After returning to the ranch, Calyrex and Dragonairs were still fast asleep.

  Taking advantage of the quiet, Naoki worked in the garden, tilling the soil and pnting the carrot seeds he had bought. Notig that the ice carrot and shade root carrots in the fields were nearly devoured by the hungry Gstrier and Spectrier, he went ahead and pnted more carrot seeds.

  This time, there was no need for Calyrex's powers to accelerate their growth; they would grow steadily in their own time.

  Whehing was finished, it was already noon, and sister Indeedee had prepared a warm lunch.

  The chill outside melted away as Naoki stepped into the cozy room, where the firepce crackled, filling the space with warmth. He let out a sigh of fort as he slipped into his cotton slippers and looked around.

  Brother Indeedee and Pawmot, who had both slept through the m, were already up, standing in the living room with sheepish expressions.

  "Why are you two just standing there? e over a!" Naoki called out casually, pretending not to notice their sleepy faces.

  The Pokémon perked up with cheerful cries and dashed over to their table.

  As they ate, Naoki's mind drifted to the thought of a cute pink Pawmot, and he couldn't help but ask with a grin, "Pawmot, how would you feel about ging your fur?"

  "Pawmo?!" (What?!)

  Pawmot looked startled, eyes wide.

  It remembered a te-night movie it had watched with G and Alcremie while Naoki was away. The main characters were a group of Pikachu who lived happily together in a forest—until an evil spirit appeared one day.

  This spirit, as the movie went, okémon whose fur had been stolen by a vilin long ago. Now, it wahe forest, filled with rese, asking every Pokémon if they'd seen its missing fur. No matter what they answered, the spirit would strip the fur from any Pokémon it found, leaving only fear and terror in its wake.

  The Pikachu in the movie didn't escape either and lost their beautiful fur to the spirit's curse.

  Whenever he thought of that movie, Pawmot still felt chills down his spine.

  And now, Naoki was asking him the very same question. Could it be that Naoki had bee… the demon?

  Pawmot: ==(●●|||)

  Naoki noticed Pawmot's shocked expression and asked, puzzled, "What's with that look on your face?"

  In respohe Pokémon group eagerly reted the story of a wicked midnight demon that specialized in stealing the fur of Pokémon.

  "How awful!" Naoki excimed, pounding the table as he stood up in indignation.

  Pawmot and Alcremie huddled together, nodding. "Pamo!" (Exactly!)

  "No way! I o report this! That's not just a movie—that's a Pokémon horror cssiaoki decred. He resolved to stay up one night to iigate, curious to see just how intehis "movie" really was.

  Pawmot and the others were still visibly shaken, and even Dragonite shuddered at the memory of the chilling ses. Cyclizar, who hadn't seen the movie, looked pletely lost, while Koraidon gave a resigned sigh.

  "Ah, gah…" Koraidon muttered.

  Seeing the Pokémon's genuine fear, Naoki softened. "There's o worry. It's just a movie. When I say ging your fur, I don't mean taking it off—I just mean ging the color."

  Pawmot looked uain. "Pamo?"

  Naoki enced him, "Do you want to give it a try?"

  Seeing Naoki's excited expression, Pawmot felt a spark of curiosity and decided to go along with it.

  "Great!" As lunch was ing up, Naoki pced a dyed fruit in front of Pawmot.

  Pawmot eyed the sweet, fragrant fruit that looked a lot like a berry. Taking a big bite, he fi quickly.

  Within moments, his e coat began to shift, slowly turning into an adorable shade of pink.

  The Pokémon watg nearby gasped with delight, some expressing envy, others charmed by Pawmot 's new look.

  Pawmot looked down at his new pink fur, feeling a little u first. But as he noticed the bright, admiring looks from everyone around him, he started to feel a bit bashful, standing on the sofa, slightly dizzy from all the attention.

  "Alcremie…"

  Alcremie's eyes sparkled with excitement. Among the family, she had always loved pink things the most! And now, seeing Pawmot looking as pink and soft as whipped cream, she couldn't resist—she wao look that way too!

  She turo Naoki with hopeful eyes.

  Naoki thought about Alcremie's usual color—a soft pinkish cream that matched her joyful personality perfectly. "But if you eat that fruit, it might ge you to a color that's… a bit ued," Naoki expined gently.

  Upon hearing this, Alcremie's excitement dimmed, her bright eyes losing a bit of their spark. She residered, deg that maybe her current color suited her just fier all.

  Naoki chuckled and reassured her, "Holy, you look perfe your current color."

  Cheered by Naoki's words, Alcremie smiled, tent with her natural look.

  Meanwhile, Dragoched Pawmot 's transformation thoughtfully. He remembered a pink Dragonair ba Dragonite Isnd and thought,

  'Maybe Naoki really loves this color! If I turned pink too, maybe Naoki would never look at another Dragonite again!'

  With this amusing idea in mind, Dragorotted up to Naoki and looked at him eagerly. "Awoo!"

  Naoki chuckled, guessing his meaning even without a transtor. "...So, you want to ge color too?"

  Dragonite nodded enthusiastically. "Awoo!"

