Not Being a Trainer This Time

”Wh-what’s going on?” Professor Oak was utterly stunned. ”Was that move Grassy Terrain?”

But why does this Grassy Terrain look a bit different from the one he knows?!

And then, the next second, something that shocked Professor Oak even more happened.

Under the irrigation of the rich Grass Type Energy released by the Gogoat outside, a carrot in the field suddenly began to swell rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In the end, that carrot burst out of the soil and grew into a gigantic carrot with a diameter of about three meters!

”Th-this... what on earth is going on?!” Professor Oak stared at the huge carrot, completely taken aback.

In contrast, those three Gogoat seemed completely used to this.

They just cast a calm glance at it and then withdrew their gaze.

After tending to the crops, the Gogoat strolled back to the pen and started eating the Grassy Seed Naoki had prepared for them.

At this moment, Professor Oak had no mind to keep observing Pokemon ecology.

He stood up and ran to the edge of the field, staring dumbfounded at that super gigantic carrot.

Just the part protruding from the soil was already over a meter tall, making it hard to imagine how big it was in total.

Professor Oak wanted to find Naoki to ask what was going on. He turned his head and looked around, only to see Naoki busy on the far side of the river.

The distance was too far, so Professor Oak directly dialed Naoki’s Rotom Phone.

Very soon, the call connected. Aiming the camera at the enormous carrot, Professor Oak asked in astonishment, ”Is that also Calyrex’s power?!”

Naoki immediately spotted the giant carrot and was a bit surprised in his heart—another giant crop had grown in the ranch?

Facing Professor Oak’s confusion, Naoki explained, ”That’s the power of the Gogoat. The Grass Energy they release has a certain chance of causing mutations in the crops. That giant carrot you’re seeing is just one of the possible results.”

”This is simply unbelievable!” Professor Oak muttered to himself.

He had originally thought that aside from Calyrex and Koraidon, all the other Pokemon at Naoki Ranch were just ordinary Pokemon.

But now it seemed that every single Pokemon here was anything but ordinary!

The way those three Gogoat had just manipulated Grass Energy—sharp-eyed Professor Oak could see at a glance that they were extraordinary.

A Pokemon capable of erupting with such powerful energy in an instant had to be at least Champion Level in strength!

Three Champion Level Gogoat, used as dairy goats to produce milk in this ranch...

For a moment, Professor Oak didn’t even know what to say.

Adding in the Dragonite that did deliveries, the Koraidon guarding the ranch, and the Calyrex playing on its phone, this ranch was truly full of hidden masters!

Professor Oak had never seen a Rancher like this before.

”The Paldea Region really is full of talent...”

Having witnessed the Gogoat’s performance with his own eyes, Professor Oak became even more curious about the other Pokemon in this ranch.

After hanging up with Naoki, he picked up the telescope again and resumed observing the Pokemon ecology here.

Next to the Gogoat pen, a huge Arboliva stood on the grass, spreading its arms wide as it absorbed the sunlight and dew to its heart’s content, looking just like a big tree.

In front of the Pokemon House, a group of ordinary Miltank were leisurely munching on the lush pasture.

On the lawn, all sorts of Eevee were lounging and playing around. Some Eevee were energetically chasing and wrestling with each other, some were lying on the grass with their eyes half-closed in lazy comfort, and others were lying on their backs, bellies exposed, letting their whole bodies soak in the fresh air.

On another side, five Garganacl were sitting clumsily on the grass.

And in front of them, an Alcremie was going ”ma-ma-ma-ma” as it delivered some long-winded lecture to them, nodding from time to time.

Mm, these Pokemon all looked quite ordinary.

For some reason, seeing this scene made Professor Oak secretly heave a sigh of relief.

It seemed those Pokemon really were just ordinary Pokemon.

Right at this moment, a girl in a Paldea Academy uniform suddenly appeared at the entrance of the ranch.

Her name was Lulu. She had come to the ranch after seeing the rumors on the school forum, specifically to challenge this extraordinary ranch.

Just as she arrived, Lulu spotted Professor Oak.

