The ranch itself is completely fenced off, and there are hundreds of Mareep grazing in the field, alongside handfuls of Miltank.
Sky takes a huge breath, sighing in pleasure as he exhales.
"Don't you just LOVE the smell of a farm!" He struts off, a huge smile on his face.
Laughing, I take off after him, Cosmo following close behind.
"Hey y'all!" A middle aged man standing with a woman waves us all over.
All together, theres six of us, not including our pokemon.
Effie, Cleo, Watcher, and Sly all run around, playing.
"My names Will, and this here is my wife, Patsy. We will separate you guys into to groups of three, one with me and one with Pat."
Me, Cosmo, and Sky instantly converge into a group, leaving the other three to themselves.
"Awesome! So, you guys-" He points to the other group, "-will be coming with me to milk the Miltank! And you guys go with Patsy, to help herd the Mareep. Our sons will be back from Virbank by tonight, so it won't take very long. Thank y'all for helpin' us out, it sure does mean a lot!" He pats the other group on the back as they head into a nearby barn.
"Hi there! Names Patsy, but you can call me Pat!" She hugs us all, and gives us boots.
"These are my sons, so they should fit y'all... Perfect! Now, do you have pokemon?" She asks, and we all nod, pointing to the tired pile of tuckered out pokemon.
"Well, lets get started!" She laughs, showing us what she wants done.
Sky picks it up in no time at all, making quick work of his group.
I take a bit longer, with Effie too scared to go near the electric types, and Cleo scares them so they wont follow me.
"Come on guys and girls! I promise we'll have fun!" I exclaim in exasperation.
The crowd of grazing Mareep in front of me turns as one, and heads deeper into the field.
"Really?!" I cry out, and Effie giggles from behind me.
I'm watching helplessly as the group waddles off, when, out of the corner of my eye, I see one of the Mareep, a smaller one, dart off into the nearby forest through a broken patch of fence.
"Hey!" I shout, running after it, but Pat grabs my arm.
"Thats Belle, a little trouble maker she is. She'll come back."
"Aren't you worried she will get hurt?" I ask, and she shrugs.
"No one here has ever followed her, so we have no idea where she goes. She always comes back, though."
I gently shake her arm off.
"Sky, can you finish this group for me? I'm going to check on a Mareep!" He nods, smiling brightly as he turns his attention to my group.
"Effie, you stay here with Watcher, Cleo, you come with me." Effie nods, heading over to where Watcher is hiding behind Cosmo, terrified of the electric types as well.
Cleo bounds over, landing gracefully beside me as I head into the dark forest.
Cleo picks up Belle's scent quickly, and leads us through the foliage. We duck under branches, jump over rocks, and even cross a small stream at one point.
Cleo leads us around a large tree trunk, before I notice a small hole in the side.
"Cleo, wait a sec..." I stick my head in slowly...
And see Belle, curled up around something small and white...
An egg?
Belle looks up, and instantly flies to her feet, electricity running through her conductive wool as she charges an attack.
"Wait, Belle!" At the sound of her name, she calms, but only a bit.
She sits back down with the egg, but refuses to look away.
"Reep." She huffs, sending a harmless, yet scary, bolt of electricity at me.
"Is that egg yours?" I ask, and she shakes her head.
"Who's is it?" I ask, knowing I wont get the answer.
"Maaaaa." She baa's, shaking her head.
"Well, why dont we take it back to the house and-" I'm cut off as another bolt of electricity flies by my head.
"Hey! They will be able to help you hatch it!" I say, and her eyes light up.
"Reep? Maaaa?" She asks, and I nod.
"Yes, hatch it! They will be able to give it the proper care, and hatch it!" She stands slowly, still distrusting me, and gently picks the egg up in her mouth.
She is about to exit, when Cleo growls behind me.
"What Cleo?" I lean back out, and see what she was growling at.
There is a large bird pokemon, slowly strutting across the forest floor, and it's staring right at us.
"Fez..." It growls.
"Is this your egg?" I ask, throwing my hands up, but it shakes its head.
"Un, Fezant." It points into the tree... directly at Belle.
"You want... Belle?" I ask, and it nods, licking its beak and chirping.
"No."
It turns its head to look at me, eyes wide.
