In respoo Naoki's question, Teddiursa acted as if it knew nothing.

  "Teddi?"

  It preteo be calm, with its dark round eyes wide open. Its clear eyes revealed a hint of innod ignorance as if it didn't uand what the human in front of it was saying.

  'This little bear is quite good at pying i'!

  Naoki eechless. Seeing Teddiursa's expression, he didn't say anything further and turned around to prepare breakfast.

  Today's breakfast sisted of MooMoo Milk, tree sap juice, sandwiches, delicious fried eggs that were perfectly golden and slightly greasy, and a few small cookies sprinkled with sugar.

  Dragonite and the others loved these foods, but Teddiursa didn't seem very ied.

  Under Naoki's gaze, it absentmindedly ate two Pecha Berries.

  "Are you full?" Naoki asked. "Don't you want to eat something else?"

  "Teddi."

  Teddiursa shook its head and g the food. It was far more ied in fruits covered in honey.

  'C the fruit with a thick yer of golden, clear honey, lig the outer yer of honey first, and then sav the fruit i was the perfect treat'. The thought of it made Teddiursa drool.

  "All right."

  Naoki didn't push further.

  After breakfast, he began w on the ranch, while watg Dragonite use Rain Dance.

  He left Teddiursa in Pawmi's care.

  Pawmi, who had arrived at the ranch a few days earlier than Teddiursa, was already very familiar with the pce.

  After receiving the task from Naoki, Pawmi eagerly led the way.

  "Pawmi, Pawmi!" (e with me! Naoki likes you very much. You'll be living here from now o's go! I'll introduce you to everyone!)

  Fag the enthusiastic Pawmi, Teddiursa thought to itself: 'I will never live here'!

  It was only here for the delicious honey, and o got the honey, it would disappear without a trace, leaving no one able to find it.

  But not yet.

  Teddiursa turs head and looked in the dire of the beehive.

  The group of bee had started colleg ar again, but it would be a while before the honey was ready.

  'Patience, a qualified hunter must have enough patieeddiursa thought.

  So, it followed Pawmi and explored the ranch.

  Their first stop was the chi coop where Pawmi often helped out.

  Looking at the hens and fluffy chicks walking on the grass, Pawmi happily introduced the bear cub:

  "Pawmi Pawmi!"

  'Yeah.' Teddiursa gnced around but didn't show muterest.

  This made Pawmi feel a little disappointed.

  It hung its head with a gloomy expression, but soon cheered up again and took Teddiursa to the Salt House where the Nacli lived.

  The five Nacli were still asleep, huddled together and snoozing peacefully.

  Seeing this, Pawmi did not go over to wake the Nacli, but whispered to Teddiursa from a distahat these Pokémon could produce salty rock salt.

  'Rock salt? Where's the sweet honey?' Teddiursa thought.

  The baby bear began to imagihe delicious honey. It swallowed and asked, "Teddi?" (Do you know honey? It tastes much better than rock salt!)

  "Pawmi?" 'Honey'?

  Pawmi nodded happily.

  It knows! The day before yesterday, Naoki prepared honey lemonade for them to drink, which was sweet!

  Hearing this, Teddiursa was full of envy.

  This alsthes determination to steal honey.

  At the third stop, Pawmi led Teddiursa to the pasture where the Skiddo's lived.

  Looking at the three zy Skiddo's, Teddiursa didn't think much of it at first.

  But suddenly, a terrifying energy burst out from the Skiddo.

  The surrounding area was filled with a vibrant green halo, sharp leaves flew all over the sky, and one of the Skiddo's raised its head as thick beams of sorbeam straight past Teddiursa and into the sky.

  Teddiursa: "?!"

  It stood there, feeling the overwhelming power, and couldn't help but swallow.

  'How terrifying!'

  'Such a powerful move—if it had been hit'.

  'What about the remaining Skiddo's?' Teddiursa thought, its mind rag.

  At this moment, Teddiursa suddenly realized something—there were so many Pokémon on this ranch that were much strohan it. Could it really steal all the honey with them around?

  Not only these three Skiddo's but also the red Pokémon that looked very ferocious.

  Teddiursa's mind, which had been clouded by thoughts of honey, suddenly cleared.

  'If I get caught.'

