NOVPUBIn the days that followed, Ceruledge threw herself into intense training, striving to master this new and unusual power.
From the moment she opened her eyes in the morning, she was already hard at work, trying out different training methods—both in terms of fine control and actual combat application.
As things stood, the power she wielded was still far from matching the standard set by Chi-Yu.
But that was fine.
As long as it could be useful in battle, Ceruledge was more than satisfied.
With her consistent training, news of Ceruledge's new power quickly spread across the farm.
After all, the place wasn’t that big.
Any small ripple would usually be common knowledge by the next day.
Before long, many Pokémon on the farm who were obsessed with getting stronger started getting restless.
One day someone would bring a "tribute" to Mew; the next, another would go kneel before Manaphy.
Whether they actually got stronger was questionable.
But one thing was for sure—Mew and Manaphy had been feasting like royalty these past few days.
There was always someone fighting to bring them something delicious.
In Manaphy's memory, only back when the Sea Temple still stood above the deep and she herself enjoyed manifesting everywhere had things been like this.
Back then, she too had been a proper legendary—worshiped and revered.
There were even holidays created specifically to celebrate and please her.
Unfortunately, all of that was long gone.
Those once vivid memories had been reduced to little more than a few glossed-over lines in history books, fading along with the warmth of the ink.
Shaking her head, Manaphy crawled off her little mat.
She stretched lazily under the moonlight.
Then, floating out the window at a leisurely pace, she headed straight for the attic on the roof.
Originally sealed off, the attic had since been converted into a semi-open space.
Like all designs, it served a purpose.
In this case, it was to accommodate Corviknight’s daily lifestyle.
There, in a cozy corner, Corviknight was nestled under a blanket, hugging a pillow and sleeping soundly.
Without a word, Manaphy flew up and started violently shaking Corviknight’s head.
Wake up! Quit sleeping!
“Caw...?”
What’s happening?
Corviknight blinked groggily at Manaphy, utterly lost.
Seriously, what is this?
Still half-asleep from the forced boot-up, his brain hadn’t caught up yet.
“Mana!”
Hey, what a coincidence! You’re not asleep either!
Come out for a spin with me!
And just like that, the dazed Corviknight found himself turned into Manaphy’s ride.
In the dark of this windy, moonless night, he flew aimlessly across the farm with Manaphy on his back.
Where to?
Corviknight didn’t know, and Manaphy hadn’t really decided either.
Boom!
As they passed over the berry grove, Manaphy caught a faint sound.
“Mana.”
Over there.
She patted Corviknight’s neck and gestured in a direction.
Since they were just wandering aimlessly anyway, Corviknight had no reason to refuse and turned to fly toward the source of the noise.
“Mana~”
Oh, it’s that guy.
From above, Manaphy gazed down at the lake below, now tinged eerie by the glow of purple flames.
So Ceruledge was still training.
That kid really did work hard.
On the farm, who slacked off and who gave it their all was plain for everyone to see.
Aside from Shiny Furret—the undisputed king of try-hards—there were quite a few Pokémon who trained diligently.
Like Ceruledge down below.
As one of the more recent arrivals on the farm, Ceruledge had no real advantage in terms of foundation or background.
If anything, being tutored by Mew for a short time might count as a plus.
But anyone who had seen Mew’s teaching style knew exactly what that entailed:
Pure stream-of-consciousness.
If you understood it, great—that meant Mew was an excellent teacher.
If you didn’t, well, that was just your lack of talent.
Surely you wouldn’t blame Mew’s teaching, right? (Cue confused pink cat stare.)
Besides, plenty of Pokémon on the farm had been taught by Mew at some point.
The two Charcadet siblings just happened to have spent a bit more time under her wing.
So, with no major edge in any area, Ceruledge had fought tooth and nail to elevate her strength in a short span of time, reaching near the level of the farm’s top tier.
Though there was still a gap between her and the gatekeeping elite—Shiny Furret—she was definitely getting close.
To Natsume, Ceruledge was already considered a usable battle force.
And for Natsume nowadays, having a Pokémon who could be called “usable” in battle was no small thing.
