Just as the Pokédex describes, as strength rises, Pokémon can even alter terrain. Even without entering Mega Evolution, with just 80% of Swampert's power, 15% of Mudsdale's, and the 5% stamina Lucas expended when using a Z-Move—
Before night fell, thanks to the efforts of Lucas, Swampert, and Mudsdale, the tunnel connecting the entire ranch had been dug.
Halfway through reeling in shock, the foreman rallied the crew to prepare for laying the electrical lines. As they left, disbelief still lingered on their faces. The job they expected to take several days got done by two Pokémon?
Perhaps feeling bad about pocketing the saved labor, the foreman cheerfully calculated those few days of fees and gave Lucas a discount.
Not much—just tens of thousands—but very sincere.
That's how Lucas saw it.
Time slipped by with the ranch's construction and the frequent training sessions at Naranja Academy.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
Maybe mindful of outside interference, to let the four students focus on special training and Lucas teach in peace, Geeta deliberately found them an independent training hall.
There, they could train and battle to their hearts' content without disturbance.
Over this period, beyond teaching the four students foundational battle knowledge and techniques, Lucas often, per Teacher Tyme's suggestion, had Penny team with Eri, and Arven team with Nemona, then ran inter-squad practice matches.
Penny was the type who barely speaks when unfamiliar, but talks normally once she warms up. As bonds deepened, the sense of distance she kept naturally wore away.
She and Eri truly hit it off; after half a month of gelling, Penny could now call her "Sister Eri" with a straight face, and when Arven called her "Little Penny," she'd glare him into retreat.
After half a month, Lucas had a very clear understanding of the pokemons and strength of the four students' Pokémon.
By time as a licensed Trainer, Nemona was the least experienced; yet with terrifying Trainer talent, her overall and ace strength was the greatest of the four.
Her ace, Pawmot, was like Lucas's Luxray—deeply trusted.
Her second Pokémon was Ursaring, third Sliggoo (Goomy evolved), fourth Tauros—already nearly a full team.
Second strongest overall was naturally Eri. Whether it was the bond between Eri and her ace Annihilape, no less than Nemona and Pawmot's, or the roster she'd built up as an upperclasswoman, she was the most reliable teammate.
Her second Pokémon, Toxicroak, and third, Breloom—both dual-typed with widened coverage—were strong hands.
Lucas wrestled over third place, wanting to give it to Arven—but looking at his two pokemons and the lone pillar Mabosstiff carrying the team, then at Penny's Sylveon whose strength was on par with Mabosstiff's and even had a type advantage, he could only, under Arven's slightly aggrieved look, place him fourth.
To Lucas's surprise, Penny had the most Pokémon of the four. As she put it, "If I'm not surrounded by my Eevees, I can't even sleep." That's right—she was raising six Eevee in total.
Worldwide, Eevee are both popular and rare. For a student with no income to keep six simply out of preference shows Penny's family is quite well-off.
However, of Penny's team, only three Eeveelutions counted as battle power: Sylveon, Flareon, and Glaceon. For the other three, though Penny had already settled their evolution routes per their wishes, evolution was still some ways off.
As for Arven, his main issue was that his Trainer talent lagged behind the three girls. Skwovet and Shellder had not yet formed enough battle power.
Nemona needs no mention. Eri's grit in training made her progress rapidly; Penny had been steeped in a great environment since childhood, so her fundamentals were rock-solid by osmosis.
Arven's interests leaned more toward culinary arts. As a Trainer who started midstream, reaching this level already showed great effort.
During this time, beyond closely supervising their doubles teamwork, Lucas also spent considerable effort to raise Arven's fundamentals.
Fortunately, Arven's Skwovet was a step from evolving. With food as incentive for hard training, it completed evolution into a Skwovet within a week of special training.
As for the Shellder Arven and Lucas caught together—it turned out quite strong for a wild Pokémon. Lucas mostly had Arven work on coordinating with it and building rapport.
After all, trust between Trainer and Pokémon determines whether a Pokémon hesitates upon receiving commands. Battles shift in an instant—if they don't react timely, tempo falls into the opponent's hands.
While focused on cultivating the four students, Lucas occasionally called in former students for group special training.
Being the first class he ever taught, he did have some bias of affection.
…
May 20th, in a quiet training hall at Naranja Academy.
"Finish it—Tauros, Close Combat!"
Wearing Naranja Academy's summer uniform, her ponytail swaying, the spirited girl's fighting intent flared. At her lively command, Nemona's Tauros—of the Aqua breed—was wreathed in rising Fighting-type aura and surged forward, unleashing a rapid flurry on Eri's Breloom, which somehow exuded a weary air.
The doubles match ended with a dull thud of collapse. As for the other two, their Pokémon had long since fainted and were crouched in a corner watching.
Eri first smiled gratefully at Comfey drifting over to heal Breloom, then looked at Nemona and sighed, "It's hard to imagine you weren't even a Trainer a few months ago, and now my battles with you are mostly losses."
Still buzzing, Nemona wiped the excited sheen of sweat from her brow. Faced with Eri's praise, she demurred, "Battling you teaches me so much, Sister Eri. I really enjoy it."
"Right, there's still a while before dinner. Pawmot and the others should be mostly recovered. How about another round—"
Clearly still itching to battle, Nemona found doubles a brand-new field whose charm rivaled singles, leaving her looking forward to training every day.
