After lunch, Cole chatted with everyone for a while before Talonflame came to pick him up from the orphanage.
He had arranged for a construction team to come to Mt. Ascendant today to improve its infrastructure. After two years, the employee dormitory he had been planning to build could finally begin construction.
The wooden cabins he had previously built for Talonflame, Fearow, Diggersby, and the others had reached the end of their lifespan after two years of exposure to sun and rain.
Additionally, he planned to build a large courtyard on the mountain and set up his home there. Although he always had a place to stay at the Blue Bird Orphanage, he still wanted a territory he could call his own.
He didn't plan to build an extravagant or particularly attractive courtyard — it would be practical and comfortable, styled like a simple farmhouse courtyard.
The main focus was on one thing: saving money.
Although Cole had earned quite a bit from selling berries over the past two years, most of it went toward paying off his debts. He still needed money for many things ahead — road construction on Mt. Ascendant, land purchases to expand the orchard, employee wages... expenses were everywhere. So for now, he was saving wherever he could.
The Talonflame leader slowly descended at the entrance of Blue Bird Orphanage, stirring up dust with the wind from its wings, its robust and towering figure casting a large shadow on the ground.
Compared to two years ago, it had grown even larger, standing over three meters tall with a wingspan of nearly nine meters when spread. It looked incredibly intimidating — ordinary people would feel breathless just facing it.
This enormous size also granted it formidable fighting power, making it worthy of its position as the head of security at Mt. Ascendant.
After saying goodbye to everyone, Cole climbed onto its broad, sturdy back and rode it toward his mountain.
✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲✲
Mt. Ascendant today was very different from before — the entire mountain was now covered in fruit trees. When the trees bloomed, the whole mountain would become a spectacular display of colors, truly a sight to behold.
Over two years, Cole and his Pokémon had gradually developed the remaining parts of the mountain, later buying batches of fruit trees from the Sproutling Haven Nursery until the entire mountain was planted. What was once a mountain full of weeds and wild trees had been transformed into a bountiful orchard by his efforts.
He hadn't added new berry varieties, still growing only Pecha Berry, Oran, Rawst, Cheri Berry, Chesto Berry, Persim Berry, and Leppa Berry.
He had mastered cultivating these varieties, and as for other types of berries, Cole planned to wait until his orchard expanded before considering them. It was better not to mix too many berry varieties on Mt. Ascendant, as that would make management more difficult.
His business was currently in its foundation stage — it was enough to perfect the cultivation of these few varieties and make a name for himself.
Now Mt. Ascendant could mass-produce B-grade berries, which was quite remarkable in Coumarine City. If not for his limited experience and modest advertising, he would likely already be famous in the industry, since the market was dominated by C and D-grade berries, with few orchards capable of mass-producing B-grade berries.
The breeding house partnering with Mt. Ascendant, called Nurture Nest Breeding House, was one of the largest in Coumarine City, second only to the League's Breeding Base and another facility called Breedable Bonds Breeding House.
Their demand for berries was very high, and they would buy most of Cole's produce each time. As a result, over these two years, he rarely dealt with other major clients, only occasionally making retail sales to people like Emely, Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy, and Captain Sanders.
He had already discussed with Alfred that once the orchard expanded and their berry production increased, they would start reaching out to other clients. After all, they shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket — that would be too risky. If something were to go wrong with the partnership between Mt. Ascendant and Nurture Nest Breeding House, they would be in serious trouble.
Although Alfred was friends with the young master of the Breeding House, friendship was friendship and business was business — Nurture Nest didn't have Mt. Ascendant as their only berry supplier either.
Riding on the Talonflame captain's back, Cole could see his mountain from afar. It was February, the blooming season for Pecha, Oran, and Rawst trees, so the mountain's waist appeared to be wrapped in a tricolored belt of pink, blue, and white.
