Under Kawaki's watchful gaze, the Oddish's friendship rose from 30 to 40.
Seeing this scene, Kawaki smiled slightly. He reached out to gently pat the Oddish's little head and said:
"From now on, we're family. Let's live well together here!"
Coming to this world alone, inheriting this Daycare and the original owner's Bewear, it was impossible not to feel lonely.
But fortunately, from now on he wasn't alone anymore. He had Pokémon.
Bewear, Oddish, and the soon-to-hatch Growlithe...
These Pokémon were his family in this world.
As if sensing Kawaki's current mood, the Oddish looked up at him and blinked its small eyes, then nodded repeatedly:
"Od-dish!"
Kawaki left the Oddish in the garden, because compared to indoors, the Oddish much preferred living outdoors filled with natural energy.
More importantly, Oddish were nocturnal Pokémon. They walked around constantly at night, growing while bathing in moonlight as they moved.
The garden was large enough for the Oddish to move around freely.
Kawaki said goodbye to the Oddish and turned back into the Daycare.
In the living room, Bewear had already finished washing the dishes and picked up the broom to begin the daily cleaning work.
"So reliable!" Kawaki's heart was filled with gratitude toward Bewear. "Thanks for all your hard work, Bewear!"
"Guu~" Bewear didn't mind the work at all. If it didn't do it, then its little human would have to, and it didn't want to tire out its little human.
So the best solution was for it to handle all the housework!
That way its little human could relax a bit!
"I'll go check on how the Growlithe is doing first," Kawaki said.
Bewear nodded: "Guu~"
Kawaki went up the stairs to the second floor. The Growlithe's egg was currently placed in his bedroom.
When he'd gone to Fallarbor Town a few days ago, he'd purchased many daily necessities.
This included a dog bed for the Growlithe, as well as food for newly hatched young Pokémon, like Moomoo Milk.
Pokémon were different from ordinary creatures. Their bodies were both powerful and fragile.
Powerful enough to breathe fire, spit water, and cause earthquakes, but fragile enough to lose their lives from a simple fever or cold.
Especially newly hatched Pokémon - only with careful nurturing could they grow up healthy and strong.
In the bedroom, that egg with fiery red patterns sat quietly in its incubation nest.
[Growlithe's Egg: A Pokémon egg that can hatch the Fire-type Pokémon Growlithe.]
[Health Status: Healthy]
[Father: Arcanine (Elite Four-level strength)]
[Mother: Arcanine (Elite Four-level strength)]
[Hatching Progress: 29/30]
Kawaki stepped forward and held the egg in his arms, speaking to what was inside: "Growlithe, can you hear me talking? I'm Kawaki, and I'm really looking forward to your birth."
This wasn't Kawaki talking to himself.
Because the Growlithe in the egg had less than a day left until hatching, it was fully developed and could hear and even sense the outside world.
Sure enough, when Kawaki finished speaking, the eggshell's temperature began to rise rapidly.
This was the Growlithe inside responding to him!
Great, it seemed the Growlithe was very healthy.
Kawaki grinned, his heart full of anticipation.
Just then, he suddenly saw a line of surprising information on the Growlithe's eggshell.
[Prenatal education can currently be conducted. Teaching moves to Pokémon still in their eggs can allow them to learn moves they normally couldn't learn during regular growth.]
[Current number of moves Growlithe can learn through prenatal education: 5. The number of prenatal education moves is related to the Pokémon's talent, energy affinity, and comprehension. The higher these three factors, the more moves can be taught. Conversely, the lower they are, the fewer moves can be taught.]
[Currently teachable moves: Baby-Doll Eyes, Tackle, Sleep Powder.]
[Proceed with prenatal education?]
Kawaki: "?"
A question mark couldn't help but appear over his head.
Wait a minute! Was this reasonable?
What these words meant was... the move gifts he'd previously received from Bewear and Oddish could also be used on Pokémon that hadn't even hatched from their eggs yet?
And they could even break through limitations, allowing Pokémon to learn moves they originally couldn't learn?
Baby-Doll Eyes Growlithe.
Sleep Powder Growlithe.
This this this this... this wasn't legal, right?!
