At night, Naoki camped uhe stars with his Pokémon.

  In the summer, though the daytime heat was intehe nights were cool and peaceful. The stars twinkled in the sky, and the chirping of distant is could be heard from the deep grass.

  Naoki y on the ground, resting his head on his arms as he gazed up at the starry sky. A group of Pokémon were curled up around him, and several Dratini were snuggled up on his belly, dozing off from exhaustion after a long day of py. They were no longer as eic as they had been earlier.

  "Did you know?" Naoki said softly, still staring at the stars. "There's a rumor that Pokémon live on those stars. They're called Cleffa, and it's said they came to our world a long time ago on a spaceship."

  Dragonite perked up with curiosity, while the other Pokémon, though less ied iale, still looked over.

  Cyclizar: "Gah?"

  Dragonite: "Ouch?"

  "I don't know if it's true," Naoki chuckled. "I just heard it somewhere. But I do know for sure that besides Cleffa, there are other powerful Pokémon in the universe."

  Deoxys came to his mind.

  Dragonite asked eagerly: "Ouch?" ( I meet one?)

  Naoki chuckled, thinking it over. "Maybe!"

  The world was still early in its space exploration. Teology hadn't advanced far enough to reach the vastness of space, but pces like the Mossdeep Space ter in the Hoenn regiohe starting points for humanity's journey into the os.

  Dragonite looked excited, anticipating the idea of expl the universe one day.

  Meanwhile, Pawmo, sitting nearby, was astonished by human achievements. The idea of venturing into the infinite universe was beyond anything it had ever imagined, having lived mostly in the wild.

  "Pawmo..." Pawmo murmured, its awe unmistakable.

  Naoki ughed. "Don't uimate humans!"

  The Pokémon around him turheir attention to Naoki, waiting for more.

  "Even though humans 't use moves like Pokémon, they have clever minds and skillful hands. They create all sorts of incredible maes."

  He paused, thinking of legends. "There are even Pokémon who've been captured by humans, like Lugia, the sea guardian that trols o currents and storms, or Raikou, the embodiment of thunder."

  Naoki's thoughts drifted to Mewtwo. "And it's not just that. Using teology, humans have eveed legendary Pokémon—powerful ones."

  "Huh?" Butterfree fluttered curiously.

  Naoki nodded. "Yes, it's called Mewtwo."

  ...

  Late at night, the chorus of is in the deep grass faded away. A cool breeze swept through the ranch, and the soft glow of moonlight bathed the nd in peace.

  Oher side of the river, a group of Psyduoticed the farmnd across the way. The st of ripe melons and fruits drifted through the air, making their beaks twit hunger. Over by the trees, a few Psyducks g the fields with longing, their mouths watering.

  The delicious aroma seemed to linger in the air, tempting them like a pair of invisible hands, being them closer.

  Eventually, one Psyduck couldn't resist any longer. It quietly slipped into the river, paddling across to the other side. The rest of the Psyduck tilted their heads in fusion at first but soon followed suit.

  As they tiptoed through the farmnd, one Psyduck stumbled upon a ripe watermelon. It tilted its head curiously, staring at the rge fruit before bumping its head against it with a quick tap.

  With a satisfying crack, the watermelon split in half, revealing its sweet, juiterior. Psyduck squealed with delight, burying its fato the fruit.

  The rest of the Psyducks were not far behind. Some started mung on the , others tangled with the pineapples, while a few wandered into the sunflower field, only to get lost a out pitiful cries of distress.

  Naoki and his Pokémon, who had been peacefully sleeping uhe stars, were abruptly awakened by the otion eg through the night.

  Startled, Naoki shot up, rubbing his eyes as he rushed over to check what was happening.

  When he finally saw the se, he was momentarily speechless.

  Uhe moonlit sky, with the fields glowing silver, stood the Psyducks, causing all sorts of mischief in his melon patch. It almost felt like a se from an old farmer's tale.

  For a sed, Naoki wondered if he should brandish a pitchfork like some kind of tryside guardian.

  As soon as the Psyducks realized they'd been caught, they panicked, holding their heads and running aimlessly, trampling through the crops and crushing flowers in their frenzy.

  Naoki's eyebrows twitched in frustration. Without wasting time, he sigo his Pokémon, and within moments, they had rounded up all the culprits who had ihe farmnd for a midnight snack.

  Now, six Psyducks stood in a row before him, their heads held in their flippers, looking as if they were in some kind of daze. Naoki wondered whether these goofy-looking Pokémon could even prehend what they had done.

  After pting for a moment, he asked with a ft expression, "What do you think you're doing?"

  "Quack, quack, quack!"

