'Speaking of horse Pokémon,' Naoki thought, 'my favorite and the one I could realistically capture right now is Rapidash.' There are two forms of Rapidash: the standard Fire-type and the Garian form with its rainbow-colored mahis Pokémon has fmes that bze along its bad mane, making it look both cool and impressive when running.

  'If I were to ride on it while wearing a helmet, I could start cospying as the Grim Reaper right away.' The thought brought a small smile to Naoki's face.

  'However, these Pokémon live in the vast wilderness, and there aren't many of them, so taming one would be quite challenging.'

  After hanging up the phone, Naoki turned back to the kit to tinue preparing dinner for the Pokémon. There was still much to do on the ranch. With summer approag, he o set up supports for the beer peanuts growing in the farmnd. The road that had been damaged by the Pokémon pying also needed repairs, and, of course, he had to take care of all the Pokémon on the ranch.

  'There's no way I go out for aended periht now,' Naoki thought. 'Maybe it's best to skip the horse rag event this time.'

  'This is only my first year in this world, after all. I don't o rush to participate ihing. There's plenty of time ahead. These ten days are too short anyway. Even if I mao capture a horse Pokémon, I wouldn't have enough time to train it properly.'

  'Plus, I haven't eveed a dish that could help a Pokémon run faster.' Naoki sighed. 'Life o be taken slowly. If I miss this year's event, there will always be another ext year.'

  Moreover, Naoki had other pns in mind. He had been thinking about going to Frost Mountain to see if he could find aype Pokémon that caught his eye and bring it back to the ranch.

  As these thoughts crossed his mind, the oil in the paed up, and Naoki used tongs to pce two fresh pork chops into the sizzling oil. The steaks began to fry, filling the kit with a delicious aroma.

  Wheeaks were golden brown, Naoki flipped them over with practiced ease, sprinkling bck pepper and other seasonings on them. Soon, two sizzling, juicy pieces of fried meat were ready.

  He pced the steaks on a pte and hahem to Koraidon and Cyclizar, telling them to eat over by the side. , he had to cook fonite, Butterfree, and bee.

  As eveniled in, many Pokémon that had been pying outside all day began to return to their s. After dinner, Naoki grabbed a fshlight a on his usual patrol around the ranch.

  He checked on the Miltank, the Nacli, the Gogoat, and the hens, making sure everything was normal before heading back to the house.

  Taking off his boots, Naoki prepared to take a good wash and theo bed. Just as he was about to rex, he suddenly noticed something was missing from the windowsill.

  Looking around, he turo Pawmi beside him and asked, "Did you see where Smoliv went?"

  "Pawmi." Pawmi shook his head, clearly just as puzzled.

  Seeing this, Naoki stopped what he was doing and headed back to the sheepfold where his Gogoat were kept. Sure enough, he found Smoliv lying on the grass there.

  It was taking a nap on a soft patch of grass. When it heard footsteps, it was startled awake and opes eyes. Upon seeing that it was Naoki, Smoliv rexed.

  "Don't you want to go back to your usual spot to sleep?" Naoki asked.

  "Smoli~" Smoliv shook its head slightly, indig that it liked it here.

  "Alright," Naoki said, feeling a bit helpless but uanding. He always chose to respect the preferences of his Pokémon.

  From that day on, Smoliv officially moved to the sheepfold and lived with the Gogoat.

  ---

  The m, after finishing his work on the ranaoki rode his Cyclizar into town. Frost Mountain was known for its low temperatures and year-round snow cover. If he wao travel there, he o be well-prepared.

  Upon arriving in town, Naoki went straight to the store and bought a cold-weather outfit. The outfit sisted of four parts: a cold-proof jacket, gloves, windproof goggles, and snow boots. These were essential items for his jouro Frost Mountain.

  In addition to the clothing, Naoki also purchased a portable keroseove for making fires.

  With everything ready, Naoki didn't set off immediately. Instead, he visited Kora's to ask about building an ice celr.

  Kora seemed a little surprised by the inquiry. She slowly replied, "Well, generally speaking, when you add to your home, you choose to build a celr underground. But if you vert the celr into an ice celr, it might affect the house above. You know, the cold air could pee the ground and spread into the house."

  Naoki sidered Kora's advice carefully and realized she was right. Digging a new ice celr on the ranch would be a signifit project, and the cave behind his house was a more practical solution.

  "What if we dig an ice celr somewhere else on the ranch?" Naoki asked.

  "I don't reend that," Kora responded after a moment of thought. "Instead of digging a new hole on the ranch to turn into an ice celr, I suggest you transform the cave behind your house into an ice cave."

  "If I remember correctly, you're using that pce to grow mushrooms nht?" Kora asked.

  Naoki he cave currently housed several mushroom culture dishes, and new mushrooms would grow every few days. Initially, Naoki had been curious about them and would pie to make soup or cook with. But ohe y wore off, he threw all the mushrooms into shipping boxes for Zack to take to town and sell.

  Now that he thought about it, the cave was ihe perfect pce for an ice celr. It wouldn't require a massive stru effort—just the presence of aype Pokémon to create a natural ice celr.

  "I uand," Naoki said, expressing his gratitude to Kora.

  Kora smiled and took the opportunity to promote her new furniture. "I just got a new batch of professional refrigeration equipment. Do you ? The price is reasonable, just."

  Naoki cut her off with a slight sigh. "I pn to capture aype Pokémon to help with the transformation."

  "What about peion facilities?" Kora tinued, determio make a sale. "It absorb the electricity released by Pokémon and store it. If the Pokémon's energy is suffit, it meet the electricity needs of the entire ranch!"

  Naoki's i iqued. "Really?" he asked, intrigued.

  Seeing his expression, Kora's smile brightened. "Yes! And it's not expensive—only 30,000 Poke Dolrs."

  Thirty thousand… Naoki thought. The price was indeed reasonable. If he had this peion device, he could save a lot oricity bills iure.

  The Electric-type Pokémon on the ranch awmi. Dragonite could also use Electric-type moves, so borrowing some electricity from them should be no problem.

  Thinking of this, Naoki decided to purchase the peion devid have it installed. This way, if the ranch ever lost power due to bad weather, such as a typhoon, he could gee his owricity.