"Petilil—did you sense something?" Aven's voice suddenly rang out.
Startled, Petilil turned and glanced at Aven before relaxing. It pointed toward the white egg, calling out, "Lil… lil!"
"You're saying there's a life force inside that egg?" Aven asked, his tone probing.
At the same time, his gaze also shifted toward the egg in front of him. His eyes flickered slightly, and within them surfaced a deep, unmistakable look of surprise.
Petilil beside him gave a firm nod. Although the life energy contained within this egg was extremely faint, there was indeed a genuine presence of life within it!
"Strictly speaking, this isn't just an ordinary egg—it's a Pokémon egg."
After once again receiving Petilil's confirmation, Aven let out a long breath of relief, feeling a sense of emotion well up inside him.
Petilil, however, was taken aback once more. Its eyes widened ever so slightly—there really was a living being hidden inside this egg?
"Aven, sir… are you saying this is a Pokémon egg?"
From a distance, Phyllis had also walked over at this time. When she heard Aven's words, she was visibly astonished.
Of course, she knew what a Pokémon egg was—although the term more commonly used in their lands was "magical beast egg." Magical beasts hatched from magical beast eggs.
Every spring, the forest would see the appearance of numerous magical beast eggs, each containing a creature waiting for the moment to emerge into the world.
Long ago, magical beast hunters who ventured deep into the forest would often return carrying magical beast eggs they had discovered there.
Their reasoning was very straightforward—if they could obtain a magical beast egg, then once it hatched, they would gain a newborn magical beast.
Compared to the difficulty of directly capturing a wild magical beast, acquiring one through hatching an egg was far easier. Moreover, magical beasts that had just hatched were incredibly easy to tame.
However, after actually obtaining magical beast eggs, the hunters quickly discovered the reality—these eggs were extraordinarily difficult to hatch. Nearly 99% of them never produced a living creature. Even in the rare cases when hatching did occur, the process required an extremely long time.
Naturally, some tried to search for ways to accelerate the hatching process, but all such attempts ultimately ended in failure. It was as if these magical beast eggs required certain unique conditions before they would hatch.
In their frustration, some hunters even chose to smash the eggs. And without exception, when broken open, these eggs were found to be entirely empty—there was no egg white, no yolk, nothing at all.
Over time, magical beast hunters realized that relying on magical beast eggs to hatch new magical beasts simply wasn't practical. In comparison, it was far more time- and energy-efficient to wait until spring, when newborn magical beasts emerged naturally, and then directly capture them instead.
"Yes, this is indeed a Pokémon egg," Aven said with a faint smile and a nod, "but right now it's still not fully developed."
Phyllis's eyes lit up at his words, and she quickly asked in excitement, "Then… could this egg actually hatch into a Happiny?"
The white egg they were holding was in fact laid by a Pokémon known as Chansey—a species whose eggs contained an exceptionally rich blend of nutrients and energy, making them a top-tier delicacy and nutritional supplement.
This time, the Village caravan had traded their Sweet Honey to Marquis Salt in exchange for ten such Chansey eggs. And now, Aven was saying that this one was a true Pokémon egg!
If it really could hatch into a Chansey, then Fruitvale Village would truly prosper. A Chansey could lay several eggs each day, and these eggs were both highly nutritious and delicious.
Just like the Sweet Honey brewed by Combee, Chansey eggs were considered a luxury item—something only the high nobility could regularly enjoy—so their price was extremely high.
However, unlike Combee, which could sometimes be found living in the wild, wild Chansey were virtually extinct. In all of Aspiration City, only a few were being raised on Marquis Salt's farm.
"If everything goes well, yes—it could indeed hatch into a Happiny." Aven nodded, confirming Phyllis's hopes.
But then his expression grew serious. Although he had heard stories about Chansey, he actually didn't know the specific method needed to hatch one from a Pokémon egg.
Chansey could lay many eggs each day, but all of those were unfertilized and thus completely incapable of hatching into baby Happiny.
Only under certain rare circumstances—if a Chansey happened to be successfully fertilized—was there an extremely small chance of producing a Pokémon egg that could hatch a Happiny. Even then, such an egg wasn't yet considered a "true" Pokémon egg.
