Inside the Daycare.
Officer Jenny sat upright on the sofa, watching as Bewear brought over a glass of juice and placed it in front of her.
Kawaki sat across from her, remembering what that kid named Youngster Ryo had said earlier, and spoke up:
"Thank you so much, Officer Jenny."
He was referring to how this Officer Jenny had helped promote his Daycare around town.
Officer Jenny smiled and said, "You don't need to call me Officer Jenny. Actually, by family relations, you should call me onee-chan."
Kawaki was stunned.
The original owner's memories didn't contain much about the Jenny family - just some memories of the original owner refusing the Jenny family's invitation to return to the family with them.
"Your mother was my aunt's cousin. We came to Fallarbor Town three years ago - they wanted to bring you back to the family, but you refused," Officer Jenny said.
Kawaki nodded. The original owner had indeed refused.
Because for him, the Jenny family was a completely unfamiliar place, while this was where he'd grown up, and his parents were buried here too. He didn't want to go anywhere else.
Kawaki remained silent, since after all, he wasn't the original owner.
"Sigh." Officer Jenny looked at this poor child.
His parents had died, and his grandparents and aunt had also died heroically in their early years while maintaining regional peace and fighting criminals and Pokémon poachers.
Although for a Jenny, this was something to be very proud of, for the remaining family members, it was extremely painful.
Well, no point bringing up those matters. Now that little Kawaki was running this Daycare so well, it showed he was ready to start a new life.
As a fellow member of the Jenny family, let her lend a helping hand!
Officer Jenny straightened her expression and then got down to business: "I came here because there's something I wanted to ask you about."
"What?" Kawaki was puzzled.
Officer Jenny said, "If you need Pokémon eggs, I can contact the Hoenn League to send you a batch."
After all, if you wanted to run a Daycare, Pokémon were essential.
"What about the price?" Kawaki asked.
"No money needed." Officer Jenny shook her head, then explained: "Because the Hoenn region has wild Pokémon that become homeless due to natural disasters every year."
"Humans and Pokémon are both life forms living together in this world. The Hoenn League can't just stand by and do nothing, so they send people to rescue these disaster-stricken Pokémon."
"After these Pokémon are rescued, they occasionally lay eggs. There are also abandoned eggs found in towns and the wild. With no one to care for these eggs, they're usually sent to two places."
"First, they're hatched and given to professors to present to new trainers as their starter Pokémon."
"The remaining eggs are given to nearby Daycares to help care for them, then sell them to trainers who need them."
Of course, the "selling" here didn't refer to the Pokémon's price, but rather the care fee for the breeder's hard work.
"The Hoenn League only has one requirement - they hope you'll help those children find suitable trainers."
"I understand." Kawaki nodded. The Daycare really needed these Pokémon eggs right now, so he didn't refuse Officer Jenny's goodwill. "In that case, I'll leave it to you!"
Officer Jenny's lips curved into a slight smile: "Don't mention it. I believe you'll be an excellent breeder."
You could tell just from how affectionate little Growlithe was with him.
Because Growlithe was a very smart Pokémon.
Officer Jenny thought this as she couldn't help but look at little Growlithe.
Just then, little Growlithe suddenly sneezed.
Immediately, tiny sparkles of light drifted out from its nostrils.
Bewear, who was standing nearby, was unfortunately affected by these light particles. It soon yawned and became drowsy.
Officer Jenny: "?"
Could that be... Yawn?
No, more than Yawn, it looked like Sleep Powder!
But how could a Pokémon like Growlithe use the move Sleep Powder?!
A big question mark appeared above Officer Jenny's head.
Everything before her eyes was beyond her understanding. Officer Jenny stared at little Growlithe with a dumbfounded expression.
Even someone as composed as her couldn't help but be confused right now.
"Sleep Powder Growlithe?!"
"What... what in the world is going on?"
Officer Jenny turned to look at Kawaki.
From what she knew, there was no way a Pokémon like Growlithe could ever learn the move Sleep Powder!
Kawaki: "..."
He hadn't expected Growlithe to use Sleep Powder in this way either.
An alternative form of Yawn?
Faced with Officer Jenny's puzzled and confused gaze, Kawaki scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly.
"Before Growlithe hatched, I tried explaining the principles of Sleep Powder to it. I was thinking, if even Oddish can learn Sleep Powder, why can't Growlithe learn it too? So I gave it a try, and didn't expect Growlithe to actually learn it!"
The power of "I figured"!
Officer Jenny: "..."
It sounds kind of logical.
But this doesn't seem scientific at all!
Officer Jenny fell silent.
Coming from a prominent family, Officer Jenny instantly thought of many possibilities.
One: This Growlithe had exceptional talent.
Two: Previous scientific knowledge was wrong, and Growlithe could actually learn Sleep Powder - people just hadn't discovered it yet.
Three: This was little Kawaki's special power.
First, she ruled out possibilities one and two. Officer Jenny knew Growlithe very well - no matter what, Growlithe couldn't possibly learn Sleep Powder.
Her family had so many Growlithe, and not one case like this had ever occurred.
So, the third option?
If little Kawaki really possessed this kind of power, he'd truly be naturally suited to become a breeder!
"..."
Whatever. As long as little Kawaki was safe and sound, that was all that mattered.
Officer Jenny gave up on investigating further.
There were still some matters at the police station waiting for her to handle. She stood up and said:
"I'll contact the Hoenn League later and give you an answer in a while."
"Alright, thank you so much." Kawaki thanked her again.
Officer Jenny left - she had many things to do and couldn't stay here too long.
When she contacted the Hoenn League and applied for the Pokémon eggs, she'd come visit little Kawaki again!
Kawaki felt very grateful to Officer Jenny in his heart.
She had truly given them tremendous help.
With that batch of Pokémon eggs, the Daycare's operations could officially get on track.
But before that, he just needed to wait patiently.
Throughout the morning, quite a few customers came to the Daycare, though most were children under ten years old or kids who had just turned ten.
Most of them were from ordinary families. Having heard from Officer Jenny that a Daycare had opened here, they all came running over from town to ask about the situation.
For these children who might potentially become Daycare customers in the future, Kawaki naturally needed to treat them well.