Chapter 15: The Strange Girl
Time flew by. A month later, most of the Fruit Trees Bai Feng had planted had survived. For the ones that didn't survive, he went back to Qing Qing Planting Garden and bought some more to replace them.
During this month, both the Talonflame and the Diglett adapted very well to their new home.
The Talonflame usually led the Fletchinder on patrols around the Mountain, dominating the Sky above Fang Xing Mountain. Wild Pokemon that intruded were immediately driven out by them.
As the Fruit Trees gradually became lush with branches and leaves, various Bug-type Pokemon were slowly attracted, especially Scatterbug and Weedle.
The Talonflame and Fletchinder have very strong visual abilities. As soon as they spot a Scatterbug or Weedle on a Fruit Tree, they swoop down, catch the Bugs, and then throw them far away outside the Mountain.
On this day, Bai Feng was wearing a black Apron and holding a pair of Scissors, pruning the branches and leaves of a Fruit Tree Sapling. Beside him was a Diglett, also holding a much larger pair of Scissors and imitating him.
This Diglett was the father of the family of three.
After the Fruit Trees were planted, the Digletts' workload decreased. Their main job was helping with fertilization. But this job was very simple and easily handled by the two efficient Digletts.
After finishing their work, the family of three became idle.
Watching the busy Talonflame and Fletchinder every day, the Diglett family of three felt a strong contrast.
They felt that if they didn't work hard, their boss would soon find employing them uneconomical and fire them directly.
The family of three ate and lived well with Bai Feng every day, and could even get a Healing Treatment from time to time. They were practically living like immortals.
Where could they find such a good job? How could they let themselves be fired! So they felt they had to find their value in the Orchard.
So one day, while Bai Feng was pruning the branches of a Sapling, the male Diglett proactively offered to learn from him.
Bai Feng was stunned for a moment. Learn? Learn what?
After the Diglett dad explained for a long time, Bai Feng finally understood. It wanted to learn how to take care of Fruit Trees.
Bai Feng initially thought that with the Diglett's large size, it probably couldn't handle delicate work.
However, he was wrong. The Diglett could not only do it, but did it exceptionally well.
There was a reason why the Diglett was previously able to single-handedly care for an Oran Berry Tree until it bore abundant fruit, even without any planting Experience or Knowledge.
It had some planting Talent.
After this discovery, Bai Feng began to seriously teach the Diglett dad.
Orchard management is complex. There are many daily tasks, from fertilizer and Water management, pest and disease control, to pruning, Orchard cleaning, and so on. In the future, when the Fruit Trees flower and bear fruit, there will also be multiple tasks like thinning flowers and fruit, and protecting flowers and fruit.
The Diglett dad learned very seriously and worked skillfully. Before long, it truly became Bai Feng's important assistant.
The Orchard area is so large, with so many Fruit Trees needing management, that the Diglett dad truly helped Bai Feng relieve a lot of pressure.
From then on, the Diglett couple began to divide their work.
The Diglett mom was still responsible for fertilizing the Fruit Trees as usual. For the rest of the Time, she took the Diggersby to loosen the soil and weed around the Fruit Trees. The Diglett dad followed Bai Feng to learn how to manage the Orchard and care for the Fruit Trees.
While Bai Feng and the Diglett dad were pruning the branches of the Fruit Trees, strange-sounding singing would occasionally drift from the Fruit Tree Forest.
This was Oshawott singing.
Oshawott was now no different from a regular Pokémon. In fact, because the Quality and Purity of the Origin Energy within its body were very high, the Power of the Moves it used was quite a bit stronger than that of ordinary Pokémon.
Oshawott currently knew four Moves: Pound, Water Gun, Charm Voice, and Perish Song. Among these, Perish Song was likely an inherited Move.
Through continuous practice and battles, Oshawott could now skillfully master the other three Moves besides Perish Song.
Oshawott's Ability was the rare hidden Ability, Hydration. Its effect was to turn sound-based Moves it used into Water-type.
Through this effect, Oshawott developed a special use for Charm Voice.
When Oshawott sang, it would simultaneously activate its Hydration Ability, and then Charm Voice would turn into Water-type.
One day while practicing this Move, a light bulb went off in its head. It began trying to use the vibration of sound to control the Water-type Energy in the Air, and then convert the Water-type Energy into mist.
Unexpectedly, it succeeded.
By spraying the mist onto the Fruit Trees, it could achieve the purpose of watering. This was much faster than watering them one by one with Water Gun, and it didn't have to worry about losing control of the Water volume and overwatering.