"Yaro~ Yaro~"
"Chapu~ Chapu~"
Just as he was about to reach Mt. Ascendant, a flock of Talonflame, Fletchinder, and Fletchling suddenly flew out from the distance. They had come to welcome their leader and boss.
His combat patrol originally had twenty members — one Talonflame captain plus eleven Fletchinder members and eight Fearow. With Cole's help, apart from the Talonflame captain, the other eleven Fletchinder gradually evolved into Talonflame, greatly increasing the patrol's strength.
Unfortunately, due to migration and because the Fearow didn't have as much talent as their battle company colleagues, they decided to retire.
One reason was also quite peculiar: they were all male. In other words, even with all the comfort, a part of their life cycle couldn't be fulfilled at the moment.
So taking advantage of the migration, they left, vowing to one day return to thank Cole for his care.
Even with this drastic reduction, whenever the remaining battle company flew out from Mt. Ascendant's peak in formation, their presence was quite intimidating — few wild Pokémon dared to cause trouble in the orchard anymore.
Later, the Talonflame began pairing up, and the patrol occasionally saw new Fletchling births. These Fletchling would evolve into Fletchinder, and eventually, the team grew to its current twenty-one members.
This included twelve Talonflame, five Fletchinder, and four Fletchling.
As Mt. Ascendant's planted area increased and the patrol's workload grew, the addition of new members helped reduce pressure on the patrol — something Cole was happy to see, otherwise he would have had to consider recruiting new members.
Surrounded by a flock of Talonflame, Fletchinder, and Fletchling, he slowly landed on Mt. Ascendant's peak, where construction materials were already piled up, just waiting for the construction team to arrive and begin work.
Speak of the devil — just as he was about to check the building materials, the sound of approaching trucks came from nearby.
The construction team had arrived.
Though Mt. Ascendant was in a remote location, there was a highway not far below the mountain, making it convenient for vehicles to access.
Additionally, the Diggersby family had used their spare time to build a road from the foot of the mountain to the peak, covering it with fine gravel. Though not completely smooth, it served well for vehicles to come and go (as long as it wasn't raining).
As Ground-type Pokémon, building a road wasn't much of a challenge for them, especially after the young Bunnelby evolved into a Diggersby.
The young Bunnelby was female and, like her father, had a natural talent for cultivation, and was even more meticulous than her father when working. Over these two years, the father-daughter duo had helped Cole tremendously, with their family of three handling most of the physical labor in the orchard.
After exchanging pleasantries with him, the construction team leader led his workers to begin their work. They had already discussed the construction plans and special requirements with Cole previously, so today there wasn't much to talk about — they could just get straight to work.
He planned to build the staff dormitory first, letting the Talonflame patrol team and the Diggersby family move in, while he could return to the orphanage — there was no rush to build his courtyard.
For the patrol team's dormitory, Cole planned to build several small buildings, each four to five stories tall. The rooms wouldn't be too large — just enough for a family of three — with about four or five buildings in total.
The buildings didn't need to look particularly attractive — after all, the Talonflame wouldn't appreciate aesthetics — but the rooms needed to meet several requirements:
First, the rooms had to be comfortable and well-ventilated. Second, they needed to allow easy access for the Talonflame. Third, they had to be sturdy and durable, able to withstand heavy pressure.
Though Cole's requirements seemed few, the actual construction would be quite challenging, very different from building human residences.
Unlike humans, Pokémon had different needs due to various factors like living habits, weight, size, and strength, making their living quarters more prone to issues. He had spent considerable time negotiating with the construction team leader before finalizing the blueprints.
He also planned to build extra rooms to ensure enough space if the patrol team continued to grow. Cole arranged for the Diggersby family's quarters to be underground, below the Talonflame dormitory.
This wasn't to save space — it was at the Diggersby family's request. As Ground-type Pokémon who loved digging, they preferred living underground rather than above ground. They'd had enough of living in wooden cabins for the past two years.
