Chapter 592: Awakening, Terapagos!

The phone in his pocket kept ringing, signaling countless blessings being sent from friends thousands of miles away.

In the living room behind him, a TV program showed a host standing beneath the tallest building in Lumiose City, announcing the New Year's countdown under the glow of bright neon lights.

After the booming explosion of fireworks, the faint, ethereal chime of the New Year's clock tower drifted over from distant Flatbed Town.

But Luo Mu had no time to pay attention to any of this now.

He looked at Lei Guan Wang and the Zygarde Core, who both appeared more or less awkward, as well as Moltres and Victini, whose guilt was visible to the naked eye as they prepared to sneak away.

The answer was already obvious.

"As for you two, no desserts for the next few days."

Under the incredulous expressions of Moltres and Victini, Luo Mu, feeling his heart was as hard as that of an old man who had spent ten years killing fish in the market of Soak Town, ruthlessly declared their punishment.

Seeing that Luo Mu was truly serious, Moltres and Victini, holding onto the idea of going down together, did not hesitate to betray Tinkaton, who had come up with the idea in the first place.

They did not even spare Feng Su Gou, who had merely lit the fuse.

It was a perfect interpretation of what it means to have plastic friendship.

Feeling that certain behaviors must be curbed in advance, Luo Mu did not go easy this time either, deducting their snacks as well.

Then, Luo Mu's gaze fell upon the Zygarde Core and Lei Guan Wang.

Before he could speak, the Zygarde Core, which had originally planned to turn invisible and flee, panicked.

Back in Terminus Cave, basking in the sun every day, its mouth had become so bland it was about to sprout birds.

Now that it had finally gotten to taste such delicacies produced by different flavors, how could it possibly give them up!

Without hesitation, the Zygarde Core spilled the beans, revealing that Lei Guan Wang had told it not to worry before it injected its own power.

"Regardless, I am merely an uninformed accessory; you had best... best know when to stop, and we will each take a step back, woof!"

It was trying to use the fiercest tone to say the most cowardly words.

Luo Mu twitched the corner of his mouth, completely unexpected that this trick would actually work on the Zygarde Core; he silently memorized it, thinking it might come in handy later.

He turned his gloomy gaze toward Lei Guan Wang.

In Luo Mu's eyes, Lei Guan Wang had always been steady and reliable; if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have imagined that such a major incident would involve Lei Guan Wang.

In fact, its "contribution" was second only to that of the mastermind, Tinkaton.

"Is this what you called 'not much power'?"

Luo Mu looked at it with some helplessness.

Lei Guan Wang awkwardly looked up at the sky; usually so organized in its actions, its speech now carried a hint of guilt.

"I specifically reduced part of the energy of 'Stellar Fragment,' thinking that should be enough, but I didn't realize—"

Lei Guan Wang's voice paused slightly; it simply could not bring itself to finish the sentence with words like, "I didn't realize Victini quietly injected its infinite energy, which can amplify all powers," as that sounded far too much like shifting the blame.

Luo Mu's gaze swept over the several dejected Pokémon, roughly piecing together the situation.

Moltres had injected a bit of its own "Sacred Fire" energy into the firework tube, the Zygarde Core had directly added some "Core Enforcer," and Lei Guan Wang had contributed "Stellar Fragment," though it had been diluted to varying degrees, otherwise the firework would have exploded before even taking off.

The firework's power was indeed not great in Lei Guan Wang's Future Sight, but precisely because of its nod, the Zygarde Core joined in, and the somewhat hesitant Victini accepted Moltres's instigation, injecting its amplifying infinite energy.

This ultimately created the massive spectacle just now, comparable to the explosion of a missile or a nuclear bomb.

Fortunately, it was launched high enough; apart from shaking apart the snow clouds in the sky to reveal a beautiful night and being a bit too loud, there were no major consequences.

"Forget it, everyone stay home for now; I'll go to the police station to explain the situation, so the officers on duty don't have to worry."

Luo Mu made a move to walk outward, but before he had gone halfway, as if remembering something, he turned to the Falinks, who had put down their spatulas and picked up their shields, saying, "By the way... prepare some dumplings for me to take along."

"When visiting someone's home, one must always bring some consolation gifts or the like."

Shortly after.

Luo Mu never dreamed that his New Year's Eve would nearly be spent in the Flatbed Town police station.

Fortunately, Miss Miss Junsha on duty was quite understanding; perhaps it was thanks to that steaming portion of dumplings, or maybe because she knew his identity and thus was understanding.

