"Big brother, what kind of Pokémon is this?"
Serena had a piece of bread in her mouth as she spoke, her small hand reaching straight toward the Galarian Meowth with unabashed curiosity.
"Sit properly and eat nicely," Silas said, lightly tapping her hand away, his expression turning serious.
"Oh!"
Serena stuck out her tongue playfully, then pushed the extra bread in front of her toward the Galarian Meowth. "This is for you. You have to finish all of it."
After stuffing the bread into her mouth and finishing it in just a few bites, Serena slid down from her chair and dashed outside. "Big brother, I'm full! I'm going out to play!"
Silas could only shake his head helplessly and gesture for Cyclizar to follow her and keep an eye on her.
He then evenly distributed the extra bread Serena had left to the two Meowth. "You two eat more."
"Meow!"
With their cheeks stuffed full and bulging, the two looked completely overwhelmed by the attention. They hurriedly waved their paws, indicating that they really couldn't eat anymore and that the rest could be saved for the Alolan Meowth.
"That works too. Then we'll keep it for now."
After breakfast, Silas walked over to the lakeside.
Seeing him arrive, the Veluza lightly used its psychic power to float the Pokémon Egg over to him.
The moment he came into contact with the egg of a Mythical Pokémon, the familiar information panel naturally unfolded before his eyes.
[Phione's Egg: A Pokémon Egg given as a gift by the Prince of the Sea. Don't forget to prepare delicious coconut soup for Phione. Remaining hatching time: 29 days 19 hours 21 minutes 33 seconds]
There was only about a month left before it hatched. When Silas gently placed his palm against the egg, it trembled slightly, as if greeting him.
"Be good, okay? Later I'll go to Shalour City and buy you an incubator."
As one of the Mythical Pokémon, Phione possessed its own unique traits.
For example, during hatching it could not leave the water—this was precisely why Silas hadn't carried the egg with him before.
With an incubator, however, things would be different. It could be placed inside Kangaskhan's pouch and carried anywhere without worrying about accidents.
"Veluza, do you want to eat something?"
"Vee~"
Veluza shook its head, indicating that it was undergoing ascetic training and shouldn't eat too much.
As for Relicanth, it only fed on plankton-like organisms anyway.
After checking on the condition of the egg, Silas began his daily farm work.
By the time he had gone through everything, another two hours had already passed.
He called Cyclizar over and had Kangaskhan stay behind to guard the ranch.
Silas brought Serena to the Shalour Gym and let her play with Korrina, telling her he would come back to pick her up later.
With her good friend to play with, Serena showed no reluctance at all. She hopped and skipped straight into the gym, while Silas mounted Cyclizar and headed for the department store.
"Hello, how much is this incubator?"
The sales clerk immediately looked over with enthusiasm. "This is the latest unlimited incubator developed by the Lysandre Labs. When used together with this special nutrient solution, it can speed up hatching by one-third."
"Hiss—"
That was tempting.
"How much?"
"It's a new product launch. With the maximum discount, it's only fifty thousand Poké Dollars."
"I'll pay by card."
When Silas left the department store, he had an incubator tucked under his arm and a large bag of nutrient solution in his hand.
"Cyc~"
Cyclizar examined it curiously, thinking to itself—can a layer of glass really speed up hatching?
With a nimble movement, Silas mounted Cyclizar and gave the order. "Let's go. We'll head back to the ranch and test it out first."
Under Cyclizar's high-speed sprint, Silas returned to the ranch in just a few minutes.
A group of Pokémon immediately surrounded him, forming a tight circle.
Minccino pulled out a large leaf from its fluffy tail and handed it to Silas.
"For me?"
"Min!"
Minccino explained that a Fearow had delivered it earlier, saying that Chatot had asked it to bring the letter.
Cyclizar was extremely curious and had already stood upright, urging Silas to hurry up and open it.
Mudsdale brothers also shoved their big head in, wanting to see it at the first moment.
When Silas unfolded the folded leaf, there were no words written on it.
Instead, there was a simple drawing sketched with extremely minimal lines, along with a bird claw symbol and a charred black mark that looked like it had been scorched by lightning.
Seeing this, two Pokémon immediately surfaced in Silas's mind.
Chatot and Zapdos—they were letting him know they were safe.
Focusing on the main image, it depicted a lake. In the lake, a Pokémon was sleeping, its abstract shape resembling a mushroom.
A mushroom head shaped Pokémon living in a lake… could it really be the one he was thinking of?
The Legendary Pokémon that inhabit the three great lakes of the Sinnoh region—the Lake Guardians representing emotion, willpower, and knowledge.
He just couldn't tell which one it was.
There was no helping it—Chatot's drawing style was far too abstract, as if it couldn't bear to add even a couple more strokes. Being able to analyze this much already meant Silas was doing quite well.
The Pokémon gathered around him blinked hard, all wearing expressions of complete confusion—utterly lost.
"Min?"
(Did you understand it?)
"Cyc!"
(What on earth did Chatot draw? I can't understand any of it at all.)
"Mud!" ×3
The three Mudsdale nodded in unison, agreeing wholeheartedly with Cyclizar.
"Kang~"
(Silas seems to understand it. Let's ask him.)
One gaze after another focused on Silas—the Pokémon all wanted to know how Chatot was doing.
Carefully putting the leaf-letter away, Silas casually ruffled Minccino's fur.
"Chatot and the others are in the Sinnoh region right now. They haven't run into any danger."
Minccino called out eagerly, "Min?"
"That won't work. Sinnoh is very, very far away from us."
"Min~"
Minccino lowered its head in disappointment. Silas had no choice but to comfort it for a while, then called over one of the Flabébé to take Minccino to look for pretty flowers.
After sending Minccino off, Silas walked toward the lake.
He picked up Phione's egg that Veluza had been guarding and placed it into the incubator filled with nutrient solution, then checked the information again.
[Phione's Egg: Remaining hatching time: 24 days]
"It's only reduced by one-sixth. That's about what I expected."
Silas nodded in understanding and withdrew his gaze.
Legendary and Mythical Pokémon eggs were destined to be different from ordinary ones—the amount of nutrients required alone was massive.
Looking at the incubator's display, the nutrient solution would last at most six hours.
Replacing it every six hours would be another huge expense.
"Kang?"
Kangaskhan, who had been following closely behind Silas, moved closer, gazing longingly at the Pokémon Egg.
Raising his hand, Silas patted her armor and handed the egg over. "Kangaskhan, I'll leave it to you to take care of it!"
"Kang!!"
Hearing this, Kangaskhan waved her hands in a panic. She had no experience incubating eggs and was afraid something might go wrong.
Silas gave her an encouraging look and solemnly passed over the incubator with both hands.
On the ranch, no one was more suitable for taking care of a child than Kangaskhan.
She could treat it as gaining experience a few months in advance.
Encouraged by her Trainer, Kangaskhan's small face turned serious, and she nodded firmly.
She carefully accepted the incubator from Silas and gently placed it into her pouch.
Then she spread her arms wide, scooped Silas up in a big hug, and rubbed her head affectionately against him—Kangaskhan wouldn't let him down.
Silas gently patted her to reassure her, and only then did Kangaskhan put him back down.
From that day on, Kangaskhan greatly reduced her activity time.
She spent most of her time sitting on the grass in front of the ranch house, occasionally lifting her pouch to check on the egg inside, her whole body radiating an unmistakable aura of maternal warmth.
The sight left the two Meowth staring in shock—so the big scary monster could be this gentle too?
Hearing a familiar meowing sound, the two ran toward the ranch gate. It was the Alolan Meowth returning together with Morpeko.
(End of Chapter)