Not a trainer this time.

Chapter 487 Beating the Father-in-law

As the New Year is approaching and the weather is cold, people throughout Padia are staying at home and rarely go out on weekdays.

That afternoon, when Qishu woke up from a nap, he found that someone was suddenly missing from his home.

"Huh?" She was surprised: "Where's Dad?"

The woman sitting on the sofa weaving a scarf with the silk of a spider feels a little guilty:

"Him? Some of his old friends came to visit us today, and they went to the city to eat together."

"Why haven't I heard that my father has old friends?" Qishu was even more confused.

Woman: "Maybe he met this person when he was traveling when he was young?"

"OK then."

Qishu didn't care. She started taking care of the electric-bellied frogs and feeding them breakfast.

*
Just like the people in the Napatia region, Naoki stays at home from morning till night, spending his days leisurely with his Pokémon and rarely goes out.

However, what surprised him was that even in such weather, there would still be trainers coming to the ranch to challenge him.

In the afternoon, when Naoki was watching a live Pokémon battle at home, there was a sudden knock on the door.

This surprised Naoki greatly.

Why would anyone visit in this weather?

Could it be that Mayor Thomas and the others need help with something urgent?
Thinking of this, Naoki hurried forward to open the door.

But when he opened the door, the person who came into his sight was not Mayor Thomas or Madame Dantes.

Instead, it was a strange middle-aged man who was about forty years old, wearing a gray winter suit and a scarf, and looked very tough.

Naoki was slightly stunned, then asked politely: "Who are you looking for?"

"Looking for the owner of this place." The man looked at him and asked, "Are you Naoki?"

"…It's me." Naoki thought of a possibility, and then welcomed the person into the living room: "It's so cold outside, come in and have a cup of tea first!"

"That's quite polite," the man thought.

He followed the boy into the house, looking around calmly.

The fireplace in the room was burning brightly, the air was warm, the floor was swept clean, and Pokémon toys were scattered on the ground.

A Motor Lizard, a Harlequin Pokemon, two Butlers, a Frostmilk, and a Pokémon he had never seen before were lying in front of the fireplace.

As he expected, there were quite a few Pokémon living here.

Looking at the appearance of those Pokémon, each of them has smooth fur and looks very energetic. It's obvious that they are well taken care of by their owners.

This shows that this boy is a kind and loving person who treats Pokémon well.

The man nodded inwardly and then sat down on the sofa.

The butler quickly brought him a cup of steaming tea.

It was snowing and windy all the way, and the man was now cold all over. After drinking a cup of hot tea, he felt comfortable all over.

"Are you here to challenge the trial as well?" Naoki asked.

Trial? The man remained calm, but he was confused. What trial? Isn't this a ranch?

"Yes, I have heard of it before, but I haven't understood it in depth. Can you introduce it to me?" said the man.

This kind of thing is very normal. On weekdays, there are also some trainers who have only heard that Naoki Ranch has special training trials and come to challenge.

Naoki didn't think much about it, but started to introduce:

"So far, there are a total of four trials in the ranch, namely the Green Grass Trial, the Lightning Trial, the Storm Trial, and the Finger Swing Trial."

"The Grass Trial requires a battle against my mount Goat, the Lightning Trial requires a battle against Babu-Dryde, the Storm Trial requires a battle against Dragonite, and the Finger Swing Trial is a test of luck. Only Pokémon that can use Finger Swing can participate."

Hearing this, the man suddenly realized that things seemed a little different from what he thought...

"Except for the Finger Swing Trial, you need to collect a certain number of gym badges before you can participate in other trials."

"The Green Grass Trial requires eight, the Lightning Trial and the Storm Trial require four. Which one do you want to challenge?"

"There is such a condition?" The man was a little surprised.

Naoki nodded helplessly: "Because if the difference in the strength of the Pokémon is too big, there is no way to achieve a good effect."

Is the difference in Pokémon power too big?
The man was a little skeptical. Thinking back to the past, he was also a talented trainer who collected eight gym badges and challenged the championship level.

In that case, he might as well challenge the Green Grass Trial directly!
Naoki nodded, "Okay, but you have to show your gym badge."

The man was a little embarrassed: "I didn't know about this. The eight badges I collected before were left at home and not brought here."

Naoki: "..."

This was the first time he encountered this situation.

But judging from this person's age, he must not be a rookie trainer who has just started out.

After a little thought, Naoki chose to believe the other party.

"Okay, in that case, I'll make an exception."

The wind and snow outside just stopped.

Naoki took a look at the weather, and then took the uncle to the battle site on the ranch.

