Early the next morning, Shiryu rolled over in his sleep and caught the unmistakable scent of wool.
He rubbed his nose, blinked a few times, and gradually woke up.
Seven Wooloo were sprawled around the inside of the cottage.
He had spent the night using Blue-Ribbon Wooloo as a pillow, while the six female Wooloo had curled up nearby and provided plenty of extra warmth.
Their fleece really was excellent insulation.
At least, it had been during the night.
Now that morning had arrived and the summer air was already beginning to warm, being surrounded by seven balls of wool was becoming a little less comfortable.
Shiryu climbed to his feet, stretched until his joints loosened, and stepped outside.
Beldum and Drilbur seemed to have awakened around dawn.
Beldum was circling the cottage while violet Psychic energy glowed around his head.
Judging by the repeated bursts of movement, he was practicing the Zen Headbutt he’d learned the previous day.
Drilbur, meanwhile, was already cutting down grass in preparation for cultivating another section of the ranch.
Seeing how hard both Pokémon were working without being told put Shiryu in an excellent mood.
Then he remembered something.
“Oh, right.”
He glanced around.
“Beldum, have you seen Zigzagoon?”
Zigzagoon had fallen asleep on a pile of grass the previous night, but now she was nowhere to be seen.
“Beldum!”
Beldum stopped practicing and floated toward one side of the ranch, apparently indicating the direction Zigzagoon had gone.
“Hm?”
Shiryu followed his gaze toward the southwest.
That way led into rocky hills and the nearby mountain area.
Just then, a black-and-white figure came racing toward the ranch from that direction.
Shiryu’s eyesight was good enough to recognize Zigzagoon almost immediately.
“Oh?
Did Zigzagoon head up into the mountains first thing this morning?”
Only when she reached the ranch did Shiryu notice that she had all kinds of things tangled around her body.
“Zig!”
Zigzagoon ran up to him and began pulling off her cargo one piece at a time.
A pearl necklace.
An old-fashioned mobile phone.
A silver mechanical wristwatch with no strap.
A Clefairy Doll.
A wooden shield.
Six soda bottle caps, one of which appeared to be some kind of rare collector’s edition.
And a Leaf Stone.
Shiryu stared at the little pile, both impressed and confused.
“Wait…
Zigzagoon, is all of this your collection?”
Zigzagoon nodded.
Shiryu crouched and rested a hand on her head.
Through Viridian Power, he immediately sensed the feelings she was trying to convey.
She had gone back into the mountains early that morning to retrieve everything she’d collected from her old den.
Now that she had decided to stay with Shiryu, these were the most valuable possessions she owned.
And because she liked Shiryu—and the new companions she’d met on the ranch—she wanted to share her treasures with them.
A heartfelt confession from one extremely socially anxious little raccoon.
Understanding what she meant, Shiryu smiled warmly.
“Zigzagoon, thank you for trusting me with these.
You’re an irreplaceable part of this ranch now, and you always will be.
As long as you want to stay, you’ll always have a home here.”
That was a promise Shiryu intended to keep.
“Zigzagoon~!”
Delighted, Zigzagoon bounced in place for a moment before suddenly racing in circles around him.
Watching her run, Shiryu finally remembered one of the most famous traits of Galarian Zigzagoon.
They were constantly on the move and seemingly incapable of sitting still.
“Oh!
That gives me an idea.”
Seeing how much energy she had, Shiryu opened the Ranch Shop and spent 300 Ranch Coins on a large bag of high-quality Wishing Wheat seeds.
He withdrew the bag and gave Zigzagoon an extremely friendly smile.
“Zigzagoon, since you love running so much…
how about helping me sow these seeds in that field?”
Waste not, want not.
If Zigzagoon was going to spend half the day running anyway, there was no reason all that energy couldn’t accomplish something useful.
Shiryu needed to sow the newly cultivated field, and she was perfect for the job.
“Zigzagoon~!”
She agreed enthusiastically.
Shiryu tied a piece of cloth around her back and poured a small quantity of Wishing Wheat seeds into it, then cut a small opening in the bottom.
Now, as Zigzagoon ran, the seeds would scatter naturally behind her.
Once she reached the field, she immediately began sprinting back and forth.
Shiryu watched for a while, then looked across the ranch toward the rising sun in the east and stretched.
“Ahh…
looks like it’s going to be another productive day.”
With that, he headed down to the river to wash his face.
The stream was clear enough to see small fish weaving lazily between the aquatic plants below, their tails swaying as though they were silently telling him, ‘Come back when we’re bigger if you want to eat us.’
Shiryu had no interest in bothering the tiny fish today.
Instead, he studied the river itself and found another idea forming in his mind.
“If I dug out a pond around here and diverted part of the stream flowing down from the forest, I could start raising aquatic Pokémon.”
He rested a hand against his chin before imitating the formal tone of the system.
“‘No proper ranch is complete without aquatic Pokémon.
Ranch owner, please catch and raise more aquatic Pokémon to further develop your ranch.'”
“Pfft.”
He couldn’t even finish the imitation without laughing at himself.
By the time he returned to the cottage, the Wooloo had all awakened.
Shiryu directed the flock toward a thick patch of grass nearby and let them start eating.
At the moment, the biggest obstacle to expanding the ranch wasn’t actually cultivating the soil.
It was clearing all the weeds beforehand.
The entire property was badly overgrown, making it difficult even for Drilbur to work efficiently.
Fortunately, Shiryu now had seven highly motivated, grass-eating lawn mowers.
“Wooloo, once you’ve all eaten your fill, remember to go find more Wooloo friends and bring them back here, okay?”
“Wooloo~!”
The six females answered with soft, cheerful cries.
Only Blue-Ribbon Wooloo looked distinctly reluctant.
Shiryu knew exactly what he was thinking.
Unfortunately for him, a proper Wooloo flock was going to be an essential part of Shiryu’s future ranch.
And Shiryu wasn’t planning to keep Wooloo merely for their fleece.
Once the flock became large enough, he also intended to establish a proper breeding program so they could produce Eggs.
That meant the ratio of male to female Wooloo would eventually need to become reasonably balanced.
Otherwise…
Blue-Ribbon Wooloo might end up being worked into the ground for an entirely different kind of ranch duty.
Shiryu gave him a look that practically said, ‘I’m doing this for your own good.’
Once everyone had their assignments, Shiryu went looking for Beldum again.
Every other Pokémon on the ranch already had a reliable source of food.
Beldum was the only exception.