Pokemon Paldea [341-342] (Patreon)

Chapter 341: The First Step to Success

Naruto opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to bow and say something.

"Dragoo" (Your Moomoo Milk)

But Dragonite handed over the black basket it was carrying to Naruto right then, both its action and voice signaling he could take the two bottles of Moomoo Milk inside.

Naruto froze for a beat, then hurriedly fished out the 1,150 Poké League coins in change he'd prepared and put them in the basket before taking out the two bottles of Moomoo Milk.

Even through the glass, the milk in his hands still seemed to retain a trace of warmth—it must have left Miltank's body not long ago.

The glass bottles were wrapped with high-quality labels, clearly stamped with a production time almost precise to the second.

The label looked like a printed hand-drawn illustration—easy on the eyes yet striking, full of character.

Five chibi Miltank, and next to the "Lucas Farm" name, a fierce-looking Luxray head—these details gave Naruto a flash of insight as his memory snapped fully back.

No wonder that young man looked so familiar—he was the Paldea Pokémon League's new Champion-level Trainer!

That was exactly the figure Naruto admired most. Now that he had the chance to buy Moomoo Milk from him, he instantly stopped questioning whether it was the real deal.

Never mind using Pokémon like Dragonite and Corviknight for such a luxurious delivery—just the pull of a Champion-level trainer was enough to convince him!

Then Naruto made another discovery: at the label's edge, the illustrator credits actually listed Paldea's Elite Four member Hassel and the super-famous artist Brassius!

So many top names, all convening… just to sell Moomoo Milk via small-batch preorders?

And why was a Champion-level trainer handing out flyers in the streets in the first place…

Though they'd taken the money, neither Dragonite nor Corviknight left. Seeing Naruto spacing out with two bottles in hand, Dragonite waved its pudgy claw in front of him, bringing him back to reality.

"Dragoo dargooo~"

"Gaa-haa~!"

Pointing at the bills in his hand, Dragonite looked troubled and pleading.

"Huh?"

Naruto blinked, totally clueless what Dragonite meant. He wasn't good at reading the mood at work either—that's why he was still only a team lead.

As for underpaying—Naruto never even considered that.

He'd long prepared the exact amount and counted it several times.

Thankfully, Dragonite had a bit of a performer's gift. After about a minute, Naruto finally understood what it wanted.

Dragonite wanted whole bills, not loose change.

Still baffled, good-natured Naruto handed over two 1,000-coins notes to Dragonite to see what it planned.

Dragonite then pulled a wad of change from a small pouch tied to Corviknight's leg and proceeded to teach Corviknight how to make change right in front of Naruto.

Naruto was dumbstruck. He thought he was dreaming.

These days… even Pokémon can make change—and teach other Pokémon how to make change?

Naruto dazedly accepted the coins Corviknight had painstakingly counted out under Dragonite's tutelage, watched them fly off in a daze, and stood at the doorway for a long moment before slowly recovering. Looking down at the two bottles of Moomoo Milk he was carrying, he couldn't help but smile.

…

After confirming that Corviknight No. 3 had successfully made change, Dragonite sent it back to the farm for breakfast, then hurried to the other Corviknight stations.

Every Corviknight had its flaws. Corviknight No. 3 had first-rate navigation and smarts, but making change tripped it up—Dragonite was reinforcing that memory.

The others didn't have issues as glaring as No. 3, but Dragonite still needed to check on them.

Fortunately, nothing else went wrong. Watching the last Corviknight fly toward the farm, Dragonite wiped imaginary sweat from its brow and let out a long sigh.

"Dragoo~"

Life is hard, Dragonite sighed.

Today's work had landed smoothly. Time to fly back to the farm, hug Lucas to recharge its Trainer-energy, then hug the other Pokémon to recharge partner-energy!

Dragonite climbed skyward, thinking it wouldn't disturb those below from this height.

The slipstream that curled around Dragonite like a royal retinue howled like a charging army.

