"o avoid fusioween 'Kora' and 'Koraidon,' we are ging 'Kora' to 'Kelly.'"

  .....

  The method to help Nacli evolve.

  The first thing that came to Naoki's mind was to train it through battles, as battling could help Pokémon gain experiend evolve.

  What about having it pete with the other Naclstack? That’s a solid idea.

  In general, Pokémon evolve by accumuting energy and experience. Ohey reach a certain threshold, they transform inter beings.

  So, to help Nacli evolve, it would need suffit nutrition and energy.

  That could be easily managed. Naoki could prepare more of the rock salt-fried soil dish that Nacli loved so much.

  This meal helped strengthen Nacli, making it more robust ahier.

  With that in mind, Naoki asked the other four Naclstack to share their evolution experiences with Nacli while he headed to check the supplies in his room.

  After rummaging through his iory, he found that he still had plenty of rock salt, but he was out of the special soil o make the dish.

  That particur soil came from Kitakami Town and was ri nutrients, perfect for Rock- and Ground-type Pokémon.

  'Kitakami Town.'

  Unfortunately, it was quite far from his ranaoki couldn’t make the trip himself at the moment, so he’d have to buy the soil from the market.

  Besides, his food supplies were running low, so this was a good ce to restock.

  At nine o’clo the m, after finishing his work on the ranaoki bid farewell to Cyclizar and Koraidon, then mounted his Gogoat and rode into town.

  First, they stopped by the market to purchase a bunch of fruits and steaks, and finally, Naoki visited a stall selling soil, buying a rge bag of it.

  The stall owner, notig Naoki’s frequent visits, smiled and said, “Those Pokémon must really love the soil, huh?”

  “That’s right,” Naoki replied with a smile.

  “Gd they like it!” the stall owner tinued. “You know, I heard Larvitar, used to eat this soil!”

  “After ying eggs, Tyranitar buries them deep underground. When the eggs hatch, the little Larvitar eats the surrounding soil before it surfaces.”

  “The more soil around them, the higher the ce Tyranitar and Larvitar will live nearby!”

  “Really?” Naoki had only known that Larvitar was born underground.

  “Yep!” The stall owner looked certain and added, “So if you ever find this kind of soil in the wild, be sure to leave quickly. Tyranitar is very territorial, and you wouldn’t want it to see you as an intruder!”

  “That’s a good point,” Naoki hough he didn’t take it too seriously.

  As another er approached to buy soil, Naoki took his leave, riding Gogoat back to the ranch.

  The ranch was as lively and bustling as ever.

  Naoki returo his room, carrying several rge bags. He g the old-fashioned pendulum clo the wall and saw that it was still early, so he set about preparing the dish for Nacli.

  The Pokémon were pying outside, and the room was quiet, save for the soft sound of Naoki stirring the frying pan. Occasionally, he could hear the distant cries of Pokémon from outside.

  Listening closely, Naoki realized it was Koraidon teag Cyclizar and Dragonite something.

  Soon, a rge pot of fried soil was ready. Naoki poured it into a basin a aside to cool.

  Just then, Butterfree flew in from outside, fpping frantically. “Mee-ee!”

  Naoki turned around. “Huh? What’s wrong?”

  Butterfree pointed outside, urging him to e and see. “Mmmmm!”

  Curious, Naoki put down his work and followed Butterfree outside.

  To his surprise, they arrived at the farmnd.

  Without Butterfree needing to say anything, Naoki immediately noticed something was wrong.

  The o farmnd was now dotted with rge bulges, as though something had tuhrough it from beh the surface.

  What was even more heartbreaking was that several of the newly grown seedlings in the field had bite marks on them.

  "Mee-ee." Butterfree gently fpped its wings, looking sad.

  Just then, something started moving underground.

  Suddenly, a Pokémon with an oval brown head and a red nose emerged from the soil.

  That’s, a Diglett!

  Naoki's suspis were firmed. It seemed that this little Diglett was the culprit behind the destru!

  "Butterfree, catch it and use Sleep Powder!" Naoki instructed.

  "Meeee!" Butterfree was equally upset at the damage to the farmnd. It fpped its wings, releasing a cloud of Sleep Powder into the air.

  Just as the powder was about to nd on Diglett, it seemed to sehe danger, quickly retreating underground and moving swiftly beh the surface.

  After a moment, Diglett resurfaced, gring at Naoki and Butterfree at the edge of the field.

  "Squeak, squeak, squeak!" it taunted before burrowing underground again, clearly causing trouble on purpose.

  Naoki's forehead creased in frustration.

  Diglett are known to prefer dark pces, spending most of their time underground, and they typically survive by gnawing on things like tree roots.

  Their tunneling helps turn the soil, and their droppings enrich the ground, making it fertile and ideal for farming. For this reason, many farmers cultivate fields with Diglett in mind, pnting trees they like to eat around the crops to ence them to help with soil preparation.

  But sometimes, like now, Diglett will eat the crops instead, causing problems for farmers.

  It seemed Naoki was dealing with a particurly mischievous Diglett!

  Damn it, those were crops he had worked hard to grow!

