After the meal, Cynthia—who had just freeloaded dinner—took responsibility for washing the dishes. After all, Lumiere wasn't her babysitter anymore; doing a bit of housework was only fair.
On the sofa, Rowlet lay down the moment it was full. Lumiere glanced at Gible's Pokémon Egg beside him, and only then remembered that Eevee's egg was still in his bag and hadn't been taken out yet.
He took out the Eevee egg and placed it next to the Gible egg, comparing the two to see what differences there might be between a "bad egg" and a normal one.
"Smooth shell, moderate temperature… the only difference is that it lacks vitality. This Gible should be close to hatching."
Relying on the bits of knowledge he'd secretly picked up while loitering around the Pokémon School, Lumiere made a simple analysis of the two eggs.
Of course, if you asked him for anything more detailed, he'd be completely lost. He wasn't some genius—this was already his limit.
Just then, however, Rowlet caught a scent again. It opened its eyes and lunged straight at the Eevee egg, only to be stopped by Lumiere's quick reflexes.
"I already told you, this one's not for eating."
Lumiere was at a loss. It had just finished dinner—how was it already eyeing the egg again?
Right on cue, Cynthia finished up and walked into the living room, immediately spotting the two Pokémon eggs on the sofa.
"Huh? Where did this egg come from? That color and pattern—could it be an Eevee egg?"
As expected of a top student from the Pokémon School, she recognized it at a glance.
"Yeah. I got it from Professor Rowan, but it's a bad egg. Looks like it can't hatch."
"A bad egg? Let me take a look."
Cynthia walked over with interest. She'd only seen bad eggs once in textbooks—they were so rare that she couldn't help being curious.
Then she noticed something else and asked in confusion, "By the way, why are you holding Rowlet like that? Aren't you tired?"
"It keeps trying to eat the egg. It won't stop staring at the Eevee egg."
After thinking for a moment, Cynthia nodded gently and said, "Maybe you're mistaken. It might be trying to hatch the egg. Many female bird Pokémon have this instinct—they like picking up eggs they're fond of and bringing them back to the nest to incubate."
"That's a thing?"
Lumiere looked completely dumbfounded. He'd heard of birds stealing eggs to eat them, but stealing eggs to hatch?
"That's what my teacher mentioned. It seems to be related to bird Pokémon habits. I don't know the exact reason either—I'll ask next time."
"No need. Knowing the answer is enough."
Lumiere looked down at Rowlet and asked, "You want to hatch it?"
"Rowlet."
Seeing it nod, Lumiere realized he'd misunderstood all along and loosened his grip, letting the little princess go.
Rowlet flapped its wings, landed steadily on top of the Eevee egg, adjusted its position, and simply sat down.
"How did you suddenly awaken such a weird attribute…"
Lumiere shook his head, feeling utterly speechless. This was a bad egg—it hadn't hatched in over half a year. Chances were slim.
Besides, Rowlet was pretty big. Sitting on the egg like that—did it really think it could hatch it? If this thing actually hatched, he'd eat the sofa on the spot.
The very moment Lumiere finished complaining internally, two dazzling white lights suddenly lit up on the sofa!
Startled, Rowlet flapped its wings and flew aside, staring blankly at the two glowing eggs.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Lumiere's mouth twitched as he subconsciously glanced at the sofa.
"It's hatching!" Cynthia exclaimed excitedly.
The light faded, then suddenly flashed again—countless golden stars sparkled briefly before vanishing.
"A shiny?!"
Lumiere hurriedly looked over. The dark-blue baby shark that could barely stand was clearly not shiny—so that meant…
His gaze shifted to the side, landing on a pitiful-looking white little fox with a heart-shaped pattern on its tail. Shock flashed through his eyes.
A shiny female Eevee!
Rowlet—you have a little sister!
〔Pokémon: Eevee (Shiny) ♀〕
〔Type: Normal〕
〔Ability: Anticipation (can sense danger in advance and run away)〕
〔Moves: Mud-Slap, Tackle, Tail Whip, Helping Hand〕
〔Status: Just born and very weak (take good care of her…), congenital genetic defect (unable to evolve)〕
〔Affection: 80 (are you my mommy?)〕
However, after reading the information, the excitement on Lumiere's face slowly faded. Perhaps because it came from a bad egg, this Eevee had a congenital genetic defect.
In his memory, Eevee possessed imbalanced and unstable genes, making it highly susceptible to environmental influence and granting it countless evolutionary possibilities.
But this Eevee lacked those genes entirely, meaning it couldn't evolve. And what did that mean?
It meant she could stack all the buffs without worrying about evolution paths!
"Eevee…"
The Eevee let out a weak cry. Newly born and frightened by the unfamiliar surroundings, it slowly crawled toward the first person it had seen—Lumiere.
But after taking just one step, its strength gave out. Its body wobbled and fell to the side—only to be caught by Rowlet's wing at the last moment.
Only then did Lumiere notice that this Eevee was barely half Rowlet's size.
Not only that, her body was extremely frail—she looked like she might not make it.
Meanwhile, Gible, who had also just hatched, was bursting with energy, already hopping around on the sofa before being effortlessly restrained by Cynthia and held in her arms.
Cynthia noticed Eevee's condition as well. After observing for a moment, she said anxiously, "She's far too weak. A normal Pokémon shouldn't be like this at birth. If this continues, she might die."
"What?!"
Lumiere didn't hesitate for even a second. He scooped Eevee up, ready to rush to the Pokémon Center.
But Cynthia said regretfully, "I'm afraid… it might be too late."
Hearing that, Rowlet flew onto Lumiere's shoulder, looking down at the Eevee in his arms as her breathing grew weaker, deep in thought.
"Too late? I won't accept that. She's barely been born—she hasn't even had the chance to really see this world yet! Healing, right? We've got a Blissey too!" Lumiere shouted without hesitation, "Rowlet, use Soft-Boiled!"
"Rowlet!"
Rowlet changed into the Blissey outfit, pulled out an egg, crushed it by hand, and carefully fed it to Eevee bit by bit.
Cynthia watched the whole process, utterly stunned. "What… is that…?"
"Shh!" Lumiere motioned for her to stay quiet.
"O-okay!"
After eating the egg, Eevee's complexion improved slightly. Seeing that it worked, Lumiere immediately had Rowlet use Life Dew as well.
With Soft-Boiled and Life Dew together, Eevee's condition finally stabilized—barely, but visibly.
Still, this was only an emergency measure. For proper treatment, Lumiere took her straight to the Pokémon Center to find Nurse Joy.
Professionals really were different. After examining Eevee, Nurse Joy immediately arranged emergency treatment.
Once the procedure was complete, Eevee was placed into a recovery pod to restore her strength. Her body was far too weak—she would need at least a week inside before she could be discharged.
And just like that, the little money Lumiere had earned today was completely gone—and he'd even borrowed more from Cabbage… It looked like he'd be stuck working as a babysitter again for a while.
Looking at the sleeping Eevee inside the pod, Lumiere gently rubbed Rowlet's head and said softly, "Don't worry. She'll be fine."
"Rowlet."
In her sleep, as if sensing someone's concern, Eevee let out a faint cry.
"Eevee…"
…