  The thought of a Dragourning into a pastel pink one filled Naoki's mind, and he wasn't quite sure what to say. After a pause, he decided to give the Pokémon a bit of insight into the world of differently-colored Pokémon.

  "Shiny Pokémoruly special. They're incredibly rare—so rare, in fact, that only o of thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands, is born with a different color."

  "Just like its name, a Shiny Pokémon's c is very different from others in its species," Naoki expined with a smile.

  "So far, you've probably seen one Shiny Pokémon—the pink Dragonair that visits the ranch regurly."

  The Pokémon around him immediately remembered the group onairs who often came to py, recalling that one of them was indeed a unique shade of pink.

  Naoki tinued, "Different Shiny Pokémon have different colors. For example, Shiny Teddiursa is Green."

  "Awoo?" Dragonite asked eagerly, clearly wanting to know what its Shiny color would be.

  Naoki picked up a greeable leaf and held it up, "It would be this green color."

  "Awugh!" Dragonite made a noise of distaste, clearly unimpressed, and quickly lost all i in ging its color.

  Naoki chuckled and tinued, listing colors, "For Shiny Dolliv, it's golden yellow, Butterfree has Pinkish-Purple wings with green eyes, Cyclizar is a silver gray, and Koraidon has a gold shade with gray at."

  With all eyes on him, Naoki gnced around at his audience of curious Pokémon. "Got it?"

  All the Pokémon nodded in uanding.

  Naoki smiled, "The fruit that Pawmot ate is something called 'Dye Fruit,' which grows in our orchard. If more fruits like this grow, you try them out for yourselves. Oe ges your color, and if you decide to go back to your inal look, a sed fruit will restore it."

  ...

  Iernoon, Kelly drove over to help Naoki with the stable stru.

  As she pulled up, her gaze nded on a pink Pawmot happily zooming around the ranch with a small cape fluttering behind it.

  Kelly blinked, surprised. "Is…is that Pawmot…pink?"

  Naoki ughed. "It ate a fruit called the Dye Fruit, which ge the color of Pokémon."

  "Oh, I see!"

  At the sound of their voices, Pawmot turned and trotted over cheerfully.

  Kelly's eyes sparkled at the sight of the pink Pawmot, who looked like an adorable plush toy e to life. She found herself instinctively reag out to pet it but quickly caught herself, looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I've just never seen Pawmot like this before."

  Naoki smiled, scooping Pawmot up and giving its little paw a gentle squeeze.

  "Pamo~" Pawmot cooed happily.

  "Isn't it adorable?" Naoki asked.

  "Absolutely," Kelly replied, uo take her eyes off Pawmot. "pletely adorable."

  Pawmot let out a pyful cry. Naoki smiled, thinking that Pawmot's adorable appearance might have some surprising advantages in battles.

  Anyoing Pawmot for the first time would likely think it was just a cute, soft, and harmless Pokémon. But in truth, Pawmot could wield a hammer with sparks and lightning, striking down oppos with incredible strength.

  Tinkatuff was already hard at work f a special hammer for Pawmot, using Corviknight feathers that were highly ductive. With this hammer, Pawmot would soon reach its full potential—practically being a little "Thunder Lord" on the ranch.

  Naoki gave Pawmot a ge. "Alright, go have some fun!"

  Pawmot let out a joyful cry and bounded off.

  Kelly's gaze lingered on Pawmot as it trotted away. After a moment, she snapped out of her daze, finally remembering the main reason she'd e. Looking around, she asked, "Have you decided where to set up the stables?"

  Naoki nodded, leadio the side of the house and pointing to an open area. "Let's set them up here! It'll be easy to access when we head out."

  Having so many mount Pokémon now, Naoki sometimes found it hard to decide who to take on his outings. But building the stables close to the house would keep all his panions nearby.

  "Sounds good!" Kelly rolled up her sleeves and got to work, while her Machamp moved the tools and wood from her truck. Soon, the steady sound of hammering and stru filled the air.

  The stable was a retively small project, ohey expected to finish within a few hours.

  Meanwhile, Naoki wandered around the ranotig that he hadn't seen Gstrier and Spectrier around. After a bit of searg, he found the two of them by the river in the orchard, drinking from the cool, clear water.

  Just then, Calyrex appeared beside the two horses, joining them for a drink. Notig Calyrex, Naoki approached with a smile.

  "I didn't want to wake you, so I prepared some extra food for you," he said kindly.

  Calyrex gave a gracious nod and replied, "Calyrex!" in his usual cheerful tone.

  Naoki blinked.

  Oops, he realized he'd once again lost the ability to uand the Calyrex words.

  It wasn't a huge issue to keep eating seeds for transtion, but Naoki thought it would be amazing if Calyrex could use telepathy.

  Unfortunately, He didn't have that skill.

  Naoki took a deep breath, and as he pondered, a thought suddenly struck him about the Calyrex's abilities. As everyone knew, Calyrex was a Grass and Psychic-type Pokémon. Given that some Psychion naturally had telepathic abilities, could it be possible for tCalyrex to learn telepathy?

