Pokemon: Farm Story

"What's up, Rotom?"

"There are a lot of people online talking about the farm. Some are even saying they want to come here to check in."

As a modern, fully trained assistant-type Rotom, it had no trouble understanding online content.

In terms of intelligence, it was no different from a human.

In fact, when it came to navigating the internet, Rotom was exceptionally skilled.

If it weren't for the strict rule at Rotom School prohibiting students from posting comments online, Rotom figured its forum rank would be pretty high by now.

"Oh, right, that makes sense."

"It's probably because of the whole thing with beating Ting-Lu."

After thinking for a moment, Natsume recalled the incident.

Ever since moving to the farm, his phone usage had steadily declined.

Back when he was still in school, he used to cling to his phone all day.

During holidays and breaks, he'd spend most of his time lying around at home, playing on his phone.

But ever since arriving at the farm, his free time had been taken over by fluffy or slippery creatures.

Every morning, the first thing he did after waking up was pet his shiny Furret for a while. While brushing his teeth, he'd chat with Lopunny.

After meals, he'd have casual conversations with Cinccino as it diligently cleaned up, offering some encouragement.

His schedule for leaving the house was also packed.

There was the farm patrol, checking in with Sandslash, who was obsessed with farming. Then, he'd ask Mightyena and its family if anything had happened the night before.

He also made regular visits to the Ursaring den to collect whatever random objects they had picked up.

Of course, he'd exchange them for Pokéblocks.

The Ursaring family was more than happy to trade—those items were useless to them anyway.

Every so often, he'd stop by Vespiquen's hive to collect Honey.

In the afternoons, he'd check out the training grounds, then spend time interacting with the Ampharos and Dubwool herds.

After all, communication was crucial for both humans and Pokémon.

Without proper communication, misunderstandings could arise.

Like, say, changing the workers' meals from high-calorie, rich dishes to light and low-quantity "healthy meals."

That was just plain stupid.

These conversations took up a lot of time—an entire afternoon would pass just like that.

In the evenings, Natsume would finally have some time to play on his phone.

Usually, he'd have a small, cute Pokémon like Ogerpon or Emolga in his arms.

They even had a secret night-duty schedule to decide who got to sleep with him.

Natsume himself had no idea this schedule existed.

He'd only find out when he climbed into bed and saw which Pokémon had shown up that night.

Of course, there were times when the "assigned" Pokémon got kicked out.

For example, Corviknight.

No one knew the depths of Natsume's frustration when he opened his door and found that big oaf crushing his bed.

It hardened him.

His fists, that is.

Anyway—back to the topic.

With his phone usage decreasing, Natsume had stopped keeping up with online trends.

There were tons of trending topics he had no clue about.

Sometimes, he really felt like an out-of-touch old man from another planet.

"Mr. Natsume, have you considered starting a video channel or something?"

"It could attract traffic and be really beneficial for the farm's development."

Rotom suggested the idea as a matter of habit.

This was something it had learned at Rotom School.

Helping Trainers grow their ventures was part of its job.

It couldn't be helped—Rotom was just built that way.

Trainers could focus solely on battling, but Rotom had a lot more to consider. (crossed out)

Being well-versed in modern internet culture, Rotom knew exactly how to quickly boost a Trainer's visibility and income.

In today's fast-paced digital world, clout was everything.

A Trainer with a strong online presence would naturally gain attention and resources—even their personal safety could be somewhat assured.

And conveniently, Rotom was an expert at this.

From branding and scripting to filming, editing, and even account management—

Rotom could handle it all on its own.

No outside help needed.

"Oh, that, huh?"

Natsume was momentarily caught off guard by the proposal.

To be honest, he had thought about it before.

Something like Building My Farm from Scratch.

There was a time when videos like that were really popular.

The old Natsume had also dreamed of that peaceful, idyllic farm life.

But for various reasons, he never went through with it.

There were plenty of obstacles.

Lack of proper equipment and skilled personnel was one.

