Chapter 87:
"Grain? My grandfather planted a few acres — every year he always keeps some for himself and sells the rest. Why, Kaede, do you want some?"
Takagi Megumi blinked and looked at Hayashi Kaede with curiosity.
She'd noticed Kaede had been getting seriously into cooking lately and was eager to see what new dishes the Breeding House would roll out next.
Kaede nodded. "Set aside a bit for me. I'll buy what I need."
Megumi agreed cheerfully. "Sure — I'll tell Grandpa when I get home."
With that sorted, Kaede returned to the Plantation and immediately spotted the flock of Pidgey and Pigeotto resting in the pine out front. When Pidgeot had taken him out earlier, it had set them on that tree.
Seeing so many small birds, his first thought was relief — good thing Caterpie had evolved and was "retired" in the cattle shed. If it were still a Caterpie, those Pidgey would probably have frightened it into hiding.
Then a more serious concern came to mind: he needed to train these Pidgey and Pigeotto to learn delivery routes.
Kaede believed that within three hundred kilometers they could find their way home reliably. But teaching them to locate an exact delivery point inside that range — a specific house — was another matter. He thought of how some Pokémon in the anime could deliver mail — like Pigeotto or even Wingull — and wondered how they navigated.
"Let's try training with a map first," he decided.
He gathered up the orchard fruit Gardevoir had been collecting, stored them in a ball, then took Gardevoir's hand. "Okay, don't pick any more for now. Come help me."
"Gardevoir?" she replied, puzzled but not resisting. She took the gesture as another ordinary Trainer–Pokémon interaction — Kaede often teased Alolan Vulpix the same way, pulling a paw up and scratching its belly, which inevitably ended with an adorable snort and a spray of snow.
Kaede called Rotom over from the grass harvester and brought it beneath the pine where the birds perched. "Pidgey, Pigeotto — come down."
"Pidgey?"
"Pigeotto?"
They exchanged looks, fluttered their wings, and dropped down. When Pidgeot — their leader — had led them earlier, it had told them to obey this human trainer. Even the Pigeotto who didn't understand the concept of a trainer still respected the leader.
"Rotom, project a map of Aogiri City — make it as large as possible."
"Rotom~ Okay, Master!"
Rotom quickly projected a 4×4 meter holographic map of Aogiri's layout.
"Gardevoir, how far can you teleport? Can you cover all of Aogiri?" Kaede asked.
Gardevoir blinked but answered, "Gardevoir." (I can.)
Kaede smiled. "Good. I want you to help train these Pidgey and Pigeotto. I'll give you energy blocks — spread them to different points around the city. Then have the birds find them using the map. That way we can train them to deliver to specific households."
His plan would let them start with short distances and gradually expand range. Gardevoir's teleportation plus her telepathic guidance was the only practical way he knew to teach so many birds precise delivery targets.
Gardevoir looked a little resigned — she figured she was being put to hard work again — but Kaede knew she'd handle it. Still, he felt sheepish: this would be heavy lifting for her. He brought out a bag of energy blocks and looked at Gardevoir sincerely. "Please."
She hovered over him, placed a hand on his head and ruffled his hair (Kaede blinked in surprised delight). "Gardevoir." (Understood.)
Then she turned to the flock and began telepathically relaying Kaede's instructions, while using telekinesis to float energy blocks to each bird. After the first block, the Pidgey and Pigeotto brightened.
Gardevoir tapped out about twenty red spots on the map, vanished, and then the flock took to the air, winging toward the locations around Aogiri City.
Kaede rubbed the place Gardevoir had touched and felt a little odd — but satisfied.
By the afternoon, Gardevoir's training was clearly effective.
In just one day, three or four Pidgey and Pidgeotto could reliably find the energy blocks. The others had made visible progress — many were close — though a few still seemed a bit dazed. Give them a few more days, and they'd likely be able to find every expanded red dot on the map.
Kaede was pleased. He supplied today's rations and explained the job: meals provided, freedom to fly around — and the training was voluntary. If any bird disliked the assignment they could leave.
To his relief, none of them wanted to quit. They actually seemed satisfied with the work — perhaps because Pidgeot was in charge, or maybe because the fare was good.
At 4 p.m., after the Breeding House's stock for the day sold out, Kaede reminded Takagi Megumi about buying the grain; she dashed off but turned back to say, "Got it, Kaede!"
As Kaede was about to close up, a small shape in the sunset caught his eye — a Pigeotto with a white envelope clamped in its beak, clearly headed for the Breeding House.
"Pigeotto~" Kaede called.
The bird hovered, checked the layout, and then dropped the envelope into Kaede's hand.
"Pigeotto~" it cooed.
"Delivering a letter?" Kaede said, surprised. In this region — under the Pokémon League — communication was mostly done by phone. Few people still used hand-delivered letters, so this felt a little old-fashioned and special.