Pokémon: Starting as a Farmer Instead of a Trainer

Chapter 55 Let's cause trouble together at the Oni Festival!

The rules of the Oni Festival are that eight people form a group and go to the area outside the Kitakami Center. Within a limited time, they ride Pokémon to pop balloons with oni masks painted on them.

Fruits will fall from the balloon. Collect these fruits with the fruit bag and take them to the storage location, where they will be placed in the bamboo basket of the corresponding color.

There are four different colors and eight bamboo baskets distributed around the field, so teammates need to divide the work and cooperate.

However, because these berries are coated with a certain fragrance, it will be released when the balloon is broken, and the fragrance will be even stronger when they are piled up, attracting nearby wild Pokémon to eat them.

After understanding the rules, Mingyou felt that it was somewhat similar to the ball-catching game she had played before, but this one was definitely more difficult, but also offered more room for maneuver.

At this moment, Danyu stepped forward, crossed her arms, and said with a sly smile, "Although it's a cooperative game, let's each choose a bamboo basket and see who collects the most fruit at the end, how about it?"

"no problem."

Mingyou responded softly, then looked at the other teammates. Wuli did not participate with her sister, but there were a few familiar faces among these teammates.

Xiao Yang, Hau, Kachi, and Mamane from the Alola region are all here; they joined us earlier along with Dan Yu.

The remaining two teammates were students from the Orange Academy he had been with before. He wasn't familiar with them, but their accents were from the Parthian region, which he recognized since he was also from Parthia…

Once the participants were confirmed, the staff immediately waved and called out, "Then please come over here, guests participating in the Demon Festival. Since the venue is quite large, if you don't have a rideable Pokémon, we will provide Stunning Deer."

"Want to ride a Pokémon...?"

Mingyou nodded gently...

The game area was in the woods below the North Shore Center, so it was on his way. He went over and called the elk, and asked the owner of the stall next door to help watch it, since no one had any business anyway.

Ponpo stayed by his side the whole time, but he didn't understand what Ponpo wanted to do or why he wanted to play this game. He really couldn't figure it out...

Upon arriving at the forest where the game was being played, some of the participants were already riding Stunning Deer, while Xiao Yang was riding a Tauros, and the two students from Orange Academy were riding Motor Lizards.

Mingyou arrived late on his strange-horned deer, startling all the other frightened deer present—a kind of awe stemming from their bloodline.

Danyu then noticed and asked curiously, "Why does your frightened deer look so strange?"

Before Mingyou could respond, Xiaoyang, who was not far away, pulled up the brim of his hat and exclaimed in surprise, "Is that a monstrous deer? I heard Dr. Kukui mention it a few days ago."

"That's right, it's amazing that you recognized it at a glance."

"..."

Danyu hesitated, unsure what to say. Did it mean she couldn't recognize him and was uneducated? But she couldn't refute it; she simply didn't recognize him…

Now that everyone is here, the game is about to begin, with a time limit of 15 minutes. Xiaoyang plans to let everyone discuss their strategies before starting.

However, Mingyou rode off on her monstrous horn deer, and Danyu, not to be outdone, followed closely behind on her startled horn deer. Cooperation? What a load of rubbish, let's each do our own thing!

The horned deer was extremely fast and quickly disappeared into the forest. Mingyou ignored the balloons floating nearby and finally arrived at a corner.

"Come out, everyone."

"Hmm..."

Ponpo and Latias all came out from behind the tree. On the way here, Mingyou had already sent them over first.

"Everyone's here, let's begin! Games are just games... just have fun!"

Mingyou finally revealed her thoughts: no one is getting through today. Fighting ghosts? We are the ghosts, we're here to cause trouble!

Collect tree fruits? Then let's eat them all, and not just in the bamboo basket, we'll steal them directly from the forest!

"Mmm!"

This instantly excited Smocha. There was actually such a way to play a prank? We should have done this a long time ago… no, we absolutely had to!

The little Snorlax happily opened its arms, "Eat as much as you like? Then I won't be polite."

Gible already knows that the Oni Festival is an event to bully Ponpo. Although it doesn't know what to do, Ponpo has always been good to it, so it definitely has to join in!

"Waaah!"

Latias clenched his little fists. How dare they bully Ponpo! Don't they know Ponpo has us friends protecting her? You country bumpkins from Kitakami Township!

Seeing that everyone wanted to join in the fun, Mingyou smiled and reminded them, "Be careful not to pop those balloons. Winning or losing doesn't matter, the important thing is to have fun!"

"Hmm..."

Seeing everyone doing things for her, Ponpo was deeply moved, and the ghost mask she was wearing seemed to shine even brighter under the surrounding crystalline energy.

"Mmm!"

It wants to play with everyone too!

"Then let's begin!"

……

In the woods, Danyu was searching for Mingyou's whereabouts, while her bag of tree fruits was already full of them, which she planned to put into her bamboo basket first.

"Where did they go...?"

