Chapter 398: The Twin Eevees Walking Into a Trap: The Farm Defense Battle

"Hmm?"

Luo Mu and Oranguru exchanged looks of surprise.

Thanks to the daily patrols by Luxray and Feng Su Gou, along with Skarmory Skarmory Sanmao leading the Skarmory flock to circle overhead and keep watch during the day,

wild Pokémon rarely settled within roughly one kilometer of the farm's boundaries.

In fact, less than ten minutes had passed since the Secret Herbs ripened and their scent began drifting on the night breeze to distant places.

For wild Pokémon to infiltrate the farm this quickly—

could it be that they had been lingering near the farm all along?

Luo Mu asked, "Can you tell what kind of Pokémon it is?"

Lei Guan Wang pondered for a moment before saying, "It's the same species as your student's sick Pokémon, though this one appears to be in its pre-evolved form."

Oranguru stated with certainty, "Then it must be Eevee."

"Then Lei Guan Wang and I will go take a look; you're in charge of the defenses, Oranguru."

Luo Mu looked at Oranguru with trust.

Flapping its leafy fans, Oranguru's face brimmed with confidence. "Please leave this matter to me, Young Master. When it comes to tactical deployment, I know a thing or two."

Once Luo Mu and Lei Guan Wang had left the house, Oranguru covered half its face with its fan, while Emperor Yan Di flashed with a light of determined victory.

Since the Young Master had entrusted such an important task to it, it absolutely had to achieve the most perfect result.

After a moment of silence, Oranguru gazed upon the mental projection of the farm's layout materialized in its mind, carefully assigning chess pieces representing individual Pokémon to specific zones and issuing different commands.

Its powerful mental energy began condensing into beams of light, carrying the embedded messages, flying accurately toward various coordinates within the farm.

Guided by Lei Guan Wang, Luo Mu headed in the direction where it had spotted the two Eevees.

Along the way, Lei Guan Wang asked with some envy, "What exactly is the Pokémon Butler Academy, that it can cultivate an all-around butler like Oranguru?"

Lei Guan Wang thought that if only it had someone like Oranguru by its side in the past—capable of both strategizing and excelling in every other aspect—it would have been wonderful.

Luo Mu briefly recounted to Lei Guan Wang his time at the Pokémon Butler Academy during his visit to the Kalos region.

Lei Guan Wang sighed with emotion. "Kalos, was it? I recall that region is quite close to Galar. Around the time the Darkest Day erupted and I fell into slumber, a war seemed to break out there as well. The disturbance was so great that even I, in the Crown Tundra, heard news of it."

"It seems peace has been restored there now."

Listening to Lei Guan Wang's recollections, Emperor Yan Di flashed with a look of contemplation.

A war broke out in Kalos with such a massive disturbance—could it have been the era of AZ, the King of Kalos who created the Ultimate Weapon?

Indeed, Legendary Pokémon truly are living history books; being able to learn about events from hundreds or even thousands of years ago through conversation with them is truly fascinating.

Under Lei Guan Wang's guidance, Luo Mu soon realized he had returned to the farming district.

At this moment, Lei Guan Wang suddenly said, "This must be Oranguru's doing. It has stationed Serperior and other Grass-type Pokémon near the Secret Herb fields and the other crop fields. Those two Eevees seem to have been discovered."

Upon hearing this, Luo Mu quickened his pace, arriving near the Secret Herb fields after about two minutes.

At that moment, Serperior watched the two trembling Eevees with cold, serpentine eyes; green vines sprouting from the ground swayed like long snakes around them, ready to capture the pair at the slightest movement.

On the other side, Tropius and Applin, brought along by Serperior, blocked the Eevees' retreat routes, seemingly waiting for something.

The sound of Luo Mu's footsteps caught Serperior's attention.

It raised its head and retracted its flickering tongue, appearing unsurprised by Luo Mu's arrival.

"Gah-lok~"

Serperior pointed its vines toward the two Eevees, as if asking Luo Mu what he intended to do.

Luo Mu followed the direction of the vines, then froze in surprise.

Was this a shiny encounter?

One Eevee, with brown fur, bristled aggressively despite its inner fear, baring sharp little fangs as if bluffing against Serperior.

Behind it, a smaller Eevee with completely different, shiny-colored fur hid anxiously, its eyes filled with helplessness.

Yet, Luo Mu felt the normally colored Eevee looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.

Seeing Luo Mu arrive, Tropius and Applin instinctively wanted to leap into his arms, but before they could move, they suddenly remembered their current duty and froze in place.

The surrounded Eevee also spotted Luo Mu's arrival; its eyes lit up, and it lifted its small paws with pink pads, wanting to run toward him, but hindered by Serperior's blocking vines and the need to protect its younger sister, it remained unable to move, only gazing at Luo Mu, hoping he would remember it.

