At night, the room was brightly lit.

  Naoki sat at his desk, listening to the soothing chirps of is outside as he carefully wrote down the recipe and step-by-step process for making the [Grass Cake] in his recipe book.

  Koraidon, Cyclizar, Alcremie, and Dragonite had all go to py. After summer began, on clear nights, the area around the river would light up with the soft glow of fireflies. bined with the bright moonlight, the shimmering stars, and the vast, lush grassnds, it looked like a pastoral oil painting brought to life. The Pokémon, pying freely in the moonlit fields, added to the serey of the ndscape.

  Though it was tempting to join them, Naoki remai his desk, focused on more pressing matters.

  Looking at the rough map of the ranch he'd sketched earlier, Naoki began to pn in more detail. He thought aloud, "The ranch's facilities are still far from plete. We have the chi coop, the Pokémon house, and the salt house, but there are key structures missing."

  He gnced back at the map. "A barn to strain, a water-powered mill to grind wheat into flour, a greenhouse to grow crops year-round, and stables for other livestock would be essential."

  Naoki picked up his pencil and began drawing on the map, marking down where each structure would be pced. "The water mill should be he chi cht by the river, so we harhe water flow to power the wheel."

  He tinued, "The barn will go o the Pokémon house, and the stable be built beside the goat pen."

  For the greenhouse, Naoki decided it would fit best o the farmnd, where the crops could be easily teo, even in the colder months.

  With these ideas in mind, he quickly drew the outlines of the new facilities on the map. Despite all the structures he po build, he noticed there was still a rge area of unused nd on the ranch.

  Naoki's eyes shifted to the western side of the ranch, where a vast stretch of grassnd y. He circled it on the map, musing, "This area could be turned into an orchard. I'll pnt fruit trees here." He thought of Elif Cherry Orchard, full of cherry trees, and imagined doing something simir. If there were too many cherries to eat, they could always share them with the wild Pokémon, like Teddiursa, who lived in the back mountain.

  In addition to the orchard, Naoki knew he o expand the farmnd. "But first, I'll o capture one or more Pokémon that know the 'Plow' move," he his would make managing the ranch far more effit. With Pokémon to help plow the fields, Naoki could focus on pnting seeds, fertilizing the soil, and having Dragonite hahe watering. The Gogoat could help speed up crop growth, and together, they'd harvest everything.

  With this pn in mind, Naoki realized there was no rush to pave the red brick path yet. "I should wait until all the facilities are fully built before finalizing the road yout."

  Leaning ba his chair, Naoki reflected on the ret ges at the ranch. After the Nacli evolved into Naclstack, their size a would increase dramatically. While there was only one for now, the other four Nacli Pokémon would eventually evolve, and the current salt house would bee too small.

  Naoki sidered two possible solutions:

  Expand the size of the salt house to aodate the rger Pokémon.

  Have the Salt Pokemon dig into the ground, creating an underground cave where they could live.

  However, sihe Salt Pokémon didn't yet know how to dig, this pn would have to wait.

  , Naoki thought about G. The Cream Smoothies he made could help G grow stronger, but the progress had been slow. G didn't drink them regurly like the Gogoats devrass dumplings. "I’ll o ence G to drink more smoothies," Naoki reminded himself.

  Finally, Naoki turned his thoughts to the Green Grass Trial he'd been sidering. He envisio as a challenge for Pokémon trainers, with multiple levels of difficulty:

  -In the first level of the Green Grass Trial, challengers would face a single Gogoat.

  - In the sed level, they'd have to battle against two Gogoats at the same time.

  -Ihird level of the Green Grass Trial, challengers would o face the birength of three Gogoats at once.

  This would be the ultimate test of endurand strategy for any Pokémon traihinking about the challenge, Naoki's gaze returo the map of the ranch. He looked at the unused space just below the goat pen and picked up his pen, sketg out a battle se.

  "This will be the perfect pce for a special battlefield," he thought.

  The m, Naoki got to work. He mowed down the grass, creating a regur space for the battlefield. To test its size, he had Koraidon and Cyclizar stand at opposite ends. After for a moment, Naoki muttered, "It's a bit small," then decided to expand the area to ehe Pokémon could perform at their best.

