June 23, Year 199 of the Alliance dar

  The Paldea region had ehe peak of summer, and the swelteri hung heavily in the air.

  The scorg weather drove all the Pokémon—including Pawmot, Alcremie, and Eevee—to seek refuge in G’s icy cave. Their thick, plush fur made running around in such high temperatures unbearable, leaving them sweaty and unfortable.

  Even traveling trainers chose to stay in town, waiting for the cooler evening hours to jouro the destination. For a time, the ranch was unusually quiet, with no trainers arriving to take on challehe oppressive heat made wandering the wilderness far from appealing.

  Naoki, however, didn’t mind the dowaking advantage of the lull, he pleted his m chores on the ranch before the temperatures peaked and then stayed indoors for the rest of the day.

  The sun bzed relentlessly outside, and the faint chirping of cicadas could be heard ing from the hills behind the ranch. Ihe air ditioning provided a reprieve.

  Calyrex lounged in the living room, engrossed in a daytime drama on TV. Meanwhile, the Indeedee siblings tidied up the mess left behind by the other Pokémon.

  Upstairs on the sed floor, Naoki sat at his desk, refreshing the forum post he had created to see if anyone was selling the s. Over the past month, he had mao buy some s from various sellers on the forum.

  With those purchases, the colle had reached 230 out of the 1,000 s needed for evolution.

  “I’m nearly a quarter of the way there,” Naoki murmured, doing a quick mental calcution. “If I keep this pace, I should be able to colleough by this time year.”

  Still, he couldn’t help but feel uain. The process of acquiring these s had been anything but smooth. In addition to finding sellers, he had faced stiff petition from antique collectors who drove up prices on the forum.

  A few days ago, someone had even outbid him, a signifitly higher price for a set of s Naoki had beeiating to buy. It was frustrating, and though the ranch's ine was det, it wasn’t enough to support Naoki in a bidding war.

  His thoughts were interrupted by a notification from the private chat interface.

  Curious, he clicked the message. It was from Raifort.

  [A Explorer]: How’s the hunt going? Is it progressing smoothly?

  Raifort had just finished her lund returo her dormitory, taking advantage of the air ditioning to escape the heat. She had no afternoon csses and was using her free time to browse forums for a reliformation while casually cheg in on Naoki.

  [Gold King]: Not very smoothly. A few days ago, someobid me and snatched the sellers I was iating with.

  [A Explorer]: That’s to be expected. Most antiques sold on the market usually gh aus. The highest bidder always wins.

  Naoki sighed as he typed out his response, only to see Raifort had sent another message before he could reply.

  [A Explorer]: Have you sidered alternative methods to collect more s? If you’re ied, I might have ao help you!

  Naoki frowned, an incredulous thought crossing his mind. He hesitated for a moment before typing.

  [Gold King]: …You’re not suggesting I join you on a tomb-raiding expedition, are you?

  To his surprise, the reply came quickly.

  [A Explorer]: That’s exactly what I’m suggesting! Are you in? If we’re lucky, we could hit the jackpot and find a lot of s in one go.

  Naoki bli the s, momentarily tempted. The idea was undeniably appealing, but his sense of morality held him back. After a brief internal debate, he replied.

  [Gold King]: No thanks. Robbing tombs is too disrespectful and immoral.

  Raifort’s reply came almost instantly.

  [A Explorer]: Tomb robbing? This isn’t a cemetery we’re talking about! My target this time is an a ruin buried deep underground.

  At her dormitory in Paldea Academy, Raifort sent the message with aed gleam in her eye. She g an old tome resting on her desk, her fingers brushing its fragile cover. This a book was a treasure she had uhed deep within the academy’s library—a pce renowned for its extensive colle of historical texts and rare manuscripts.

  Her position as a history teacher wasn’t just a job; it was a strategic move to access the library’s invaluable resources. And now, her efforts had borne fruit—she had fouailed records of the legendary Treasures of Ruin.

  The book icled the catastrophic events caused by the a Pokémon thousands of years ago.

  Raifort had no trouble deciphering the aext in the book. As an expert in her field, interpreting a scripts was sed nature to her.

  The book reted a catastrophic event in the a Paldean Kingdom where four Pokémon, known as the Treasures of Ruin, caused widespread destru, obliterating the royal city. In desperation, the king summoned a legendary Pokémon Trainer known as the Pokémon Envoy to bat the camity.

  A fierce battle ensued between the Pokémon Envoy and the four Treasures of Ruiually, the Pokémon Envoy succeeded in sealing the four, but just as the sealing ritual was nearing pletion, one of the treasures—a cauldron—unleashed its remaining power. A devastatihquake followed, splitting the earth and burying the already ruined city deep underground.

  The royal city’s exact location was lost, and the king, deeming it irreparable, relocated his people to build a neital elsewhere.

