Pokemon: A New Path

Seeing Dragonite's determined expression, Naoki felt a sense of relief.

The man and the dragon arrived in town, and Naoki found Lanhai Street by following the road signs. It was a residential area located in the northeast corner of town. The houses were typical Paldean-style buildings, neatly arranged on both sides of the road, surrounded by carefully tended flowers and plants. The streets were clean, and its distance from the market area made the neighborhood very quiet.

"Number 308." Naoki and Dragonite walked around until they finally found the house at a fork in the road.

He entered the flower-filled garden and knocked on the door. "Excuse me, is Mrs. Dantes home?"

After waiting for a while, no one answered. Naoki suspected that she might have gone out.

"This address should be correct," he muttered, double-checking the house number on the note in his hand. He didn't wait any longer. Instead, he turned to Dragonite and said, "This is the place. Can you remember the route?"

Dragonite nodded, "Roar!"

"Very good," Naoki said, nodding. It was getting late, so he and Dragonite left.

However, Naoki didn't return to the ranch immediately. Instead, he went to the general store in town and bought a small red shoulder bag.

He put the bag on Dragonite, and suddenly, a Dragonite deliveryman with a red satchel appeared before him.

"Not bad," Naoki nodded in satisfaction, circling Dragonite twice before riding it back to the ranch.

The next day, Naoki woke up early and prepared breakfast for all the Pokémon. After they ate, he placed two bottles of milk into the red bag Dragonite carried.

"Do you remember the route?" Naoki asked.

Dragonite looked down at the two bottles of milk and nodded innocently, "Roar."

"Then let's go!" Naoki said. "Deliver these two bottles of goat milk to the owner of that house!"

After receiving the instructions, Dragonite took off into the sky with the milk, heading towards the town.

Naoki watched it go, realizing he couldn't deceive Dragonite forever. After all, Dragonite was a very intelligent Pokémon. If it found out it had been tricked, it would probably be very angry.

So, Naoki turned and went back to the cabin, secretly preparing food for Dragonite that would help it become stronger and learn new moves.

The question was, what kind of food could have that effect? Naoki fell into deep thought.

...

At 308 Lanhai Street, Poggio Dantes woke up early to help her ailing husband with his daily washing. The elderly man in bed had gray hair, a frail body, and appeared very weak.

Seeing her husband's unhappiness, Poggio comforted him, "I've found a ranch with goat milk. Don't worry, everything will be alright."

The old man coughed twice, took a deep breath, and said with a grateful expression, "Thank you for your hard work all these years."

Poggio shook her head gently. "It's nothing to speak of."

She was about to say something else when she heard a knock at the door. Her eyes lit up, and she said to her husband, "It must be the goat milk delivery!"

She quickly got up and opened the door. Standing before her was a two-meter-tall Dragonite with a round body and a small red bag slung over its shoulder.

Poggio was stunned.

Dragonite stood at the door, gazing at the old woman with its large, bright black eyes. It remembered Naoki's instructions and, with its large paws, took out two bottles of goat milk from its bag, offering them to her. "Roar!"

Poggio finally snapped out of her shock.

She looked at the Dragonite in disbelief, her voice trembling as she asked, "Are you here from Naoki Ranch to deliver goat milk?"

"Roar~" Dragonite nodded slightly.

Poggio's eyes widened in amazement. Oh my goodness! Someone was actually using a Pokémon like Dragonite to deliver milk!

That was an incredibly rare and valuable Pokémon!

Usually, people used Wingull or Pelipper for deliveries. This was far too extravagant! The only word that came to Poggio's mind was "extravagance."

She took the goat milk from Dragonite's claws, still in a daze. As Dragonite turned to leave, she finally came to her senses and called out, "Wait a minute!"

Dragonite turned back, confused. "Roar?"

"I haven't paid you yet!" Poggio quickly took out the payment she had prepared from her pocket.

She wanted to place the money in Dragonite's claws, but remembered that Dragonite had simply flown away before without taking the money. So, she carefully placed the money in the small red bag on its waist and zipped it up.

"Make sure to hold onto this money!"

"Roar."

Only then did Dragonite remember that it had almost forgotten this important detail. On the way here, its mind was preoccupied with Naoki's advice, observing the flowers, plants, and trees along the way, hoping to glean strength from them.

Now that the delivery was complete, it was time to leave. Dragonite turned around, soared into the sky, and began its return to the ranch.

Only after Dragonite's figure disappeared did Poggio Dantes go back inside and recount the experience to her husband.

"It's truly amazing that Naoki Ranch, which just reopened, is using a Dragonite to deliver milk!"

The old man lying in bed was also surprised to hear this. They had both been traveling trainers in their youth, so they knew how rare Pokémon like Dragonite were.

Dragonites were powerful, adorable, kind-hearted, and could carry trainers across vast distances over land and sea. Several decades ago, there had even been a Dragonite craze in the Paldea region.

Countless people dreamed of catching a Dragonite, but this Pokémon was so rare that it was difficult to find even after traveling all over Paldea.

And now, such a Pokémon was being used to deliver milk!

"If those trainers knew this, they'd be green with envy," the old man said wistfully. Although his body was old and frail, deep down, he still held onto the dreams of his youth as a trainer.

He had met his Pokémon partners during his travels and also met a girl who was also a trainer. That girl was now his wife.

"Well, I should go prepare breakfast," Poggio said with a faint smile, anticipation in her voice. "After you drink this, you'll feel much better."

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Naoki and Kora stood in front of a newly constructed building.

"The salt shelter is finished. Come take a look!" Kora said.

Naoki nodded. He had been busy developing new dishes when Kora called him to inspect the shelter, so he paused his work and came over to check it out.

The salt shelter looked very different from the chicken coop. While the coop was made entirely of wood, the shelter was constructed with stone and concrete. The overall style of the building mimicked a natural cave, with some rocks placed in the corners as decoration.

Upon entering, Naoki immediately noticed a transparent, plastic-like film laid on the ground. It felt slightly hard to the touch.

Kora explained, "This is a collection membrane. When the Nacli move around here, the rock salt they shed from friction will be collected on it. You simply need to pull out the membrane to gather a large amount of rock salt."

Naoki nodded in understanding.

Kora smiled slightly and continued, "Now, I'm going to build a pen for your Skiddo. You can use this opportunity to bring the Nacli here to familiarize themselves with their new environment."