The Paldea League must have thought of these things too, right?
The two followed along and eventually came to a clearing in the forest.
In the clearing, some burly workers were digging the earth, burying tombstones engraved with the names of deceased Pokemon in the ground.
Rika gazed at this scene and murmured, "I've heard that after a Pokemon passes away, it doesn't just disappear; it transforms into a ghost, wandering this land, searching for the way home."
Naoki remained silent, knowing a bit more about this than Rika did.
After death, both humans and Pokemon become ghosts, returning to the Spirit Realm to rejoin the cycle of the world.
If a ghost with too strong an attachment is unwilling to leave, the gatekeeper Dusknoir will appear and take it into the Spirit Realm, guiding it to the underworld.
"I wonder if, after I die, my foreign soul will be taken to the Spirit Realm by Dusknoir," Naoki murmured to himself.
Seeing his pensive expression, Rika comforted him, "Don't be too sad. Have you also experienced the death of a Pokemon?"
Naoki thought to himself that he wasn't sad, and upon hearing Rika's words, he shook his head.
"Birth, aging, sickness, and death are all normal parts of this world," Rika said, looking up at the cloudy sky. "Have you heard of the Pokemon called Houndstone?"
Naoki froze for a moment. "Houndstone?"
"Yes!" Rika nodded with a smile, "Houndstone is the form taken by a deeply mourned Pokemon when it reincarnates."
"People say that as long as you deeply remember a Pokemon that has passed away, one day in the future, you'll meet a Houndstone."
"That Pokemon, feeling the Trainer's sentiments, has reincarnated into a Houndstone and returned to their side."
"That's really something..." Naoki was momentarily at a loss for words to describe it.
Speaking of this, Rika laughed softly, "But if you raise your Pokemon healthy and strong, they'll live a long, long time!"
"I've seen a Butterfree that lived nearly sixty years! Its Trainer took it out for exercise every day, feeding it all kinds of berries for nutrition, extending a lifespan usually only three or four decades by more than twenty years!"
Naoki had never considered this path: "Is that really possible? You're not joking, right?"
Rika: "Of course not! When do I ever joke...? This is something I've personally encountered!"
Naoki: "..."
He's decided! Once he returns to the ranch, he would start training everyone, preparing all sorts of nutritional supplements to let those Pokemon live long lives!
Naoki made up his mind internally.
Looking at Rika, who seemed younger than him, Naoki suddenly remembered something.
If he wasn't mistaken, the Paldea League's Elite Four were quite unique.
The Earth Elite Rika, Dragon Type Elite Hassel, Flying Elite Larry, and the youngest, the nine-year-old Steel Elite Poppy.
At this time, Poppy must have just been born...
Out of curiosity, Naoki couldn't help but ask, "By the way, who are the Elite Four of the Paldea League?"
His topic shifted too quickly, and Rika didn't react immediately. It took her a while to realize what Naoki was talking about.
Rika curiously asked, "Elite Four? Were you invited by the chief to join the Paldea League as one of the Elite Four? If that's the case, it sounds pretty interesting!"
"Not really," Naoki shook his head. "The chief just invited me to work at the League."
"Is that so?" Rika thought for a moment and then replied, "Currently, the Paldea Elite Four has only three members: me, specializing in Ground Type; Hassel, specializing in Dragon Type; and Larry, temporarily assigned by the chief to fill in as the Flying Elite."
"There's a vacancy for one Elite position. Since the last Elite retired, no one has filled it, and it's remained like this ever since."
Naoki asked in confusion, "What happens if a Trainer challenges the Elite Four?"
Rika: "They temporarily pull someone from the Champion-level Trainers to fill in!"
Naoki: "..."
As expected of the Paldea League, holding multiple positions is all too common here.
For example, Larry, primarily an employee in the Pokemon Operations Department, not only serves as a Gym Leader but also as the Flying Elite.
It's not just Larry; Rika also serves as an interviewer at the Pokemon League.
Even Geeta isn't idle; she not only handles League affairs but also inspects Gyms everywhere, searching for talents to join the Paldea League.
Busy indeed!
In comparison, life at the ranch is much more leisurely.
*
In the afternoon, after receiving a phone call, Rika hurriedly left the ranch.
According to her, a Trainer had collected eight Gym Badges and was heading to League Headquarters to challenge the Elite Four.
As an interviewer, she had to return to work promptly.
Naoki: "..."
He could only watch Rika's figure fade into the distance.
From the current progress, the construction of the Abundant Shrine would not be completed in a day or two.
Besides building the shrine, the workers also had to lay the staircase leading down the mountain.
From what Rika implied, the Paldea League and the mayor of Porto Marinada Town, Thomas, had discussed plans to create a complete shrine and to set the day Calyrex performed miracles as the Abundant Festival.
On that day every year, the town would hold a festival at the shrine to commemorate Calyrex's great deeds.
Regarding the festival... Naoki could only recall scattered memories from anime he'd watched before.
Like girls in festival attire, sake chewed on by mouth, and elders presiding over the festival.
At that time, people would light the mountain path with torches and proceed from the foot of the mountain to the shrine, where they would pay respects to the deities enshrined there.
Dusk approached, and the sky was filled with the colors of twilight.
The ranch echoed with the happy laughter of Pokemon.
They chased and played on the grass or picked flowers in the flowerbeds.
When Naoki returned to the ranch, he was greeted with a bunch of blooming yellow flowers from Cyclizar.
Seeing this, Naoki immediately remembered how last spring Cyclizar had given him a bunch of flowers, and then Koraidon, not to be outdone, also picked a bunch of flowers to give to him.
Naoki reached out to take the bunch of flowers from Cyclizar, planning to place them in a vase in his room, then patted Cyclizar's head:
"Good boy, I really like these flowers."
"Rawr~" Cyclizar let out a happy growl and wagged its tail joyfully.
Naoki was curious about what Koraidon would do this time.
He turned to look, and noticed that Koraidon, who had been napping under the eaves, was nowhere to be seen.
Naoki was a bit surprised and turned around to see Koraidon diving headfirst into the fields of lush flowers.
After a while, Koraidon returned.
Its hands were clutching a colorful bunch of flowers.
"..."
As expected, Koraidon was still Koraidon!
Naoki reached out to accept them, knowing that if he accepted Cyclizar's flowers but not Koraidon's, Koraidon would get jealous and upset.
"Alright! Go play!" Naoki said.
However, Koraidon didn't leave. It had just seen Naoki pat Cyclizar's head, so it leaned in too.
Naoki helplessly patted its head, and only then was Koraidon satisfied.
"Ahh gah-see~"
Such a childish creature!
Naoki turned around, intending to go back to the room to prepare dinner for everyone.
Koraidon and Cyclizar followed him, one on each side.
While taking out ingredients from the refrigerator, Naoki thought of the information Geeta had previously told him.
Geeta said that Alder was no longer involved in League affairs and now likely wandered throughout the Unova Region.
Therefore, finding Alder would be an extremely difficult task.
Looking at the bottle of Life Sheep Milk in front of him, Naoki regretted, even if only a little bit.
He didn't see how he could abandon everything at the ranch to travel to the Unova Region to find Alder.
As night approached, the Pawmot and their group gradually returned home from playing outside.
Seeing them, Naoki was reminded of what Rika had said earlier today.
— Raise your Pokemon healthy and strong, so they live long lives.
No one can be left out, whether it's Pawmot, Cyclizar, Alcremie, Combee, or Butterfree!