  Oisfied with the size, Naoki instructed Koraidon to use its Fmethrower to dry out the soil. Afterward, he retrieved a bucket of white paint and marked the edges of the field, carefully outlining the battle area simir to those seen in Pokémon arenas.

  With the battlefield plete, Naoki dusted his hands, returhe paint bucket to the utility room, and smiled at his work. The field was ready, but there was still one lingering issue.

  "Pure training might not be enough to attract trainers," he thought. "Maybe I should offer some prizes."

  Though unsure of what those prizes would be, Naoki figured he had time. After all, the Green Grass Trial had three challenging levels, and it was uhat anyone would plete them all quickly. The prize decision could wait.

  For now, Naoki turned his attention back to the farmnd. The entire area was bathed in a rich green glow as the three Gogoats stood at different ers, maintaining their Grass Field ability to nurture every crop. Watg this, Naoki couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.

  "I wonder what kind of magical crops the Gogoats will grow," he mused. "Will it be glowing tomatoes and icy watermelons like in some games? Or maybe they'll grow super-giant crops, like in Stardew Valley?"

  If it were the former, that would be iing enough. But if it were the tter, one enormous watermelon could st them for weeks!

  Naoki stood there for a moment, lost in his thoughts about developing an orchard on the southwest er of the ranch. The idea of pnting more berry trees intrigued him. Not only could the berries be used to make delicious treats for his Pokémon, but they could also be made into juice for the wild Pokémon, like the Psyducks living by the river.

  He smiled at the thought of befriending the wild Pokémon. After all, Pokémon like Psyduck were adorable, and building a good retionship with them might eveo them helping out on the ranch—just like the Junimo spirits in Stardew Valley or the seven dwarfs from Harvest Moon, who assist with harvesting crops.

  Surveying the area, Naoki khe grass would o be cleared out to make space for the trees, ensuring the seedlings wouldn’t have to pete for nutrients. His mind wao the story of Aggron, the steel-and-rock-type Pokémon.

  Aggron was known to patrol the mountains, and whehey found barren nd, they would transport soil, pnt saplings, aore the area to its former beauty. The idea of such a strong, imposing Pokémon having such a gentle, farmer-like hobby made Naoki chuckle. It would be perfect to have an Aggron help him mahe orchard, but sadly, Aggron didn’t seem to be native to the Paldea region.

  Just as Naoki was thinking about how he might find one in the Gar region someday, Butterfree flew over in a hurry.

  "Mee-ee!" Butterfree called.

  Naoki turned his attention to it. "What's wrong?" he asked, noting Butterfree’s somewhat excited demeanor. "Is someone visiting the ranch?"

  Butterfree nodded with a flutter of its wings. "Mmmmm~"

  Naoki was a little surprised.

  Naoki wondered who would e to visit the ranch so early in the m.

  He made his way to the front with Butterfree.

  Soon, Naoki saw a timid figure standing at the ranch gate.

  It was a girl, around sixteen or seventeen years old, with short purple hair. She was crouched dowhe pasture, c her ears and closing her eyes, mumbling something to herself.

  "Hello!" Naoki raised his eyebrows slightly and walked forward to greet her.

  But the girl didn't respond.

  He stepped closer, and only then did he hear what she was saying.

  She looked scared, mutteriedly, "I 't see, I 't see, I 't see."

  Naoki: "..."

  "Hello? you hear me?" Naoki waved his hand in front of her.

  Seeing no response, he asked Alcremie, who had e over to watch, to gently tap the girl on the shoulder to get her attention.

  Alcremie did as she was told and happily patted the girl with her tiny hands.

  "Alcremie~"

  But the sed, the girl let out a startled scream and fell backward, sitting on the grass.

  Seeing that she could hear him now, Naoki asked again, "Are you okay? Do you need any help?"

  "Oh! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to disturb you! Please five me!" The girl quickly scrambled to her feet, apologizing non-stop.

  Naoki uzzled.

  At that moment, a man came running from not far away.

  He was a slightly chubby middle-aged man with brown hair, wearing a brown shirt.

  Nanized him right away.

  It was Hugh, the owner of the seed shop in town.

  Hugh rushed fently took hold of the girl, and calmed her down. "It's okay, it's okay!"

