Chapter 479: To Get Rich, First Plant Trees

Though he had said a few days ago that the Mankey's forehead was darkening, how did it suddenly become like this in the blink of an eye?

Luo Mu's expression instantly turned solemn.

"Oranguru, go with Dragonite to fetch Lei Guan Wang; it should be taking Cosmog to survey the environment at the small hill behind."

After first turning to instruct Oranguru to fetch reinforcements, Luo Mu quickly ran into the narrow infirmary of the Comfey, found the medical kit usually used to check the status of the farm Pokémon, took out instruments like a stethoscope, and rapidly diagnosed the Mankey's condition.

The Eevee sisters nearby exchanged a glance; having the younger sister stay inside, the older one hurriedly ran outward.

Although there was still some time before Lei Guan Wang returned, the Comfey was right nearby in the farming district performing daily crop care!

Luxray and Serperior exchanged a glance, called upon Mimikyu, and hurried toward the direction of the warehouse ice cellar.

Stored there was the medicinal liquid made by Big Sister Shuckle using five secret seasonings; according to Luo Mu, using all five together had an effect sufficient to save a life on the brink of death! Xiao Zhi and Pikachu watched with worry as Luo Mu began administering first aid to the Mankey.

Though it was only a few minutes, for Xiao Zhi it felt longer than several decades.

Then, Luo Mu's rather solemn voice rang out.

"Heartbeat and pulse lost, vital signs vanished—what exactly happened?"

Luo Mu turned his head to look at Xiao Zhi, his face utterly serious.

He naturally knew that Mankey could evolve into Annihilape.

After all, Pipa's starter Pokémon, Mankey, had successfully evolved into Annihilape, and Luo Mu knew more or less about the details involved.

There was a rumor that the reason Mankey gained the Ghost type upon evolving into Annihilape was because the Mankey had died of anger.

Whether there was any basis for this remained to be seen, but in Luo Mu's view, judging from a medical perspective, Xiao Zhi's Mankey now had, to put it plainly, lost all vital signs.

In other words, it was dead.

Of course, the possibility of apparent death could not be ruled out.

It was just that—

He had sent Cangyan Cangyan Rengui and Dragonite to accompany Xiao Zhi and the others; under no circumstances should such a situation have occurred.

His gaze fell upon Xiao Zhi and Pikachu, who wore faces full of worry, then shifted to Tan Xiao Shi nearby, whose face was covered in guilt; perceiving a slight clue, Luo Mu looked at Xiao Zhi, awaiting his answer.

Xiao Zhi recounted everything he knew as best he could.

It turned out that...

The underground ruins were not considered difficult, especially with Cangyan Cangyan Rengui and Dragonite following along.

Even though the two Pokémon would not act before encountering abnormal situations, they still provided Xiao Zhi and the Captain with a strong sense of security.

The exploration progressed very smoothly; the Captain found the Paldean gold coins Luo Mu needed, and he himself casually took a few ancient artifacts before leaving.

Along the way, Xiao Zhi had more than once sent out Mankey to confront ruin mechanisms that could not be avoided, as well as wild Pokémon living and wandering within them.

However, just as they completed their objective and returned to the surface, Tan Xiao Shi accidentally triggered the switch of a certain mechanism.

The problem was actually not major; Cangyan Cangyan Rengui and Dragonite resolved ninety-nine percent of the triggered attacks, leaving only a few hidden arrows triggered near Tan Xiao Shi's side that they hadn't paid much attention to.

Plus, Xiao Zhi instinctively used his back to shield Tan Xiao Shi, while Mankey directly intervened, releasing the move Rage Fist to solve the problem with its fists.

But before Xiao Zhi could step forward to check on it, the Mankey, having just released its move and waving its fists while roaring at the sky, suddenly halted its movements and sounds, then immediately collapsed straight down.

What happened next did not need further elaboration.

Xiao Zhi hastily carried the Mankey away from the ruins; the Captain and Cangyan Cangyan Rengui voluntarily stayed behind, allowing Dragonite to bring Xiao Zhi, the Mankey, and Tan Xiao Shi back to the farm faster.

"It collapsed right after using Rage Fist?"

Luo Mu stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Indeed, upon examination he found no obvious external wounds on the Mankey; it looked more like acute shock caused by internal factors.

Logically, if Rage Fist was used twenty times within a short period, when the Mankey's own rage emotions reached their peak, it should burst forth with the light of evolution and successfully evolve into Annihilape.

Yet Xiao Zhi's Mankey did not; what could be the reason for this?

Was it a case of not being acclimated to the local conditions?

Was it still adapting to the environment of Paldea, thus causing the evolution to interrupt?