The sheer amount of work involved in setting up the farm was another—there simply wasn't time.

But the most important reason was...

After actually inheriting the farm, Natsume realized that the so-called peaceful rural lifestyle was absolute nonsense.

There was nothing peaceful about it!

There was always something to do, and he was constantly a mess.

The most relaxing part of his day was lying in bed at night.

As for anything else?

Not even on his mind.

But since Rotom brought it up, maybe it was worth considering.

"I mean, I guess we could, but I'm not really good at this kind of thing."

"If we do it, it'd probably just be me filming random stuff."

Although he had no objections, Natsume still gave Rotom a heads-up.

At the end of the day, recording videos wasn't something Natsume cared much about.

Whether it was income or the resources it could bring—

To him, these were just icing on the cake.

If Rotom wanted to film, Natsume had no problem with it and fully supported the idea.

But that was the extent of it. He wouldn't invest too much effort into it.

If he had the time, he'd rather be napping with his shiny Furret.

Oh, wait.

He almost forgot.

That little one was now a full-fledged muscle powerhouse.

Hugging it…

Felt absolutely awful.

Just thinking about how his once soft and adorable shiny Furret was now striking poses and flexing muscles against a Machamp—Natsume suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

This feeling…

Damn, was this a heart attack?

"No problem, Roto!"

Hearing Natsume's response, Rotom's eyes visibly lit up.

In the literal sense—they glowed.

It had completely filtered out everything except the word "agree."

As for the rest?

Ah, Rotom seemed to have momentarily crashed.

"I'll give it serious thought!"

Rotom did a mid-air twirl, looking utterly delighted.

Ever since it hatched in the north, Rotom had been raised with the belief that it should help its Trainer, ease their burdens, and solve their problems.

That had been drilled into it even when it left the Rotom Home.

So after arriving here, it instinctively wanted to do something.

Preferably something that would prove its worth as soon as possible.

Hmm, this sounded oddly familiar…

Like someone else had said something similar before.

Right, Gardevoir?

"Oh, that reminds me, there's one more little thing, Roto!"

As if suddenly recalling something, Rotom forced itself to stop zipping around.

"A Mightyena with a red scarf around its neck said it found a fainted Pokémon at the farm entrance."

"It told me to let you know, Natsume, or anyone else nearby."

"Since I was already coming to find you, I took care of it, Roto!"

"Huh?"

This… was a small thing?

Just as Natsume had started to relax, he slowly turned his head to look at Rotom.

Rotom, meanwhile, met his gaze with a perfectly innocent expression.

Honestly, when Natsume had seen Rotom zipping toward him like a lightning bolt, he thought something serious had happened.

But after hearing Rotom ramble about videos, he relaxed a little.

He figured it was just a newcomer getting a bit too excited and overwhelmed.

But turns out—this little guy had been holding out on him?!

Why did it feel like yet another unreliable character had joined the farm?

"I'll go take a look."

Regaining his composure, Natsume smiled.

Seeing his reaction, Rotom secretly let out a sigh of relief.

In truth, it never considered this a minor issue.

It had rushed over at full speed specifically to report it.

But somewhere along the way, the topic had veered off-course.

After all, back at Rotom School, it had accumulated so many ideas and plans that it was itching to put into action.

Now that the opportunity had finally come, it just got a little… overexcited.

Once it finished talking about the videos, it realized its mistake.

So, it tried to slip the important part in as an afterthought.

Which, well…

Was incredibly awkward.

Honestly, Rotom really wanted to find a hole to crawl into.

If it were possible, it'd even look for a time machine.

"Kirlia."

"Kirluu."

At Natsume's call, a petite figure appeared beside him.

If Gardevoir was an undeniable psychic queen,

Then Kirlia was a psychic maiden.

Having just begun mastering its psychic abilities, Kirlia was now showing its potential both in battle and everyday life.

Back when it was a Ralts, aside from teleportation for self-defense, its other moves had been rather unimpressive.

