While he’d been busy due to several things coming up all at once, he then realized that two of the last breeding requests had flopped through. “Geez, that was stupid,” he remarked with an eyeroll, before realizing that Char was probably one of them.

“Figures,” he grumbled, heading downwards to the stock room and pawing around in the darkness, before finding the paper bag and bringing it along with him before heading outside and looking for the two that had refused to get along.

It didn’t take him too long to find the weird-looking Geodude lounging somewhere, along with the untouched pot of Floral Honey. “Figures…” he hissed again, quickly taking out one of the standard-sized ‘shrooms and leaving it for the borrowed ‘mon and then wondering—what was he doing wrong?

It took him much longer to find Char, who’d decided to relocate trees—and he found him in another tree much further than the first spot; to which he whistled agitatedly. “Char Aznable!” he began, rolling his eyes as he spotted the slumbering Charizard draped along the stronger branches of the tree. “I swear… why are you uncooperative…” he grumbled, this time taking out one of the larger ‘shrooms and leaving it beside the pot of honey, before leaving the Charizard alone.

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Rescue Breeding Requests!

Damian's male Charizard with a Floral Honey and a Big Shroom (EM: Dragon Dance if Charizard, Rare Tax from me)

Rikiya's male Alolan-Geodide with a Floral Honey and a Romantic Mush

these are old RQs from way back, whoops.

Thankfully this time around, Kouji wasn’t getting to everything at the last minute. Knowing that it was going to be impossible if he crammed every single little thing in the eleventh hour yet again, he then checked the Ranch’s public email address and saw that there were several requests waiting for his attention.

After reaching for pen and paper and scribbling it all down, he then made his way over to the Transporter and quickly punched in a sequence of codes, waiting for the immediately available ‘mons to come dropping into the receiving dish. Once he’d secured the easily-borrowed ones, it was searching for the other ‘mons (who were with people he had yet to formally associate with) which proved tricky.

Once he’d secured the ‘mons that were needed, he then proceeded outside, heading towards the lakeside and releasing the first pair—a Wooper and a Corsola, which landed in the water with a soft splashing noise. “Alright, you two… here you go,” he began, leaving a very large, distinctly rubbery mushroom between them before looking for another spot to settle in the next pair.

He then reached a shaded clearing and chuckled for a few; recognizing his aniki’s Froslass as she materialized from the beam of red light. “Hello,” he began with a quirky smile before releasing the finny-looking sword that seemingly held a shield (Aegislash). “You, don’t cut her up. My aniki will kill me if I send her back in a box…” he said to the Aegislash, before scratching his head apologetically and leaving the pair alone.

Two down, and two more to go—he made his way over to a man-made, rocky section of the ranch and sent out a familiar-looking turtle dragon, who then immediately turned around to hide the hole on its belly. “Whoa, no, I’m not going to hit you there,” he said, holding his hands up, before releasing its partner—and then quickly covering his hears, because hell, the noise Kalameet made upon materializing from the beam of red light shook the ground.

“Whoa, Kalameet. Calm down, calm down! I’ll have you back with Tom shortly. Just… Just cooperate with me here for a bit, will you?” he half-hollered, trying to calm down the rampaging Hydreigon before pointing at the Tutonator. “She’s not going to take any sass for an answer, you know? So yeah, clam down!” he remarked, before scurrying away as fast as he could.

The fourth and last pair, he could only tilt his head in confusion as he recognized not just one, but both Pikachu that appeared from the flashes of red light. One of them had been forcibly loaded into its containment unit, while the other one was perfectly amiable with being confined inside the small space.

“Lightning. I know, you don’t wanna be away from Josh for too long. But this isn’t going to take too long, okay? Just… please? Cooperate with me and Lacus here, okay?” he said, his tone almost pleading in the process before he left the two alone…

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Breeding Requests!

Thomas' male Wooper and Capri's female Corsola (HA + EM: Recover if Wooper, EM: Mist if Corsola; using 1 Big Romantic Mush on this pair)

Eichi's female Froslass and Akira's male Aegislash (EMs if Honedge: Shadow Sneak, Wide Guard, Destiny Bond)

Thomas' male Hydreigon and Rachel's female Turtonator

Josh's male Pikachu and Rachel's female Pikachu bonded (HA + EM: Volt Tackle if Pichu)

Last-minute again!

Kouji had been away for some time and had only recently returned to Alterna to get back into the swing of things. While he’d left the Aquasphere in capable hands, he’d been neglecting his breeding business, and decided to get back into it.

No sooner had he gotten back did he notice that the Sanctuary’s public email had a message in it, and he quickly went to check it out—and saw that his schedule was going to be very full, at least for the week! There was also a sales inquiry, and he then sat himself down before quickly typing out a reply and grabbing a Post-It at the same time, writing down everything that was in the message before proceeding to the Transporter.

Several minutes of button-punching later, a grand total of eight Pokéballs arrived while he’d gone to the store room in the back and retrieved a paper bag full of ‘shrooms and other items that he’d be needing when it came to fulfilling all of these breeding requests. Tucking the paper bag underneath one arm, he then returned to where he’d left the Post-it note, stuck it on the paper bag full of ‘shrooms before scooping up the literal armload of Pokéballs before heading outside.

The first stop he came to was in a sheltered grove, where he then released a Gloom and an Exeggcute from their containment units. He was a bit surprised to learn that there was a new Grass-type gym leader; he’d gotten rather used to Gareth’s face—or maybe it was just that too long a time since he’d last gone out and interacted with the locals?

“Wait a second, you’re both—” he trailed off, before fishing out a Breeding Cookie and feeding it to the Gloom to make it male for the moment. As he waited for the cookie to take effect, he took out the biggest rubbery yellow ‘shroom in the paper bag and left it between them, before making a hasty exit—for some reason the smell of a male Gloom really hurt his nose more than a female Gloom’s did.

The next few stops involved some very familiar Pokémon, and under the shade of a nearby tree he recognized the Bellsprout and the Tropius that emerged from the next pair, chuckling as he gave Piney a neck rub. “Don’t squish your companion, now,” he said, before taking out an odd-looking ‘shroom and leaving it between the two before going to the next pair.

The third pair, he wasn’t too sure of, but as he recognized the Grotle and the Ferroseed, he knew that somehow, he’d made a safe decision, before patting the Grotle’s head and leaving a second odd-looking shroom between them. At one of the open fields, he then sent out a familiar mass of vines as well as a— “Whoa, he’s been busy, huh?” Kouji said with a snicker as a Sunflora erupted from the other containment unit. He then left the third and last odd-looking ‘shroom before returning back to his place, and hopefully a lot of good news would be made…

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Breeding Requests!
Kiran's female Gloom and female Exeggcute, using a Breeding Cookie to turn one of the two Male and a Big Romantic Mush

Josh's male Bellsprout and Izumi's female Tropius, using a Fancy Romantic Mush

Josh's male Grotle and female Ferroseed (EM: Seed Bomb if Ferroseed); using a Fancy Romantic Mush; take Rare Tax from Kiran if successful

Josh's male Tangela and Damian's female Sunflora (EM if Sunkern: Morning Sun); using a Fancy Romantic Mush

*shots fired*