Slowking looked up at the sky.
There should have been a sun there.
But now, for some unknown reason, the sun was gone, and the sky had become quite strange, with some broken sky islands floating above.
"The sun, with adequate sunlight, can dry the berries into dried fruit," Slowking explained.
The Treeckos looked up with it, but there was no sun in this part of the sky.
To verify the feasibility of this method, the Treeckos went to find Arboliva.
Upon hearing their idea, Arboliva thought for a moment and then led the three Treeckos to a Sunflower radiating bright sunlight.
"Li." (This should work.)
So, the Treeckos placed the berries next to the Sunflower to start drying them.
*
After returning to the ranch, it was almost noon.
Naoki hummed a little tune as he went to the kitchen to prepare lunch, but at that moment, he noticed a Cyclizar looking distressed.
Seeing Cyclizar in this state, Naoki was very surprised.
"Cyclizar?" he called out.
Cyclizar turned to look at him.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling down?" Naoki walked over to Cyclizar and reached out to touch its forehead, finding that Cyclizar wasn't sick.
"Gao..." Cyclizar lay on the ground looking listless.
Not far away, Koraidon noticed this scene, blinked, and understood.
But it didn't say anything or go over to stir up trouble, competing for attention like it used to.
"Strange, it's not sick?" Naoki was a bit puzzled.
He felt Cyclizar's emotions again and found its mood very low and disheartened.
Naoki furrowed his brow and then softly asked, "Can you tell me if you've encountered anything recently?"
"Gao..." Cyclizar shook its head, indicating no.
It just felt useless...
Scenes from the past flashed in Cyclizar's mind.
Back then, when Naoki first came to the ranch, the day before it was sent to the ranch, Mayor Thomas specifically found it and said:
"Little Cyclizar, a new owner is about to come to that abandoned ranch, a very poor child who lost his parents and grandfather and is all alone in this world. I hope you can go and accompany him."
At that time, hearing these words, Cyclizar only felt that the human was so pitiful...
So, the kind-hearted Cyclizar immediately agreed, deciding to go to the ranch, to be there with that human, and become his most capable assistant.
But later, that formidable Koraidon arrived, and at first, Cyclizar didn't think much of it, aside from being a bit afraid of that frightening Pokemon.
Back then, Koraidon showed hostility towards it, seemingly not liking it being with Naoki.
Naoki worked hard to mediate their relationship, and gradually, that Pokemon named Koraidon was no longer so mean to it and seemed to start accepting it.
Later on, it even proactively taught Cyclizar new moves.
But what followed was Naoki's increasing lack of need for its help.
That Koraidon was too capable.
It could fly, run, and swim.
Not only that, but working in the fields, digging and planting fruit trees, harvesting crops—Koraidon was proficient in all of it.
In comparison, it felt terribly clumsy.
It couldn't run as fast as Koraidon, couldn't fly, and couldn't swim.
Sometimes, Cyclizar was really envious of Koraidon, envious of how powerful and strong it was, how it could help Naoki with so many things.
From the beginning wanting to train hard to become strong, like the powerful Koraidon, Cyclizar suddenly lost confidence in itself.
Since Koraidon was always by Naoki's side, what was the point of doing these things? Naoki didn't need its protection at all.
No meaning.
But it also really liked Naoki, didn't want to leave Naoki.
These two conflicting emotions tangled with each other, causing Cyclizar to feel extremely distressed.
Cyclizar suddenly fell ill.
This really worried Naoki.
Cyclizar always lacked energy, not even training, nor answering Naoki's questions, languishing all day by the fireplace, motionless.
Initially, Naoki fed Cyclizar Life Sheep Milk for illness, but Cyclizar still showed no signs of improvement.
Then, Naoki asked Calyrex for help, but Calyrex shook its head, indicating that it had no solution.
Naoki was worried, and so were the Pokemon close to Cyclizar.
Alcremie, Glaceon, Ogerpon, Dragonite, and Pawmot all came to comfort it, with no effect.
Even Dragon Power couldn't sense Cyclizar's thoughts.
This Pokemon seemed to have suddenly shut down its inner self.
Naoki took Cyclizar to the Pokemon Center in town for a checkup.
Soon, Miss Joy came out of the treatment room with the examination report.
Her expression was very serious, looking as if Cyclizar had some grave illness.
Naoki's mood immediately sank.
Miss Joy frowned and said, "This Cyclizar is in poor mental state, and its body seems to be affected. Has it not had much appetite recently, not eating well?"
Naoki nodded, the food he prepared for Cyclizar was left uneaten.
Miss Joy continued, "This is not due to physical reasons. If I'm not mistaken, Cyclizar has something on its mind, a knot that's trapping it."
A mental issue? Naoki was slightly startled, trying to recall recent events—he didn't seem to have neglected Cyclizar?
The Pokemon on the ranch were increasing, and he spent time with them daily to take care of each one's emotions.
Miss Joy asked Naoki, "Mr. Naoki, has Cyclizar recently encountered something that makes it sad? I can sense that it likes you a lot but tries not to approach you."
"During the checkup, it kept looking at you outside. I think you're very important to it, Mr. Naoki?"
Naoki's mood instantly plunged to the bottom.
What exactly happened to Cyclizar?
With no results from the checkup, Naoki took the examined Cyclizar back to the ranch.
At this moment, Pawmot's parents came to Naoki, saying two roosters had gotten into a fight and fallen into the river.
Naoki frowned slightly, turning to Cyclizar and said: "Cyclizar, wait here for a bit, I'll make something special for you later."
Cyclizar lay on the grass, half-closing its eyes, looking very unenergetic.
It watched Naoki leave with Pawmot's parents to rescue the roosters that fell into the river, then closed its eyes.
But just then, a shadow suddenly appeared in front of it.
Cyclizar sensed a familiar presence.
It opened its eyes and saw Koraidon, backlit, looking down at it.