The Oddish were living quite comfortably on the pasture.
They could feel the abundant vitality in this grassland, far surpassing that of the forest.
And since it was a human-owned farm, they no longer had to worry about being randomly attacked by wild beasts.
While they were hiding in the soil, leisurely absorbing the life force within it, they suddenly sensed something falling on them—and into the surrounding earth.
The next moment, they felt a wave of energy they had never absorbed before surging through the ground, attracting them instinctively to begin absorbing it.
'What kind of energy is this? It feels amazing.'
After absorbing the energy from the Growth Fertilizer, the Oddish were completely hooked.
Soon, they all popped their heads out of the soil and looked toward Aven, who was applying fertilizer in one corner of the field.
Without any hesitation, the Oddish emerged from the ground and rushed over to Aven.
In no time, a group of Oddish stood in front of Aven, pecking at the air like chicks begging for food, each of them raising their heads as if to say, "More, I want more!"
Aven smiled slightly at the sight. Their reaction to the Growth Fertilizer proved that his Oddish training plan was already halfway to success.
Uncle Mike stood quietly to the side, watching the Oddish that had once been driven away for competing with the orchard trees for nutrients. He sighed.
"So much fertilizer... It could've lasted a long time for the orchard. Feels like such a waste," he muttered.
Even if these Oddish could be useful, the berry trees they'd protect might not be worth the cost of the fertilizer.
Soon, Aven's current batch of fertilizer ran out, and the Oddish had already burrowed back into the ground in groups, blissfully absorbing the remaining energy.
Looking at the now-empty wooden bucket, Aven's mouth twitched slightly. He muttered to himself, "This is a necessary investment."
But at this consumption rate, his supply of Growth Fertilizer would be gone soon. He needed to find more spoiled berries to continue production.
Time passed quickly.
Over the past two days, Aven had continued training his Pokémon as usual.
The sleep-inducing potion was working exceptionally well—after just two days, there were already noticeable results.
Both Petilil and Oddish were now able to condense Grass-type energy into a powder imbued with sleep-inducing power.
On the other side, with the help of nutrient supplements, Rhyhorn had fully replenished the potential it had previously exhausted and could begin its next stage of training.
Rhyhorn showed great potential in Ground-type abilities, so Aven planned to start training it with Earth Power.
Earth Power was a special Ground-type move. Although Rhyhorn's Special Attack stats were quite low, this move could help it better grasp Ground-type energy.
This move was essential for Ground-types and also served as a foundation for developing many other Ground-type moves, offering a lot of potential.
In his previous life, Aven had always started with Earth Power when training Ground-types, so teaching it to Rhyhorn now came easily to him.
As for Cherrim, its training was much simpler.
Until it learned Sunny Day, Aven didn't have it practice any other moves.
After all this time, Cherubi had made great progress.
As for the other two Cherubi, thanks to the nourishment from the Growth Fertilizer, the berries on their bodies were becoming plumper and plumper.
If this continued, there was a strong chance they would evolve.
But the ones who had changed the most during this time were undoubtedly the Oddish.
Under the nourishment of the Growth Fertilizer, the Oddish had completely treated the farm as their home.
And over this period, five more Oddish had joined the farm, bringing the total up to thirty.
Of course, Aven had paid a hefty price—one large bucket of Growth Fertilizer had already been used up by the Oddish.
Now, the orchard only had three buckets left, and since some of it had to be diluted and used for the orchard trees, Aven only had one bucket left for his own use.
However, the Oddish now fully recognized him. He could now command them to carry out basic training.
"Aven, how do you plan to train these Oddish?"
Uncle Mike asked as he looked at the field of Oddish running back and forth.
Although Oddish were considered magical beasts, their strength was extremely low. Even an unarmed human could easily defeat one.
Aven glanced at Uncle Mike and shook his head with a smile.
"It's not time for formal training yet. First, they need to learn discipline."
