Sure enough, during lunch, the two Pokémon took one look and turned away, while Alcremie, Ogerpon, and Pawmot loved the apple pie and candied apples.
Meanwhile, Koraidon and Cyclizar were focused on burying their heads in their troughs, gobbling up the sandwiches and roast meat.
Seeing them with such appetites, a smile appeared on Naoki's face.
"You guys eat first, I'll take some candied apples to Butterfree," he said.
The Pokémon nodded, and Naoki got up to leave the dining area, found Butterfree in the garden, and fed it the candied apples.
Butterfree usually enjoys sweet pollen and nectar, so it also took quite a liking to these syrup-made candied apples.
"Fwee~" After eating, Butterfree let out a happy growl.
Naoki laughed and said, "This dish can make your Bug Silk tougher, do you want to give it a try?"
"Fwee?" Butterfree looked surprised.
It fluttered its wings and spit out a streak of milky white silk from its mouth.
Naoki reached out his hand, and the Bug Silk wound around it.
He tried to pull the silk with great force but couldn't break it.
"It really has become sturdier." Looking at the silk in his hand, Naoki thought it must be a great material for clothing.
He remembered the old lady at "The Slugma-Powered Home" used Tarountula Bug Silk to knit sweaters.
It's just that Naoki hadn't yet mastered that skill.
*
Perhaps Lono's positive feedback had an effect; that afternoon, Naoki Ranch's small shop finally welcomed a real customer.
When Naoki received the notification from his Rotom Phone, he thought it was Lono buying again.
However, when he checked, he saw it was a customer from Mesagoza City.
Meanwhile, in a dormitory of Paldea Academy in Mesagoza City.
A man, about twenty years old, was browsing the Pokémon shopping app on his Rotom Phone.
The man's name was Aobara, and he was planning to buy a crate of MooMoo Fresh Milk for his dorm room from the app.
Although there were places selling MooMoo Fresh Milk in Mesagoza City, for a lazy homebody, it was just too much trouble.
In contrast, the convenience of ordering from the Pokémon shopping app stood out; after payment, a Pokémon would deliver it directly to your doorstep.
At this moment, Aobara suddenly discovered a very simple little shop.
"Huh? The shop's name is Naoki Ranch, is it opened by a rancher?"
The name Naoki seemed familiar to him, he couldn't quite remember where he had heard it before.
Aobara tried hard to recall, but humans tend to forget those specific things no matter how much they try.
Helpless, he had to give up on recalling and clicked open the shop's interface with his finger.
Looking at the dazzling array of goods, Aobara was a bit surprised.
Quite a lot!
From vegetables grown in fields, to fruits from fruit trees, and even milk produced by Miltank, all are available.
Not only that but there were also some very strange items for sale.
"Life Sheep Milk..." Aobara read the description word by word: "Special milk, produced by Gogoat raised on the ranch, possessing miraculous effects. Severely injured and dying Pokémon can immediately regain health by drinking it. Recommended to drink in emergencies, with a limit of two bottles per week per person..."
Reading this introduction, Aobara's first reaction was how exaggerated!
How could such sheep milk exist in this world that could instantly heal severely injured and dying Pokémon?
This shop really talks big!
However, when Aobara saw the price of this Life Sheep Milk, he was even more shocked.
My goodness! A single bottle costs thirty thousand League Coins, that's expensive!
You have to know a bottle of MooMoo Milk sells for just six hundred League Coins.
One bottle of this sheep milk can buy fifty bottles of MooMoo Milk.
As a poor student, Aobara couldn't afford such an expensive item, so he glanced at the milk prices in the store and found they were still at market price.
So, Aobara ordered a crate of MooMoo Milk.
But when he saw the delivery method supported by the shop, he was dumbfounded.
"Dragon, Dragonite Delivery?"
Does that mean the ranch is using Dragonite Pokémon for delivery?
Isn't this an overqualified use?
Dragonite, a Dragon Type Pokémon, is incredibly powerful, extremely rare in the wild, and a very scarce Pokémon.
Yet now, this shop uses such a rare Pokémon for delivery?
Aobara couldn't help but gasp, and to witness it for himself, he placed the order.
The delivery fee for Dragonite Delivery was a thousand League Coins, still within his acceptable range.
After confirming the order, Aobara expected to wait a day or two for the delivery.
However, ten minutes later, someone knocked on his window.
Aobara was startled; he lived on the fifth floor, where it was impossible for anyone to knock on the window.
Trembling, he pulled back the curtains, and saw a large orange Dragonite looking at him with big, damp eyes.
The Dragonite looked very gentle and cute, carrying a small red satchel, accompanied by a Phone Rotom.
"Dra, Dragonite!" Aobara exclaimed.
Rotom's voice came from the phone, "Dear customer, your order of MooMoo Milk has arrived, please open the window to sign, Roto!"
Only then did Aobara react. Overcome with shock, he quickly went forward and opened the window.
The Dragonite squeezed in and took out the MooMoo Milk he ordered from the satchel, placing it on the floor.
After finishing everything, Dragonite let out a howl, then turned around and flew away with Rotom.
Leaving Aobara in the room, still unable to recover from the shock.
Dragonite! It really was a Dragonite!
What kind of person is this shop's owner, to use such a rare Pokémon for delivery!
Naoki... Naoki Ranch...
At this moment, Aobara suddenly recalled a post he'd seen on the campus forum!
He quickly opened his Rotom Phone, logged into the campus forum, and found that post.
[Campus Legend of the Hidden Boss——Every Trainer in the Paldea Region must understand that even after challenging all Gyms and acquiring all badges, and winning the Champion battle in the Paldea League, your journey does not end.
It's said that in some place in the Paldea Region, there is a mysterious and incredibly powerful Trainer. Only by challenging and defeating this person can you become the strongest Trainer in Paldea.]
Aobara continued reading.
The original poster wrote in a follow-up comment——
[Exploring the Three Big Trials of Naoki Ranch! This post gathers experiences from most challengers, offering guidance to help you better pass those trials.
First, the Grass Trial; during this time, Naoki will have Gogoat take the field for battle. The challenger must defeat three Gogoat to pass.
The strength of these three Gogoat is already at Champion Level, and their mastery of Grass Energy is at an extraordinary level. They can manipulate Grass Energy, making Grassy Terrain benefit only them.
Facing them, a war of attrition is undoubtedly unwise, as far as I know, no challenger's Pokémon outlast them.
At such times, the best strategy is to utilize Type Matchups, deploying Flying, Fire, Ice, Bug, or Poison Type Pokémon to battle, allowing the Pokémon to unleash its strongest attacks to end the battle within two moves.
If you can't finish it, you'll have to face Gogoat's endless recoveries and its special move "Grass Sacred Sword".
...]
*
At night, after Naoki bathed Koraidon and prepared to rest, he received a message from Raifort.
It was a link.
Naoki clicked it open and saw "Campus Legend of the Paldea Hidden Boss" written in bold letters.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise, then began to read carefully.
This post seemed to be from a Trainer who came to the ranch for the trials two years ago.
The writer detailed the rules and contents of the Grass Trial and even created a specific strategy guide.
It wasn't just the Grass Trial but also Pawmot's Thunder Trial and Dragonite's Storm Trial.
Naoki scanned through it up and down.
Hmm, very detailed, seems like the person put a lot of effort into it.
The only thing that made Naoki speechless was the students actually referred to him as the Paldea Region's Hidden Boss...