"bee?" The old man said with a smile, "They're a great choice! Put them in the pasture, and they'll automatically colleectar and bring it back to you."

  Naoki nodded but was a bit fused. bee were social Pokémon, born in groups of three and loyal to their Vespiquen queen. They would work tirelessly with the other bee, gathering sweet ar for the queen from m till night, all for the sake of their y.

  But the bee at the Pokémoer didn't seem to need a queen.

  Thinking of this, Naoki asked, "If I buy bee, do I also o buy a Vespiquen?"

  The old man uood his and shook his head with a smile. "Of course not. The bee we sell to ers are different from wild ohey've been specially bred and survive indepely without a Vespiquen."

  "In other words, to them, you, the one who feeds and cares for them, are the 'queen' of this group of bee."

  Naoki: "..."

  Although it sounded a bit odd, he uood the cept.

  The old man tinued, "bee live in one hive as a group of. If there are rge flower fields nearby, they produce honey very quickly and be harvested once a day."

  "But oher hand, if there are few flowers nearby, their honey produ rate will also drop signifitly."

  Naoki houghtfully. "Then I'll buy o first."

  He had inally wao save moo expand his house and improve his quality of life. But now, it seemed it would take a while to save up two million Pokédolrs, so it was better to focus on building the ranch's infrastructure first.

  Things like the hive for the bee, the Pokémoer for raising Miltank, the pen for the Skiddo, and so on.

  "Okay," the old man smiled. "I'll have Rachel deliver the bee and the feed to you ter."

  Rachel was the old man's granddaughter, the girl who had delivered the chis to Naoki before. She worked as a delivery person here.

  Naoki nodded, paid, auro the ranch.

  After taking his medie with hot water and waiting for about ten minutes, Rachel, the round-faced girl with freckles, arrived at the ranch.

  She greeted Naoki politely, "Hello, Mr. Naoki!"

  Naoki her. "Hello, Rachel."

  He helped Rachel unload the chi feed into the silo, then turned his attention to the beehive oricycle.

  The beehive looked like a square with a triangur roof, supported by four pilrs at the bottom and a square opening in the front. Peering ihrough the entranaoki saw three bee huddled together, timidly the outside world.

  They were quite cute, like little blocks of honey with wings. All three seemed to be male, as Naoki didn't see any red markings on their lower faces, a characteristic of female bee.

  Unlike females, male bee couldn't evolve into Vespiquen. In a y, they typically served as worker bees, diligently colleg honey for their queen.

  "Mr. Naoki, where should we put this hive?" Rachel asked.

  Naoki poio the grassy area he . "Just put it there!"

  It was close to the house and faced the flower fields, making it ve for honey colle.

  Rachel nodded, pced the hive, said goodbye to Naoki, a.

  Naoki walked up to the three bee, crouched down, looked at them, and greeted them warmly. "Hi, bee! My name is Naoki. I'm the owner of this ranch. Please take care of me from now on!"

  The three bee sehe kindness in his void rexed a bit.

  Seeing this, Naoki went baside and brought out some berries and snacks, hoping to feed them and improve their retionship.

  But the bee only s the food and thereated without eating it.

  "Huh? You do berries?" Naoki was surprised. He thought berries were something all Pokémon enjoyed.

  "I fot to ask Rachel earlier."

  After a moment's thought, Naoki went baside and found the "Rancher's Guide" left to him by Mayor Thomas Cvell. He finally found the information about bee's diet in the "Pokémon Raising" se.

  "bee are unique Pokémon. Most of the time they don't o be fed artificially, as they'll go out and find pollen aar on their own," the old man expined.

  "But during raiher or wihe bees in the hive usually won't go out. If the rain sts too long, beekeepers feed them syrup to replenish their energy and nutrition."

  "However, it's important to hat before winter arrives, beekeepers must leave some honey in the hive for the bee. They rely on this hoo survive the seasohere are no flowers."

  "Syrup?" Naoki mentally he information and decided to buy some tomorrow when he went to town to learn how to make Poké Puffs. Because of his fever today, he couldn't visit the dessert shop and had to postpone his pns until tomorrow.

  At that moment, the three bee started leaving the hive, actively expl the outside world.

  Although the flower field had just been pnted and hadn't bloomed yet, there were other flowers in the pasture. It ringtime, and many wildflrew in the grass, attrag numerous butterflies. In the past, Cyclizar would often ruo catch them for fun.

  The bee also followed the st and found the wildflowers. They fpped their transparent little wings and hovered above, gently colleg pollen aar. They ate some themselves and took the rest back to the hive to store and make honey.

  Seeing they start w as soon as they arrived at the ranaoki couldn't help but think, "They're really hardw!"

  He also had to work hard.

  Naoki thought of the thief who had broken into the chi coop and formuted a pn to capture it. He then found Butterfree.

  "Butterfree, you use Stun Spore or Sleep Powder now?" Naoki asked.

  "Butterfree~" Butterfree nodded happily. Not only that, it could also use the even more powerful String Shot!

  "Very good, then I have a task for you."

  Naoki expined his pn to Butterfree, theo the chi coop a up a simple meism using tools from the ranch. As soon as the coop door ushed open, it would make a sound, alerting Butterfree to use Sleep Powder oruder.

  Everything was ready; all that was left was to wait for the culprit to take the bait.