While thinking this, Kawaki proceeded with prenatal education for the Growlithe in the egg, teaching it Baby-Doll Eyes, Sleep Powder, and Tackle without any hesitation whatsoever.
As if waiting even one more second would mean missing out.
Just kidding - who knew if the Growlithe might break out of its shell the next second? If he missed the chance for prenatal education, he'd regret it forever.
Because once the Growlithe hatched, there would be no way to teach it these moves anymore.
*
In the living room.
Bewear finished cleaning and went to check that the Daycare's doors were properly closed.
Only after completing all the work did it put down the broom and look around at the refreshed Daycare.
In the garden, the Oddish was happily walking around, bathing in moonlight.
In the bedroom on the second floor, its little human was looking at the Pokémon in that egg with anticipation.
How wonderful! The Daycare was becoming more and more lively!
Standing outside the door watching that scene, thinking about the changes in its little human these past few days and how the Daycare was getting better and more lively, Bewear felt both comforted and happy, yet also a bit sad.
Bewear felt a sourness in its heart.
It quietly turned and left, going downstairs to the backyard, where it sat on a large rock and looked up at the moon in the sky.
Long, long ago, its trainer - its little human's father - had operated this Daycare with them in just this way.
Back then, he would often sit on this very rock, admiring the beautiful night sky overhead while telling them about the constellations above.
Later, the master met his wife, and they had their little human.
From that time on, Bewear treated the little human as its own child.
When the little human was happy, it would be happy too.
When the little human was sad, it would feel sad along with him.
Until three years ago, when that accident happened, everything changed.
Its trainer died.
They could never again listen to him tell stories about Pokémon that descended from the stars under this starry sky.
Bewear's eyes grew moist, and tears slid down its face, dampening the fur on its cheeks.
[Pokémon: Bewear]
[Gender: Female]
[Ability: Fluffy]
[Talent: Huge Power]
[Moves: Tackle, Leer, Endure, Baby-Doll Eyes, Thrash, Flail, Payback, Body Slam, Hammer Arm, Swords Dance, Hyper Beam, Rest, Return, Pain Split]
[Status: Healthy]
[Mood: ️️️▒]
[Happiness: -90]
[Friendship: 100 (You depend on each other in this world)]
[Description: Little human is the most important in the world! —Bewear.]
Kawaki stood quietly in the distance, watching this scene.
A small dark cloud had appeared over Bewear's head at some point, raining heavily.
It was grieving, it was sad.
Was it thinking about things from the past?
Kawaki recalled events from long, long ago in the original owner's memories.
When a trainer dies, how could their Pokémon not feel sad?
When news of the shipwreck came back, the original owner had nearly fainted from grief.
At that time, even though it was also suffering immense pain from losing its trainer, Bewear had still forced itself to stay calm and used the move [Pain Split] on its little human.
Kawaki's emotions were incredibly complex. Perhaps because his soul had completely merged with the original owner's memories, he couldn't help but feel a wave of intense sadness.
This time, let him use [Pain Split] on Bewear!
Kawaki walked forward and sat down beside Bewear.
Bewear quickly wiped away its tears.
Kawaki grasped Bewear's paw, using this gesture to show that he would always stay by its side.
"I heard everyone at the orphanage say that people who die become stars in the sky. If someday you see unfamiliar stars up there, maybe those are what they became."
Bewear stared blankly.
"So Mom and Dad are definitely watching us from up there! Bewear, let's work hard together and show them how well we're doing!"
Bewear raised its head and looked hard at the starry sky, trying to find two stars among the countless celestial bodies that it had never seen before.
Just then, two stars suddenly twinkled.
They were two stars it had never seen before!
And beside those two stars was an inconspicuous, tiny star.
Bewear's eyes lit up, and it quickly pointed at those two stars: "Guu!"
"I see them, Bewear," Kawaki said. "Mom and Dad definitely wouldn't want to see us continue being depressed either."
"Guu..."
"So, Bewear." Kawaki looked at it and said: "Let's work hard to live well tomorrow too!"
Bewear immediately didn't feel as sad as before.
It looked at the stars in the sky, then at Kawaki accompanying it by its side, and responded: "Guu!"