Pokemon Ranch in a magic world

"I didn't expect this"

Sunflower was staring at the Snorlax in front of him, more specifically at the big sleeping jaguar-like being, the Troublemakers, Lana and the little Axel on top of it.

Aiden and Helena, along with Nate, explained the Orchard to him, and he was permitted to enter the place after he was deemed safe by Tapu Bulu, who came out of the Orchard to give him a vibe check, similar to Helena's.

He should have expected what happened next the moment Tapu Bulu appeared, not only radiating Life energy, but also covered in it like a cloak.

He went to Orchard to see the place, but he and Raff didn't even pass the door.

The moment it was open, they were hit in the guts with such a gentle, but overwhelming life energy that Sunflower immediately got drunk and Raff passed out and was forced to turn on his Beastification skill.

He, now free of his drunken state after some hours, was staring at his nephew, sleeping completely relaxed, his tongue stuck out and paws covering his face like a kitten.

"He'll be fine, right? He haven't woke up yet"

Lane was by his side, nervously pacing around while sending the kid worried looks, his wife was there too, not nearly as worried while carrying a sleeping baby.

"Don't worry" Sunflower said "He's fine, his body is taking his time to absorb the life energy, he usually would take a day or too if it was back in the guild, but he'll take less time, the life energy here if much more refined"

That's true, he noticed that a while ago.

The World Tree was still too young, so its life energy was unruly and unstable, hard to digest and heavy to the body.

But the Heart Tree, or Healing Spring, was much older, with well developed roots and a fermented life energy that made him drunk the moment it touched his skin.

It was a good surprise, but now he understood the need for secrecy.

Their greedy emperor and many others would kill for the benefits of the Heart Tree.

"Guild master"

The three of them turned around to see a small ratman of the beastfolk tribe, who was standing in the entrance of the infirmary while giving the kids a nervous look.

Ratman and prey-like beastfolk always get nervous around Raff when he uses Beastification thanks to their primary instinct to run off predators.

"What is it?" he asked.

"The last group had arrived, they're waiting for you"

Right, he had managed to put a notice on the guild through his assistance to advertise the quest, many more groups than he expected had come to participate, so many he had to send another notice to make sure no more would come or there wouldn't have space for Soaring Sky's members.

He thinks the offering of free shelter and food and the introduction of Pokemon in the report might have had a bigger effect then he thought.

He left Lane to worry over his brother and followed the ratman to the now full entrance.

The smell of food reached his nose as he got closer and he saw many members of World Tree and Soaring Sky, mostly women, fuzzing over the kitchen, making him roll his eyes in amusement.

Nate had asked if it was ok to let some Pokemon practice some of their abilities while the Hunters were around since not everyone could do in normal days.

Of course they agreed, after all, who were they to interrupt the comum course of the place?

Suddenly a burning smell came to him.

"Dee!"

Oh, another failure.

He looked over and, indeed, there was a Indeedee looking defeated while giving the burnt food to one of the Pokemon waiting on the side, a Munchlax, who ate with content.

The Pokemon in training right now were the Indeedee, Pokemon that naturally had the instinct to take care of others, and a few Espurrs and Gothitas who seemed to like the idea of helping around.

Some were serving the members while others cooked (or tried) while the Raboot siblings supervised from afar and gave explanations if asked something, that is, if he understood their body language right.

He walked over to one of the tables where he saw familiar faces.

"It's a surprise to see Dark Horse's guild master around here"

It was an elderly woman with a young girl, a Skiddo and a grookey with her.

He had learned a few more species in the time he stayed there.

"Sunny dear! How have you been?"

The woman, May, got up from her seat and gave him a tight hug, while the girl waved enthusiastically to him.

Dark Horse was an entertainment guild, basically a safe haven from scammers if you want to be part of the entertainment industry or help with it, and is actually the fourth most famous guild.

You don't even have to be part of the guild to have its support, you can just sign a contract with an agent and he can help you with your career.

Most guilds have a good relationship with Dark Horse, as more than half of the known influencers of the Golden Empire came from there.

Of course, there are also exceptions, like Golden Lion, the one who likes to steal guild members with petty lies and bribes.

They made some smalltalk before he left them to meet with Nate and Soaring Sky's council, Aiden and Helena each carrying a Pokemon.

He pointedly decided to ignore the Rufflet standing on top of Helena's head, seemingly as proud as the guild master herself, and took the lead to speak since, as stated in the rules of the guilds, it was World Tree who got the quest.

"Since everyone is here" He said "We plan to start with the quest immediately, Nate have already provided the materials and the protection for when we go out there, so there's no need to worry"

As if on clue, a group of Tinkatink lead by Tinkaton appeared carrying many iron fences, and, behind them, he saw Tapu Koko, Fini and Lele flying ahead of a slow pacing Annihilape carrying a Mankey plush and a Primape plush.

Nate had introduced that one, she was one of the rescues and was usually unsettlingly quiet, but Sunflower did see her send a A rank Demonic Beast flying in the previous day.

After giving the pokemon the time to settle, Sunflower gave a few last warnings.

"It will take some days since the area of Tide Hill is big, so I do expect you all to have brought your own things, and don't cause trouble, Tapu Koko here can kill S Rank Demonic Beasts and above, so Helena and I might not be able to save you if you do anything to anger these guys"

"Ko!"

Tapu Koko hovered by his side, giving the Hunters a hard stare, voice low and threatening as electricity covered his body and the Annihilape let out a growl as she approached.

