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Chapter 368: Story Time

  Naoki cleared his throat, settling fortably on the sofa.

  "Alright, the me tell you a story I heard from the Gar region."

  He began, "A long time ago, in a peaceful little vilge called Appleton, the townsfolk lived happily, surrounded by lush apple orchards. But one day, a fearsome dragon Pokémon appeared. It destroyed the orchards and took the mayor's daughter, leaving the town in terror."

  Naoki paused for dramatic effect, gng at the captivated Pokémon before tinuing.

  "Just when the vilgers thought all hope was lost, a kind and ceous Sylveon arrived iown. Hearing of their plight, Sylveon decided to face the dragon. After a series of brave efforts, it not only rescued the mayor's daughter but also drove the dragon away, rest peace to the vilge. From that day on, Sylveon became a beloved protector, living happily with the townsfolk."

  Eevee and G both looked dreamy-eyed, clearly ented by the tale.

  "Bu-yi!" Eevee chirped excitedly, its admiration for Sylveon evident.

  However, the story hadn't gone unnoticed by the ranch's Dragon-type Pokémon. Dragonite, lounging nearby, rose with an indignant cry, "Awoo!" It seemed to object to the portrayal ons as vilins.

  Cyclizar nodded hesitantly, agreeing with Dragonite, while Koraido out a resonant growl in protest. The three Dragon types formed a united front, demanding an expnation.

  Naoki chuckled awkwardly. "It's just a story, you three. If you want, I tell you a tale about brave Dragon-types saving the world tonight."

  "Raao!"

  Koraidon replied eagerly, immediately agreeing.

  Dragonite and Cyclizar nodded as well, seemingly appeased.

  "Alright, alright," Naoki said with a ugh. "I'll tell you a story tonight, I promise."

  Turning his attention back to Eevee, he asked, "So, have you made up your mind? What kind of Eevee do you want to evolve into?"

  Without hesitation, Eevee tapped the image of Sylveon with its paw pads. "Bueeeee!" it decred enthusiastically.

  Naoki sighed, a wry smile spreading across his face. "Well, it seems like this little Eevee has a heart set on being a dragon-syer."

  "Are you sure?" he asked o time.

  Eevee nodded vigorously. "Buyi!"

  "Alright, then," Naoki said. "From now on, we'll work toward evolving you into Sylveon."

  He began recalling how Sylveon evolved in the games. "If I remember correctly," he mused aloud, "you'll o form a strong bond with your trainer and learn a Fairy-type move to evolve. Looks like we've got some work ahead of us."

  Naoki didn't mind, though. Time wasn't an issue.

  As the day wore on, Naoki let Eevee and G py together while he headed out to the orchard with Koraidon and Cyclizar. A fresh batch of berries had ripened orees, their vibrant cleaming in the sunlight.

  Seeing the bountiful harvest, Naoki made up his mind. "These berries will make perfect Poffins."

  The orchard was brimming with fruit, but thanks to the diligent help of the Pokémon, the pig process went smoothly.

  The harvested fruit was collected into baskets, and by the end of the day, they had filled six rge ones.

  What caught Naoki's attention, though, were two distinctly shimmering fruits mixed in with the harvest.

  [Dyed Fruit: Special ingredient. Wheen, this fruit ges the Pokémon's color. It be ed directly or used in cooking.]

  The memory of Pawmot eating one of these fruits and being a Shiny Pawmot immediately resurfaced in Naoki's mind. Now, there portunity for two more Pokémon to bee Shiny on the ranch!

  The question was: who should get them?

  Naoki's first thought was Koraidon. Its sleek bck Shiny form was undeniably cool and intimidating. But then his gaze shifted to Eevee.

  If Eevee ate the Dyed Fruit, its evolution into Sylveon would turn it into a Shiny Sylveon, transf its color palette from pink to a charming blue. That image tugged at Naoki's heart.

  "It's decided," he thought with a grin. "One of these will go to Eevee!"

  But that still left one more fruit.

  As Naoki sidered his options, his eyes fell on the pyful Dragonair nearby. Among them was one distinctive pink Dragonair.

