Early the next morning, after finishing breakfast, Yousuke began to pack.
He was leaving, departing from the Paldea Region to explore other regions.
Before leaving, he said to Naoki, "If you have the chance, you must visit the Galar Region; it's a very beautiful place."
Naoki nodded, "If I have the time."
Yousuke flashed a bright smile, then waved goodbye to Naoki, and set off on his journey alone with a backpack.
Naoki stood at the entrance of the ranch, gazing at his gradually receding figure until he could no longer see him, then finally withdrew his gaze.
Life is like a train journey, with many stops along the way. Some people suddenly come into our lives, while others disembark, bidding a gentle farewell and exchanging well wishes.
Life goes on.
Naoki gently shook his head, turned around, and went back to the ranch.
Today was another sunny day, without rain, so there was no way to help Dragonite practice Rain Dance.
After finishing the daily ranch tasks, Naoki looked at the empty ranch and decided to buy some decorations for planting.
Such as flowers.
Not only could they beautify the ranch, but they could also provide a good environment for Butterfree to collect pollen after evolution.
So at nine-thirty in the morning, Naoki rode Cyclizar to the seed shop in Porto Marinada Town, where he bought some packets of flower seeds and a Space Backpack for 20,000 League currency.
Tulips, irises, hyacinths…
They returned to town, opened up a new piece of land on the farm, and planted these flower seeds together.
In no time, there could be a beautiful flower field here.
Looking at Butterfree beside him, Naoki smiled and said, "In about 20 days, these flowers will sprout from the ground, and by then you can collect pollen and nectar here."
"Buu-bii~"
Butterfree was very happy.
It began to look forward to that day's arrival.
And Naoki fell into deep thought.
As everyone knows, some Pokemon undergo personality changes after evolution.
Ash's Charizard is one such example.
So the question arises, has Butterfree's personality changed?
Thinking of this, Naoki asked, "Butterfree, how do you feel now? Do you still want to work as hard as Caterpie did to become stronger?"
"Buu-bii..."
Butterfree thought carefully and realized it no longer had the intense desire to become stronger as before.
Instead, it wanted to live a good life and protect this ranch.
But protecting the ranch also requires great strength, just like Butterfree defends Caterpie in the forest from Bird-type Pokemon.
So, it will still strive to train hard!
"Buu-bii!"
"That's right!" Feeling Butterfree's determination and resolve, Naoki smiled and petted its head, "Keep working hard, and I'll help you too."
Butterfree: "Buu-bii!"
Time unknowingly slipped into the afternoon.
Naoki returned to the house to start preparing lunch, processing ingredients while pondering the recent events.
Caterpie's evolution made him realize something: all the Pokemon on the ranch are evolvable now.
Smoliv evolves into Arboliva, Skiddo evolves into Gogoat, Nacli evolves into Garganacl.
After evolution, their appetite and yield would greatly increase.
But without levels and experience in reality, Naoki couldn't determine which stage they had reached, so he could only wait gradually.
However, raising all these Pokemon to their final stages would be so satisfying and exciting!
Maybe, that's the charm of nurturing.
Today is February 5th, just two days away from the Sakura Blossom Wine Party.
The work on the ranch wasn't too busy, so Naoki took the opportunity to start watching the weather with Dragonite, hoping for rain tomorrow.
However, unfortunately, it was sunny for two consecutive days, with no rain or even a cloudy sky.
This made Dragonite very sad.
In this clear weather, time finally moved to the day of the Sakura Blossom Wine Party.
Participating in such a large-scale event for the first time, Naoki couldn't help but feel anticipation.
The letter said that ranchers could bring some of their farm's specialties to set up a stall and sell them there.
Naoki looked at his ordinary ranch and fell into contemplation.
What should he take to sell?
Turnips? Tomatoes? Cucumbers or eggs?
No, these were too common; there were other farms and ranches nearby, and surely others would sell these vegetables.
Then, what about goat milk and rock salt?
Naoki thought it was feasible, but it still lacked a bit of novelty.
And then, he suddenly thought of the dish he made yesterday, the Boiled Pork Slices that made Cinderace breathe fire!
Although there were Chinese restaurants in the Paldea Region, there weren't too many, and the flavors had been slightly adjusted to local tastes, so they weren't authentic.
Sharing the cuisine of his hometown with nearby people should fit the theme of the Sakura Blossom Wine Party, right?
And the price of selling such Chinese cuisine is much higher than ordinary farm products, allowing for substantial earnings in a day!
Thinking of this, Naoki immediately started to prepare.