The next instant—

With a thunderclap over Los Platos, Dragonite vanished into the sky, leaving behind bewildered townsfolk awakened by the sound.

Dragonite had underestimated the impact it could make nowadays.

By the time Dragonite returned to the farm, Lucas and the Corviknight squad had been waiting a while.

When Lucas asked, "Where'd you go? Why so late?" Dragonite scratched its head with a claw, wearing an awkward but guileless grin, trying to gloss it over with cuteness.

"Dragoo" (Accidentally flew too far)

Today's milk subscription run wrapped up perfectly. The total delivery fees for nine trips came to 450 League coins—not much profit for Lucas. Just the appetites of nine Corviknight exceeded that.

But they ate farm produce anyway, so that was nearly zero cost.

Twenty-seven bottles of Moomoo Milk and five bottles of Mareep milk brought in exactly 17,100 League coins—almost pure profit. If this kept up smoothly, before long it'd cover Lucas's outlays for the milker, glass bottles, and so on—everything after that would be pure profit.

Judging from how easily they made nearly 20,000 coins in a day with almost no advertising and only nine subscribers, no wonder trainers in this world thrive at side businesses.

Like the Cerulean City sisters' underwater show in Kanto—the big theater is said to be packed every performance.

Even with low ticket prices, one show a day would rake it in, not to mention their water ballet being notoriously hard to get tickets for.

Thanks to the sisters' efforts, the rebuilt Cerulean Gym in Sun and Moon turned out so grand—too bad for Kanto's newbie trainers who have to face Mega Steelix and Mega Gyarados right after leaving home…

After reminding Oranguru to keep its phone handy, Lucas mounted Mudsdale and continued honing their teamwork over the pitted ground.

Though it's called a Pokémon Marathon, it's not just the Pokémon who participate—the trainer must ride on their partner's back and complete the full 500 km endurance trial together.

For domesticated and farm-kept Pokémon in Los Platos, running that far in one go isn't easy.

Let alone carrying a person.

They say the top-tier Arcanine can run ten thousand kilometers in a day—that's over 400 km per hour.

But in a small-town event like this you rarely see Arcanine; that species more often appears as Officer Jenny's partner.

As Lucas recalled, Los Platos's Officer Jenny still had a Growlithe—perhaps it hadn't evolved yet, and who knew whether Jenny would compete.

Mudsdale's speed and burst are far inferior to other mounts, but Lucas valued its toughness and stamina.

After all, you don't win a marathon by just charging ahead.

Keep your pace—the one still there at the end is the real winner.

…

Time slipped by as Lucas trained with Mudsdale. By dusk, with his bones feeling shaken loose, he returned home and received good news from Oranguru.

"Young Master, all nine milk subscribers called today to order tomorrow's share. One named Naruto said his wife told him to book a full month."

"I took the liberty of waiving the delivery fee for them—what do you think?"

Oranguru's telepathy echoed in Lucas's mind.

Fresh from the shower, Lucas had a towel over his shoulders and damp hair, heading off to find the Dragonite-brand hot blow-dryer.

Hearing this, Lucas smiled. "Of course. The first customer to book a full month deserves a perk."

Oranguru added, "Several customers also referred new ones. Tomorrow we'll probably need the Corviknight to start handling multi-stop routes."

"No problem—the training's already done." Lucas nodded, clearly confident with Dragonite overseeing things. Curious, he asked, "By the way, how did you talk to them? Long-range telepathy shouldn't work, right?"

"Master, I used a text-to-speech app."

Oranguru smiled slightly, waved its fan, summoned its tablet, and played a few typed lines for Lucas.

Listening to the flat mechanical voice in his ear, Lucas's mouth twitched.

Good grief—Oranguru really embodied 'technology changes life.'

The next day, the full Corviknight delivery squad rose in tight formation again, their retreating silhouettes filling Lucas with joy.

Looks like this is the first step to success.