  "Koraidon!" Naoki called out, not hesitating to summon reinforts.

  Koraidon, who had been sunbathing nearby, heard the call and rushed over like a rocket.

  "Raao!" Koraidon roared.

  "Catch it!" Naoki anded.

  Koraidon’s eyes locked onto the field, and after spotting the culprit that had angered Naoki, a speechless expression crossed its face.

  Without a sed thought, Koraidon released an intense, intimidating aura.

  Diglett, sensing the overwhelming power of the Pokémon before it, squeaked in panid instinctively tried to retreat underground.

  But Koraidon wasn’t going to let it escape that easily.

  With a powerful stomp on the ground, Koraidon caused the tunnel Diglett had dug to colpse instantly. Then, with lightning speed, it lunged forward and knocked Diglett out with a swift strike before it could flee.

  Having pleted its task, Koraidouro Naoki’s side, humble despite its quick success.

  Naoki then moved to check the damage to the farmnd.

  Luckily, Butterfree had spotted the Diglett early, so the damage hadn’t spread too far. Only a small se of the field was affected, and only two seedlings had beeen.

  Naoki breathed a sigh of relief.

  He walked over to the unscious Diglett and tried to pick it up, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t budge.

  It was as though Diglett’s lower half was firmly anchored to the ground.

  “Wow, is it really that hard to dig up?” Naoki muttered in surprise. No wonder people always wondered what Diglett’s underground half looked like.

  Butterfree flew over and asked, "Mee-ee?"

  Naoki figured it was asking what to do . After a moment of thought, he smirked and replied,

  “We’re definitely not going to let it go that easily.”

  The "unscious" Diglett shuddered.

  Naoki noticed this and thought to himself, 'Wow, it actually pretend to be knocked out!'

  If that was the case, Naoki figured it wouldn’t be unreasoo py along and have some fun with it.

  Feigning anger, Naoki said, "This little troublemaker is so awful, it deserves to be punished!"

  Upon hearing his tohe "unscious" Diglett began trembling even more.

  Though it could burrow underground to escape, it khere was no way to flee from the terrifying Pokémon watg over it.

  Naoki cast a sly g Diglett and turo Koraidon and Butterfree.

  "What do you think? How should we punish this mischievous Diglett?"

  Butterfree buzzed in irritation: "Mee-ee!"

  Koraidon grunted, "Raao."

  Naoki dramatically decred, "The’s lock it up and leave it to starve for a month! We'll roast it with fmes, freeze it in an ice cave, and finally toss it into the river!"

  Hearing this, Diglett began trembling even more violently.

  'This human is a demon! Far scarier than the red-skinned Pokémon!'

  Butterfree, imagining the se, felt this was far too harsh. Although the Diglett had been naughty, it didn’t deserve such a fate.

  Uo bear it, Butterfree protested softly, "Mee-ee..."

  "Squeak, squeak, squeak!" Diglett squeaked in a panic. 'Yes, yes! It didn’t mean any harm! It was just trying to py a trick!'

  Hearing Butterfree’s gentle plea, Naoki sighed and said, "Fine, fine. I guess we could let it go but, only if it stays and helps me work to make up for the damage it caused."

  Koraidon, watg this py out, was a little baffled. It knew Naoki was only teasing the plett and had no real iion of harming it.

  But Diglett didn’t see it that way.

  In Diglett's eyes, Naoki was the most terrifying creature in the world! Its mind raced, imagining itself being locked up, roasted by fire, frozen, and then thrown into the river.

  'So scary.'

  Regretting its decisions, Diglett suddenly heard Naoki say it could be spared if it stayed to work.

  Seizing the opportunity, Diglett opes eyes and eagerly nodded under Naoki’s "surprised" gaze.

  "Squeak, squeak, squeak!"

  It was more than willing to stay and work to repay the damage it caused!

  Naoki chuckled, thinking, 'What a frightened little thing.'

  He looked at Diglett with i, impressed by how it had "volunteered" to stay and work.

  In truth, when Naoki first entered Diglett, he had sidered keeping it around. But the mischievous mole had been too naughty, pying whack-a-mole with him, which left Naoki no choice but to have Koraidon give it a good scare.

  "Are you really willing to stay and work?" Naoki asked, his tone skeptical.

  The Diglett nodded frantically, squeaking, "Squeak!"

  Naoki, still unvinced, pressed on, "You’re not pnning to escape the moment I’m not looking, are you?"

  Diglett quickly shook its head. "Squeak!"

  "Very good," Naoki said with a smirk. "Now, let’s see how serious you are. Follow me—I’ve got just the job for you."

  Diglett hurriedly followed behind.

  Naoki sigo Koraidon with a gnce, indig it could go back to pying with Dragonite.

  But Koraidon wasn’t ied in pying anymore, and both Cyclizar and Dragonite had also wandered over, curious to see what Naoki was going to make Diglett do.

  Seeing this, Naoki didn’t say anything and simply led Diglett to the salt house.

  At that moment, Naclstack were pying on the grass outside, leaving the salt house empty.

  Naoki stood on the wooden floor and pointed down, saying to Diglett, "I need you to dig a big hole here—dig all the way down. you ha?"

