"Well, that's about the situation."

  "There's still one slot left. Does anyone else want to join?"

  Sitting oeps, Natsume looked at the gathered Pokémon and asked.

  The uping petition followed a 3v3 format. The event was retively short, with a modest prize of 5,000 yen and a special orative Poké Ball.

  Normally, such meager rewards wouldn't attract many partits. However, sihe entry requirements were low—even amateur trainers like Natsume, who had never seriously pursued a Trainer's path, could join—the petition still had a det turnout.

  The first two slots had already been taken by Corviknight and the shiny Furret, both of whom had been eagerly awaiting an opportunity like this for a long time.

  It was their first time showg themselves in an official match, so it seemed fitting to let them have the stage.

  "o?"

  "Lopuu."

  o and Lopunny exged gnces before opting out of the sele.

  They had never been particurly ied in battling. When they first arrived at the farm, they had made it clear to Natsume that fighting wasn’t their thing, so they wouldn’t be much help in that regard.

  o withdraw were Persian and Butterfree.

  Persian, having grown up alongside Natsume and roamed the wilds with him, her loved nor disliked battling. Whether it peted or not didn’t really matter.

  As for Butterfree, it had already settled into a peaceful retirement.

  These days, it resembled an old gover official enjoying post-retirement life—helping Natsume make Pokéblocks, wandering around the farm, chatting with new Pokémon to help them settle in.

  After Persian and Butterfree deed, many of the other Pokémon followed suit.

  Sandshrew, devoted t, Yamper, busy learning herding teiques, and Mightyena’s pack, responsible for patrolling the farm, all stepped back.

  While some were somewhat ied in the petition, no strongly enough to participate.

  That left Togepi, the mischievous little troublemaker; a shiny Pidgeotto, who didn’t really uand what was happening but was there for the excitement; and a Mudkip that had somehow tagged along unnoticed.

  Speaking of Mudkip, ever since Slowpoke evolved into Slowking, it had been spending a lot of time alone, lost in thought.

  Natsume wasn’t sure what was on its mind. Occasionally, it would show a look of determination as if it had made an important decision, only to cm up and ge the subject whe tried to talk to him.

  Natsume was curious, but he couldn’t read minds.

  Uanding okémohinking was often tricky.

  Some might wonder why Natsume didn’t just use his Viridian powers to "turn on the idiot filter" (not really), but truthfully, he preferred to let things unfold naturally.

  As long as there were no major problems, he wao respect the Pokémon’s privacy.

  It’s like when you’re chasing someone who clearly likes you back—would you really use a hypnosis app to force a fession?

  That’d be like taking off your pants just to fart.

  "Do all three of you want to go?"

  Seeing the trio's eager expressions, Natsume looked a bit troubled.

  If they just wao tag along for fun, he could brira Pokémon along.

  But for actual petition, only one more could enter.

  And since registered Pokémon had to be officially listed before the match, a decision o be made soon.

  "Toki?"

  "Mud?"

  Togepi and Mudkip exged gnces and started whispering to each other.

  Seeing this, the still-clueless shiny Pidgeotto ulled into the discussion as well.

  Under Natsume's watchful eye, the three Pokémon reached an agreement.

  "Mud."

  They decided to let Mudkip have this ce.

  But ime, Togepi and Pidgeotto would get to go!

  Waving its tiny fingers, Togepi decred their pact.

  Meanwhile, the shiny Pidgeotto looked a little disappointed.

  Even though Togepi had promised to share some Pokéblocks as pensation, it still felt a little down.

  After all, it had wao show off its dazzling goldehers to humans.

  Showing off to fellow Pokémon was getting old—no one in its flock was that impressed anymore.

  Even the most brilliant golden plumage lost its charm after being admired for too long.

  Oh well… ime.

  With a g Mudkip, which was now walking toward Natsume, Pidgeotto shook its head.

  That little guy sure was determined—especially when it came to getting stronger.

  "Mud."

  Standing before Natsume, Mudkip let out a soft cry and sat obediently at his feet.

  "Then I’ll be ting on you t me victory, Mudkip."

  Natsume chuckled, gently stroking its smooth head.

  Feeling the warmth on its forehead, Mudkip instinctively nuzzled against Natsume’s hand.

  It had to work hard.

  That thought echoed in Mudkip’s mind.

  When it first arrived at the farm, it had lived a carefree, happy life.

  Lounging by the ke, chatting idly with Slowpoke, feeling the cool breeze—it had been a peaceful existence.

  Whe got hungry, it could go to Natsume for Pokéblocks.

  Fresh berries were always within reach.

  Mudkip had loved that life.

  But then Slowpoke evolved into Slowking.

  And that peaceful life disappeared.

  Slowking had found its own path and its own purpose.

  Every day, it was busy.

  And Mudkip?

  At first, it had vowed to train seriously and bee stronger.

  But it had been too easy to get swept up in the farm’s rexed atmosphere.

  Before it k, it had fallen far behind its only friend.

  Slowking had tried to be siderate, never making it feel left out.

  But for someone as sensitive as Mudkip, the more Slowking tried to aodate it, the worse it felt.

  This couldn’t go on.

  It had to get stronger.

  That was the only way.

  "Alright, then the lineup is decided."

  "Corviknight, shiny Furret, and Mudkip."

  "By the way, does anyone want to e along just to watch?"

  Standing up, Natsume annouhe final roster, then turo ask if anyone wao tag along.

  As expected, the moment he finished speaking, a wave of soft, fluffy, and slippery bodies swarmed him.

  Even Emolga had somehow climbed onto his head, chirping and rubbing against him affeately.

  "Wait, wait! Give me a sed!"

  "I ’t breathe!"

  Buried uhe excited Pokémon, Natsume barely mao stick out a hand.