As the milk business proceeded smoothly, all that was left was to finish training with Mudsdale. After winning the Pokémon Marathon for the best publicity window, he could focus on developing dairy products.

Ice cream, butter, cheese… these should all be popular. While expanding the market with Moomoo Milk and Skiddo milk, he'd refine recipes and processes, then capitalize on the buzz to sell.

Chapter 342: The Pokémon Marathon Opens!

Time flew; in a blink, several days passed.

July 25, sunny, Sunday.

The whole of Los Platos took on a festival air. The usually quiet streets were unusually crowded; while not fully decorated with lanterns and streamers, the event drew enough heat to bring in plenty of out-of-towners.

It was the day of the Los Platos Pokémon Marathon.

The starting point was set at the town's commemorative central plaza.

To look more formal, the plaza had indeed been festooned with decorations, giving it festive flair.

On the outskirts of the plaza, a row of food trucks had parked like at a fair, their aromas mingling in the air.

Lucas strolled by with Luxray, taking in the sights.

Resisting the temptations with iron will, he passed the food stalls and reached the central plaza.

Besides local spectators, many traveling trainers passing through Paldea were lingering here, and quite a few Naranja Academy students as well.

Unfortunately, those students rarely interacted with Lucas and didn't recognize him; being on summer break, they also weren't wearing uniforms, so he couldn't identify the unfamiliar faces either.

Perhaps, with a chance meeting of eyes, some of them and a wandering trainer would sync up and start an impromptu battle right on the open grounds.

Even Lucas, thanks to Luxray's imposing appearance, received several battle invitations from trainers—but with check-in closing soon, he politely refused and headed to registration.

When Lucas and Luxray arrived, they'd just missed the peak. There were hardly any people left in line.

Even the multiple registration desks had dwindled to one middle-aged staffer on duty.

Joining the queue, Lucas found the person at the end—now in front of him—looked familiar. He called out curiously, "Officer Jenny?"

At his voice, the figure—whose slim feminine lines were evident even under professional riding gear—visibly stiffened, then turned in shock.

Even with her head fully sealed in a vented helmet against the heat, Officer Jenny stared, bewildered that anyone could recognize her. Only when she saw Lucas's face did she blurt, "How did you recognize me—wait, you're competing too!?"

Lucas pointed at the Poké Balls on her belt with an odd look. "Your Poké Balls have the police insignia plain as day, and your hair color's rare…"

"Oh—did your Growlithe evolve?"

"And you're racing with it?"

"Then why hide? As far as I know, you're the only one in town with the Arcanine line, right?"

Jenny: "…"

Lucas's rapid-fire comments left Officer Jenny speechless.

After a moment, she pulled off the helmet that nearly cooked her brain even with extra vents and said helplessly, "Mainly, it felt a bit off to enter under my Officer Jenny identity."

Suddenly, an elderly voice sounded not far away, making Jenny pause.

"Why would that be, Officer Jenny?"

With the tap-tap of a cane, Granny Touko—dressed in cheerful colors to match the festival—walked over.

Lucas's eyes lit up. "Granny Touko, long time no see."

Touko smiled kindly at Lucas. "When I heard you were competing, I came to watch."

After patting the approaching Luxray, Touko turned to Jenny. "Officer Jenny works so hard to keep our town safe. If folks hear you're racing, they'll be thrilled."

"At least I'm already looking forward to seeing you and your partner perform. Of course, I'm also looking forward to you, Lucas."

"This time you're racing with Arcanine?"

Beside the thoughtful Jenny, Lucas shook his head. "I'm racing with another of the farm's Pokémon."

"I see—what a pity…"

"It's fine. Though it looks a bit different from mine, your partner should also be an Arcanine."

"Oh my, is that so?"

Under Touko's curious gaze, Jenny could only nod.

"Not long ago, Growlithe evolved into Arcanine."

"This Pokémon Marathon will start from the central plaza's main road and head out of town."