Luo Mu really could not figure it out; since contacting Nurse Joy of Mesagoza Town was too late now, he asked in his heart, "What is the current situation with the Mankey?"

【Hint: Insufficient life force provided for the required evolution; currently in a state of apparent death. Please replenish its life force as soon as possible.】

This was the most critical hint.

Below it, there was an even more detailed annotation.

During this period, the Mankey had accumulated a great deal of rage; originally, all this rage would have become fuel driving the Mankey's evolution as Rage Fist was released.

But now, due to a serious problem, an error occurred when the Mankey attempted to evolve and manifest its second attribute, the Ghost type.

To put it simply, the Mankey's current state was similar to that of Xiao Zhi's Charizard.

It completed the evolution conditions without accumulating sufficient power, or chose to evolve directly due to the provocation of the Angry Aerodactyl.

The Ghost type has always been shrouded in many mysteries; a case like this Mankey, which originally lacked the Ghost type yet manifested it during evolution, was even once believed to be "died of anger."

As for the reason leading to the insufficient life force during evolution, Luo Mu looked at that line of small text, his expression shifting unpredictably.

【Due to long-term high-intensity training and non-stop competitions, eating only enough to fill the stomach at every meal without obtaining sufficient nutritional intake, resulting in malnutrition.】

Was it because of that Fan To? A vague face of the man from the original anime, who desired to win the P1 Grand Prix so much that he abandoned his family to go out and train, faintly appeared in Luo Mu's mind.

Suddenly, it all made sense.

With the answer reached, just at that moment the Comfey had been brought back by the older Eevee sister; Luo Mu then had the Comfey use Floral Healing on the Mankey first, doing their best to wait for Lei Guan Wang's return.

Next, he looked at Xiao Zhi and opened his mouth to comfort him, saying, "There is a way; don't rush."

Xiao Zhi nodded repeatedly like pounding garlic, a look of hope rising on his face.

The nervous Pikachu and Tan Xiao Shi nearby also breathed a sigh of relief.

Two more minutes passed; the surrounding space distorted slightly, Lei Guan Wang's figure emerged, followed closely by Oranguru and Dragonite.

Oranguru had already informed Lei Guan Wang of the general situation; as soon as it arrived, its gaze fell upon the Mankey, which was receiving the Comfey's full-power Floral Healing yet showed not the slightest reaction.

After observing carefully for several seconds and then probing with spiritual power, Lei Guan Wang arrived at the same conclusion.

"It lacks sufficient vitality, causing its evolution to be interrupted at the very start; it was itself undergoing evolution toward a physical form, a spiritual form, or rather, a life form breaking free from the constraints of flesh, which is why the current situation has arisen."

"Leave it to me." With these words spoken.

Lei Guan Wang floated over in front of the Primeape, while Florges stopped its movements and consciously yielded its position to Lei Guan Wang.

After nodding gently to it, Lei Guan Wang lightly touched the Primeape's forehead, and emerald green points of light, like a river, flowed into the Primeape's body.

Lei Guan Wang wielded the power of healing hearts and bestowing grace; as a rare Grass-type Legendary Pokémon, although it could not perform feats like Ho-Oh bringing the dead back to life, nor could it easily share its eternal life like Xerneas.

But supplying the Primeape with enough vitality to allow it to continue evolving, without suffering from malnutrition, was not difficult in the slightest.

As emerald green points of light brimming with vital energy continuously surged into the Primeape's body, gradually, its chest and abdomen began to heave, and its gradually cooling body regained some vitality.

Immediately following this, a dense light of evolution ignited, wrapping the Primeape as if it were a cocoon of light.

The Primeape's body shape also began to change as if it were made of modeling clay.

As the radiance of the evolution light gradually dissipated, the appearance of the Primeape—no, the Annihilape—was revealed.

Compared to the Primeape, the Annihilape's transformation was so great that one might mistakenly believe the two were not of the same species.

The fur covering its entire body had turned iron-gray, with the tips of its snarling claws being white; one wondered how much hair gel would be needed to maintain this gravity-defying style.

The center-parted hair growing between its eyebrows even reminded Luo Mu of an old acquaintance.

The skin on its hands and feet had also turned an iron-blue color similar to those living dead in zombie movies, giving it a lifeless appearance.

The Annihilape's eyes were filled with a blood-red hue; fortunately, its pink pig-like nose and the iron rings on those hands and feet remained, otherwise, not a trace of the Primeape would be visible.

The Annihilape's types were Fighting and Ghost; not counting the Haunter left with Natsumi, this counted as the first Ghost-type Pokémon Ash had caught.

Having just evolved, the Annihilape was still adapting to its new body, sensing the differences of the Ghost type.