Thinking back on recent events, Oddish #7 felt like it was dreaming.
From a young age, it had lived in the dark forest, constantly being chased by wild beasts.
One day, it got separated from its group by accident and ended up in human territory.
Terrified, it spent its days hiding. Eventually, it stumbled upon a human farm.
The vitality here was astonishing—it was like paradise. Oddish #7 thought, 'If only I could stay here forever.'
But then came humans with sticks—nothing like the wild beasts, but just as terrifying.
They drove them away using sticks, fire, and anything else they could get their hands on.
During its escape, it saw many of its kind captured or even killed.
Oddish #7 became deeply afraid of humans.
Though it narrowly escaped time after time, it eventually got caught and locked in a cage.
It thought it was going to die—beaten or burned.
But instead, it ended up on this farm and met its new master.
He was nothing like the other humans.
He was gentle, kind, and provided them a place to stay.
He even gave them that delicious energy source called Growth Fertilizer.
Oddish #7 swore it was the most delicious thing it had ever absorbed.
With the energy from the fertilizer, it felt stronger than ever.
If it saw the human who captured it again, it could definitely outrun him now.
Oddish #7 thought it could finally live a peaceful life.
But winter was coming.
During that season, wild beasts would invade human lands in search of food, threatening the home it had only just found.
Its master was right—Oddish #7 had experienced it before.
It had nearly been eaten during the last winter.
What could it do? Abandon this hard-won home and go back to wandering?
That's when it saw something incredible—one of its fellow Oddish, under their master's training, had learned a move called Sleep Powder!
It was the first time Oddish #7 had seen another besides their group leader, a Gloom use such a powerful move.
And then—it heard something even more shocking.
Their master said that they could learn it too.
At first, it thought it misheard.
But if their master said so, it had to be true.
Given the chance to learn that move, how could it say no?
It would learn Sleep Powder, then fight alongside its companions to repel the invading beasts and protect their home!
Yeah—this time, it wouldn't run!
Today marked the third day of training.
But they weren't learning Sleep Powder yet—the master was only teaching them obedience: how to stand still, turn left or right on command, pivot together, and walk in sync.
'Our master is a devil,' it thought.
Someone messed up during drills, and none of them got any of the delicious fertilizer today.
'Ugh, that idiot! Doesn't he know where the sun rises from? Now we don't get our treat!'
Thankfully, after some more practice, they learned to follow orders properly—and the delicious fertilizer returned.
But when would they finally get to learn Sleep Powder?
It had been looking forward to it for so long.
"Training energetic Oddish is way too hard."
On the field, Aven let out a long sigh as he looked at the fairly neat ranks of Oddish.
Discipline was one of the most important elements in Pokémon training.
Only when Pokémon obeyed their trainer's commands could they fully unleash their potential.
So, for any trainer, taming their Pokémon and earning their obedience was a fundamental skill.
And since Aven planned to form a full Pokémon squad, his standards for discipline were even higher.
Training this group of Oddish felt like teaching elementary school kids in military boot camp—it was incredibly difficult.
Thankfully, with the lure of Sleep Powder, the reward of Growth Fertilizer, and the threat of winter beasts, the Oddish were motivated and just barely met his standards.
"Next, I can start training them on Sleep Powder."
Exhaling slowly, Aven decided to begin the next phase of training the following day.
The next day, the Oddish stood in neat lines on the field, all of them wearing looks of anticipation.
Today, they could finally start learning Sleep Powder.
Compared to teaching discipline, teaching Sleep Powder was much easier.
All Aven had to do was apply the Sleep-Inducing potion onto the Oddish and let them absorb the energy.
Petilil had already fully mastered Sleep Powder and eagerly took on the role of teaching the Oddish how to use it.
Even better, Petilil had made all the Sleep Powder potion used for training.
Aven felt confident that he could now leave the Sleep Powder training entirely to Petilil.
(End of Chapter)