After returning to the ranch, Calyrex and Dragonair still hadn't woken up.
Taking advantage of this time, Naoki tidied up the fields at home and planted the carrot seeds he had bought.
Seeing that the Iceroot Carrots and Shaderoot Carrots in the Snow Field and Ghost Field had been mostly eaten by Glastrier and Spectrier, he went into the field and planted some more carrots.
This time, there was no need for Calyrex's power to accelerate growth; they could just grow slowly here.
After everything was done, it was already twelve noon.
His sister Indeedee had already prepared a hot lunch.
Though it was chilly outside, it was very warm inside the room, with the fire in the fireplace burning brightly. As soon as Naoki stepped in, he sighed contentedly.
As he changed into his cotton slippers, he surveyed the room.
The sleepy Indeedee and Pawmot, who had slept through the morning, were now awake and standing somewhat sheepishly in the living room.
"Why are you standing there? Come over and eat!" Naoki said nonchalantly, pretending not to see them, and waved them over.
A group of Pokémon immediately cheered, stepping forward to their respective dining tables.
While eating, Naoki glanced at Pawmot and couldn't help but think of the cute image of a pink Pawmot, so he asked:
"Pawmot, do you want to change your fur color?"
"Pamo?!" (What?!)
On hearing this, Pawmot was taken aback.
This brought back memories of a midnight movie Naoki had watched not long ago, along with Glaceon, Alcremie, and others.
The movie's protagonists were a few Pikachu.
They originally lived happily together in a forest, but one day, an evil demon came to the forest.
The demon was a Pokémon that had been harmed by humans; before it died, all its fur was stripped off by villains.
Thus, its resentment turned into a demon, wandering the earth, and upon seeing beautifully furred Pokémon, it would capture them and ask if they had seen its fur.
Regardless of the answer, the demon would mercilessly strip the victim Pokémon of its fur, leaving them bloody and horrific!
Even the Pikachus couldn't escape the demon's clutches and all lost their fur!
To this day, recalling that movie still made Pawmot break into a cold sweat.
And now, Naoki was asking it the same question? Could it be that Naoki had turned into a demon as well?
Pawmot: =͟͟͞͞=͟͟͞͞(●⁰ꈊ⁰●|||)
Naoki noticed Pawmot's shocked expression and asked skeptically, "...What's with that expression?"
So, following this, Naoki heard from the Pokémon about the midnight demon that stripped furry Pokémon of their fur.
"That's terrible!"
After hearing the story, Naoki slammed the table and stood up.
Pawmot and Cyclizar huddled together, nodding repeatedly, "Pamo!" (That's right!)
"No way! I need to report this! This isn't a movie; it's a Pokémon snuff film!"
Naoki promptly made this decision, planning to stay up late to conduct a live capture and see just how extreme the movie was.
Pawmot and the others were very frightened, and even Dragonite shivered at the thought.
Having not seen the movie, Cyclizar was utterly confused, while Koraidon displayed an expression of speechlessness.
"Agass..."
Seeing the Pokémon so scared, Naoki said, "Don't worry, it's just a movie. When I mentioned changing your fur color, I didn't mean stripping off your fur, but rather changing its color."
Hearing this, Pawmot was a bit doubtful, "Pamo?"
Naoki asked, "Do you want to try it?"
Seeing Naoki's expectant expression, Pawmot thought for a moment, then found itself a bit curious.
It nodded, deciding to give it a try.
"Great." Just as lunch was about to wrap up, Naoki took out the Dye Berry and placed it in front of Pawmot.
Staring at the berry, which exuded a fragrant aroma and resembled a Berry, Pawmot opened its mouth wide and took a bite.
As soon as it swallowed the whole Dye Berry, its body color began to change.
Starting from an orange hue, it transformed into a cute pink.
Seeing this transformation, the watching Pokémon gasped in surprise, with both admiration and delight.
Pawmot looked down at its new self, feeling a bit unaccustomed initially.
But soon, it became giddy with everyone's bright eyes and envious looks, standing on the sofa shyly.
"Ma-ma..."
Alcremie's eyes shone brightly; in this household, it loved pink things the most!
The pink Pawmot looked like delicious fresh cream!
It also wanted to become that color!
Alcremie immediately turned to Naoki.
Naoki recalled the color of shiny Alcremie, which was like coal black...
That color just didn't suit a Pokémon like Alcremie at all.
"But if you eat that berry, you'll turn black." Naoki said honestly.
Alcremie instantly felt disappointed, deciding against it!
Naoki comforted, "Your current color is beautiful, like a creamy light pink."
Alcremie felt comforted, happy, and no longer wanted to change to another color.
Meanwhile, Dragonite, looking at the pink Pawmot, couldn't help but think of the pink Dragonair on Dragonite Island.