After making his decision, Natsume returned home with his Pokémon to make the necessary preparations.

  From gathering supplies to pnning battle strategies, he went over everything he could think of.

  For supplies, Natsume packed his bag full of various potions and medie—Paralyze Heals, Max Potions, Full Restores, you . He even threw in some Revive Herbs and Energy Roots, despite them being raw materials that hadn't been processed yet.

  Why did Natsume have all these things? Simple. They were inally meant for making Pokéblocks.

  With the mihat they’d e in handy sooner or ter, he had stocked up quite a bit in his personal ste. Whether they’d actually be used was another matter, but just having them there gave him peaind—a sense of security and an ideal future.

  And now, that fht aying off.

  With these supplies at the ready, Natsume felt much more at ease. The safety hey provided meant he could afford more mistakes during battle.

  This… This was the triumph of the hoarder’s mi!

  As long as he hoarded enough and survived long enough, nothing would ever go to waste!

  Besides, Natsume had arump card.

  He rummaged through his wardrobe and pulled out a well-preserved wooden box. After opening it to check, he found a single feather resting quietly inside—ohat shimmered with a dreamy glow, even in broad daylight.

  This feather had mysteriously appeared on his windowsill during a full moon night.

  It seemed to be a little gift from some Pokémon.

  He threaded it onto a simple cord, tied a quiot, and slipped it around his neck.

  Then, as he took out his long-urainer outfit from the wardrobe, he sighed.

  "e to think of it, even if we do mao defeat that thing, what happe is gonna be a huge headache."

  After fastening his tactical belt and seg his emergency potions and supplies, Natsume couldn't help but feel a little troubled.

  Sure, it was still too early to be thinking about that now.

  Pnning for victory before the battle even began was an easy way to get overfident and crash—like popping champag halftime.

  They usually got flipped pretty hard.

  Those overly fident people who said things like, "This battle will be over in no time," were typically the ones who got knocked out the moment the fight began.

  Havihhly ditioned by modern i culture, Natsume naturally wouldn't go arouing up death fgs.

  But he was seriously sidering this issue.

  First, the oppo was a legendary Pokémon.

  He didn’t have a Poké Ball capable of capturing it.

  Using an ordinary Poké Ball to catch a legendary Pokémon? That was about as likely as money raining down from the sky.

  Even if, by some stroke of absurd luck, he did mao catch it with a regur Poké Ball, it wouldn't be able to hold a legendary Pokémon.

  If the Pokémon willingly followed him, like Ogerpon did, that would be ohing.

  But if it resisted, the Poké Ball would probably shatter instantly.

  Sed, Ting-Lu was born from fear as one of the Treasures of Ruin. Natsume really didn’t want to get entangled with something like that.

  He couldly capture it and just release it onto the farm, right?

  Leaving aside its massive size, just the fact that a mere thought from it could crack the earth open was enough to make Natsume sleep with one eye open at night.

  Otherwise, he might wake up to find himself buried under his own colpsed house.

  Just imagine: waking up to a clear blue sky above, hard ground below, and a pile of rubble c him.

  That would be a nightmare.

  "Fet it, I'll think about this ter."

  Shaking his head, Natsume pushed the thought aside.

  This roblem for the victor to deal with. Right now, he hadn't even wotle—hell, he hadn’t evehe enemy yet.

  The priority reparing for the uping fight.

  Acc to the test warning, Ting-Lu's influence would reach the farm by tonight at the test.

  When that happehere wouldn’t be any time for leisure.

  Rather than waiting for the eo e knog and being forced into battle, Natsume preferred to take the initiative—give the enemy a little surprise while they were still on the move.

  As a certain modern street-fighting master once said:

  "If you’re pnning to fight someohe best approach is to run them over with a truck the night before."

  That way, victory was guaranteed.

  Strictly speaking, it made a lot of sense.

  "Cawk!"

  At the door, Corviknight stood ready, watg Natsume excitedly.

  Well, "ready" just meant that Natsume had fed it a few berries to temporarily boost its stats and tied a Focus Sash around its head.

  The Focus Sash ehat if Corviknight was hit by a fatal attack, it would survive with just one HP.

  A oime use item, but ohat could be a lifesaver.

  Wild battles weren’t like official matches; there were no strict rules.

  In the wild, being able to recall a Pokémon into its ball to dodge attacks was a vital strategy.

  As long as Corviknight had one HP left, Natsume could pull it bad heal it before the attack.

  Fortunately, Ting-Lu wasn’t particurly fast.

  It was a cssic rge-scale boss:

  A massive body, terrifying defense, wide attack range, and siderable power.

  Most Pokémon wouldn’t even survive a gng blow.

  In a way, it felt a bit like pying a bullet-hell game.

  "Let’s go, Corviknight."

  Climbing onto Corviknight’s baatsume gently patted its head.

  Normally, he wouldn’t be this gentle.

  But right before a battle, he was worried that hitting too hard might short-circuit Corviknight’s already questionable brain.

  Tactically speaking, Corviknight had the most instrus to remember.

  With its current mi of "use Iron Defehen spam Peck," Natsume was genuinely ed it might just charge in headfirst.

  That would be a textbook case of "trial and error," except the error would be fatal.

  "Cawk!"

  Bck feathers gleamed with a metallic sheen uhe sunlight. As Corviknight fpped its wings, a strong gust of wind kicked up.

  In the blink of ahe sery below transformed into an endless stretch of blue sky.

  Only by s through the air could oruly uand humanity’s long-standing obsession with flight—the deep yearning, the indescribable thrill of finally breaking free from the ground.