  He shouldn't have asked. The moment Naoki spoke, the Psyducks erupted into a panic, running in circles and bumping into each other in a chaotic dispy.

  One Psyduck actally bumped into another, and for a brief moment, they stared at each other, seemingly fused.

  Then, without warning, one Psyduck reached out and spped the other.

  In perfeedic timing, the sed Psyduck retaliated, spping back with equal force. The two then froze, blinking in fusion, as if they had fotten what had just happened.

  Naoki stood there, staring bnkly. "…"

  He was genuinely starting to wonder if Psyducks were just natural-born fools.

  But then, as he thought about Psyduck's peculiar nature, it all made sense. Psyducks are known to suffer from ic headaches due to the telekiic powers that build up in their heads. These headaches often leave them dazed and fused.

  The strohe headache, the more powerful their psychic abilities bee. When the pain reaches its peak, their psychic powers explode untrolbly.

  Ironically, after these psychic outbursts, the Psyducks seem to experieemporary relief from their headaches. But the intense mental strain likely affects their memory, leaving them with no recolle of what had just happened.

  This issue has been a challehat has puzzled the Pokémon academiunity for many years.

  Because using telekinesis gives Psyduck headaches, they usually try not to exert themselves and spend much of their time in a daze. bined with their silly, spaced-out expressions, they tend to e across as not very smart and rather clumsy.

  What should Naoki do when faced with such a Pokémon?

  It didn't feel right to scold them, but doing nothing also seemed wrong.

  After thinking for a moment, Naoki decided to have Koraidon carry the Psyducks one by one back to the other side of the river.

  Koraidon did as instructed, and Naoki took to the farmnd to pick the crops that had been damaged by the Psyducks. He hahe remaining fruits aables over to Koraidon to give to the Psyducks directly.

  Iurn, the Psyducks sitting across the river, who had been watg the whole se, were thankful and happily munched on their watermelons.

  ...

  The m, all the crops in the fields had ripened.

  After milking his Gogoat, Naoki put on his straw hat a out to harvest the crops uhe bzing sun.

  The st time he worked the nd, he had expahe farm siderably. Now, with the crops ready for harvest, he and Koraidon along with Cyclizar were feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work.

  At that moment, Naoki spotted the group of Psyducks across the river staring at him with curious, eager expressions.

  Suddenly, a bold idea popped into his mind.

  What if... he hired the Psyducks to help with the harvest?

  Just like whe help from Diglett before.

  And all he'd o provide them in exge was some food.

  There were more crops growing than the Psyducks could possibly eat, after all.

  The more Naoki thought about it, the better it sounded. He called Koraidon over and whispered his pn.

  Koraidon listened calmly, showing no particur surprise. It nodded and then made its way to the riverbank, where it began unig with the Psyducks.

  Naoki couldn't make out their versation, but before long, the group of Psyducks crossed the river and followed Koraidon to the farm.

  Naoki's curiosity piqued as he watched the Psyducks. They seemed perfectly fine—no signs of their usual headaches. So, he decided to ask, "Do you all uand what you're supposed to do?"

  "Quack!" the Psyducks responded in unison.

  Koraidon nodded and barked out instrus, "Ah, gah!"

  Without hesitation, the Psyducks sprang into a.

  They marched into the fields, quickly gathering all kinds of fruits aables in their arms and piling them ly on the grass.

  Naoki raised an eyebrow in surprise. 'They learn so fast?!'

  At first, everything seemed to be going well, but problems soon emerged.

  One Psyduck, struggling with a rge watermelon, decided it might be easier to move the fruit using telekinesis.

  However, as soon as its eyes began to glow with psychiergy, the Psyduck's head throbbed painfully, as if something were squeezing its brain.

  "Quack!"

  It let out a sharp cry, dropping the watermelon as it colpsed to the ground, clutg its head with both hands. Beads of speared on its forehead, and it squirmed in pain.

  Seeing this, Naoki rushed over, ed. He k down to che the Psyduck's dition.

  "It looks like the poor thing's brain was overstressed from using its telekinesis," Naoki murmured thoughtfully, gently patting the Psydu the back.

  After a brief moment of thought, Naoki turo Cyclizar and said, "Help me keep an eye on these Psyducks, and make sure they don't use their telekinesis."

  With that, Naoki hopped onto Koraidon and rushed toward the Pokémoer. Ohere, he purchased a special medie for Psyduck headaches from Nurse Joy.

  After returning to the rand giving the medie to the Psyduck, their expressiouro their usual goofy, dazed look.

  Naoki: "..."

  He suddenly regretted his decision.

