Pokémon: Starting with a Pokémon Ranch.

Chapter 28 Will the Youthful Green Caterpillar Dream of Rayquaza (3000)

That evening.

To welcome the caterpillars, Su Yu went to the town's supermarket and bought a lot of ingredients, then made a hot pot.

Without expending energy to specifically create food with special effects, the things Su Yu makes generally have no other effects; at most, eating too much of them can improve one's health.

Therefore, although the hot pot was quite spicy, the Pokémon did not breathe fire from the spiciness.

It is worth mentioning that when Su Yu was preparing the hot pot, Frost Fairy played a very important guiding role.

After all, Alcremie comes from a cake shop background, and before coming to the ranch, she was also proficient in various kitchen skills under the guidance of the cake shop manager.

Since Alcremie's guidance, the Pokémon no longer have to eat those terrible dishes they used to eat. Secret-recipe spicy snacks and Stargazing Pie are all a thing of the past.

If we're really comparing, Daiying's place isn't even a food wasteland; Suyu's is.

As a result, this little cook became the most popular person on the entire ranch. Her arrival significantly improved everyone's quality of life, allowing them to eat real gourmet food.

Frost Gate...

Thank you, Alcremie Fairy, for bringing us delicious food.

Among them, Growlithe was the most sincere. After all, it had been tormented by Su Yu's secret-recipe spicy snacks before, but it had no choice but to eat them in order to become stronger.

With Alcremie joining the kitchen, Growlithe will suffer much less.

I served Growlithe a bowl with lots of meat, and also served each of the other Pokémon a bowl. As soon as Growlithe saw the dinner, it lowered its head and started working hard.

Alcremie and Tropical Dragon weren't in a hurry, but Caterpie curiously glanced at the food in the bowl.

"What's wrong? Is it not to your liking? Or should I change it to an energy cube?" Su Yu asked upon seeing this.

He wasn't sure what Caterpie liked to eat, so he chose hot pot, since anything can be made into hot pot. And if Caterpie didn't like it, there wasn't much else at home, but there were plenty of Pokémon food options.

And, it seems that green caterpillars can also eat grass cake?

However, the grass cake at home was all gone, so Su Yu would have to make some more if she wanted to eat it.

Seeing this, Alcremie took out the leaves it had picked when it went to play in the forest with Tropius and handed them to Caterpie.

"Mama~" Caterpillars probably like to eat leaves, right?

While playing in the forest, Alcremie thought of this and therefore picked some leaves to bring back.

"Hissing~!"

The green caterpillar nodded; it did indeed prefer leaves to human food.

Upon hearing this, Su Yu fell into deep thought. It seemed he would have to develop a new food specifically for the caterpillars' tastes another day.

For example, leaf cakes?

After dinner, Growlithe stayed with Su Yu in the warm house. It lay at Su Yu's feet, with the flickering fire behind them.

Alcremie went to play in the forest behind the mountain with Tropical Dragon again. In the sheepfold, the Woolstaff used cotton to defend themselves and started jumping and butting against each other.

The hairy crabs living on the cliff face remain remarkably laid-back, gathering together to gaze at the stars and moon. As long as the cliff exists, they almost never leave, and hardly ever move around.

All the Pokémon on the ranch had their own things to do, except for Caterpie. After eating, it lay idly in the room, not moving at all.

At this time of year, it would usually be anxiously hiding from bird Pokémon in the forest. Now that it's out of the forest, it suddenly relaxes and feels like there's nothing left to do.

Seeing this, Su Yu put down his book. Recently, he had been learning about the process of raising a lamb as a mount.

He looked at the caterpillar and asked:

"What's wrong? Feeling like you have nothing to do?"

"Hiss..." The green caterpillar nodded.

"Next time, I'll have Tropius and Alcremie take you out to play. Or, if you want to go out for training or play now, I can come with you?"

"Now that you're here, you're part of the ranch too. If you need anything, just tell me. Alcremie, Tropical Dragon, and I will always be there for you."

"Hiss..."

Are they your ranchmates?

It likes the name very much.

But that's just its personality; that's how the caterpillar is. It rarely initiates conversations or plays with people, even though it values ​​its friends on the ranch. But... it just can't bring itself to do it.

Therefore, after some thought, the caterpillar temporarily rejected this option.

So what can it do?

If someone who's just arrived starts training on their very first day, that would be too tiring.

Since things have come to this, why don't we just take a nap?

Thinking this, the caterpillar jumped onto the top of the wardrobe next to it, curled up, and gradually fell asleep.

Seeing this, Su Yu thought it was just Caterpie's personality. After all, in the forest, there was always danger around, so Caterpie found it hard to trust others and express its feelings.

Having always been a lone wolf, Caterpillar seems to have gotten used to this life without friends.

"It seems we need to get Alcremie and the others to keep a close eye on Caterpie."

Su Yu thought to himself.

And that very night...

For some reason, the caterpillar had a dream.

In its dream, it seemed to have gone to a place where mythical beasts were everywhere, but the caterpillar didn't recognize any of them.

