The Pokémon trembled slightly, then became still.
After a while, it trembled again, and then, the frequency of its movements increased rapidly.
Finally, it fell silent once more.
With a 'crack', a seam appeared in the eggshell, and soon the entire eggshell was covered in cracks.
Shauna held her breath at the sight, and Lucas, influenced by her, also held his breath.
A piece of eggshell was lifted by a small pink hand, and then, a pink Pokémon appeared before them.
"Nini?"
Mime Jr. let out a weak cry.
Looking at the Mime Jr. before him, with its pink body and face, dark blue feet, a red protrusion on its belly, a small red clown nose on its face, slender arms, and what looked like a small blue clown hat on its head.
It looked very cute.
[Mime Jr.]
[Gender: Male]
[Type: Psychic, Fairy]
[Ability: Technician]
[Known Moves: Pound, Baton Pass, Encore.]
[Mood: Curious]
[Status: Naive, Curious]
[Friendship: 100 (Mom)]
[Description: A Mime Jr. hatched from a Pokémon egg, it considers the first person it sees as its mom.]
"It even has a hidden ability; is this the lucky buff in action?"
Lucas looked at the status bar and silently thought to himself.
He then extended his hands towards Mime Jr. and picked it up.
"Hello, Mime Jr., my name is Lucas, but I'm not your mom, I'm your family."
"Nini?"
Mime Jr. lay in his arms, letting out a confused cry.
Mime Jr. didn't understand.
"Never mind, you'll understand when you grow up."
Lucas shook his head, then took the bottle Gengar handed him.
Filled with Moomoo Milk sweetened with sweet honey, Mime Jr. hugged the bottle and began to suckle.
After it finished drinking, Lucas gently poked its nose, which was soft and bouncy.
"Let me introduce you to everyone in the family. This is Gengar, your big brother. That's Dash, your big sister. And there's Bolt and Vex, your older brothers. This is Petilil, your older sister."
Upon hearing the words 'big brother', Gengar, floating in the air, immediately stood at attention, his expression serious.
The same went for Dash; the title 'big sister' made her overjoyed, and Bolt and Vex behind her were equally pleased.
Petilil's eyes were filled with joy as she looked at Mime Jr..
She's an older sister now?
"And little Shauna, she's your older sister too."
Shauna's face was taut; not good at expressing emotions, she tried hard to appear serious.
"Everyone, meet your little brother, this is Mime Jr.."
Lucas held Mime Jr. and earnestly introduced him to everyone.
"Gengar—"
"Nee-hee-hee!"
"La-ji~"
"H-hello."
Seeing Shauna and the Gengar greet him, Mime Jr. jumped out of Lucas's arms and waved his hands.
"Nini, Mime Jr.~"
Seeing Mime Jr. getting along well with Gengar and the others, Lucas nodded, then took out the Lucky Egg he had received from his grandparents from Gengar.
"Mime Jr., this is your welcome gift; welcome to our family."
Lucas bent down, extending his hand, in which lay a smooth stone.
"Mime Jr.~"
Mime Jr. took the stone, held it high, then happily spun around with the stone in its hands.
"G-Gengar—"
Gengar was startled at the sight and quickly used his psychic power to clear away various obstacles, floating them in the air.
"G-Gengar…"
Gengar wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed.
"It seems our Gengar already knows how to be a good big brother."
Lucas praised Gengar, who puffed out his chest with an expression of 'of course'.
Noticing Shauna was still looking down at the Pokémon egg in her arms, Lucas smiled and walked over to her.
"Let me take a look for you."
Shauna looked up, her pigtails bouncing, and nodded happily.
Lucas put on a stethoscope and felt it for a moment.
[Chingling's Egg] [Hatching Progress: 29/30]
Feeling the shadow of the Chingling move, Lucas opened his eyes.
"It should be in the next two days. It looks like our little Shauna has been taking very good care of it."
Lucas placed the stethoscope on her ear, then guided her to carefully feel the situation inside the egg.
Opening her eyes, they were filled with surprise.
Retrieving the stethoscope, Lucas gently pinched Shauna's delicate little nose, then stood up, stopped the camera recording, and took a cute photo of Mime Jr..
"Mime Jr., l-let's go play together."
Shauna, holding the egg in her arms, said to Mime Jr. who was not far away.
"Mime~"
Mime Jr. looked at her and nodded.
Then, Shauna, holding the egg with one hand and Petilil with the other, with Petilil holding Mime Jr.'s hand, ran towards the backyard.
"Be careful not to play in the sun; find a shady spot."
Lucas called out, watching their intertwined hands disappear into the distance.
"Okay."
He averted his gaze, and after cleaning up the eggshells, an unknown call came in.
He answered the call; it was someone wanting to buy petilil herbal tea.
Previously, due to the popularity of petilil herbal tea among the elderly, the leaves shed by Petilil quickly became scarce. Thanks to Petilil's rapid leaf shedding, the deficit was barely covered.
However, because Petilil provided a large number of leaves in a short period, she had recently become somewhat weak. So Lucas decided to no longer sell Petilil's leaves, but only the petilil herbal tea made from them, with a limit of one bottle per person.
Considering that some elderly people had difficulty walking, Lucas would have Gengar deliver the goods to their homes.
At this moment, Lucas returned to the kitchen, filled several bottles marked with the Breeding House and Gengar logos, and went back to the counter, only to find that Gengar had already put on his hat and was wearing a shoulder bag.
This was custom-made by Lucas for Gengar, with a logo of Gengar making a funny face and the words "Gengar's Paradise" printed on it.
He packed the bottles into the small backpack, straightened Gengar's hat, and then patted his shoulder.
"I'm counting on you today too, Gengar."
"Gengar!"
Leave it to me!
Gengar stood at attention, like a little soldier.
Lucas tugged at Gengar's mouth, and Gengar, taking the cue, grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
And took the opportunity to lick Lucas.
"Go early, come back early, and be careful. Go on."
Gengar nodded, turned, and floated out the door.
"I'll make you something delicious when you get back."
Lucas called out to his retreating figure.
"Gengar!"
Gengar didn't look back, giving an OK sign with his hand.
Lucas averted his gaze and sighed. Since the herbal tea was so popular, he decided to develop a few more types of herbal tea.
Asking Dash to look after the counter, Lucas went to the backyard.
He took a look and saw Shauna, Petilil, and Mime Jr. playing on the swing.
The small swing surprisingly accommodated her, two Pokémon, and an egg.
He smiled and greeted them, reminding them to be careful, then went to the herb garden.
With the help of Petilil and Torterra, a small portion of the traditional herbs had already matured, while others had not.
As for why the herbs grew so fast, Lucas couldn't figure it out either, only attributing it to the unique effects of the Pokémon world.
Lucas briefly looked at the mature traditional herbs and found that he could make some herbal teas for reducing heat and relieving coughs. Lucas decided to list them in the herbal tea catalog first and ask Gengar to take them to Twinleaf Town tomorrow to see if people needed them.
He entered the herb garden, picked those few medicinal materials, and on his way back to the Breeding House, his attention was drawn by movement from an open field.
He found Bolt and Vex sparring with Electivire and Aipom.