The board was much the same as a standard chess board but had an extra two rows added on in the middle. With that said it was fairly clear to me that Gaia had created the different type pieces out of different colored stones using rock or ground type energy while the board was carved out of the hard black stone and filled with tan sand to make the lines. That was a VERY big difference between rock and ground type moves in reality compared to the games as the pokemon who used that type could in fact choose what type of stone they created.-

As any geologist could tell you , there was a LOT of different types of rocks that naturally existed and could be chosen by the rock or ground type. It took me a while to figure out which piece belonged to which pokemon but once I did I could help but chuckle at who was clearly winning. Most people would assume that my calmer and less trigger happy pokemon would be best at a strategy game like this , those people were wrong. Yes Vulcan was viciously taking Gaia apart on the board.-

She was using a tiny version of stone grasp to move her pieces but she was clearly distressed as she did so. Not that I could really blame her as Vulcan took piece after piece from her including whole types putting limitations on what she could do. In the end she lost handily as her trainer piece was trapped in a corner and surrounded by four of Vulcans pieces. I clapped once the game was over "Well done Vulcan. Both on the pasture and the game. The pasture is now almost perfect to train in for what I have planned , I will need Gaia here to make a sand pit though." I said with a smile letting the legendary have a small ego boost.-

It clearly worked hard and deserved a compliment after all which I wasn't going to hold off on for no good reason. The little girl Ema was still on Vulcans back just grinning from ear to ear without a care in the world as Vulcans mane flowed around her. I chuckled at that but didn't bother the child as I found the area that was supposed to be our sleeping spot in the middle of the pasture. It was basically rotted out and useless not to mention small.-

I checked inside it for anything that I thought Birch might actually care about getting destroyed but it was totally empty save the cobwebs and mushrooms , none of which were edible. "Alright Gaia knock it down so we can rebuild it!" I called out and Gaia rumbled in response. i poked the blissed out child on Vulcans back to get her attention. "Hey do you want to see something cool?" I asked and it was like christmas came early as I got an enthusiastic nod.-

I pointed as Gaia who was hovering over to the shack "Watch closely." I said and the little girl stared right at Gaia with an eager expression. My giant rock monster didn't disappoint either as she charged up a sand bomb in front of her carapace which took a moment since she didn't use sand storm first. She then launched the attack right into the center of the rotten building with a loud disorienting "BANG!" as the building was ripped apart by the force of the explosion and sand shrapnel. Needless to say the building was totally obliterated and I couldn't help but groan a bit as I noticed people looking out their windows to figure out what made that sound.-

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Gaia happily hovered back over tome "You just had to pick that move out of all of them didn't you?" I asked with a chuckle. Ema meanwhile was losing her mind in excitement at the violent and flashy move. Any child that could run up to an mount a legendary with a huge smile would definitely enjoy seeing another pokemon perform a powerful move. Birch rushed over with a concerned look "Alex what happened to the pasture!?" he exclaimed in shock when he saw the state of it.-

"No need to worry we are just doing a bit of renovation to make it more livable is all." I said reassuringly. He took a deep breath to calm himself "Is that what caused that loud explosion?" he asked for clarification. I nodded "Yeah I asked Gaia to take down that shack over there and didn't specify how so she chose her loudest move." I said awkwardly scratching the back of my head. "Certainly sounded like it! We all felt the house rattle a bit when it went off and thought something had gone terribly wrong." Birch explained honestly.-

"Sorry in advance but there will be a bit more noise as we build a suitable sleeping area on top of the ruins." I said not wanting to lie about it. "That's to be expected for something like that , plus you'll be doing me a favor since I kept meaning to fix this pasture up but forgetting." Birch said with a smile. "If you'd go and let everyone else know that would be appreciated , they are sort of staring." I said with a laugh as I pointed behind him.-

He turned and looked and saw that I wasn't joking and merely gave me a thumbs up before rushing over to his neighbors to reassure them. "Alright you two it's time to get to work! Gaia make the boulders , the bigger the better! Vulcan help me move them where I mark!" I bark out orders and my pokemon got to work immediately. Each of Gaia's boulders took about five minutes each for her to create and were six feet in every dimension each. I waited until she made a good eleven before marking the spot on the ground that I wanted Vulcan to move them to.-

The lay out was four on the left and right sides with three at the back. I then had Gaia manipulate the boulders to meld together without any gaps thanks to the energy that they still held within them. Vulcans job was done for now so it was assigned a different one while Gaia built the walls up. See if this pasture was going to be truly used then it needed a few features to be added. One such thing was a water fixture for the pokemon that may need such a thing such as water types.-

I had Vulcan head over to the dead center of the pasture and start digging a pond via it's moves. Once the decently deep and wide dirt bowl was complete it covered the bottom with a thick layer of black lava stone to trap the water inside the bowl. The next time it rained , which knowing Hoenn was long away , the pond would fill up with water. As an added bonus Vulcan had dug deep enough to hit mud so the pond was unlikely to ever dry out either. Gaia meanwhile was creating boulders on top of the others and immediately fusing the together until we had an ugly miniature hill that was nothing but a cave after she covered the top in a layer of carefully placed and fused stone.