Pokemon: Farm Story-Chapter 150: Slowking – Lacking Strength, Full of Woes~

"Alright, a little higher."

In front of the gym, Natsume directed Slowking as it used Psychic to suspend the gym's emblem over the entrance.

After some thought, he had decided to use the logo designed by his Indeedee sister as the official symbol of the gym. However, the gym badge itself had been slightly simplified, with some of the more intricate patterns removed.

Originally, gym badges were mostly simple geometric shapes, but over time, their designs became more elaborate. Some gym badges were no longer even symmetrical or strictly geometric in form.

"Yadon."

Under Natsume's instructions, the emblem was carefully positioned above the main entrance. A few screws, guided by Slowking's psychic power, twisted tightly into place.

If it had simply been hung there, Natsume couldn't help but worry that the sign might randomly fall one day and knock out an unlucky traveler passing by.

Many gyms end up becoming popular local landmarks.

Some even go the extra mile to decorate themselves in trendy, social media-friendly styles to attract more visitors.

Well, what can you do? Gotta make a living somehow.

If a gym goes too long without challengers, it'll get inspected.

Of course, considering Jadeleaf's massive population, there have never been enough gyms to meet the demand. Most of them are packed with challengers, so the issue of having no visitors rarely arises.

That's why Natsume wasn't too concerned about whether his gym would get challengers or how things would go afterward.

Worst case? He'd just bring out Okidogi and the others to draw in tourists.

For just ten Pokédollars, you could take a photo with a Legendary Pokémon.

Plenty of people would gladly pay for that.

"Yadon."

Retracting his hand, Slowking nodded in satisfaction as it looked at the newly placed gym emblem.

For the time being, it would be staying at the gym to assist Natsume.

Early on, a Gym Leader would inevitably need to be on-site, managing everything.

Once things ran smoothly, he could start recruiting apprentices to handle beginner trainers.

Removing the Shellder from its head, Slowking reached into its shell and pulled out a thermos bottle with the distinct vibe of an old-timer. Twisting it open, it took a small sip.

The thermos contained a health-boosting herbal drink that Indeedee sister had been experimenting with lately.

The taste was... mediocre.

But Slowking liked it well enough.

By now, it had reached a state of inner peace, utterly unfazed by life's ups and downs.

Life was full of setbacks and unexpected twists, after all.

Given enough time, everyone would come to understand this.

As for searching for Uxie, Slowking wasn't in a hurry anymore.

At first, it had been restless and anxious, completely clueless about where to begin.

But after hearing from Ting-Lu and Mew about Uxie's current state and its mission, Slowking had instead found itself calming down.

Uxie was fine.

But it wasn't strong enough yet.

If it went looking for Uxie now, it would only be a burden.

Feeling the steady growth of its psychic energy, Slowking nodded to itself.

More effort was needed.

Tonight, it would spar with Corviknight again.

(Corviknight, who hadn't had a good night's sleep for a whole week: Hello? Can we talk about this?)

So far, Slowking's win rate against Corviknight was around 40–60, or close to 50–50.

Well, Slowking was the 40 in that equation.

At first, it had assumed that despite its type disadvantage against Corviknight, it should still have a solid edge—not a guaranteed win, but at least a favorable matchup.

After all, Psychic-types excelled in battle through versatility, intelligence, and unpredictable attacks.

They weren't like Dragon-types, who relied on raw power to crush their foes head-on.

Nor like Ghost-types, whose eerie abilities made them tricky to fight properly.

Psychic-types had their own way of battling.

In many matches, you'd see Psychic Pokémon using their immense psychic power to toy with their opponents.

Slowking figured it should have the upper hand against Corviknight.

After all, Corviknight was bulky and predictable, with a battle strategy it had seen a hundred times before.

It knew how Corviknight fought.

So, Slowking went in full of confidence.

And then... it got completely walled.

Corviknight was ridiculously tanky.

Whether it was natural talent or the result of Natsume's constant feeding of energy cubes and Viridian Force-infused training, the bird's defenses, stamina, and even recovery were all maxed out.

After what felt like an eternity of attacking, Slowking wasn't even sure if it had actually broken through Corviknight's defenses.

