“Syaa—!”
With that cry, the little one smacked into the inner wall of the incubator with a dull thud.
The outer glass of the incubator had been made extremely sturdy to ensure the safety of the Pokémon Egg inside, so that collision was no joke.
The little one almost knocked itself dizzy.
Only now did Blake, Haunter, and Dhelmise finally get a clear look at it.
The little pokemon was not exactly tiny, measuring around thirty centimeters or so.
It had a broad, flattened head, slightly protruding eyes, and a pointed mouth.
Its entire head was triangular, yet also somewhat like a boomerang.
Its body was long and narrow, with two small hands around the first quarter of its length, while three dark green spines jutted out near the last third of its tail.
Beneath its triangular head were two pairs of red little horn-like protrusions that also resembled fins.
Its whole body was colored in shades of dark green and grassy green.
“Is this…
Dreepy?”
Looking at the little pokemon searching everywhere for an exit, Blake spoke in surprise.
Dreepy—the first stage of Dragapult, and Galar’s pseudo-legendary Pokémon.
Its design was based on the Diplocaulus and the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
It was a Ghost- and Dragon-type Pokémon, often jokingly called a superior replacement for Gengar.
Unfortunately, as Galar’s pseudo-legendary, it did not have its own Gigantamax form, nor did it have a Mega Evolution.
Compared to that, Gengar was treated like a star.
Blake, however, felt that the two were completely different in focus.
One was a high-speed mixed attacker, while the other was a tricky status-spreading menace.
There was no real point in comparing them.
In terms of popularity, though, the little purple chubby guy still had a completely overwhelming lead.
Not that any of this mattered much to Blake.
He had no intention of becoming Champion.
Being Galar’s Champion sounded exhausting, and since Leon was rushing to take that job, good for him.
Blake only wanted to live his own quiet little life, occasionally battling others to satisfy his Trainer itch.
“Come on out, little one.”
Blake opened the incubator and carefully touched Dreepy.
A cool, non-slimy feeling met his fingertips, and he found himself reluctant to let go.
“Syaa?
Syaa!”
Newborn Pokémon, because their minds had not fully developed yet, tended to treat the first thing they saw as their mother.
Of course, that usually meant a living being.
At first, Dreepy’s attention had been entirely fixed on the Spell Tag stuck to the incubator.
Only when Blake reached in and touched it did the little one finally react.
Looking at Blake and sensing the comfortable aura coming from him, Dreepy immediately rubbed against his hand.
Blake took the chance to lift Dreepy out of the incubator.
Whoosh!
The instant Dreepy left the incubator, it zipped straight over to the Spell Tag.
It hugged the tags tightly and refused to let it go.
“Haunter!
Σ(⊙▽⊙”a!”
Σ(⊙▽⊙”a!”
“Huh?!
Σ(⊙▽⊙”a!”
Haunter, Dhelmise, and Blake all froze at the same time.
[Dhelmise: I will say this again.
I do not have a face!]
Who could have expected that a newborn little thing would already know how to scheme?
“Still, is this thing really that attractive to it?
Haunter, help me ask the little one whether anything feels wrong.
It was just born, so there are a lot of things it won’t understand yet.”
Blake looked at Dreepy.
It did not seem uncomfortable, but just in case, it was better to have Haunter ask.
If something really was wrong, they could not afford to notice too late.
“Haunter!
∠(°ゝ°)!”
Haunter gave a military salute, then floated in front of Dreepy and began gesturing wildly.
“Haunter, Haunter, Haunter.”
“Syaa—syaa, syaa, syaa!”
After a round of conversation that sounded to anyone else like a chicken arguing with a duck, Haunter floated back.
Blake could understand the Ghost-type Pokémon who had spent a long time with him and shared a close bond with him.
But this newborn little Pokémon, despite also being a Ghost type and despite already treating him like family, would still require some time before he became familiar with it.
“Haunter!
[The Spell Tag has a special kind of energy on it.
It’s very similar to the energy inside Dreepy, and it isn’t hurting it!]”
Haunter reported seriously.
“Similar to Dreepy?
So Ghost- and Dragon-type energy?
Energy this powerful, and it just happens to be those two types…
Don’t tell me…”
Blake thought of something, then immediately shook his head.
He did not believe he was some chosen one.
Legendary creatures like that were better left to Ash or the protagonists of the Pokemon series.
This was probably just made from materials left behind by someone’s powerful Dragapult in the past.
‘Yes.
That had to be it!’
Blake convinced himself of that in his heart.
After all, this was not a game.
Legendary Pokémon were not data that could be caught with a single Master Ball.
They were real divine beings with the power to devastate the world.
That was no joke.
So he had no interest whatsoever in getting involved with anything related to Legendary Pokémon.
Of course, a certain roadside Water-type dog was another matter.
“Syaa— (￣o￣).
z Z” You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
Whether it was naturally sleepy or had absorbed too much energy from the Spell Tag just now and become drowsy from trying to digest it, Dreepy actually fell asleep while hugging the Spell Tag.
“It’s asleep.
Keep your voices down.”
Blake looked at Dreepy, who had fallen asleep on the bookshelf, and spoke softly to the other two.
“Haunter…” (￣ε￣@)
Looking at Dreepy, Haunter felt so moved that his heart practically melted.
He reached out, wanting to touch it, but did not quite dare.
Dhelmise, meanwhile, simply chose to leave.
It felt that leaving was the best option, since its voice was too loud and one careless sound might be noisy enough to wake the little one.
“Let it rest first.
We’ll head out.”
Blake carefully cradled Dreepy in his palm and slowly pulled the Spell Tag out from its hold.
Then he tucked the diamond that had been stained with the same aura into Dreepy’s embrace instead, gently placed it on the pillow, and left the room with Haunter.
“I should put this away.
Leaving it out isn’t really appropriate.”
Blake looked at the Spell Tag in his hand and ultimately placed it back into the box from before.
Then he headed toward the kitchen.
“Haunter, help me get some Ghost Gems and Spell Tags from the storeroom.
Oh, and some Spirit-Summoning Incense too.
I’m going to cook.”
Blake patted Haunter on the head as he spoke.
“Haunter!
￣『￣”
Haunter nodded with drool already forming, then flew toward the storeroom at top speed.
Dhelmise followed along as well.
“Seriously, the moment food comes up, you get a hundred times more energetic!
Though I guess I’m about the same.”
As someone from a country of food lovers in his previous life, Blake had a deep love for food as well.
Unfortunately, Galar’s traditional cuisine was genuinely lacking.
At least Hulbury, as a seaside town, had some decent food.
Many other places could practically be called culinary deserts.
In plenty of towns, it was curry, curry, and more curry!
Oh, and all kinds of dry bread slathered in butter.
On top of that, Blake’s mother could not cook either, which had nearly broken Blake when he was little.
Once Blake became old enough to cook, he forced himself to remember his grandfather’s recipes from his previous life.
Then he made himself, someone who had once survived on takeout combo meals and instant noodles, pick up a wok.
After that, he never put it down again.
That was because his unreliable mother had taken one bite of his scrambled eggs with scallions and immediately handed over her entire set of very professional-looking kitchen equipment to him.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was that his parents were actually very skilled at making Pokémon food, so he did not have to worry about that part.
While Blake busied himself with dinner, Haunter and Dhelmise returned with a pile of materials.
“I’ll use these to make your meal later.”
Blake accepted the materials Haunter brought back and spoke to Dhelmise.
“Dheeeelmise?” [・ヘ・?]