The giant Pokémon, its body covered in flowing lava and adorned with red and black stripes, exuded a menacing aura, while the enormous, deep blue fish floating in the air was equally formidable.

Besides these, there are many other mythical beasts here, some white, some sky blue, and some with weeds growing on their shoulders and feet. There's even a yellow electric mouse in the corner.

Seeing this, the caterpillar knew it was dreaming. But it shook its head, unable to understand why it would have such a strange dream.

In the center of the red and blue legendary beasts, there is a Pokémon with dark green and black stripes, and long golden ribbons are constantly fluttering around this Pokémon.

"Hiss, hiss..." Is this... the legendary Pokémon Rayquaza that Su Yu described during the day?

Caterpie's eyes showed reverence. However, before it could even approach, Rayquaza glared at it, and then the dream vanished.

"Hiss...!"

Startled awake from his dream, the caterpillar glanced outside; it was still late at night.

Su Yu and Frost Fairy had already gone to sleep. Seeing this, Caterpie went outside alone and looked at the stars in the sky.

As they watched, the phantom of Rayquaza seemed to reappear before their eyes, startling Caterpie.

This time, the phantom did not disappear, and the caterpillar just stared at the phantom in the starry sky.

Until Su Yu arrived.

"What's wrong? Why are you here so late at night instead of sleeping?"

Su Yu had actually woken up when he heard the green caterpillar on the wardrobe making a noise. However, he put on an extra layer of clothing, since it was the dead of winter.

Upon seeing Su Yu's arrival, the green caterpillar told him about the dream he had just had. Su Yu's expression turned strange upon hearing the green caterpillar's account.

"The red legendary Pokémon and the blue legendary Pokémon...aren't those the two Hoenn idiots?"

"And that green mythical beast..."

To confirm whether the legendary Pokémon in Caterpie's dream was Rayquaza, Su Yu and Caterpie checked some details of Rayquaza's appearance again, and the results were completely consistent.

"But Caterpie has never seen those legendary Pokémon before, so why is it dreaming about them? Could it be... because of the legendary Pokémon template?"

This was the only explanation that Su Yu could come up with.

Perhaps the legendary Pokémon template wanted Caterpie to know what Rayquaza looks like, which is why it guided it to have such a dream.

That's not surprising.

"So why did you suddenly decide to go out and look at the stars?"

As he spoke, Su Yu sat down on the grass next to the caterpillar and looked up at the stars.

The stars on the ranch were indeed much brighter than those in the city, and the sky was much wider.

There were even shooting stars streaking across the sky. It couldn't possibly be... Jirachi, could it?

Hearing Su Yu's question, the caterpillar didn't answer. It stared at the stars for a long time, and finally asked Su Yu:

"Hiss... Hiss?" You tell me, can I really evolve into Rayquaza?

Upon hearing this, Su Yu understood. So that's what it was about.

Perhaps it was because he felt inferior after seeing Rayquaza's true form? Or perhaps he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to evolve into something like Rayquaza?

Su Yu didn't know, and he wasn't sure, that Caterpie would definitely evolve into Rayquaza.

After all, the purpose of the legendary Pokémon template is only to help Pokémon grow; it doesn't mean the system guarantees that they will definitely evolve into the corresponding legendary Pokémon.

So Su Yu shook his head and said:

"I don't know if you can evolve into Rayquaza. After all... this is a path that has never been taken before, and I am just an ordinary rancher."

"But I know I'll definitely help you along the way. And the Pokémon on the ranch will accompany you every step of the way."

"Even if we don't evolve into Rayquaza in the end, by then we'll have experienced and grown a lot together. For me, that will be a journey without regrets."

As he spoke, Su Yu put his hands behind his head and lay down on the grass, saying:

"To be honest, I never imagined I could run a ranch like this. After all, before that, I was just a city dweller."

"Coming here and meeting you all was something I never expected, but I'm very satisfied with my life now, perhaps because of you all."

"So I think that even if the final result isn't achieved, if the process is beautiful enough, that's enough. Of course, this doesn't mean you can't reach Rayquaza's level; it's just an example."

Upon hearing this, the caterpillar fell into deep thought. Then, it nodded, indicating its agreement with Su Yu's point of view.

"By the way, why are you so obsessed with evolving into Rayquaza? I've always been curious about that. Generally speaking, no Caterpie would have such an idea, right?"

Su Yu asked curiously.

This question took the caterpillar back to when it was just born. Back then, it too would climb to the top of a branch and gaze at the starry sky in the still of the night.

During that time, it had to carefully avoid all kinds of bird Pokémon every day. Only when the bird Pokémon were asleep at night could it have a chance to see the starry sky.

As for why I want to evolve into Rayquaza...

It thought it was probably because it was weak. Although it was weak at that time, it still longed for the sky.

Other than that, it probably wanted to become stronger so that it could protect its people in the forest.

Because almost all Caterpie face constant pursuit from bird-type Pokémon from the moment they are born. One wrong move and they will perish on the spot.

Therefore, Caterpie's dream since childhood has been to create a forest that bird Pokémon dare not enter, so that the Caterpie creatures there can grow freely without facing the threat of bird Pokémon.

……

……

(End of this chapter)