In any case, after confirming that no citizens of Flatbed Town were frightened and believing they were merely very excited by what they thought was a surprise prepared by Mayor Aisha, she only verbally educated him a few times, took a simple statement, and then hurried Luo Mu home.

—She was about to change shifts; she wanted to get off work.

On the way back to the farm, Luo Mu turned on his phone and browsed his messages.

Most were "Happy New Year" texts sent via SMS from friends who had sent him New Year greeting letters.

Whether it was Geeta, Grusha, and Arven, who were in Paldea.

Or slightly later, Hearing Hearing Nimo and Professor Oak, they all had.

Luo Mu replied to each one by one, then turned off his phone, his steps slightly lightened as he hurried back toward the farm, where a light was still left on for him.

Now that the misunderstanding was over, it was time to welcome the new year and the new day with a fresh mindset!

League Calendar Year 799, January 1st.

Early in the morning, Luo Mu was treated to a face-washing of drool.

Opening his eyes, sure enough, it was Feng Su Gou with a flattering expression on its face.

As the person who had raised this little guy, Luo Mu knew what Feng Su Gou was up to as soon as it stuck its butt in the air; how could he not guess its straightforward intention?

It was nothing more than being gluttonous, not wanting to miss the New Year's Day limited edition desserts that Shuang Nai Xian would make with all its might.

Already accustomed to this, Luo Mu calmly wiped the drool off his face from Feng Su Gou, and before getting up to wash his face, he left a remark: "Watching is fine; eat too much and you'll get fat like your mother."

Feng Su Gou: "..."

You cold and heartless Trainer, I will never forgive you!

"Bui~"

The understanding little sister Eevee placed her small paws with pink pads on the dispirited Feng Su Gou, comforting it with a few words.

Anyway, it wasn't like they couldn't eat any; Shuang Nai Xian loved sharing its creations with everyone, and it had been like this before—as long as one said a few nice words about Shuang Nai Xian, it would secretly feed them.

Hearing this, Feng Su Gou instantly perked up.

Even its drooping tail began to wag like a large broom.

Judging by its shape and composition, it perhaps more closely resembles a stone shaped like an auspicious cloud?

"Gah-lok~"

The Serperior slithered down from the bed, its gaze lingering on Feng Su Gou for only an instant, a hint of amusement flashing in Emperor Yan Di's eyes.

Moltres truly still cannot compare to me; look at how well-behaved my Applin and Tropius are, even able to share the farm's workload.

No, wait, last night Moltres was one of the secondary masterminds, second only to the main culprit, Tinkaton.

Thinking of this, the amusement in Serperior's eyes could no longer be hidden.

Last night, when Luo Mu distributed tangyuan, handing them out to Moltres before giving one to himself, any trace of displeasure vanished instantly.

Serperior had successfully coaxed itself into a good mood.

On the first day of the New Year, the Skarmory's usual routine of delivering Tapu Tapu Moumou's fresh milk and grass goat milk was also paused.

Luo Mu gave these creatures, who worked year-round without rest and consumed only three meals a day while on guard duty, a day off, allowing them to return to their territory in the forest to finally pick a fight with that flock of Talonflame and stretch their bodies.

After all, he had notified his ordering customers well in advance that business would be suspended for these two days.

Most customers expressed understanding regarding this; those with needs had placed larger orders ahead of time, and although storing them in the refrigerator's chill compartment made them less fresh, they were still perfectly drinkable.

The first meal of the New Year morning consisted of stomach-soothing porridge prepared by Audino, along with various breakfast items prepared by the Falinks.

Full and satisfied, gazing out at the rare sunny day, Luo Mu deeply suspected that the three massive attacks launched by Lei Guan Wang and the others last night had completely blown away all the cloud layers surrounding Pingdie Town.

No gloomy clouds, rain clouds, or snow clouds remained; only a stretch of clear blue sky was left, a sight that brought great comfort to the heart.

Somewhat embarrassed, Lei Guan Wang, riding Ice Rider, had vanished to who-knows-where.

In Oranguru's view, the fact that Luo Mu did not reprimand Lei Guan Wang actually made it feel more guilty than Feng Su Gou and the others.

However, it was a blessing that nothing serious had happened; these minor issues would fade away after some time.

Throughout the morning, Luo Mu spent his time inside the heated house, playing brain-teaser games and watching various television programs alongside Victini and Ogerpon.

He also discovered that Kiku, dressed in festive attire, was conducting her New Year livestream, the content of which involved catching Trainers on the streets of Naranja City and challenging them to one-on-one Pokémon Battles.