  But in the sed, Yamper—a true Husky at heart—leaped at him, fttening him pletely.

  "Lopunny!"

  Natsume—!!!

  Lopunny, looking flustered, anxiously watched the chaotic se before…

  It leaped in as well.

  Don’t get the wrong idea—it was trying to resatsume.

  Though… its method seemed a bit off.

  Pinned beh the pyful pile of Pokémon, Natsume felt like he’d been tossed into a ball pit—except instead of pstic balls, it was full of restless, eic kids.

  Though he could’ve easily shaken them all off with his strength, that would’ve spoiled the fun.

  After much effort, Lopunny finally ma Natsume out, grumbling at the other Pokémon in exasperation.

  Then, it handed him a towel to wipe his face.

  After all that roughhousing, Natsume’s clothes were a mess.

  Luckily, ever since moving to the farm, he mostly wore dark-colored or work-style outfits, so it wasn’t too noticeable.

  If anything, a little dirt made them look even more authentic.

  "Alright, alright, it’s fine, Lopunny."

  L the towel, Natsume ruffled its head.

  "Lopp."

  Pouting, Lopunny still looked a bit huffy.

  If Natsume hadn’t stopped it, it probably would’ve started knog heads like a wooden fish.

  There was no doubt about it—Lopunny could absolutely pull this off.

  Not liking battles had nothing to do with strength.

  More often than not, those who preached peace were the ones who could fight the hardest.

  "o..."

  o, crouched beside Natsume, looked at his clothes with a flicted expression.

  They were filthy. Should it them?

  But Natsume had just said he would ge ohey got home. ing them now would be a waste of energy.

  Maybe it would be better to just toss everything into the washing mae ter—that would save some effort.

  But if it didn’t them now, it would feel unbearably unfortable.

  ing them now would be a hassle, but leaving them dirty made its fur crawl, like ants were running all over its body.

  In the end, o couldn't fight its instincts.

  Leaping onto Natsume, it began its ing ritual.

  For o, its tail was the best ing tool.

  Of course, most of the time, it preferred using actual ing supplies—getting itself dirty was a hassle.

  Too many baths weren’t good for its fur.

  o had learhat from the i.

  Determio master the art of ing, it had seriously studied various ing teiques online.

  It had even bought a bunch of ing tools.

  All with the allowasume had given it, of course.

  "Alright, alright, e down now, o."

  The stant swishing of that fluffy tail was making Natsume squirm with ughter.

  But o refused.

  It wasn’t ing down until the job was done.

  After some pyful tussling, the Pokémoually scattered.

  Aside from a few who decided to tag along to watch the a, the others had things to do.

  "ht! I o tell Mei."

  Handing Lopunny a towel, Natsume suddenly remembered the guest he had uionally left hanging.

  Mei had e as a guest, yet he had pletely fotten about her.

  That retty rude of him as a host.

  "Lopu."

  Alright then, o and I will head back first.

  Nodding, Lopunny picked up o—iping imaginary sweat off its forehead—and headed home.

  At this point, those two had basically bee the household’s ing crew.

  They handled everything from top to bottom.

  Whether it was ing or other chores, Lopunny and o took care of it.

  Otherwise, just keeping up with basic tidiness would be a nightmare for Natsume.

  "Huh? Natsume is joining the touroo?"

  Mei blinked in surprise.

  From what she remembered, Natsume had never beeype to care about petitions.

  Evehere was a tour with incredibly generous prizes, he had barely g his phone before setting it aside.

  "Yeah, a lot of the Pokémon at the ranch want to battle."

  "Keeping them cooped up in the ranch, only training among themselves, isn’t ideal."

  Natsume, sitting beside Mei, expined as they watched Corviknight unleash a torrent of trash talk while ruthlessly drilling Mei’s four Pokémon.

  Among them, the one perf best was Dewott.

  Teically, Dewott and Servine were about the same in strength—if not slightly weaker.

  But Corviknight's Flying and Steel typing gave it a quadruple resistao Grass-type moves.

  With aing gap in power, plus the type disadvantage...

  Servine’s attacks weren’t just iive—they barely eveered.

  At best, they were an annoyance.

  "It feels like Servine and the others are getting used to this level of trash talk."

  Watg her Pokémon maintain their posure, Mei sighed in amazement.

  Previously, Servine had always reacted emotionally to taunts.

  But now, it had learo ighem and focus otle.

  "Want to add some more pressure?"

  "Huh?"

  "Corviknight! You step it up a notow!"

  Cupping his hands around his mouth like a megaphone, Natsume called out to Corviknight, a mischievous smirk pying on his lips.

  "Caw!"

  Got it!

  Corviknight’s eyes gleamed with excitement.

  Natsume had war earlier—if it went all out from the start, it might pletely crush Servine and the others.

  So Corviknight had been holding back, both in battle and in trash talk.

  But now that they were adapting, it was time for the stage.

  "Caaaw kak caw!"

  Go home and cry to your mom, loser!

  With a powerful beat of its wings, Corviknight soared into the sky.

  Earlier, it had been carefully watg its words because of Natsume’s restris.

  Normally, its trash talk would be something like:

  "You’re lucky to st a minute against me—your dead aors must be watg over you."

  Stuff that was way too brutal to say out loud.

  Even in a pce like Zaun, its words would still be sidered pretty aggressive.

  Natsume had strictly forbidden it from saying things like that.

  But now, Corviknight felt like it was finally free!

  "Eh?! Eh?!"

  Since Mei couldn’t uand Pokémon speech, she had no idea just how vicious Corviknight’s words were.

  But she could tell that her Pokémon had suddenly snapped.

  They looked like they wao tear Corviknight apart on the spot.

  Gcell