Chapter 54: The Ruins of Tianguan Mountain

Cheng Cheng left Casual Town and arrived at Veil City, then passed through Marsh City and Destiny City, ultimately reaching Mount Crown. Along the way, Cheng Cheng hurried forward while capturing Pokémon. Whenever he encountered non-Psychic-type Pokémon, he handed them over to the system for processing; if he caught a Psychic-type Pokémon, he sent it back via the Pokémon Center. Although he now had a stable channel, with the daycare’s business booming, the demand was growing, so he still needed more sources of Pokémon.

Cheng Cheng remembered that there was a ruin on Mount Crown where Ash and his companions once clashed with Team Galactic. He wondered how long it had been since Ash and his friends passed through here. Just as Cheng Cheng reached the base of the mountain, he heard a familiar voice.

“What an annoying feeling!”

Where there’s Pikachu, there’s Team Rocket; conversely, where there’s Team Rocket, there’s Pikachu. It seemed Ash and his friends were here as well. Cheng Cheng found a mountain path and began to follow it. The mountain was quite tall, and after more than ten minutes, he hadn’t even reached halfway.

“How foolish,” Cheng Cheng knocked on his own head. Why bother winding around? He could just fly up. He took out Lunatone.

Just as he was about to have Lunatone use psychic power to reach the summit directly, suddenly, torrents of water erupted from the mountain, and rocks began to fall. The whole mountainside was spewing water, making it extremely dangerous.

Cheng Cheng immediately had Lunatone carry him away from the area. Soon after, he saw a raft appear amidst the rushing waters, carrying several people. Looking closely, he realized it was Ash and his companions.

They were being swept downstream on the raft, the current extremely turbulent and the raft rocking violently. A particularly strong jolt sent Pikachu flying off the boat.

As Pikachu was about to fall into the water, it suddenly froze midair.

“Chimecho, use Telekinesis.”

Pikachu floated up and landed in Cheng Cheng’s arms.

“Pikachu, you’re not asleep, are you?”

“Pika-pi!”

Pikachu, seeing Cheng Cheng holding it, became very happy.

Ash saw this from a distance. Cheng Cheng had rescued Pikachu, but clearly, now wasn’t the time for conversation.

The raft continued to drift downstream, soon entering a river where the current gradually calmed. The group found an opportunity to land ashore.

“Pikachu, are you alright?”

“Pika!”

Pikachu jumped from Cheng Cheng’s arms into Ash’s embrace.

“I was the one who saved you. Can’t you stay a bit longer?” Cheng Cheng complained quietly.

“Thank you, Cheng Cheng.”

“No need to thank me.”

“By the way, Cheng Cheng, have you finished your business?”

“Yes! There was a bit of an accident along the way, which wasted some time, but everything’s resolved now.”

“That’s great. Will you travel with us?”

“Of course!”

Cheng Cheng agreed naturally.

“That’s wonderful.”

“By the way, this is Handsome. He’s an international police officer.”

“Hello, Mr. Handsome.”

“Hello, Cheng Cheng.”

They shook hands.

“Ash, this is the west side of Mount Crown. The home of the pink Shellos should be around here. It won’t be long before you find them. Now, I must take my leave.”

“Alright, thank you, Mr. Handsome. Goodbye!”

“Let’s hurry and find Shellos’s companions.”

After bidding farewell to Mr. Handsome, everyone joined in helping Shellos find its friends.

Cheng Cheng followed at the back, glancing at Mount Crown. There was a ruin inside; it didn’t seem to be what Team Galactic was searching for, but Cheng Cheng was very interested in it. However, given the current situation, entering was impossible—the whole mountain was collapsing and extremely dangerous. He’d have to find another opportunity later.

Then, Cheng Cheng recalled Chimecho and Lunatone into their Poké Balls and quickly caught up with Ash.

Not long after, the group encountered a cluster of pink Shellos—the companions of the one Ash had with him.

Shellos quickly reunited with its friends, and the group set off toward the next town.

…

On a stretch of grassland, they stopped to rest and prepare lunch.

As before, Cheng Cheng handled the Pokémon food, while Brock took care of the group’s meals.

“Piplup~”

As everyone was cooking, Piplup suddenly cried out in alarm, for reasons unknown.

“Piplup, what’s wrong?” Dawn went over to check on Piplup, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Maybe it dreamed it was fighting Raikou,” Cheng Cheng joked.

“Everyone’s food is ready, come eat!”

Cheng Cheng placed the food on the ground, and the Pokémon eagerly began to eat. The recently startled Piplup rushed over as well.