From then on, Oshawott no longer used the Water Gun Move to water the Fruit Trees, but switched to using Charm Voice.
But how to put it... this little guy's vocal conditions might not be very good. At this moment, it should have been singing a beautiful song, but what actually came out was a series of disjointed squawks.
Bai Feng corrected it a few times, but the effect was minimal. Later, he played some famous songs for it, but unexpectedly, it backfired. The originally melodious songs were somehow sung by it into something unrecognizable.
"Ooh ooh ooh~ Ooh ooh ooh~"
Although it didn't sound good, Oshawott sang with great enthusiasm. This was probably a case of being bad but loving to play.
Seeing that Time was getting late, Bai Feng handed the Scissors in his hand to the Diglett dad and said to it, "I need to go to Bi Yi Gym. I'll leave the Orchard here to you."
"Hoder!"
The Diglett dad patted its chest and said, "Boss, don't worry!"
Bai Feng nodded, then shouted into the depths of the Fruit Tree Forest, "Oshawott, I'm leaving. Are you coming with me?"
"Ooh~"
The singing in the Forest stopped abruptly. In a moment, Oshawott was seen sprinting from a distance, then with an "Ooh" sound, it pounced into Bai Feng's arms.
On the other side, Bai Ye was battling the Talonflame on the Mountain Top.
Without the help of the Fletchinder, the Talonflame alone couldn't possibly defeat Bai Ye. But Bai Ye wasn't using its full Power; it was just honing its Moves, so the Talonflame didn't lose immediately.
"You two stop for a moment. I need to go to Bi Yi Gym. Talonflame, could you give me a ride?"
Hearing Bai Feng's call, the two Pokémon indeed stopped their movements.
The Talonflame let out a call towards the distance, and the Fletchinder flew up from the Forest, flying opposite Bai Ye to continue sparring in place of the Talonflame, while the Talonflame itself landed in front of Bai Feng.
"Thanks for your trouble." Bai Feng patted the Talonflame's head, then quickly climbed onto its Back, ascending with the Talonflame.
Soon, Bai Feng was above Bi Yi Gym. He looked down and seemed to see someone standing at the Gym entrance.
"Talonflame, let's go down." Bai Feng patted the Talonflame's neck.
"Yaroo~"
The Talonflame nodded, then slowly descended carrying Bai Feng.
Only after landing did Bai Feng realize that the person standing at the Gym entrance was a strange girl.
The girl looked about twelve or thirteen years old. She wore a white short skirt and had short dark gray hair, appearing very youthful and beautiful.
As Bai Feng looked, he suddenly felt the girl looked a little familiar, but no matter how hard he tried to recall, he couldn't remember.
The girl also noticed Bai Feng. After Bai Feng got down from the Talonflame's Back, she asked curiously, "Are you here to challenge the Gym too?"
Bai Feng was startled, then shook his head. "No, I'm here for something else."
"Oh, I see." The girl lowered her head and said softly, then looked up and smiled. "Your Talonflame looks quite strong. I thought you were here to challenge the Gym."
Hearing this, before Bai Feng could speak, Oshawott became unhappy. It squawked loudly at the girl, looking extremely displeased.
What do you mean? If Talonflame is strong, does that mean I'm not? Talonflame is just Bai Feng's employee; I'm Bai Feng's Starter Pokémon!
"Alright, stop being jealous!" Understanding Oshawott's meaning, Bai Feng couldn't help but laugh and quickly comforted it.
Mogu clearly said this was a gentle and sensible Pokémon. How did it change so much in my hands?
After spending this Time together, Bai Feng had completely figured out Oshawott's personality.
This was simply a hot-tempered little pepper. It wanted to fight people at the slightest disagreement. No wonder it beat up Captain Sanders' daughter back then.
You're a Water-type Pokémon, not a Fire-type Pokémon!
The girl watched the stomping Oshawott in astonishment, asking with a puzzled look, "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"
Bai Feng said helplessly, "Actually, Talonflame isn't really my Pokémon; Oshawott is. It just heard you praise Talonflame, so it got a little jealous."
The girl suddenly understood upon hearing this, then let out a giggle. "Your Oshawott is really interesting. By the way, you can understand Pokémon so easily. I really wasn't mistaken; you're a formidable Trainer."
Bai Feng thought to himself: I probably don't even count as a proper Trainer.
Just then, he heard the girl say, "Oh, right, my name is Kalos. What's yours?"
(End of Chapter)