After circling a few times in the air, Corviknight folded his wings tightly to his sides and dove straight down like a meteor.
Just before hitting the ground, he flared his wings open.
The sudden halt created a dramatic sense of contrast.
Then, with a light landing, he gracefully tucked in his wings and raised his head slightly.
This was his new landing style he’d been working on lately.
It still had its flaws and risked going wrong, but—
It looked cool.
At least Corviknight thought it looked cool.
And that was more than enough.
Other things could be improved, but looking cool?
That was top priority.
“Mana~”
Good evening, you two~
Manaphy waved to Ceruledge and the visibly fed-up Slowking as she landed.
Ceruledge nodded politely in greeting.
Though they didn’t interact much, and when they did it was usually Manaphy being chased around by Mew, Ceruledge still knew how to show respect to a strong opponent.
If a strong Pokémon acted chill, that was their choice.
But if a weaker one took it as license to get cocky, that was just pathetic.
Compared to Ceruledge, Slowking looked like he was mentally screaming and just wanted to go home and sleep.
Dude, if you can’t sleep, go explore or something.
Why come bother me?!
What do you mean I’m the smartest and most reliable Pokémon on the farm?
Only I can help you fully master your new power?
Okay, sure, that part’s true.
And I do enjoy hearing the truth.
But aren’t you training a bit too long?
You’ve been at it since sunrise, and now the moon is clocking out!
Don’t you ever get tired?!
I'm exhausted!
And I’ve got stuff to do tomorrow!
Slowking might’ve looked expressionless on the outside,
But inside, it was already cursing up a storm.
At this moment, it was like a volcano on the verge of eruption—
All it needed was the tiniest spark to blow.
That spark could be anything.
For example…
"Caw-caw-caw!"
You’ve really got time to kill, huh? Must be nice to be so free.
With its little ground-hugging chicken steps, Corviknight ambled over to Slowking.
It craned its neck and stared at Slowking with those “wise” eyes of its.
Crack—
In that instant, something snapped inside Slowking’s head.
It slowly turned its head and silently locked eyes with Corviknight.
Maybe it was just an illusion…
But Corviknight could swear it saw a murderous red glint flash in Slowking’s eyes.
And the next second…
"SQUAAAWK—!"
The scream of a bird getting wrecked echoed far across the farm.
It sounded downright tragic.
If someone had recorded it, it could’ve gone straight into a horror movie.
No sound editing needed.
Thud!
Corviknight crashed to the ground, eyes rolled back.
With hands behind its back, Slowking regained its usual calm expression.
Now that it had vented all those negative emotions, it felt much more refreshed.
Thanks for the generosity, Corviknight.
Even if you didn’t mean to be generous.
It doesn’t matter.
As long as the outcome’s good, that’s what counts.
Well, maybe not so great for Corviknight…
Ignoring the collapsed bird, Manaphy and Ceruledge were whispering to each other nearby.
Manaphy felt Ceruledge didn’t need to push herself so hard.
Getting stronger isn’t something that happens overnight.
There’s no need to be that intense.
Taking a breather every now and then is good too.
Manaphy was trying to reason with her, sounding genuinely concerned.
But the truth?
Every time Manaphy saw these overachiever freaks grinding away at training,
It started to feel like maybe chilling with snacks all day wasn’t such a great look.
Damn it!
It’s all your fault!
Even my snacks don’t taste good anymore!
Manaphy expressed strong moral condemnation toward the tryhards.
But considering Ceruledge had her own reasons for being this driven,
Manaphy chose its words carefully.
Instead of scolding her outright, it went for a more tactful approach.
Hoping she’d understand where it was coming from.
Ceruledge listened quietly.
And she had to admit—Manaphy made a good point.
Getting stronger never was a one-day thing.
Expecting instant results from a single day’s effort? Unrealistic.
It’s a long-term grind. Only through constant dedication can you expect to improve.
So, starting tomorrow, she needed to up her training regimen even more.
Ceruledge felt like something had clicked inside her.
She had made her decision.
Starting tomorrow, she’d train with the shiny Furret senior.
If you’ve got nothing better to do, might as well work on getting stronger.