And as for willpower?

Corviknight had challenged Persian 816 times.

And lost every single one.

Yet it still kept challenging.

That level of persistence was beyond sheer determination.

Slowking even started wondering if Corviknight had some kind of... hidden masochistic tendencies.

Otherwise, how did this make any sense?!

Stubborn resolve, combined with a physique that was slowly evolving in the Persian direction...

Slowking's first battle ended with it voluntarily forfeiting.

It just couldn't break through Corviknight's defenses.

There was no point in dragging it out.

"What's wrong, Slowking?"

Noticing Slowking spacing out mid-sip, Natsume raised an eyebrow.

"Yadon."

Nothing.

Shaking itself out of its thoughts, Slowking screwed the lid back onto its thermos and stashed it inside Shellder's shell.

Once the Shellder was back on its head, that wise and enigmatic aura returned.

With hands clasped behind its back, Slowking now looked exactly like an old government official taking a post-dinner stroll.

Its whole demeanor radiated a sense of deep contemplation and... melancholy.

So frustrating.

Corviknight was getting stronger at such an unnatural pace.

When would it be his turn to grow like that?

Clearly, it needed to start sucking up to Natsume more.

If this went on, it wouldn't even be able to keep up with Corviknight's dust trail.

And if that happened, how could it ever help Uxie?

Mew had mentioned that the other Legendaries were either asleep, sealed away, or still digesting their previous victories.

But this fragile peace wouldn't last forever.

Slowking needed to get stronger fast.

Thinking this, it turned to Natsume.

"What?"

"Yadon."

I need to get stronger. Give me extra dinner.

"Bet."

Natsume had no idea what was suddenly going on with Slowking.

But if it just wanted more food? That was easy.

Coincidentally, he'd been working on a new energy cube formula.

Might as well let Slowking try it later.

"Lopuu~"

Hopping over with a small metal box in hand, Lopunny landed beside Natsume.

"Ah, thanks, Lopunny."

Opening the box, Natsume found several gym badges inside.

These were the finalized, simplified versions.

Now, they looked just right as gym badges.

And hey, a simpler design meant cheaper production costs. (laughs)

After handing over the box, Lopunny rubbed against Natsume, leaving stray fur all over his clothes.

Luckily, Natsume mostly wore light-colored clothing these days, so it wasn't too obvious.

Back then, his wardrobe had been nothing but black, black, black, black, and dark blue.

But after constantly finding his clothes covered in an assortment of yellow, gray, white, and pink fur...

Cleaning them off only for them to be covered again soon after was exhausting.

So, he slowly started switching to lighter colors.

Was it actually cleaner? Who knew.

But at least it looked cleaner, which made him feel better.

"Lopuu."

Satisfied that her fur blended in this time, Lopunny nodded approvingly.

Recently, those two dumb cats and that mouse had been fighting over who Natsume favored more.

What a joke.

Before her, they were all just little brothers.

Maybe Natsume's favorite wasn't her, but she was definitely ahead of those three!

Humming happily, Lopunny skipped back home, pondering what to eat for dinner.

The farm had gained a lot of new friends lately.

And Natsume was often busy running around handling various matters.

But Lopunny still liked him.

Humming a cheerful tune, she began thinking about tonight's meal.

As the former caretaker of the farm, she wasn't exactly a master at household skills, but she was competent enough.

And that included cooking.

"Alright, time to get ready for the assessment."

Clapping his hands, Natsume turned to Slowking and Mew.

Aside from the Pokémon just here for the spectacle, these two were the most invested in the gym.

Slowking saw it as a personal challenge.

And Mew?

Well, it was just here for the fun.

To be honest, it wasn't much different from the other onlookers.

Unlike other Pokémon that just show up for fun and occasionally act as a stand-in for the Gym Leader's team...

Mew is here to stand in as the Gym Leader.

If Natsume is too busy, Mew will take over.

If Mew is unavailable, Slowking will step in.

And if Slowking doesn't have time either...

Well, then the gym will close for three days.

What can you do? Gym Leaders are people too. Having a personal life is perfectly reasonable.

Ding-dong~

A message notification popped up on Natsume's phone.

