Kitakami Township? Sweet bck tea?

  Naoki caught onto a key detail in Madame Dantes' words. If he remembered correctly, Kitakami Township from the Pokémon Vermilion DLC. However, during his time, that tent hadn't been released yet.

  Intrigued, Naoki took a sip of the tea.

  A delightful sweetness, banced by a light milky aroma, spread through his mouth.

  'Wow! This sweet bck tea is incredible,! Naoki thought, raising his eyebrows in pleasant surprise.

  Notig his rears. Dantes smiled. "It's good, isn't it? This is a specialty from Kitakami Township! You 't find it anywhere else!"

  Naoki nodded in agreement, sav the unique fvor.

  Just then, an elderly man with gray hair and a healthy, rosy plexioe his age, walked in from the backyard. He wore a brow and carried himself with a surprising vigor.

  Seeing the newers, Mrs. Dantes introduced them:

  "This is the new rancher, Naoki, I mentioned before."

  Then, turning to the man, she said, "And this is my husband, Wright. He had been bedridden, but thanks to yoat milk, he's able to walk again!"

  Wright approached aended his hand to Naoki. "Hello, Naoki. Is this the first time we're meeting? Thank you so much. If you have time iure, you should e visit us often."

  Madame Dantes nodded in agreement, adding with a smile, "I'll treat you to the best sweet bck tea then."

  Naoki was initially surprised that the milk from his Skiddo could have such a medial effect, but then he smiled and replied, "I'll look forward to it. Thank you in advance."

  He was genuinely happy that the products from his ranch could help others.

  'Maybe this is what makes retionships between people truly meaningful', Naoki thought. There's no pretense, no lies, ion—just siy and gratitude.

  After finishing his tea, Naoki said goodbye to the two elders auro the ranch, feeling uplifted for the day.

  However, the aftermath of the typhoon was evident. The storm had caused siderable damage to the ranch.

  The crops in the fields had been battered, and a fruit tree that had grown to about half a meter i had been snapped in half, leaving Naoki feeling disheartened.

  The fences around the sheepfold where the Skiddo lived had been blown down, and the awning had been damaged, with parts of the roof torn off by the wind.

  Fortunately, Naoki had transferred the Skiddo into their Poké Balls the previous day, preventing any greater losses.

  By parison, the chi coop, salt house, and Pokémon house had been sturdily built and suffered no damage.

  Thanks to Naoki's fht in log the doors and windows of the chi coop, the hens and chicks inside had spent the night safely.

  As he surveyed the damage, Naoki set to work repairing the fences.

  Naoki retrieved tools from the utility room ao work repairing the damage. He used a hammer and nails to fix the fehat had been blown down by the wind. Then, with Koraidon's help, they lifted the roof that had been torn off and carefully restored it to its inal state.

  By the time they finished, it was already noon.

  Naoki turned oV and started preparing lunch for everyone. As he chopped vegetables, he listeo the news program pying in the background.

  The anchor's voice caught his attention:

  "It is reported that Typhoon [Nuya], which was inally expected to impact Paldea for five days, mysteriously disappeared early this m."

  "We don't kly what caused this, but it may be good news for the Paldea region."

  "Typhoon [Rampage] has caused some damage to the Pokémon ecosystem in coastal areas, and many wild Pokémon have been affected. Currently, Pokémoers in nearby towns are treating those Pokémon."

  Listening to the broadcast, Naoki's intuition told him that something wasn't adding up.

  'How could a typhoon just disappear like that?' he thought. 'That's the raw power of nature. It's nearly impossible to just dispel a typhoon unless someone or something with absolute strength was involved.'

  He recalled the scars onite's body—sharp, almost as if they had been caused by a powerful storm.

  'Did Dragonite go to the heart of the typhoon?' Naoki wohere had to be something more to the story, something that perhaps only Dragonite knew.

  Naoki also remembered the two moves Dragonite had used earlier. While learning Hurrie made sense, mastering Dragon Dan such a short time was unusual.

  'Could it have been because Dragoe the lucky pudding before setting off?' he mused.

  Determio find out, Naoki waited until Dragonite woke up. As soon as it did, he rushed over and asked about the typhoon.

  "Did you go to the typhoon st night?" Naoki asked.

  "Ouch!" Dragonite nodded, firming it had indeed ventured into the storm.

  'That makes sense,' Naoki thought, momentarily at a loss for words. He then tinued, "Do you know how the typhoon disappeared?"

  He expined what the news report had said about the sudden end of the storm.

  Upon hearing this, Dragonite blihen wides eyes in shock. "Ouch!" it excimed, as if suddenly realizing something.

  "What?" Naoki asked, fused by Dragonite's rea.

  Dragonite began to excitedly ret its experience, gesturing and making hat Naoki tried to follow. "Awoo, awoo, awoo!"

  Naoki: "..."

  Naoki suddenly felt an almost ical barrier of unicatioween himself and Dragonite, like trying to decipher an a nguage without a key.

  "If only I had Aura," Naoki muttered regretfully, wishing he could uand Pokémon speech more clearly.

  Dragonite began to hum again, eagerly trying to ret its experience from the previous night. Naoki listened ily but struggled to grasp the meaning. He could see the shock, admiration, aement in Dragonite's eyes and suddenly had an idea. "Did you meet other humans there?"

  'Humans? A trainer, perhaps'?

  'What kind of trainer could dispel a typhoon?' Naoki wondered. 'A champion? Maybe even a legendary figure?'

  But Dragonite shook its head in denial. "Ouch!" it insisted, first shaking its head and then pointing at itself.

  "Another Dragonite?" Naoki guessed, thinking of the giant Dragonite rumored to be at Masaki Lighthouse in the Kantion.

  But Dragonite shook its head again.

  "It's nonite, nor is it a human." Naoki's mind raced as he sidered another possibility. "Was it another Pokémon?"

  "Ouch!" Dragonite nodded enthusiastically. This time, Naoki had guessed correctly.

  Dragonite veyed that it had entered a very powerful Pokémon, ohat didn't o act—just its presence alone had been enough to make the typhoon vanish.

  "A Pokémon." Naoki fell deep into thought.

  A Pokémon capable of making a typhoon disappear was certainly not ordinary. Could it have been a legendary Pokémon? The idea stirred Naoki's curiosity.

  He thought of several Pokémon associated with wind, o currents, and cyes.

  'Could it have been Lugia or Rayquaza?' Naoki wondered.

  He described the appearance of both Pokémon tonite.

  When Naoki described Lugia, Dragonite showed ion. But when he mentioned Rayquaza, Dragonite's eyes lit up, and it nodded repeatedly.

  'That's it! But, the colors don't match.' Naoki thought.

  Dragonite frowned, clearly flicted. It looked around and then pois chubby paw at Naoki's bck leather boots.

  "Ouch!" Dragonite excimed. 'It was this color!'

  Naoki's eyes widened in realization.

  Bck Rayquaza!

  He couldn't help but gasp in amazement.