The door swung open, and the long-untouched Pokemon House unfolded before Naoki's eyes.
Empty feeding troughs and water basins, wooden partitions, feeding spots linked to silos, and a soft layer of hay spread on the floor, a place left for Miltank to sleep,
"Come out!"
Naoki tossed the Poke Ball, and with a flash of white light, Miltank appeared in the Pokemon House.
It glanced around, starting to familiarize itself with the environment.
Naoki introduced, "This is your new home now, how do you feel?"
"Milooo…" Miltank looked around, glanced at the clean, bright room, and cheerfully exclaimed, "Milooo!"
It seemed Miltank was satisfied.
Seeing this, Naoki felt a wave of relief wash over him.
Then, he opened the doors and windows of the Pokemon House, led Miltank to the open space outside, and introduced this place:
"This is my ranch, and I will plant pasture in front of the house later."
Pasture seeds don't need special tilling or planting in the soil; compared to crops, their planting method is much simpler.
Just scatter the seeds on the land, wait for a while, and these robustly vital pastures will automatically grow.
Both the growth cycle and the growth speed far exceed ordinary crops.
Getting straight to work, Naoki immediately took out the pack of pasture seeds and scattered them on the open ground.
Having settled Miltank, Naoki returned to the wooden house feeling relaxed.
The work of farm-raising Miltank was finally set to officially begin!
With the day's ranch work completed, he made a cup of sweet red tea, moved his rocking chair under the eaves, and sat on it, leisurely drinking tea while watching his slowly developing home endeavor.
Cyclizar, Koraidon, Butterfree, Nacli, Skiddo, Alcremie, Smoliv, Dragonite, Pawmi, Combee, Miltank…
Salt House, Pokemon House, Chicken House…
In the neatly organized fields, a large batch of crops was growing robustly.
Everything had undergone a sea change compared to when he first arrived here.
Ah, what a beautiful life!
Naoki couldn't help but exclaim.
And just at this moment, he caught sight of a petite figure darting into the ranch out of the corner of his eye.
Naoki turned his head to see Teddiursa happily running over.
Watching this scene, Naoki slightly raised his eyebrows.
In his mind, he recalled the incident a few days ago when Teddiursa left the ranch after eating the Lucky Pudding.
"I wonder if it found something good."
Glancing at Teddiursa who came close, Naoki asked, "Are you here to exchange something?"
"Ume ume!"
Teddiursa nodded repeatedly.
It extended its little bear paw, spread its palm open, revealing a small, ordinary-looking brown stone.
This was something Teddiursa picked up from the ground while wandering in the mountains before the typhoon.
"Hmm?" At first glance, Naoki couldn't tell what the stone was, so he reached out and took the stone from Teddiursa's soft pad.
What is this?
Naoki felt puzzled as he had never seen this item before; it didn't resemble an Evolution Stone, nor did it look like a Hard Stone or other tools.
Hmm, it feels slightly warm to the touch, unsure if it's Teddiursa's body temperature or the stone itself is warm.
"Did you pick this up?" Naoki asked.
"Ume!" Teddiursa nodded, its eyes looking over with hope.
Can this be exchanged for delicious honey pudding?
Seeing its drooling expression, Naoki couldn't help but curl his lips as he stood to fetch pudding from the fridge and asked, "You didn't go around stealing honey from other ranches these past few days, did you?"
"Ume…" Teddiursa shook its head.
"That's the way!" Naoki handed the pudding to Teddiursa and told it, "Stealing isn't right, even though you can deceive others with your cute appearance now, what will happen when you grow up into Ursaring?"
At that time, pretending to be young and selling cuteness might not fool anyone anymore.
"Ume…"
Teddiursa swallowed the pudding in one go and upon hearing these words, bowed its head deep in thought.
Watching it, Naoki thought that a prodigal who turns back is worth more than gold; if Teddiursa can recognize its mistakes and correct them promptly, his thoughtful counsel wouldn't be in vain.
"If I were you, I would find a way to apologize to those ranchers," Naoki advised appropriately.
"Since it's been raining these days, you probably have had a hard time finding food, this small bottle of honey is what I'm giving you," Naoki tossed the honey in his hand to it.
Teddiursa caught it with its paw, and its face showed a touched expression: "Ume…"
"I think if it were someone else, they would do the same as I did," Naoki lay on the rocking chair, waving, "Go back!"
"Ume!"
Having achieved its purpose, Teddiursa left contentedly and began pondering everything that had happened in recent days on its way back.
In the ranch, Naoki looked at the slightly warm stone, and after careful examination, a vague guess formed in his mind.
A fragment of a meteorite that fell from the sky?
Combining Rayquaza's appearance nearby and the typhoon dispersal, Naoki suddenly had a bold guess.
Could it be leftover food from Rayquaza?
Tsk!
Sounds impressive, yet in reality, this meteorite fragment serves no purpose, only as a collectible item.
Better than nothing.
Naoki returned to the room, casually tossing it into the drawer, placing it alongside the Everstone Teddiursa had previously brought.
————
Before going to bed at night, Naoki specially made some Black Truffle Milk Porridge.
This dish can significantly enhance the quality of milk produced by Pokemon.
The Skiddos developed mutations in their milk by drinking this milk porridge, which gave it some additional effects.
Naoki really wanted to know what changes this dish would bring when applied to Miltank.
Thus, while patrolling the ranch, Naoki brought the milk porridge to the Pokemon House.
He had just opened the door, only to see Miltank sitting on the hay, looking rather lonely.
Naoki froze for a moment: "What's the matter?"
"Milooo…" Miltank's expression was gloomy.
"Let me guess, you're missing other Miltank companions, aren't you?" Naoki asked.
Upon hearing this, Miltank nodded: "Milooo…"
Initially, upon arriving at the new ranch, Miltank felt very happy.
But after the joy faded, it felt quite desolate because there was only one Miltank.
Naoki understood, but there was no immediate solution; after pondering for a while, he told Miltank:
"Give me one more day. Once I've saved enough money, I'll immediately bring other Miltanks here."
Miltank looked at him and then smiled, cheerfully saying, "Milooo!"
Naoki also smiled and placed the milk porridge in front of Miltank, saying, "Try the taste!"
Using rice and milk, Miltank didn't reject it, as they naturally drank their own milk.
After drinking the milk porridge, Miltank remembered what Naoki had just said and suddenly realized something: "Milooo?" (Are you short on money?)
Naoki raised his eyebrows upon hearing its growl: "Hmm?"
Miltank proudly displayed its milk-producing organs, excitedly saying, "Milooo, Milooo!" (The milk squeezed from here can be sold for lots of money!)
Back at the ranch, Miltank often saw the rancher helping other Miltanks to milk and then selling it.
This was a very relaxing task for Miltank.
Because they have so much milk in their bodies, if it's not squeezed out for a day, they feel uncomfortable.
So, besides drinking their own milk, most of the time, humans help them milk.
Being exposed to this, Miltank knew of this method to earn money.
Naoki felt puzzled, but upon watching Miltank's actions, quickly processed it: "You want me to help you milk?"
"Milooo Milooo!" Miltank nodded repeatedly.
Help it milk, sell the milk, and earn more money; this way, he could bring over the other Miltanks too!