Rescuers Side Mission: Go to Tao Ranch!

PMD-Explorers Mission 4 Part 5

In some minutes, the mulch was nicely spread over all the entire field. The sun was shining at its zenith and the shoots were growing healthily.

"Woah, the mulch is working already! It's the first time I see the shoots growing that fast!" exclaimed Ovaltine.
"If you believe in it, it shouldn't be impossible," Strawberry told Ovaltine with a smile.
"And all that, thanks to Peter. We will be able to give Merlot the food she was looking for after all, and that, even without compromising our stores."

All was going as planned. The berries were growing at a steady rate, above average. Even weed started growing and following the advice of the ranchers, the Pokémon once again set to work to remove the unwanted parasites. Iceburg was efficiently using his vines to pull them out. Strawberry on her side used her rake skilfully and was swiftly pulling out the weeds. Peter and Marston had some difficulty in that work, for they were not used to such a job. Tanith and Kiefer on their side weren't doing as bad, though Tanith was having more difficulties due to her being a quadruped. Puzelle was trying to maintain the Sunny Day and Ruben went to look after the eggs. With what happened, she didn't get the occasion to paint on any, that day. Malt had gone back to the hut, trying to estimate the volume of the harvest and estimating the profit figures.

And this is how they spent most of their time. The berry trees soon bloomed with large flowers and gave big berries, though not ripe yet. However, nobody noticed that Puzelle was getting tired keeping up Sunny Day and it was then that it occurred. Puzelle fell down, all worn out and the cold winds settled in. The thick clouds came back to hide the sun and slowly, the field was shrouded in shadows. From the south west, snow got nearer and nearer to the ranch. Stopping in their current task, the Pokémon couldn't help but watch the worst that could happen, occur in front of their eyes.

"We should do something quick!" shouted Ovaltine trying to be heard. "We haven't gone through all this to let it go like that!"

'Agreed' was the word that all the rest of the present Pokémon thought about. All their work, the situations they had to go through... all blown away in a hailstorm? No, they couldn't allow that. Marston ran towards the snow, using Hydro Pump to flush away the snow accumulating on the grown towards the marsh nearby. Tanith went with Marston too, and was using Shadow Ball to keep the snow away. Ruben flew towards them and used her wings to counter the winds. Malt and Ovaltine had gone at the edge of the ranch too, using Helping Hand to help them, but their efforts had obviously near to no effect on the weather.

Iceburg on the other side, helped by Kiefer and Peter, took Puzelle in the hut and tried to get her up again.
"Puzelle! Can you use Sunny Day again?" Iceburg urged the Combusken.
"Sorry... I'm... I'm too tired..." breathed Puzelle panting heavily. "Sunny Day is one of the few moves that drain all my energy out..."
"Starwberry! See if you can get me a Sitrus berry, a Leppa berry and a Lum berry! Quick!" yelled Iceburg trying to overcome the noise caused by the winds.

Strawberry ran to the shed where they had stored the berries. She opened the large steel door and hopped around using Bounce, trying to get the required berries for Iceburg from the shelves. One hop and she grabbed a small Leppa berry with her paw. A second hop, and she got the Sitrus berry in her other paw. And with yet a third hop, Strawberry grabbed a Lum berry using her hears. She quickly ran outside, closing the door behind her with her foot and brought the berries to Iceburg.

"Peter! Can you come here?" Iceburg shouted. "Help me crush those together! I need Puzelle to drink the juice!"
"Got it!" replied Peter.

Iceburg took a small wooden bowl with her vines and put it on the floor next to Puzelle and handled Peter the berries. Peter put them in the bowl and used Brick Break again to crush them. The mixture of the juices from the berries formed a mixture with a green texture and Iceburg proceeded with giving Puzelle the potion. The Combusken swallowed it little by little and slowly regained vitality. Iceburg knew that this would only be a temporary fix. Sure, the berries were strong, but Pokémon relied on more than just berries.
"Do you know if you can keep up at least one hour more?" asked Iceburg not too convinced herself.
"I'll do my best Iceburg," answered Puzelle with more confidence in her voice now.