"Outside, we'll circle the whole of Los Platos three times and return to the plaza. The total is about 500 km. Please ensure your Pokémon's stamina can handle the distance before registering…"

The registrar droned through the schedule again for Lucas.

Judging by his pace and expression, he'd said it countless times.

Lucas nodded. "Got it."

The registrar cut to the chase. "Final confirmation: your racing Pokémon is Mudsdale, correct?"

"You can still change it now. Once I submit, you can't switch."

"Confirmed," Lucas said.

With that, the registrar finished the entry, handed over the runner's vest and the number plate for the Pokémon's back, and pointed the way.

"The staging area is over there. Staff will meet you. Good luck in the race!"

Then he went back to processing the next entrant.

Stepping aside, Lucas rejoined Jenny and Granny Touko, who were done quickly as well.

"What's your number?" Jenny asked.

"Twenty-six," Lucas said after checking. "Looks like the Pokémon's number plate matches the runner's vest."

"I'm twenty-five." Jenny nodded, glanced at the nearly empty line, and added, "Looks like with the curious travelers and visiting trainers, we'll total around thirty people."

Granny Touko smiled. "Then I'll go claim a good spot at the start. Do your best, both of you."

"Take care!"

They waved her off, and after she disappeared into the crowd, Jenny stretched with a relieved sigh. "I was overthinking earlier."

"Thanks to Granny Touko, I have the confidence to step onto the stage openly as Officer Jenny."

Lucas gave her a meaningful look. "So you two had a little talk."

Jenny nodded and reminded him, "Let's go get ready in the staging area. I hear the mayor's going to speak."

The staging area was cordoned off with curtains in a corner of the plaza, with a direct passage to the starting line, so the crowd wouldn't spook the competing Pokémon.

It was already fairly crowded.

Among the entrants were Dodrio with three heads, a massive Onix, a black-and-white-striped Zebstrika crackling with electricity, a heavily armored Rhyhorn, and many Paldean Tauros—Blaze Breed, Aqua Breed, and Combat Breed alike.

There was even a magnificent Rapidash, wreathed in roaring flames, lithe and keen-eyed.

Rapidash aren't common in Paldea; Lucas guessed its trainer was a traveler from another region.

But the Pokémon that shocked Lucas most wasn't Onix, nor Zebstrika, nor Rapidash.

His gaze landed on an elderly man with graying hair. Beside him stood a pink, bipedal Pokémon with a cream belly, a huge drill-shaped shell clamped on its tail… a Slowbro.

Lucas was dumbfounded.

So the "Slowbro is also a horse" meme is real?

Does that mean I could ride Necrozma in a future race?

Thankfully, this was a marathon, not a horse race, so even Slowbro passed registration.

"Slowbro!?"

Clearly, Jenny had spotted it too. She covered her mouth and squeaked softly so only she and Lucas could hear.

"Because it's a town event with more focus on fun than competition, the entry rules are loose."

"After all, even someone wearing a suspicious helmet could register, Officer Jenny…"

Lucas rubbed his chin thoughtfully, slipping in a gentle jab.

"…Can we not bring that up again?" Jenny flushed like her dark history had been exposed, then shook her head and declared, brimming with spirit, "Come out, Arcanine!"

In the next moment—

A nearly two-meter-tall Arcanine with fluffy flaxen fur, tiger-like black-orange stripes, and fur ruffs at its feet—looking even more heroic than that Rapidash—appeared at Jenny's side.

Its arrival drew the competitors' eyes. Seeing the pairing of Officer Jenny and Arcanine added a touch of gravity to their expressions.

They thought in unison: who'd have guessed we'd compete alongside Officer Jenny and her Arcanine? The pressure's on now.

Jenny stroked her majestic partner; the usually stern face now carried a determined glint in the festive atmosphere.

Pointing at Lucas, she made a confident declaration of victory: "Even if you're a Champion—since you aren't using your Arcanine or Luxray—then the win will be mine with Arcanine!"