  Curious, Naoki looked over at Calyrex.

  Notig Naoki's i gaze, Calyrex tilted His head with a puzzled expression.

  "Calyrex, have you ever heard of the ability called telepathy?" Naoki asked.

  Telepathy? Calyrex seemed fused and shook his head, indig He'd never heard of it.

  Naoki expined, "It's an ability where you don't o speak aloud or use a medium. You directly unicate your thoughts to another person and uand theirs iurn."

  He thought of the Pokémon in the anime who had mastered this skill and tried to guess at the meics behind it. "Basically, you use your psychic powers to send your thoughts directly to the other person's mind, and thehose same powers to seheir thoughts. It allows you to talk without actually speaking."

  Psychic abilities were indeed mysterious and powerful. If anyone was a master of them, it was Mewtwo.

  In the anime, Mewtwo could probe deeply into a person's memories, even altering them or pnting false ones. It could even erase specific memories if it wao.

  Calyrex listened ily, pting the idea. He opened His mouth as if to say something, theated, closing it again.

  Telepathiunication? It was a new cept and ohe Calyrex hadn't tried or even sidered before.

  In the past, whehe Calyrex o unicate with humans, He would usually el His thoughts through a human voice.

  But now…

  Calyrex closed his eyes, fog carefully as he began to explore the method Naoki had described.

  He gathered his psychic powers, ed his thoughts within them, ahem gently into Naoki's mind.

  A moment ter, Naoki heard the Calyrex's voice, clear and warm, in his thoughts—

  "Is this how it works?"

  Naoki's eyes brightened, and he nodded eagerly. "Yes, exactly!"

  As expected of a wise Pokémon, Calyrex had mastered it right away!

  "I see... So that's how it's done... It's truly remarkable! I never realized I could unicate with humans in this way. This opens up so many possibilities!"Calyrex said, telepathically marveling at the discovery.

  Seeing that Calyrex had learelepathy, Naoki breathed a sigh of relief. His sore mouth from all the transtion seeds could finally get some rest.

  Turning to more practical matters, Naoki tinued, "I've invited someone from town to help build a stable for Spectrier and Gstrier. After it's done, you let me know if it feels right for them."

  "Yes," Calyrex responded, noddily as he gazed lovingly at his two loyal horses. "My beloved horses are used to the vast, icy pins. But here... here is fortable. I sehey've taken a liking to your ranch."

  Naoki looked over at Spectrier and Gstrier. At this stage, his bond with Gstrier was clearly stronger, as the ice horse was especially fond of the ice carrots he'd grown. Spectrier, oher hand, was a bit more reserved.

  As Naoki's gaze fell orier, he found the Spirit Horse looking back at him, with a pair of soft, soulful eyes.

  Naoki and the Horse exged a warm gnce before he chuckled and said, "Oh, I almost fot! I've got grass cakes baking at home! I'll go get them. You wait for me in the gss greenhouse."

  Calyrex nodded graciously, and Naoki headed inside, retrieving the fresh grass cake from the oven. As he held the cake, information about its effects appeared in his mind.

  [Grass Cake (A): A cake crafted with ripe summer grass, flour, MooMoo Milk, and whipped cream from Alcremie.]

  Cooking Effect: Thousand ges. When given to a Grass-type Pokémon, there is a small ce that crops grown with its Grass energy may undergo uations.

  Evaluation: This cake blends various fvors perfectly, beloved by Grass-type Pokémon. The Pokémon that enjoys it may even express their gratitude in surprising ways.

  Naoki brought the cake, bck tea, and tea set over to the greenhouse. As he arrived, he noticed Sinistea and Polteageist drifting in after him, following curiously.

  When he opehe door, he saw the Calyrex already seated at the iroable.

  Naoki set the grass cake oable and was about to pour two cups of bck tea when Sinistea and Polteageist floated toward the table.

  Curious, Naoki asked, "You want some too?"

  "Polteageist!"

  Polteageist shook its head, smiling happily from within its teapot. It loved the cozy atmosphere of the greenhouse and appreciated Naoki's tea, which made it feel truly tent. Now, it wao share its own carefully brewed bck tea with Calyrex and Naoki.

  Polteageist twirled around the teacups oable, filling each with a fragrant, clear purple tea.

  Ohe cups were full, Polteageist joyfully danced among the flowers, inviting Naoki and Calyrex to try it with a cheerful "Bu!"

  Calyrex leasantly surprised, quickly realizing Polteageist's iion.

  He expio Naoki, "This little one is inviting us to try its own tea."

  Naoki's eyebrows raised in delight. He uood what a special gesture this was.

  Polteageist's tea was renowned for its distinct fvor and aroma—a rare treasure not often shared. Typically, Polteageist kept its tea to itself, and any attempts to drink it would result in Polteageist spraying an unpleasant tea into the intruder's mouth. This "unwilling tea" would leave anyone chilled to the bone.

  But now, Polteageist enly inviting them to taste it.

  This heartfelt gesture showed that Polteageist had started to trust him and Calyrex. Naoki smiled, touched by this adorable dispy of friendship.