At her words, Eri's gaze flicked, almost imperceptibly, toward the exhausted, fully slumped Penny and Arven, and she smiled gently. "Nemona, we've been battling all afternoon. Better to rest a bit."
Although Nemona often gets so fired up she unconsciously overlooks her partners' feelings, she wasn't so tone-deaf as to miss Eri's hint.
Glancing at Penny and Arven, Nemona said guiltily, "Ah, sorry. I guess I got carried away."
Eri patted her shoulder with a chuckle. "I'm not criticizing you. You're just growing too fast. It takes a lot for everyone to keep up with your pace."
"Of course, that doesn't mean you have to slow down to match us."
Nemona nodded lightly, thoughtful. "Got it, Sister Eri."
Seeing Eri defuse things, Penny and Arven exchanged a look of having dodged a bullet. Thankfully, reliable Sister Eri handled it in a way that wouldn't hurt Nemona.
Penny tipped her head back with a long exhale. "Looks like there's no need to form a 'Victims of Nemona' club—yet."
Arven glanced around, puzzled. "Why isn't Teacher Lucas back yet?"
Penny raised a brow. "Should be soon. The Mesagoza Pokémon Center has a Poké Ball transfer system. Probably the Crown Tundra's signal is bad."
That said, Penny had a nagging feeling her dad had dropped the ball again. But with Sister Peonia keeping an eye on him, it should be fine… right?
She'd sworn to Arven to have her dad handle Shellder. If something happened, how would she explain?
Luckily, Lucas didn't leave Penny sweating for long. A minute before dinner time, the four, dazing in the hall corner, finally saw him arrive.
Arven hopped up first, asking anxiously, "Teacher Lucas, how's Shellder?"
Lucas, breathless from hurrying back, smiled. "Now you should call it Cloyster."
With that, he placed a Poké Ball in Arven's palm.
Arven's grin nearly reached his ears. He mashed the button. "Cloyster, come out!"
With an excited cry, Cloyster's body—now several times larger than Shellder's with a hardened double shell—appeared.
Cloyster was clearly hyped, happily sharing its joy with Arven.
Penny came over, looking odd. "Teacher Lucas, my father didn't do anything… earth-shatteringly stupid, did he?"
Watching Arven play with Cloyster, Lucas's smile froze into a complicated look. "Uh, Mr. Peony is very talkative. He kept me chatting for a long while, so I'm late."
The wrath barely contained on Penny's face dissipated. Good—old man didn't screw up, or she'd ignore his calls for a month.
Lucas absolutely couldn't mention Peony, under Peonia's exasperated stare, made him listen for an hour to Penny's childhood stories.
Say that, and their already precarious family dynamic might nosedive.
After sending off the excited Arven and the trio leaving with Nemona, Lucas locked up the now-dark hall and headed for the academy gate in the sunset.
Half a month really flew by. As soon as he bonded with Shellder and learned it had longed to evolve, he'd mapped out its evolution.
Shellder evolves, once it's grown enough, using a Water Stone.
Some Trainers, chasing quick power, force evolution with a Water Stone before Shellder matures, sacrificing future potential. Lucas strongly disapproved.
Thankfully, when Arven caught Shellder, it was already a mature individual. After bonding, it shouldn't disobey. The only issue was sourcing a Water Stone.
The two professors had some funds; buying one was no problem. But Nemona—already chummy with the others—and Penny overheard.
Nemona declared that her family had just bought an entire Water Stone vein near Zapapico City; Arven could pick as he pleased.
Penny mentioned her father and sister found small Water and Ice Stone veins outside a ruin in the Crown Tundra; if they didn't mind, Shellder could be sent there via transfer to evolve.
One rich lady; one former League Champion's daughter—Lucas actually envied Arven's good fortune.
On Lucas's advice, Arven chose to have Shellder evolve in the Crown Tundra.
Because… Lucas suspected the ruin Peony and Peonia discovered was likely related to the legendary Ice Titan, Regice.
Perhaps leaking sealed power from Regice formed those small Ice and Water Stone veins outside.
Water and Ice have always gone hand-in-hand; since it's Water Stone either way, Lucas felt the gamble was worth it.
As for how much Cloyster improved by evolving in the Crown Tundra—it was late today; better test tomorrow.
Judging by Peony's waggling brows when he called, Lucas expected an unexpected surprise.
…
Back at the ranch atop Dragonite, Lucas ran into the Machoke construction crew wrapping up.
The foreman greeted him warmly. "Boss Lucas, we paved all the main roads with stone today. We should finish by month's end. Same as before—please remind the Pokémon to stay away from the area for a few days!"
Lucas patted Dragonite's back, letting it wait in the sky and waved back at the foreman in the truck. "Understood. Safe drive!"
As the engine noise faded, Lucas looked at the rustic patterned gray stone road at the ranch gate and smiled.
The ranch's electrical wiring was done. Once the stone paving finished, they could install lamps to light the ranch—no more flashlight patrols at night.
Next, dig the ice cellar and set up power and storage systems—then they'd get through the coming summer smoothly.
Right—need to prepare some Ice-type Pokémon to maintain the summer ice cellar.
Time to keep an eye out for suitable partners.