She’d thought that kindly uncle was Naoki, so she charged up with fighting spirit and challenged him.

”Mr. Naoki, I’m here to challenge you!”

Professor Oak: ”Huh?”

Challenge? Professor Oak paused for a moment, then quickly understood what the girl meant. He pointed to the other side of the river and said kindly:

”Sorry, you’ve got the wrong person. Naoki’s busy over there. I’ll call him over for you right away!”

Only then did Lulu realize she’d mistaken him for someone else. She hurriedly thanked Professor Oak: ”Thank you so much, then I’ll be in your care!”

Professor Oak chuckled: ”No need to be so polite.”

As he spoke, Professor Oak used his phone to call Naoki for the girl.

After getting the message, Naoki quickly returned with Koraidon and Cyclizar.

Naoki looked at the girl in a school uniform, washed his hands first, then asked, ”You mean, you want to take on a Trial?”

Lulu was full of fighting spirit: ”That’s right!”

Naoki: ”So how many Badges have you collected so far?”

Lulu was a bit dumbfounded: ”Huh? I have to collect Badges before I can challenge it?”

Naoki nodded: ”That’s right. Only after collecting six Badges do you qualify to challenge the Trial. As for whether you can clear it, that depends on your own effort.”

”Six Badges, huh...” Lulu looked troubled. ”But I’m still short two. Mr. Naoki, can’t you make an exception? I came all the way from Mesagoza City just for this!”

Naoki: ”...”

He said speechlessly, ”For Trainers who haven’t collected all six Badges yet, the Trials on the ranch are really quite difficult. And even with six Badges, that only gets you the right to participate.”

”Honestly, I recommend that Trainers who are about to reach Gym Leader Level, or already above it in strength, come challenge instead.”

At the beginning it was fine, letting those newbie Trainers battle against Gogoat. But as more and more Pokemon on the ranch grew stronger, the power gap between Pokemon became too big, and it stopped functioning as a Trial for those rookie Pokemon.

”I see...” Lulu immediately felt very dejected, but she still didn’t want to give up, so she asked, ”Mr. Naoki, is there really no Trial here that I can challenge?”

She’d seen on the forums that Naoki Ranch had several different Trials...

Naoki was just about to say there wasn’t, when he suddenly thought of Alcremie.

”There is one, but it’s not quite the same as the other Trials,” Naoki said.

Hearing that, Lulu’s eyes lit up: ”What is it?”

”The Metronome Trial.” Naoki explained, ”In this one, we can only send out Pokemon that know the move Metronome, and during the battle both Pokemon can only attack the opponent via Metronome.”

”Unlike the other Trials, this one is all about testing both sides’ luck. There are no strength requirements. If you want to participate, you just need to have at least one Pokemon on your team that knows Metronome.”

”Metronome?” Hearing the details of this Trial, Lulu looked delighted.

She took a Poke Ball from her waist on the spot: ”My Clefairy happens to know Metronome!”

With a flash of white light, an adorably shaped Clefairy appeared in front of the girl.

Naoki raised an eyebrow and asked, ”The Metronome Trial—you really want to take it?”

Lulu nodded vigorously: ”I do! I’ll come back for the other Trials after I’ve collected enough Badges!”

”Alright then. In that case, I’ll accept your challenge!” Naoki turned and called out, ”Alcremie, you’ve got a guest here for you!”

In no time, Alcremie came running over, riding on a Garganacl.

”Maa maa!” It looked very happy, as if it had been looking forward for a long time to holding a Trial of its own like Gogoat and the others.

Professor Oak watched this scene with great interest from the side.

From the look of it, Naoki had set up Trials on the ranch for passing Trainers to challenge?

Professor Oak had heard of such things.

Long ago, people used to call those who hosted these Trials Ranchers, and in some regions they even had unofficial titles like extra Gym Leader or extra Elite.

”How interesting.”

A Metronome Trial that pits luck against luck, huh? Professor Oak had never heard of such a thing before. He laughed heartily and said, ”In that case, let me be your referee!”