamato Berries, and it wasn't Tamato Berry season,
In this world where Pokémon possessed various miraculous powers, growing off-season vegetables naturally was incredibly simple. It just meant the price would be slightly higher.
Returning to the Breeding House, a Pidgeotto carrying a parcel wrapped by Indeedee flew off toward the city outside.
Hayashi Kaede looked at Indeedee (big brother). "How is it? Getting used to it?"
It and its sister had been here for quite some time now. Sometimes, he could see the sister playing joyfully with the Eevees, Alolan Vulpix, and Goodra, but the brother always seemed to have a perpetually bitter expression.
Without using Veridian Power, Hayashi Kaede couldn't really tell what Indeedee (big brother) was feeling.
Because male Indeedee always had a rather stern-looking face.
"Indeedee?" (It's fine. With Rotom here, bookkeeping is very easy). The big brother Indeedee nodded earnestly as usual.
It had gradually grown accustomed to the work here and his sister seemed quite accustomed too.
But one issue was that these days, he noticed his sister's growth speed seemed to have caught up with his own.
This was because the sister, while caring for baby Pokémon and the Alcremie, collected more gratitude emotions in daily life.
However, Indeedee (big brother) didn't have any other thoughts about it.
In its view, as long as his sister was happy, that was enough, because that's what their father had told him before they left.
'You are the older brother, so don't let your sister be bullied by the Trainer...'
Actually, Hayashi Kaede had recently noticed these subtle details too. The obvious situation was that when they first arrived, the older brother Indeedee was slightly taller than the sister.
However, these days the sister's height was subtly beginning to surpass the brother's height.
He just wasn't quite sure how to resolve this yet.
After all, the cashier job offered very little opportunity to receive gratitude emotions.
"Little Kaede, Little Kaede."
Lost in thought, Hayashi Kaede was suddenly pulled back to attention by a call. A road construction worker, a town resident, and a Machop walked in.
The Machop had a large patch of blood on its leg.
"What's this?"
Hayashi Kaede snapped awake and went over to Machop.
"This kid wasn't careful. While moving steel bars, it got cut by a sharp part and started bleeding," the construction worker explained helplessly.
This was his first time bringing this Machop out to work, and he hadn't expected an accident on the very first day.
Machop didn't seem to be in pain, just a bit embarrassed and awkward.
"Let me see." Hayashi Kaede crouched down to look at Machop's leg. It was covered in blood, and it looked like quite a lot had been lost. After a simple diagnostic, Hayashi Kaede knew it was just a surface wound.
He was about to use his Veridian Power to treat it first, but then he noticed the older brother Indeedee had also come out.
An idea struck him, and he asked, "Can you bandage it?"
Indeedee nodded. "Indeedee." (I learned from Mom before.)
Because of Beedrill, both him and his sister had learned this skill thoroughly from their mother.
"Then I'll get a basin of warm water to clean it and see the situation."
Pokémon had robust constitutions. By the time Machop was brought here, the bleeding had already stopped, so the construction worker wasn't too worried.
After Hayashi Kaede brought warm water, Indeedee skillfully began cleaning the wound, applying medicine, and bandaging it. Finally, Hayashi Kaede added a layer of his own Veridian Power to heal the injury.
The moment the Veridian Power was applied, Machop, which had been somewhat uncomfortable when it arrived, immediately felt much less pain and looked at Indeedee in surprise.
"Whew, glad it's nothing serious. How much do we owe, young man?" the construction worker asked, seeing Machop now bandaged.
"It's fine. You're helping our town repair the roads; this counts as a work injury, so it's free. Besides, I didn't do much—it was mostly this Indeedee's effort" Hayashi Kaede said with a smile.
After a few more rounds of polite refusal, the construction worker could only thank the older brother Indeedee and leave with Machop.
Watching Machop leave and feeling the emotional energy collected from above its head, the older brother Indeedee's mood instantly brightened.
Coincidentally, Hayashi Kaede also looked at him then, smiling gently and said: "It seems from now on, you'll have to take on the additional role of medical Pokémon in the Breeding House...."
"Indeedee? Indeedee!" (Huh? …Yes I will do it!)
With another matter resolved, Hayashi Kaede's mood improved significantly.
Although no Pokémon specifically came to Neighbor's Breeding House for treatment after getting injured yet.
Once challenges started happening one after another, injuries during Pokémon battles would be unavoidable.
Then, the older brother Indeedee should be able to collect gratitude emotions.