The days passed quietly in training, with less than two months left until the start of the Ever Grande Conference. However, since the Pokémon had been training for many days, Rex decided to take them to the lake for a luncheon today.
Speaking of the lake, Rex named it Jade Moon Lake because when he looked down from the sky while riding his Swellow, he noticed the lake was shaped like a crescent moon, and the water had a greenish tint. Thus, the name Jade Moon Lake was fitting.
Jade Moon Lake is not a stagnant body of water; a river flows from west to east, dividing Rex Farm into two parts. Rex and his Pokémon usually stayed in the northern part of the lake, while the southern part remained largely wild.
The southern area, adjacent to Petalburg Forest, was home to many wild Pokémon. Previously, the wild Pokémon occasionally intruded from the south. However, after Rex introduced the Taillow tribe, their relentless efforts made these wild Pokémon understand that the northern area belonged to the Taillow tribe, making them hesitant to intrude easily.
Of course, many struggles, both overt and covert, occurred during this period, which even Rex was unaware of. Ultimately, with Swellow's suppression, they reached an understanding with the wild Pokémon.
Swellow leading the Taillow tribe to guard this area was possible because it was on the border of human activity and Petalburg Forest. The Pokémon here were relatively weak, and there were no other large Pokémon tribes. Otherwise, given the attraction of the farm's berries to Pokémon, it would be hard to stabilize the farm without a significant battle, which would have caused considerable losses.
The weather was nice today, perfect for a picnic, so Rex invited Yuli and the other two women as well, making it a team-building day at Rex Farm.
As for Akiko, she had already gone back to school and could only occasionally stay at the farm during holidays.
"Machoke, take a break today! Don't push yourself too hard!" Rex said, somewhat helplessly, as he watched Machoke still training.
Hearing his trainer's words, Machoke finally put down the huge stone it was holding. Its basic physical training involved lifting a huge stone with one hand while doing squats, and as its strength increased, the stones it lifted also grew bigger.
For Machoke, who had made training a bodily instinct, stopping made it a bit lost. It looked around, trying to find something to do. While it listened to its trainer, completely stopping was impossible, so it went to help Yuli and the others with some chores.
Seeing this, Rex didn't interfere further and sat down on a patch of grass by the lake, quietly watching the bustling scene in the distance.
At that moment, Lapras and Poliwhirl were having a surfing competition in Jade Moon Lake. Ever since they learned Surf, they enjoyed riding the waves and often competed with each other.
Lapras and Poliwhirl rode the waves at high speed towards the distance, but overall, Poliwhirl held the advantage. It created higher waves and was in the lead. However, Lapras didn't give up and chased closely behind, enjoying the thrill of the chase more than the victory itself.
"Boss, the food is ready!" Yuli said softly, interrupting Rex's thoughts.
"Okay, thanks for your hard work. I'll come over now!" Rex stood up, patted the dust off his pants, and walked over.
Yuli and the others had prepared two picnic cloths. One had energy cubes for the Pokémon, and the other had various foods and snacks. The amount of food and energy cubes was large enough to satisfy both the four humans and the Pokémon.
"Karen, you've been at Rex Farm for over half a month now. Are you used to it? If there's anything difficult, feel free to tell me!" Rex asked as he took a bite of an apple berry.
"Boss, this is the happiest job I've had since leaving the orphanage. I love everything here!" Karen replied earnestly, stroking the Taillow lying in her lap.
Karen had completely adapted to life at Rex Farm. Although she had many tasks to do each day, she enjoyed them and didn't feel burdened. A few days ago, her Taillow was born. It was small but fast, and it loved to perch on Karen's head.
Having her own Pokémon was a new and exciting experience for Karen, and Taillow embodied her dream of flying in the future. In a world where becoming a Pokémon Trainer was a mainstream dream, many people had to give up this dream due to various reasons and pursue other paths.
"Sister Karen, once your Swellow gets through its infancy, it can train with my Swellow. We can improve together! My Swellow is really strong now!" Yui said proudly, patting her own Swellow.
Previously, with Rex often away, only Yui and Yuli were at the farm. Since Yuli wasn't interested in Pokémon battles, Yui trained her Swellow alone. Now that she had a partner with a Swellow, she looked forward to training together.
"Sure, Yui, but I don't know much about training Taillow. I'm worried I might hold you back," Karen said with some concern.
She only knew that Taillow was a Normal and Flying-type Pokémon that could evolve into Swellow and carry her through the sky. Beyond that, she had limited information.
"It's okay, I don't know much either. We can ask the boss to teach us, and then we can train together and improve. Once they evolve into Swellow, we can go flying together," Yui said, looking eagerly at Rex.
After hearing Karen's vision for Taillow, Yui was also excited. Although she could use the farm's Swellow for travel, having her own would give her the freedom to fly wherever she wanted.
"You can start by having Taillow do weighted flying exercises to strengthen their wings and stamina. Once their basic attributes are strong, I can have Swellow teach them some moves," Rex shared his experience in training Swellow with the two girls.
He hoped they could improve their skills as Pokémon Trainers, providing more security for them in future adventures.
(End of chapter)