  "If only Pidgeotto had evolved already..."

  Feeling the wind rush past his ears, Natsume thought of the shiny Pidgeotto training hard back at the farm.

  For some reasoe having plenty of Pidgey and Pidgeotto in the area, there wasn’t a single Pidgeot.

  If there were a Pidgeot, this battle would be much easier.

  He could let Corviknight fight head-on while he rode Pidgeot, and direg from above.

  After all, Pidgeot was typically trained in two ways:

  Speed and ratacks.

  Their physique was solid, sure, but that was mostly a byproduct of training freater speed.

  At least in Natsume’s view, while Pidgeot could fight in close bat, there was no reason to.

  Why go for melee when you could kite the oppo from a distance?

  What, to make the fight more thrilling and suspenseful?

  That was like an ADC fshing forward in a team fight.

  Do it right, and you’re a hero—the chosehe MVP.

  Screw it up, and you’re a liability, remembered forever as the guy who threw the game.

  Possibly even the reason you get benched, or retire altogether.

  "Pidge..."

  The shiny Pidgeotto, hard at training, seemed to sense something and looked up.

  Its sharp eyes locked onto Corviknight and Natsume s in the sky.

  That looks amazing... fighting alongside Natsume.

  I’m a bird too. I be a flying mount too!

  I just o work harder.

  Shiny Pidgeotto wasn’t obsessed with the idea of fighting alongside Natsume—at least, not in a seal way.

  It was just annoyed.

  If it were the only Flying-type on the farm, or if Corviknight wasn’t much better than it, maybe it wouldn’t care as much.

  But parison was the thief of joy.

  Corviknight was already Natsume’s go-to aerial ride.

  And what about it?

  If it weren’t shiny, Natsume probably wouldn’t even remember it existed.

  That trast stung.

  Even when aloe at night, that feeling g its heart.

  If it wao ge things, it had to get stronger.

  At the very least, it had to evolve into Pidgeot.

  Thanks to Persian and Natsume’s efforts, the farm’s atmosphere was generally harmonious.

  Even when petition arose, it was always healthy—no underharicks.

  Pidgeotto wasn’t the only Pokémon feeling this way.

  Many of the Pokémo behi a little disappointed.

  Uhe previous friendly petition, this time Natsume heir strength—but they weren’t strong enough to help.

  Aside from Zorua, Natsume had only brought six Pokémon with him.

  Partly because of his own limits in anding multiple Pokémon.

  Partly because... there really weren’t aer choices.

  "Furret!"

  Back at the farm, the shiny Furret was training intensely, determio cover every inch of the nd with its sweat.

  It uood why Natsume hadn’t brought it along.

  After all, it wasn’t the best fit for this fight.

  Simply put, it was off-role.

  But the flip side of that was: Off-role ≠ Useless.

  If it was strong enough, type matchups wouldn’t matter.

  If a Groudon beat a Pidgey, why couldn't it?

  Even if it had to unch Precipice Bdes beh its owo ride the earth into the sky.

  (But Groudon probably wouldn’t be thrilled about that.)

  "What a otion..."

  Riding on Corviknight’s baatsume felt a rare moment of calm.

  It seemed as if all of his worries and s had bee behind on the ground.

  At this moment, in the sky, there was only Natsume himself—nothira existed.

  However, this tranquility didn’t st long. Before long, Natsume noticed some otion in the distance.

  The ground was trembling, and in the far distance, a distinct "path" was visible.

  That was the trail left behind by Ting-Lu as it moved forward.

  When it entered forests, it toppled them. When it met slopes, it destroyed them.

  Fortunately, the terrain in this area was retively ft.

  Otherwise, Ting-Lu might have been forced to embark on a mountain-crossing journey.

  Maybe he would have even witing-Lu moving mountains?

  For some unknown reason, Legendary Pokémon in this world were much strohan their terparts in games and anime.

  At the very least, they wouldn’t end up like a 3.5-meter Groudon exging blows with a few endaries, only for the gss windows of nearby buildings to remain perfectly intact.

  If Ting-Lu truly wished to, fttening a small mountain peak wasn’t beyond its capabilities.

  "What kind of stubborn brute is this?"

  Oh of Ting-Lu's advance, a middle-aged forest ranger looked extremely grim.

  The moment he saw Ting-Lu, he immediately realized—

  This thing was definitely not something he could handle.

  If he went up against it, he would just be throwing himself away.

  So, he decisively avoided direbat, doing his best to stall for time while attempting to divert Ting-Lu toward less poputed areas.

  However, unsurprisingly, he failed.

  An Absol had already proven with its own experiehat guerril tactics were iive against this creature.

  One mistake meaai.

  The guerril strategy had officially failed.

  Attempts to guide Ting-Lu elsewhere also proved fruitless.

  He and his colleagues had tried everything.

  From using food as a lure to attag it to grab its attention—they had tried almost everything short of using a horap.

  Yet, the Pokémoified in the records as "Ting-Lu" remained unwavering in its chosen path.

  Their efforts were as insignifit as fleas on the roadside.

  Iive, ignored, and seemingly useless.

  "All we do now is hope that reinforts arrive soon."

  With a sigh, the middle-aged man, inally sent as backup, felt like his head had never ached this much before.

  But what else could he do?

  He wasn’t a hero, but he also couldn’t just flee from battle.

  Just as he was brag himself to try another approach, a massive Corviknight desded from the sky.

  "Heller."

  "My name is Natsume, and I’m a farm owner nearby."

  "If you don’t mind, I try to help."

  A young man jumped down from Corviknight, speaking sio the middle-aged ranger.

  Gcell