Half asleep and half awake, Silas felt his shoulder being shaken vigorously, while something fluffy brushed back and forth across the tip of his nose.
"Achoo—!"
With a sudden sneeze, Silas snapped fully awake.
As he opened his eyes, he found himself staring straight into two pairs of eyes—it was Minccino and Kangaskhan.
Instinctively, he raised his hand to pet them, prompting both Pokémon to let out comfortable, rumbling purrs of enjoyment.
"Are you hungry? I'll go cook right now," Silas said.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the sky. The sun was already tilting westward, meaning it was well past lunchtime. He had only meant to rest his eyes for a moment, but clearly, he had overslept.
"Min~"
Minccino shook its head, then patted its own belly with its tiny paws, indicating that they weren't hungry at all.
Silas placed his palm on Minccino's stomach and felt how round and full it was.
If they weren't hungry, then why had they woken him up?
Silas looked at them with a puzzled expression.
"Kang~!"
"Min! Min!"
Kangaskhan and Minccino began animatedly acting things out, vividly explaining the situation to him.
Watching Minccino deliberately put on a fierce expression and imitate a lion's roar, Silas ventured a guess, "That Pyroar who came to the ranch last time… is it outside the ranch again?"
Kangaskhan: "Kang~ Kang~" — (Yes, yes!)
Minccino: (•̀ω•́)✧ — (That's exactly it!)
So the in-laws had come calling!
Indeed, considering the relationship between Pyroar and the three Mudbray, calling Pyroar "family from the maternal side" was entirely appropriate.
"So, it's Pyroar!" Silas said as he reached out to rub Minccino's head reassuringly. "Help me call the those three too. Let's go meet Pyroar together."
One minute later, all the ranch Pokémon were mobilized.
They clustered around Silas from every direction as they followed him toward the newly repaired ranch gate.
At a glance, it was clear that Pyroar wasn't the only Pokémon present.
On a massive boulder beside the ranch gate, Pyroar lay sprawled majestically. An imposing and ferocious aura radiated from its body, enough to deter ordinary Pokémon from even daring to look at it, let alone approach.
That was, of course, if one ignored the three Litleo cubs scampering wildly all over Pyroar's body.
Under normal circumstances, Pyroar looked incredibly dominant.
But now?
It gave off an unmistakable air of utter despair.
The three endlessly energetic cubs leaping up and down all over it had annoyed Pyroar to the point where it seemed like it wanted to slam its head into a block of stone just to end it all.
Who would have thought that the mighty Totem Pokémon of Route 12 was completely incapable of taking care of its own kids?
The commotion from the ranch instantly alerted Pyroar.
A sense of salvation appeared in its amber eyes.
Like a gust of wind, it dashed straight to Silas's side, leaving the little cubs far behind.
"Pyroar, is something wrong?" Silas asked.
He squatted down and picked up one of the cubs, which was still in a dazed state, and gave it a hearty rub on the head.
As expected of the offspring of a Totem Pokémon—the cub's body was strong and healthy. Judging by their size, the cubs were likely less than a month old and still in their infancy.
Prompted by Silas's question, Pyroar snapped back to its senses and began explaining the situation.
Yesterday in the wilderness, Pyroar had accidentally encountered a human who had gotten lost. Since Silas was the only human Pyroar knew, it had come early in the morning to ask for his help.
The goal was to escort the lost human back to human society.
Judging by Pyroar's slightly anxious demeanor, the person's condition didn't seem very good—there was a strong possibility that they were ill.
"I see," Silas said, nodding in understanding.
He wasn't surprised at all. The wilderness, especially areas without established routes, was extremely dangerous. New trainers getting lost was common; Silas himself had both gotten lost and helped with rescues during his past adventures.
Just as he was about to inform Kangaskhan and the others that he'd be heading out with Pyroar, Pyroar let out a low growl and gestured for Silas to climb onto its back.
As for the three Litleo cubs, Pyroar chose to leave them temporarily at the ranch.
Despite having met only a few times, Pyroar trusted Silas enough to leave its offspring behind. This level of trust was anything but trivial.
After all, the young of Totem Pokémon were highly valuable to certain factions. There were even Pokémon hunters who traveled the world specifically to capture and sell such cubs.
This trust weighed heavily.
After instructing Kangaskhan and Minccino to help look after the cubs, Silas mounted Pyroar and grabbed hold of its flamboyant mane.
Pyroar threw its head back and let out a triumphant roar—no kids to deal with, pure bliss!
With several powerful leaps, it carried Silas away, disappearing from the ranch.
Left behind were the three cubs, staring at one another in confusion.
They had been abandoned—dumped at the ranch by their own parent.
Before long, however, their attention shifted to Kangaskhan and Minccino.
Especially the way they looked at Kangaskhan, it was pure admiration.
A Pokémon even larger than their king father had to be even stronger than him.
Admiration for the strong was one of Pokémon's natural instincts.
In the blink of an eye, Kangaskhan had gained three tiny fans.
For Kangaskhan, this was her first real interaction with Pokémon infants. Her longing for offspring intensified further, and the maternal aura around her grew increasingly radiant.
Meanwhile, Silas and Pyroar were already crossing mountains and plains.
Without the cubs holding it back, Pyroar moved at incredible speed, sprinting like a wave of scorching heat sweeping across the grasslands.
Riding on its back, Silas felt no bumpiness at all—only the scenery on both sides rushing past at breathtaking speed.
From forest to grassland, man and Pokémon arrived at the far end of Route 12.
Pyroar didn't pause for even a second, heading straight for the very center of the plains—the heart of the pride's territory.
"Is it here?" Silas asked as he dismounted and scanned the surroundings.
All he could see was waist-high grass stretching endlessly in every direction. There wasn't a single human in sight, nor even a Pokémon.
His questioning gaze fell on Pyroar.
Pyroar responded by unleashing a thunderous roar, the sound waves rippling outward like rolling thunder.
Soon after, Silas heard faint rustling noises.
Following the sound, he saw a female Pyroar emerge from the grass. She walked over and affectionately rubbed her body against Pyroar's.
"Roar~"
Pyroar let out a low growl toward Silas, signaling him to follow.
Led by the Pyroar pair, they arrived at a concealed cave entrance.
The rock wall around the entrance was covered in dense claw marks, likely left behind when Pyroar sharpened its claws—this was clearly their dwelling.
Inside the cave, it wasn't dark at all. In fact, there was a noticeable heat in the air.
The reason quickly became apparent: embedded in the cave walls were several fist-sized, fiery red gemstones.
Fire Stones—special stones containing concentrated Fire-type energy, capable of evolving certain Pokémon.
Such elemental evolution stones typically appeared only in areas rich in corresponding elemental energy.
It wasn't surprising at all that a Pyroar Totem Pokémon's residence would produce Fire Stones; even higher-grade Fire Gems appearing here would be completely natural.
Nature—or perhaps the creator god Arceus—seemed especially fond of Pokémon that actively maintained peace and stability in the wild.
Thus, evolution stones worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of League Coins on the market were casually used here as lighting fixtures.
Silas's gaze lingered on the stones for only a brief moment before being drawn to a human figure deeper inside the cave.
(End of Chapter)