After Cole put away the Sun Stone, Chikorita finally found a chance to talk to him.
"Chiko~Chiko~"
"You want to show me a special trick?" Cole thought it was just being playful. He nodded and said, "Alright, show me now?"
"Chiko~ Chiko~"
Chikorita stomped its feet, indicating this wasn't the right place.
"You want to go to the flower field?" Cole asked, puzzled, "Okay, okay, but make it quick — we still have work to do!"
Hearing this, Chikorita was overjoyed. It ran ahead happily, turning back to urge him to hurry.
Cole shook his head with a smile and said to the Heliolisk beside him, "Let's go see what special trick this little one wants to show us!"
With that, he walked toward the flower field.
"Helio~"
Heliolisk nodded and hopped along behind him.
When they reached the edge of the flower field, Chikorita had already ducked into the flowers. Its tiny body was hidden beneath the dense leaves of the Fairy Flowers, with only its small head visible.
"Chiko~ Chiko~" — Watch carefully, I'm going to start!
It stretched its neck and called out to Cole, who stood at the field's edge.
"Got it, we're watching!" He waved back.
Hearing his response, Chikorita's big eyes curved into crescents. It made a few humming sounds, and a green light began emanating from its body.
"It's Grassy Terrain!"
Cole immediately recognized the move but couldn't understand why Chikorita wanted to show him something he'd seen countless times before.
Had it developed a new way to use this Move?
While Cole pondered this, something magical happened. With Chikorita at the center, all the Fairy Flower buds bathed in the Grassy Terrain began to sway and slowly open their petals. The scene was breathtaking.
Chikorita had chosen its spot carefully — most of the Fairy Flowers in this area were still buds about to bloom, creating a stunning visual display.
Not only did the Fairy Flowers bloom, but Cole noticed that all the plants seemed to become more vibrant.
After the performance, Chikorita darted out from the flower field and ran to his side, lifting its head expectantly while waiting for praise.
Cole stood there stunned, still staring at the blooming Fairy Flowers in amazement.
"Chiko~Chiko~"
Displeased by his lack of praise, Chikorita tugged at his pants to get his attention.
Cole finally snapped out of his daze, "Chikorita, when did you become so powerful?"
His reaction delighted Chikorita, which lifted its head so proudly that Cole worried its little neck might not support the angle.
Seeing it wouldn't volunteer the information, he ventured a guess: "Could it be that Enamorus or Landorus helped you?"
They were the only legendary Pokémon at home capable of granting such new abilities.
Chikorita's shocked expression said it all — its face clearly asking "how did you know?".
Cole knew he'd guessed correctly.
He made a mental note to thank Landorus and Enamorus later.
"Even with their help, you're still amazing, Chikorita. I'm proud of you!" Cole praised sincerely.
Beaming at his words, Chikorita resumed its "I'm so great" posture, following him with its head held high.
After the demonstration, Cole gathered all the household Pokémon to work at Mt. Olympus.
On their way, Brionne watched Chikorita's elevated posture and asked Heliolisk, "What's wrong with it? Did it sleep wrong and get a stiff neck?"
The gecko burst out laughing. Before it could explain, Chikorita — not watching where it was going — tripped over a rock and fell face-first, legs splayed in the air.
Heliolisk's laughter stopped briefly, then doubled. After explaining to Brionne, both of them started giggling.
Cole turned and gave them a stern look. They fell silent immediately, though they couldn't hide their smiles.
Unfazed by the fall, Chikorita simply rolled back up, scampered to Cole's side, and resumed walking with its head held high.
Upon reaching Mt. Olympus, everyone began their assigned tasks.
The ground work team — three Diggersby along with Nidoking and Nidoqueen — took charge of uprooting the berry trees, carefully preserving their root systems.
Leavanny used its X-Scissor move to separate tree trunks from branches and leaves, organizing them into separate piles.
The berry trees had grown exceptionally large under Enamorus's influence, producing high-quality wood suitable for both selling and future construction.
The trimmed branches and leaves would be gathered, mixed with special materials, and left to ferment for compost.