Cheng Cheng had wondered if Pokémon of other types would dislike his food, but seeing their enthusiasm, he was reassured.

“Ours is ready, too,”

Brock brought the cooked dishes to the table, and they looked quite plentiful. Cheng Cheng tasted some and found it delicious.

“Brock, your cooking keeps getting tastier.”

“And your Pokémon food is getting better, too.”

Brock snatched a piece of Pokémon food from the Pokémon and popped it in his mouth.

Cheng Cheng saw Brock competing with the Pokémon for food and smiled wryly.

“Hurry over and eat!”

After everyone finished eating, Cheng Cheng and Brock cleaned up the dishes, and the group continued on their way.

A few hours later, they arrived at a small town. Looking around, they saw gardens filled with berry trees.

“Wow, how spectacular!” Dawn was amazed at the sight of the orchard.

“There are so many berry trees everywhere,” Brock was also impressed.

Cheng Cheng was equally astonished but stayed silent.

They walked around and discovered the vast orchard had many different kinds of berry trees.

“These must be Spicy Berries!” Ash pointed to some red berries.

“These are Blue Oranges,” Dawn said, looking at the blue fruits nearby.

“And over there—those are Lum Berries!”

Brock suddenly spotted a patch growing green fruits.

“Lum Berries? What are those?” Ash had never heard of them.

“Lum Berries are rare berries; their fruit can cure any abnormal status in Pokémon.”

“That’s right, Lum Berries are very useful,” Brock agreed with Cheng Cheng.

While everyone admired the berries, Piplup found a blue Pokémon.

It was a Marill.

“It’s Marill!”

Dawn took out her Pokédex and searched for Marill’s information.

Cheng Cheng also checked Marill’s stats and found them ordinary.

“Piplup, what’s wrong?”

Dawn noticed Piplup sitting on the ground, gazing at Marill with infatuated eyes, as if entranced.

Cheng Cheng consulted the system and saw that Piplup hadn’t entered an abnormal status.

“Piplup, are you feeling unwell?”

“It looks like Piplup’s heart has been stolen by Marill,” Brock remarked from the side.

“What do you mean?”

“Piplup must have fallen for Marill.”

“Is that true, Piplup?”

“Piplup~ Piplup!”

Cheng Cheng hadn’t expected this situation and was quite curious. He hadn’t encountered a Pokémon romance before, so he didn’t understand why a penguin would love a mouse. Perhaps it was true love.

“Piplup~ Piplup~”

Piplup was now extremely excited, staring intently at Marill.

“Marill, there you are!”

At that moment, a girl ran over from a distance. She seemed to be the manager of the orchard.

She noticed Cheng Cheng and the others.

“By the way, who are you?” she asked, looking at Ash.

“Oh, I’m Ash.”

“I’m Brock.”

“My name is Dawn.”

“Hello, I’m Cheng Cheng.”

“Pikachu~”

“Hello, I’m Lulu. Nice to meet you.”

“Hello, Lulu, are all these berry trees yours?” Dawn asked.

“Yes! My parents manage these berry trees, and I often help out. Recently, my parents went out for work, so I’ve been caring for them.”

“It must be tough to manage such a large orchard!” Brock glanced at the size of the orchard.

“It’s actually not too bad! With the help of Pokémon, it’s much easier.”

“The berry trees are cultivated so well here, I really want to ask your parents about how to grow them,” Brock said enthusiastically.

“Me too! My family grows a lot of berry trees, but I don’t know how to take care of them, so I’d like to learn as well.”

Seeing how well the berries were grown here, Cheng Cheng thought about the ones he had planted and wondered how they were doing.

“My parents are away for two or three days, so I’ll introduce you to everything,” Lulu said.

“Thank you!”

“Our orchard grows thirteen kinds of berries, and the rarest is the Lum Berry. Every morning and evening, we water all the berry trees. Of course, depending on the type, the amount of water varies.”

At that moment, everyone saw a group of Sunflora helping water the orchard.

“These Sunflora were bought specially by Dad to help out. They’re very efficient workers.”

“That’s wonderful,” Cheng Cheng thought he should find some Pokémon to help care for his own eco-garden.

“Growing berry trees is just like caring for our Pokémon. You need to give them enough attention, water and fertilize them regularly, and trim their branches so they grow well.”

Marill was also helping with watering, and Piplup ran over to assist, clearly smitten.

Just then, a bolt of electricity struck Piplup directly.

Cheng Cheng released his psychic powers and scanned his surroundings alertly.