Pokémon of different types had different taste preferences. Except for derace, the others did much of the boiled pork slices.

  derace, however, focused solely on the dish. It would take a bite, breathe out fire, and its face would turn red from the spiess. It was a mix of pain and pleasure.

  Yosuke, watg from the side, was nearly terrified. He had never entered anything like this in his years of traveling.

  "Is it really okay for it to keep eating like that? I mean, it's spicy, but not spiough to make someone breathe fire!"

  Naoki was also a little fused. He was about to ask about derace's dition when derace's eyes suddenly widened in realization.

  Its cheeks puffed out to an almost ical degree as powerful Fire energy surged from its body. derace dropped its utensils and turned around abruptly. A ball of fme erupted from its mouth toward the sky, transf into a brilliaar.

  "Boom!"

  Amidst the explosion, the fmes burst like magnifit fireworks.

  Yosuke was utterly stunned.

  That move was.

  "Bst Burn," Naoki said softly, retrag his earlier statement about derace being unlucky.

  After the move, derace colpsed onto the grass, exhausted, gasping for air. This was a side effect of Bst Burn; after using it, the Pokémon would enter a state of exhaustion for a short time, uo move quickly.

  Yosuke was amazed. "derace, that's a new move you learned, right?"

  Was this for real? A Pokémon learned a new move just from eating something spicy!

  derace looked fused.

  It carefully recalled the feeling of using Bst Burn and was surprised to find that it could clearly remember the process. If it had enough energy, it might even be able to use the move again!

  "gratutions," Naoki said, unsurprised.

  At that moment, Dragoh its keen hearing overheard the versation.

  "Roar?!" 'It had learned a new move'?

  During its few days on the ranch, it had learned from Koraidon, Cyclizar, and the Skiddo that the food Naoki made had magical powers. It had also tried the Fruit Sad itself, so it was very sensitive to anythied to food and new moves.

  Now, having witnessed derace learning a new move after eating, Dragonite's eyes lit up.

  It poi the remaining boiled pork slices with its rge paw and excimed to Naoki, "Roar~"

  Naoki raised an eyebrow. "You want to eat some too?"

  Dragonite nodded eagerly. "Roar!"

  "Okay, I'll get you a piece to try." Naoki picked up a slieat with chopsticks.

  Dragonite immediately opes mouth wide, waiting to be fed.

  Naoki carefully fed the slieat tonite. After chewing it twice, Dragonite's eyes widened, and its cheeks turned red from the spice, as if it might breathe fire at any moment.

  Dragoried its best to hold back, waiting for a long time, but didn't feel like it had learned any new moves.

  Dragonite was on the verge of tears. It looked at Naoki with watery eyes, feeling wronged and sad. "Roar?"

  Naoki realized what had happened. Dragonite hadn't just wao taste the boiled pork slices; it wao learn new moves like derace had. However, it wasn't a Fire-type Pokémon, so the dish had no effe it.

  Poor thing.

  Naoki took out the juice he had prepared and ha tonite. Dragonite eagerly grabbed it and gulped it down. It took a while for it to recover, and it lost i in the boiled pork slices.

  "I'll try making other dishes for you ter," Naoki said.

  Dragonite nodded obediently.

  After a pleasant lunaoki got busy again iernoon. The first batch of crops had been harvested. Except for the tomatoes and cucumbers, which could be tinuously harvested, all other crops o be repnted for the sed round.

  With the help of several Pokémon, Naoki spent an hour preparing the nd and then pnted a new round of seeds. Afterward, he took out the fertilizer he had prepared ailized the crops and fruit tree seedlings. He worked until su before finishing everything.

  Naoki stood at the edge of the farmnd, a watering in hand, wiping sweat from his forehead. He thought to himself, "I o catch a Pokémon that use the move Bulldoze iure."

  Bulldoze was a Ground-type move that plowed the soil, making it easier for pnts and crops to grow. It also increased the Attad Special Attack of Grass-type Pokémon. If he had a Pokémon like that, his work would be much easier.

  A Pokémon that could use Bulldoze.

