Early the next morning, Jack woke up and went through his morning routine before heading to the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
While Jack's culinary skills were limited, he could at least manage a simple bowl of noodles for the morning meal.
"Maybe I should add some berries for flavor," Jack muttered to himself as he washed a few Pecha Berries and Oran Berries at the sink.
After carefully cutting the berries into small pieces and preparing them properly, he added them to the noodles as they cooked.
[Berry Noodles (C+), Low-level dish. Skillful technique combined with flavorful berries creates a meal that appeals to many Pokémon who enjoy sweet and tart flavors. Quality could be improved with premium noodles.
Dish Effect: Status Immunity Lv1 - Randomly cures one status condition currently affecting the consumer]
"Randomly cures a status condition?" Jack read the description again thoughtfully. "I guess if there's only one condition, it wouldn't really be random anymore, would it?"
It was only speculation at this point. Neither Jack nor his Pokémon were currently suffering from burns, paralysis, or any other status conditions, so there was nothing to cure anyway.
Jack carried three bowls of steaming noodles to the table. For Meltan's portion, he'd made sure to add several clean pieces of scrap metal—an essential dietary supplement for the Steel-type Pokémon.
"Melo!" Meltan chirped eagerly, its single eye fixed on the bowl. (I'm starving!)
"Bulba~" Bulbasaur added in agreement.
Meltan had been waiting impatiently for quite some time. Jack had forgotten to include any metal in Meltan's dinner the previous night, and while everything had tasted fine, the little Pokémon had definitely felt like something was missing.
"We need to finish planting the remaining plots today," Jack said between bites, thinking about the work ahead.
They'd completed about a third of the field yesterday. Without the stamina-boosting effects from the dishes he'd been preparing, Jack doubted he would've even been able to get out of bed this morning after all that manual labor.
"Jack! Are you there?"
A voice called out from beyond the ranch boundary, interrupting breakfast.
Jack immediately set down his bowl and walked out to the gate.
An older man with a weathered face and a small, well-trimmed beard sat in the cab of a rusty pickup truck, waving at him.
"Hello, sir. I'm Jack," he said, approaching the vehicle.
"Name's Antoine. You can call me Uncle Antoine," the man replied with a friendly smile. "Exxon mentioned a new ranch opened up around here. I drive this route every morning making my rounds. If you've got any produce or ranch goods you need to sell, let me know. I'll give you a fair price."
Jack glanced at the truck bed, which was already loaded with various items: bottles of Moomoo Milk from Miltank, jars of Sweet Honey harvested from Combee, bags of fluffy Wooloo wool, and an assortment of fresh vegetables and fruits.
Uncle Antoine had clearly already visited several farms and ranches this morning.
"I appreciate that, Uncle Antoine. Once my ranch starts producing, I'll definitely reach out to you," Jack said sincerely.
"Sounds good, young man. Keep at it—I can see you're working hard." Antoine tipped his cap. "I'd better get moving."
The old pickup truck, groaning under its heavy load, rumbled down the dirt road toward the market. Within moments, it had disappeared from view, leaving only a trail of dust in its wake.
"Must be nice having a vehicle," Jack mused aloud, watching the spot where the truck had vanished. "Makes everything so much more convenient."
He turned and headed back inside to finish his breakfast.
The ranch was still in its early stages, with many facilities incomplete or makeshift at best. For now, Jack just needed to cover daily expenses and save enough to make gradual improvements to the property. The thought of being able to afford his own cargo truck seemed like a distant dream.
"I've still got the chili peppers, that bag of corn, and the berry seeds to plant," Jack said to his Pokémon as they ate. "Let's try to get everything in the ground this morning."
About half of what he planted would be for personal consumption, while the other half he hoped to sell for income. Planting more than that would be impractical—even with Meltan and Bulbasaur's help, Jack's current physical condition made it difficult to manage a larger operation.
As Jack picked up the hoe to head back outside, he noticed something immediately felt different.
"Wait... my blisters are gone!" Jack exclaimed, examining his palms carefully.
He turned his hands over several times, but there wasn't a single blister to be found. Just last night, those painful blisters had significantly slowed down his work.
"Were the blisters considered a status condition? This dish effect is incredible," Jack said with growing excitement.
The stir-fried eggplant, Lecha Berry soup, and lemonade he'd prepared yesterday all had beneficial effects, but they'd been subtle and hard to notice. The Berry Noodles' effect was instantaneous and obvious.
"With abilities like this, Silver Ranch might actually have a real chance to succeed!" Jack felt a surge of motivation. "Let's do this!"
He grabbed the hoe and strode confidently toward the uncleared section of the field.