He saw many Hunters shrunk, some gave them a surprised look, others seemed excited, probably wanting to fight them.

"And finally" Sunflower said "You are free to hunt any Demonic beast in the premises, you can keep any material from your hunt but the meat, and you're also free to get a pokemon if you want to and have the cores for it, so use your free time to check on the Playground if you're interested"

That made some Hunters curious and excited, but two hands shot up.

"Why can't we keep the meat?" Asked a mage from World Tree.

"Are these four for sale?" Asked a Brawler from Soaring Sky.

These questions were left for Nate to answer.

"I have many carnivorous pokemon in the ranch" He said to the mage "So I need a lot of meat for them, the meat had also been added on the quest and rewards will be given separately to those who bring it to me"

That brought a wave of excitement to the Hunters, even though some still didn't seem to like the idea of losing a really profitable material, since Demonic Beasts meat was something that many restaurants buyed at high prices.

Nate then turned to the brawler with a rather serious expression.

"All four Tapus and Zarude are off limits" He said "They are my personal pokemon, along with a few others, and rescues like this Annihilape are up to adoption, but this girl is not interested in leaving the Ranch right now, she arrived less than a week ago and is still adapting to the environment"

The Annihilape nodded at that before giving the plushies to Nate and then walking to the door by herself, not sparing a look to anyone.

"Don't get offended if she doesn't give you any face" Nate announced as he stored the plushies in his spatial bag "Annhilapes can be like that, they are proud of their strength and most won't hear you until you prove to be stronger than them, it's a species characteristic"

The brawler didn't seem to like the answer, but nodded.

And, with that, they started the quest.

***

Raff woke up with something nudging him.

Taking his hands from his face, he found Lily of the Valley, the Lillipup, shaking him with her paws as the rest of the pack stared at him..

/Are you awake now?/ She asked, a hint of worry in her voice /Feel good?/

Right, the whole Heart Tree thing happened, he even was in his beast form, he must have startled them.

"Yeah, 'm good" He said, still a little groggy "How long was I out?"

/Four hours/ Said Atlas, the Rotom /Your uncle said that it wasn't something to worry about, but I'm glad you're awake now/

/Yeah!/ Hellion, the Houndour agreed.

/Don't scare us like that!/ Said Torn, the Zorua.

/The others might think we killed you!/ Entropy, the Poochye, added.

He could only snort at that last part.

Now more awake, he stretched, intending to leave the bed.

/Wait-/

"Argh!"

He did not have time to hear Lilly as the bed under him moved and he rolled out of it and fell with his back to the ground.

He looked at his 'bed', just to discover that it was a Snorlax.

Well, now that was new.

The pack looked at him from above Snorlax's belly, and both sides stared at each other.

"Pfff"

But none of them could hold a laugh.

Soon the room was filled with laughter as Raff returned to his original form and got up, glad that Sunny had given to him clothes with special arrays that couldn't let him destroy them when transforming.

/Hey Raff/ Lilly called /Want to look around?/

That caught his attention.

/You only had the chance to see the Nursery and didn't even see the Orchard!/ Thorn said /We want to show you the place!/

Now that sounds interesting!

"Let's go!"

He didn't hesitate in accepting it, way too curious to say no.

He didn't have the chance to properly see the place! How could he say no?

With that, they left the room to go to the entrance for breakfast. After all, an empty bag doesn't stand up.

But then he was surprised once again

"Raf!"

"Bri!?"

It was there that he unexpectedly met Bria, his best friend from the Academy.

She ran to him and he caught her when she jumped at him, they spinned around a few times before properly looking eye to eye.

"What a surprise to see you here!" She said.

"You tell me?" He chuckled "Well, saves me the time to surprise you"

He then introduced everyone.

"Guys" He said to the pack "This Bria Xanthe, the seventh princess of the Golden Empire and my best friend in the Academy"

The pokemon gave her a curious look, but gave a simple bow.

"An these guys are my pack" He said to Bria "Lily-of-the-Valley the Lillipup, Thorn the Zorua, Hellion the Houndour, Entropy the Poochyena and Atlas the Rotom"

They all gave their own salutes at the sound of their names, and so did Bria, with her usual bubbly nature.

But he did notice the sparks building up a little.

"Finger"

Immediately the girl showed him her finger and he touched it with his own, a little spark hit him and made him grow.

Bria was a Thunder Mage, but, as a member of the royal family, she had much more mana than most people, which made her magic pent up and manifest like static without her noticing, which could be bad, so he created this habit.

Whenever he said 'Finger', she'd give him her finger for him to take the static discharge and not shock anyone.

"Sorry…" She said gloomily.

"It's ok" He assured her as he shook his hand.

"How interesting!"

Atlas flew closer to her, seeming curious.

"Is this a side effect of your magic?" He asked.

"More like a side effect of being a royal" Bria grumbled "I've trying to get a magic item to help me with this, but it's hard to get something that react well with me"

The pokemon hummed while circling the girl.

"Maybe getting an Electric Type pokemon would help" He said.

This caught their attention.

"How come?" He asked.

"Electric Type Pokemon are mostly immune to Electric attacks" He said "Unless the difference in power is too great, there shouldn't be a problem, there are even some Pokemon that absorb energy to use for attacks, like Togedemaru"

His screen changed, showing a hedgehog-like creature.

"Rotom like me are also a good choice" He added "But it would be better to take a look for yourself"

"So we should definitely go exploring!" Raff announced.

And off they go, to explore the Ranch!