  He then turo Naoki and expined, "I'm very sorry, this is my daughter, Bell. She had a difficult experience when she was younger, and sihen, she's been too afraid to go outside and has mostly stayed at home."

  "Today, I enced her to step out and help me by letting the nearby ranchers know that h Seed Shop has a new batch of berry seedlings. But as you see, it didn't go as pnned."

  Hugh sighed, looking at Bell with .

  Because he was worried, Hugh had followed close behind the eime.

  Naoki nodded, now uanding the situation. He didn’t mind too mud said casually, "It seems like her fear of the outside world might be due to psychological factors, right?"

  This ic he wasn't particurly knowledgeable about.

  Hugh nodded, his face clouded with . "Yes, we brought in a psychologist for treatment before, but it didn’t really help."

  Naoki nodded again and g the girl before deg not to press further. Instead, he reassured Hugh, "I’ll stop by the shop ter to buy some of those fruit tree seedlings."

  With that, Hugh thanked him aly led his daughter away.

  Alcremie watched them leave. "Alcremie."

  Naoki turo her. "What you just saw might be what they call severe social ay."

  Alcremie looked at him, clearly puzzled.

  Naoki smiled and eborated. "It's when someone bees so afraid of the outside world, afraid of talking to people, that they only feel safe in familiar pces like their home or room. It’s like they don’t want to leave their fort zone."

  Alcremie tried hard to uand, but the cept seemed too plex for her. "Alcremie."

  She thought of the girl’s earlier frightened rea and asked, "Alcremie?"

  Naoki raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking if that be cured?"

  Alcremie nodded eagerly.

  Naoki chuckled and patted her head. "I don’t know. I’m not a psychologist either." He smiled warmly. "Go ahead and py now. I’ve got work to do!"

  He grabbed a hoe and sickle from the utility room auro the field. Using the sickle, he cleared the rown weeds, and thehe hoe to turn the soil, loosening it for pnting.

  After digging twenty holes, Naoki paused to rest, leaning on his hoe and surveying the nd. His mind filled with images of the future.

  In his vision, the area had transformed into a lush orchard, with fruit-den branches hanging low. Juicy, ripe fruit just waiting to be picked, with each bite releasing sweet ar.

  In his daydream, pyful Pokémon like Mino and Greedent wandered into the orchard, drawn by the st of fresh fruit. Naoki imagined himself standih the trees, feeding them and cuddling the soft, furry creatures.

  How wonderful!

  A satisfied smile crept across his face as he returhe tools to the utility room. Just as he finished washing his hands, he heard a bright and cheerful voice.

  "Mr. Naoki!"

  Naoki turned around and saw a familiar figure running toward him from outside the ranch. It was a young man with golden curly hair, fair skin, and the polished appearance of someone from the city.

  Naoki was surprised to see him.

  The boy, smiling happily, said, "Mr. Naoki, do you still remember me?"

  "Of course, Carter, right?" Naoki asked.

  Carter had passed by the ranch a few months ago and had mistaken a Caterpie for a wild Pokémon. He sent out his Delibird to battle it, only to be caught off guard wheerpie defeated it with an ued Electroweb.

  Seeing that Naoki remembered him, Carter nodded eagerly. "Yes!"

  "What brings you here? Aren’t you busy with school?" Naoki inquired.

  Carter chuckled, "The courses at the academy aren’t too tough. Most of our time is spent traveling through the Paldea region on treasure hunts. Today, I came back to challehe Caterpie!"

  His eyes gleamed with determination. "Delibird and I have undergohree months of interaining. We're totally different now, and this time, we'll definitely win!"

  Naoki was momentarily at a loss. He g Butterfree, resting nearby, and said, "Well, you could but Caterpie has since evolved into Butterfree. I'm not sure if it would be ied in a battle now. You know, Pokémon's personalities often ge after they evolve."

  "Ah?" Carter was momentarily dumbfounded. "What should I do then?"

  Naoki grinned inwardly, sensing an opportunity. "Well, you're in luck. Though Butterfree might not battle, I have plenty of other Pokémon who’d be willing. Actually, you came at just the right time."

  He leaned in a bit and added, "My Ranch is hosting a at called the [Green Grass Trial], desigo help Pokémon practid grow strohrough battle. Care to give it a try?"