She muttered to herself, then rode away on her startled deer. Whatever Mingyou was up to, she would collect all the tree fruits first.

But no sooner had she left than a hand suddenly reached out and took all the fruit from the bamboo basket. When the greedy squirrels and gluttonous squirrels that had been drawn by the aroma came over, there was no fruit left.

We mice... are going hungry.

Similar incidents occurred in various places; the trees would disappear as soon as the people left, and the problem was only discovered when they returned.

"Where are my tree fruits?"

"It must have been eaten by a wild Pokémon, but how come they moved so fast?"

"We still need to leave someone behind to look after them and drive all those Pokémon away."

The two from Orange Academy discussed a plan, but it was of little use. They were only slightly distracted when the fruit in the bamboo basket disappeared, as if it were haunted.

On the other side, Xiao Yang and his three friends also noticed the problem. However, since there were more of them, although there was some pressure, they could still cooperate. As long as they ran fast enough, they could successfully drive away the Pokémon.

The savory squirrels, who were hungry and waiting for their meal, were getting very agitated because the fruit in their bamboo baskets kept being taken away.

"Squeak!"

On the other side, Simocha also began its own operation. Instead of attacking others with matcha, it used its size advantage to directly enter Danyu's fruit bag and digest all the fruit.

When she returned to the bamboo basket to put the fruit in, she froze on the spot, completely dumbfounded, while Simocha ran away with a sly smile.

The little Snorlax wasn't idle either, leading Gible to eat their way through the area, running towards wherever there were berries, and even attracting Chipmunks and others to follow behind, successfully becoming friends with them.

Since no one came to the basket for a long time, Munchlax decided to go back to its old ways and led everyone to follow those people. They hid in the trees and ambushed them, jumping down and stealing the berry bag when they got close.

"Just rob them! That's shameless!"

"Chase them!"

"They've all been eaten..."

"My blood pressure!"

Playing games is all about shouting, you have to shout while you play!

As they began scrambling for the tree fruits, the entire forest instantly descended into chaos, rendering all the previously devised tactics useless.

Whoever gets the berry will be chased by a bunch of Pokémon. If they dare to stop, they'll be crushed by a bunch of fat otaku. They've never been this anxious, not even when they saw a ghost.

Latias transformed into his original form, becoming invisible as he flew through the air, holding tree fruits in his hand. However, these tree fruits tasted terrible compared to the fruits from the manor.

Mingyou rode the horned deer, completely uninvolved in the game, while Pengpeng sat in his lap, holding the balloons they had just picked up.

It released the air inside and took the tree fruit, holding it up happily. Even without fighting the ghost, you can still get the tree fruit, right?

"Yes~"

Mingyou patted its head. Seeing that the time was about to end, the horned deer led them to an empty bamboo basket. At the very last moment of the countdown, Pengpeng threw the tree fruit into it...

The game ended with all eight players failing to complete the challenge, but Mingyou emerged victorious in her match against Danyu.

Xiao Yang and his friends cursed and argued with the organizers. They said, "Who can pass this level? In the end, the eight of us only collected one tree fruit. We're never playing again. This Ghost Festival should go out of business as soon as possible."

Danyu gritted her teeth, her expression extremely displeased. She had only lost one tree fruit... Originally, she had taken three tree fruits and held them in her hand, thinking that this would surely prevent them from being haunted and mysteriously disappearing again.

But then, for some reason, the startled deer suddenly stopped, almost throwing her off balance, and then the countdown ended—she was so close!

The horned deer stated that it had nothing to do with the incident and that it absolutely did not use its mental powers to frighten the startled deer.

"Let's go back~"

"Mmm~"

Now that we've had our fun, it's time to pack up and get ready to go home. We have to continue working tomorrow.

Back at the North Center, after packing up the stall, Mingyou had the Ghostly Deer carry the oversized Magikarp plushie while she and everyone else strolled back together. It was quite nice to do this once in a while.

Seeing Ponpo take off her mask and finally have fun, Mingyou was also very happy.

But just then, fireworks went off in the Kitakami Center to celebrate the successful first day of the Omnibus. Ponpo was attracted by the sound, but they had already gone down the mountain and couldn't see the fireworks very well.

"Then sit on my shoulders."

"Hmm?"

Ponpo was slightly taken aback, then sat on Mingyou's shoulders, just like a daughter sitting on her father's shoulders, gazing together at the fireworks blooming in the distant night sky.

"Mmm~"

Ponpo's big eyes sparkled with excitement. Although it wasn't the first time she had seen it, this time the feeling was completely different, and she was very excited.

Seeing this, Latias, who had turned back into a little girl, immediately raised her hands, indicating that she also wanted to be lifted up high and sit on Naruyu's shoulders.

"Alright, alright, it's your turn next."

"Gambit~"

Munchlax raised its hands, "I want to play too!"

"..."

In this warm and playful atmosphere, this joyful and wonderful day finally came to an end, becoming a memory etched in their hearts...

(End of this chapter)