Chapter 1090: Ranch and Attack Incident
After visiting the Mr. Mime couple at the Ecological Park, Yuga went to meet Mayor Ishida.
Recently, the Sunflora generator developed jointly by Clemont and Gym Leader Ramos was finally completed and is now ready for mass production. Today, Yuga was meeting with Mayor Ishida to discuss the construction of a Sunflora breeding ranch and power plant in Venderturf Town.
Once completed, this ranch and power plant will not only enable Venderturf Town to achieve self-sufficiency in electricity but also provide more employment opportunities for the town's residents.
Yuga and Mayor Ishida had already reported the plan to the League some time ago, and it received immediate support from them. Even the construction costs for the ranch and power plant were funded by the League.
The League has consistently supported Venderturf Town's development, and this project was given a green light with the necessary approvals and funding.
After several days of discussion, Yuga and Mayor Ishida had finalized the locations for the ranch and power plant. Today, they were going to inspect the site to review the specific conditions.
As Yuga entered the Venderturf Town government office building, Mayor Ishida was already waiting for him in the lobby with his secretary, looking ready to set off.
Upon seeing Yuga, Mayor Ishida greeted him with a big smile, "You've finally arrived! I've been waiting for quite a while!"
Yuga pointed at the clock on the wall of the lobby and replied helplessly, "It's not even time yet. Why are you in such a rush?"
Mayor Ishida rubbed his hands together and said, "I'm just excited. Anyway, there's nothing much to do today. I was hoping we could head out soon."
Mayor Ishida was very keen on the construction of the Sunflora ranch and power plant, eager to see them completed as soon as possible, which was understandable given his enthusiasm.
"Alright, let's head out then!" Yuga said, seeing that Mayor Ishida was impatient.
At the entrance, Yuga looked at the vehicle Mayor Ishida had prepared and then glanced at the Pokémon riding station not far from the town hall. He suddenly turned to Mayor Ishida and suggested, "How about we ride a Tauros instead?"
Since Venderturf Town implemented Pokémon rides as public transportation, Tauros had become an essential means of transport for both residents and visitors. As the proponent of this policy, Yuga had yet to ride one of these Tauros, which is why he suggested it.
Mayor Ishida jokingly replied, "Have some consideration for my old arms and legs. What if I fall off?"
The secretary following Mayor Ishida rolled her eyes at this comment: "You're always riding Tauros smoothly. Now you're pretending otherwise!"
Of course, Mayor Ishida was joking. The Pokémon used as public transportation were equipped with very safe riding gear, so there were no real safety concerns.
In fact, since the promotion of Pokémon rides as public transportation, Mayor Ishida had been setting an example by using Tauros for his daily travel. If Yuga hadn't been present, he wouldn't have gone out of his way to prepare a vehicle.
After giving some instructions to the driver to return the vehicle, the three of them set off on Tauros.
The site for the ranch and power plant chosen by Yuga and Mayor Ishida was located in the southernmost part of Venderturf Town, where the terrain was the flattest and most open.
The ranch needed to house a large number of Sunflora, so sunlight was a crucial factor. The flat and open terrain would ensure that the Sunflora received plenty of sunlight.
Additionally, water sources were also a key consideration. Since Venderturf Town's mother river, the Green Jade River, flowed through the area they were heading to, Yuga and Mayor Ishida had chosen this location from several options.
Upon arriving at the site, Mayor Ishida began to explain the specific planning for the area.
The land didn't have many tall trees, with only some low shrubs and a few scattered wild fruit trees. The rest was vast grasslands, ideal for Sunflora to bask in the sun.
However, once the ranch was built, the uneven low trees would need to be cleared. These disorderly plants not only affected the aesthetics of the ranch but also the growth of the Sunflora.
"I plan to build the power plant here!" Mayor Ishida pointed to the flattest area in the region and said to Yuga. "Then we'll build some housing for the Sunflora on the opposite side!"
Of course, Mayor Ishida couldn't let the Sunflora working at the power plant be without a place to live. While they enjoyed the sunlight, they did not like getting rained on, and the region was known for its abundant rainfall.
It was clear that Mayor Ishida had already made detailed plans for the land. Yuga listened and nodded as the secretary took notes of Mayor Ishida's words.
The reason Yuga came today was to assess the specific area of the land and determine the appropriate number of Sunflora to raise.
Yuga and Mayor Ishida had clear responsibilities: Mayor Ishida handled the planning and construction of the ranch and power plant, while Yuga was responsible for acquiring and training the Sunflora.
Sunflora couldn't be immediately put to work; they needed training first.
The energy for the Sunflora generator comes from the Solar Beam move, but not all Sunflora naturally know Solar Beam. Therefore, some training is required.
Solar Beam is a powerful Grass-type move that not just any Pokémon can learn quickly, especially lower-quality Pokémon that require significant time to master.
The reason Gym Leader Ramos chose Sunflora for the generator was not that other Grass-type Pokémon couldn't work, but because Sunflora learns Solar Beam more easily.
Sunflora, as its name suggests, is highly sensitive to sunlight. Its large flower disk can collect enough solar energy and then emit it using Solar Beam.
