At noon, the food Naoki prepared was cold cucumber slices.
The effect of this dish is just perfect for beating the heat, making the body feel cool after eating it.
Koraidon and Cyclizar were still eating sandwiches.
It wasn't that Naoki didn't want to try a new recipe, but because he was so busy in the morning, he was too tired.
So this afternoon, Naoki decided to take a good rest and try some fishing by the river.
Worried that Cyclizar might get bored after lunch, Naoki looked at the glutinous rice flour and red bean paste in the cabinet and thought—maybe some snacks while fishing?
Once he thought of it, he started to do it.
Naoki immediately took out the glutinous rice flour, added water to knead it into dough, rolled it into long strips and flattened them, then wrapped the prepared red bean paste and sugar into them, shaping them into balls.
Soon, the white dumplings appeared one by one on the stove.
Cyclizar was attracted by these novel little things and curiously came over to observe: "Gaaow?"
Naoki glanced at it, smiled, and said, "This is a snack called glutinous rice dumpling, I wonder if you've ever had it before."
Cyclizar shook its head: "Gaaow..."
Naoki: "This afternoon you can give it a try, just not sure if you'll like the taste."
Cyclizar nodded enthusiastically: "Gaaow!"
Naoki couldn't help but laugh: "Silly, you say you like it before you even taste it, aren't you worried it might taste like hot soup noodles?"
"Gaaow…"
Cyclizar scratched its head in embarrassment with its paw.
On the other side, Koraidon couldn't even bear to look straight.
Was it this silly before?
Could that Koraidon possibly have looked at it the same way?
At this moment, Naoki turned his head to look at Koraidon.
He called out: "Koraidon."
Koraidon immediately ran over and snuggled up to Naoki on the other side.
"Gaaow-aaow-ahh?"
Naoki pondered for a moment, then asked: "Did you come here from the Paldea Giant Pit?"
After thinking about it, he decided to ask about Koraidon's origins; he wanted to know if Koraidon was like in the game, escaping from Zone Zero into the Paldea region after losing a territorial fight with another Koraidon.
Upon hearing this, Koraidon nodded.
Seeing this, Naoki said to himself in his heart, as expected.
He asked again: "Were you fighting with another Koraidon before?"
Koraidon was stunned: "Gaaow-aaow-ahh?" How did you know?
Naoki thought, little one, is there anything I don't know?
But not wanting to hurt Koraidon's feelings, he didn't ask about the outcome of the territorial fight, only asked: "Do you have any plans for the future?"
Koraidon: "Gaou-aahh!"
Though he couldn't understand, Naoki still saw what Koraidon meant.
It wanted to stay here.
This was exactly what Naoki hoped for, as Koraidon's strength would certainly make it a great help here.
Naoki felt excited but calmly said: "You can stay here, but you'll have to help me manage the ranch's affairs."
"Gaaow!"
Before Naoki could finish, Koraidon nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Just then, after wrapping the last glutinous rice dumpling, Naoki put them in the steamer to steam them slowly over low heat.
Estimating the steaming time in his heart, Naoki took a small stool, a fishing rod, and bait, and headed to the river surrounding the ranch.
After putting on the bait and before casting the line, Naoki said to Koraidon and Cyclizar: "I'm going fishing, you guys go play!"
In the springtime, the ranch was full of dandelions and a kind of small yellow wildflower.
Hearing Naoki's words, Cyclizar went off to play by itself.
It got attracted by a butterfly and chased it through the grass.
After running for a while, Cyclizar stopped in front of a fluffy, soft white dandelion and bent its head down, curiously observing the tiny hairs on the dandelion.
Suddenly, Cyclizar felt an itch in its nose.
It couldn't help but let out a huge sneeze, and immediately, the dandelion seeds were blown into the sky by the gust of air.
Cyclizar looked up, with innocent and curious eyes, watching this scene.
By the river.
Naoki looked at Koraidon beside him and asked: "Aren't you going to play?"
"Gaaow-aaow."
Koraidon shook its head, watching the gently flowing river and the shadows of fish under the water, it looked at the fishing rod in Naoki's hand.
A light bulb suddenly lit up in Koraidon's head; it came up with a brilliant idea.
Before Naoki could react, he saw Koraidon's energy suddenly surge, it jumped high, and as it transformed, it ferociously plunged into the water.
"Splash!"
A large amount of river water was thrown into the air, turning into droplets that pattered down, almost like a rain shower.
Naoki: "???"
He stood there dumbfounded, staring at the scene.
Koraidon jumped out of the water, happily seeking praise: "Gaaow-aaow-ahh!"
Naoki looked down and saw that as the water flow gradually calmed, shadows floated up to the surface, their eyes wide open, clearly stunned by Koraidon's attack.
For a moment, Naoki didn't know what to say.
He looked at Koraidon and couldn't help but say: "Although I appreciate your effort to repay my kindness, it wasn't necessary to go to such lengths."
Koraidon instantly lowered its head in disappointment: "Gaaow-aaow..."
Naoki sighed: "Alright, I didn't mean to scold you. You did great!"
Koraidon's eyes immediately lit up: "Gaaow-gaaah~"
Naoki: "…"
He sighed again and directed Koraidon to pick up the stunned fish and put them into a small bucket filled with river water.
Koraidon obediently did as told, quickly plucking the fish out of the water.
The fish this season weren't very plump, but for Naoki, who was just starting, it wasn't that important.
He picked out a few Magikarp mixed in with the regular river fish.
Koraidon looked at those three red fish, a bit puzzled: "Gaaow?"
"They can't be eaten," Naoki shook his head.
He intended to release the Magikarp back into the river but suddenly thought about the lake at his ranch.
Farming Miltank takes a lot of preparation, so why not raise some fish in the meantime?
Not just Magikarp; the regular river fish could be raised as well.
After thinking for a moment, Naoki carried the metal bucket to the lakeside and released the three Magikarp into it.
After releasing them, he didn't leave immediately but stayed to observe the state of the Magikarp.
Because he wasn't sure if they were merely stunned by Koraidon or if they had been directly killed…
Fortunately, these three Magikarp were quite fortunate and didn't die; after a few minutes of being unconscious, they slowly opened their eyes.
In this new body of water, they didn't seem frightened, continuing to float around dully in the water.