Although he had a rough idea about the effect of the golden finger, Naoki had no way to test it out just yet. For one, he didn't have any Pokémon around, and sedly, the inal owner was broke!

  At three in the m, Naoki, having barely mao fill his stomach, started to ponder his situation.

  Sure, traveling to this world was exg, but survival came first – no matter where you were. After washing the dishes, he sat at the desk to gh the inal owner's belongings.

  Being a wandering spirit, the backpack retty bare. A few sets of clothes, three packs of instant ramen, and a handful of loose ge and bills were all that remained. Naoki ted the money, about 2,300 in total. This wouldn't st him a month, let alone fund a Pokémon journey. He sighed, calg the currency version in his head.

  "Man, this is rough." But then, thoughts of those adorable and powerful Pokémon from the anime popped into his head, and Naoki perked up.

  "Oep at a time!" he told himself.

  Maybe it was the ck of sleep from his old life, or maybe his body was just exhausted, but as soon as he had a full belly, sleepiness washed over Naoki. He didn't fight it, relishing the thought of a good night's rest without w about being te for work or struggling to pay the bills. Tomorrow was a new day. He switched off the lights, y down on the rickety wooden bed, and was soon fast asleep.

  The m, a kno the door startled him awake. Naoki's eyes flew open, a up, disoriented for a moment. Then it hit him – he was in another world!

  He let out a relieved sigh, but the knog tinued. fused, Naoki ran a hand through his messy hair and opehe door to find an entleman wearing a brow and a bck fedora. The man, eared to be in his sixties or seventies, had a warm, friendly smile on his face.

  Beside him stood a creature that looked like a lizard, standing upright on two legs. Its body was a vibrant green, shimmering in the m light. A tire-like structure adors neck, and its sturdy, thick tail swayed gently behind it.

  Naoki's eyes lit up. He instantly reized the Pokémon – it was a Cyclizar!

  The older man spoke, "I heard you say yesterday that you'd be staying to take care of the ranch. I figured you might not be familiar with the work, and ing it up alone would be a lot, so I brought this little one along to help."

  Naoki blinked, a memory surfag in his mind: The inal owner of this body had indeed agreed to look after a ranch. Yesterday m, when the inal owner returo the ranch, he bumped into the kind old maynizing him, the mayreeted him warmly and said, "This is the legacy yrandfather left for you. I knew you'd e baeday, so I've been stopping by to tidy up every now and then. Even though it's beey for years, the house is still livable. You stay here without a worry!"

  The inal owhanked him politely. The old mayor smiled and said, "Yrandfather and I were friends in our youth, and I even held you in my arms when you were a baby! This is what yrandfather asked of me before he passed away – to make sure you ied the ranch."

  Naoki thought to himself, 'The mayor must think I came back to run the ranch'.

  With this realization, the current situation made sense, but he was still puzzled about the Cyclizar standing beside the mayor. Looking at the tall, thin young man before him, the mayor couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow a.

  "What a poor child. All his retives are gone, and he's all alone in this world."

  After seeing his ditioerday, the mayor had returned home and brought his Cyclizar panion along. One reason was to provide pany for the lonely young man, and the other was to have Cyclizar help him mahe ranch.

  The mayhed inwardly and asked gently, "Would you be willing to take care of him?"

  Naoki was taken aback for a moment before uanding the mayor's iion. He looked at the Cyclizar, who stared back with i curiosity. Cyclizar, a dual-type Normal and Dragon Pokémon, had lived alongside the people of the Paldea region sint times.

  With their geure aivity to cold, they often sought warmth from human body heat by letting people ride on their backs. In this way, Cyclizar also served as a mode of transportation in this particur region.

  Naoki couldn't find a reason to refuse. After all, he wanted a Pokémon of his own, too. It seemed uhat he'd get a starter Pokémon from a local professor and embark on a journey like Ash did in the anime.

  He didn't have any Poké Balls and couldly catch wild Pokémon with his bare hands.

  "Thank you," Naoki said. "I'll take good care of him."

  Relieved, the mayor beamed. "In that case, I'll leave him in your care. Oh, by the way, it's your first day at the ranch, so you might not be familiar with the work here, right?"

  Having been aced to the 996 work culture in his previous life, Naoki felt a bit out of his depth.

  "Yeah," he admitted. At that moment, the question that had been on his mind the night before was answered. He had nowhere else to go, and his only knowledge of this world came from the anime he watched and the games he pyed. Given his current circumstances, staying put seemed like the best course of a.

  At least he had shelter from the wind and rain. The old mayor smiled and said, "Well then, allow me to show you around the ranch! But if I remember correctly, you left Paldea when you were ten and moved to Hoenn, right?"

  "Yes," Naoki replied.

  The mayhed. "Ten years have flown by. How time flies!"The once prosperous and bustling ses of the past were still fresh in his mind, but now, all that remained was a deserted and dipidated ranch. The farmnd was overrun with weeds and rocks, and the Pokémon House had been ravaged by time, leaving only a skeletal frame.

  As they walked through the ranch, the Cyclizar followed obediently, the young man with curiosity. Naoki focused on abs the mayor's words and didn't notice Cyclizar's attention. Since he had decided to stay and take care of the ranch, he was eager to learn.

  The mayor's eyes were filled with nostalgia. Everywhere he looked, memories of the past flooded back.