Only after continued nurturing, when the embryo inside stabilized, would the egg gradually begin to transform into a genuine Pokémon egg, eventually developing distinctive markings on its shell.
Of course, in reality there was no way to visually tell these special eggs apart from normal Chansey eggs. As a result, most of them would be treated as ordinary eggs, consumed or sold, never having the chance to be nurtured into a real Pokémon egg.
Aven had only learned about this rare phenomenon during his studies to become a Pokémon Breeder, when he happened to overhear a Nurse Joy talking about it.
Since Chansey were almost considered standard partners for the Joy family, Aven suspected that the Joy clan had mastered a method to identify such eggs and raise them into true Pokémon eggs that could hatch into Chansey.
Even though he didn't know exactly how to cultivate this particular egg into a Pokémon egg, he still decided it was worth trying. Aven took a deep breath—he was going to attempt it.
After that, he instructed Phyllis to arrange the rest of the goods properly, then picked up the Chansey egg and headed straight for the Pokémon Breeding House. At this moment, he could hardly wait to start studying it.
"Lil lil~"
Petilil followed closely at his side.
It was also deeply curious about how exactly a Pokémon emerged from its egg.
For Pokémon, the process from conception to hatching was itself a profound transformation of life—one that carried within it the mystery of existence.
Because of that, Petilil was paying close attention to this Chansey egg, thinking that perhaps by witnessing its hatching, it could deepen its own understanding of life energy.
Before long, they arrived at Aven's personal alchemy and potion room within the breeding house. Aven carefully placed the Chansey egg on the wooden table.
"Lil lil~"
Under Ralts' telekinetic lift, Petilil floated up onto the table as well. The two Pokémon both stared intently at the egg before them.
"Petilil, if we're going to nurture this egg, I'm afraid we'll need to rely on your life energy," Aven said after a moment's thought.
That life energy could undoubtedly promote the growth of life. He had a strong feeling that Petilil's life energy would be a crucial part of the process.
In addition, he planned to prepare a special nutrient solution designed specifically for hatching Pokémon eggs. Since the hatching conditions for such eggs were extremely particular, this solution would simulate the unique environment needed for successful development.
"Lil lil!"
Petilil's body stiffened slightly, then it nodded firmly.
Its body began to radiate a soft white light—the flow of its life energy. Slowly, it approached the Chansey egg and gently placed its hands upon it.
As soon as the life energy made contact, it seeped into the egg's shell, gradually disappearing from sight.
Petilil's mood was somewhat tense as it carefully attuned its senses to the faint life within the egg, feeling how its own energy was merging with that presence.
Soon, it noticed that the life force inside the egg seemed to be growing stronger. Its eyes lit up, and it cautiously infused a little more of its life energy into the egg.
"Ralts~"
Ralts had also moved closer by now, observing the egg attentively.
Seeing that Petilil's life energy was indeed having a positive effect on the life within, Aven finally allowed himself to relax.
He quickly turned to check his potion ingredients, preparing to mix the nutrient solution for the egg. Although many ingredients could be used to enhance the solution's effectiveness, even the most basic formula was relatively easy to produce—and with Petilil's life energy added, the results would surely be impressive.
Truthfully, Aven had always planned to one day nurture a Pokémon egg. After all, a Pokémon raised from an egg formed the deepest bonds with its Trainer.
However, finding an egg in the wild was rare. His original plan was to wait until the Pokémon in the Safari Zone laid eggs, and then personally assist with their hatching.
If the Pokémon agreed, he could then select a promising apprentice Trainer and entrust them with the newborn Pokémon to raise. This was, after all, the most common method for new Trainers in the Pokémon League to receive their very first partner.
(End of Chapter)
TN: Pretty confuse about this chapter since the google auto translate call it Jigglypuff and the Pokémon that hatch is already a Chansey rather than an Happiny in the raws, I'm changing it to Happiny but their might be a chance that the author made it directly into a Chansey since I search for the Chinese name of Happiny and it does not match to anything in the raws.