Kosaji Town.

  Dragonite slowly nded in front of a ansion.

  Naoki hopped off its back, walked up to the door, and knocked.

  After a moment, Madame Dantes answered, her kind smile lighting up her face. She adjusted her reading gsses aly said, "e in!"

  Naoki nodded and followed her inside. As they made their way to the living room, Madame Dantes said, "Half of the wool you gave me yesterday has already been made into fabric. At this rate, I should finish the rest in about two more days."

  That meant the project would be done by August 19th.

  Naoki had no objes. At Madame Dantes' invitation, he and Drago down on the sofa. Dragonite, being quite rge, found the sofa a bit small and awkward, so it had to curl up, hugging its tail to make room.

  Seeing this, Madame Dantes chuckled, "Dragonite is so adorable. Wait here for a moment, and I'll bring you some snacks."

  "Oooh~"

  Dragonite looked perfectly tee its cramped position, happy to be here.

  Naoki smiled politely, "Thank you, Madame Dantes."

  "It's nothing," she said with a warm smile and headed to the kit.

  As Naoki waited, he begaally calg the costs of getting ade clothes for Pokémon like Cyclizar.

  Soon enough, Madame Dantes returned with a cup of tea for Naoki and a gss of berry juice fonite.

  She set the steaming tea in front of Naoki. "Here you go, Naoki."

  Then she pced the gss of juice before Dragohis one's fonite, and here are some cookies I baked earlier. Help yourselves!"

  "Oooh!"

  Dragonite happily started mung on the cookies with its cws, clearly making itself at home.

  Naoki couldn't help but ask, "Does Dragonite usually act like this when it's here?"

  Uanding his question, Madame Dantes chuckled, "Dragonite's very well-behaved. Don't worry, I spoil it a little."

  Naoki smiled awkwardly.

  Madame Dantes lived in this small town with her husband, Wright, but Naoki had never heard much about their family. Judging by how much she adored Drago was clear she loved having the big dragon around.

  Naoki made a mental o send more ranch goodies her way. He decided not to dwell oopid iuro the matter at hand.

  He handed over the measurements he had taken of Cyclizar earlier that m. "Here are the height and waist measurements for Cyclizar."

  Madame Dantes g them and said gently, "Got it. I'll make the clothes acc to these measurements."

  Naoki asked, "How much should I pay you for this?"

  Madame Dantes was momentarily surprised but then smiled and shook her head. "There's no need for money. I'm happy to help."

  Naoki protested, "I 't just keep taking advantage of your kindness."

  "It's only o of clothes. Don't think of it as taking advantage. sider it a gift from me to Cyclizar." Madame Dantes' voice was kind but firm.

  Naoki sighed, "Alright, thank you very much for your help."

  Madame Dantes beamed. "That's better! And holy, we should be thanking you. If not for the fresh goat's milk you provided, Wright wouldn't have recovered so quickly."

  Naoki was about to point out that she had paid for the milk, but then he realized that only Madame Dantes resent. "Where's Mr. Wright today?" he asked.

  Madame Dantes ughed lightly, "Oh, him? He heard about some au stalls opening at the Kosaji market, selling all sorts of items for trainers, and he rushed off to check it out."

  Naoki smiled. "I see."

  Finishing his tea, Naoki stood up. He thanked Madame Dantes again and said his goodbyes before heading back outside with Dragonite and flying back to the ranch.

  Naoki had no choice. Since Mrs. Dantes wouldn't accept any money, he could only ask Dragoo deliver some gifts from the ranch as a token of appreciation.

  Looking at the crops, rock salt, berries, and fresh MooMoo milk arranged in front of it, Dragonite seemed fused.

  "Oooo?" Dragoilted its head in puzzlement.

  Naoki expined with a chuckle, "Since Madame Dantes won't take our money, we'll show our thanks with these gifts. If she ever needs help iure and we lend a hand, I'm sure she'll thank us in a simir way. It's called 'humaions.'"

  So plicated...

  Dragonite's head spun trying to uand, but after a moment, it gave up. It simply gathered up the gifts in its arms and flew off toward the town.

  ---

  Alliance dar Year 198, August 18, Autumn.

  Early that m, Naoki was sleeping soundly, cuddling Pawmot when he was suddenly awakened by a loud arm.

  Naoki blinked groggily as he tried to shake off his drowsiness.

  The sound persisted, growing louder, ing from somewhere he ranch.

  'Wait a minute... That sound...'