  "The nd in front of us is the ranch's farmnd. A long time ago, all sorts of crops grew here. Iumn, the fields would be overflowing with fruit."

  "That house is where the rancher lives. The big box o it is a shipping taihe daily harvest of crops and Moomoo Milk be stored in it. There's a valley east of the ranch where mostly small, docile Pokémon live. You go there to gather mountain goods and berries, and then put the things you don't need in the shipping tainer."

  "Every afternoon at five o'clock, someone from town es to collect the items in the tainers and pay you for them. The collected goods are theo Mesagoza Market by a special courier for sale. When your busihrives iure, there will be special vehicles ing to transpoods! They'll take the ranch's products to all ers of the Paldea region ahem to various people."

  Naoki thought to himself, 'This sounds like a Pokémon version of Harvest Moon!' Fortunately, he had pyed farming games before and was familiar with the cept, so he quickly grasped the idea. His eye caught an abandoned building surrounded by several rge trees and rown weeds.

  "What's that?" he asked curiously.

  The maynced over with a hint ret in his eyes. "That's the Pokémon shed on the ranch. Yrandfather once imported over a dozen Miltank from the Johtion ahem there."

  He frowned and tinued, "After he passed away, your parents sold those Miltank, and this Pokémon shed gradually fell into disrepair."

  "But don't worry. Once you get settled, you go to the carpentry shop and ask them to help you expand your house and repair the shed."

  "Oh, and by the way, I've pced all the tools you might need for the ranch there for you." The old mayor poio the utility room behind the house and expined, "An axe for chopping wood, a hammer for breaking rocks, a hoe for tilling the nd, a watering , a sickle for cutting grass, and a few bags of crop seeds suitable for spring pnting. In short, this ranch is all yours!"

  "I hope you'll take good care of it aore this pce to its flory. Yrandfather would be so happy if you could achieve that."

  Naoki paused for a moment, then nodded. "I'll do my best."

  Hearing his respohe mayor smiled. "In that case, I won't keep you any longer. I'll leave Cyclizar in your care. He's very strong and will definitely be a great help around the ranch."

  The Cyclizar chirped happily, "Groo!"

  The mayor smiled and turo leave, but before he had taken more than a few steps, he turned back around. "Oh, one more thing!"

  Naoki urged him, "Go ahead."

  The mayor tinued, "You keep the wood and stones you gather with the axe. When you have enough money, you take them to the carpentry shop and have them help you expand your house and the Pokémohat way, you save a lot of money on materials!"

  Naoki made a mental note of this helpful tip. The mayor then waved from a distance, saying, "I live in Mesagoza. If you have any problems, feel free to e to me. Cyclizar knows the way, so you ride him there directly."

  "Okay," Naoki nodded. With that, the mayor departed.

  In the 198th year of the Alliance dar, spring had just arrived in the Paldea region, and the temperature was still a bit chilly. Naoki and Cyclizar stood at the door of the , watg the old mayor's figure gradually disappear into the distance. Only after he was out of sight did Naoki turn to look at the sleek Cyclizar beside him.

  Even though he was o this world, he could tell from the Cyclizar's appearand demeanor that it was healthy and well-cared for. Thinking of the magiature of Pokémon, Naoki's curiosity got the better of him.

  "Cyclizar?" he asked.

  "Groo?" The Cyclizar tilted its head and looked back. Clearly, it uood its name. Naoki tinued, " you uand what I'm saying? If you , just nod your head."

  "Groo~"

  As expected, the Cyclizar nodded obediently. Just like in the anime, Pokémon could uand human nguage! Naoki's heart swelled with excitement. Acc to the lore, Pokémon were extraordinary creatures whose intelligend emotions far surpassed those of ordinary animals. Some Pokémon even rivaled humans in their intelled emotional capacity.

  Gazing at Cyclizar's shiny skin, Naoki couldn't resist reag out to touch it. It felt different from what he had imagined, not like a real lizard but more like leather, much like a motorcycle's exterior. The Cyclizar didn't seem to mind his touch at all. In fact, it closed its eyes tentedly, looking quite pleased.

  Naoki mimicked Ash from the anime and said to Cyclizar, "Cyclizar, please take care of me from now on!"

  "Groo~"

  After saying that, Naoki found himself at a loss for words. He withdrew his hand, and his stomach rumbled. The sound caught Cyclizar's attention, and its eyes drifted towards Naoki's belly.

  Feeling a bit embarrassed, Naoki asked, "Have you eaten? I'm about to make some food. Want to join me?"

  "Groo~"

  Even though Cyclizar had already eaten breakfast, it seemed delighted by the invitation from its new owner. It nodded and followed Naoki bato the . Looking around at the wooden dwelling, Naoki felt a strange sense of belonging. This was his home now. He took a deep breath. After years of toiling away in the 996 grind, it would be o live a peaceful life as a farmer.

  Ranch life might be tiring, but at least he'd be w for himself. A neter was beginning. Naoki g the Cyclizar beside him. Speak of the devil, he thought. Last night, he was w if he had any Pokémon to test his cheat code on, and this m, he had a Cyclizar!

  "Alright then, it's you!" he decred.

  Naoki put a pot of water oove to boil, preparing to cook some instant ramen. He was eager to see the effects of his cheat code and whether it could provide Pokémon with all sorts of magical bes, just like in the games.