Just the fifteen fully grown berry trees alone produce quite a few berries each month, not to mention the large fields of crops—one warehouse simply can't hold it all.
"I understand your concerns. Storing crops is a big challenge for any farm. Right now in spring it's manageable—crops last longer if kept in suitable conditions. But when summer comes..."
The foreman scratched his head and calmly stated the farm's critical issue.
"Other farms use cold storage, which consumes a lot of electricity and costs a fortune to build. At the very least, you'd have to buy lots of freezers. But your farm, well... it doesn't exactly have a modern feel, haha."
Lucas could tell the foreman was being tactful—he meant the farm lacked modern technology. The roads weren't paved, farm work relied entirely on Pokémon, and there weren't even streetlights at night—it was pitch dark.
Even the electricity came from a small line pulled in from nearby, just enough to power a single house. There was no way to run a cold storage or lots of freezers.
Lucas had already thought of a solution: before summer, he'd just add an Ice-type Pokémon or two to the farm. A natural icehouse would be just as good as a cold storage, wouldn't it?
Plus, Dragonite knew Ice Beam, and Swampert could use Ice Punch. The resources were there—making proper use of Pokémon is the way to go in the Pokémon world.
With this in mind, Lucas said, "Just build two more warehouses next to this one, same size. As for summer storage, I'll take care of it when the time comes."
The foreman had no doubts. Just looking at Lucas's Pokémon, anyone could tell he wasn't ordinary. He probably had plenty of solutions. Better to take the job and strengthen ties with this future big client.
After the foreman left with the new contract, Lucas stretched and muttered, "Meowstic's been gone for a while now, still no news."
He was really looking forward to hearing from his butler Pokémon—hopefully the application hadn't been rejected.
Ding-dong~
His phone rang in his pocket. Lucas quickly checked it and his eyes lit up when he saw the sender. "Speak of the devil…"
[Geeta: The Pokémon Butler Academy in Kalos is confirmed. When do you have time to go? I'll sign you up.]
Lucas checked the date. It was March 15th. Reggie and Paul had visited two days ago, he'd called the foreman yesterday to discuss the chicken coop, and today the work was finished.
The invitation from Siebold had a flexible time frame—between March and May he'd be in Kalos, and Lucas was welcome any time.
Spring break was already half over, and the new semester at Naranja Academy would start soon. If Lucas was going to Kalos, he'd have to free up at least seven days.
He needed to arrange the farm's affairs and deal with Growlithe and Moltres before leaving. After thinking it through, he made his decision.
[Lucas: I'll leave on March 21st. I'll contact them about the exact visit time once I arrive in Kalos. Is that okay?]
[Geeta: No problem.]
…
Late night.
With no streetlights, few Pokémon with good night vision wandered at night. Most chose to sleep early and rise early.
Luxray had just finished its last patrol and was a bit tired, not to mention the two little tails behind it—Growlithe and Dachsbun, who had volunteered for the night patrol.
The two pups were barely more than night-wandering ghosts at this point, staggering around with unsteady steps.
Luxray yawned discreetly, shot them a helpless look, and decided it was time to rest, leading the two Pokémon back to the house.
Long after Luxray left, a pair of big eyes suddenly opened in the grass near the farm fence.
It finally had its chance.
From its days of observation, it knew there were powerful Pokémon on this farm. It dared not invade during the day and only moved under cover of night, long after the strong guardian left.
Now that the guardian had gone to rest, and after days of watching, it knew the rest would last until dawn before patrols started again.
Now was the time to act!
The black figure in the grass nimbly climbed over the fence without making a sound, blending into the night as it made its way to the food storage.
After much observation, it was certain this was where the humans stored food.
Just like before, it wanted to poison the humans, as had happened on other farms.
But simply smearing poison on growing crops would arouse suspicion. This time, it would sneak into the warehouse and coat the food inside with poison from its fingertips.
As for the Pokémon—well, it couldn't help that they lived with the hateful humans who had abandoned it.
It wasn't afraid of being discovered. It knew its own abilities well: once eaten, its poison would appear just like the food's color and smell sweet and fragrant, not pungent.
Even Pokémon with sharp noses would just think it was the scent of food and become even more tempted—not a chance of being discovered before it was eaten.
It let out a few sickly chuckles, relishing its revenge, then deftly opened the window and slipped inside the warehouse to begin its work.
For a moment, the moonlight, filtered through clouds, shone softly, illuminating the little toxic lemur as it spread poison in the warehouse.
…
The next morning, Lucas rose early.
For breakfast, he planned to make berry puff pastries for his Pokémon.
Stepping outside, he saw Luxray sniffing the ground, looking confused. Lucas asked, "What are you doing?"
"Luxray~."
Luxray looked up, troubled. It sensed a strange new scent on the ground that puzzled it.
"Oh."
Lucas nodded, told Luxray to keep sniffing, and reminded, "I'm going to get some berries from the warehouse. You keep at it."
Luxray kept searching for the scent. Lucas smiled at its diligence.
Wearing new slippers, Lucas reached the warehouse door.
He noticed the window was open and frowned, puzzled. "Did I forget to close the window yesterday?"
He scratched his head, opened the main door, took a deep breath of the rich aroma, and said, "The berry smell is getting stronger—these will make great berry puffs."