  Everyone knows that a Shiny Dragonair retains its unique coloration through evolution… until it bees a Dragonite. Shiny Dragonite's green hue, while rare, was... divisive, to say the least.

  After mulling it over for a moment, Naoki made his decision. He waved at the pink Dragonair, who flew over, curious.

  "Woo?" Dragonair tilted its head inquisitively.

  Naoki crouched down and held out the Dyed Fruit. "If you eat this, your color will ge to match your panions. Do you want that?"

  Dragonair bli the fruit, hesitated for just a moment, then opes mouth and devoured it ie.

  Immediately, a radiant light engulfed its body. In the glow, Dragonair's pink scales gradually shifted to a uniform tone, identical to the others in the group.

  The nearby Dragathered around, their cries of amazement filling the air. They circled their newly transformed panion, who was now indistinguishable from the rest.

  Dragonair looked at its refle in the nearby water, seemingly startled. But its expression soon ged to one of excitement. It clearly wasn't sad about losing its distinctive pink color—in fact, it seemed overjoyed to finally match its friends.

  Naoki smiled warmly. "Just as I thought," he said softly.

  He reached out, patting Dragently on the head. "Alright, you all go back to pying. I still have work to do!"

  The Dragonairs huddled together, murmuring among themselves, before collectively deg to follow Naoki. Their iions were clear—they wao help.

  Naoki g the six baskets of fruit. While he appreciated their enthusiasm, he couldn't ighe obvious: Dragonair didn't have hands.

  "You could pick them up with your mouths," he thought, "but that seems inve…"

  Before he could figure out a solution, Koraidon and Cyclizar had already stepped in. They effortlessly moved the st basket into pce, pleting the task.

  Seeing this, Naoki turo the eager Dragonair and said with a chuckle, "I appreciate your kindness, but you're still a bit too small for this kind of work. Let's wait until you evolve into big, strong Dragons—then you help out, alright?"

  "Woo…" The Dragonair drooped their heads, visibly disappointed.

  The Dragonairs perked up quickly, their spirits reignited with determination.

  "Wooo". 'Being a big dragon…' they thought collectively. 'Does that mean evolving intonite?'

  Yes! When they evolved intohey could finally assist Naoki, just like those Dragohey admired so much! Their hearts filled with resolve, the Dragonair made a silent pact to train harder and grow stronger for Naoki's sake.

  Naoki, oblivious to the aspirations brewing in the Dragonair's minds, simply smiled at their cheerful demeanor. "Alright, you guys keep pying. I o take these berries back to the house."

  With that, Naoki hopped into the driver's seat of his pickup truck, Koraidon and Cyclizar following closely behind. They drove the berry-den truck to the front of the house, where he and the two Pokémon began unloading the fruits into the kit.

  Naoki carefully separated the berries into two groups. One portion was set aside for making Poffins and berry juice, while the rest was reserved for a new experiment—developing Poke blocks.

  Poke block creation was no simple task. While there were pre-established recipes for various Poke blocks, the rare and specialized formus were ofte secret, leaving Naoki to figure things out on his own.

  At present, he only had a handful of recipes: a Poke block for attrag Poipole, one for feeding Snorx, and a few others. However, those weren't enough to meet his growing needs on the ranch.

  His first project? Improving the Poke blocks meant for Snorx.

  Since evolving into Snorx, its appetite had grown signifitly, and the inal Poke block was no longer suffit to satisfy its colossal hunger.

  Naoki set to work, mentally adjusting the recipe as he gathered ingredients.

  "Let's see…" he muttered. "Snorx needs more energy and calories now. I'll s out the Eggant Berry frepa Berry—it's much higher in energy tent. That should help."

  He sifted through the berries. "As for fvor… Pecha Berry is sweet, which is fine for most Pokémon, but not Snorx. It prefers something richer. Exotic fruit would work better here."

  Naoki carefully he adjustments. "We'll also o increase the quantity to match its appetite."

  With the p, Naoki began making the Poke blocks by hand.

  Manually crafting Poke blocks wasn't as ve as using an automated berry mixer, but it gave Naoki more trol over the process.

