Pokémon: Starting with a Pokémon Ranch.

Chapter 5 The Arrival of the Construction Team

The story begins when Growlithe was kicked out to play with the Wooloo.

When Growlithe first appeared, the Woolwich sheep weren't familiar with it and kept a certain distance from it.

However, it wasn't long before the two sides were playing together. The Wooloos curled up into bouncy little balls of fur, hopping and jumping on the grass. Growlithe, seemingly wanting to show off its special ability, tried to unleash the Fire-type move "Ember" to the side.

At first, the use of "Ember" was not successful. After all, Growlithe was still a new Pokémon, and at this point, it could only breathe out tiny flames.

Growlithe was initially a little disappointed. But seeing this, the Wooloo curled up into balls and gathered around to cheer Growlithe on.

Encouraged, Growlithe tried again. Finally, by chance, "Spark" actually worked.

A small flame shot out of the Growlithe's mouth, and since it was winter and the grass on the prairie was still quite dry. The flame instantly ignited the surrounding pasture.

And then... that was it. The flames ignited everything around them, and things turned out exactly as Su Yu had initially seen them.

Upon seeing the fire, Su Yu quickly grabbed a bucket and rushed to fetch water to extinguish it, while his Growlithe also desperately tried to help. However, this was a drop in the ocean compared to the rapidly growing blaze.

Fortunately, pastoral areas are very sensitive to fires, and it's common for help to come from all sides when one area is in trouble. Not long after, Uncle Yang from the neighboring ranch arrived riding a Flying-type Pokémon. As soon as he landed, he released a Golduck from its Poké Ball.

With the help of the Golduck, the fire was quickly extinguished. But even with timely reinforcements, Su Yu's ranch cabin was already mostly burned down.

Seeing the devastation of the fire, Su Yu couldn't help but feel relieved. Thank goodness this was a world with Pokémon; if it weren't for Pokémon, how far would the fire have spread?

Seeing this, Uncle Yang assumed Su Yu was grieving over the house fire. He said:

"Alright, you've lived in this house for so long, it's time to build a new one."

"Do you need me to contact a construction team for you? I know a really good, incredibly strong construction team; the houses they build are of very good quality!"

Upon hearing this, Su Yu couldn't help but feel sorry for his wallet. He asked:

"How much does this kind of construction team cost? Is it very expensive?"

"Generally speaking, it shouldn't be a problem, but your house has already caught fire once, and you have a Fire-type Pokémon at home, so if you're going to build another one, you should probably consider using fire-resistant materials, right?"

"The bulk of the cost will likely be in these materials. If it's just building a small house, it might cost... fifty or sixty thousand?"

Fifty or sixty thousand?

After deducting the 40,000 Alliance Coins spent on buying the woolly sheep and other ordinary sheep, Su Yu only had this amount of money left.

But if this money is spent, won't Su Yu have to live a frugal life for a while?

Thinking of this, Su Yu looked at the Growlithe beside him and felt a surge of anger. But there was nothing he could do; he couldn't very well build another wooden house only to have it burn down again by accident, could he?

Meanwhile, the Growlithe seemed to know it had made a mistake, keeping its head down and trying to make itself invisible, as if afraid that Su Yu would notice it at this moment.

When Su Yu looked over, Growlithe twitched and lowered its head even further.

"...Oh well, whatever."

"It was my fault for not considering fire prevention. I'll be more careful next time."

Su Yu said this.

However, this incident also made him think about the future.

— It's impossible for Growlithe not to use fire, but fire is dangerous on the prairie.

So, I might need to catch a Water-type Pokémon to prevent this from happening?

But this just creates a nested problem. Water-type Pokémon can also destroy your house, so what Pokémon should I catch after the Water-type Pokémon?

……

……

Thanks to Uncle Yang's contact, the Super Strength Engineering Team arrived quickly.

According to them, the reason they came so quickly was that they had no work to do recently and were living a very leisurely life.

But Su Yu heard from Uncle Yang that the Super Strength Engineering Team had recently encountered a strong competitor and was being suppressed to the point that they couldn't get any work.

Between the two accounts, Su Yu was more inclined to believe the latter. After all, this was an era when ranch culture was prevalent, and countless trainers had come to this unfamiliar land to establish ranches.

In this situation, how could the construction team be without work?

Su Yu expressed disbelief.

And just as Uncle Yang said, the super-strong construction team worked both well and quickly. They had only arrived at Su Yu's ranch with the materials in the morning, and in less than half a day, they had built the cabin.

Moreover, the quality of the houses built was, at least in the eyes of Su Yu, the former mortar worker, quite satisfactory.

After the cabin was built, the leader of the Mighty Construction Team—a very tall and incredibly well-built female trainer—came to Su Yu's side.

Several macho and brachydios followed behind the female foreman, including a muscular monstrous one that was carrying a sledgehammer and wearing a safety helmet.

This scene looks like it was done by a "professional team".

Su Yu also knew that now that they had finished their work, it was time to pay them.

Fortunately, the construction team seemed to have been out of work for a long time, or perhaps it was due to a newcomer discount, so they didn't charge too much. The entire process only cost Su Yu 45,000 Alliance Coins, a price that greatly surprised him.

After all, compared to the morning's work of these Pokémon and the fireproof materials used, the price was ridiculously cheap.

After coldly accepting the money from Su Yu, the female foreman's hand trembled slightly as she took the money.

This puzzled Su Yu, but he didn't think much of it, assuming it was normal for his hands to tremble from working. After exchanging business cards with the female foreman, he watched them leave the ranch.

Unbeknownst to him, this construction team hadn't received any work for quite some time. They were even struggling to afford food.

This was incredibly extravagant in the era of ranchers where food was extremely abundant.

After walking far enough away from the ranch, the female foreman and her Pokémon immediately found a corner to squat down. She carefully counted the League Coins she had just received, her hands trembling uncontrollably.

Finally... finally! After being tricked into working in a shady sweatshop after graduation, having her boss run away while she was laying mortar, digging up cables during construction, and being relentlessly suppressed by competitors when she started her construction team, she, Mela, has finally earned her first considerable income.

With this income, she won't have to worry about food for at least this month. And if she can get another order, she'll be even better off financially, and might even be able to consider buying some breeding supplies for her superhuman strength.

But having finally landed an order, Meila didn't dare ask for too much. Having been unlucky for so long, she was used to always preparing for the worst.

"I guess... no more jobs will come knocking on our door?"

Mela thought to herself.

……

……

Please read on!

(End of this chapter)