Purrloin cut the branches into smaller pieces with Shadow Claw to accelerate decomposition and shorten the composting process.
Daisy coordinated Gastly, Misdreavus, and Litwick as they used their psychic powers to move the heavy tree trunks.
Brionne, Heliolisk, and others provided assistance wherever it was needed.
Since Cole couldn't handle physical labor, he focused on supervising the work.
Meanwhile, Chikorita, Larvitar, and the other young Pokémon — too small to help — simply played around the orchard, making cheerful noises.
The team worked efficiently together and soon cleared a large open space.
While Cole was directing the work, he noticed something odd — a large log floating through the air by itself. Gardevoir and Gastly were away carrying other lumber, so this was puzzling.
The mysterious sight startled him at first, but upon closer inspection, he discovered the source: Buneary.
The tiny Pokémon had been completely hidden behind the massive trunk. Cole watched in amazement as it effortlessly swung around a log several times its size.
Though he'd always known Buneary possessed unusual strength, this display exceeded all expectations. How could such an adorable little bunny possess such incredible power?
As he watched Buneary sprint past with the log held high, Cole wondered if he should examine its body — there had to be something remarkable about its physical makeup.
After Buneary delivered another log, Cole called out to it, "Buneary, come here for a moment."
Startled but obedient, Buneary hopped over to his side with a puzzled expression.
"Let me check your body." Cole said, sitting on a tree stump and placing Buneary on his knee.
Though confused by this sudden examination request, Buneary nodded willingly.
Cole carefully controlled his Special Ability energy, allowing it to flow gradually into Buneary's body for a thorough inspection.
Besides his mom, Brionne, Heliolisk, Larvitar, and Chikorita, Cole seldom performed detailed physical examinations on the orchard's Pokémon workers.
Since gaining his Psychic multitasking abilities, which streamlined the process of organizing workers' energy, he'd become less inclined to conduct thorough examinations of Pokémon's physical conditions.
While he regularly brought the Pokémon to the Pokémon Center for health checkups, these visits only detected medical issues — not other peculiarities.
During this careful examination, Cole discovered something remarkable about Buneary's body.
Its hidden energy circuits were already partially illuminated!
Even more surprising, these circuits shone notably brighter than those of other Pokémon.
When Cole used his Special Ability detection, most Pokémon's hidden energy circuits appeared dim and required careful observation to spot. But Buneary was different — its circuits stood out clearly.
Imagine the area containing these circuits as a dark room. In normal Pokémon, you could barely discern the circuit outlines.
But Buneary's circuits glowed like a candle in that darkness, illuminating not just themselves but the surrounding pathways as well.
This could only mean one thing — Buneary possessed extraordinary natural talent.
The illuminated portions of its hidden energy circuits were distributed throughout its legs and ears.
Cole's mind raced with possibilities — when helping Daisy and the others activate their hidden energy circuits in the future, he should include Buneary. He wondered what potential might unfold when fully illuminating the circuits of a Pokémon born with naturally active ones.
Having figured out the reason for its incredible strength, he set Buneary down and said, "Come to my room after dinner tonight."
Though Buneary didn't understand Cole's request, it nodded with puzzled eyes.
"Alright, back to work!" He said with a smile.
"Bun~"
Buneary responded, wondering if the boss had noticed its hard work and was planning to give it a special treatment session. Believing it had solved the mystery, its mouth curved into a small smile as it happily hopped away.
Seeing that it was getting late, Cole called all the Pokémon to finish their work and head home, saying they could continue tomorrow.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
After returning home, he personally prepared dinner for everyone and gave them all treatment sessions, praising their hard work.
This completely bewildered Buneary — everyone got treatment? Then what was in store for me tonight?
After dinner, the workers returned to their dormitory. Since Buneary lived with Heliolisk, it stayed behind.
With mounting curiosity, it helped Daisy and the others clean up the dishes, then nervously entered Cole's room.
Cole was reading when Buneary arrived. He stood up with a smile and said, "Ah, Buneary, you're here. Come with me."
With that, he walked toward the door.
Buneary followed close behind.
Cole led it to the room where Daisy and the others usually had their hidden energy circuits illuminated. To Buneary's surprise, its good friend Heliolisk was there too.
