After washing up, Blake took out all kinds of cleaning tools and began scrubbing the aquarium.
Because his mother owned a whole group of Water-type Pokémon, the aquarium here was enormous.
Blake even had to stand inside it to rinse it down properly.
Haunter slipped in to help as well, gripping a mop and working hard to wipe down the tempered glass.
“Dheeeelmise…”
Dhelmise floated in front of the aquarium, feeling a little embarrassed.
After all, it could not really help.
“Don’t feel bad.
This is something a Trainer should do!
Besides, now that you’ve joined this family, I’m responsible for you.
If I can’t even make sure you have a comfortable place to live, then I’d be failing pretty badly.”
“Haunter, Haunter.”
Haunter echoed Blake from the side.
He had been waiting for a companion for a long time.
Although Blake had no intention of becoming some absurdly powerful Pokémon Trainer, he took every Pokémon seriously.
After all, creatures like Pokémon—beings who would repay your kindness a hundred or even a thousand times over as long as you treated them well—were something you could search other worlds with a lantern and still never find.
Fortunately, the ridiculous level of technology in this world made the work simple and fast.
The mop, which looked ordinary at a glance, could somehow absorb every last bit of dirty water without leaving a drop behind.
That water-absorbing ability was honestly incredible.
“Good.
Next, I’ll check whether the seawater valve has rusted or not.
The door on this side is easy to use.
With how flexible your seaweed is, you should be able to open it yourself.
If you really can’t, just call me or Haunter over to help.”
Once the cleaning was finished, Blake smiled and spoke to Dhelmise.
“Dheeeelmise!”
Dhelmise was very happy.
It felt that choosing to come here had been absolutely right.
The atmosphere of this place was truly wonderful, especially compared to the seafloor where it had always been alone.
“I’ll go to the storeroom later and find a few gems to put in here for you.
They should help you grow stronger too.”
As Blake spoke, he headed toward his room.
Haunter had hung up his small bag for him, and the good things he had found this time were still inside.
For now, though, he would not put them in the storeroom.
If his father noticed the missed call and called him back, Blake did not want to have to go looking for them again.
Blake entered his room, took his backpack down from the clothes rack, and began removing the contents one by one.
First came the enormous diamond.
Although a diamond this large was valuable, in the Pokémon world, items without special energy tended to be worth a little less.
For example, a Big Nugget the size of a child’s fist was only worth forty thousand.
That was pure gold, no less.
It could only be said that without special energy, even precious materials were treated as ordinary valuables.
However, because this diamond had been stored together with that special Spell Tag for so long, it had been stained with Ghost-type energy and could now be considered a Ghost Gem formed after the fact. Get faster updates on NovelPing.
Clink, clatter.
Blake casually tossed the diamond onto the cabinet and did not spare it another look.
But just as he lowered his head to continue rummaging through the bag, the Egg that had been silent for more than ten years suddenly trembled slightly.
Unfortunately, Blake was looking down and did not see it.
But he was not the only one in the room!
Haunter, who had followed him in, was staring at that piece of loot, so the movement of the Egg naturally entered the edge of his vision.
“Haunter?
Σ(⊙▽⊙”a”
Haunter cried out in surprise, then rubbed his eyes and stared carefully.
The Egg did not seem to move again, as if what had just happened had only been his imagination.
“Haunter?” [・_・?]
Had he really seen it wrong?
Just as Haunter was wondering, Blake took out the small box containing the Spell Tag.
“Who on earth made this thing?”
As Blake spoke, he opened the box.
In the next moment, the Ghost-type energy that had been sealed away poured out, and the temperature in the entire room dropped by several degrees.
With this thing around, there would be no need to turn on the air conditioner in summer.
Unfortunately, ordinary people could not handle it.
Long-term exposure to Ghost-type energy was harmful to the human body.
Only people like Blake’s family, who possessed special abilities, could endure it.
Crack—
“Haunter!
Σ(⊙▽⊙”a”
This time, Haunter was absolutely certain he had not seen wrong!
The Egg had moved!
Not only that, it had even knocked against the incubator as it shook.
“What’s wrong, Haunter?”
Blake’s attention had not been on that side, but after hearing Haunter’s repeated cries of surprise, he looked up curiously.
Then he froze on the spot too.
Crack!
The Pokémon Egg shook again, and this time the movement was much stronger.
The sound of it striking the incubator was loud enough that it was impossible to miss.
“When did that start?”
Blake turned to Haunter.
“Haunter.” (.•ω•)σ
Haunter pointed at the diamond, then pointed at the Spell Tag in Blake’s hand.
“This thing caused it?
Don’t tell me the Egg has been lacking Ghost-type energy all this time.
That shouldn’t be right.
Unless…
it wasn’t about quantity, but quality?”
Blake was not completely sure, but he picked up the Spell Tag and brought it closer to the incubator.
Crack, crack!
The Egg immediately shook even more violently.
The shell that had shown no movement for more than ten years now revealed a crack so faint it was nearly invisible to the naked eye.
If Blake had not practically memorized every pattern on this Egg, he might not have noticed it at all.
“This is…
it’s about to hatch!”
Seeing the crack on the Egg, Blake’s emotions surged.
He immediately activated his special ability as his eyes turn purple.
He could clearly see the Ghost-type energy from the Spell Tag in his hand being pulled toward the Egg, quickly sinking into it.
“It really is because of this Spell Tag?”
Blake glanced once more at the Spell Tag in surprise, but he was not stingy with it.
He hurried forward and pressed the Spell Tag directly against the incubator.
Crack, crack, crack!
The sound of the shell breaking became clear.
It was obvious that the life inside the Egg was doing everything it could to break free from its shell and move toward the Spell Tag.
Perhaps because it had waited for so many years, the shell had become unexpectedly tough, and its cracking speed was noticeably slow.
“Dheeeelmise?”
Dhelmise floated over as well, sensing what was happening here.
In truth, it had wanted to come over from the beginning.
After spending so much time near the Spell Tag, it was very familiar with that aura.
However, it had been reluctant to leave that beautiful glass room—the aquarium—so it had been delayed for a little while.
It had not expected to arrive just in time to witness this scene.
“Today really is a lucky day!
I didn’t expect to gain two partners in a single day!”
Blake watched the Egg crack faster and faster as he spoke.
He had received Gastly when he was nine.
Five years had passed since then, and he had not caught a single other Pokémon.
Yet today, he had gained two at once!
“Haunter!
ヽ(゚∀゚)メ(゚∀゚)ノ”
Haunter flew back and forth through the air so quickly that afterimages appeared.
Ever since Blake’s parents started spending long periods away from home, Haunter had not really had any friends.
Or rather, the Pokémon from before had mostly been his seniors.
The only one who could count as a friend was that silly Chewtle.
He had never expected to gain two new friends today!
This was great!
“Syaa—!”
With a sharp yet airy cry, the new Pokémon broke free from its prison and saw this world for the very first time.