'Taking care of the baby...'

  Naoki was momentarily speechless. While heading to the kit to prepare dinner, he said,

  "There's no rush for this. Besides, humans and Pokémon have entirely different ways of produg offspring. We gh many rituals first—fessions, falling in love, weddings. But most importantly, you need someone you like in the first pce."

  Sister Indeedee pced the Dragonite egg gently in the crib, then joined Naoki i to help him cook.

  “Ai Ai~ Ai Ai?” (I know~ Mom and Dad told my brother and me about this. So, Naoki, do you have someone you like right now?)

  Naoki: "..."

  He couldn’t help but find it odd to discuss this topic with Pokémon.

  After giving it some thought, he shook his head and replied, "I've been at the ranch all the time. Where would I find the opportunity for that?"

  Naoki’s view oionships was simple: leave it up to fate. If he didn’t meet the right person, he’d rather spend his life with Pokémon.

  “Ai Ai.” Indeedee nodded solemnly. Sensing Naoki’s disfort, she stopped her questions and focused on preparing the meal.

  Before bedtime, Naoki prepared several fruit ptters for Farfetch’d as a reward for its efforts.

  But despite eating all of them, Farfetch’d still hadn’t mastered the moves it wanted. Instead, it just kept eating and trying.

  Looking at the increasingly chubby Farfetch’d proudly showing off the empty fruit ptters, Naoki sighed.

  “There’s still a long way to go!”

  This oermined Farfetch’d was starting to resemble a rotund duck.

  ...

  Early the m, Naoki moved the fruit mixer into the kit a up.

  However, he didn’t immediately start w on Pokeblocks. Instead, he po visit the vehicle ma offi town to get a driver’s lise and then buy a pickup truck for transp fruit back to the ranch.

  He also o stock up on ingredients and seasonings sihe Pokémon had cleared out the stock while he was away.

  Naoki rode on Cyclizar straight into town and headed to the vehicle ma office.

  He paid the examinatioo a uniformed staff member, who then led him to the test area.

  pared to his previous life, getting a driver’s lise in the Pokémon world was surprisingly simple.

  To pass, you just had to demonstrate basic driving skills and answer a few questions while driving.

  Naoki breezed through the process without any issues. When it was done, he received his freshly printed driver’s lise, which still smelled of ink.

  With his lise in hand, he rode Cyclizar straight to a car dealership.

  The showroom was filled with vehicles of all types: ercial vans, sedans, luxury limousines—every option imaginable.

  Thanks to Pokémon, cars in this world weren’t particurly expensive. A reliable vehicle could be bought for a few huhousand Poké Dolrs.

  Luxury cars weren’t practical for Naoki’s needs, so he skipped them aually chose a brand-new white pickup truck for 120,000 Poké Dolrs.

  After paying, the truck was officially registered under his name.

  Patting the truck’s cargo bed, Naoki smiled and said, “Hop on!”

  Cyclizar, curious aed, leaped into the cargo bed in a single bound.

  “Hold tight and don’t move!” Naoki instructed before climbing into the cab.

  “Beep, beep, beep!”

  The truck started up smoothly. With Cyclizar onboard, Naoki drove toward Kosaji Town.

  This time, Naoki had another errand—buying a crib fonite’s egg at the request of Indeedee sister.

  He parked the truck outside a furniture store and told Cyclizar to wait. After some time, he emerged with two store employees carrying the crib.

  “Just load it onto the back,” Naoki directed.

  The crib joihe pile of food and daily supplies already iruck bed, alongside a cheerful Cyclizar.

  Looking at his fully loaded truaoki was impressed. This was far more vehan before. At least now he didn’t have to worry about transp rge items.

  Cyclizar, sensing Naoki’s happiness, grinned brightly.

  With all his errands plete, Naoki cpped his hands and said, “Alright, let’s head back!”

  “Gah~”

  “Oh, wait!” Naoki suddenly remembered o thing.

  He needed books on Pokémon eggs!

  In the games, eggs would hatch automatically after walking a certain distance. But in real life, it was bound to be more plicated. He’d o learn about incubation periods and how to care for newly hatched Pokémon properly.

  Although the Indeedee siblings were reliable in taking care of Pokémon eggs, Naoki still felt the o do his own research to feel more at ease.

  After all, what if more Pokémon on the ranch developed feelings for each other and id eggs?

  With this thought in mind, Naoki drove back to Kosaji Town a straight to the bookstore. With the help of a helpful clerk, he quickly found two books that seemed perfect for the task:

  Pokémon Breeding Guide by Dr. Elm. Pokémon Egg Hatg and Care by Dr. Elm.