  Step by step, he peeled, blended, heated, and stirred the berries. The st of the rich fruit mixture filled the kit.

  Finally, the first batch of Poke blocks was ready. Naoki pulled them out of the oven and examiheir appearahey were dark, almost bck.

  His optimism faded as he ied them closer. The Poke blocks were duds—no energy-boosting effects at all.

  "Failed, huh?" Naoki muttered, setting the batch aside. He wasn't surprised. Trial and error were part of the process.

  He leaned against the ter, refleg on the possible mistake. "Maybe the ratio of Berry to Exotic Fruit was off… Or I overcooked it during the heating stage."

  Uerred, Naoki gathered more berries and began his sed attempt.

  This time, he adjusted the fruit proportions slightly and paid closer attention to the heating process.

  The sed batch? Another failure.

  "Still no good?" he sighed, but instead of frustration, his determination grew.

  By the time the third and fourth attempts failed, Naoki was deep in thought, tweaking the recipe with each attempt.

  On his fifth attempt, Naoki noticed a promising ge. The Poke bloo lourned bck but instead shimmered with a peculiar indigo-purple hue.

  Realizing the potential significe of this result, Naoki eagerly ied the block's details.

  [Snorx Food: Special Poke Block for Snorx. Made using advanced fruit pression teology, it denses dozens of high-energy berries into a single cube. One cube is enough to fully satisfy a Snorx's hunger.

  Note: Not suitable for ption by ordinary Pokémon.]

  "Success!" Naoki excimed, holding the cube triumphantly. His persistence had paid off, and the challenge of feeding Snorx was now much simpler.

  Excited, Naoki washed his hands and jotted down the recipe for the Poke blo his notebook.

  Naoki had two important notebooks he used to keep track of his discoveries:

  The Cooking Encyclopedia: This tained detailed recipes and preparatiohods for special Pokémon dishes, along with their effects.

  The plete Book of Poké Blocks: This book recorded all his Poké Blous and their effects.

  With the addition of the new Snorx Food recipe, Naoki felt a surge of aplishment.

  Still brimming with enthusiasm, Naoki decided to experiment further. This time, he didn't have a specific goal in mind. Instead, he mixed and matched random berries to create new Poke blocks, how different binations influeheir effects.

  Hours passed as Naoki worked diligently, and before he k, the sun had dipped below the horizon.

  Though he wasn't a professional breeder, Naoki mao discover some useful formus by the end of the day.

  [Grass Poke Block: Attracts Grass-type Pokémon. Pg it in the wild guarahe appearance of Grass-types.]

  [Bug Snack: Attracts Bug-type Pokémon. Its taste is highly appealing to them and works like a charm in the wild.]

  While the results weren't groundbreaking, Naoki was satisfied with the progress. "It's a start," he muttered, examining the small colle of blocks he'd produced.

  To test their appeal, Naoki shared the cubes with Butterfree, Gogoat, Arboliva, and, all Pokémon with Grass attributes. The response was overwhelmingly positive.

  Seeing their enthusiasm, Naoki grinned. Even if he hadn't created anythiraordinary, the Pokémon were happy, and that made the effort worthwhile.

  After dinner, Naoki had pnned for an early bedtime. However, his phwarted when the ranch's dragon-type Pokémonite, Cyclizar, and Koraidon—gathered around him expetly.

  Naoki sighed, smilie himself. He'd promised them a bedtime story about heroic dragon Pokémon, and they weren't going to let him fet.

  He led the eager Pokémon outside to the riverbank, where fireflies danced in the soft glow of moonlight. The sereing made for the perfect storytelling atmosphere.

  While sitting uhe starry sky, Naoki mulled over his options.

  Although he knew fairy tales like the one about Sylveoing dragons were popur in the Gar region, he wanted something that would uplift his dragon Pokémon instead of casting them as vilins.

  Then it hit him: the legendary tale of Rayquaza, the majestic dragon Pokémon whht peace to a warring world.

  With the dragons gathered around, Naoki began his tale:

  "Once upon a time...."

  .....

  Bonus Chapter

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