With a soft "whoosh," Zorua materialized in one of the sed-floor rooms. Feeling the softness us paws, it instinctively khe surface, much like a cat making biscuits.

  Leaping gracefully from the bed, Zorua paused briefly before darting into the adjat room. There, it whispered something to Corvisquire, who was engrossed in watg a movie.

  "Suo."

  "Caw?"

  "Suosuo!"

  "Cawcaw."

  No one kly what Zorua shared with Corvisquire, but when it emerged from the room, it was carrying a smartphone in its mouth.

  Sihe farm began turning a profit, Natsume had purchased several phones ahem around the house, anticipating that some Pokémon might take an i ier.

  With moderworks and user-friendly devices, more and more Pokémon were being i addicts. A few even became famous online, capitalizing oech-savvy antics.

  A few mier, Zorua, now darting about the house, finally stopped. Before it y a pile of miseous items—pokéblocks, flower bouquets, ribbon-ed gift boxes, and more. Tilting its head, Zorua pondered for a moment, then sneakily gnced around.

  Seeing no other Pokémon in the living room, its small body began glowing with a faint blue energy. The scattered items were drawn toward the prepared satchel, as though magized.

  Don’t question how a tiny bag could hold so much.

  Pokémon tech, kid.

  Satisfied, Zorua slung the satchel over its shoulder. Floating slightly off the ground, it clutched the smartphoh its front paws, tapping and swiping with remarkable dexterity.

  Just then, the door creaked open, and Persian, freshly awake, sauntered into the room. The living room was empty, but its witched as it caught a familiar st.

  Its tail swayed zily, but Persian didn’t dwell on it. Everyone on the farm khat Zorua’s so-called "perfectly hidden" antics were far from subtle.

  The st Pokémon who had been this fident about its stealth? An Ogerpon caught sneaking into the game room in full view of everyone.

  Speaking of Ogerpon, it hadn’t shown up in a couple of days. If it didn’t appear tonight, Persian decided it might be worth reminding Natsume to che it.

  ---

  Elsewhere, Natsume was giving Mei a tour of the farm.

  It had all started when Snivy got flipped onto its head by a passing Zigzagoon. Unwilling to let it slide, Snivy instinctively chased after it. Mei, who had been preparing to leave, decided to stay and help sort things out.

  The situation ended with Snivy sulking in Mei’s arms while Ursaring pinned Zigzagoon to the ground.

  Judging by Zigzagoon’s pyful, tongue-lolling grin, it clearly didn’t take the scolding seriously. In the early days, being reprimanded by its mother would leave it nervous and upset. But now? Zigzagoon had lost t of how many times it had been pinned and scolded.

  To it, dodging these situations had bee a game—just a matter of perfeg its "Zigzagoon-style evasive maneuvers."

  Natsume, feeling somewhat responsible, offered to show Mei around the farm as an apology. Mei, sidering her pns to train in the area for a while, agreed.

  As a rainer, Mei wasn’t in any rush to pete in regional tours. She khat aiming for the Junior or Senior divisions in her first year was overly ambitious.

  Though she had undeniable potential as a trainer, growth and experience couldn’t be rushed—unless fate had a miracle in store.

  Jadeleaf Region was vast, and every year, a handful of lucky trainers mao befriend exceptionally strong Pokémon early in their journeys. Such occurrences weren’t unheard of, but Mei wasn’t ting on it. For now, her focus was on training aing stronger.

  “Oddish~”

  A line of Oddish marched past Natsume and Mei i formation. These Pokémon were also residents of the farm, though not as close to Natsume as his more loyal panions like Furret.

  While they aowledged Natsume’s authority as the farm’s owner and followed the rules, they preferred their own carefree lifestyle.

  This dynamic wasn’t unon. Even in Steenee’s domain, a few Bou showed little i in iing with Natsume.

  It wasn’t out of dislike ratitude—just a ck of i in bonding with humans. To them, their retionship with Natsume was akin to the e between vilgers and a sacred guardian spirit in some fantasy tales.

  The vilgers offer tributes, the spirit occasionally shows up to accept them aows blessings iurn.

  “Good afternoon, Oddish,” Natsume greeted, croug down to gently pat the heads of the Pokémon gathering around him.

  Reag into his pocket, he pulled out a bag of small treats and began handing them out one by one.

  Retly, Natsume had started experimenting with crafting Pokémon Poké Puffs. While pokéblock were great, switg things up occasionally was a nice ge of pace.

  Even the best noodles, no matter how varied, could make one crave riow and then.

  So far, the results were promising, and the effort had eveo the discovery of some tasty Pokémon snacks.

  “Maybe I have a hidden talent for this?” Natsume mused, silently his thanks to Hisui's deities for their guidance. After all, those blessings had been genuinely helpful.

  “Oddish!”

  The Oddish lined up, patiently waiting for their treats. Mei, who had crouched beside Natsume, instinctively pced her hands on her knees, watg the iion.

  Gng at Natsume and the snacks in his hand, she remarked thoughtfully, “You really seem to love Pokémon, Mr. Natsume.”

  “Just call me Natsume,” he replied, brushing crumbs off his hands as he stood.

  “I think most people, even if they don’t love them, don’t dislike Pokémoher,” he added with a shrug. “I’m just... normal, I guess.”

  In a world filled with Pokémohere people who truly disliked them? Certainly, just as some people disliked cats s.

  “But you’ve done a great job g for the Pokémon on your farm,” Mei pointed out.

  “Maybe,” Natsume said nontly, her agreeing nor disagreeing.

  He wasn’t oo judge others’ preferences. As long as they didn’t cross any boundaries, even someone obsessed with pink Walmart bags would get his blessing.

  “Alright the me show you the berry grove,” he offered with a smile. “That’s where our farm’s ‘security team’ resides.”

  Gcell