Chapter 3: It All Starts With A Pokémon Egg
Kakate Luo Breeding House.
“Son~ Over here.” Zuo Tian waved at Zuo Hang from in front of the counter.
The automatic door opened, and Zuo Hang “brought” Zuo Rou into the hall, with the Gardevoir behind him drawing sidelong glances from quite a few people.
Zuo Hang nodded at the Gardevoir, who understood and released her Psychic.
Zuo Rou, who had been floating for more than ten minutes, finally landed. The surrounding environment made her very uncomfortable—the glass counter reflecting the lights, the noisy chatter of the crowd, and the air conditioning that didn’t match the outdoor temperature. The moment she landed, she pounced fiercely at Zuo Hang, hugging his arm and looking unwilling to let go.
Fortunately, the two of them didn’t look too different, and both had brown heterochromia. At first glance, it might cause a misunderstanding, but upon closer inspection, one could still distinguish their relationship.
Zuo Hang’s face read “unhappy,” while Zuo Rou’s face read “timid.”
When the two reached the Old Man, their family head had just finished selecting a Pokémon for Aunt Li’s daughter from next door. The girl, about the same height as Zuo Hang, was holding a purple-based egg with red patterns, her face beaming with the joy of newly obtaining a Pokémon.
If he remembered correctly, purple-based Pokémon eggs were usually Poison-type or Ghost Type, and the purple-based one with red patterns that the girl was holding seemed to be
“Old Man, are you sure it’s okay for that girl to use that kind of Pokémon?”
“Of course! Grimer is very strong, okay? Early on, one Poison Gas and it basically steamrolls peers! Girls need to learn to protect themselves when out and about. With a Grimer, no one dares to get close.” Halfway through, Zuo Hang’s Father sighed and said: “Sigh, girls these days always pick Eevee or Electric Mouse as their starter. What use are those little guys early on? They just use Tackle, claw, slap, and such. How is that as reliable as Poison Gas?”
The Electric Mouse on his shoulder bared its teeth, feeling offended.
Zuo Hang watched the girl bounce away from the Breeding House and hoped she’d be fine when the Pokémon egg hatched.
In this world, Pokémon have basically no combat power early on. Not just Poison, other abnormal statuses are especially useful too—like Burn and such. Early on, they hit any type with “super effective.”
Grimer is indeed very useful early on, and this thing’s Pokémon eggs are very cheap. If you want, you can even train several. Zuo Hang knew a certain fish Trainer streamer who often took a team of Muk to the wilds to entertain viewers, with popularity steadily around 2 million.
While the father and son were talking, the Gardevoir actually took Zuo Rou’s little hand and started strolling around the Breeding House with her. Zuo Hang couldn’t help but feel astonished—his sister, whom he could never drag along, was now following the Gardevoir?
The Gardevoir playfully glanced back at Zuo Hang, as if showing off, her originally pale red eyes flickering with an unusual glow.
Gardevoir used Charm: Staring at the opponent with cute eyes, causing them to let their guard down.
It seemed she had found the correct use for Charm, and Zuo Rou completely let down her guard toward the Gardevoir.
“Little brother! I want this one!” Zuo Rou suddenly said from in front of a glass display case not far away.
The Gardevoir and Zuo Rou were at the Water-type Pokémon eggs display area. There were four eggs for sale: Poliwag, Horsea, Turtwig, Kingler. The blue-based egg with white patterns that Zuo Rou fancied seemed to be the only Water-type starter at Kakate Luo Breeding House.
The 500,000 price tag made the Old Man’s face cloud over. “That… Little Rou, how about we pick another? I think Grimer is pretty good—useful and cheap.”
Zuo Hang reached out and patted the Old Man on the shoulder, a dark red Gem pinched between his fingertips, extremely similar to the one on the Gardevoir Ring.
“If sister wants it, then buy it!”
The Old Man swallowed. “Don’t do this. B-rank Gyms don’t make much money… My half-year salary is only 500,000.”
The Gardevoir held a mass of pink eerie strong light in her hand, and Electric Current faintly gathered at the Electric Mouse’s tail. The Old Man stepped back, pulled a card from his pocket, and gritted his teeth: “Buy it! It’s just 500,000! If Little Rou likes it, then buy it!”
Hearing this, Zuo Rou’s face immediately lit up with a smile. “I knew Daddy was the best!”
The staff member waiting nearby used a key to open the glass display case, and the three went to the counter to check out together.
Zuo Tian took out his and Zuo Rou’s ID cards. His hand trembled slightly when swiping the card. The Miss at the front desk verified the ages on the IDs, confirmed no issues, then the staff placed the Pokémon egg in a transparent incubator vessel, packed it in a sturdy paper bag, and handed a thin breeding manual to Zuo Rou.
After everything was done, Zuo Hang’s Father spoke up. “Son, you’d better pick an egg too. When applying for Trainer, you have to do a physical for the Pokémon. Electric Mouse’s attributes are too high; it definitely won’t pass the test. Special Attack, Special Defense, and such can be faked, but they also check bone age during the physical. Anything over one year old can’t be registered as a starter Pokémon.”
“Bone age? Pokémon get bone age checks too? How do you check that for Grimer? Does that thing even have bones?” Zuo Hang questioned.
“I don’t know about that. It’s been 20 years since I was a Trainer. Back then, Grimer’s bone age could be checked, so no reason it can’t now.”
Zuo Hang frowned, feeling like the Old Man was fooling him.
“Don’t be like that. Pick one, follow the school’s process. Your training method is ultimately unorthodox. Pick a new partner, enjoy campus life. Anyway, retraining from scratch, you’ll definitely level up way faster than peers.” Changing his tone, the Old Man said:
“Little Rou has severe social anxiety, so she definitely won’t keep up with peers. Plus, she hasn’t set foot in school for three years, so she’s out of practice in every way. You two start from the beginning. If Little Rou can’t keep up later, you can help her along.”
Zuo Hang sighed.
The Old Man’s meaning was probably to have him set an example for Zuo Rou. Electric Mouse, Gardevoir, and such were too strong and past the training phase, but if Zuo Hang also started from a Pokémon egg, Zuo Rou would have a great role model. “You can refer to your little brother for anything you don’t know.” That way, there’d be no worry about falling behind in levels.
There was really no need to start over. Anything Zuo Rou didn’t understand, she could just ask him directly. Though Zuo Hang’s training method was a bit wild, that was for later stages. At the beginning, everyone was about the same.
The Old Man was probably scheming some little plan he didn’t know about again.
Life is hard.
Zuo Hang walked to the display case and casually pointed at a Pokémon egg. “This one.”
The Old Man raised an eyebrow. “So casual? Want to look at more?”
“No need. The Breeding House only has a few kinds anyway; picking around won’t make much difference.”
“The one you picked seems to be Fire-type. Not considering Grimer?”
“Damn! Old Man! Stop obsessing over Grimer. No one buys Grimer Pokémon eggs!”