So when they learned Cole was building new dormitories, they approached him to request underground accommodations. He naturally couldn't refuse their request.
While the construction team worked at the mountaintop, Cole led Daisy, Popplio, Helioptile, and the Diggersby family to pick fruits in the orchard.
It was now the season for Oran Berries and Cheri Berries to ripen, so his team had to pick a batch of ripe fruit daily to send to the Nurture Nest Breeding House.
"Hebi~ Hebi~~" — Cole, look how amazing I am!
While picking fruits, Cole suddenly heard Helioptile calling him. He turned to see the little one's body emanating golden light, each streak transforming into hair-thin electrical currents as they shot out.
The currents precisely struck each fruit's stem, causing the fruits to detach from their branches and fall downward.
At this moment, Daisy's eyes flashed purple, using psychic power to catch the fruits before they hit the ground, then placing them one by one into baskets.
"Amazing, amazing!" Cole gave Helioptile a thumbs up.
When first caught, the gecko didn't know any attack moves, only status moves like Charge, Quick Attack, Electric Terrain, and Thunder Wave. After two years of training with him, it had learned Thunder Shock and Parabolic Charge as electrical attacks.
Through day and night training, it had mastered these two moves to perfection, allowing it to precisely strike fruit stems without damaging the fruits.
"Hebi~ Hebi~"
Delighted by his praise, Helioptile jumped with joy, its body again emanating electrical currents to quickly pick another batch of fruits, while motherly Daisy continued following behind to clean up after it.
In terms of fruit-picking speed, Cole was the slowest, so he often turned his attention elsewhere.
Seeing Helioptile showing off like this, Popplio became unhappy.
"Woo~ Woo~ Woo~" — Hmph, what's so great about that? I can do it too!
Saying this, it raised its head and released a beautiful song from its throat, causing the air to vibrate slightly with the melody, making leaves and branches sway gently.
Over these two years, as more of Popplio's hidden energy circuits in its throat had awakened, its singing had become increasingly beautiful — a pleasure to hear every time.
Moreover, it had mastered the Disarming Voice move to perfection. Because Cole always praised its singing enthusiastically, it loved to break into song at any opportunity.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh...
Under the vibrations of the sound, fruits automatically detached from their branches, then were guided by Daisy's psychic power into the baskets.
After finishing, Popplio gave Helioptile a smug glance, but the gecko barely reacted, infuriating the sea lion.
These two seemed naturally incompatible — whenever Helioptile received praise from Cole, Popplio couldn't help but try to compete with it. However, the gecko always acted as if it hadn't noticed, resulting in the sea lion getting angry at itself every time.
"Mm, Popplio is getting more and more impressive too." Cole spread the praise evenly, giving it a thumbs up as well.
Getting his praise seemed to energize Popplio like a shot of adrenaline. No longer sulking, it shot out thin streams of water.
✲ Water Gun ✲
Biu~ biu~ biu~
Each water stream precisely hit a fruit's stem, making the fruit fall undamaged.
Using Water Gun to pick fruits wasn't as efficient as Disarming Voice, but Popplio didn't care about efficiency — it just wanted to show off its skills and get more praise from Cole.
He naturally played along, praising it each time it showed off, which made it work even harder.
At times like these, Cole would cover his mouth and secretly smile.
Daisy maintained an expressionless face while following behind Popplio and Helioptile cleaning up after them. Whenever these two had a dispute (actually just Popplio picking fights one-sidedly), she would wear this expression of silently watching the show.
Using this tactic, Cole regularly motivated Popplio to work harder, and the sea lion enthusiastically fell for it every time.
By evening, they had collected enough fruits for the day, and the Diggersby family transported the baskets to the foot of the mountain.
A warehouse — built by Cole a year ago specifically for storing harvested berries — stood at the base of Mt. Ascendant.
Once the berries were safely stored, Alfred would arrive early the next morning with staff from the Nurture Nest Breeding House to collect them by truck.
✲✲✲
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