  Teddiursa didn't dare to imagine what the sequences would be.

  At this moment, Teddiursa wao back out—it was really scared.

  'What should I do?'

  Looking at the three powerful Skiddo's, a drop of cold speared on its forehead, and it imagiself being overwhelmed by their Sor Beam attack.

  At this time, Pawmi beside it said reassuringly: "Pawmi Pawmi!" (Don't be afraid, the Skiddo's won't hurt us! They're all Naoki's Pokémon and will protect everyone on the ranch!)

  However, Teddiursa had its own thoughts. It turned around and looked around, notig that Naoki wasn't paying attention, and quickly found an excuse to separate from Pawmi.

  O of everyone's sight, Teddiursa couldn't help but qui its pad ran away.

  'Oh my Arceus! This pce is too scary! I don't want honey anymore, and I'll never e here again!'

  Just like that, Teddiursa was scared away by the Skiddo's.

  ...

  When Naoki finished his work on the rand turned around to look for it, he couldn't find Teddiursa anywhere.

  Naoki uzzled, so he found Pawmi and asked, "Where is the baby bear?"

  Pawmi looked fused: "Pawmi." It didn't know what had happehe baby bear had suddenly disappeared.

  Seeing this, Naoki raised his eyebrows slightly.

  He asked Pawmi what had happened, and Pawmi demonstrated exactly what occurred.

  After , Naoki looked surprised.

  'Huh? Was it scared away by the Skiddo?'

  He eechless. He looked up in the dire of the back mountain and searched everywhere but couldn't find the baby bear.

  Naoki couldn't help feeling a little regretful.

  'I haven't even had a ce to spend enough time with it!'

  He had inally po boil a basin of hot water to give the baby bear a bath after finishing work, then give it a good pampering session o smelled nice.

  As it turned out, the baby bear had been scared away before he could make a move.

  Thinking of this, Naoki wondered if he might have gooo far.

  'The poor thing is just a baby bear who wao eat honey. It was even willing to take risks for that honey.'

  He looked into the distahoughtfully, then turned back to the house. He took out the jar of honey from the cupboard, scooped out a small portion, and put it in a smaller jar.

  Then he hahe jar to Butterfree and said, "Butterfree, take this jar of hoo the forest and see if you find the baby bear."

  "If you find it, make sure to tell it that stealing is wrong. If it wants honey, it exge something with me."

  'If I'm right, the baby bear's Ability might be reted to perseverance. But before it evolves into an Ursaring, its current Ability should still be Pickup.'

  Pokémon with the Pickup Ability have a habit of colleg things from the wild, so it should be easy for it to find some berries or other items.

  "Butterfree~"

  Butterfree gently took the jar, theowards the back mountain with the honey in its grasp.

  Watg it leave, Naoki took a deep breath and then refocused his attention on the ranch.

  The sed batch of crops in the field was growing, and it would take about half a month for them to mature.

  Before he k, half of spring had passed, and summer roag.

  Naoki murmured, "Should I buy some seeds for summer crops in advance?"

  "Yeah, we still o prepare. Otherwise, when the seasons ge, there will be too much to do, and it'll be easy to get overwhelmed."

  In addition, po be made for each of the Pokémon living on the ranch.

  The Skiddo don't require much attentiht now. With plenty of grass around, they grow without any issues.

  Currently, Naoki o focus on Nacli, Dragonite, and Smoliv.

  Help Nacli evolve into Naclstad eventually intanacl.

  Assist Dragonite in learning more moves.

  Help Smoliv evolve into Dolliv, so they start produg fresh and delicious olive oil.

  "So, , I try to make more dishes using rock salt to see if I create something simir to dumplings that could help Nacli grow. But sinacli is Rock-type, I should sider using rocks and soil ri minerals for the dishes."

  Dragonite currently knows Wing Attack, Gre, Twister, Drage, Agility, Dragon Tail, Rain Dahunder Punch, and is w on mastering Thunderbolt.

  "It's a pity I couldn't create any dragon-type food," Naoki murmured. But since Dragonite is practig Thunderbolt now, he pns to wait until it masters it before moving on to other moves.

  As for Smoliv.

  As a Grass-type Pokémon, Naoki has tried feeding it grass-based dumplings before.