  'It's the arm from the town's fire department!'

  A surge of panic jolted Naoki fully awake.

  He wasn't the only one. Koraidon, who had been peacefully sn on the bed, had also sensed something was wrong. It got up, walked to the windoeered outside, a serious expression on its face.

  The night sky was bathed in a reddish glow. Naoki quickly rushed to the window and gasped.

  In the distance, fmes bzed fiercely in the back mountain, lighting up the sky.

  'Oh no! What Officer Jenny feared has finally happened!'

  There was a fire in the back mountain!

  This time of year, with the autumn leaves falling, dead branches and dried leaves were scattered across the ground like kindling. A fire in these ditions could easily spiral out of trol.

  "We o help!"

  Naoki quickly threw on some clothes and rushed into the living room where Koraidon was already waiting, alert and ready. He g Cyclizar and Alcremie, who had been startled awake.

  "You two, stay here a," Naoki instructed gently, before rag outside with Koraidon and Pawmot close behind.

  Just then, he saw Officer Jenny zooming by on her police motorcycle with her trusty Growlithe, headed toward the fire.

  Spotting the lights on in the ranch, Officer Jenny made a U-turn and pulled up beside Naoki. Her face was serious as she called out, "Naoki, the back hill is on fire! It's dangerous here. The fire could spread to the ranch. You o evacuate now!"

  Growlithe barked urgently beside her, "Arf! Arf!"

  But Naoki shook his head firmly. "I 't leave! This ranch is my home. It's where me and my Pokémon worked so hard... I have to protect it!"

  "Where's Dragonite?"

  Naoki shouted, and soonite flew over from the grass.

  Dragoill groggy from being woken up, arrived at Naoki's side in a bit of a daze. But when it saw the serious expression on Naoki's face, it quickly so attention.

  "Do you see that?" Naoki poioward the back mountain, where fmes were bzing into the sky.

  Dragours head and saw the red glow lighting up the sky. The whole dragon immediately woke up.

  Naoki quickly gave instrus, "Please, use Rain Dance! Make it rain around the area like st time!"

  Dragonite, sensing the urgen Naoki's voiodded firmly before taking off toward the back mountain.

  Miss Jenny, atg, was momentarily taken aback by what she saw, but she quickly regained her posure. "If you want to help, follow me!" she said with determination.

  Naoki nodded, mounting Koraidon, and together they followed Miss Jenny toward the back mountain.

  As they arrived, Naoki could see that many humans and Pokémon had already gathered at the foot of the mountain. The situation was dire, and the fmes had spread far and wide.

  A firefighter ran up to the captain, his voice filled with worry. "It's no use! The fire's too big. Our Water-type Pokémon only cover a small area with Rain Da's not enough to stop the fire pletely!"

  The captain's expression was grim, but he remained posed as he issued an order, "Set up an isotion zone around the back mountain to prevent the fire from spreading to the fields below!"

  Just then, another firefighter rushed over. "Sir! Our helicopter has spotted a group of Pokémon trapped in the heart of the fire! They're... they're w together to fight the fmes!"

  The captain's face tightened with . "We anize a rescue team immediately!"

  "Yes, sir!" the firefighter responded before hurrying off to rey the orders.

  At that moment, rge, dark clouds began to gather in the night sky. Uhe light of the fire, the shadowy clouds were stark and clear.

  Then, with a deafening crack of thunder, it began to rain.

  Huge, bean-sized raindrops pelted the burning nd below.

  The firefighters looked up in awe and relief. It was raining!

  Naoki breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness we made it in time..."

  The rain intensified, quickly being a downpour. As the cold raihe fiery bze, the back mountain was filled with the sound of crag as the fire struggled against the torrential downpour.

  The fmes were no longer spreading and gradually began to die down uhe relentless rain.

  Soon, the fire was reduced to embers, and what was once a r bze was now just sm ashes c the charred nd.

  Everyone huddled uhe fire truck's shed, watg the rain pour down outside.

  Naoki, along with Koraidon, joined Miss Jenny and the other firefighters.

  Some of the firefighters, overwhelmed with emotion, murmured through tears of relief, "It's over... thank goodness, it's over."

  Miss Jenny, however, remained posed, sing the area as she asked, "What's the current status?"

  The firefighter captain's tense expression eased a little. "The casualties are still unknown. We'll have to wait until the fire is pletely extinguished to assess the situation."

  Miss Jenny asked, "Do we know what caused the fire?"