  The store clerk smiled warmly as he handed over the books, saying, "These two books expihing about helping Pokémon breed and taking care of their eggs. They’re really popur with breediers!"

  "Breediers?" Naoki raised an eyebrow, curious. Was it the same cept he was familiar with?

  The clerk nodded. "Yes, there’s a Pokémon Daycare near Kosaji Town. Trainers leave their Pokémon there, and the daycare owners will take care of them. Sometimes, Pokémohere even breed with others."

  He tinued, "Daycares also specialize in raising Pokémon. If a young trainer is about to start their jourhey pay an adoption fee and choose a newly hatched Pokémon as their starter."

  Naoki nodded, now uanding how daycares operated in this world.

  Without asking more questions, he purchased the books and drove his pickup truck straight back to the ranch.

  As soon as Naoki parked, a crowd of curious Pokémon surrouhe vehicle, their eyes wide with intrigue.

  Naoki chuckled and introduced the truck with pride. "This is the car I told you about earlier. Now I give all of you rides!"

  "Pon!"

  Ogerpon looked excited, its eyes shining with anticipation.

  Naoki grihen began unloading the supplies from the truck bed with the help of Cyclizar. O was empty, he patted the truck’s bed and called out, "Alright, climb aboard!"

  Immediately, a group of Pokémon—including Alcremie, G, Pawmmot, Butterfree, Koraidon, Dragonite, and Dratini—happily swarmed into the truck bed, quickly filling it up.

  Naoki leasantly surprised by the truck’s capacity. It held all the Pokémon fortably, despite their weight differences.

  However, the five massive Garganaon stood at a distaheir eyes filled with envy as they watched the others settle in.

  Naoki sighed and said, "Don’t worry, I’ll take you ime!"

  With that assurahe Garganacl stayed back while Naoki started driving the truck around the ranch, cirg the open fields.

  The Pokémon riding in the back chirped and cheered, thhly enjoying the ride.

  After a few loops, Naoki parked the truear the house and called out, "Alright, that’s enough for now. Go have some, while I finish some chores!"

  The Pokémon gleefully leapt out of the trud scattered across the ranch to tinue pying.

  Naoki turo help Indeedee sister carry the new crib up to the sed floor, where they pced it in a cozy room.

  With a satisfied smile, the sister Indeedee spread out a soft b ihe crib. Meanwhile, her brother carefully cradled the Dragonite egg and pced it gently in the ter of the crib.

  "Ai-ye". “All done!” Sister Indeedee excimed with pride, admiring the setup.

  Naoki, now seated in a nearby chair, began flipping through the two books he had just purchased.

  The books, Pokémon Breeding Guide and Pokémon Egg Hatg and Care, were both written by Dr. Elm, a renowned researcher from the Johtion.

  Dr. Elm rotégé of the legendary Professor Oak, though her focus was uhe study of Pokémon breeding and egg care.

  He was the first person to discover that Pikachu had a pre-evolutionary form, and he also researched Pokémon egg groups extensively. In addition, Dr. Elm studied the characteristid evolution of Pokémon, unc many remarkable findings.

  Because of his exceptional tributions, Professor Oak once praised Dr. Elm as one of the foremost researchers in Pokémon evolution.

  As these thoughts about Dr. Elm filled Naoki's mind, he opehe book in front of him.

  "Pokémon breeding is the process by which two Pokémon of opposite genders, belonging to the same egg group, e together to produce offspring."

  "There is one exception: Ditto pair with nearly all Pokémon to produce eggs."

  "The offspring Pokémon hatched from eggs have a ce to i traits such as appearance, characteristics, moves, and abilities from their parent Pokémon. This process is generally referred to as heredity."

  "Studies indicate that the strohe parent Pokémon, the more advantageous traits their offspring will i."

  "Just as I thought," Naoki muttered as he flipped through the pages, soon arriving at Dr. Elm's detailed cssification of Pokémon egg groups.

  The book expihe various egg groups, including the Dragon group, Bug group, Fairy group, Flying group, and Grass group among others.

  Each group included examples. For instance, Pokémon like Machamp were categorized in the Humanoid group, while Dragonite beloo both the Flying group and the Dragon group.

  Naoki tinued reading.

  "The hatg time of eggs varies greatly depending on the Pokémon species. For Pokémon like Caterpie, the hatg process often takes only about ten days."