  But Smoliv doesn't like the sticky texture of glutinous rice skin. Besides, it has a very id-back attitude and doesn't seem to care much about being stronger.

  "Well, I'll have to start developing Grass-type dishes that suit Smoliv's taste and help it grow," Naoki thought.

  He po go to town today. Besides buying seeds for summer crops, he also wao check if the Miltank had arrived.

  The st time he asked, the old man at Happy Ranch mentiohat the freighter carrying the Miltank might have entered a storm and lost tact.

  Thinking of this, Naoki rode Koraidon to the Town.

  Since he rode Cyclizar to town st time, it was naturally Koraidon's turn this time.

  This was the rule set by Koraidon, as it felt that alternating rides was the fairest way to avoid any sense of bei out.

  The Town was as bustling as ever. On his way to the seed shop, Naoki passed by the Market.

  He was thinking about Nacli and its evolution when he suddenly heard loud shouts ing from the market.

  "e and take a look! Freshly uhed Sun Stoarting price is 2,000 Poké Dolrs!"

  Sun Stone?

  Naoki hurried over to the otion and saw a crowd gathered around a stall.

  Oall was a fiery red stohat resembled the sun.

  The stall owner was shouting with a smile on his face: "3,000 Poké Dolrs, 3,000 once! 5,000 Poké Dolrs, 5,500! 7,000! 7,000 Poké Dolrs once, anyone go higher?"

  "Sun Stohe magical Sun Stohat make certain Pokémon evolve. You'll never regret buying it!"

  "Wow! This gentleman is 10,000 Poké Dolrs! Any higher bids?"

  "…"

  Naoki watched curiously from the outside, and the Sun Stone was eventually bought by a wealthy trainer for 60,000 Poké Dolrs.

  Then, the stall owook out the sed item for au—a handmade Sweet Ball.

  "Huh, I didn't expect there to be an au here," Naoki remarked, a little surprised. In the games, the Market is known as a very eclectic pce.

  People here au anything, from Berries and Potions to rare evolutionary stones and even mysterious items like Arceus' Ptes.

  But iy, it's not that extravagant. The rarest thing sold here might be an Evolution Stone.

  Those weren't of much use to Naoki, so after a few gnces, he turned away and tio stroll around the Market.

  He saw people selling crops and Moomoo Milk from their ranches, fish and seafood from nearby waters, and even some handmade prepared foods.

  Naoki wasn't particurly ied in those. He walked through the food area and came to the stalls on the right side.

  These stalls sold various Pokémon supplies, such as food, toys, and climbing frames for small Pokémon.

  Naoki picked up a frisbee, weighed it in his hand, and asked, "Koraidon, what do you think of this?"

  Koraidon looked at the frisbee, and an image popped into its mind of Naoki throwing it hard and it was running to fetch it.

  It quite liked this game, so it nodded happily.

  "Ah, gah!"

  "Okay, let's buy it!" Naoki decided.

  It just so happehat the ranch was short on some Pokémon toys.

  The frisbee was reasonably priced at only 800 Poké Dolrs, so Naoki paid for it and tio browse the market.

  Just theiced a small bag of special soil at a stall selling Pokémon food.

  The soil was in powder form and had a very distinctive color, almost metallic.

  "What is this?" Naoki asked curiously.

  The stall Koraidon beside him and replied with a smile,"This is soil that's perfect for Steel-type and Rock-type Pokémon. It's ri minerals and trace elements! It greatly aid their physical growth!"

  "Really? This is the first time I've heard of such a thing," Naoki said in surprise.

  The stall owner nodded, still smiling: "Absolutely! This special soil is mined in Zapapico Town. It's a specialty of that area! And it's not expensive—a small bag like this costs only 1,500 Poké Dolrs!"

  "Many trainers who specialize in Rock- and Steel-type Pokémon buy this soil from me. I have it specially transported from the town of Zapapico!"

  Hearing this, Naoki's first thought was that he had found the perfegredient to enhance dishes for Nacli!

  '1,500 Poké Dolrs isn't too expensive. Whether it works or not, I'll buy a bag and try it out first!' With this in mind, Naoki quickly said, "I'll take a bag!"

  "Certainly!" the stall owner replied enthusiastically.