Watching Kiku command her already Terastallized into the Electric type, Bellibolt, to instantly knock out that pitiful Toxapex with a single Discharge, Luo Mu admitted that he had underestimated just how low Kiku could sink.

Being a Gym Leader at the very least, she was truly bullying the young under the bright light of day, wasn't she?

Just wait; once that kid grows up, his Toxapex will come to sanction you.

Gazing at the chat feed filled with comments eager to stir up chaos, Luo Mu realized her popularity seemed to have surged significantly compared to a few months ago.

At this rate, it seemed the moment when the entire Paldea region would be watching her super-popular livestream, as depicted in the original story, was not far off.

"Hmm, it's about time to consider launching the live-streaming sales plan."

In the approaching spring, after the already expanded farm completes its large-scale sowing, it will yield more crops than last year.

This year, our focus should not be limited to Pingdie Town; we must make the farm's agricultural products one of the top choices for several surrounding towns and even the entire Paldea region!

Following that, we will accumulate funds and wait for the right opportunity to construct an ecological dome belonging to the farm!

Afternoon.

Lei Guan Wang returned riding Ice Rider, bringing back quite a few strange and peculiar stones; nobody knew what it had been up to.

Most of the farm's attention was now gathered in the kitchen.

Shuang Nai Xian had been preparing for a long time for today, and the desserts it was making, fitting the "atmosphere" of the New Year, were rapidly taking shape.

There were persimmon-shaped mochi with various different fillings, and Shuang Nai Xian mysteriously indicated that there were hidden variants included.

There were also milk-fragrant pumpkin mochi, taro paste egg tarts, water chestnut cakes, snowflake crisps, donuts, and cream-type desserts featuring Shuang Nai Xian's personal specialty.

Especially regarding those persimmon-shaped mochi, Luo Mu felt that considering both their appearance and taste, they comprehensively ranked among the very best.

Their appearance resembled exquisite little persimmons, round and plump, feeling springy to the touch; their orange-hued skin was smooth and delicate, presenting the semi-transparent texture characteristic of glutinous rice, faintly revealing the color of the filling within.

While Feng Su Gou looked on with drooling eyes, saliva nearly dripping from its snout, Luo Mu himself had already devoured several in a row.

As for Feng Su Gou, Victini, and the others subsequently currying favor with Shuang Nai Xian to get special small meals, Luo Mu was certainly not unaware of it.

However, his actions were merely to make a statement, ensuring they realized they could not perform such rash acts in the future.

As for their actual actions, he generally turned a blind eye.

It was just like with the Zygarde Core.

After eating and drinking his fill, Luo Mu went to take a look at the farming district.

The locations where the original Secret Spice blends and the special Gold and Silver series berry trees had been located were now replaced by black soil obtained from the War Ruins.

This black soil, having been permeated by the power of Tapu Tapu Moumou for years, possessed nutrients that utterly dwarfed most existing soils, making it a perfect match for these special crops.

Seeds for several types of flowers brought from the Alola region were also buried in the glass greenhouse, including seeds of the Gracidea Flower gifted by Ms. Mallow and Mr. Laxi.

Luo Mu did not have the Pokémon rush their growth; instead, he simply ensured regular "fertilization" via Grassy Terrain.

By this year's spring, these seeds would take root and sprout, blooming into beautiful flowers.

At that time, he could have Queen Bee lead her swarm of Combee to collect nectar and prepare honeys of different flavors.

Furthermore, those blooming Gracidea Flowers might even attract the attention of some Shaymin, allowing him or the farm's Pokémon to establish a special bond with those round, glutinous-rice-ball-like hedgehogs.

After touring the farming district and checking on the hibernation status of Shuckle and the Applin over at the new orchard, Luo Mu returned home while the sky was not yet dark.

However, just after the routine act of having Victini infuse the Crystal Gem with infinite energy concluded, a change completely different from usual suddenly occurred, entirely unexpected by Luo Mu and the Pokémon.

The Crystal Gem floated in mid-air without any external support.

Moreover, the gem's perpetually dim colors underwent a transformation at this moment; as if possessing life, it began to continuously flash with a crystalline brilliance.

Under Luo Mu's astonished expression.

The light of the Crystal Gem shone to its peak, and as if undergoing evolution, four small feet, a deep blue head, and a tiny tail extended from within the crystal.

The Pokémon transformed from the Crystal Gem seemed as though it had not yet fully woken up; it slowly yawned, and then, its eyes, framed by bright rose-red eyeliner, slowly opened.

(End of Chapter)