Pokémon: Starting with a Pokémon Ranch.

Chapter 112 Su Yu: I Want to Give More Wild Pokémon a Home (3000)

As they walked, the green caterpillar acted as Lu Li's guide.

Their first stop was the orchard guarded by the Screw Mole and the Scythe.

This orchard has only been established for a short time, and its layout still looks somewhat rudimentary.

These fruit tree saplings had only been planted recently. Su Yu had also entrusted the task of watering the fruit trees to Squirtle. At this moment, the soil under the saplings was still moist.

After bringing Lu Li to the orchard, the caterpillar chirped a few times into the orchard. Not long after, the mantis emerged from the depths of the orchard.

Along with it emerged a screw-like gopher that had crawled out of the ground.

"Hiss hiss." These are the wild Pokémon you're looking for.

The green caterpillar said this to Lu Li.

Although he was a forest ranger, Lu Li did not know any Pokémon language, but he could tell what Caterpie wanted to express from its general movements.

After comparing the two Pokémon with the previously recorded list, Lu Li confirmed their identities. He then took out his hunting sniper rifle and probed the two Pokémon.

The result of this probe surprised Lu Li greatly.

"Are you not experiencing any dissatisfaction or unhappiness?"

Then there's only one possibility. That is, the screw-like gophers and flying mantises are quite content with their current life on the ranch.

But weren't you all "tricked" by Su Yu into coming to work at the ranch?

Do you think you can live a better life on this ranch than you did in the forest?

This puzzled Lu Li greatly.

In his understanding, these Pokémon should have a pretty enjoyable life in the forest, right? And when they're in the forest, they don't need to "work" for humans.

What is it about this ranch that makes these Pokémon willing to come?

If the Screw Mole and its friends had to answer this question, the first reason they would give would definitely be... television.

Since their first encounter, the screw-like mole and its friends have developed a strong interest in this little black box that can play hundreds of channels.

Now, every night, whenever possible, they go to find Su Yu and ask him for a fruit milk jelly so that they can shrink and go inside to watch TV.

If we asked a screw mole to answer other reasons besides these, it would probably be food and environment.

The ranch belonging to Su Yu's family is not only far better than the place where the screw mole used to live, but also provides delicious food every day.

Whether it was the diverse flavors of the energy cubes or Su Yu's home-style stir-fries, they all firmly grasped the stomach of the Screw Gopher, making the Screw Gopher, who had only ever eaten ordinary tree fruits before, feel incredibly excited.

This feeling is probably like being forced to eat vegetables by your parents every day at home, and then growing up and having your own pocket money so you can eat all kinds of junk food like fried chicken and hamburgers every day.

So for the Screw Mole, even if it means working for Su Yu, it's worth it. Especially since Su Yu treats them very well, and it's clear he genuinely cares for them.

Therefore, the screw-like gopher is quite satisfied with its current life, as is the flying mantis next to it.

However, what Scyther values ​​even more are the Pokémon friends it made on this ranch.

The most important one is naturally Caterpie. The two have been getting along very well recently and often agree to train together in the back mountains.

After seeing the Screw Mole and the Scyther, the Caterpie brought Lu Li to Moon Lake.

Here, the bigtooth raccoon is constantly going back and forth between the lake and the shore, seemingly searching for some materials to reinforce the dam it has just built.

"Yari~"

Upon seeing the caterpillar, the big-toothed raccoon waved at it while holding a twig in its mouth.

Meanwhile, Lu Li took out a hunting buoy, and similarly, no negative emotional energy was detected on the Big Tooth Civet.

"Same here... Do you really enjoy life on this ranch?" Lu Li murmured to himself.

This was something he had never seen before; he had never learned about such a situation in his textbooks when he was studying at the forest ranger school.

After all, it's rare for ranchers to actively recruit wild Pokémon to help on their ranches.

Most ranchers are already doing quite well if they can feed the Pokémon on their ranches.

If they had to choose, they would prefer the high-quality Pokémon sold by other ranchers to unbred wild Pokémon.

