Chapter 68: The Babies
Chapter 68: The Babies
With the shop business now in Suzuki hands, Yuga became completely hands-off and focused all his attention on nurturing the newly hatched Pokémon.
Except for one egg, the remaining eggs hatched over the next couple of weeks.
Yuga tallied up the results. Out of these 30 hatched eggs, he got:
- Five Mudkip, one with a blue quality and four with green.
- Six Treecko, one with a blue quality and five with green.
- Three Snivy, one with a blue quality and two with green.
- Seven Eevee, one with a blue quality and six with green.
- Four Swablu, and five Medidite, all with green quality.
Yuga noticed that the problematic eggs yielded astonishingly high-quality Pokémon. Among them, there were four eggs with blue quality. If not for the issues, these eggs could have been a significant fortune, but now they were all relatively cheap.
This led Yuga to speculate that the league method of breeding high-quality eggs might be considerably different from traditional methods, and this method might have a significant downside—higher quality eggs were more prone to issues.
Otherwise, he couldn't explain the presence of so many problematic eggs, and not just any issues, but genetic defects.
These eggs truly were from the League breeding facility, just like Director Mond had said. They were all incredibly rare Pokémon.
Beyond the starter Pokémon, there were even future Dragon-type Pokémon and Psychic-type Pokémon, which were just a step below Dragon-types in terms of rarity. Even the Eevee, which had the highest quantity, were still exceptionally rare.
If these eggs hadn't been problematic, the starter Pokémon wouldn't have been leaked, and other rare Pokémon would only be available at League-sanctioned Day Cares.
Yuga small-scale Day Care only had access to the breeding center run by Director Mond, meaning while rare Pokémon were available, their quality might not be guaranteed.
This highlighted the gap in competitiveness between private Day Cares and official Day Cares, and between small-scale and large-scale Day Cares.
Currently, one egg remained unhatched. Yuga had checked it and found no issues, so he had to be patient and wait.
During this time, Yuga not only cared for the newborn Pokémon but also consciously taught the six Miltank various aspects of nurturing. He was trying to mold them into his reliable assistants.
His Ecopark held too many secrets and wasn't suitable for outsiders, and he couldn't rely on others' help during busy times. Having a few Pokémon as assistants was the best choice.
Thankfully, Pokémon were highly intelligent, and the six Miltank were quick learners. They were already able to assist Yuga well and had become the exclusive caretakers for the little ones.
Today was the time to train the babies.
After being born for a while, the little ones were now ready for light exercises, so Yuga would allocate some time each day for appropriate training.
As for Yuga other Pokémon, they had formed a fixed training routine, so he just let them train on their own. At most, he would supervise them occasionally.
Yuga clapped his hands gently, and the small ones, who were still playing around, instinctively gathered in front of him, forming neat rows of five columns and six rows.
"Now it's time for today training. Are you all ready?"
Though the voices of the babies were a bit chaotic, their enthusiasm was palpable.
Yuga: "Good, very good! Let's get started then. Ready, set, run!"
At Yuga command, the babies eagerly started running, and the once orderly formation immediately turned chaotic.
The Miltank followed closely behind the babies, acting as running companions to deal with any unexpected situations. After all, they were still babies themselves.
Yuga: "Let's chant our slogan! One, two, one... one, two, one..."
While running, Yuga led them in chanting the slogan.
"Ga... Gaa-lo... Gaa-lo-lo..."
"Ka... Ka-mo... Ka-mo-mo..."
"Da... Da-ga... Da-ga-ga..."
"Bu... Bu-yi... Bu-bu-yi..."
...
Yuga had heard them chant the slogan before, but each time, it left him both amused and bewildered.
Their chanting lacked rhythm and synchronization, sounding more like a bunch of chattering birds.
Medidite floated in the front of the formation using Psychic, their feet not touching the ground.
Snivy and Treecko, agile and nimble, followed closely behind.
Eevee, on the other hand, with their four tiny legs, persevered with gritted teeth. They stumbled and fell, only to quickly get back up and continue chasing.
The most pitiful were the Mudkip, not adept at running on land. They clumsily lagged behind, occasionally sitting down with teary eyes after a fall.
That's when the Miltank stepped in. They helped them up, comforted them, and encouraged them.
Since the babies were still quite young, Yuga training sessions with them weren't very long. After each session, accompanied by the soothing sound of healing chimes, he would provide them with gentle massages to ease their fatigue.
Yuga had learned massage techniques from online instructional videos he'd purchased, which ended up costing him a fair amount of money. However, the results were worth it; judging by the content expressions on the babies' faces, the massages were quite effective.
Still, after massaging over thirty Pokémon at once, Yuga often felt like his hands weren't his own.
If it weren't for the Miltank hooves being unsuitable for massaging, Yuga might have handed off the task to them by now.
Lately, he was having Chimecho teach the Miltank the Heal Bell move to enhance their abilities and facilitate better care for the babies in the future.
If only the Miltank could learn Heal Pulse, Yuga would've considered letting them handle the massages too.
Unfortunately, their progress in learning was subpar. Apart from the lead Miltank with green quality, who could barely use the move, the others were struggling.
After a busy session, Yuga was drenched in sweat. When he left the Ecopark, he took a shower before returning to the shop.
Inside, he saw Dian playing with Skitty. He crouched down, smiling at Dian. "Hey there, Dian."
Dian responded happily, "Hello, Big Brother Manager."
Dian was indeed a well-behaved child. Whenever his mother was busy, he quietly played with Skitty, never causing a fuss.
What a good kid, Yuga thought. At moments like this, he couldn't help but think of his troublesome cousin. People really could feel envious of others.