The Second Island of the Sevii Islands. Cape Brink.
In the small open courtyard.
The Pokémon Egg, which had been sitting on the ground as motionless as a stone, suddenly gave a small jolt. A moment later, several hairline cracks split across the side of its shell, accompanied by the crisp sound of something snapping.
"It worked, the egg is hatching!"
The gloom that had settled over the Priest(1) vanished in an instant. She had been convinced the hatching had failed, yet fate seemed to be smiling on this young trainer after all, pulling off a last-minute reversal.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
With each new crack, the fissures spread wider and wider across the shell.
When the first fragment of eggshell fell away, a small patch of the Pokémon inside was already visible.
It was a patch of red skin, smooth and delicate in appearance.
And faintly, Caster caught a whiff of something sweet and refreshing, a fragrance that lifted his spirits immediately.
"Why is it red?"
Caster frowned slightly.
According to Lance, the Pokémon inside should be Water- and Psychic-type, and Caster had been guessing it was either a Slowpoke or a Staryu. But neither of those Pokémon had red coloring.
Slowpoke, for instance, was pink, not red.
The shade before him was a vivid, striking red, and if he had to compare it to something, it reminded him strongly of Lance's red Gyarados.
The thought sent a rush of excitement through him. His mind raced ahead: could this be a Shiny Pokémon?
The more he considered it, the more convinced he became. It was entirely plausible, since this egg was also a product of Professor Sebastian's experiments, much like Lance's future red Gyarados. If anything, this little one had seniority over that Gyarados.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
As the first fragment of shell dropped away, the cracks continued spreading until more and more of the interior was exposed.
But what emerged first was not a head. It was a long, red tail.
At the same time, the sweet fragrance in the air grew noticeably stronger.
By now, Caster had no doubt about who was inside. He broke into a wide grin. "A Slowpoke! It's a red Slowpoke!"
"So it's a Slowpoke!" The Priest stroked her beard and leaned in for a closer look. After all, this Slowpoke was her handiwork too.
"Though I have to say, the scent coming off this Slowpoke's tail is rather... excessive."
Her eyes flickered with curiosity. "Just what kind of Slowpoke is this?"
She had a Slowpoke of her own, and its tail gave off a sweet scent as well, though it was typically only detectable when dissolved in water. In open air, the smell was usually quite faint.
But this Shiny Slowpoke's fragrance carried all the way across the courtyard.
The Priest drew in a deep breath and felt instantly refreshed.
Ahh, wonderful.
In both intensity and effect, it surpassed even the scent of a Beautifly.
Before long, the eggshell was fully broken apart, and a tiny, round, impossibly adorable red Slowpoke blinked open its eyes.
"Slo..."
The red Slowpoke gazed around at the brand-new world with wide, curious eyes. The first person it saw was Caster, who was watching with barely contained anticipation.
"Hello there, Slowpoke!" Caster smiled warmly and gave a little wave.
"Pika! Pika!"
Pikachu wriggled out from behind Caster and mimicked him, waving in exactly the same way.
"Slo..."
The Slowpoke let out a soft, drowsy cry and made no effort to resist as Caster gently lifted it into his arms.
Even though it was seeing him for the first time, it could somehow sense that this was the person who had been with it all along, keeping it company through the shell. It felt toward Caster the way a child might feel toward a mother, a deep and instinctive sense of belonging.
But just then, the sea on both sides of the cape erupted in a series of sudden waves.
A number of large, shell-shaped Pokémon burst from the water and launched themselves skyward. Each had a prominent spike on its shell and jagged protrusions along its outer edge.
"Cloyster! Cloyster!"
The Cloyster flung open their shells, revealing the dark, featureless masses of their true bodies within. Their expressions were wild and frenzied as they scrambled over one another, snapping toward the Slowpoke in Caster's arms.
"Cloyster are coming ashore to attack now too?"
The sudden development caught Caster off guard, but he was an experienced trainer and his reaction was sharp. "Pikachu, Protect!"
The Cloyster were swarming from every direction, seven or eight of them at least, and Pikachu had no way to overwhelm that many at once. Using Discharge risked hitting Caster and the Slowpoke in his arms.
Hmm!
A translucent barrier of light materialized around them. The Cloyster slammed into it and were stopped cold.
At the same time, Caster had already reached for Gyarados's Poké Ball.
"Slo..."
Pressed close to Caster's chest, the red Slowpoke reacted to the snapping Cloyster with a flash of instinctive alarm.