  The firefighter captain sighed. "A trainer camping in the back mountain fot to put out their campfire before resting. When they woke up, the fire had already spread. They quickly rode their flying Pokémon to tact the fire department."

  Hearing this, Miss Jenny's face darkened. Just as she feared, this type of negligence had caused the disaster.

  At that moment, a surprised voice suddenly echoed from the captain's headset.

  The middle-aged firefighter, eyes red from fatigue, thought there was another emergency. He immediately frowned and barked, "Report the situation!"

  "It's... it's Dragonite!"

  Up in the sky, the firefighter piloting a helicopter to drop water bombs gazed in shock at the se below. Amid the night sky and heavy rain, a powerful and majestic Dragonite was flying above, surveying everything with calm authority.

  The Dragonite fpped its wings, creating powerful gusts of wind that turhe falling rain into a storm, direg it toward the fmes that were still burning.

  The firefighter quickly pieced it together.

  This wasn't a random storm. The rain and winds were being trolled by this Dragonite!

  In awe, he reported back. "It's a Drago's trolling the rainstorm and guiding it to extinguish the fire. It's also creating winds to mahe rain's dire. Wow... What a powerful Dragonite!"

  "What?"

  The fire captain on the ground was taken aback, his face filled with astonishment.

  'A Dragonite? Where did a Dragonite e from?'

  'No, wait—how could a Dragonite possibly wield such immense power?'

  ' a Dragonite really summon a torrential downpour of this magnitude?'

  Miss Jenny was also surprised when she heard the report. She turo look at Naoki, who stood quietly nearby.

  "Naoki?" Miss Jenny asked hesitantly, "Is it your Dragonite?"

  Naoki nodded slightly. "Yes, that's it."

  Miss Jenny's eyes widened.

  That meant Naoki was the one who stopped the fire!

  Upon hearing the versation, all the firefighters nearby were stunned.

  One of them stammered in disbelief, "Wait… is that Dragonite really your Pokémon?"

  Naoki, looking a little sheepish, replied, "That's right."

  Another firefighter, reizing him, chimed in, "Wait a minute, I know you! You're Naoki, from Naoki Ranch! Aren't you a rancher? How do you have such a powerful Pokémon?"

  Naoki: "…"

  How was he supposed to ahat?

  He knew well that, in the eyes of most people, a rancher was just a humble, ordinary farmer.

  And, to be fair, he could uand why people might be shocked. It's like hearing that a farmer who grows crops suddenly started crafting high-tech maery with their bare hands.

  "Hey, watouth!"

  The firefighter captain was the first to snap out of it. He gred at the firefighter who asked, then turned back to Naoki. With a wide grin, he cpped Naoki on the shoulder with a big, firm hand and said:

  "Well done, Naoki. On behalf of the Kosaji Town Fire Department, I want to express our sihanks!"

  Miss Jenny, standing beside them, also looked visibly relieved. She gave Naoki a serious salute and said, "I'd like to thank you on behalf of the police station too. It's all thanks to you, Naoki."

  "It was just a small favor," Naoki replied modestly, shaking his head.

  At that moment, Miss Joy, who was in charge of rescue operations, arrived with her sey in tow. They jumped out of their vehicle and hurriedly ran uhe shelter to escape the rain.

  "What's the situation?" she asked, looking anxious.

  Miss Jenny responded, "The rain has weakehe fire signifitly. But we're not sure about the injuries to the wild Pokémohere's still a lot of work to do."

  "I see..." Miss Joy's usual gentle demeanor turned into one of deep .

  Naoki quietly stepped aside, the expressions of everyone around him.

  While the fire was under trol, there wasn't a sense of relief. No one was smiling.

  The reason was simple: stopping the fire was only the beginning.

  The real challenge y ahead—the recovery after the fire.

  With winter approag, the trees and pnts scorched by the fmes wouldn't have time trow in just a few months.

  And with so many wild Pokémon living in the back mountain, even if they survived the fire, how would they make it through the harsh winter without food?

  It was clear to everyohat the ecosystem of Kosaji Town's back mountain was in jeopardy.

  Naoki felt a pang of helplessness.

  But then, an idea came to him.

  'No, maybe it wasn't hopeless after all.'

  If he could ihe King of Bountiful Harvests, then the damaged ecosystem could be restored.

  Not only that, but the presence of the King could also inspire faith and hope in both the humans and Pokémon of the town. The nd might thrive again, faster than ahought possible.