Chapter 53: A visit from a friend
On February 4th, in the Spring of the 198th year of the Pokémon League calendar, the crops on the ranch finally reached maturity.
In the morning, after breakfast, Naoki changed into his blue work clothes, which he hadn't had time to wash, and prepared to head to the fields for the harvest.
Just then, a familiar voice called out from outside the ranch. Naoki turned and saw Yosuke walking towards him, carrying a large travel backpack.
From a distance, Yosuke waved and shouted, "Hey, Naoki! I finally found the place!"
Naoki paused his work and raised an eyebrow. "Have you finished exploring the Pokémon around Casseroya Lake?"
Yosuke nodded, a bit embarrassed. "Yeah, I met a few students from the Naranja Academy on the way, which delayed me a little."
With a guest arriving, Naoki set aside his work and invited Yosuke in to sit for a while.
But Yosuke shook his head, looking around the ranch with excitement. "Did you manage all of this by yourself?" he asked.
Neat fields and a clean lawn - everything seemed so well-organized.
"To be precise, Koraidon and Cyclizar helped a lot too," Naoki replied.
"That's amazing!" Yosuke praised.
Naoki chuckled. It didn't matter if the harvest was delayed a bit. He took this opportunity to show Yosuke around his ranch.
"This is the Goat pen. The Skiddo can produce valuable goat milk and are essential members of the ranch," Naoki explained.
"They're the three you caught last time, right?" Yosuke asked.
Naoki nodded. Just as he was about to say something else, one of the Skiddo stood up and lazily shook its head.
The next second, a strong green light enveloped its body. The light sank into the earth, transforming the surrounding area into a vast green grassland.
Naoki was momentarily speechless.
Yosuke's eyes widened. "Is that, Grassy Terrain? Why does it feel a little different from what I've seen?"
Was it his imagination, or did it cover a larger area than any Grassy Terrain he had witnessed before?
"It is Grassy Terrain," Naoki confirmed, a bit dumbfounded.
This Skiddo was becoming increasingly proficient in using the move, almost turning Grassy Terrain into its own personal domain.
These days, the three Skiddo's had been consuming a large number of Green Grass Dumplings every day.
Long-term consumption of this magical food kept the grass energy in their bodies constantly brimming, to the point that they felt uncomfortable if they didn't release it daily. Compared to destructive moves like Solar Beam, Grassy Terrain posed no such concerns.
Therefore, to vent the excess Grass-type energy in their bodies, the three Skiddo's would use Grassy Terrain for a period each day.
At first, Naoki was a bit worried. He even went to the town's bookstore and bought a book on the subject, learning a professional term - "Energy Overflow." This meant that some Pokémon had too much energy in their bodies, making it difficult to control, causing it to overflow and affect the surrounding environment.
For example, Magnemite, if they had too much electrical energy, could cause electromagnetic disturbances throughout the town, affecting communication signals and power systems. But it seemed the situation with the Skiddo was different because they could control their energy.
"This is incredible!" Yosuke was amazed.
Naoki thought to himself that Yosuke hadn't seen anything yet.
'Sometimes, these three Skiddo's would even use the Grassy Terrain as a stage to dance together'! But he kept this thought to himself.
"When I saw them fighting against Koraidon before, I didn't realize how powerful they were!" Yosuke murmured. "Did you give them any special training?"
"No, maybe it's their own effort?" Naoki suggested. "Let's go. I'll show you how the Nacli are doing."
Yosuke snapped out of his reverie, and the two continued walking, soon arriving at the salt shelter.
The door was wide open, and the Nacli inside were chasing each other and playing around the rocks on the floor. Seeing these Nacli that he had cared for for a few days, Yosuke couldn't help but smile and greeted them enthusiastically:
"Hey, little guys! Long time no see!"
The Nacli stopped playing and turned around, spotting the two people standing at the door. The next second, expressions of surprise appeared on their faces.
"Nacli, nacli!"
"Do you remember me?" Yosuke asked, pointing at himself.
The Nacli gave an affirmative answer.
Naoki stood aside, watching the scene with a smile. Yosuke observed the physical condition of the Nacli and couldn't help but say, "It seems they're being well taken care of by you! That's great."
"Yes!" Naoki also felt a bit emotional.
At that moment, they heard Dragonite's cry from outside.
Yosuke looked confused.
Naoki explained, "That must be Dragonite returning."
He said goodbye to the Nacli and turned to leave the salt shelter. Sure enough, Dragonite was on the lawn outside, wearing its little red bag.
It slowly flew in front of Naoki, happily took out the money for the milk delivery from its bag, and handed it over. "Roar~"
Naoki took it and patted Dragonite's head. "Thank you for your hard work, go play!"
Dragonite ran off to ask Koraidon and Cyclizar for advice on some moves. During these three days, it had already relearned Dragon Tail, but it still wanted to learn more, so it started pestering Koraidon and Cyclizar, both Dragon-type Pokémon.
Yosuke watched Dragonite go, a little shocked. "Is that the Dragonite that was sitting on the cliff looking at the moon? Did you catch it?"
"Yeah!" Naoki nodded. "You could say that hard work pays off. It's now serving as a courier on the ranch, helping to deliver fresh goat milk to the town."
"Deliver, milk?" Yosuke's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Is there a problem?" Naoki asked, confused.
"You're letting Dragonite deliver milk!" Yosuke exclaimed. "Oh my goodness! Do you know how rare that Pokémon is? Many people can't even encounter one in their lifetime!"
Naoki didn't think having Dragonite deliver milk had anything to do with its rarity. After all, as a Pokémon player, you could even use Legendary Pokémon like Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia to farm. Nothing they did was surprising.
If there was a history of the Hisui region existing in this world.
Come to think of it, Naoki remembered that the history class at the academy had mentioned the Hisui region, including Professor Laventon and the origin of the Poké Ball.
The rest of the chicken coop was unremarkable. The hens were still diligently incubating their eggs. According to the schedule, the eggs should hatch soon. By then, there would be many new lives on the ranch.
After a walk around, it was already 8:30 in the morning. The sun had risen, and the temperature was slowly increasing.
Naoki brought Yosuke back to the cabin, intending to pour him a glass of juice.
In front of the wooden house, Yosuke noticed the Metapod hanging under the eaves.
His eyes were immediately drawn to it. "Is that, a Metapod?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone