Under Kawaki's gaze, Oddish's friendliness rose from 30 to 40.
Seeing this, Kawaki smiled slightly. He reached out and gently patted Oddish's little head, saying:
"From now on, we're family. Let's live well together here!"
Coming alone to this world, inheriting this day care and the Bewear of the previous owner—saying he wasn't lonely would've been a lie.
But thankfully, he was no longer alone. He had Pokémon now.
Bewear, Oddish, and the soon-to-hatch Growlithe...
These Pokémon were his family in this world.
Perhaps sensing Kawaki's emotions at the moment, Oddish looked up at him and blinked its small eyes, then nodded repeatedly:
"Na-dsh!"
Kawaki left Oddish in the courtyard, because compared to being indoors, Oddish much preferred the outdoors filled with the scent of nature.
More importantly, Oddish was a nocturnal Pokémon. They walked constantly through the night, growing while basking in the moonlight.
The courtyard was spacious enough for Oddish to move around freely.
Kawaki said goodbye to Oddish and turned back into the day care.
In the living room, Bewear had already washed the dishes and picked up a broom to begin the daily cleaning.
"So dependable!" Kawaki felt deeply grateful to Bewear. "Thanks for your hard work, Bewear!"
"Gu~" Bewear wasn't tired at all. If it didn't do these chores, the little master would have to, and it didn't want to see him overworked.
So, the best solution was to take care of all the housework itself!
That way, the little master could relax a little!
"I'll go check on Growlithe," Kawaki said.
Bewear nodded. "Gu~"
Kawaki climbed the stairs to the second floor. The Growlithe egg was currently placed in his bedroom.
A few days ago, when he visited Fallarbor Town, he had bought a bunch of daily necessities.
Among them was a dog bed for Growlithe, as well as food suitable for newly hatched Pokémon—like Moomoo Milk.
Pokémon were different from ordinary creatures. Their bodies were both powerful and fragile.
They could breathe fire, shoot water, and cause earthquakes, but were also so delicate that a simple cold could take their lives.
Especially newborn Pokémon—they needed careful nurturing to grow up healthy and strong.
Inside the bedroom, the egg with fiery red patterns stood quietly in its little hatching nest.
[Growlithe's Egg: A Pokémon egg that will hatch into the Fire-type Pokémon Growlithe.]
[Health Status: Healthy]
[Father: Arcanine (Champion-level strength)]
[Mother: Arcanine (Champion-level strength)]
[Hatching Progress: 29/30]
Kawaki stepped forward and held the egg in his arms, saying to it, "Growlithe, can you hear me? I'm Kawaki. I'm really looking forward to meeting you."
He wasn't just talking to himself.
Because with only a day left until hatching, the Growlithe inside was already fully formed—it could hear, and even sense the outside world.
Sure enough, right after Kawaki finished speaking, the temperature of the eggshell began to rise rapidly.
That was Growlithe responding to him!
Good. That meant Growlithe was very healthy.
Kawaki grinned, his heart full of anticipation.
But at that moment, he suddenly noticed a line of unexpected text on the egg's shell.
[Prenatal training can now be initiated. Teaching moves to an unborn Pokémon inside the egg can allow it to learn moves it normally couldn't during standard growth.]
[Growlithe's current number of available prenatal moves: 5. The number is determined by the Pokémon's talent, energy affinity, and comprehension. The higher these are, the more moves can be taught.]
[Currently teachable moves: Baby-Doll Eyes, Tackle, Sleep Powder.]
Genetically modified Growlithe—its dandruff has hypnotic effects.
[Proceed with prenatal training?]
Kawaki: "?"
A question mark popped up over his head.
Wait a second! Is this even legal?
Did this mean... the move gifts he'd previously received from Bewear and Oddish could also be used on an unhatched Pokémon?
And not only that, but they could even break the usual move limitations and let the Pokémon learn techniques it normally never could?
Baby-Doll Eyes Growlithe.
Sleep Powder Growlithe.
This-this-this-this... this can't be legal, right?!