He picked it up and glanced at the screen—it was from Mei.

[Mei: Congrats! From now on, you're officially Gym Leader Natsume.]

[Mei: Cat blowing a trumpet (sticker)]

Attached was one of Mei's favorite cat reaction stickers.

Her phone was practically a treasure trove of cute cat and dog stickers.

Actually, to be precise, she loved any cute sticker.

Thanks to her, Natsume's own sticker collection was now overflowing with all sorts of adorable reaction images, most of which he had "stolen" from their chats.

With practiced ease, he long-pressed on the sticker and saved it to his collection.

Then he sent it right back to Mei.

[Natsume: Cat blowing a trumpet (sticker)]

[Natsume: Trainer, you have a beatdown delivery waiting for you. Please sign here~]

[Mei: You wouldn't actually do that to me, right?]

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

[Mei: Sad cat (sticker)]

[Natsume: Of course I would!]

[Natsume: Seal blowing a trumpet (sticker)]

The two of them casually chatted back and forth, not really talking about anything serious.

When his gym application was approved, Natsume had messaged Mei that very night to share the good news.

And Mei had promised that she'd be the first challenger to show up and storm his gym.

She even said she had a huge surprise in store for him.

She wasn't confident she could beat Natsume just yet, but at the rate she was improving, she was certain she could at least give him a shock.

"Serperior! Training time!"

"Sssso?"

Didn't I just get a break?!

Serperior lifted its head from where it was sprawled on the ground, looking utterly baffled.

Then, catching sight of Mei's phone in her hand, it immediately understood.

So she'd been chatting with Natsume again.

Damn it.

Every time she talked to Natsume, she would get into this weirdly hyped-up state.

To be honest, Serperior was almost used to it by now.

At this point, all it could do was spoil its trainer a little.

Even if that meant some unavoidable suffering.

"Chingling! Solosis!"

"You two are joining in too!"

"Ching~!"

Here we go!

This was an energetic little Chingling, endlessly curious about everything.

And since Mei had never asked it to train before, it was absolutely thrilled.

Having never experienced the misery of high-intensity training, Chingling was still full of excitement.

"Mmm?"

Meanwhile, Solosis, who had just finished its previous training session, looked utterly lost.

Wait a second.

Didn't you just say I could rest for a while?

But then it glanced at Serperior, who had already started extra training, and Dewott, who had never even stopped training in the first place.

Gritting its teeth, Solosis pushed itself forward for another round.

Maybe... this was just part of the road to becoming stronger.

At least, that's what it told itself.

Watching Mei practically radiate enthusiasm and determination, Solosis suddenly wondered...

Had it come to the wrong place?

This kind of blood-pumping, high-energy atmosphere...

Really didn't suit a little psychic blob like itself.

—

Back at the farm.

After wrapping up his conversation with Mei, Natsume dialed Fu Gakuji's number to inform him that his gym was officially complete.

Honestly, having a town mayor like Fu Gakuji had helped him avoid a ton of unnecessary trouble.

"Got it, got it! I'll contact them for you right away!"

Gakuji was practically beaming over the phone.

From an outside perspective, it might just seem like the town had gained a gym.

But on his own political record?

This was a massive achievement.

One worth putting at the very top of his resume.

Under his leadership, Lianshan Town now had its very own gym, and not just any gym—this one was starting at the city-level.

That was definitive proof of his capabilities!

To help trainers find the right level of challenge, gyms were ranked by tiers.

At the top were the eighteen national-level gyms.

Below that, there were provincial, city, and county-level gyms.

Higher-tier gyms awarded badges with more weight.

After all, you couldn't expect a badge from a national-level gym to carry the same prestige as one from some backwater county gym, right?

Most tournaments had strict badge requirements to prevent abuse.

Otherwise, the line for sign-ups would probably stretch all the way to the next town.

Fu Gakuji wasted no time in filing the necessary reports.

By the next day, the examiners responsible for gym evaluations had already arrived at the farm.

"So, this is where Lianshan Gym is supposed to be...?"

Glancing at the GPS navigation and then at the gigantic Ting-Lu standing in front of them...

The driver fell into deep thought.

Did... did I take a wrong turn somewhere?

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