The man immediately saw the three goats lazily lying under the shed and eating berries.

Thinking of the goat milk sold in that shop, the man couldn't help but open his eyes wide.

"Are they the dairy sheep that produce milk in your ranch?"

Naoki was slightly stunned, then nodded and said, "Yes, they are also responsible for producing milk. The goat milk sold in the ranch is produced by the three of them."

The man frowned slightly. He subconsciously thought that this kind of Pokémon engaged in production work was not the main force of this boy.

It’s just a dairy sheep that produces milk, how strong can it be?

"Are there any more powerful Pokémon? You were a traveling trainer before, right? Bring out your strongest lineup and have a Pokémon battle with me!"

Hearing this, a big question mark popped up above Naoki's head.

This uncle has such a big tone!

He said tactfully: "Mount goat is also one of my main forces."

Apart from those legendary Pokémon, the strength of the mount goat is also among the best in the ranch.

"I'm very strong. Your rules are of no use to me because it was thirty years ago that I collected all eight badges." The man shook his head.

What this means is that compared to those ordinary trainers, he has more than 30 years of experience battling Pokémon.

Naoki: "..."

"To be honest, the stronger Pokémon are hidden trials in the ranch. If you want to challenge them, you need to pass the three basic trials first." He explained.

Hearing this, the man immediately became interested.

"Then let me see your strength first!"

The two walked to the two ends of the battle field. Naoki did not clear the snow on the ground, but directly used the snow as the snow field.

The Pokémon that Naoki sent out was a goat mount, while the man sent out a Pokémon that looked like Kamen Rider.

Fierce-legged locust!
The battle officially begins!
The Fiery-legged Locust started with a piercing sound, then jumped high and pounced on its mount, the goat.

The goat mount looked calm, and there was no trace of panic in its determined eyes.

Naoki had already seen the flaw of the Fiery Leg Locust, and he said softly: "Yan Fan."

The next second, the mount's goat's movements suddenly sped up, running to the side.

The Fiery-legged Locust immediately launched a pursuit, but it never imagined that it was just a feint. When the Fiery-legged Locust changed its landing position and wanted to attack again, it was too late!

After using agile movements to tease the Fiery-legged Locust, a milky white airflow emerged from the horns of the mount goat.

The airflow turned into a sharp blade of wind and hit the Fiery Locust heavily.

“How is this possible?!” The man was shocked when he saw this scene. Why did the goat’s reaction speed be so fast?

Although he was shocked, he still kept calm and gave his orders: "Kick from below!"

The Fiery Locust who was knocked to the ground gave a calm look to the back, took advantage of the opportunity to stand up, swung his right leg, and kicked the leg of his mount goat.

"Great, that's it!" The man was very excited when he saw that the move hit the target.

However, the next second, he saw an extremely terrifying scene.

I saw a green light released from the goat mount, and instantly turned into a hemispherical aura, covering the entire battlefield.

“That’s…” The man opened his eyes wide.

The Fiery-legged Locust sensed the crisis and looked around vigilantly.

"Mount goat, use that move!" Naoki said.

The mount goat let out a steady cry, and its body bent slightly. Green light quickly condensed in its mouth and turned into a huge holy sword of grass.

man:! ! !
What kind of move is that?

"Fiery locust, get out of the way!" The man sensed the danger and shouted immediately.

However, it was too late. The mount goat, with the leaf blade in its mouth, chopped straight towards it.

In an instant, the green light submerged the Fiery-legged Locust.

In the huge explosion, the Fiery-legged Locust was blown away and fell on the snow, losing its ability to fight.

The man stared at the riding goat in disbelief.

Based on its performance just now, are these mount goats really just ordinary dairy sheep?
The man suddenly began to doubt his life.

"Unfortunately, you didn't pass the Green Grass Trial." Naoki shook his head regretfully.

Hearing this, the man immediately came to his senses.

He looked at the boy opposite with a heavy face, feeling a little embarrassed.

A few days ago, he was planning to let this guy see his strength as a gym leader.

"..."

After a moment of silence, the man shook his head and said, "No, come again! I have more powerful Pokémon!"

With that, the man took out the next Poké Ball.

With a flash of white light, a handsome Red Lotus Armored Knight appeared on the battlefield.

However, one minute later, the scene that happened to the locust was repeated.

"Come again!"

Thirty seconds later, the electric petrel failed!

"No, I still have Pokémon!"

Twenty seconds later, the super-powerful ostrich fell to the ground and couldn't get up.

"I don't believe it anymore!"

Fifteen seconds later, Magneto could no longer rise.

"..."

Five seconds later, the Sea Slug was killed instantly.