As Kawaki mulled over it, he went ahead and initiated prenatal training on the egg without a moment's hesitation, teaching it Baby-Doll Eyes, Sleep Powder, and Tackle.
As if even one second's delay would be a loss.
No kidding—who knows if Growlithe might hatch in the very next second? If he didn't teach the moves now, it'd be too late to regret it afterward.
Because once Growlithe hatches, these moves couldn't be taught to it anymore.
In the living room—
After finishing the cleaning, Bewear went to check whether the doors to the day care were all properly shut.
Only after finishing everything did she finally put down the broom, look around, and take in the now refreshed day care.
In the courtyard, Oddish was joyfully walking back and forth under the moonlight.
Upstairs in the bedroom, the little master was gazing at the egg with anticipation, waiting for the Pokémon inside to be born.
How nice... The day care was getting livelier and livelier!
Bewear stood outside the door and looked at that scene. Thinking of how much the little master had changed over the past few days, and how vibrant the day care had become, she felt both happiness and a tinge of sadness.
Her heart ached with a bittersweet sting.
She quietly turned away, walked downstairs, and went out to the backyard, where she sat on a large stone and looked up at the moon above.
A long, long time ago, her trainer—little master's father—used to run this day care with them just like this.
Back then, he would often sit on this very stone, admiring the night sky while pointing out constellations.
From that time on, Bewear had always regarded the little master as her own child.
Later on, her trainer met his wife, and they had their son.
If the little master was happy, she was happy too.
If the little master was sad, she'd feel the same pain.
Until three years ago, when that accident happened, everything changed.
Her trainer passed away.
They would never again hear him tell stories under this starry sky—stories of Pokémon descending from the stars.
Bewear's eyes grew moist, tears trickling down her fur.
[Pokémon: Bewear]
[Gender: Female]
[Ability: Fluffy]
[Innate Trait: Strong Arm]
[Moves: Tackle, Leer, Endure, Baby-Doll Eyes, Thrash, Rage, Retaliate, Take Down, Hammer Arm, Swords Dance, Hyper Beam, Rest, Return, Pain Split]
[Condition: Healthy]
[Mood:]
[Joy Level: -90]
[Friendship: 100 (You rely on each other to survive in this world)]
[Description: "The little master is the most important in the world!" — Bewear]
Kawaki stood quietly at a distance, watching.
Over Bewear's head, at some unknown moment, a little dark cloud had appeared, pouring down heavy rain.
She was grieving, deeply saddened.
Was she remembering the past?
Kawaki recalled the distant memories buried in the mind of the original owner.
The death of a trainer—how could a Pokémon not be heartbroken?
When the news of the shipwreck came back, the original owner nearly fainted from grief.
Back then, even though Bewear was also crushed by the loss of her trainer, she forced herself to stay composed and used the move [Pain Split] on the little master.
Kawaki felt overwhelmed with emotion. Maybe because his soul had completely merged with the original owner's memories, he couldn't stop the wave of sadness welling up.
This time, it was his turn to use [Pain Split] on Bewear.
Kawaki stepped forward and sat down beside her.
Bewear hurriedly wiped away her tears.
Kawaki held her paw, using this gesture to tell her he would always be by her side.
"The kids at the orphanage said that when people die, they become stars in the sky. So if you ever see a star you don't recognize, maybe it's one of them."
Bewear blinked, stunned.
"So, Dad and Mom must be watching us from up there! Bewear, let's do our best to make them proud, okay?"
Bewear raised her head and looked hard at the night sky, trying to find two stars among the countless ones she'd never seen before.
Just then, two stars flickered.
They were stars she had never seen before!
And beside them, there was also a tiny, inconspicuous little star.
Bewear's eyes lit up. She pointed at the two stars excitedly and said, "Gu!"
"I see them, Bewear," Kawaki said. "Dad and Mom wouldn't want us to keep wallowing in sadness."
"So, Bewear," Kawaki looked at her and said, "let's live our best tomorrow too!"
Bewear wasn't as sad as before anymore.
She looked up at the stars above, then at Kawaki beside her, and responded, "Gu!"