With a "Whoosh," Ash, carrying Pikachu, pounced directly over, hugging the Annihilape with a face full of relief.

"You scared me to death; thank goodness you're okay, Annihilape!"

After all, having battled against Rika, Ash naturally already recognized the fact that "Annihilape is the evolved form of Primeape."

The Annihilape was slightly overwhelmed by the favor; after thinking for a moment, it snatched the baseball cap from atop Ash's head, placed it directly on its own head, and struck a pose of "flexing both biceps."

One person and two Pokémon played around for quite a while before finally breaking away from the unpleasant emotions of earlier.

Seeing this, Tan Xiao Shi on the side stepped forward and apologized in a low voice.

Seeing this, Luo Mu shook his head and continued with his planned arrangements for the day.

He would not disturb them any longer; this incident had also opened a breach, and in the future, Tan Xiao Shi's attitude would definitely not remain stubborn.

Cangyan Cangyan Rengui and the Captain would likely need another half-day or so to return, so Luo Mu brought along the tardy Luxray, Serperior, and Mimikyu, returned the secret seasoning potion to the ice cellar, and walked all the way to the outside of the farm.

He intended to inspect the environment.

The new house was nearly completed, and there were no issues on the small hill side; it was merely a matter of how to settle the Pokémon living up there.

Most of the land designated by the Paldea League for the farm's expansion was ordinary grassland.

There were no forests or groves, so few wild Pokémon lived there, allowing Luo Mu to better reclaim the land and plant crops.

Walking along the route, he soon arrived at the edge of that small stream.

Gazing at the crystal-clear stream water and the fish darting about within it, Luo Mu became somewhat lost in thought.

Come to think of it, this small stream still held many of his memories from the past year.

While fishing here, he had found Hearing Hearing Nimo, who had escaped from human traffickers, unconscious and drifting.

While fishing here, he had acted as a benevolent male bodhisattva, only to be mocked by a group of Magikarp, especially that golden Magikarp; he wondered if he would ever see it again.

While fishing here, the Poliwag completed its evolution here, becoming the frog among frogs, the emperor among emperors, the Politoed.

Furthermore, the moon-viewing watermelon picnic during the summer was also held nearby.

It was not until Serperior lightly but meaningfully tapped him with the tip of its tail that Luo Mu snapped out of his trance and began inspecting the surrounding area.

Although he had been back for some time, he had not forgotten the matters concerning Kitakami.

Whether to vent on behalf of Okidogi or simply because he found them disagreeable, Luo Mu had already decided to create an excellent apple orchard and seize the fame of Kitakami's apples.

Only in this way would those people feel distressed.

And this area was undoubtedly the most suitable place for planting fruit trees.

It did not rely on mountains, but it was situated beside water.

After watering, Swampert, Politoed, and Dragonair could still play in the stream for a while.

The land appeared to have good fertility, but even if it did not, it would be fine.

Both Mudsdale and Lei Guan Wang possessed the power to transform this place.

Judging by the current weather in Paldea, there was likely only about a month of buffer time before the temperature dropped below zero and snowy days arrived.

With the composite grassy terrain created by Bai Bai Pengpeng and the others, plus Lei Guan Wang as this ultimate trump card, achieving a harvest before the snow fell was no problem.

"The main issue is indeed the Applin and its evolved forms possessing the 'Ripen' ability, isn't it?"

Luo Mu muttered to himself.

The reason Kitakami's apples could be produced on a large scale, aside from the massive scale itself, was the considerable number of Applin.

The limit an single Applin could ripen was probably just one or two apple trees.

After all, their bodies were originally very small, and they were still in their initial form, so their energy reserves were limited to just that much.

Even if they evolved into Flapple now, increasing this number significantly, wanting them to ripen fruit trees on an orchard scale meant that even making the Flapple work 007 would be barely sufficient.

To form a scale large enough to even cut off Kitakami's monopoly, the farm definitely needed to introduce a batch of Applin.

Flapple was a male; expecting it to have offspring was certainly unrealistic, besides, it was still just a child! Introducing Applin would indeed have to start with the Day Care, or perhaps randomly kidnapping and adopting children in the wild? "The road ahead is long and arduous."

Sighing slightly, Luo Mu shook his head, called over Serperior and Luxray, accurately located Mimikyu who was playing hide-and-seek with him, and walked toward the direction of the farm.

There were only a few days left until the start of the Campus Contest, so he had to focus on training Feebas and Ninetales.

Moreover, in the evening, he still had to find time to use those fabrics sent by Lyra to make beautiful bows and ribbons.

The exhibition match with Wallace had not yet determined whether it would be singles or doubles, nor how many versus how many.

But Mimikyu would definitely participate.

(End of Chapter)