Rescuers Side Mission: Go to Tao Ranch!

PMD-Explorers Mission 4 Part 2

"Well, I can't see where you're coming at... but what is your idea?" asked Malt even more surprised.
"Er.. from what I can see, all the berries which have been spread over the ranch consist of Oran, Aspear, Rawst, Pecha, Cheri, Chesto with some Razz, Nanab, Bluk, Wepear and Pinap berries right?" the Pikachu continued.
"Uh... yes? And?" asked Ovaltine getting curious too.
"Oh I know! I know! You're going to let Udon have them?" shouted Marston very confident of his answer.
"Wait, you don't think that we are going to let you..." muttered Ovaltine becoming red.
"Oh no no no, far from that, let me reassure you," said the Pikachu. "I was thinking... those are the fastest growing berries and with some help, they could grow throughout the day and be ready in the evening."
"Aww" said the Mudkip lowering his head a little in shame.
"That's pure nonsense! Everybody knows that those berries take at LEAST a whole day to grow, and that, provided they get enough care, water and sun. I'm sorry but there's no way your idea will work, hmpf!" the storming Ovaltine said before turning her back and stomping away.
"Wait Ovaltine!" shouted Peter running after her.

Peter dashed past Ovaltine and stopped in front of her, holding his hands straight sideways to prevent her from going farther. Ovaltine reluctantly stopped and crossed her arms, looking at Peter pouting.

"Give me a chance. I really don't want Pokémon to fight and I know that food issues are one of the most sensitive subjects. Oh I know that all too well. Point is, let me try. I will do my best to get enough food by this evening, but I will need everyone's help, including yours."
"You win I guess. But if you fail and there still is not enough food by this evening, you will have to clean up the mess, you and your Mudkip," snapped Ovaltine with a grunt.

Upon those words, Ovaltine started walking again and Peter moved sideways to give her way, letting out a sigh as she closed the door behind her.

"Well, I'm curious about how you'll go around with that," giggled Ruben. "Though I'm very much worried about Udon... I've never seen her like that before..."
"True, but it seems we cannot do anything about it... Udon, give us some time, please. At least until evening," pleaded Iceburg to the Dragonite.

The effects of the paralysis were gradually fading and Udon could get up again.

"Fine, I give you until evening, but not more than that, understood?" Udon replied with a not too satisfied face, before flying under a nearby tree to apparently take some rest.
"Okay, so here's what I suggest. In the past, if you remember well Marston, we have met an amazing person, whom everybody referred to as the Berry Master," started Peter.
"Oh oh oh! I get where you're getting at now!" declared the more joyful Mudkip.
"I think you do now," said Peter smiling. "The only thing I'm unsure of, is whether or not you have mulch here," he added, with a frown appearing on his face.
"Munch? What do you mean by that?" enquired Ruben. "Are you maybe looking for a Munchlax?" she continued giggling a little.
"You misunderstood. Ruben, was it? It is Mulch. It is something which the Berry Master used often, either to speed up, slow down, multiply the number of re-sprouting of trees or keep the berries on the trees for a longer period of time. Since you don't seem to know what that is, I'm afraid that you don't have it here..."
"Wait Peter, do you mean we now have to clean the whole ranch!?" asked Marston trembling a little.
"Don't worry, I think with enough resources, we will be able to make some, and what we really need right now is a specific type of mulch, the Growth Mulch," said Peter with confidence in his voice.
"You... you really know the ingredients for Berry Master's mulch?" uttered Marston in surprise at what his partner just said.
"Well, I've heard his wife saying some of the ingredients and I'm almost certain we can do this," answered Peter looking at Marston.
"Okay, so we then need to make these mulch you are talking about right?" asked Iceburg.
"Right! So, first of all, the most important thing, we need to get all those berries appropriately put in the soil."
"Ahh, I understand why you said we need not clean the mess," said Ruben. "Ovaltine should love that idea. I'll try to make her understand."