Although the area was overgrown with weeds, the soil underneath was surprisingly soft and fertile. Jack gripped the hoe firmly and swung it downward. The iron blade easily broke through the surface, cutting into the fourth section of hardened earth.
Then, suddenly, Jack's foot found nothing but air.
He stumbled backward, barely catching his balance. The freshly tilled ridge of soil seemed to lose its structural support, rapidly sinking inward and revealing a dark, gaping hole in the ground.
"What the—? Is it hollow underneath?" Jack peered at the opening cautiously.
"Melo?" Meltan's voice came from behind him. (I think there's a Pokémon down there.)
Both Meltan and Bulbasaur had been drawn over by the commotion.
Before the dust cloud had time to settle, a scaled shape burst from the hole with remarkable speed. It curled itself into a tight, yellowish-brown ball and rolled across the grass before coming to rest near a pile of weeds.
When the creature slowly uncurled itself, Jack could clearly see it was a Sandshrew.
Its scales were caked with damp mud, and its small, dark eyes were wide with alarm as it stared at the collapsed entrance to its home. The Ground-type Pokémon tentatively scraped at the cave-in with its front claws a few times before pulling back. Its nose twitched as it sniffed at the scattered clumps of dirt around it.
Dust particles stirred by the morning breeze settled on Sandshrew's back, but the Pokémon remained completely still except for the slight trembling at the tip of its tail. It seemed completely unaware of Jack's approaching footsteps.
"Hey, Sandshrew. Are you alright?" Jack asked gently.
Sandshrew's head snapped up. It looked at the human standing before it, then turned to stare mournfully at its ruined home.
"Shrew! Shrew-shrew-shrew!" The Pokémon's cries filled the air.
While Jack couldn't understand the exact words, he had a pretty good idea of what Sandshrew was saying—and none of it was particularly polite.
"Melo..." Meltan translated hesitantly. (Jack... I think it's saying you destroyed its home.)
Jack had more or less figured that out already. He had, quite literally, demolished the Pokémon's burrow.
"Wait just a moment!" Jack hurried back to the ranch house and retrieved his property deed.
"Sandshrew, look at this," Jack said firmly, holding up the document in its protective sleeve. "This is MY home. You've been living on MY property without permission. If anything, I'm the victim here!"
Jack pointed at the deed emphatically, though he made sure to keep it safely encased in the protective cover so Sandshrew couldn't accidentally damage it.
Both Meltan and Bulbasaur stared at Jack in disbelief. Even Sandshrew looked stunned.
What kind of shameless argument was this?
"You're upset that I collapsed your house, but I'm not upset that you've been squatting on Silver Ranch property," Jack continued with complete seriousness. "By rights, you should actually be paying me rent."
Sandshrew listened to this logic with growing confusion. Its small brain worked overtime trying to process the information.
So... according to that reasoning...
It was the one who'd been illegally trespassing?
"Shrew..." Sandshrew's protest came out much weaker this time.
"Melo..." Even Meltan sounded incredulous as it translated. (He... he says he didn't know anyone lived here.)
Meltan could hardly believe it—Jack had actually managed to guilt-trip the poor Sandshrew with his twisted logic.
"That's perfectly fine! No hard feelings," Jack said magnanimously, pulling out another piece of paper. "Tell you what—how about you work at the ranch to pay off your debt? I'll provide food and lodging. Of course, those will need to be deducted from your wages too."
Jack's expression remained completely sincere as he produced the makeshift contract.
"If you agree, just press your paw here to sign. If you don't agree, well, I'm a reasonable person—I won't hold past mistakes against you. But you can't keep living on my property."
Sandshrew's small head worked through the pros and cons of this unexpected situation.
Most of the areas near Viridian Forest already had established territories and owners. Moving somewhere else would almost certainly mean getting into fights with other Pokémon, and fighting hurt. Sandshrew definitely wanted to avoid that if possible.
When it really came down to it, there weren't many other places it could go.
"Shrew..." Sandshrew finally nodded reluctantly.
"Melo..." Meltan's voice carried a note of disbelief. (He... he actually agreed to it.)
"Excellent! Just press your paw right here," Jack said cheerfully, indicating a spot on the paper.
Sandshrew pressed its muddy paw onto the document, and just like that, it became Silver Ranch's first employee—albeit in a somewhat dazed and confused state.
"Perfect! My name is Jack, and from now on, I'm your boss," Jack announced professionally. "This is Meltan, and that's Bulbasaur. They're your coworkers. Your assignment for today is to help clear and level this plot of land."
Jack gestured toward the area where Sandshrew's former home had just collapsed.
"I'll get a proper shelter set up for you and have lunch ready by noon."
As Sandshrew stared at the ruined burrow that used to be its home, a single thought echoed through its mind:
The first step onto dry land was destroying the home I'd built...