Pokémon: Starting with a Pokémon Ranch.

Chapter 137 Moon Lake, it's been like this for a month already?

Meanwhile, on the other side...

After sneaking out of the cabin, Squirtle and Growlithe arrived at Moon Lake and began their daily training as usual.

Since Caterpie moved to the Sky Tree, it has rarely trained with Squirtle and the others at night. As a result, the midnight scroll-stealing duo is now down to just two Pokémon.

Once training began, Growlithe followed Squirtle's instructions, unleashing various Fire-type moves at it. Squirtle countered with water spray, and soon the area around Moon Lake was shrouded in mist.

Just then, Su Yu came out of the house. He looked at the Farfetch'd sleeping against the wall next to the door. Since the weather warmed up, Farfetch'd had moved back to sleep near the door.

However, after Su Yu's persuasion, Farfetch'd chose the side door inside the house, which could be considered a compromise. Because Su Yu felt that... if Farfetch'd stayed outside to rest, passersby might think that Su Yu had hired a doorman.

After thinking it over for a while, Su Yu decided not to wake up the big green duck and just let it sleep.

If the commotion in the middle of the night was caused by Squirtle and Growlithe, then Su Yu didn't need to worry about his safety; he could just go and check it out himself.

Caterpie, who was secretly watching Growlithe and Squirtle train from a tree, spotted Su Yu.

Seeing Su Yu suddenly wake up, Caterpie first glanced at Squirtle, then at Su Yu, and frowned in confusion.

After some struggle, Caterpie decided not to secretly inform Squirtle and the others, since Su Yu had already discovered them anyway.

It might as well just pretend it knows nothing.

Thinking this, the green caterpillar manipulated the wind, gliding to Su Yu's side and finally landing on his shoulder. Seeing this, Su Yu asked in surprise:

"Hey... Caterpillar? Why aren't you asleep either?"

"Hiss~"

The caterpillar casually made up an excuse to brush it off. Su Yu didn't pay much attention; he nodded and said:

"Is that so..."

"Let's go find Squirtle and the others together."

With that, Su Yu led the green caterpillar toward Moon Lake.

Just as Yang Hao had said, Moon Lake was indeed shrouded in mist, with occasional flashes of fire within it.

It's no wonder Yang Hao felt something was off. If Su Yu hadn't known beforehand that it was Squirtle and the others who caused it, he would have thought his ranch was haunted.

From a distance, Su Yu couldn't see what Squirtle and the others were doing inside. Only when Su Yu got closer could he see clearly.

"So...they were secretly training up there?"

Su Yu was quite surprised to see Squirtle and Growlithe practicing their moves together.

"No wonder Growlithe's proficiency with Fire-type moves has improved so quickly lately; it even learned Flamethrower a few days ago. So... Squirtle has been teaching it here."

Su Yu was quite pleased to see the Pokémon on the ranch working so hard. However, he was also curious whether the Pokémon's all-nighters would harm their health.

Su Yu didn't know if Squirtle's health would be harmed by staying up late, but Growlithe often felt sleepy during the day. He wondered if this was due to the dog's own behavior or from staying up late.

Squirtle showed almost no signs of getting sleepy in front of Su Yu, which made Su Yu very envious.

After training all night, he can still work normally during the day. Frankly, that's the kind of excellent quality a top-notch worker should possess. Squirtle, you're so lazy! How can you work so hard?

Su Yu was now actually glad she hadn't woken up the big green duck in the first place. If the duck had found out... how much of a shock it would have suffered...

Even the other Pokémon on the ranch might not be able to sleep well at night anymore once they find out. After all, anyone would feel uneasy knowing that someone is secretly working hard while you're sleeping.

Perhaps this is the power of involution.

Meanwhile, Squirtle and Growlithe, who were training, also noticed Su Yu's arrival, but the two Pokémon reacted differently.

Squirtle thought to itself, "Oh no!" It hadn't expected that after sneaking up in the middle of the night to train for so long, they would still be discovered.

This made Squirtle start to worry, wondering if it would be able to sneak off to train like this again.

"Awoo~!"

The Growlithe dog, however, was rather naive, thinking that Su Yu had come to train with them.

The Growlithe, panting, ran up to Su Yu and tugged at his pants, showing no awareness that its secret training had been discovered.

Seeing this, Squirtle sighed and facepalmed. What a silly dog. He was speechless.

Su Yu smiled helplessly, squatted down, and ruffled Growlithe's hair. No wonder Growlithe is called man's best friend; such an easy-to-be-fooled dog that unconditionally trusts its trainer is bound to become a best friend.

Seeing that Squirtle still seemed hesitant, Su Yu smiled and said:

"Alright, do you think I'd blame you? Actually, I won't."

"I'm actually quite pleased that you're so dedicated to this training. However, you also need to take care of your health while training. Tomorrow I'll go to town and call Miss Joey over to give you all a physical exam."

Hearing this, Squirtle finally relaxed. But... Nurse Joy?

When Squirtle was a firefighter in town, he had met those medical staff before, and even became quite familiar with some of them.

However, the Joey that Su Yu mentioned should be the one who was recently sent to the town. The original Joey from Seagull Town seems to have left and gone back to study.

"By the way, when did you guys start sneaking up in the middle of the night to train? I'm quite curious."

Looking at Squirtle, Su Yu said this.

Upon hearing this, Squirtle, whose expression had just softened, froze again. It scratched its head and smiled somewhat sheepishly, saying:

"Jenny, Jenny..." It started as soon as I arrived.

Upon hearing this, Su Yu's eyes widened. "You little brat, you just arrived at the ranch and you're already starting to play with the Growlithe and the others?"

"As expected... it's you."

So, Squirtle and the others have been secretly training at night for over a month now. I've really let my guard down without even realizing it.

"Awoo~!"

The Growlithe dog standing nearby didn't seem to care about the matter. It tugged at Su Yu's pants a few times, expressing its own thoughts.

"Hmm? Want to play frisbee?"

Su Yu glanced at the small house behind him. Was it too late to play frisbee at this hour? What if he woke up the Pokémon inside?

Oh right, it seems like we can use Caterpie's ability to create a wind wall to block out sound, right?

Thinking this, Su Yu expressed his thoughts to the caterpillar. The caterpillar immediately nodded and replied:

"Hiss!" Minor problem.

Then, the caterpillar built a wind wall around Moon Lake.

Su Yu patted the Growlithe's back and said:

"Alright, go quietly back to the cabin and fetch the frisbee. You can manage something this small, right?"

"Awoo~!" Growlithe nodded excitedly, indicating that it would take care of the situation.

(End of this chapter)