Pokemon: I'm a Farmer

"That's right, Lillie—you really broke through your fear!"

Mallow, who had been watching the entire moment Lillie touched Jumpluff, excitedly threw her arms around her and congratulated her.

"Lillie, wanna try touching my Togedemaru too? It's super round and squishy!"

"Don't forget my Popplio!"

"My Turtonator's open for pats as well!"

Seeing that Lillie had managed to touch Jumpluff on her own, the other kids all eagerly brought their own Pokémon closer, hoping she'd try touching them too.

"Alright, give her a break," Rex interjected, noticing the growing paleness in Lillie's face. "She's just taken a big first step. Pushing her too fast might backfire and make her more afraid again."

Hearing that, the others realized they might be overwhelming her. They quickly recalled their Pokémon, worried that they may have gone too far.

"Rex, you're back!"

At that moment, Professor Kukui entered the classroom with a smile.

"Thanks to your help, everything went pretty smoothly!" Rex greeted him warmly.

The two quickly began chatting, with Rex summarizing his experience in Verdant Cavern and especially focusing on the progress Swellow had made. He then requested a physical examination for Swellow to check for any internal changes.

As Kukui listened to the story, he nodded in thought. He hadn't expected Rex to make real progress in such a short amount of time.

Of course, that wasn't to say Rex had outdone him—just that their approaches were fundamentally different.

Kukui, as a researcher, studied Totem Pokémon to uncover the differences between them and regular Pokémon. His aim was scientific: to fully understand the process of how a Pokémon transforms into a Totem.

Rex, on the other hand, was all about practicality. He didn't care about writing academic papers—he just wanted his Swellow to break past its limits. So when his own research stalled, he simply let Swellow do the sensing itself.

In truth, Swellow's progress came down to its innate sensitivity to Z-energy and its excellent spiritual perception.

All Rex had done was point it in the right direction. What results they got from it were largely beyond his control.

"Rex, come with me to the research lab. We've got equipment there that can monitor Swellow's internal changes while it's absorbing Z-energy. We might get some valuable data out of it."

After hearing the whole story, Professor Kukui realized he'd underestimated Rex. It had never occurred to his younger self to let a Pokémon use its instincts to help research Z-energy—he'd always tried to tackle everything solo.

"Professor Kukui, can we come along too and observe the experiment?"

The students immediately perked up, their curiosity piqued. It sounded way more exciting than staying in class.

"Ahh, fine. But only if you promise not to mess around when we get there."

Faced with their eager eyes, Kukui eventually relented.

"Yay! We'll be good, promise!"

"Thank you, Professor!"

With that, Rex and the rest of Class 3-A followed Kukui toward the hills behind the Trainer School.

The area behind the school wasn't very tall—just a low forested hill—but it was thick with trees and occasionally, an Alolan Pokémon would dart through the underbrush.

Thankfully, most of the wild Pokémon were small and weak. None dared approach the rowdy group of students and Pokémon.

The students looked around with great interest. Even though the hill was close to the school, it was technically a wild area, and they didn't often get to come here.

After about ten minutes of walking, they arrived at a large building cleverly nestled into the forest. The trees surrounding it helped it blend into the environment.

"We're here. This is my research lab. When I'm not teaching your classes, this is where I spend most of my time."

"Professor Kukui, you're back!"

A young man in his twenties wearing a lab coat came to greet them as they stepped inside.

"This is Ambai, my assistant. He lives here in the lab and helps take care of everything while I'm at the school," Kukui explained.

"You flatter me, Professor. It's an honor just to learn from you," Ambai said modestly.

Soon the group arrived in a sleek, high-tech room filled with unfamiliar instruments.

"Rex, go ahead and bring out your Swellow."

Kukui guided them to one particular machine, then looked over to Rex.

"Alright, Professor."

Rex released Swellow, who looked around the room curiously but obediently stepped into the designated position.

Kukui then attached several leads from the machine to different parts of Swellow's body—clearly meant to monitor its internal energy flow.

"Okay, Rex. Have Swellow start absorbing Z-energy."

After tapping away at the terminal for a while, Kukui brought up a 3D projection of Swellow's body in midair.

"You're up, Swellow!" Rex called out.

Upon receiving the command, Swellow began trying to extract the thin strands of Z-energy from the air and draw them into itself.

Because it was still a new ability for Swellow, it took a while before the energy began trickling in.

But soon, glowing dots could be seen slowly moving into Swellow's virtual projection, representing the energy being absorbed—though the amount was still quite limited.

"Incredible… it's exactly the same. This energy is identical to what we've found in Z-Crystals!"

Kukui typed rapidly, comparing the data from Swellow to previous readings from Z-Crystals. The match was undeniable—they were the same energy.

(End of Chapter)