Puzelle leapt up and ran on the field. Marston, Tanith, Ruben, Malt and Ovaltine were still trying their best to hold back the snow, but worse it started to hail. Gathering her energy, Puzelle once again used Sunny Day. This time, it took more than a few seconds for the clouds to fade away and even there, only a small part among the clouds were affected. For the next few minutes, they expected to have some rest and sunlight. All around them, the snow and the cold was intensifying. However, to their dismay, they weren't going to have the rest they hoped for. The winds hadn't the least stopped. To the Pokémon's surprise, they were actually stronger than before! Some of the berries near to the edge of the ranch were even getting pulled from their branches and flew upwards. It was then that Peter realised what was happening.

It was all so logical after all. The very fact that the ranch was now surrounded by cold and being warm in the middle, meant that a strong conventional current would be formed. And if the cold gets wilder, the winds would only get stronger.
"We have to do something about those winds!" burst out Peter. "They can get ten times stronger if we don't act quickly!"
"But what can we do?" uttered back Strawberry getting scared.
"Need my help?"

Everyone turned and saw no other but Udon!
"Udon? But... we are not ready-" started Marston fearing that Udon came to claim the food.
"I have Extreme Speed if you need my help," she announced.

Peter was relieved that Udon seemed to have changed. She probably wasn't as bad as he thought after all.
"That's not what we really need right now..." said Peter sadly. "An ice type attack I think, however can do the trick."
"Ice type? But that's what's causing trouble! Don't you think that?" retorted Ovaltine thinking Peter had gone mad.
"Ice type? What about my Ice Punch?" asked Udon hesitantly.
"You know the move Ice Punch!? Great! Marston, use Hydro Pump near to the edge of the ranch and Udon, you will use Ice Punch to make a wall made of ice. That's the only solution I can find right now. I need an ice type move to quickly freeze water, and with the winds out there, the cold winds are not going to deep freeze the water, but transform it into snow!"

Marston and Udon looked at each other and nodded with determined looks on their faces. They executed the instructions given by Peter and a not too soon after, they had quite a stubby wall of ice surrounding the ranch. Not too impressive, but it did the job for the time being...


"Okay, I think we've waited enough now, time for harvesting!" declared Iceburg.
"Understood!" shouted Peter. "Everyone listen! We will have to be quick, we don't have much time. I don't think that Puzelle is going to hold on for long now. She is seemingly exhausted, so let's get going! Udon! You can now use your Extreme Speed!"

And hence, the Pokémon set to work again. Puzelle was doing her best to hold on, at least until the harvest was over. The berries were numerous. With the generous amount of sunlight and water that they had got, the berry trees carried quite a haul each. Peter and Kiefer were using Agility. Tanith used her Quick Attack. Udon made full use of Extreme Speed while Strawberry used Copy Cat to use it too. Iceburg used Frenzy Plant, summoning giant vines from the ground which gripped the berries and put them in the cart he pulled with him. Ruben on her side flew back and forth, taking the berries that Marston, Tanith, Peter and Kiefer gathered to the store.

Their surroundings were getting colder by the second, and the ice walls made by Marston and Udon was starting to crumble down. The strong winds managed to dislodge some ice chunks which flew straight towards Puzelle as she was in the middle of the field, the hottest part on the ranch. Trying to dodge those and keeping up Sunny Day was even more exhausting... Puzelle was slowly losing her strength. She had been keeping up the Sunny Day for such a long time now, like never before. And for a second time, she fell down, the clouds coming back once more.

"Puzelle! Hang on some more time!" pleaded Ovaltine. "We're almost done!"

Puzelle gritted her teeth and pulled herself up with great pain. She managed to get on her knees but that was the best she could do. Trying to keep up Sunny Day, she also managed to slow down the clouds that were forming above her head. Ruben took the last bucket of berries inside, followed by Iceburg with a cart full of berries. Closely tagging behind them were Marston, Peter, Kiefer, Tanith, Malt, Strawberry and Ovaltine with their arms loaded with berries. They were about to fetch Puzelle, when suddenly, Puzelle lost consciousness, falling on the soil, drained out of energy.
"Puzelle!!!" called Ovaltine and Iceburg together.