  This time, Raifort's objective was the ruins of the buried royal city. She aimed to iigate the Treasures of Ruin, whose history had intrigued her for years.

  Raifort decided to approaaoki for help. From their month-long versations, she had e to know Naoki as an exceptionally skilled traihe a ruins buried deep underground might harbor powerful Pokémon, and having a seasorainer alongside would make her exploration signifitly safer and more effit.

  When Naoki read Raifort’s message expining that their target wasn’t a cemetery but an a ruin, his curiosity iqued.

  [Gold King]: Tell me more.

  Raifort quickly expined:

  [A Explorer]: The ruins are the remains of an a royal city, buried deep beh the earth due to a camity. The city was abandoned in haste, leaving its treasures behind. If we find the castle treasury, there could be a fortune in gold and silver. You might even collect hundreds, maybe thousands of Gimmighoul s at once!

  The mention of a castle treasury and the possibility of finding hundreds of s struck a chord with Naoki. If true, it could mean that he could help Gimmighoul evolve in one fell swoop.

  Raifort, true to her fht nature, then expined why she wanted Naoki to join her.

  [A Explorer]: There’s a ce the ruins are inhabited by powerful Pokémon. With a Champion-level trainer by my side, the iigation will be much easier.

  Naoki bli her words, momentarily taken aback.

  [Gold King]: How do you know about me?

  Raifort’s response came swiftly:

  [A Explorer]: Naoki, Naoki Ranch, Kosaji Town. Yical ranch is somewhat famous at Paldea Academy. My students have discussed it in css before. At first, I didn’t realize you were that Naoki. But when you mentioned you run a ran Kosaji Town and the unique Pokémon, Koraidon, that you have, I ected the dots.

  Naoki chuckled softly at her expnation and typed back:

  [Gold King]: Alright, when do we leave?

  Raifort replied enthusiastically:

  [A Explorer]: July 20th. Paldea Academy will begin its two-month summer break then, so I’ll have plenty of time to dedicate to the iigation. What do you think?

  July 20th—it was still 27 days away. Naoki paused for a moment before making his decision. For the sake of helping Gimmighoul evolve into its fholdengo, he decided to join her.

  [Gold King]: Deal.

  [A Explorer]: Thank you very much. If we don’t find enough s ireasury, I’ll make it my mission to help you collect more from other treasure hunters wheurn.

  [Gold King]: Thank You.

  With double insurance like this, Naoki figured he couldn't lose. Agreeing to help Raifort wasn’t just about the s—if he could gairust, he might also uncover crucial information about the Treasures of Ruin.

  Satisfied for the moment, Naoki g the forum o time. Sino one else had tacted him about selling s, he turned off the puter and headed downstairs.

  In the Living Room

  Calyrex was sitting gracefully on the couch, sipping bck tea while ily watg TV. Its regal posture seemed oddly at odds with the colorful, animated Pokémon variety show pying on the s.

  Notig Naoki ing down, Calyrex shifted its gaze toward him, its luminous eyes glinting with curiosity.

  Naoki looked at the Pokémon and frowned slightly.

  "If you keep staring at the s like that, yoing to ruin your eyesight," he muttered.

  Calyrex tilted its head in fusion.

  ' Pokémon eve nearsighted?' Naoki wondered aloud.

  After a brief pause, he decided to ask. "Calyrex, do your eyes ever feel sore? Or do you have trouble seeing things far away, like they look blurry?"

  Calyrex's brows furrowed thoughtfully, as though trying to decipher the meaning of Naoki’s words. After a moment, it gave a calm shake of its head.

  "I’ve never experienced such a thing," it replied simply.

  Naoki blinked. 'So Pokémon ’t get nearsighted'.

  Shrugging off the thought, he g the clo the wall. To his surprise, it was already 11:30.

  "Looks like it’s time to start on lunch," he said, stretg as he made his way to the kit.

  ...

  Naoki opehe refrigerator, pulling out the ingredients he had bought earlier that week. Sihe summer heat was uing, he decided to make something refreshing: mung bean soup—a perfect dish to cool down the Pokémon.

  As he began preparing, sister Indeedee stepped forward to help.

  "Ai-ai!" she chimed cheerfully, her delicate psychic aura gently lifting a bowl from the ter.

  "Thanks," Naoki said, smiling at her helpfulness.

  The first step was soaking the mung beans. He poured them into a bowl, filled it with water, ahem soak for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, he washed the beans thhly to remove any grit or impurities.

  Once ready, Naoki poured the beans inte pot, added fresh water, a oove to boil.

  There weren’t any mung beans grown on the ranch—these had been bought earlier during one of Naoki’s trips to the town.

  As Naoki set the pot oove, a familiar helper appeared. Slugma, the little Lava Pokémon that lived in the heating pipes, slithered out from its usual spot. It made its way uhe stove, settling in fortably to provide sistent, radiao assist with the cooking.