The Eevee's gaze was impossible to ignore; Luo Mu could hardly fail to notice it.

At this moment, Lei Guan Wang secretly warned Luo Mu through mental communication: "I sense trust toward you emanating from it; does it seem to know you?"

Lei Guan Wang's reminder came just in time; Luo Mu stalled only for an instant before his memories rapidly returned.

Since Serperior had not attacked the Eevees, and Tropius and Applin had merely offered slight obstruction, under the glow of the streetlamps, the Eevee's beautiful fur and its adorable large eyes quickly overlapped with a certain figure in Luo Mu's memory.

Wasn't this the female Eevee that had been treated at the Pokémon Center!?

Thinking this, Luo Mu stepped forward to Serperior's side and said softly, "You can withdraw the vines."

Serperior nodded slightly, asked no questions, and immediately retracted the vines surrounding the two Eevees.

Seeing this, Applin and Tropius assumed the matter was settled and immediately leaped past the Eevees, excitedly rushing toward Luo Mu.

Applin was one thing, but the nearly adult Tropius weighed close to 100kg, nearly sending Luo Mu straight to his grave.

Fortunately, the stern-faced Serperior controlled its Grass-type energy, causing thicker and longer vines to sprout from the ground and lift Tropius up, giving Luo Mu room to breathe.

Even so, Tropius still leveraged its natural advantages, rubbing its long neck against Luo Mu.

Witnessing this scene, the Eevee concealed the barely perceptible envy and longing in Emperor Yan Di, becoming even more certain that Luo Mu was a good person.

Otherwise, these Pokémon would not like him so much.

Seeing that Serperior no longer blocked its path, the Eevee turned back, licked its sister's fur to urge it to stay close, then carefully stepped forward to stand before Luo Mu and cried out.

"Ee-vee!"

Compared to Luo Mu's bewildered expression, both Serperior and Lei Guan Wang cast surprised glances at the Eevee.

A moment later, with Lei Guan Wang's translation, Luo Mu finally understood the Eevee's message.

It had come to warn him that wild Pokémon would likely attack soon, assaulting the farm to fight over the Secret Herbs that Luo Mu had already harvested.

To be honest, Luo Mu felt quite surprised.

That Eevee was actually not coveting the Secret Seasoning, but instead chose to warn them; this represented that as wild Pokémon, they had suppressed their instinctual desires.

As for the possibility that Eevee was actually lying, fabricating a story just because it had been caught by the Serperior to deceive someone like Luo Mu?

Not to mention Lei Guan Wang, who was standing aside and could completely serve as a high-precision lie detector, but even Luo Mu could see that Eevee was absolutely sincere.

After a brief thought, Luo Mu simply squatted down and reached his palm toward Eevee.

Eevee's body stiffened; it restrained the urge to dodge and allowed Luo Mu's warm palm to pat its head.

Luo Mu softened his voice and said, "Then thank you for the warning. Rest assured, they cannot break through the defense."

Eevee was slightly stunned, but then recalling the Serperior beside Luo Mu, which was so powerful that it had no desire to fight at all, along with those big guys patrolling the farm, it felt this made perfect sense.

After thanking Eevee, Luo Mu shifted his gaze to the Shiny Eevee behind it, which had remained silent the whole time, timidly hiding behind Eevee and cautiously observing the surroundings, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Luo Mu, who had studied the psychology books borrowed from Young Lady Joy and had practiced a few times, made his judgment.

Its body size was several circles smaller than Eevee's; whether this was due to an age gap or malnutrition was unknown, but its timid eyes suggested that rather than being frightened, this was simply its personality.

It was likely due to some kind of experience that it held distrust toward all life forms except Eevee.

Compared to the healthy and beautiful normal-colored Eevee, this Shiny Eevee had significant problems.

Sensing Luo Mu's gaze, the Shiny Eevee silently curled up its body and hid further behind its older sister.

Luo Mu: "."

Well, that confirmed it.

This was yet another Pokémon that, due to some kind of postnatal influence, had developed symptoms of psychological issues to a certain extent.

If things continued like this, Luo Mu felt that sooner or later he would have to change professions and become a doctor treating psychological problems for Pokémon.

"Bui, Bui!"

Noticing Luo Mu looking at its younger sister, Eevee did not forget its original purpose for coming; it looked at him as if seeking help and cried out several times.

Through Lei Guan Wang's simultaneous translation, Luo Mu finally understood why Eevee would risk "danger" to notify him.

It turned out that ever since being saved by him and Young Lady Joy last time, it had been thinking about bringing its twin sister, who was born with a weak constitution, to find him.

