With Koraidoering the se, the battle fnition officially began.

  The Skiddo bleated, its eyes focused and its body lowered slightly. Two long, curved vines, like whips, shot out from its body.

  "Gah?"

  Remembering Naoki's words, Koraidon symbolically extended one of its cws. A vine coiled around its wrist like a snake.

  Then, the Skiddo suddeed force.

  "Baa!"

  The vine ed around Koraidon tightened rapidly. This was the Skiddo's signature move, using Vine Whip to enss oppo, then lift it into the air and throw it to attack.

  Every muscle in the Skiddo's body tensed, attempting to lift Koraidon with the vine.

  However, the expected result didn't happen. Koraidon remained motionless, merely looking at the vine on its wrist with a hint of fusion.

  "Baa...?" The Skiddo was taken aback.

  The sed, Koraidon grabbed the vine and gave it a geug. The Skiddo's body ulled forward.

  Skiddo: =O ?!

  "Koraidon's strength is incredible!" Yosuke murmured, eyes wide with amazement.

  Naoki remained silent, tinuing to watch the battle unfold.

  Due to Koraidon's immerength, the vine snapped halfway. The Skiddo mao stop itself and stood up, slightly embarrassed.

  This Skiddo was agile and decisive. The moment it regais footing, it unched a Razor Leaf attack at Koraidon.

  Simultaneously, Koraidon moved. It lunged forward, raising its right cw high. Energy surged in its hand, f a massive dragon cw that it swung towards the Skiddo, meeting the ining Razor Leaf.

  The Razor Leaf hit Koraidon but seemed so light and flimsy that it caused almost no damage.

  Just as Koraidon was about to strike the Skiddo, it g its dragon d suddenly realized this move was a bit too powerful.

  As a result, it withdrew the surging energy, and the giant white dragon stantly shrunk to a much smaller size, thely patted the Skiddo.

  "Baa..."

  However, Koraidon had still misjudged its own strength. With a light tap of its cw, the Skiddo was sent flying, nding on the grass behind it.

  Koraidon: !!!

  It quickly turo Naoki, its eyes filled with guilt, as if to say it hadn't meant to do that.

  Naoki: "…"

  "Alright, that's enough!" Naoki called out, stopping the battle.

  He and Yosuke rushed to the Skiddo, and after a careful iion, they found that it was only unscious, much to their relief.

  "Gah?" Koraidon approached, ed about the Skiddo's dition.

  Seeing its worried expression, Naoki reassured it, "It's okay, it just fainted."

  "Don't worry!" Yosuke chimed in. "Every Pokémon is prepared for the possibility of getting hurt in battle. Naoki, it's time to catch it!"

  Naoki ook out ay Poké Ball from his pocket, aly pced it on the Skiddo's forehead. In an instant, the Skiddo's body transformed into a red light and was drawn into the ball.

  The Poké Ball shook briefly, then became still.

  Having successfully captured the Pokémon, Naoki opehe Poké Ball again, releasing the Skiddo.

  Stimuted by the capture, the Skiddo had regained sciousness. Its demeanor towards Naoki had ged, being much more docile.

  "Maa~" It bleated, aowledging the human's strength and accepting him as its trainer.

  "Please take care of me from now on!"

  Naoki smiled and patted the Skiddo's head, then took out some Oran Berries from his backpad fed them to the Pokémon.

  Seeing the food, the other two Skiddo eagerly approached. Naoki took out two more berries ahem as well.

  After they finished eating, he took out two more Poké Balls and captured them. The two Skiddo didn't struggle or resist at all. The Poké Balls shook briefly before falling silent.

  this, Naoki couldn't help but think that the Poké Balls were shaking because the Pokémon inside were turning over.

  "You e back too!"

  Naoki pced the st Skiddo into a Poké Ball, then stood up and looked at the shimmering Casseroya Lake in front of him. It was already evening, and the setting sun's glow paihe entire ke a beautiful hue.

  A gentle breeze blew, and Yosuke suddenly felt refreshed. He took a deep breath and asked, "Are there any other Pokémon you want to catch?"

  "Tropius," Naoki replied, but then quickly realized he had perhaps collected too many too quickly. Five Nacli and three Skiddo, a total of eight. The facilities at the ranch weren't plete yet, and taking in too many at once would be overwhelming for him to handle.

  After a moment of thought, Naoki decided to settle the Skiddo and Nacli before sidering anything else. "Actually, never mind," he shook his head.

  "What's wrong?" Yosuke asked.

  Naoki expined, "My ranch is just starting out, and I 't take care of too many Pokémo."

  Yosuke uood, smiling, "I see. In that case, you won't have ao guide you the ime you e here!"

  Naoki, having barely rested these past few days due to the hectic work, stretched his ned wrists. "Where are you headi?" he asked.

  "Me? I might go to the Kantion!" Yosuke replied. "I've bee ied in Pokémon like Dragonite. I heard that Dragonite culture is popur in Kanto and Johto, so I pn to visit thions."

  "Kanto." Naoki mused. "That's a great pce too!"

  "Yeah!" Yosuke nodded and asked, "It's getting te. You should be heading back to the ranht?"

  Naoki extended an invitation, "Would you like to visit my ranetime?"

  Yosuke looked slightly embarrassed. "Not yet. There's still an area of Casseroya Lake I haven't explored. I want to dot the Pokémon there before I leave."

  "Alright," Naoki nodded with a smile. "You're wele anytime."

  He mounted Koraidon, waved goodbye to Yosuke, and turo head back to the ranch.

  "We have the milk-produg Skiddo and the salt-produg Nacli. The step is to find a pce for them to live and provide them with food," Naoki pnned in his mind.

  Just then, he suddenly remembered something. He hadn't caught a Pokémon that could use Rain Dand Water Gun on this trip!

  Naoki thought of the Dragonite gazing at the moon on the clifftop.

  He decided to go bae st time that night. If the Dragoill flew away at the sight of him, it would mean it truly didn't want to be disturbed, and he would stop b it.