"You'll never have to sleep for such a long time again, nor worry about waking up to find all your familiar friends gone. You can wake up like the regular Pokemon in this world when the sun rises."
These words touched Jirachi's heart.
Its gaze flickered slightly, recalling the Pokemon friends it made the last time it awoke.
Its tone full of hope for that kind of life: "Is that really possible?"
"Of course." Naoki said.
Jirachi looked back at Mew and Teddiursa, and then at Ash and Max.
Even though they had only been together for just one day, Jirachi had already become friends with them.
Looking at the encouraging gazes from everyone, Jirachi nodded vigorously, and then ate the Leaf Green Ball.
The next second, a vibrant light erupted from Jirachi's body.
When the light dispersed, it seemed something had changed unknowingly.
Jirachi looked down at its body in confusion.
"Is this enough?"
"Yes, indeed." Naoki smiled and said, "Now you won't have to sleep like before."
Hearing this, Jirachi's eyes immediately lit up.
Beside it, Mew happily flew over to celebrate.
"Miu!"
The two Pokemon happily flew around in the room.
Watching this scene, Ash and others all sighed with relief.
"That's great."
"But by the way, was the dish Jirachi just ate made by Mr. Naoki?" Ash couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, it was." Naoki smiled and explained, "That's my special ability, you can think of it as the same type as psychic abilities."
"Psychic abilities?" Brock immediately perked up, asking with a face full of surprise, "Like those humans with psychic abilities?"
As he knew, the Gym Leader Sabrina from the Kanto Region possessed psychic abilities.
And Ash also recalled his experience challenging the Saffron Gym.
"It seems you've met humans with psychic abilities before." Naoki said with a smile.
Brock nodded, about to say something when suddenly a cry from a Pokemon was heard outside the door.
Everyone's attention was instantly drawn to that sound.
"What's happening?" Ash puzzled, "Is it the Pokemon in Mr. Naoki's ranch fighting?"
Naoki knew full well about that sound.
The group went out to check, and as expected, just as Naoki had anticipated, the irritable Vigoroth was jumping around the ranch.
And Farfetch'd was chasing it madly, carrying a leek.
Naoki glanced in the direction of the Scallion Garden, and sure enough, saw the scallions there had been ruined by Vigoroth again.
"It's a Vigoroth!" May immediately recognized the Pokemon.
Her father Norman's gym raised several Vigoroth.
"That Farfetch'd is chasing it!" Ash's eyes followed Vigoroth and Farfetch'd, asking, "Mr. Naoki, what's going on?"
Naoki: "..."
He sighed helplessly and explained, "That Vigoroth was once a Slakoth I took in. It used to just sleep in the Berry Garden, but in the past few days, it suddenly evolved into a Vigoroth and started causing chaos everywhere."
"That's right, Vigoroth is a Pokemon with a lot of energy, and they won't calm down until they exhaust all their excess energy." May nodded.
Exhaust? How to exhaust? Through Pokemon battles?
Thinking of Pokemon battles, Ash immediately got excited, rolling up his sleeves and saying:
"Mr. Naoki, let me help!"
Naoki: "But Vigoroth's energy is quite abundant!"
"There must be a way to calm it down!" Ash told Pikachu on his shoulder: "Pikachu, let's go!"
"Pika-pi!"
Pikachu rushed out immediately, blocking the Vigoroth.
Seeing a Pokemon coming to intercept, Vigoroth immediately went into a furious state, pounding its chest with its fists, then charging at Pikachu while growling.
Pikachu instantly engaged in a bout with Vigoroth.
Seeing this, May couldn't help but facepalm, saying, "Ash is so reckless!"
Naoki thought to himself that this really fit Ash's style.
Watching this scene, an idea suddenly popped into his mind.
Could he entrust Vigoroth to Ash's care?
Over the past few days, the Pokemon in the ranch had been tormented by Vigoroth, and Alcremie and the others weren't fond of battling Pokemon, unable to meet Vigoroth's challenges anytime and everywhere.
At a time like this, if a trainer could capture Vigoroth, they could exhaust Vigoroth's energy through constant Pokemon battles.
More importantly, he trusted Ash's character.
"I should ask Vigoroth about its thoughts!" Naoki made a decision in his heart.
This way, it would be a win-win situation, helping Vigoroth find a suitable trainer, and the crops in the ranch would be spared from ruin.
Meanwhile, in the sky, atop a Meowth-shaped hot air balloon,
Meowth, Jessie, and James were observing the ranch below through binoculars.
"The twerps are battling a Vigoroth, Meowth!"
"Let me see!" Jessie grabbed the binoculars from Meowth's hands, first looking at Ash and Pikachu, then slowly shifting the lens.