As soon as autumn passed, the temperature dropped right away.

The Pokemon in the mountains and forests began stockpiling Berries for the winter, and the ones afraid of the cold started their annual migration, setting off for the distant southern lands.

The cold wind whistled bleakly, and yellow, withered leaves spun down from the branches.

Naoki stopped working the fields, only planting two kinds of radishes that Spectrier and Glastrier like to eat.

He took the Pokemon along to stash the vegetables harvested earlier into the warehouse, or turn them into pickles to eat with meals.

It’s worth mentioning that the Scallion Garden guarded by Farfetch’d was also affected by the season.

Those thick, sturdy green onions had grown very old from not being harvested for a long time.

Farfetch’d was very familiar with this kind of thing.

So before those green onions died of old age, it swung the leek in its hand and harvested the entire Scallion Garden one by one, then bundled them up and carried them to Naoki so he could sell them.

After months of working out, Farfetch’d had already built a powerful physique; beneath its fine down were bulging, sturdy muscles.

The leek that once seemed ridiculously huge now felt perfectly natural in Farfetch’d’s grip.

"Mm, looks like your Scallion Techniques have broken through to a new level again!"

Looking at Farfetch’d swinging its leek in front of him, Naoki couldn’t help nodding as he spoke.

Farfetch’d gripped its leek with one hand and swept it across in a burst; the fallen leaves on the ground were lifted into the air by the gust created by the swing.

Hearing Naoki’s words, Farfetch’d stopped training. Holding the leek like a rifle, it looked back with firm eyes and cried, "Gah!"

"Do you have any plans for the future?" Naoki asked.

"Gah..." Farfetch’d thought about it carefully, then shook its head.

It wanted to stay on the ranch forever and keep training here!

"Then I’ll be counting on you from now on!" Naoki said with a laugh, rubbing Farfetch’d’s head.

As he spoke, he wrapped a red wool scarf he’d bought in town around Farfetch’d’s neck.

"A gift for you. This winter is probably going to be really cold," Naoki said. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

A few days ago, he’d seen on the news that a blast of strong cold air was sweeping in from the Paldea West Sea, and it wouldn’t be long before it reached the Paldea Region.

Farfetch’d lowered its head to look at the scarf around its neck and looked quite happy: "Gah!"

Saying goodbye to Farfetch’d, Naoki went back home.

It was already November, the temperature was starting to drop, and it felt like it would start snowing before long.

Last winter he went to the Galar Region in search of Calyrex; this winter he didn’t really have anything special he needed to do.

So Naoki planned to stay home the entire winter and spend it together with his Pokemon.

From what Naoki knew, the Paldea League was also on break.

Gym Leaders like Lono and Grusha didn’t have to stay at their Gyms and could use this time to travel or go back home to be with family.

After it got colder, Naoki reopened the Slugma ventilation ducts.

As Slugma moved around inside, the warmth radiating from its body would drift through the ducts into every corner of the house, making the whole place nice and cozy.

The Eevee had thick fur, so even in this cold weather they weren’t affected at all and were still happily playing outside.

In the living room, besides Calyrex watching TV with Its exclusive tea set, Sinistea and Polteageist, only the cold‑averse Cyclizar was lying in front of the toasty fireplace, Sleeping.

Naoki took ingredients out of the fridge and started preparing lunch for the Pokemon.

He still had other things to do in the afternoon; Professor Sada had called him yesterday, saying she planned to visit the ranch this afternoon to observe how Flutter Mane was living in the outside world.

So when Naoki finished lunch and was sitting on the sofa topping up the black tea inside Polteageist, Professor Sada arrived at the ranch with Arven.

After not seeing him for a long time, Arven didn’t seem to have changed much and was still as quiet and reserved as before.

Naoki smiled and greeted him, "Long time no see, Arven!"

Arven looked at him and answered politely, "Long time no see, Mr. Naoki."

His little sister Indeedee brought over two cups of hot black tea for Arven and Professor Sada.

After Professor Sada took a couple of small sips, she couldn’t wait any longer and wanted to go see how Flutter Mane was living on the ranch.

"Flutter Mane should be over by the Snorlax Park right now," Naoki said as he stood up. "Come on, I’ll take you there!"

The two of them rose at once and followed Naoki across the ranch.

On the way, Arven looked left and right and suddenly noticed that a lot of Pokemon were missing from the ranch.

The Gogoat were gone, and Arboliva was missing too.

Seeing this, Arven couldn’t help asking, "Mr. Naoki, where are the Gogoat?"

"Them?" Naoki replied. "They went to a warm place to spend the winter."

To be precise, they went to the World Tree in the Reversed World.

The World Tree had now grown very tall and massive and could easily accommodate the Gogoat and Arboliva—another hundred wouldn’t be a problem either.

And since the Reversed World stayed at a constant temperature all year round, the Natural Energy released by the World Tree was extremely beneficial to Grass Type Pokemon.

So, after it got cold, Naoki sent them to the Sky Island where the World Tree stood to train, and they’d come back in spring when the weather warmed up.

The entrance to the Reversed World was right in the ranch’s lake, which also made it very convenient for milking the goats.

Hearing this answer, Arven nodded and didn’t ask any more questions.