-015- Beginning to Hatch the Spirit Egg

Tong Si first headed to the equipment section.

This entire area was dedicated to items for Pokémon.

“Hello, sir, is there anything I can help you with?”

As soon as Tong Si entered, a young female staff member hurried over to assist him.

“I’m just browsing,” Tong Si replied. He hadn’t yet decided what to purchase; seeing such a vast array of items, he couldn’t help but want to look around.

“Of course, please take your time. If you need anything, just let me know.” The staff member gave a slight nod and smiled before stepping away. There were simply too many customers in the store for her to serve only Tong Si.

Tong Si didn’t mind; he began looking over a nearby shelf.

Strange items such as “Bonk Helmet” and “Metal Coating” were actually displayed on these shelves.

After making his rounds, three items caught Tong Si’s interest: a Magnet, a Scope Lens, and a Focus Band.

The Magnet was strongly magnetic, and when held, it increased the power of Electric-type moves.

The Scope Lens revealed weak points, making it easier for Pokémon to land critical hits.

The Focus Band allowed its holder to survive an otherwise fatal blow with at least 1 HP remaining—a life-saving item.

All three items tempted Tong Si.

However, their prices were simply outrageous.

The Magnet was the cheapest, costing a mere 100,000 Alliance coins.

The Scope Lens and Focus Band sold for 300,000 and 380,000 Alliance coins, respectively.

Tong Si almost blurted out, “Why not just rob people instead?”

“I’ll take two Scope Lenses, three Focus Bands, and one Bonk Helmet!”

While Tong Si balked at the prices, other customers were happily spending without hesitation.

In this world, there was no strict limit to how many items a Pokémon could carry. As long as your Pokémon could wear them, it was fine to be fully decked out.

Of course, for major tournaments, the organizers always set rules: one item per Pokémon, plus one berry or energy cube.

Ordinary Pokémon battles had no such restrictions. If you had the money, you could equip your Pokémon however you pleased.

“Maybe I’ll just buy the Magnet,” Tong Si muttered to himself.

With his current savings, the Magnet was all he could afford.

After some inner struggle, Tong Si finally decided to buy it.

An Electabuzz’s Electric-type moves would already be slightly boosted by its ability to store electrical energy. With the Magnet as well, the effect would be doubled.

At the counter, after he paid, the staff member carefully boxed up the Magnet and handed it to Tong Si.

“Thank you for shopping with us. Please come again.”

“Thank you.”

Tong Si took the bag with the Magnet, silently vowing never to return.

What a rip-off!

If only he had more points on his system dashboard, he’d absolutely redeem items from the system shop instead.

Next, Tong Si headed for the Pokémon egg hatching section.

This area was much quieter.

After all, most rookie trainers, having bought a Pokémon egg, would pay a little extra to have the nursery hatch it for them.

Though hatching a Pokémon wasn’t particularly troublesome, doing it yourself required purchasing a specialized incubator.

A single incubator cost tens of thousands of Alliance coins.

If you were only hatching one or two eggs, most people preferred to let the nursery handle it—saving both money and effort.

Tong Si’s arrival did not stir the staff here.

Those watching short videos continued to scroll, those binging dramas kept their eyes glued to their screens.

Tong Si made his way to the display and picked up twenty bottles of nutrient solution, specifically for Pokémon eggs.

A Pokémon egg’s incubation would take around five to seven days, sometimes longer.

Each day required one bottle of this special nutrient.

Buying twenty bottles, Tong Si was also thinking ahead for the next customer.

It wouldn’t make sense to have to come to the Pokémon Department Store every time someone bought an egg.

The journey from JOJO Nursery wasn’t short—Tong Si had taken a bus for an hour to get here.

And if he took a Doduo taxi or an Arcanine courier, the fare would be even higher.

“Beep!”

A staff member absentmindedly scanned Tong Si’s purchases while keeping one eye on her drama.

The total came to 10,000 Alliance coins.

That worked out to about 500 per bottle.

With his purchases in hand, Tong Si prepared to leave.

At the entrance to the store, he saw a poster advertising the Rookie King Tournament at the Pokémon Battle Club.

“Who’d have thought the club would advertise all the way out here?”

Tong Si shook his head and walked away.

…

After returning to the JOJO Nursery, Tong Si began the incubation process for the Pokémon egg.

He opened up an incubator, poured in a bottle of nutrient solution, and diluted it with water.

The solution was highly concentrated; to avoid damaging the eggshell, it had to be diluted.

Once the incubator started, the liquid inside quickly warmed up, stopping only when the set temperature was reached.

Tong Si gently placed the Mareep egg, which belonged to Yun Zishan, inside.

The egg showed no reaction. Tong Si closed the lid.

From here on, it was just a matter of changing the water daily.

The incubator would maintain the proper temperature until the egg hatched.

Tong Si performed this entire sequence of tasks according to the memories of the original owner.

Being his first time hatching a Pokémon egg, he was understandably nervous.

Electabuzz and Eevee watched him curiously from the side.

Were they about to get a new companion?

“This is a very important egg for a customer. You two must make sure nothing happens to the incubator!” Tong Si warned his Pokémon.

Especially Eevee—it always had its eye on the store’s eggs.

Seeing Tong Si warming the egg, Eevee even thought he was making a hot spring egg for it.

“Bzzt!”

Electabuzz thumped its chest, signaling that it would handle everything.

“Vee~”

Eevee, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic. So it wasn’t getting steamed eggs—immediately, it lost all interest in the incubator.

Tong Si couldn’t help but laugh at this.

Eevee left the shop to play in the yard with its three friends.

The Runaway Trio had visited every day recently and, without anyone noticing, had become close friends with Eevee.

Out in the yard, the two Magikarp were still flopping about, competing to see whose Splash move was stronger.

“Eevee, since you’re such good friends with those three, why not have a Pokémon battle? Spar a bit with your friends and see who’s the strongest?” Tong Si began to coax Eevee.

“Vee~”

Eevee turned its head away, pretending not to hear.

“Eevee, if you can defeat all three of them, I’ll buy you your favorite—handmade cream ice cream from Alcremie!”

Tong Si upped the ante.

“Vee?”

Eevee slyly opened one eye, casting a sidelong glance at Tong Si.

“Two!”

Eevee opened one eye wide.

“Four! Four, okay?”

Tong Si held up four fingers.

“Vee~!”

Eevee’s eyes immediately sparkled with delight, and it jumped for joy.

… (To be continued)