Every night, the chi coop's door was closed, yet the intruder mao enter without breaking anything. This meant it must be pushing the door open and even closing it upon leaving to avoid dete. However, it overlooked one crucial detail: the weather. It left footprints on the floor.

  Judging by how dry the prints were, the thief had likely stru the early m.

  The truth was clear!

  Naoki made up his mind to set a trap as soon as he returned from town.

  After refilling the chi feed, Naoki checked the silo and saw that it was running low. He made a mental o buy more in town ter.

  At that moment, Dragonite, carrying the small red bag, nded in front of Naoki.

  Looking at the money Dragonite handed him, Naoki's face lit up with surprise. "Hey, you delivered the milk already?"

  "Roar!" Dragonite nodded.

  "Why are you back so early today?" Naoki asked, even more surprised.

  Dragonite seemed fused as well.

  On its way to town, it felt guilty remembering how Naoki had gotten sick because of helping it practice its moves. Determio deliver the milk as quickly as possible aurn to che Naoki, Dragonite had pushed itself to fly faster than it ever had before.

  And that's how it ended up like this.

  As Dragohought about it, it suddenly realized something.

  "Roar!"

  It had learned a new move! The practice it had been doing on the milk delivery route finally paid off!

  Eager to show Naoki, Dragonite trated, and a faint blue aura appeared in its eyes.

  Then, it felt its body bee lighter, and its flying speed seemed to increase.

  "Agility?" Naoki was surprised.

  Despite his surprise, Naoki was genuinely happy fonite.

  Extreme Speed, Thunder Punch, Agility, plus the yet-to-be-mastered Rain Dand Thunderbolt—Dragonite's move repertoire was expanding!

  But for now, he really o go to the hospital.

  Since Dragonite was here, Naoki decided to ask it to take him to town.

  Dragonite readily agreed.

  Naoki said a few words to Koraidon and Cyclizar, then mounted Dragonite and flew off to Mesagoza.

  Koraidon and Cyclizar were left behind on the ranch, gazing at the reg figures of the man and the dragon in the sky.

  "Gaah."

  "Cyclizar."

  .....

  Mesagoza had all the necessary infrastructure: a hospital, a market, a town hall, a department store, a bank, and various other shops.

  Of course, the hospital and the Pokémoer were separate entities. Oreated humans, while the other catered to trainers and Pokémon.

  The process of visiting the hospital was simir to what Naoki remembered from his previous life. After a series of examinations, it was firmed that his cold and fever were due to catg a chill.

  After getting his medication, Naoki headed to the Happy Ranch. Upon learning of his purpose, the old mao the warehouse to fete feed.

  Naoki and Dragonite waited at the ter. Dragonite looked around boredly, while Naoki's eyes were on the list of animals/Pokémon dispyed on the ter.

  Ordinary Animals: Rooster 600, Hen 800, Duck 800

  Pokémon: bee 2500, Fomantis 2500, Smoliv 2600, Noibat 3000, Mareep 10,000, Miltank 20,000, Nacli 10,000

  Feed: Chi Feed 50/portion, Pokémon Food 100/portion, Sweet Feed 100/portion, Salty Feed 100/portion

  Naoki mentally calcuted the ranch's funds.

  During this period, Nacli and Skiddo had earned him a siderable amount of money, enough to buy a few new Pokémon.

  He already had Nacli, Alcremie, and Smoliv on the ranch.

  He had no pns to expand his breeding operation for the time being. Firstly, he couldn't ha alone, and sedly, it would be too ambitious.

  After attending the Cherry Blossom Festival, Naoki realized that the pace of life in this world was very slow and leisurely. People didn't seem to be in a hurry at all. Moreover, making money here wasn't difficult, and resources were abundant, which led to a general attitude of te with having enough to get by.

  pared to them, Naoki felt he was being almost workaholic.

  Therefore, he decided to focus on the Pokémon he already had at the ranch.

  That left only bee, Noibat, Mareep, and Miltank as options.

  "Noibat bring back fruit from the wild, but I've already pnted many fruit trees on the ranch, so I don't really hem."

  "Mareep produce a lot of wool, which is a good material for making clothes and be sold at a high price. Well, it's okay to raise some."

  "Miltank produoo Milk. If I raise them, I won't o buy Moomoo Milk from the market. But the Pokémoer hasn't been repaired yet."

  "bee are pretty good. They don't require any special infrastructure or facilities. You just o pce a hive on the grass, and they'll automatically build s and make hohere."

  Not only that, but the ranch had plenty of newly pnted flowers, from which the bee could colleectar and produce various fvored honey. For instaulip honey, rose honey, and so on. These honeys were delicious and often sought after by wild Teddiursa and Mothim.

  sidering everything, bee seemed the most suitable addition to the ranch at present. He had some money on hand, so Naoki decided to take a few back with him.

  Just then, the old maurned from the warehouse with the feed. He saw Naoki looking at the Pokémon list and asked, "okémon are you looking t back this time? But I have to tell you, we're out of Miltank."

  "Huh?" Naoki uzzled. "Out of stock?"

  "Yes, they're all sold out." The old man expined, "Miltank aren't native to the Paldea region. The ones we have at the ranch are all imported from the distant Johtion."

  "But not long ago, the ship carrying the Miltank ran into trouble. It seems it entered a storm at sea and lost tact. You know, the sea is a formidable force. In its presence, humans are insignifit."

  This was true. No matter the world, people lost their lives to tsunamis aorms every year.

  Naoki sighed and said, "I hope the people on that ship and the Miltank are safe."

  "Indeed," the old man hen asked, "Are there any other Pokémon you're ied in?"

  Naoki said, "bee."