"Yes, I met it when it was still a Caterpie," Naoki expined. "Then it evolved into a Metapod and has been waiting here for its evolution."

  "Evolution." Yosuke recalled information he had read. "If I remember correctly, Metapod is the fastest evolving Pokémon. When did it evolve from Caterpie?"

  Naoki thought for a moment. "About half a month ago."

  "Oh," Yosuke said. "That is fast. It should evolve into Butterfree in a few days! Butterfree spread pollen and colleectar for food, which will be a great help for your ranch work!"

  Fast growth, suitability finners, and ease of trainihe advantages of Bug-type Pokémon. But they also had their drawbacks.

  For example, their lifespans were shorter tharainers. Many trainers chose Bug-type Pokémon as their starters a deep sadness when they eventually passed away.

  However, birth, aging, illness, ah were natural parts of life, and everyone, human or Pokémon, had to gh this process.

  Yosuke sighed softly, pting this.

  Naoki walked over to che the Metapod, reag out to touch its hard green shell. pared to half a month ago, its shell had bee harder, and its color had ged from light green treen. All of this sighat the Metapod was nearing evolution.

  'Butterfree. Grow up quickly'! Naoki thought. Oapod evolved, the ranch would bee even livelier.

  The Metapod was in a critical stage of its evolution. Its hard shell preve from moving or eating, relyiirely orients stored during its Caterpie stage to res cells. During this process, no one could provide external help. Only by breaking out of their shells on their own could they transform into Butterfree and soar through the sky.

  The two ehe house, and Naoki poured Yosuke a cup of tea befetting up to tinue his ranch work.

  Seeing him start w, Koraidon, who was standing nearby, immediately rao help, followed closely by Cyclizar and Dragonite.

  At this point, Yosuke also came out. He looked at the vast farmnd in front of him, eager to lend a hand. "I'll help too!"

  "This work is tough!" Naoki warned, raising an eyebrow.

  Yosuke had never done farm work before. He hailed from the northern part of the Gar region, a moderropolis called Wyndon. But that didn't dampen his enthusiasm for experieng ranch life.

  Seeing this, Naoki didn't try to dissuade him.

  Yosuke took out four Poké Balls from his pocket. With fshes of white light, a Grovyle, a derace, Mr. Mime, and a sturdy Bepeared on the ranch.

  "Everyone, let's help Naoki harvest the crops!"

  With the and given, the four Pokémon joined in the harvest.

  Soon, turnips, mud-covered potatoes, garlic bulbs, plump white radishes, glistening cucumbers, and juiatoes piled up in small mounds beside the fields. By the time all the ripe crops were harvested, everyone and the Pokémon were covered in dirt.

  As the st cucumber icked, Yosuke colpsed onto the grass. "Whew, ranch work is truly tiring!"

  In parison, Naoki's endurance was much better. Perhaps it was due to the long hours of bor that prevented him from colpsing immediately.

  He thanked Yosuke and his four Pokémon with a smile. "Thank you for your hard work. You guys take a break while I prepare lunch!"

  "Great!" Yosuke and his Pokémon cheered in unison.

  Naoki returo the kit to prepare lunch. With a rger group today and everyone having expended a lot of energy, the lunch dishes would focus o energy and stamina.

  Dishes like fried pork cutlets and rice were on the menu. In addition, Naoki also prepared three new dishes using the freshly harvested crops.

  One was smashed cucumbers, another was scrambled eggs with tomatoes. For the third, Naoki sliced the pork tenderloin, added chili peppers, Si peppers, ginger, green onions, and redients, creating a spid fragrant dish of boiled pork slices.

  The boiled pork slices were tender and fresh, the broth was red and glistening, the spicy aroma was overwhelming, and the meat slices coated in red oil looked incredibly tempting.

  Naoki couldn't help but swallow, and as he looked down, information about these three dishes appeared in his mind.

  [Smashed Cucumbers (D): A simple and easy basic dish, a great choice for summer heat relief.

  Cooking effebsp;Heat Resistance Lv1.]

  [Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes (bsp;A home-cooked dish, sour and sweet, the freshness of the eggs and the uaste of tomatoes are perfectly bined.

  Cooking effebsp;Increases appetite.]

  [Boiled Pork Slices (B): Delicious boiled pork slices, spid fragrant. Oe will make you breathe fire.

  Cooking effect: Fire Burst.]

  Huh? Naoki's eyes were drawn to the boiled pork slices.

  The sed, the specific details of the cooking effect emerged.

  [Fire Burst: Limited to Fire-type Pokémon. For a short period, moderately increases the Fire energy in the body and slightly improves the prehension of Fire-type moves.]

  This is,

  Naoki was slightly stunned.

  At that moment, Yosuke, lured by the fragrance, rushed in, fetting his tiredness.

  "What's that smell? It smells so good!"

  When Yosuke got a clear look at the boiled pork slices, his mouth watered. "What kind of dish is this?"

  Naoki replied, "Uh, it's called Boiled Pork Slices."

  "Boiled Pork Slices?" Yosuke had never heard of or seen such a dish, his curiosity piqued.

  Naoki didn't expin further. With so many mouths to feed and no room for everyoo sit inside, he instructed Koraidon to move the table outside and then brought the prepared dishes to it.

  The Pokémon were immediately drawn to the overp aroma. Naoki clearly saw Yosuke's derace's throat bob, likely from swallowing frantically.

  "Dig in!" Yosuke picked up his utensils and began to eat enthusiastically.

  Naoki discreetly observed the only Fire-type Pokémo, derace. It picked up its utensils - Yosuke must have taught it - and grabbed a piece of the boiled pork, coated in red oil, putting it into its mouth.

  After chewing for a moment, its face turned red. The Fire energy in its body surged. derace's eyes widened, and its cheeks puffed out, as if holding something back.

  After a few seds, it seemed to reach its limit. It suddenly raised its head, and a beam of scorg red fire shot out of its mouth towards the sky.

  Yosuke: "?!"

  A moment ter, derace colpsed onto the grass, exhausted, gasping for breath.

  "What's wrong, derace?" Yosuke asked anxiously.

  derace stuck out its tongue and shook its head slightly.

  Spicy, too spicy!

  Naoki cleared his throat and expi the right time, "Perhaps the Fire-type energy in its body was stimuted by the spiess, causing it to burst out untrolbly."

  He paused, then asked, "Are you feeling any disfort?"

  derace gradually calmed down. It shook its head, not feeling any disfort. In fact, it felt rexed and refreshed.

  Naoki: "..."

  It seemed this derace was unlucky and hadn't learned any new moves.