  The names of several Pokémon came to Naoki's mind: Diglett, Dugtrio, Bunnelby, Diggersby, Drilbur, Excadrill, Mudbray, Mudsdale, Sandshrew, Sandssh, Rhyhorn, Rhydon.

  Tapu Bulu?

  "Let's fet about that st one," Naoki thought. That would be too eous. Not only would the isnd guardian not leave U'u, but the people of U'u Isnd probably wouldn't allow their guardiay to be taken away.

  But Tapu Bulu's abilities were indeed perfect for farming. It had the power to manipute pnts and promote their growth. It owerful and could protect the farmnd.

  "It's a shame there are no wild Tapu Bulu around. Otherwise, I would definitely bring one bad make it the guardian of my farm."

  Naoki felt a pang ret, but he wasn't in a hurry to caty of these Pokémon immediately. The nd nted, and there was still over a month until the harvest. During this time, he would also attend the Cherry Blossom Festival to experiehe s and practices of the Pokémon world.

  Besides all that, the farm currently needed a Pokémon that could use Rain Dance.

  Naoki looked at Dragonite, who was resting on the grass nearby. He had inally wao catch this Dragonite and have it help with watering.

  It turned out this Dragonite didn't know Rain Dance.

  Moreover, the food that could help Dragonite learn new moves wasn't ready yet, and the previous i with fetting Dragon Tail made Dragonite hesitant to try the Fruit Sad again.

  At that moment, aruaoki.

  Dragonite's prehension wasn't actually bad, as evidenced by its learning Dragon Tail. The reason it only knew four moves was likely because it hadn't mastered the correct learnihods and teiques.

  Furthermore, it was hard w and wouldn't sck off in its pursuit of being stronger.

  After some thought, Naoki called Dragonite over and asked, "Dragonite, do you know the move Rain Dance?"

  "Roar." Dragonite looked downcast.

  It khat many powerful Dragonites onite Isnd khis move. They could trol the airflow and water energy imosphere, ging the weather and making it rain.

  But this "dumb" Dragonite simply couldn't do it.

  At that moment, Dragonite felt a hand on its shoulder.

  It looked up and saw Naoki encement. "Don't be disced. Do you remember how you learned Dragon Tail?"

  "Roar." Dragonite nodded.

  "So, as long as we find the right method and practice diligently, one day you'll learn Rain Dance," Naoki said. "And then you use it to help water the fields."

  Dragonite's eyes lit up, and its fighting spirit returned. "Roar!"

  To figure out how to use Rain Danaoki immediately went to find Yosuke, who was resting nearby, and discussed the move with him.

  "Rain Dance?"

  Naoki nodded. He had never seen a Pokémon use Rain Dan real life. From the a seemed like Pokémon could make it rain simply by praying to the sky. But there had to be more to it, and Naoki felt it couldn't be that simple.

  Sure enough, Yosuke's words firmed his suspis.

  "That move seems to be reted to a Pokémon's trol over energy. There aren't any Pokémon Professors or researchers in the Gar region who study this aspect, but Professor Kukui in the Alion has published a paper on the subject."

  "He's a remarkable Professor! He's particurly ied in studying Pokémon moves and has even experiehem himself!" Yosuke's face was filled with admiration.

  Naoki: "..."

  They were both quite the Pokémon nerds, weren't they?

  Yosuke returo the topic. "As we all knookémon's ability to use moves skillfully is reted to its trol over energy, only known as prehension. The higher a Pokémon's prehension, the greater the ce of it learning a move."

  "Although I'm not sure how to practice Rain Dance, I believe we should start by looking at the sky. After all, when this move is used, rain falls from the sky."

  Sky?

  Naoki was slightly taken aback, then houghtfully. That's right, if you want to teach a Pokémon new moves, you should first let them familiarize themselves with the cept, then uand it, and finally successfully execute it.

  It might not be easy to appreciate the enviro on a sunny day, so they would wait until it rained. Naoki made a mental note: when it rained again, he would take Dragoo the sky to experiehe formation and falling of rain.