Promising, but nothing outstanding yet.

But after evolving into Kirlia, the future psychic queen's brilliance was beginning to shine through.

Before, Natsume had always relied on Gardevoir for teleportation.

But since she spent a lot of time researching Pokéblock recipes, he decided to switch things up and use Kirlia instead.

Unlike its siblings, this little one spent most of its days wandering around the farm—

And recording Corviknight's trash talk.

Yes, it was that Ralts who had secretly taken notes on the battle sidelines.

A Corviknight fangirl, perhaps?

At the very least, when it came to collecting and documenting trash talk, Kirlia was more dedicated than most hardcore celebrity fans.

"Can you take me to the farm entrance, Kirlia?"

"Kirluu."

It's an honor to assist you, Natsume.

Lifting the hem of its dress, Kirlia displayed the elegance of a refined young lady.

It was hard to imagine that this same Kirlia, when in battle, would hurl trash talk with a bright smile.

That was something its esteemed senior, Corviknight, had taught it.

Apparently, the contrast made a greater impact during fights.

And Kirlia took those lessons very seriously.

So in daily life, it worked hard to be a perfect lady.

No way was it going to turn out like its siblings.

Even if they were strong, and even if Kirlia loved them—

That didn't stop it from disapproving of them.

One was a workaholic with constant anxiety unless occupied.

The other was a lazy mutt who struggled with emotional regulation when things went wrong.

"Kirluu."

A blue light flickered as Kirlia, perched on Natsume's shoulder, wrapped him in psychic energy.

After scanning the surroundings to pinpoint the destination, it activated teleportation.

Compared to Slowking or Gardevoir's near-instantaneous teleportation, Kirlia's had a slight delay.

Maybe because of its personality—it didn't like rushing things.

In a way, that could be considered… a strength?

When Natsume appeared at the farm entrance, the Mightyena family immediately gathered around him.

The ever-goofier Mightyena father wagged his tail like a propeller, circling Natsume in excitement.

He even tried standing on his hind legs to paw at Natsume's coat.

Only to be firmly pushed down by Natsume's hand.

Compared to him, the elder Mightyena brother standing calmly nearby felt much more mature and reliable.

"So, what's the situation with this little one?"

Shifting his gaze from the Mightyena family, Natsume looked toward the small, slightly timid figure sitting nearby.

A Purrloin, huh…

That was rare.

Yes, the Pokémon Mightyena had found at the farm entrance was a Purrloin.

No one knew why it had collapsed there, but Mightyena had carried it back.

After being taken care of for a while, it had regained consciousness.

But for some reason, it seemed rather shy and reserved?

When Natsume looked over, its ears twitched—

And it curled up even tighter, hugging its knees.

Honestly, there wasn't much to explain.

It had simply… fainted from hunger.

Purrloin wanted to say that.

But at the moment, it had no idea how to begin.

"Woof."

Taking small, measured steps, the elder Mightyena walked to Natsume's side and offered a simple explanation.

There wasn't much to tell.

He had just found this little one while patrolling.

And the way he had found it…

Well, it was certainly an interesting pose.

Face-down on the ground, one paw stretched forward—pointing directly at the farm's gate.

So, Mightyena had picked it up and brought it back.

The elder Mightyena, having finished his explanation, quietly stepped aside. In passing, he casually swiped his paw at his overexcited father, yanking him away.

Now's not the time to disturb Natsume, you dumb old man.

"Hello, I'm Natsume, the owner of this farm."

"Did something happen to you?"

Sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of Purrloin, Natsume gazed at the little Pokémon with curiosity.

Since the farm had expanded, plenty of Pokémon had come seeking shelter.

He had seen all sorts—both normal and eccentric ones.

But this was the first time he'd encountered a Pokémon that had starved itself unconscious right at the farm's entrance.

Purrloin lifted its head, first meeting Natsume's sincere gaze, then glancing toward the elder Mightyena.

After hesitating for a few seconds, it slowly began explaining its situation.

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