A single Pokémon's Solar Beam isn't enough to power the generator; a large number of Solar Beams are needed. Other Pokémon can't learn Solar Beam in large numbers, but Sunflora can, even if they have lower quality.
In addition, Yuga also aimed to teach Sunflora the ability to photosynthesize to improve their work efficiency.
"That area will be for the Sunflora's daily activities," Mayor Ishida pointed to a small hill in the distance and said to Yuga.
Certainly! Here's the revised translation with those changes:
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Yuga looked towards the area pointed out by Mayor Ishida. It was the highest point in the region and indeed suitable for collecting sunlight for Sunflora.
After assessing the entire area, Yuga roughly calculated the number of Sunflora needed for the ranch and planned to contact suppliers to bring them in.
As autumn came to an end, Yuga missed Ash's Pokémon League competition due to his busy schedule with the ranch and power plant. However, after considerable effort, Yuga successfully acquired a sufficient number of Sunflora from various league breeding bases—exactly one thousand.
There are not many breeding centers for Sunflora because these Pokémon are not very strong, and evolving from Sunkern requires expensive Sun Stones, making large-scale breeding impractical.
Many of the one thousand Sunflora Yuga acquired were gathered bit by bit from research institutes in various regions, with some help from Fuyoshi. Thanks to the funding from the league and the support from breeding centers, Yuga managed to gather the necessary number of Sunflora in such a short time.
Among these Sunflora, there were no high-quality Pokémon; most had orange qualifications, some yellow, and very few red. Even for Sunflora, red-qualified ones have difficulty learning Solar Beam.
Once the Sunflora were in place, Yuga would start training them.
However, this was not difficult for Yuga, as his ecological park had many Grass-type Pokémon capable of Solar Beam. They would take turns and in batches to guide the Sunflora, so he was confident they would achieve results before the ranch and power plant began operations.
With so many Sunflora, under Mayor Ishida's arrangement, they temporarily stayed at a training facility outside the town.
This private training facility, newly established after the introduction of investment in Venderturf Town, was designed for trainers to train, battle, and for Pokémon battle enthusiasts to watch matches. The town government provided funding to temporarily lease part of the facility for Yuga's use.
One day, Yuga arrived at the facility to train the Sunflora. Less than an hour into training, the mayor's secretary rushed in with an anxious expression.
"Master Shimizu, something terrible has happened! There's an issue at the ranch!"
Seeing the secretary's urgency, Yuga asked, "What happened? I heard the progress there was smooth."
The secretary quickly explained, "It's the construction team's fault. To speed up the work, they violently drove out the wild Pokémon living in the area. Now some workers have been attacked by the wild Pokémon.
The mayor has gone to handle it, but he's worried about further issues and sent me to get you to check it out!"
Hearing this, Yuga immediately said, "Alright, let's go now." He quickly gave instructions to the training facility staff and left with the mayor's secretary.
When Yuga arrived at the ranch, it was in chaos. Several construction team members were injured, especially the leader, who was covered in blood and was being carried away on a stretcher.
Ideally, when developing land, the original wild Pokémon should be properly relocated—either allowed to stay or given a new habitat. Violent expulsion is strictly prohibited.
Conflicts between humans expanding their living space and Pokémon are common, especially when the league was newly established. Hence, Pokémon disasters were frequent in the past.
Later, as the league stabilized, they began properly relocating wild Pokémon in development areas to prevent such disasters, a practice that was eventually codified into league law.
The development and construction of the ranch had been handled by Mayor Ishida, and since Yuga was busy with the introduction and training of Sunflora, he hadn't been able to monitor the situation. It was unexpected that such a major oversight occurred.
However, it was not entirely Mayor Ishida's fault.
The development of the ranch was managed by an old friend of Ishida's, who had been trusted with the task. The friend was also a member of the league, and they had worked together smoothly in the past.
Unfortunately, the friend's son, who was eager to make a name for himself, was responsible for the actual work. He failed to follow regulations for relocating the wild Pokémon and resorted to violent expulsion to save on costs and speed up construction.
Such actions, however, created hidden dangers.
The food supply at the ranch was not abundant, but since it was close to the Green Jade River, many small or weak Pokémon gathered there.
The son, who was responsible for the project, easily drove these Pokémon away because they were not strong. However, the wild Pokémon were quite stubborn and refused to give up. They continued to monitor the situation at the ranch after being expelled.
Although Mayor Ishida often supervised the ranch's development, the son had managed to cover up the violent expulsion with good appearances, so the issue remained hidden.
It was a mistake for Mayor Ishida to have too much trust in his friend. If he had checked for records of the wild Pokémon relocation, the problem could have been avoided.
Among the expelled Pokémon was a Murkrow. Despite its lack of strength, Murkrow was clever. After being expelled, it realized it couldn't reclaim its home alone and began contacting other wild Pokémon in the area.
It told them that humans had taken its home and that if they didn't resist together, their homes would eventually be taken as well.
The wild Pokémon, being simple and persuaded by Murkrow, gathered together to resist human oppression, leading to the attack on the construction team today.
The leader had come to check on-site for the first time in a while and unfortunately encountered this situation.
He had been tricked by his son and was now severely injured.
(End of Chapter)