As such, the Flygon departed towards the hut where Ovaltine had closed herself in. It was time to get to work, and Peter, Marston and Iceburg started working on the berries while Malt went in the hut too to continue his work, he had said. Using his vines, Iceburg would gently make a hole in the soft soil, put in the berry and cover it up with a thin layer of soil. Marston would dig his paw in the ground, lift up the soil, put the berry in the small crater and put back the soil, patting it carefully. Peter had to take a little shovel and do the same, but with the help of Agility, he managed to do the job rather quickly. After a short while, Ovaltine came out of the hut. Her vivid pink tone was back but she still was frowning a little. Peter stopped for a while observing her and a faint smile appeared on his face as he saw her starting to dig up holes to put the adjacent berries in. However at that rate, the work wouldn't be done in time, Peter had calculated. They were in dire need to more helping hands! Just then, a Buneary, an Eevee and a Pikachu appeared near the fence, all three running towards the little group.

"Team Thunder Head coming to the rescue!" shouted the Eevee as soon as she arrived.
"Hey Iceburg! I got some help from the Rescuers!" shouted the Buneary. "I know it's not big but-"

The Buneary cut her sentence short and the eyes grew bigger. Her confused face turned left and right, as if looking for something. The blue-eyed Eevee with the purple scarf and her Pikachu partner with the teal scarf both appeared as confused as the Buneary. After all, coming here to help then finding that their help is no more needed must not be too cool.

"Udon... Udon has already left?" she asked with a puzzled look.
"Oh Strawberry! There you are! Not quite, Udon is right there taking a rest apparently. Our two friends here are trying to get enough food to give Udon. And since you have brought help, we'd be glad to get some more Pokémon to help us plant those berries," said Iceburg without stopping work.
"I see... Tanith, Kiefer, would you mind helping us?" Strawberry asked turning to the Eevee and the Pikachu.
"Gee! That's a mission right? Okay, let's do it Keifie!" said Tanith with a lot of enthusiasm in her voice.
"Kiefer," argued the Pikachu. "Do you really think that it's safe with that Dragonite there? What if it attacks us? I don't want anyone to get hurt!"
"Come on Keifie! I'm sure it won't be long!" said the Eevee now pulling on Kiefer's paw.

As such, the group had now three more workers on, and time was ticking as the sun got higher and higher in the sky. The large ranch was almost completely seeded with the berries and it was time to start working on the mulch, Peter reflected. They all took a short break in the hut, drinking some of the fresh milk provided by the ranch. Peter took that opportunity to get to the second part of the plan.

"Okay, there isn't much time left, so we have to start preparing the mulch. First, we need to get top quality soil," declared Peter.
"Check!" shouted Strawberry. "Tao Ranch has the best cultivating soil around!"
"Good! Next, we need... uh... some trash," continued Peter hesitating a little.
"Trash?" Iceburg exclaimed with his mouth dropping.
"Well, it's not any type of trash," said Peter trying to explain himself. "According to the Berry Master, the faecal matter of Pokémon is what determines the quality of the mulch,"
"Ew! Are you sure we won't get any sort of disease from that?" asked Kiefer frowning. "That stuff stinks!"
"Well, I'm afraid we cannot do otherwise..." said Peter sadly. "On a side note, we also need dried leaves, or rotting leaves, as much as we can."
"Okay, for the, uh... faecal matter, you can probably get them from Trubbish in Tao Village," said Ovaltine. "For the leaves, we can get a lot of those in Tao Woods not far from here. And with Tao Lake nearby, I'm sure we can get quite a haul of rotting leaves too."
"Great! I plan to get us into groups. Iceburg, Ovaltine and Strawberry, since you know your job well here, you will plant the remaining berries and then prepare a big container. We will use it to prepare the mulch," went on Peter. "Malt, Kiefer, Tanith and Ruben, you four can go to Tao Woods to get the leaves. I believe you can use some trolley or something for that Ruben."
"Got it!" replied Ruben.
"Me, Marston and er..." stumbled Peter looking at the Combusken he didn't know.
"Puzelle. You can call me Puzelle," said the Combusken with a smile on the face.
"Right, we'll go to Tao Village and get the last ingredient from Trubbish. Everyone fine with that?" asked Peter.
"Sounds good to me," replied Ovaltine.

Everyone seemed to agree; if they wanted to reach their objective, they had to act quickly. Peter had thought it was probably best to keep everyone with someone they knew well, and Kiefer would probably have disagreed to go to Trubbish. And so, the three groups set off to work, each on their designated task. Ruben took a wooden cart with her and accompanied by Kiefer, Tanith and Malt, she headed for Tao Woods. The second group consisting of Ovaltine, Strawberry and Iceburg went to work on the field again and the last group, consisting of Peter, Marston and Puzelle left the ranch towards Tao Village, a wooden cart with them too.