Year 198 of the League, Spring, February 4th.
On this day, the crops in the pasture officially matured.
In the morning, after finishing breakfast, Naoki specifically changed into a set of blue work clothes that hadn't been washed yet, ready to go out for the harvest.
Just then, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the pasture.
Naoki turned around to see Yousuke walking over with a large travel backpack.
From a distance, he waved at Naoki and shouted, "Hey, Naoki, I finally found the place!"
Naoki paused his work, raising an eyebrow slightly, "Finished exploring the Pokémon at Casseroya Lake?"
Yousuke nodded somewhat sheepishly, "Yeah, I ran into some Orange Academy students on the way, which delayed me a bit."
With a visitor coming by, Naoki stopped his work and invited him inside to sit for a bit.
However, Yousuke shook his head, looking a bit excited as he glanced around the currently thriving pasture, and asked, "Did you manage all of this by yourself?"
The neat fields and the clean, tidy lawn all appeared so orderly.
Naoki replied, "To be accurate, Koraidon and Cyclizar also helped me out a lot."
"That's amazing!" Yousuke exclaimed in admiration.
Naoki chuckled silently, thinking that it's okay if the crops get harvested a bit later; he took this time to show Yousuke around his pasture.
"This here is the sheep pen; the Skiddos here can produce precious goat milk, making them a very important part of the farm," Naoki explained.
"Are they the three you captured last time?" Yousuke asked.
Naoki nodded. Just as he was about to say something more, one of the Skiddos stood up and lazily shook its head.
The next second, a rich green light emanated from its body.
This light seeped into the ground, creating a large area of Grassy Terrain.
Naoki: "..."
Yousuke widened his eyes, "Is that... Grassy Terrain? How come it feels a bit different from what I've seen before?"
Was it an illusion? This Grassy Terrain seemed to cover a larger range than the ones he had seen before.
"It's Grassy Terrain." Naoki was at a loss for words for a moment.
The Skiddo had become so proficient with the Grassy Terrain move that it was almost turning from Grassy Terrain into Grassy Field.
These days, the three Skiddos ate many Grass Knot balls every day.
Consuming this magical food over time kept their bodies filled with Grass Type Energy, so much that they felt uncomfortable if it wasn't released daily.
Compared to the destructive Solar Beam, Grassy Terrain has no such concerns.
So, to vent their excess Grass Type Energy, the three Skiddos consistently used Grassy Terrain every day.
At first, Naoki was a bit worried.
To address this, he specifically went to the town's bookstore to buy a related book and learned a professional term from it.
— Energy Leak.
This refers to when some Pokémon have more energy than they can control, causing it to overflow and negatively impact the nearby environment.
For example, consider a Pokémon like Magneton.
If they have too much Electric Type Energy, it can cause electromagnetic disturbances throughout the town, affecting the communication signals and power systems.
However, for now, it seems the situation with the Skiddo is quite different from the case with Magneton because it can manage its Energy well.
"That's incredible!" Yousuke was dumbfounded.
Naoki thought to himself that Yousuke hasn't seen anything yet; these three Skiddos sometimes use Grassy Terrain as a dance floor!
But he only thought about it and didn't say it out loud.
Yousuke murmured, "When I saw them battle with Koraidon before, I couldn't tell they were this incredible! Did you give them specific special training?"
"No, maybe it's their own hard work?" Naoki continued, "Come on, let me show you how Nacli are living now."
Yousuke came back to his senses, and the two of them continued forward, soon arriving at the Salt House.
The door to the Salt House was wide open, and inside, the Naclis were playfully chasing each other around the stones on the ground.
Seeing this group of Naclis that he had taken care of for a few days, a smile appeared on Yousuke's face as he greeted them warmly:
"Hey, little guys! Long time no see!"
The Naclis stopped playing, turned around, and saw the two standing at the doorway; the next second, they beamed with delight.
"Salt salt!"
"Do you remember me?" Yousuke pointed to himself and asked.
The Naclis replied affirmatively.
Naoki stood by, smiling as he watched this scene.
Yousuke, observing the Naclis' condition, couldn't help but say, "It looks like you took great care of them! That's wonderful."
"Yes, indeed!"
Naoki also felt a bit sentimental.
Just then, Dragonite's call came from outside.
Upon hearing this, Yousuke appeared puzzled.
Naoki explained, "It should be Dragonite coming back."
With that, he said goodbye to the Naclis and turned to leave the Salt House.
Sure enough, they saw Dragonite on the lawn outside, carrying a red waist pack.
It slowly flew over to Naoki, happily taking out the payment for delivering milk from its pack and handing it over, "Awoo~"
Naoki took it, patted Dragonite's head, and said, "Great job, go play now!"
Dragonite then ran off to find Koraidon and Cyclizar for some instruction on new moves; during these three days, it had re-learned Dragon Tail but wanted to learn more moves, so it started pestering Koraidon and Cyclizar, both being Dragon Type Pokémon.
Yousuke, watching Dragonite's retreating figure, was shocked, "Is that the Dragonite that was watching the moon from the cliff top? Did you capture it?"
"Yeah!" Naoki nodded, "Persistence paid off, and now it plays the role of a courier on the farm, helping deliver fresh goat milk to the town."
"Deliver... milk?" Yousuke's eyes widened, his thoughts momentarily stalled.
"Any issues?" Naoki asked, puzzled.
"You actually have Dragonite delivering milk!" Yousuke mumbled, "My god! Don't you know how rare a Pokémon it is? Many people would hardly get a chance to treasure it!"
Naoki: "..."
He didn't feel there was any connection between Dragonite delivering milk and its rarity.
After all, as a Pokémon player, he's even taken Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia—these Legendary Beasts—to farm.
Nothing they do should be surprising.
If only the world's history included the Hisuin Region.
Speaking of which, Naoki recalled the history lessons at Orange Academy, which covered the topic of the Hisuin Region.
For instance, Professor Laventon and the earliest Poke Balls.
The remaining Chicken House was quite ordinary.
Inside, hens continued diligently incubating eggs, and based on the time, those eggs should soon hatch.
New life would soon thrive in the pasture again.
After a full circle around, the time had reached 8:30 a.m., the sun had risen, and the temperature in the air began to gradually climb.
Naoki led Yousuke back to the wooden house to serve him a glass of juice.
In front of the wooden house, Yousuke noticed a Metapod hanging under the eaves.
His attention was instantly caught, "Is that... Metapod?"