  For now, it was time to prepare dinner. But before that, he had to sell the crops harvested today.

  These goods were sold by weight, and the price varied for each type. The total sales amouo over 20,000 Pokédolrs.

  pared to raising Pokémon, this price was indeed a bit low. But it might also be due to the limited amount of developed farmnd on the ranch.

  In addition to what he sold, Naoki also kept a portion of each crop for food.

  Yosuke was leaving Mesagoza the day to tinue his journey, so this was his st night here. There wasn't enough spa the , and there was only one bed, so Yosuke simply set up a tent on the wn outside and camped.

  The weather was clear that day. After nightfall, the stars and the moon were clearly visible in the sky, illuminating the night and creating a sense of tranquility, peace, ay.

  After dinner, Naoki didn't go to bed immediately. Instead, he y on the grass with the Pokémon, gazing at the stars. The starry sky easily evoked philosophical thoughts.

  Yosuke looked up and, after a long silence, asked, "Are there Pokémon living in the universe, just like on this p?"

  Naoki rested his head on his arms, with Koraidon and Cyclizar lying oher side of him. Dragonite was yawning nearby, Alcremie was running around on the grass with the five Nacli, and Smoliv was watg them quietly, its small body swayily in the breeze.

  "Maybe!" Naoki took a deep breath. There were few opportuo see such a beautiful starry sky in big cities. Of course, perhaps in his previous life, he had been too busy struggling to make a living to notice such sights.

  "Isn't there a rumor that Clefairy came to this p on a spaceship from the moon?" Naoki said. Besides Clefairy, there were also Minior, og, , Solgaleo, Luna, Nea, Deoxys.

  Hearing this, Yosuke's eyes filled with longing. "I really want to go to spad see for myself!"

  Naoki whispered, "You will, sooner or ter."

  Yosuke was fused. "Huh? Why do you say that?"

  Naoki raised an eyebrow. "Humans have opped expl, have they?"

  "There are still Pokémon in this world that haven't been discovered by humans," Naoki tinued, "and the achievements humans have today are the result of pioneers, from aimes to the present, taking oep at a time."

  Yosuke was momentarily silent, then smiled and said, "You're right!"

  Just then, Cyclizar, who had been fag the wooden house, seemed to have noticed something and called out in that dire, "Cyclizar!"

  Naoki's attention was drawn to it. He turned around and saw a dazzling light bursting from the Metapod that was hanging uhe eaves.

  "It's evolving?!" Yosuke excimed.

  He had never witnessed a Metapod evolving into Butterfree before, and it piqued his i.

  The two quickly got up ao iigate. Uhe intense light, a crack sloeared on the back of the Metapod's hard, dark green shell.

  Then, a slightly immature Butterfree with a blue-purple body and a pair e white wings emerged from the shell. It flew out and danced iarlight and moonlight, the scales on its wings shimmering, leaving a trail like the Milky Way in its flight path.

  Yosuke was mesmerized by the beautiful se. "It's so beautiful!" he murmured.

  Naoki couldn't help but marvel at the sight as well. A siterfree was so beautiful; if a group of them evolved together, what a spectacur se it would be!

  Butterfree spread its wings in mid-air, and after adjusting to its new body, it gently nded in front of Naoki.

  "Butterfree~"

  Naoki smiled and said, "gratutions, Butterfree."

  "Butterfree~" Butterfree responded softly.

  Naoki went baside the house to fete berries, then offered them with a smile. "Are you hungry? Have something to eat first!"

  Butterfree happily accepted them, holding the berries and nibbling on them.

  Naoki sat on the grass, watg Butterfree eat. Yosuke took out his pen and sketchbook and, while the memory was still fresh, quickly drew the se of Butterfree evolving uhe moonlit night.

  Naoki leaned against Cyclizar, the evening breeze ruffling his hair. He looked at Butterfree and the tranquil night, feeling an unpreted sense of pead rexation.

  However, when Koraidon saw Naoki leaning on Cyclizar instead of it, it became incredibly jealous.

  "Gaah!"