Naoki called over the Dragonite on the ranch. Dragonite's eyes lit up when it saw the geor.

  'Did Naoki prepare this mae just to help me practice my Electric-type moves?' Dragonite wondered, recalling how it had been practig Rain Dan the fields and Storm in the sky. If it kept usiric-type moves on this mae, then.

  Naoki began expining tonite how to use the geor, but he soon noticed something off about the way Dragonite was looking at it.

  "What's on your mind?" Naoki asked, sensing Dragonite's enthusiasm.

  By now, Dragonite had pletely viself that the geor was a tool specifically desigo help it practice its Electric-type moves. Overjoyed, Dragonite hugged Naoki tightly.

  "Oof!"

  'Naoki is so thoughtful!' Dragohought happily. 'Just like how I've been practig Rain Dand Storm every day, now I practice my Electric-type moves with this geor!'

  Naoki, still caught in Dragonite's embrace, felt a bit puzzled. 'I think Dragonite might be misuanding something.'

  Before Naoki could crify, Dragonite had already begun supplyiricity to the geor. Si was much rger than Pawmi, Dragonite couldn't stand on the geor like Pawmi had, so it pced its chubby paws oal ring.

  A crag sound of electricity surged fronite's fists, which was quickly absorbed by the geor.

  Naoki turo watch as the geor's energy bar rapidly climbed.

  1%... 3%... 4%... 12%... 23%... 37%...

  It finally stopped at 48%.

  Seeing this, Pawmi's eyes shoh admiration.

  "Pawmi!" 'So cool!'

  But Dragonite had reached its limit. It had expended all its electricity and could no longer perform any more Electric-type moves. In gaming terms, its PP (Power Points) was pletely drained.

  "That's enough, you've done a great job!" Naoki praised, patting Dragonite gently.

  He then brought both Pawmi and Dragonite back to the front room and took out two bottles of iced honey lemonade from the refrigerator. It was a drink he had prepared earlier, desigo elimiigue aore energy.

  Dragonite and Pawmi sat on the grass outside the door, enjoying the breeze and sipping their honey lemonade.

  Ohe two Pokémon were settled, Naoki returo the utility room, where he took out tools and wood and began w on a hop stand using the workbench.

  With summer approag, it was time to start pnting the seeds for the summer crops he had purchased earlier. Crops like didn't need supports, but hops did. The hop vines would grow along the supports set up by Naoki, allowing sunlight to reach every leaf, which was essential frowing hops for brewing.

  Of course, brewing beer required more than just hops; he also needed water, malt, a. Freshwater was readily avaible at the ranch, a could be purchased in town. As for malt, Naoki had stored plenty of it, having grown and harvested spring wheat over the past two months. He had decided not to sell the harvest but to keep it for brewing and other uses.

  Finally, Naoki po put the hops and redients into the brewing barrel, store it in the celr, and wait for about a month for the brewing process to be pleted.

  He was eager to see what kind of magical effects the beer he brewed would have. The only regret was that the winemaking process had specific requirements for the enviro and temperature. If it weren't necessary to store the wine barrels in cool, temperature-trolled celrs, Naoki would have loved to scatter them all over the mountains.

  Though the ranch didn't have a celr yet, Naoki wasn't too worried. He figured he could store the hops and barley for now and begin brewing once a celr was built. With the current profit rate of the ranch, he expected to save up the 2 million o expand his home by mid-autumn at the test.

  Since crops couldn't be grown in the winter, Naoki po use that time to focus on winemaking.

  As time passed, and the sun climbed higher in the sky, Naoki pleted one hop support bracket after another. He directed Koraidon and Cyclizar to move them to the front of the property. By now, the sun was fully up, casting warm light over the ranch.

  Uhe eaves, Dragonite and Pawmi, having fiheir honey lemonade, were lounging fortably. Their upper bodies rested in the shade while their lower bodies basked in the sunlight, and they were both fast asleep, looking perfectly tent.

  Naoki watched them with a smile. Just then, Cyclizar suddenly let out a call, drawing Naoki's attention. Following Cyclizar's gaze, Naoki spotted Gerging from the ice cave, making its way to the pen where Alcremie, Nacli, Pawmi, and Butterfree were gathered.

  The Gogoat, having fiheir dance, were zily chewing on grass balls in the shade, while Smoliv dozed beside them.

  Naoki leasantly surprised to see how quickly G had ied into the ranch's daily life.

  Alcremie held a wildflower in her hand, and the five Nacli were gazing up at G with hopeful expressions. In front of them y a few small flowers.

  G hesitated for a moment, and just when Naoki thought it might refuse, G let out a gentle gust of freezing wind, preserving the flowers in ice.

  The Nacli were overjoyed, and Alcremie happily offered the frozen flower to G. "Mree~"

  Naoki didn't fully uand the exge, but Koraidon did. Alcremie was telling G, "If you freeze it, it won't wilt! Keep it where you sleep, so you see it every day when you wake up."

  Alcremie had learhis trick from Naoki, who would often put food in the refrigerator to keep it from spoiling.

  G was taken aback. It hadn't expected Alcremie's request to help freeze the flowers was meant as a gift for it.

  Seeing what Alcremie did, the five Nacli followed suit, their flowers to G. Smoliv and Butterfree watched happily, hoping G would accept the gestures of friendship.

  Though Naoki didn't fully grasp what was happening, he couldn't help but smile at how well everyone was getting along.

  "Alright, time to get back to work!" Naoki said with a grin.

  "Raao~" Koraidon and "Gaao~" Cyclizar responded enthusiastically, and the three of them set to work building the hop supports.

  It was March 15th. Although summer was still half a month away, Naoki could start pnting some summer crops. He knew he'd be busy today, not only building supports for the hops but also re-plowing the nd to prepare for pnting summer crops like pumpkins, , and pineapples after the spring pnting season ended.

  Pumpkins could be used for making pumpkin pie and pumpkin pe. could be cooked directly, made into pop or chowder, and eveo prepare ribs. Pineapples could be turned into sweet and sour pork with pineapple sauce or pineapple rice.

  When these atured, Naoki looked forward to making even more delicious food for everyone on the ranch!