Chapter 201: Chapter 201: Pikachu and Pichu
Chapter 201: Pikachu and Pichu
Outside Ecruteac City. freewebnoveℓ.com
Brock compared the route with the map and said, "After we cross this mountain ahead, we’ll reach Ecruteac City."
Misty sniffed a few times and said, "What’s that smell? It’s sweet and fragrant, like the smell of ripe fruit!"
"Yeah, it smells pretty good!" Ash also caught the scent.
"Eevee!"
Eevee stood up, sniffed, and then pointed in a direction, calling out a few times.
Following the direction Eevee pointed, Ash’s group walked a short distance before seeing an orchard.
Upon seeing the orchard, the three couldn’t help but quicken their pace.
"These Berries look delicious!" Brock said.
"Let’s go in and take a look," Ash suggested.
"Okay!"
And so, the unsuspecting trio entered the orchard.
Soon after Ash’s group entered the orchard, the sound of a wooden stick tapping rang out.
"Pika?"
Pikachu looked up in confusion, then saw a small hand reach out from within the leaves and pluck a Berry.
"It looks like there’s a thief!" Misty said, puzzled.
"A thief?" Brock suddenly had a bad feeling. "Could they be talking about us? We haven’t touched anything."
"It’s not us, but there are Pokemon trying to frame us. They probably want us to attract the attention of the orchard owner."
Ash already knew what Pokemon was stealing the Berries—the yellow-skinned little mouse, Pichu.
The alert Pikachu also realized there was something moving in the fruit tree, so he jumped off Ash’s shoulder and chased after the creature moving in the tree.
Pikachu hadn’t run far when he saw several cleanly gnawed fruit cores, and then a fruit with two tooth-like marks fell from the sky, landing in Pikachu’s hand.
Pikachu looked up in confusion.
However, the next second, a net fell from the sky and directly caught Pikachu.
Then, a young girl stood with her hands on her hips, glaring angrily at Pikachu, saying, "I finally caught you, you stinky thief who doesn’t respect others’ hard work!"
"Wow, how beautiful! Like a beautiful, mouth-watering unripe Berry!" freeweɓnøvel.com
Seeing the girl’s appearance, Brock immediately rushed forward.
"Miss, you’ve misunderstood. Pikachu didn’t steal your fruit," Ash explained.
"But I clearly didn’t see him eating any fruit!" The girl didn’t intend to believe Ash.
"Pikachu really didn’t eat it. If you don’t believe me, you can compare the tooth marks. The tooth marks on that fruit are very small, completely inconsistent with Pikachu’s."
"Is that so?"
The girl checked with a mix of doubt and belief.
"I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have been so quick to assume he was the culprit!"
"It’s okay, as long as the misunderstanding is cleared up," Ash said.
"My name is Torino, and I’m the owner of this orchard. I was so angry because my fruits were being stolen."
To express her apology, Torino invited Ash’s group to her home as guests.
"Miss Torino, it must be very hard for you to manage such a large orchard by yourself, right?" Ash asked.
Torino nodded: "Yes, growing fruit is indeed quite troublesome. There’s often a shortage of hands during harvest season, which is a headache. And the security of the orchard is also a big problem. Recently, with the fruits ripening, there have been frequent incidents of fruit being stolen."
"Actually, I know what Pokemon are stealing the fruits, but I don’t think they’re doing it on purpose. Miss Torino, if you’re willing, I can help you solve this problem, and with good luck, it might even help you solve your security issues."
Ash knew that there were hundreds of Pichu in this entire orchard. Pichu’s appetite is actually quite small, and raising them to guard the home and yard is also a good option.
"Really?" Torino looked at Ash with some excitement.
"Leave it to us."
With Pikachu’s social nature and his bug-like Natural Power, Ash didn’t think he couldn’t handle these Pichu.
Then Torino led Ash and the others on a tour of the fruit forest.
"These trees are all equipped with alarm mechanisms that Pidgey will accidentally trigger if they get too close, but the troubling thing is that these mechanisms, once installed, haven’t been very effective."
Just then, the fruit forest’s security alarm rang.
Pikachu sensed a Pichu nearby and immediately chased after it.
After disappearing into a patch of bushes, Pikachu saw many Pichu returning with fruits.
Seeing so many Pichu stealing fruits, Pikachu immediately said discontentedly, "Pika Pika!" (Why are you stealing? Stealing is wrong!)
Of course, Pikachu was so angry because he had just been tricked by these Pichu.
Those Pichu looked bewildered; in their minds, there was no concept of humans planting fruit trees, they just thought these fruits were all wild.
However, when Pikachu saw a group of Pichu trembling behind a tree and a Fearow circling in the sky, he found a target for his anger.
"It’s a Fearow, it seems to have found a target. Ash, your Pikachu is in that direction too," Torino said.
"Pikachu is very strong, no need to worry."
No sooner had Ash finished speaking than a faint bolt of lightning accurately struck the Fearow in the sky from below.
The Fearow only felt a tingling sensation but did not receive substantial damage.
"Ash, that lightning doesn’t seem to have been cast by Pikachu, right?" Misty said.
"No, it was emitted by the Pichu. Those Pichu should have just arrived here, and as for why they stole Miss Torino’s fruit, they were probably hungry," Ash explained.
"Miss Torino, although these Pichu are not strong individually, they are more united than many wild Pokemon. I think they should be able to help you manage the orchard well."
"But can they really understand what I’m saying?"
Torino had also thought about asking Pokemon for help, but getting a group of Pokemon was too expensive, and these Pichu were wild. She was afraid it would be easy to invite them but hard to send them away, especially since she wasn’t a Pokemon Trainer.
"As long as you’re willing, Miss Torino, Pikachu can help you convey your intentions to the Pichu."
"Alright then, thank you, Ash!"
Finally, after some persuasion from the socially adept Pikachu, all the Pichu agreed to stay and obey Torino’s commands to protect the orchard, but in exchange, Torino had to cover all of the Pichu’s food expenses.
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