Pokemon: I'm a Farmer

Unlike Swellow and Machamp, Politoed completely shut down after the battle ended, feeling like its performance had been utterly disappointing.

Compared to Swellow and Machamp's impressive showings, Politoed had been thoroughly crushed by Spiritomb—proving that nothing stings quite like a direct comparison.

But in truth, this was also because Politoed had never pursued power as seriously as Swellow and Machamp.

It would always complete the training tasks Rex assigned, but once that was done, it would return to a leisurely life, pampered by its devoted Poliwag underlings.

Rex hadn't minded that, as long as the daily training plans were followed. Still, it was no surprise that Politoed lagged behind Machamp, who trained at a relentless pace.

After being manhandled by Spiritomb, Politoed's pride took a hit. For the first time, it couldn't tolerate its own weakness.

And watching the intense match between Machamp and Lucario made it crystal clear—Politoed had already fallen behind this younger teammate.

From then on, Politoed began pushing itself hard—waking up before dawn every day to train its body and polish its moves.

Naturally, Rex welcomed this change. Any improvement in Politoed's strength could only be a good thing.

The hard work of these three "big brothers" had also inspired the other Pokémon. Even the delinquent trio—Ursaring, Roserade, and Bayleef—started cutting back on their time outside and began training in earnest.

Their main motivation? Gaining the strength to venture deeper into Petalburg Woods. The Pokémon living in the inner forest were no joke, and at their current level, Ursaring and company could get seriously hurt.

So the trio planned to ride the current training wave and power up enough to explore the deeper woods—and hopefully return with more treasures for their trainer.

As for Shiny Flaaffy and Haunter, Rex let them do their own thing. As long as Rex was around the farm, Haunter wouldn't hide in his shadow all day. Its favorite pastime was bothering Shiny Flaaffy.

Haunter had excellent skill mastery. Every move it knew was practiced to a high degree of proficiency.

In contrast, Shiny Flaaffy wasn't great at learning new moves, but the power behind each of its attacks was terrifying.

Rex believed that once Flaaffy evolved into Ampharos, even a single Thunderbolt might seriously injure Swellow. If Flaaffy's power kept increasing, Swellow might not even dare to take a direct hit anymore.

Rex's plan for Haunter was to have it learn as many moves as possible from the other Pokémon on the farm. Once it mastered them, Haunter could start combining moves creatively in battle—something that would catch any opponent off guard.

Shiny Flaaffy's role, on the other hand, was to be like a stationary artillery mage. With its monstrous attack power, one hit was often all it would need.

This approach suited Flaaffy perfectly—those tiny legs weren't built for speed anyway.

As for Milotic, Gyarados, and Lapras, Rex didn't intervene much beyond giving them rainbow energy cubes.

He felt Milotic was more suited to managing the other two than he was. Now, Gyarados and Lapras were her two dependable subordinates.

Milotic had since led Gyarados and Lapras beyond the cove and out into the open sea. The boundless ocean offered them a wide range of encounters—some solitary, like wandering rogue Pokémon, and others in groups, like schools of Sharpedo.

Though they met many friendly Pokémon, they also ran into plenty of hostility. Battles were inevitable. Most threats were handled by Gyarados and Lapras, and Milotic rarely needed to intervene.

To the three of them, Jade Moon Lake was now just a resting place. The vast ocean had become their true domain.

Meanwhile, the Pokémon Rex paid the least attention to—Lileep—ended up surprising him.

After being given some rainbow energy cubes, it successfully evolved into Cradily.

Rex actually felt a little guilty toward Lileep. It had spent nearly all its time in the greenhouse, and he had barely paid it any attention.

As for the reason behind its evolution, Rex had a theory. Ever since the greenhouse was built, the number of Jumpluff living there had increased steadily. All of them had evolved in that space rich with life energy.

This suggested that Grass-type Pokémon didn't necessarily need battles to level up in such an environment.

Lileep, being part Grass-type, had been absorbing that life energy daily inside the greenhouse. Over time, it had accumulated enough to evolve into Cradily.

That said, Cradily's combat strength wasn't very impressive. As a resurrected fossil Pokémon with almost no battle experience, it had little interest in fighting. To it, battle was just a means of securing food.

Now that it lived on Rex Farm, where food was plentiful, it had little motivation to grow stronger.

Cradily's favorite pastime was quietly watching the Jumpluff play, soaking in the life energy they released with their Grassy Terrain move.

To better fit in with the Jumpluff group, Cradily had even learned Grassy Terrain itself. Sometimes, it joined in to help generate life energy and didn't just freeload off the others.

After understanding what Cradily wanted for its life, Rex gave up on trying to train it for battle. He decided to let it live however it was happiest at the farm.

Rex no longer lacked frontline Pokémon. There was no need to force Cradily into something it didn't want.

Oh, and there was still one "fixture" left at Rex Farm—Snorlax.

Since it spent most of its time sleeping, Rex didn't know how to train it even if he wanted to.

Fortunately, Snorlax had been powerful even before it was captured. Rex now saw it as a kind of hidden guardian—part of the farm's deep foundation.

As long as it had food, Snorlax could continue growing stronger even in its sleep. It would serve as the protector of the farm whenever Rex took his main Pokémon on the road.

Rex believed Snorlax would never allow anyone to damage the place that gave it food and shelter. And if someone ever did try something, Snorlax would unleash a level of power that would send them running.

(End of chapter)