Chapter 101: A Clumsy Surprise

The commotion of Dragonite's landing naturally drew the attention of the Pokémon inside the house; Minccino and the Poliwag on lookout duty immediately panicked, ran to the kitchen door, and cried out anxiously.

"Minccino!" "Poli-wulu!"

The next instant, the kitchen door swung open, revealing a white Hisuian Samurott and a Swampert to the four Pokémon.

In a scene that should have inspired fear, Minccino and the Poliwag showed not a trace of panic, as if they had witnessed this countless times; they hopped about, chattering noisily as they urged Hisuian Samurott and the others on.

Hisuian Samurott and Swampert exchanged a glance, surprise flashing in their eyes.

It seemed Luo Mu had already returned to the farm; fortunately, they were just about finishing up here too—the timing was perfect!

"Sshilo~"

Hisuian Samurott called out toward the back, and following its gesture, the several Pokémon finally got a clear view of the kitchen's interior.

To be honest, the state of the kitchen was somewhat worrying; the floor, which Luo Mu had usually kept spotless and bright, was now scattered with mixtures of various ingredients, white flour everywhere, even dyeing Hisuian Samurott and Swampert white.

Poliwag, Fidough, and Milcery were also inside, and they seemed to have played central roles.

The project had clearly reached its final step; all the Pokémon looked at Milcery with expectant eyes, and Milcery, sensing the happiness overflowing within the kitchen, worked especially hard, letting sweet, rich cream flow from its hands to clumsily complete the final touch on this "surprise."

Sensing Luo Mu's footsteps drawing nearer, Hisuian Samurott and the others had no time to clean the kitchen and immediately gathered at the doorway just as they had rehearsed.

Soon, the sound of a key inserting into the lock rang out.

The Pokémon perked up, and the few near the door, their moves already coalesced, stood ready to strike.

"I'm back—"

Snap—!

As the door opened and Luo Mu's front foot just crossed the threshold, Poliwag and the other Poliwag fired Water Guns into the air where the streams converged, while Minccino, summoning its courage while held aloft by Dragonite, let shimmering Swift rain down from above.

Meanwhile, Hisuian Samurott and Swampert, who hadn't yet had time to wash the flour off their bodies, each supported a corner of a plate, their eyes crinkled in smiles as they presented it to Luo Mu.

Luo Mu was startled by this spectacle, but when he clearly saw what was on the plate, his eyes reddened slightly, and a warm surge flooded his heart.

It was a crude strawberry cake that would absolutely not sell if placed in a bakery; the cream on top was likely Milcery's product, clumsily drawn into a likeness of Luo Mu's smiling face.

Solemnly accepting the plate holding the cake, Luo Mu examined it carefully and realized the process of making this cake might have required even more care than he had imagined.

The cake base was likely a fermented sponge made from flour, eggs, water, and Fidough's yeast, with the actual operation probably performed by Swampert and Poliwag, who possessed hands, under the guidance of Hisuian Samurott.

The strawberries were leftover crops from the previous experimental field, while the cream was produced by Milcery—

Moltres very likely participated in the production process as well, since its control over flame temperature was even more precise than that of Hisuian Samurott.

Although this surprise was clumsy, this sentiment was, to Luo Mu, something no expensive item in the world could compare to.

A look of surprise flashed through Luxray's pupils; so this was the surprise that Hisuian Samurott and the others had been mysteriously busy with for half the day.

Yet, it also felt incredibly reasonable to him.

Luo Mu accepted the knife and fork handed to him by Poliwag, cut a small piece of cake, and put it into his mouth; immediately after, his eyes widened slightly.

To be honest, he had already prepared himself to eat the entire thing even if the taste was indescribably terrible.

To his surprise, however, the flavor was not strange at all; in fact, it was quite delicious.

The biggest difference between a fermented cake with yeast and an ordinary unfermented cake lies in the texture; fermented cake has a texture closer to "fa gao" (steamed sponge cake), tasting much fluffier.

But under the effect of Fidough's yeast, the cake base successfully distinguished itself from ordinary "fa gao," and combined with Milcery's fresh, sweet, and delicious cream and the strawberries he had worked hard to grow, this cake's value in Luo Mu's eyes could be called priceless.

The cake made by Hisuian Samurott and the others wasn't large, probably only about five inches; knowing this was prepared for him by the Pokémon, Luo Mu ate the entire cake by himself, his smile brighter than ever before: "The cake is extremely delicious, thank you everyone!"

As soon as he finished speaking, to Luo Mu's surprised expression, all the Pokémon let out a cheer in unison, and then—pounced on him!

The weight of this love was heavy, totaling 546.8 kilograms.

Afterwards, after introducing their new partner, Comfey, to all the Pokémon, Luo Mu stood before the messy kitchen and fell into deep thought.

The next day, in the farming district.

Luo Mu brought along the Grass-type Pokémon brigade, with the Fairy-type Comfey mixed in among them, to the location where fifteen fruit tree saplings were planted.

Although they had been left without the care of Serperior and Bai Bai Pengpeng and the others for a week after his departure, the saplings' growth was still quite good; they had already grown a trunk capable of withstanding wind and rain, and small branches could already be seen sprouting from it.

Luo Mu remembered that under normal circumstances, it takes at least three and a half months for a fruit tree to grow from a sapling to bearing fruit.

Now, less than half a month had passed since he planted the saplings, so the day of flowering and fruiting still seemed very far away—

Of course, that was only seemingly the case.

Luo Mu looked at Comfey, Bai Bai Pengpeng and the others behind him, as well as Serperior and Minccino who had come to make up the numbers, and a sense of expectation rose in his heart.

Unfortunately, Serperior, despite being the strongest in terms of power, had allocated all its talents to combat; it could even learn completely unrelated moves like Grassy Glide and Seed Bomb while Tapu Tapu Moumou was teaching Grassy Terrain.

Otherwise, with its strength, the effect of its Grassy Terrain would have been much better than that of Bai Bai Pengpeng and the others.

Today, his goal was to test exactly how effective the composite Grassy Terrain combination technique taught by Tapu Tapu Moumou truly was.

The experimental subjects were these fruit trees.

Before the experiment, Luo Mu had specially recorded the data of the fruit trees for subsequent comparison.

A moment later, Luo Mu stepped back a few paces with Serperior and the curious Minccino, leaving the stage to Comfey and Bai Bai Pengpeng and the others.

As the leader of the trio and the chieftain of the Bai Bai Pengpeng group when Luo Mu brought them back to the farm, Bai Bai Pengpeng naturally took the central position, while the other two Bai Bai Pengpeng and Comfey formed a triangular formation.

"Bai Pengpeng!" "Flowering Huanhuan!"

After Comfey and Bai Bai Pengpeng and the others emitted a soft chant, a wave of Grass-type energy imbued with the scent of vegetation rippled out, and Grassy Terrain instantly enveloped the fifteen saplings.

(End of Chapter)