Its eyes began to glow with a dim, hazy light, and a wave of Psychic energy surged out from its mind, crashing into the Cloyster closing in from all sides.
Cloyster were known for their extraordinarily hard shells, reportedly tough enough to withstand even Flamethrowers, making their physical defense formidable. But Psychic was a Special move, and that happened to be their weakness.
On top of that, all of the Cloyster had opened their shells in their eagerness to bite the Slowpoke's tail, which left them even more exposed to a Psychic strike.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
One by one, the impacts landed, and the Cloyster let out cries of distress as they were hurled backward and crashed into the sea.
"That Slowpoke is incredible!"
Caster stared with wide eyes, completely stunned. Even the Priest, who had seen plenty in her years, was taken aback. Born just moments ago, and already this powerful. Truly extraordinary.
The crisis passed, and Caster had just let out a breath of relief when a fresh wave of noise reached his ears.
"Slo! Slo! Slo!" "Cloyster! Cloyster! Cloyster!"
The Priest seemed to realize something was wrong. Her expression shifted as she turned to look at the cliff faces on either side of the cape.
What she saw made her stomach drop. Dozens upon dozens of Shellder and Cloyster were slowly scaling the rock walls, all of them converging on the courtyard. Their sheer numbers were enough to trigger something close to dread.
"Are all these Shellder and Cloyster drawn here by the scent of this Slowpoke's tail?"
The thought surfaced in her mind, and cold sweat prickled at her forehead. She knew that Shellder were fond of eating Slowpoke tails and would sometimes climb ashore to hunt them down. But a gathering on this scale was something else entirely. It was nearly enough to qualify as a small-scale Pokémon outbreak.
Her throat tightened, and she swallowed involuntarily. She spun toward Caster and shouted, "Recall your Slowpoke into its Poké Ball, now!"
Then, without pause, she called out to her own partners. "Charizard, Fire Spin! Venusaur, Grassy Terrain!"
Her two veteran partners were formidable, but the sheer volume of Shellder and Cloyster pressing in was overwhelming, and the Priest was deeply worried about her cabin getting caught in the crossfire.
Watching the tide of wild-eyed Shellder and Cloyster flooding toward them, Caster's expression tensed. He understood the gravity of the situation immediately and pulled out a Luxury Ball, holding it out in front of the Slowpoke in his arms. "Slowpoke, I need to recall you for now. Don't be scared. It'll only take a second."
"Slo..."
The Slowpoke tilted its head and looked at Caster, then gave a quiet, cooperative nod. It trusted him completely, the way it always had.
Caster tapped the Luxury Ball gently against the Slowpoke's forehead.
Tap!
The ball opened, and the Slowpoke dissolved into a beam of red light.
The ball didn't shake. The light didn't blink. A perfect, effortless capture.
With the Slowpoke recalled, the source of the fragrance was gone. The sea breeze swept through the cape and carried the last traces of scent away.
"Slo... Slo..." "Cloyster! Cloyster!"
As the scent faded, the frenzied Shellder and Cloyster gradually regained their senses. They looked at the Charizard, Venusaur, and Pikachu waiting in combat stances ahead, then glanced back at the sea behind them. After a moment's consideration, they dropped back into the water and disappeared.
A small number of the more stubborn Shellder and Cloyster pressed forward anyway and made it to the top of the cape, but Venusaur's Grassy Terrain and Giga Drain were waiting for them.
Within a few breaths, they were fully drained of stamina. Seeing their companions reduced to that state, the remaining Cloyster dared not push further and retreated into the sea in a disorganized rush.
"Well." The Priest exhaled slowly. "Looks like my cabin is safe after all."
Caster looked down at the Luxury Ball in his hand, feeling as though none of it had quite sunk in yet. "I caught a Shiny Slowpoke."
The Slowpoke was everything its origins suggested. Born from a Team Rocket experiment and brought into the world through the Priest's devoted care, it had shown extraordinary combat ability right from birth, far surpassing anything Caster had expected.
With proper training, it would surely become a formidable fighter in time.
But the memory of the near-outbreak lingered, and Caster's expression clouded with concern. The scent from Slowpoke's tail is just too intense.
I wonder if it can suppress it on its own. If it can't, traveling with it is going to be a real headache. Who knows what kinds of Pokémon that smell might attract.
While he was still lost in that worry, a clear, bright voice rang out suddenly in his mind.
"It can be suppressed!"
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~ Push the story forward with your Power Stones