M sunlight filtered through the gss, casting a warm glow in the room as tiny particles danced in the air currents. From the window, a heartwarming se unfolded.

  A handsome boy y fast asleep on his bed, cradling a shiny pink Furret in his arms. At the foot of the bed, a Persia soundly, shielding its head with its paws from the pierg sunlight. On a zy reer, a petite Mino stretched nguidly, loosening its tiny limbs.

  After rubbing the sleep from its eyes, Mino gnced out the window at the sery before hopping lightly onto the pillow to sume awake.

  "Mino," it squeaked softly.

  "M, Mino," Natsume mumbled as he groggily opened his eyes. Smiling at the adorable Pokémon so close, he reached out aly ruffled its head, elig a blissful expression from the tiny creature.

  A few mier, Natsume stood ihroom, hair a chaotic mess, brushing his teeth while scrolling through his phone. Beside him, Mino diligently brushed its teeth with its miniature toothbrush, mirr its trainer’s routine.

  It had been about a week sihe mischievous Ogerpon had "visited" Natsume’s farm. That night, Natsume hadn’t captured Ogerpon, choosing io establish a bond of friendship. Before leaving, Natsume had told the Pokémon it was wele to visit the farm anytime.

  Although it had agreed, Ogerpon had only shown up three times during the week. Each time, it would sneak in uhe cover of darkness, empty its little pouch of energy cubes, and quietly refill it before skulking away. Its "stealth" efforts were far from fwless, though. Every time it climbed the fehe Mightyena family would quietly observe from a distance, occasionally whispering ents:

  "Its moves are getting smoother."

  "But seriously, look at those stubby legs—it’s not even trying to jump properly."

  Pure snder, of course.

  Natsume pushed open the window, and the farm’s lively se stretched out before him. pared to its ed state when he first arrived, the farm was now brimming with life.

  he fields, Sandshrew in its straw hat strolled leisurely with a small watering , greeting a line of passing Cottonee. In addition to the Pokémon Natsume had officially captured, the farm was also home to some "wild residents." Natsume didn’t pn on catg all of them—so long as they didn’t cause trouble, they were free to stay.

  The fields, divided into quadrants, were lush and green. The crops—ordinary grains and the specialty Gracidea grains Natsume had brought—were growing well. Iingly, while two fields were just sprouting, the other two were nearly ready for harvest.

  This discrepancy was due to Natsume's "experiment." Two plots were pnted with regur grains, and two with Gracidea grains. For one plot of each type, Natsume had i with his "knockoff Viridian Force," nurturing them daily. The results were impressive: the infused crops grew signifitly faster and even seemed to have mutated—thankfully in a beneficial way.

  Natsume po sell the regur crops while keeping the infused ones for personal use on the farm. He also inteo experiment with using his power to speed up the growth of berries and see if they could enhance his energy cubes.

  "Sandshrew~"

  The diligent Pokémon pulled out a rge sad used its tiny paws as makeshift scoops to sprinkle powdered remnants onto the soil. These leftovers, byproducts from Pokéblock produ, served as excelleilizer. Natsume had also saved berry seeds, experimenting with sprouting them thanks to tips he’d found online.

  "Good m, Furret. M, Butterfree. M, Buneary. And you, Corvisquire—did you stay up te again?" Natsume teased as he greeted his Pokémon one by one. "You know, staying up too te cause serious feather loss for bird Pokémon."

  As for Persian? It had only e back to the room at dawn after patrolling the grounds ht, seemingly treating the property as its personal territory. Thanks to Persian’s efforts, Natsume always slept peacefully, knowing any trouble would be swiftly detected.

  Just as Natsume was about to head out for his usual farm iion, a otioed in the distance. Listening closely, he realized it came from the Mightyena family—and this time, their barks carried a sense ency.

  "What’s going on?" Natsume muttered, puzzled, as he hurried toward the noise, apanied by Butterfree and his shiny Furret. Persiaantly waking from its nap, stretched and followed zily, looking visibly grumpy from its disrupted sleep.

  At the farm’s edge, the Mightyena family had formed a semi-circle around a young boy, who stood flustered and defewo Pokémon apanied him, one oher side.

  "Wait, wait, I mean no harm!" the boy stammered, clearly overwhelmed as the Mightyena tio growl and block his path.

  The Mightyena father, ever vigint, had instantly deemed the boy suspicious after catg him l he farm’s borders early in the m.

  "What’s going on here?" Natsume called out, arriving on the se.

  "I’m the owner of this farm, Natsume. And you are?" he asked, direg a firm gaze at the intruder.

  "Woof, woof!" barked Mightyena senior, ung into a spirited report: This guy’s been skulking around since early m. Definitely up to no good!

  Natsume turned back to the boy, waiting for his expnation.

  "My name is Fu Gu," the boy stammered. "I’m a traveling Trainer. I stumbled across this pce during my journey and got curious, so I stopped to take a closer look."

  Fu Gu’s nervous demeanor didn’t inspire much fidence. While his iions might have been i, his excessive curiosity had clearly crossed a line. Most people find overly curious individuals more irritating than endearing—something Fu Gu had yet to grasp.

  Gcell