  Diglett looked around, startled. The area was vast, and it khis would take a long time.

  But fearing that Naoki would think it was useless and lock it up again, Diglett nodded eagerly.

  "Excellent." Naoki added a bit of iive. "Work hard, and I’ll make sure you’re well-fed while you’re at it."

  "Squeak." Diglett squeaked, not daring to hope for anything more.

  Naoki left Koraidon behind to assist Diglett, like breaking through wooden boards and clearing stones as needed.

  With that settled, Naoki went off to prepare lunch for the Pokémon.

  Today's meal was simple: sandwiches and steaks. Once lunch repared, Naoki returo the salt house to che Diglett’s progress.

  To his surprise, Diglett hadn’t run away. Instead, it had dug a sizable hole, w diligently just as Naoki had asked.

  Seeing the se unfold, Naoki thought to himself that this Diglett was quite simple and ho. It had said it wouldn’t run away, ae many opportuo escape by digging underground, it stayed put.

  Naoki told Koraidon to go ahead a first, then called out to the hardw Diglett.

  The mole nervously poked its head out of the hole, expeg to be scolded, but instead, it was greeted with the entig aroma of food.

  Diglett swallowed nervously.

  Naoki smiled aehe sandwich toward it. "Here, this is for you. Eat up!"

  But the mole hesitated, unsure of what to do.

  Seeing this, Naoki realized the poor thing robably still scared.

  He thought for a moment, thely reassured it, "Rex. As long as you stop destroying my farmnd, I won’t hurt you. Aher will any of the other Pokémon on the ranch."

  "Once you finish helping me dig the hole, you’re free to go if you want. I won’t stop you. And while you’re here, I’ll make sure you have food every day."

  Hearing these words, Diglett blinked. "Squeak?"

  It g the sandwid then at Naoki.

  For some reason, the mole suddenly felt that this human wasn’t shtening when he wasn’t angry.

  Carefully, Diglett took a bite of the sandwich.

  As soon as it tasted the food, its little eyes lit up.

  "Squeak, squeak, squeak!" it squeaked excitedly.

  It had asted anything this delicious!

  The Diglett begaing faster, dev the entire sandwi no time. The food even had the effect of rest its energy, bringing it back to peak dition.

  Watg Diglett’s satisfied expression, Naoki was fident that the mole wouldn’t try to run away secretly this time.

  After finishing its meal, Diglett resumed digging the big hole.

  Naoki turned and headed bato the house, cheg the money he had earned over the past few days.

  With the evolution of the Nacli, rock salt produ on the ranch had increased signifitly.

  It ril 16th. If things kept progressing like this, by the end of month, Naoki figured he’d have enough saved to build a proper house. He could ask Kelly to help expand his inter home, plete with a bathroom, celr, living room, and a separate kit.

  "Phew, something to really look forward to!" he said to himself.

  After closing his at book, Naoki went to che the pot of fried soil mixed with rock salt.

  Seeing that it had cooled down, he grabbed the basin a over to where Nacli was resting under a tree.

  With a soft thud, Naoki pced the basin in front of the Pokémon and smiled encingly. "Eat up! After you finish this basin of soil, you should be able to evolve!"

  Naoki knew Nacli wasn’t g in strength but in physical fitness. Its body wasn’t as robust as the other Nacli due to its early malnutrition.

  Though it had beeing nutritious food since arriving at the ranacli's overall dition was still a bit weaker pared to the others.

  This fried soil dish was meant to boost Nacli’s strength. As long as it got stronger, it might meet the ditions needed for evolution.

  And if it didn’t evolve after eating, Naoki po let Nacli train with other Pokémon. He was fident it wouldn’t take long before it evolved into Naclstack.

  "Nacli, Nacli."

  Nacli looked at the special meal Naoki had made for it. None of the other Nacli had such a treat.

  Moved by Naoki’s care, Nacli eagerly begaing the soil in front of it.

  However, having just finished lunch, its stomach was already full. After a few big bites, Nacli flopped onto the grass, making weak, tired sounds.

  "Nacli, Nacli."

  It whimpered, clearly too full.

  Naoki chuckled at the sight. "Silly, you don’t have to eat it all at oake it slow, treat it like a snack. If you ’t finish it now, just save some for ter."

  Hearing this, Nacli felt a bit embarrassed.

  Naoki picked it up, weighing it a few times in his arms. "Wow, you’re much heavier than when I first met you."

  "Nacli~" Nacli cooed happily, cuddling closer to Naoki.

  Both Nacli and the other Naclstack were deeply grateful to Naoki. He even prepared special meals for them every day.

  Even their former protector, the Garganacl, hadn’t treated them as well as Naoki did!

  Naoki simply held Nacli in his arms as they sat together in the shade of the tree, enjoying the cool breeze.

  Looking out over the vast fields, Naoki mused, "Once you evolve into Naclstack, I won’t be able to hold you like this anymore!"

  "Nacli, Nacli!"

  Nacli's eyes were filled with determination.

  But it didn’t matter. When Naoki couldn’t hold them anymore, he khey would be the oo carry him!