The green caterpillar, unaware of Lu Li's thoughts, led the way and soon brought Lu Li to the edge of the fishpond.

Here, Dongdong Mouse and Patch Liz are constantly charging the energy storage device. Meanwhile, Su Yu is putting the fish food he prepared earlier into the feeding machine, which then dispenses it.

The reason for using a feeder is that it distributes fish food more evenly than by hand. At that moment, large ripples spread across the water's surface, like raindrops falling into the pond.

A large amount of fish food was evenly scattered into the fishpond, and upon seeing this, the fish rushed to the surface and frantically scrambled for the food.

Seeing that the caterpillar had brought Lu Li over, Su Yu stopped staring at the water. He looked at Lu Li and asked with a smile:

"So, it seems you've already taken a stroll around the ranch. So, regarding the investigation... any results yet?"

"I haven't mistreated those wild Pokémon that came from the forest, have I?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Li nodded and said:

"No, on the contrary, they are very happy here."

"I think this could become another new case in the history of the League regarding the treatment of wild Pokémon, a completely new way of coexisting with Pokémon. Once I get back, I will immediately begin writing the report and submit it."

Hearing this, Su Yu was stunned. Is my ranch really that exaggerated?

With your vivid imagination, you must have gotten full marks on reading comprehension tests before becoming a forest ranger, right?

Lu Li then explained that he had other tasks to complete and couldn't stay at Su Yu's ranch for long. He said he would make time to visit Su Yu separately later.

In response, Su Yu said:

"Could you do me a favor later? As you can see, my ranch is intentionally taking in wild Pokémon. It's just... the number of Pokémon we've taken in so far isn't enough."

"So if you encounter any new wild Pokémon in the future, you can mention it to them. If they are willing to work on my ranch, I will provide them with food and shelter, and do my best to improve their quality of life."

Su Yu had planned this for some time. The Dedric and the others were a kind of experiment. The results now prove that the idea of ​​recruiting wild Pokémon to help manage the ranch is entirely feasible.

So his next step is to recruit, or rather... take in more wild Pokémon to help him manage his ranch.

However, Lu Li was stumped by this matter. He said:

"This...this isn't quite right, is it?"

Are you asking me to bring all the wild Pokémon in my territory to your ranch?

If all these Pokémon come to your ranch, what's the point of being a forest ranger? The job of a forest ranger is primarily to protect the Pokémon in the forest, but what if there are no Pokémon left in the forest...?

If you do that, I'll have no Pokémon left to protect!

And if you do this, wouldn't trainers be unable to catch any wild Pokémon in this forest?

In response to Lu Li's concerns, Su Yu replied:

"If they all come to my ranch, you can just stay here with me and protect them. Isn't that also protecting the wild Pokémon in the forest?"

"Whether it's compliant or not, you're still here to supervise us."

Okay, that makes a lot of sense...

"Furthermore, even if these Pokémon come to my ranch, they will still be wild Pokémon. If any trainer wants to come and catch them, I will absolutely not stop them."

"On the contrary, it's more beneficial for wild Pokémon to stay with me. At least, there's an abundance of things like Energy Cubes, which is actually an opportunity for them."

"After all, energy cubes are a kind of nutritional supplement. If they eat them regularly, their strength might improve, which would be a good thing for them."

Hearing this, Lu Li felt he was also persuaded. He nodded helplessly and said:

"Alright then, I'll try to help you promote it among wild Pokémon, but whether they're willing to come or not is up to them."

"It's nothing, it's already very kind of you to help me promote it."

Su Yu replied.

Whether wild Pokémon can come or not is not something Lu Li can decide.

"Oh, right, I also know a few of your seniors. Here they are."

As he spoke, Su Yu took out several business cards. These were the ones he had obtained from the rangers in his group when Yang Wen had called him to participate in the operation against the poaching gang.

"If you see these people next time you come, remember to call them along. When we were working together, they promised to patronize my goat milk business."

Upon hearing this, Lu Li was quite surprised to accept the business card that Su Yu handed him and wrote down the name on it.

He hadn't expected that this rancher... would actually know his predecessors in the ranger system?

(End of this chapter)