“Yimo.”

  Is new home, Emolga curiously ied the space where it would be living from now on.

  Uhe more people-friendly Emolga, Galvantu’s family preferred the outdoors. After all, the nature of spiders meant they weren’t particurly fond of staying too close to humans.

  Downstairs, the two Joltik were feasting voraciously oricity. Having gone so long without sudulgehey were now practically glued to the power outlets, impossible to pull away.

  It was safe to predict that Natsume’s electricity bill was about to skyrocket.

  But, it was all worth it!

  Maybe it was the blessing of the Alpaon, but in just over a month, Natsume had mao catch three shiny Pokémon.

  And all of them had stunning color schemes.

  The pink-and-white Furret, which always reminded Natsume of a certain ielr diva.

  The golden Pidgeotto, whose brassy plumage gave Natsume ideas about training it to deliver sarcastic quips from streetmps.

  And the red Charjabug.

  To most, this might not seem impressive. But its final evolution into the shiny Vikavolt—sleek silver with fluorest green patterns—looked like a mae straight out of a futuristic war movie.

  In short, the evolution was destio be incredibly cool. Far cooler than the green Machamp models Natsume used to see in his cssmate’s fashion magazines.

  Even among shihere were levels to this.

  “Yimo!”

  Emolga raised its paw in a polite greeting as the surrounding Pokémon gathered around to observe the newer.

  “Hello, everyone. I’m Emolga, the new arrival. Please take care of me.”

  The little flying squirrel Pokémon struck a well-mannered pose, as if it were a diligent student on its first day of school.

  Emolga uood the importanaking a good first impression. Its priority was to establish friendly retionships and uand the dynamics of its new home.

  By figuring out the hierarchy and peg order, it could avoid missteps and even gain support for any future endeavors.

  If worst came to worst, it could aly the cute card—ag pitiful, fshing its big eyes, and calling everyone "big brother" while tugging at their heartstrings.

  Yes, Emolga was very fident in its charm.

  It silently praised its own cleverness.

  But...

  Stare—

  Mino was gring at Emolga, a ing cloth still in its paws.

  The intense gaze made Emolga break into a nervous sweat.

  What’s going on?

  Did I do something wrong?

  Or is this just not how greetings work here?

  “Mi!”

  After scrutinizing Emolga for a while, Mino nodded with satisfa.

  “Seems like a kid. That’s good. Very good.”

  Giving Emolga a reassuring pat on the shoulder, Mino resumed ing. Lately, the household’s chaos had increased Mino’s workload expoially.

  Ialiation, the younger Pokémon led by Togepi had all found themselves pio the floor by Mino at least once.

  It wasn’t about strength—just sheer authoritative pressure.

  “San!”

  Sandssh returo grab an pokéblock for lunch. Giving Emolga a casual pat, it offered a few encing words.

  “Work hard, little one. I’m heading out.”

  Carrying its meal, Sandssh left to tend to its crops, clearly more ied in its fields than in the new arrival.

  “Tokii.”

  Togepi mimicked Sandssh’s as, patting Emolga on the shoulder as well.

  Keep it up; I believe in you.

  “Toki-toki.”

  Work hard, that’s advice from your senior.

  Though it had only hatched retly, Togepi insisted on pying the role of a mature mentor, much like a high schooler p how to save the world.

  “Furr.”

  Following Togepi, the shiny Furret gave Emolga a quick pat but said nothing.

  "Hmph, I admit you’re cute. But cute Pokémon only slow me down!"

  Determined, Furret bolted out of the house.

  It had decided—today, it would run fifteen ps around the farm.

  If it couldn’t finish, it would do fifty sprints instead.

  This was a trainihod it had learned from watg anime.

  Squeak!

  "My youth will never fade!"

  “Caw!”

  Desding from the sed floor, Corvisquire fixed Emolga with a sharp gaze.

  "Hmph. A mere nobody. Shall I—"

  Before it could finish its arrogant monologue, Persian kicked it aside, cutting the drama short.

  “You’re using the wrong idiom, idiot.”

  Aowledging Emolga with a slight nod, Persian dragged Corvisquire into a er, ready to disciplihe TV-obsessed troublemaker.

  “...Yimo?”

  Standing frozen in pce, Emolga felt its brain short-circuiting.

  Why does everyone here seem so weird?

  The only seemingly normal one had beeterfree it met earlier.

  Turning to the Hisuian Zorua that had been quietly from the side, Emolga looked for some expnation—or maybe just some fort.

  But the moment Zorua noticed Emolga’s gaze, it darted into the adjat room through the wall.

  Now, only Zorua's Unovan terpart remained, leisurely swishing its tail.

  As for Lopunny?

  It had goh Natsume to move some supplies.

  Though, truth be told, Zorua doubted Natsume needed any help from a Pokémon.

  In Zorua’s experiehere wasn’t a human strohan Natsume.

  Even martial artists wouldn’t stand a ce.

  Sure, "using force to overe teique" might sound crude, but it worked.

  And with Natsume’s ability to tank even Hyper Beam hits to the face, finesse wasly a priority.

  Most problems could be solved by charging straight through them.

  “Hehe.”

  Seeing Emolga’s bewildered expression, Zorua let out a mischievous ugh.

  Hearing the chuckle, Emolga snapped out of its daze and turo Zorua, its cheeks puffed in annoyance.

  “Yimo! Yimo!”

  For some reason, Emolga felt it shared certain traits with this bck-furred fox.

  They locked eyes—it was the look of two Pokémon who knew how to vie for attention.

  Faced with the agitated Emolga, Zorua tilted its head thoughtfully.

  Stretg zily, Zorua leapt into the air.

  As its body twisted mid-flight, it transformed into... aical Emolga.

  “Yimo!”

  Shock!

  The sudden appearance of “another Emolga” startled the inal.

  Cirg the doppelg?nger, Emolga ied it closely.

  After a thh examination, it reached a clusion—this copy was identical in every way.

  “Yimo...”

  Ping the fake Emolga’s cheek, the real one was utterly fbbergasted.

  Meanwhile, Natsume, in another part of the house, was having his own share of shog experiences.

  Gcell