  Not only did the Psyduot tribute to the job, but Naoki had also ended up paying for several bottles of medie out of his own pocket.

  Sighing i, he waved his hand and said to the group of Psyducks, "Alright, just go bad rest. sider these six watermelons my gift to you."

  With that, he called out, "Dragonite, e over and help me deliver the watermelons across the river!"

  Dragonite quickly picked up the watermelons and carried them to the other side of the river.

  The Psyducks, eyes fixated oermelons in Dragonite's cws, eagerly followed it, hopping along iement as they crossed the river.

  "The Digletts are still the most reliable!" Naoki sighed.

  Just as he said this, a group onair and Dratini that had snu fronite Isnd appeared, flying over excitedly.

  "Woo!"

  Naoki sighed, "Alright, you're all great too, but remember, no more squeezing into the Diglett tunnels. You'll just end up stuck again."

  Recalling the embarrassing i, one of the Dratini turs back, clearly too flustered to face everyone.

  Dragoched the se, amused.

  It secretly hoped that these Dratini and Dragonair would return tonite Isnd soon.

  Seeing Dratini sulking, Dragonite quickly rushed over, asking, "Awoo?" (Do you want to go back tonite Isnd? I help!)

  The little Dratini peeked at Naoki and huffed, "Woo!" (I'm mad! I want to go home!)

  Unfortunately, Naoki haden many of his transtioely due to his sore throat, so he couldn't uand what Dratini was saying.

  Seeing Naoki didn't read was still hard at work with Koraidon and Cyclizar, the little Dratini looked even more upset, as if it were on the verge of tears.

  Dragonite, sensing this wasn't going to end well, quickly turs head.

  Sure enough, the moment, Dratini flew toward Naoki. When it reached him, its big eyes were brimming with tears, looking pitiful.

  "What's going on?" Naoki asked, surprised.

  Dratini didn't say anything, instead ing its soft, snake-like body around Naoki's neck, resting on his shoulders like a living scarf.

  Naoki couldn't help but feel touched by Dratini's affeate gesture. He smiled and leaned in, pnting a gentle kiss on Dratini's big white nose.

  Nearby, the Pokémon—Koraidon, Cyclizar, and Dragonite—looked on, surprised and a little envious of the attention Dratini was getting.

  Notig their expressions, Naoki's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly tried to ge the subject. "Alright, let's get back to work! We'll have too much to do if we fall behind!"

  He chuckled to himself. No way was he going to start kissing the bigger Pokémon like he did with Dratini. Raising Pokémon is like raising babies: you kiss them when they're small, but ohey grow bigger, well... it's a different story.

  Cyclizar, for instance, was less than a year old but had already grown into a sizable Pokémon. It wasly the kind of "kid" you casually give a kiss to anymore.

  Who would kiss a 1.6-meter-tall Pokémon anyway?

  Luckily, the work in the field was quite busy, and after a moment of pouting, all the Pokémon refocused and got back to work.

  Koraidon, Cyclizar, and Dragohered the harvested crops i piles on the grass while Naoki, carrying a basket, began pig hops.

  These hops weren't for sale—Naoki po store them for brewing beer.

  There was a generous amount of hops, enough to brew two rounds of beer. Since hops could be harvested twice during the summer, it would be perfect for brewing in the uping autumn and winter.

  In addition to the hops, the wheat Naoki had pnted earlier, intended for malting, was also ready to be harvested.

  Naoki po start harvesting the wheat after he was doh the hops. The other crops, like , pineapples, watermelons, and pumpkins, would be left for the Pokémon on the ranch to enjoy.

  As Naoki worked, he kept a for any signs of mutated crops. He was hoping for something unusual, like st time.

  Unfortunately, it seemed like this batly produced two mutated crops: the pumpkins that could grow to any size, and the glowing pineapples.

  Though a bit disappointed, Naoki still felt that getting two mutant crops wasn't too bad sidering the odds.

  ...

  When Dr. Sada and Arven arrived at the ranch, they were greeted by the sight of Koraidon—sidered a priceless treasure by the researstitute—diligently w on the farm.

  Dr. Sada's jaw nearly dropped at the sight, her expression one of plete disbelief.

  She had heard Naoki mention before that Koraidon was surprisingly docile, but seeing it now with her own eyes was a shock.

  In Dr. Sada's mind, a Pokémon like Koraidon were supposed to be untamed, wild, and full of aggression, with a anding presehat made them seem untouchable.

  Yet here it was, helping out with farm chores.

  Dr. Sada eechless for a moment.

  And judging by how effortlessly Koraidon moved around the field, it was obvious this wasn't the first time it had helped with farm work at Naoki's ranch.