  Naoki smiled warmly at the sight of Slugma diligently helping with the cooking. He reached for a few berries, squatted down, aly fed them to the Lava Pokémon.

  Slugma chirped happily as it ate, its molten body glowing faintly with satisfa. O had its fill, it focused ily, releasing steady heat to assist in cooking the mung bean soup. Its skill at trolling temperature had grown impressively over time, making it an indispensable helper i. Naoki often joked that Slugma was as good as a professional chef’s assistant.

  While the soup simmered, Naoki moved on to preparing meals for the other Pokémon. He fried steaks for Koraidon, Cyclizar, and Flutter Mane. His expertise in cooking shone as he flipped the steaks deftly in the pan, the aroma of sizzli filling the kit.

  Wheeaks were perfectly golden brown—crispy oside, tender and juiside—he transferred them onto white por ptes. He the about steaming sea bass fonite and crafting a stack of sandwiches ferpon.

  By the time the meals were ready, the mung bean soup had finished cooking. Naoki carefully moved the pot aside to cool and turned his attention to Slugma. With an iron hook in hand, he gently ed out the charcoal blocks that had formed on the Pokémon’s body.

  These charcoal blocks were a byproduct of the fruits Slugma ate. While the flesh of the fruit was digested, the pits and cores were heated to high temperatures within Slugma’s body and transformed into ks of charcoal. Without hands, Slugma couldn’t itself, so Naoki had taken it upon himself to help. The Lava Pokémon cooed with pleasure, clearly enjoying the process.

  “Good as new,” Naoki said with a smile as he finished ing. He then turo Cyclizar. “Go fetch everyone from the ice cave—it’s lunchtime!”

  Cyclizar let out a cheerful chirp and zipped out the door. Moments ter, a chorus of lively cries echoed through the ranch as a group of Pokémon bouoward the house.

  Naoki brought the prepared food to the dining table. As he g the pot of mung bean soup, he sighed lightly, feeling a mix of pride and amusement. The dish’s cooling effect was exactly what he’d hoped for, perfect for bating the summer heat.

  [Mung Bean Soup (C) Effebsp;Cools and relieves heat. After ption by humans or Pokémon, it provides a refreshiion, helping to preve stroke—ideal for hot summer days.]

  At the table, the Pokémon eagerly dug into their meals. Their happy chatter and the sound of tented mung filled the room.

  Naoki stood nearby, watg them with a soft, apologetic smile.

  In his previous life, Naoki wasn’t a chef but an overworked corporate employee who spent tless te nights drowning iime. His limited cooking skills meant that his meals were ofteitive.

  Sandwiches, fried steaks, steamed sea bass, and the occasional home-cooked dishes like chi stewed with mushrooms, braised pork, eggpnt in soy sauce, pork rib soup, or pork stewed with vermicelli were the extent of his repertoire.

  At this moment, Naoki deeply regretted not enrolling in a ary school in his previous life. If he had takeime to learn, he could have prepared a wider variety of meals.

  But Koraidon and the others never saw it that way.

  To them, any meal prepared by Naoki was a treat. They savored his cooking with joy, no matter how repetitive the dishes might seem. Life on the ranch was a dream pared to their harsh days in the wild.

  Back then, food was nothing but berries and survival was the priority. Now, they not only enjoyed a variety of meals but also indulged is like Poffins and sweet Pokéblocks, thanks to Naoki’s efforts to rotate their diets.

  By four in the evening, the scorg midday heat began to fade, and the temperature became bearable.

  Taking advantage of the cooler weather, Naoki walked out to the ranch to ihe fields. Nearly a month had passed since he phe green onions for Farfetch’d, and they had grown signifitly.

  To his surprise, the onions had grown to araordinary size, standing over two meters tall. Whether it was the influence of the Grass energy from Gogoat or some kind of mutation, these onions were nothing short of extraordinary. They reminded Naoki of the gigantic scallions he had once seen in his previous life.

  As Naoki approached the onion patch, he saw Farfetch’d pag along the garden’s ridges, proudly holding its inal leek. Its gaze, however, was fixed o leeks with an expression of unparalleled excitement and anticipation.

  If these massive leeks could be wielded as ons, Naoki thought, Farfetch’d’s moves would likely gain an incredible boost in power.

  [Super Onion: A special crop. This onion has undergoatioo the Grass energy emitted by Gogoat. Now standing over two meters tall, its durability has dramatically increased. It is a true "super onion," ideal for use as a on by certain Pokémon or as an ingredient for an exceptionally fvorful soup. Fully mature in one day.]

  “Unbelievable…” Naoki murmured, staring at the oversized vegetables. He didn’t even know how to react.

  Could Farfetch’d realistically wield such a massive leek as a sword? Or was it pnning to switch its on style entirely, trading its leek sword for an onion spear or even a greatsword?