At this point, all six of the man's Pokémon were defeated, and the goat mount achieved the feat of a string of six.

In the end, even Naoki felt it was a bit cruel.

"That uncle, how about we just forget it?"

Sister Ai Butler stepped forward to use goat milk to heal the fallen Pokémon.

The man's face turned livid, his eyes widened, and he left angrily with his Pokémon.

Only Naoki was left standing there, confused.

What a strange uncle...

"Baa?" The mount goat also looked confused.

Naoki couldn't figure it out, so he just stopped thinking about it. He touched the head of his goat and said to it:
"Thank you for your hard work. Now go take a good rest!"

*
"That boy is so rude!

After returning home, the man sat down on the sofa.

His wife was a little surprised to see this scene: "Is he a bad person?"

"..." The man was about to speak, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that except for the Pokémon battle, the other party was quite polite and took great care of the Pokémon.

Judging from the performance of the Pokémon in that ranch, they all liked him very much. Based on this alone, the man could tell that the other party was not a bad person.

Seeing her husband's look, the woman immediately understood.

She asked with amusement: "Did you lose to them?"

man:"……"

He gritted his teeth and was very angry: "So that kid is so rude! He only used one Pokémon to defeat my six Pokémon!!!"

The woman burst out laughing: "It was you who wanted to challenge others."

"dare you laugh!"

"Alright, alright!" The woman gently comforted her husband: "From the look of you, I think he's a pretty good person."

"I originally thought that it didn't matter if that person wasn't a great trainer, as long as he could take good care of our daughter."

"But now it seems that he is not only able to take care of the strange tree, but he is also a very good trainer. This is something worth being happy about!"

"Besides, you didn't identify yourself when you went there, did you?"

man:"……"

The man felt very embarrassed when he thought about how he had the audacity to challenge that boy's stronger Pokémon.

"Stop talking, I want to be quiet."

He lay on the sofa, closed his eyes and pretended to be dead.

Seeing her husband like this, the woman felt a little curious about the young man named Naoki.

She also wanted to go over and see what kind of person the other person was.

But the New Year is coming soon, and she is afraid she won’t have time to go there.

"Forget it, let's wait until spring to visit him again!"

The woman made a plan in her mind.

When the spring comes next year and the flowers bloom, she will take some gifts and pretend to be a lost tourist to visit the ranch.

*
Time passed quietly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the last day of the 200-year Alliance Calendar.

Early in the morning of that day, Naoki Ranch began preparing for the New Year.

This year marks the third year since Naoki came into this world, and also the third year since he met the Motorcycle Lizards.

After this year, it will be the fourth year since they met.

It’s quite touching to say that, unknowingly, the abandoned ranch has now completely changed its appearance.

And so many Pokémon have come here to live.

Naoki, who was preparing the New Year's Eve dinner at home, couldn't help but look around.

The Ai Guanshi brother and sister are decorating the house with ribbons and lights, preparing to create a more New Year atmosphere at home.

Erguiyan was leaning against the window looking at the snow, his starry eyes filled with the light of happiness.

Motorcycle Lizard was arranging its toys and scarves in front of the fireplace. Those were all bought for it by Naoki, and Motorcycle Lizard put them separately in a storage box.

Gulerton kept "making trouble" next to the Motorcycle Lizard, and seemed to be envious of the Motorcycle Lizard for having so many toys.

However, it also has many toys of its own... Isn't this called eating from the bowl and looking at the pot? Naoki couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Babu Tubo was eating macadamia nuts and chestnuts prepared by Naoki for them with his parents.

Today is New Year's Day, and in order to reunite the family, Naoki went to the World Tree to pick up Babu Tubo's parents.

There were some "boo-boo-boo" sounds coming from upstairs, probably the Eevees playing upstairs.

Dragonite and Dratini sat on the floor, happily eating the fried fish that Naoki gave them.

The Rape King was still sitting on the sofa playing with his phone.

The once famous King of Galar has now completely become a mobile phone king.

Looking at this scene of Pokémon playing happily, Naoki couldn't help but smile.

At this time, Alvin, the town's postman, came to the ranch.

"Naoki, there's a letter for you! It's New Year's greetings from everyone in town!"

Ivan is still as full of energy as ever.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Naoki took it from him with a smile. After they said Happy New Year to each other, Ivan left because he had to deliver letters to other ranches.

When I opened the envelopes, I found that most of the contents were New Year greetings sent by the townspeople.

There are also notices from some stores about the arrival of new goods, saying that the store will have new crops and new flower seeds next year. If Naoki Ranch needs them, they can go to the store to buy them.

(End of this chapter)