"Helio~"
Seeing its friend enter, Heliolisk grinned and waved.
After Buneary came in, Cole finally explained why he had called it here.
Buneary was astonished — so I'm actually a genius? In all its life, this was the first time it had heard such a thing!
But it readily agreed to have its hidden energy circuits illuminated. Since Heliolisk had been doing it all along, it wanted to try too — wouldn't that make it just like the gecko?
Buneary: (≧▽≦) Hehehe...
Thinking this, it secretly glanced at Heliolisk, who happened to be looking at it too, and the two Pokémon shared a smile.
Cole: ⊙▂⊙ ...
Noticing their little interaction, he felt like he was being force-fed dog food.
"Ahem..." Cole coughed lightly, breaking the tender moment between the two Pokémon, "Alright, today let's help Buneary illuminate its hidden energy circuits for the first time!"
Heliolisk: (＾▽＾)
Buneary: (｡^‿^｡)
Soon the little bunny was lying on the bed, with Heliolisk preparing to use Thunder Wave.
Since the anesthetic Cole bought from Nurse Joy came in fixed doses, they needed to rely on the gecko's Thunder Wave for Buneary's first hidden energy circuit illumination.
Before having Heliolisk use Thunder Wave, Cole first probed Buneary's hidden energy circuits with his Special Ability.
"Buneary, how does it feel?" Cole asked.
"Bune~" — A bit painful.
"Just a bit?" Cole asked in surprise.
When Daisy and the others first had their hidden energy circuits illuminated without paralysis, they experienced excruciating pain.
He hadn't expected Buneary to feel only "a bit" of pain — could it be due to higher pain tolerance?
Cole probed again.
"How about now?" He asked.
"Bune~" — Same as before.
Though its face showed discomfort, the pain seemed manageable.
It appeared that Buneary's hidden energy circuits truly were different from other Pokémon's, beyond just pain tolerance.
"Can you handle it?" Cole asked.
"Bune~" — No problem.
Hearing this response, Cole considered completing the hidden energy circuit illumination without using paralysis.
Though paralysis methods were safe, avoiding them when possible seemed preferable.
"Buneary, I'm going to start for real now. If it hurts too much, tell me immediately, and I'll stop right away."
"Bune~" — Okay.
Buneary nodded in response.
As Cole's Special Ability energy began stimulating the bunny's hidden energy circuits, it gradually started gritting its teeth.
An hour passed quickly before he finally stopped.
This session served two purposes: helping Buneary illuminate its hidden energy circuits and allowing Cole to explore and understand their structure. Only by first mapping these circuits could he operate more efficiently in future sessions.
Different species of Pokémon had different hidden energy circuits.
Throughout the whole process, Buneary endured without making a sound, though by the end its fur was damp with sweat.
"Buneary, are you still awake?" Cole asked.
"Bun~ Bune~" — I... I'm fine...
Buneary opened its eyes.
"Bune~~" — Is it over?
"Yes, how do you feel?"
Cole offered his arm for support, and Heliolisk quickly moved to help steady Buneary's body with both hands as it sat up.
"Bun... Bune..." — Not bad, I can handle it.
"That's good," Cole sighed with relief. Once Buneary had recovered, he turned to Heliolisk. "Heliolisk, take Buneary back to your room."
"Helio~" — Okay.
With a nod, Heliolisk picked up Buneary and they returned to their room together.
After they left, Cole paused briefly before going to visit Landorus and Enamorus to thank them for helping Chikorita develop its new abilities.
While Enamorus accepted his gratitude, it also informed him that both it and Landorus would return to the Unova region the next day.
✲✲✲
T/N: Hey! Liked what you read? Support your friendly neighborhood translator on Patreon! Think of it as buying me a coffee... or ten!
For just $1.50 (that's less than your daily meme budget), get extra chapters! Want more? $2 gets you bonus content, $5 unlocks premium stories, and $10 makes you my hero (and gets you everything I have, including earlier acess to new books)!
That's it and happy reading! (-‿◦)
https://www.patreon.com/collection/1305384