  "However, eggs of certain Dragon-type Pokémon take signifitly loo hatch. For instance, Dragonite, a long-lived and powerful Pokémon, requires five to ten months for its egg to hatch. This prolonged incubation period is believed to stem from the slow growth cycle on-type Pokémon."

  "Five to ten months..." Naoki mused. "That's quite a wait."

  It now made sense why Dragonite had mentiohat onite Isnd, Dragoypically leave their eggs to hat the grass.

  Naoki tio read the book, carefully itting key information to memory.

  ...

  By mid-April, summer had arrived, and the temperature outside had risen noticeably. At night, the ranch was filled with the rhythmic chirping of cicadas from the surrounding forest.

  People had shed their thick coats and sweaters in favor of lightweight, cooler clothing.

  One sunny m, Naoki was watering ailizing the World Tree that had grown signifitly on the ranch. Suddenly, an unfamiliar visitor arrived.

  Naoki turo see a girl dressed in a rustic outfit standing awkwardly he ranch gate. When their eyes met, the girl called out, her tone slightly nervous:

  "Excuse me, is this Naoki Ranch?"

  Naoki straightened up and responded, "Yes, it is!"

  He observed the girl more closely and hat she didn’t have any Poké Balls on her belt, which suggested she wasn’t a trainer looking to challehe trials.

  After a moment of thought, Naoki asked, "Is there something I help you with?"

  The girl nodded quickly and said, "Yes, I was w if you sell berries here?"

  "Berries?" Naoki was taken aback. If the girl wanted berries, wouldn’t it be easier to buy them from town?

  The girl noticed his fusion and quickly expined, "No, no! I need a rge amount of berries. I'm from Artazon Town, where we’re pnning to host a Bug Catg test. But the berries we use to make snacks for the event were all eaten by a Snorx!"

  "Without the berries, we ’t make the snacks that attract Bug-type Pokémon. If that happens, the test won’t take pce. I’ve already visited several other farms, but none of them have orchards."

  Bug Catg test? Artazon Town?

  Naoki vaguely remembered hearing about the pce from Mayor Thomas. He’d mentiohat st year’s harvest wasn’t very good there.

  Naoki hesitated for a moment and g his orchard. He’d retly harvested a batch of berries to use for developing poke blocks.

  After some thought, he realized there wasn’t a rush to start his project. Besides, with Calyrex around, the orchard’s berries would grow back quickly.

  He decided to lend a hand.

  "Alright," Naoki said, nodding. "I just harvested a batch of berries a few days ago. Tell me how many you need."

  The girl sighed with visible relief. "As many as possible!"

  Naoki: “…”

  He led her to his warehouse, where crates of berries were ly stored. The girl’s eyes lit up as she surveyed the stock. "I’ll take all of them!"

  Naoki raised an eyebrow. " the Bug Catg test evehis many berries?"

  The girl nodded shyly. "Yes, definitely! Lots of trainers have arrived in Artazon Towhe past couple of days, and they’re all excited to participate in the test."

  "Alright." Naoki mentally calcuted the price of the berries and asked, "Do you have a truck to transport them?"

  The girl hesitated, then said apologetically, "We don’t have one."

  Naoki: “…”

  With no other choice, he relented. "How long is the drive from Artazon Town to Kosaji Town?"

  "About twenty minutes by car," the girl answered.

  Twenty mihat wasn’t too far.

  Naoki nodded. "Alright, I’ll drive them over for you."

  The girl’s face lit up with gratitude. "Thank you so much!"

  After paying a deposit, she left on a Cyclizar to take care of other tasks.

  Naoki, along with his Pokémon, began pag the berries into crates and loading them onto his pickup truck.

  Once everything was set, Naoki climbed into the driver’s seat and hohe horn twice. "I’m heading out—anyone want to e along?"

  A chorus of excited cries followed as several Pokémon eagerly gathered around.

  Ogerpon hopped into the passenger seat, while Alcremie the Pawmot jumped onto the dashboard, pressiiny face against the windshield.

  G and a few Dragonairs squeezed into the backseat, leaning against the windows with curious eyes.

  Koraidon and Cyclizar climbed into the truck bed, where they settled fortably.

  her Flutter Mane nonite joihe trip, bidding Naoki goodbye as the truck pulled out of the ranch.

  As he drove along the try roads, Naoki couldn’t help but smile. The Pokémon’s cheerful chatter and pyful antics turhe journey into something special.

  Gng at the rearview mirror, Naoki saw the lively group and chuckled softly.

  With them around, every trip felt like an adventure. He thought to himself, 'I’ll never have a dull moment as long as they’re with me.'

  ...

  Bonus Chapter