Chapter 159: love is the Truth of the Universe
Although Specter was always hopelessly addicted to badmouthing Leafeon...
Arthur knew that his Leafeon from back then actually also valued family and kinship very much.
The reason he conceived the grand ideal of propagating an entire clan by himself was actually because his brothers and sisters had all departed from him one after another during the war.
Of his family, in the end, only he, a single sprout, remained.
In that era, as a Pokémon loyal to humans, Leafeon was consistently unable to gain acceptance from its wild counterparts.
At that time, he actually had no relatives left to look to, no clan to belong to.
That's why he would think of propagating a clan himself.
Back then, Leafeon had actually also had moments like this, with all its fur bristling as it faced a strong enemy, desperately protecting its partners.
It was just that the war had taken away his brothers and sisters; in the end, all he could still protect were partners like Arthur and Specter.
To this day, Arthur still missed Leafeon quite a lot.
Although this fellow couldn't walk straight whenever he saw a female fox, and had caused him countless troubles back then—practically the team's walking hormone, a restless troublemaker...
He was still a good comrade-in-arms, a good partner worthy of entrusting one's back to.
Seeing the little Eevee before him, Arthur couldn't help but think of his Leafeon from the past.
Differing from Specter's view, Arthur actually felt this little one was quite like his own Leafeon.
However, Monica, standing to the side, blinked her eyes, "You also have your eye on this little one, huh? Then you'll have to put in some effort. This is the eldest brother among the quadruplets this time. Many people took a liking to him as soon as he was born, but he still hasn't looked at any human with particular favor. This little one's standards are quite high, you know."
The Everhart family didn't run a Pokémon pet shop; they certainly wouldn't help you capture a Pokémon.
If you've taken a fancy to one, you can only rely on your own ability to earn its favor.
If the little Eevee likes you, the Everhart family might give it to you for free.
But if it doesn't like you, they won't sell it no matter how much money you offer.
Given the current power and influence of the Everhart family, they had no need to rely on selling the Eevees in their home to earn money.
Arthur nodded.
Looking at it this way, arriving a few days early actually brought some extra benefits; I can have a few more days to cultivate a bond with the little one.
On the spot, he tried finding a small milk bottle in the nearby nursery and filled it with some milk, wanting to tease the little Eevee.
Unfortunately, his aura was truly too fierce; the eldest of the quadruplets, even though it no longer had its fur bristling, still didn't dare to approach him.
This left Arthur feeling very helpless. He could only assign this task to his own Pokémon to complete.
Specter, hiding in the shadows, immediately expressed his refusal.
"What?! You want me to go curry favor with the descendant of that dog-humper? No way! Absolutely not!"
That tone strongly conveyed an attitude of: I, Specter, would rather starve to death, die outside, than absolutely do this thing today.
"Fine then..."
Arthur didn't insist either.
Afterward, he first stayed at the Everhart family's house. Whenever he had free time, he would head to the nursery in the backyard. Before long, he had become quite familiar with the breeders responsible for looking after the Pokémon there.
The Flareon mother, however, wasn't averse to Arthur.
Living in the military district compound, she was quite familiar with the kind of aura Arthur carried; having seen it often, she naturally got used to it.
However, the few little ones among the quadruplets always trembled shiveringly upon seeing Arthur, making it impossible for him to try and curry favor even if he wanted to.
As a result, on the evening of the second day, Arthur, upon turning his head at one point, unintentionally discovered that his own shadow had become fainter.
Specter is gone?
He went back to his room and searched all around but couldn't find him. It wasn't until he discovered Mismagius's Poké Ball was also empty that he finally thought of something.
Going over to the nursery in the backyard to take a look, sure enough, the two ghosts, taking advantage of the fact that no one was there at night, were taking turns making funny faces to amuse the little Eevees.
When Arthur came over and caught them, Specter's movements abruptly froze, like an actor on stage who suddenly forgot their lines halfway through a performance; his entire body stiffened awkwardly.
Turning his head back, Arthur was looking at him with a smile that was yet not a smile.
Indeed, the True Fragrance Law: disliking something first, then loving it later is the truth of the universe; no intelligent creature in any world can escape it.
Specter, recovering his senses, hurriedly tried to explain, "No, Master, this... this was Mismagius wanting to come over and see. I just came over to accompany her, really..."
Arthur tried hard to suppress his laughter.
"I never said you couldn't come see them, did I? What are you panicking about?"
"Uh..."
Specter quickly realized he had confessed without being pressed.
In fact, back then, although Specter and Leafeon bickered fiercely, and the two Pokémon would glare at each other and pick fights upon meeting, mutually cursing "horny dog-humper" and "lonely wandering ghost," the two Pokémon were, after all, old comrades-in-arms who had fought shoulder-to-shoulder for over a decade; they still shared a life-and-death friendship.
Specter and Leafeon were both among the first batch of Pokémon to follow Arthur two hundred years ago. Including Lapras, they were all his initial partners who had accompanied him on campaigns south and north when he had not yet made his mark and was still just a young grunt soldier. They had known each other for many years, and their comradeship in battle ran very deep.
Up to the present day, although Specter still refused to admit defeat verbally and would find opportunities to mock the "dog-humper" a couple of times, in reality, regarding the matter of coming to the Everhart family to see the Eevee clan, besides Arthur himself, he was the one most attentive to it.
It just so happened that Mismagius had a strong maternal nature and had always been very fond of young Pokémon. So, he went along with the flow and came over.
Who could have thought the master's observation skills were too acute? He had only just left the shadow for a short while when Arthur discovered he was missing, immediately came looking, and caught him red-handed.
It could be described as light-speed social death...
It's over—in this moment, Specter lamented in his heart: From now on, when I curse that dog-humper again, I won't even have the confidence myself.
In order to alleviate Specter's embarrassment, and incidentally to also provoke him a bit, Arthur teased, "Since you like young Pokémon so much, why not have one yourself? Nurture your body well; you should be able to consider matters of reproduction now. Anyway, I no longer need to rush off to battlefields, nor do I need you to constantly stay in my shadow protecting me anymore."
After this joke was spoken, Specter was seen scratching his head, showing no particular reaction, his response outstandingly that of a dense 'straight man'.
Conversely, Mismagius, who was teasing the little Eevees at the side, instantly blushed a deep red. In a flash, her entire body霧化 (wùhuà - turned into mist/atomized) and hid within a cloud of smoke, leaving only a pointy witch hat floating in mid-air, swaying back and forth as if drunk.
This caused the few little Eevees to chase after it, happily calling out.
It was clear that Mismagius was very good at taking care of children. With her as a medium, the little Eevees were clearly not as wary of Arthur as they had been during their first meeting. While chasing Mismagius's hat, they would even occasionally stop to look at him a couple of times, tilting their heads and revealing very cute expressions.
"Is he looking at me?"
Arthur asked.
This could also be considered proactively changing the subject, lest Mismagius keep her body hidden, leaving only a hat outside, too scared to show herself.
Hearing this question, Mismagius finally managed to re-condense her body and replied, "Yes, this child actually has quite a good impression of humans. He has thought about finding a human master; that way, it could lessen his mother's burden."
This eldest of the quadruplets was indeed a sensible Eevee.
Arthur then asked, taking advantage of the situation, "Then what's his impression of me?"
Mismagius smiled and said, "See him tilting his head? The little one has been suspecting all along whether you're actually human or not."
"..."
Ah, this...
(End of Chapter)
♧♧♧
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
♧♧♧
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.patreon.com/c/Segais
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you