Early the next morning, Naoki was preparing breakfast when suddenly there was a knock at the door.
He went to open the door and saw Mayor Thomas standing outside with a worried expression.
Naoki was a bit surprised: "Is the town hosting another event?"
"Not so soon!" Mayor Thomas said, "Last night many people in town saw lightning at the ranch, and I was worried something might have happened, so I came to check."
Lightning...
Naoki looked down at Pawmo beside him and said, "That was my Pokemon practicing the Thunder move."
"Is that so?" Mayor Thomas sighed in relief, "Good thing nothing happened. You continue with your work then. I have things to tend to in town, so I won't disturb you."
Having said that, Mayor Thomas turned around and left.
"Pawmo..."
Pawmo was slow to realize what was happening.
Was that human talking about it just now?
The disturbance caused by last night's lightning was indeed too big.
"It's okay, don't worry." Naoki comforted him, turning back to the kitchen to bring the prepared breakfast to the table.
Today's breakfast was sandwiches paired with milk porridge. Although Koraidon, Dragonite, and Pawmo couldn't produce milk, milk porridge was still beneficial for their body growth and development.
Several Pokemon sat around the wooden table and began to eat.
Naoki glanced at the old wall clock and started planning his day's schedule in his mind.
Aside from going to town to restock household supplies and groceries, he also needed to take care of the overgrown weeds at the ranch.
Because of the Grassy Seed's presence, Gogoat virtually stopped eating the wild grass on the ground.
Miltanks would only eat the patch of grass cultivated in front of the Pokemon House.
"Just right, the cut grass can be kept for Gogoat to make Grassy Seed."
Naoki thought aloud while watching the Pokemon eating voraciously, his gaze accidentally meeting Pawmo's.
"Hurry up and finish eating! I've got to make a trip to town." He said.
Pawmo immediately sped up its eating.
Soon, breakfast time was over.
All the Pokemon at the ranch went about their activities, whether playing or working.
Meanwhile, Naoki rode Cyclizar to town.
With so many Pokemon, the ranch consumed a large amount of meat daily.
The meat would lose its taste if kept too long, prompting him to regularly shop in town.
At the department store, Naoki pushed a small shopping cart along the aisles, Cyclizar following him and curiously looking at the items on the shelves.
"Hmm, we're out of detergent, seems we've used up the vinegar too, and I should get two more boxes of soap."
Naoki placed the household items needed at the ranch into the small cart, and finally purchased ten kilograms of meat.
The price of this meat was 980 League currency per pound, so for ten kilograms, or twenty pounds, he had to spend a total of 19,600 League currency.
Though it seemed like a lot, for meat-loving Koraidon, Cyclizar, and Dragonite, this was only a few days' supply.
Meaning, just the cost of meat each month was quite a hefty expense.
Fortunately, he hadn't gotten carried away and brought back all the Dragonites from Dragonite Island to the ranch.
Otherwise, he'd really be eaten into poverty.
After paying, Naoki handed some items to Cyclizar to carry.
Instead of heading back straight to the ranch, they stopped by a children's clothing store on the street.
There, Naoki saw the main purpose of this trip—a brightly colored red children's cloak.
The cloak was priced at 1500 League currency.
It's decided, it's you!
Naoki bought it without hesitation, then rode Cyclizar back to the ranch to find Pawmo, who was tending to the chickens.
When he arrived at the Chicken House, Pawmi was happily floating in the air, watching the hens below pecking at food.
Naoki waved at it through the fence, and Pawmi immediately flew over.
"Come, try it on, see if you like it?"
Naoki tied the cloak around Pawmo's neck.
Pawmo looked curiously at the cloak behind it, and as the wind blew, the vibrant red cloak flapped in the breeze.
"Try flying up and see?" Naoki suggested.
"Pawmi!"
Pawmi nodded its small head and then swooped into the sky.
The cloak behind it rustled in the wind, looking very stylish, like a superhero in comics fighting evil with a sense of justice.
Really cool!
Pawmo was already very cute, but now with a cloak, its charm skyrocketed.
Soon, Pawmo also seemed to find it fun, as it excitedly flew back and forth in the air.
After a while, it landed in front of Naoki, its tone full of surprise, "Pawmi!"
It was clear that Pawmi liked this gift very much.
Naoki smiled, looking at Pawmi's appearance, thinking, "Hmm, just missing a small hammer. Seems like it's time to catch a Tinkaton."
Tinkaton is a very special Pokemon, like Miltank, only females exist and no males.
It's highly intelligent, with a bold personality, a petite stature, yet it holds a hammer that's much larger than its own body.
Rumor has it that those hammers are made from metals collected from Bisharp.
To craft large and sturdy hammers, Tinkaton actively attacks groups of Bisharp to gather metals.
Tinkaton, whose appearance and strength cause a huge sense of disparity, also becomes a nightmare to numerous Pokemon as they breed and live.
Aside from Bisharp, Corviknight also suffers greatly.
It's said that Tinkaton especially loves to hit rocks with the hammer to attack Corviknight flying in the sky, then brings it back to its dwelling to take away their steel-like feathers.
This is precisely the reason why Corviknight cannot work as taxis in the Paldea region.
If they're attacked by Tinkaton during flight, it poses a serious danger to passengers.
"If I had Tinkaton, I could bring it to the mines in Zapapico Town to mine for ores." Naoki thought.
The soil rich in minerals eaten by Nacli typically comes from Zapapico Town.
By then, he and Tinkaton could snack on some Lucky Pudding, and rare stones like diamonds, gold, and agate would be easy to get, even making Steven envious!
However, Naoki had one more thing to tell Pawmo.
He remembered that for Pawmo to evolve to its final stage, Pawmot, it didn't require leveling up but a specific number of exercise steps.
In the game, Pawmo needed to run 1,000 steps to evolve into Pawmot.
Though he wasn't sure if this was the case in reality, Naoki still informed Pawmo of the conditions for its evolution.
"Pawmi?" Pawmi's face was filled with determination.
Evolve into Pawmot?
It understood now!