Ceruledge hadn’t really figured out why she needed to get strong,
What exactly she was training for, or where her power might be needed.
But strength in itself wasn’t a bad thing.
With power, you’d have the confidence to face emergencies head-on and solve problems calmly.
Instead of standing there helpless, praying for miracles you couldn’t even bring yourself to imagine.
Watching the serious expression on Ceruledge’s face, Manaphy felt like maybe its advice had actually worked.
It nodded in satisfaction and got ready to head back to bed.
Palms together, it summoned a small stream of cold water and splashed it onto Corviknight’s head.
Corviknight snapped awake in an instant, eyes still rolled back, but conscious.
The dumb bird flipped over and stood up in a goofy, clumsy pose.
"Mana~"
Back to bed we go~
Good kids shouldn’t stay up late, okay?
Manaphy climbed onto Corviknight’s back and swung its little feet as it spoke.
Not that I wanted to be awake in the first place, Corviknight grumbled internally.
It had been sleeping soundly at home when it was suddenly shaken awake for no reason,
Dragged all the way out here, and then mauled by Slowking.
Now it was being told to go back and sleep.
What’s your deal, buddy?
Am I your plaything or what?
Full of complaints, Corviknight spread its wings and flew back toward the house.
---
The next morning—
"Furr~!"
Full of energy as always, the shiny Furret stood proudly on the makeshift training ground Natsume had prepared, just after sunrise.
Lately, Natsume had been looking into the basic specs and setup of a proper training area,
Since many of the Pokémon on the farm had shown interest.
Including some rather expensive gear.
He’d already placed the orders online.
Once the equipment arrived, the training field would officially be complete.
In the meantime, Shiny Furret continued his usual routine.
Every morning, he’d gather his "underlings" for a jog around the farm.
No punishments for coming in last.
But for those who joined these morning sessions, being dead last was punishment enough.
At this point, Shiny Furret had become the Pokémon with the most underlings on the entire farm—no contest.
At first, his team was just a few Sentret and Furret.
But over time, more and more Pokémon had joined his special training group.
Now, when Shiny Furret called, Pokémon answered.
And today, his squad had a new member.
Standing quietly at the back of the group, Ceruledge stared at the flame flickering on her blade.
A habit she’d picked up over the past few days.
No deep meaning behind it.
She just liked it.
"Furr~!"
Not long after, with a shout from Shiny Furret, the morning run began!
And so did another new day on the farm.
“Still as full of life as ever.”
Yawning, Natsume pulled back the curtains and smiled as he watched groups of Pokémon running past his window.
You wouldn’t see a sight like this anywhere else.
Only on the farm.
“Time to get up.”
As much as he wanted to stay in bed a bit longer, Natsume had things to do today.
In the morning, he needed to harvest the Flabébé Valley crops and get them sorted.
Then, he had to make a batch of pokeblocks for the Wooloo and Ampharos groups.
By noon, he’d meet up with Indeedee's brother and Slowking to go over recent gym activities and battle logs.
And in the afternoon, it was back to his main gig as Gym Leader—taking challengers.
Probably because Slowking had gone a bit overboard lately,
There hadn’t been many challengers these past few days.
So Natsume had gotten a bit of peace.
Truth be told, battles themselves weren’t the problem.
What annoyed him was having to carefully word things and guide those rookie Trainers having existential meltdowns after a loss.
That part? A huge pain.
He’d rather deal with a tough opponent who could take the loss in stride and leave on their own.
Up on the third-floor windowsill, Manaphy stared emotionlessly at the morning training crowd.
After a moment of contemplation, it made a decision.
"Mana."
I'm going away for a while.
In this farm full of overachieving maniacs, I just can’t feel truly happy.
So I’ve decided to retreat to my Sea Temple and sulk in peace for a bit.
As for the egg I left here at the farm?
No worries—Natsume will take good care of it.
After stuffing a few snacks into a small bundle, Manaphy slung it over its shoulder and departed.
For some reason, it had a nagging feeling—an inexplicable sense that it had to go back.
It was strange, but even so, Manaphy set off on its journey.