"Fez!" It growls, opening its wings, but I step in front of the tree hole.
"You can NOT have her!" I growl back, and the bird attacks.
"CLEO!" I shout, throwing my body into the hole to seal it.
Cleo launches, and throws the approaching bird pokemon into a nearby tree.
"Cleo, use Fury Swipes!" I shout, and Cleo attacks.
She lands on one of the bird's wings, and savagely tears into its face and beak, causing bloody red lines to appear everywhere.
"FEZ!" It growls, throwing up a Wing Attack that throws Cleo into the foliage behind it.
"MRROOooowww..." Cleo's voice trails off as she flies back.
The bird stands, shaking itself off, before turning to me again.
It smiles, winking as it launches forward.
"NO!" I throw my hands up to protect myself, but a dark blur flies in from behind me, slamming the bird back again.
"CAR!" Effie screams, tearing a mouthful of feathers out of the birds wing.
"EFFIE! ICE FANG!"
Effie coats her fangs with a layer of dense ice, and deposits them into the birds neck.
The bird tries to throw her off, but she latches on harder, and finally, the bird takes off, flying straight up through the foliage into the sky.
"EFFIE!" I scream, watching as the bird tries to throw her off.
Cleo suddenly appears, and leaps from the ground to a nearby branch, then straight up, her back muscles tensing as she bounds.
She almost makes it to Effie and the bird, before falling back into a tree.
Finally, the bird manages to shake Effie off, and she soon plummets to the earth.
"NOOOOOO!" I run.
I run to the spot where she will hit, and I throw my hands out, but she never hits.
I watch, as her body is enveloped in a bright white light, and her form changes.
Soon, the light fades, and Effie's new form emerges.
"SHAR!" She growls, turning mid-air and using Aqua Jet to shoot back up to where the terrified bird is now trying to escape.
She slams the bird from above, sending its unconscious body crashing into the trees below, before she makes her way back, landing gently beside me.
"EFFIE?!" I cry, holding her tight as she cries into my shoulder.
Cleo gingerly steps up, limping slightly from the fall.
"You guys!" I hug them both.
"That... was... amazing..." A voice gasps from behind, and I whip around.
Patsy is standing beside the tree, two young men beside her, and all of their eyes are wide as saucers.
"And then he was like "NO!", and Effie EVOLVED, RIGHT THERE!" The youngest son gasps, as if seeing it again.
"Well, aint that special?" Will laughs, shaking our hands.
"Thank y'all again for coming out, we really appreciate it." Patsy smiles, and hugs us all.
"It's not a problem! Thanks for having us!" I laugh, shaking the kids hands.
We all wave as we get into the plane, but I see Belle and the egg, in the house window, and she looks sad to see us go.
"Sooooo? How was it?" Prim asks as we get out of the plane, and into the courtyard.
"Well, Effie evolved!" I release her, and Prim startles at the size of her.
"Oh, WOW!" She hugs Effie, giggling as Effie kisses her cheek.
Cleo limps out as I release her, and Prim is instantly by her side.
"What happened?"
"There was a fight..." I explain what happened, and her eyes go sad.
"I'm sorry guys..." I hug her and laugh.
"It's not your fault! Hey! I saw what outfit Elesa picked! Congrats, it looked amazing!" Her eyes light up again at the mention of her outfits.
"Elesa asked me to join her design team, permanently!" She gushes, and I clap in excitement.
"Prim, thats amazing!"
"And thats not all, shes sending some of the team here so I can continue to work as a member of Team Plasma!" She squeals as Sky hugs her to.
"Thats amazing hun!" Sky laughs as Cosmo stumbles out of the plane.
"Well, it was an eleven hour flight, and I'm pooped!" I exclaim, and my pokemon nod vigorously.
"Okay, we will all meet up for breakfast tomorrow? They are having a meeting about a huge mission coming up!" Prim asks, and we all nod, and make plans to meet in the morning.
I head back to my room, both pokemon in tow, and I notice that my door is open a crack. I know for a fact that I remembered to close it, cause I stubbed my heel on it the day before.
"Effie, get ready with an Ice Fang..." I hiss, and she nods, growling lowly.
I fling the door open, and Effie darts in...
And sitting on my bed is...