"One, two, three... seventeen, eighteen, twenty... Holy moly, so many?!" Naoki exclaimed, stunned by the sheer number of eggs.
He glanced at the hen, who appeared utterly exhausted after her prodigious feat. She stumbled around, looking drained and listless.
After a few moments, she staggered back to the feeding trough and began to devour the chicken feed with a ravenous hunger.
Naoki watched with concern. Did I break her? he wondered.
He quickly recalled the effects of the steamed chicken feed:
When fed to roosters, it accelerates egg fertilization. When fed to hens, it causes them to lay a large number of eggs in a short period.
However, after laying eggs, the hen will enter a 15-day cooldown period during which it cannot lay eggs or consume this dish again. It will also need to consume large amounts of food to regain its strength.
"So, she's replenishing her depleted energy," Naoki concluded, relieved.
Thankfully, the dish didn't permanently drain the hen. It seemed to function like an advance payment, accelerating the egg-laying process and requiring a recovery period afterward.
Naoki continued to observe the hen. After finishing her own portion of feed, she proceeded to eat the other two hens' shares as well.
She didn't stop until the trough was empty. Then, she returned to her nest, nestled amongst the pile of eggs, yawned, and promptly fell asleep.
Naoki began to calculate in his head. Based on the original owner's memories, eggs in this world were relatively cheap. A carton of ten eggs sold for only 250 Pokédollars at the market.
Zack buys eggs from ranchers at wholesale prices, so his selling price was lower than the market rate. This meant the pile of eggs before Naoki was worth less than 500 Pokédollars. After deducting the cost of the chicken feed, there wouldn't be much profit left at all.
With this realization, the dish's effect didn't seem so extraordinary anymore.
Naoki took half of the eggs for himself and left the rest for the hen to incubate. He then opened the coop door, allowing the other three chickens to roam and bask in the sunshine. After that, he went to water the crops. With just over 4,000 Pokédollars left and over two weeks until harvest, he needed to find another source of income.
Eggs wouldn't bring in much profit, so Naoki decided to explore Casseroya Lake, located north of the ranch.
To protect the ranch from wild Pokémon while he was away, he asked Cyclizar to stay behind and guard the house.
Returning to the cabin, Naoki retrieved the six Poké Balls he had purchased in Mesagoza Town. He had kept them tucked away in a drawer, intending to use them for future outings and adventures.
He looked at Koraidon, who was watching him intently.
"Have you seen these before?" Naoki asked, holding up a Poké Ball.
"Gaaashi!" Koraidon nodded its massive head.
Naoki surmised that Koraidon must have seen Poké Balls while it was with Professor Olim in Area Zero. In the game, Koraidon was Professor Olim's Pokémon.
After Professor Sada's death, it lost a territorial battle against another Koraidon and fled from the Paldea crater, eventually encountering the game's protagonist on a beach. The protagonist then received Koraidon's Poké Ball from Professor Olim's son, Arven.
So, did that mean Koraidon's Poké Ball was currently in Arven's possession?
Naoki pondered this. Arven was often called "Little Batman" because, like Batman, he had lost his parents, Professor Olim and Professor Turo.
As their son, Arven had once lived with his parents and Koraidon. But Koraidon's wild instincts and fighting spirit had eventually led it to attack other Pokémon. Fearing that Koraidon's existence would be discovered, and to prevent further harm to other Pokémon, Professor Olim had reluctantly returned it to the Paldea crater.
Young Arven blamed Koraidon for taking his mother away, and his resentment grew as Professor Olim, preoccupied with research, neglected him. This led Arven to develop a dislike for both Koraidon and his parents, resenting any mention of them.
"I'll worry about that later," Naoki decided, pushing those thoughts aside for now.
Koraidon's Poké Ball was with Arven, and Pokémon that had already been caught couldn't be caught again with a different Poké Ball. The first capture imprinted a unique mark on the Pokémon, preventing it from entering another ball.
Naoki recalled this being the standard rule for regular Poké Balls. As an experiment, he held the ball against Koraidon's body.
A few seconds passed, but nothing happened. Koraidon remained outside the ball, looking confused.
"Guess it won't work," Naoki sighed, putting the Poké Ball away and abandoning the idea of capturing Koraidon.
Naoki packed his travel backpack with water, berries, Poké Balls, and other essentials. He was ready to set off with Koraidon to explore Casseroya Lake and survey its fish population.
Suddenly, Koraidon's cries echoed from outside.
Naoki, backpack slung over his shoulder, stepped out to investigate. Koraidon was pointing towards the ranch entrance, roaring, "Gaaao!"
"What's wrong?" Naoki followed Koraidon's gaze and saw two figures, one tall and one small, approaching.
The woman in front was striking, with a wild aura. She wore a white lab coat over a primitive animal-skin tunic, an animal tooth necklace adorning her neck. Behind her trailed a young boy, about eight years old. He shared her short, sandy hair, and they bore a clear resemblance to each other.
They stopped a short distance away, their eyes fixed on Naoki and Koraidon. The woman, her gaze lingering on Koraidon, spoke to Naoki with confidence and poise.
"Hello there," she began, "did you rescue this Pokémon?"