This current incident was merely the fuel that accelerated Eevee's step forward.

With the clouds parted to reveal the bright moon, now that all problems were clear, if Luo Mu felt relieved, that would be strange!

He looked at the Eevee sisters in shock, as if his worldview had collapsed, his voice trembling slightly: "Twins? How are you twins?"

Isn't it true that only one Pokémon can hatch from a single Pokémon Egg?

Can it even carry double yolks?

The tip of Serperior's tail swayed slightly; it felt he was making a fuss over nothing, however—

Serperior cast its sharp, cold gaze toward a certain spot, quickly inserted its tail tip into the ground, and patches of green vines grew wildly without affecting the crops; in the blink of an eye, the surroundings transformed into a world of plants, layer upon layer, protecting the farming area tightly and securely.

Before Eevee or Lei Guan Wang could explain to Luo Mu, accompanied by a high-pitched cry from the sky, a dazzling flame illuminated half the heavens.

The first to arrive at the farm were... Flying-type Pokémon!

Taking the lead to launch an attack and announce its presence was Moltres; its attacks could not hit one hundred percent of the time, and some flames that missed their targets, sustained by Fire-type energy, remained burning as they began to fall.

The flames landing on the vines spawned by Serperior burned fiercely, but were then extinguished by subsequent vines; this was also Serperior's usual technique for dealing with Fire-type moves.

While the fire was not yet large, it extinguished it all in one go.

Carefully protecting the most flammable farming area, Serperior glanced up at the sky with considerable disdain.

This fellow really hadn't improved at all; releasing its moves so carelessly, it still required Serperior to clean up its mess.

Moltres's cry seemed like a horn announcing the start of a battle; outside the farm, combat erupted everywhere at once.

In the sky.

Moltres looked arrogantly down at that flock of Honchkrow whose feathers blended with the night, and the Murkrow leading them; the aura of a Legendary Bird loomed over them like Dashan.

On the other side, under the leadership of the Dragonite, the Dragonite Leader and three Hakamo each fought alone against a flock of Flying-type Pokémon.

Outside the pasture area.

Two Meng Ya Lu firmly watched the team composed of several Houndoom and a large group of Houndour, injecting emerald light into the ground without pause, keeping the surroundings continuously in the state of a Grassy Terrain.

Two Stoutland, with their long wooden horns atop their heads, led five Da Nai Guan that had fully stacked their Rollout charges, charging ferociously toward the Houndoom flock with imposing momentum.

Anyone looking at this would have to shout that heaven and earth had turned upside down.

Following close behind, Mudsdale stomped its foot on the ground, directly shaking entire patches of Houndour into the air.

In the lake area.

Heavy rain shrouded this place; the figure of Swampert made the scattered wild Pokémon arriving feel immense pressure.

Under the croak of Politoed, the Poliwag surrounded Swampert, their fists filled with righteousness.

In the open space near the warehouse and the ice cellar.

White mist drifted in the air, the ground was completely frozen, and a massive wall of ice was generated by the combined efforts of Regice and Glastrier, causing the arriving wild Pokémon to fear damaging the situation and flee without fighting.

Mimikyu and Spectrier looked at Vulpix, who had come up with this method, marveling at the child's ice-and-snow cleverness.

In other scattered areas of the farm, merely by the existence of a huge and oppressive figure standing there, many wild Pokémon that had sneaked in were intimidated and dared not make any rash moves.

At such times, an armored Shadow Swordsman would emerge from the shadows, its dancing Great Sword of Pale Flame constantly driving them away.

In the farming area.

Under Serperior's command, the Bai Bai Pengpeng, Tropius, and Applin were driving away the Ground-type Pokémon coming from underground.

Victini and Comfey danced within the farm, continuously providing boosts, assistance, and healing to the farm's Pokémon.

Besides this.

The Garganacl, Mawile, Arboliva, Shuckle, and other Pokémon were all using their own methods to guard their homeland.

Inside the house.

"Mafu~"

The Shuang Nai Xian making desserts was somewhat absent-minded, frequently lifting its head to look outside.

Beside it, a Greedent worked hard transporting berry after berry, occasionally sneaking a bite when the Shuang Nai Xian wasn't paying attention.

The Oranguru, having taken everything in with Emperor Yan Di's eyes, smiled gently at the Shuang Nai Xian and said, "Trust everyone; for now, what we must do is provide delicious food to dispel the fatigue of battle for everyone after the fight."

The battle guarding the farm continued until dawn; under the premise that the Dragonite deliberately manipulated air currents to disperse the scent of the secret seasoning, the wild Pokémon who had gone mad for the secret seasoning and arrived in wave after wave gradually calmed down.

(End of Chapter)