Suppressing his fluctuating emotions, Lucas did a quick count.
In this little hut for the five Miltank, there were eleven Pokémon Eggs—all well-cared-for, clearly tended for some time.
Not one or two.
Eleven.
Lucas felt as if the sky was falling.
Not that he couldn't afford to raise them—it was just so unexpected.
Pokémon Eggs appearing out of nowhere was one thing, but why so many!?
He turned to the five Miltank standing sheepishly in the doorway.
Taking a deep breath in and out, repeating three times, he managed to ask in a somewhat calm voice:
"Which eggs are yours? Claim them yourselves."
The five Miltank, like children caught misbehaving, filed in and gathered their eggs, their black ears drooping.
Lucas looked and almost laughed in exasperation.
The four Miltank bought from Whitney's ranch each had two eggs.
The one from Banze's ranch—the rare "Sap Sipper" ability and the first Miltank on the farm—had three eggs.
Eat more, lay more!?
Lucas's feelings were complicated.
He didn't need to ask the cause of all these eggs.
Ash's thirty Tauros were definitely the culprits.
Just then, he felt hands on his shoulders—Oranguru and Calyrex.
Judging by their expressions, they were about to comfort him.
Sure enough, they began taking turns:
The ranch is bigger after expansion, enough space for thirty Tauros, and food isn't a problem—Calyrex can make grass grow taller than trees in a few breaths.
"…"
Lucas stared at them in silence.
He realized he'd missed some crucial clues.
Oranguru and Calyrex seemed fully prepared and had waited until Ash left before telling him—timed perfectly.
He'd been busy training Feebas, Ninetales, Gimmighoul, and Vespiquen, and hadn't checked the hut.
Did this all happen long ago!?
"How long have you been hiding this from me?"
After a long stare, Lucas asked.
Oranguru and Calyrex exchanged glances—
"Told you we couldn't hide it."
They confessed everything.
About a week ago, Oranguru found extra eggs appearing during daily cleaning, and the number kept growing until today's eleven.
They'd agreed to let Lucas focus on contest training, only telling him after Ash left.
So it was training Ash and washing all those Tauros that gave them the confidence to court the five Miltank!
Lucas was fuming.
Those troublesome Tauros!
After some time, Lucas calmed down enough to check the eggs one by one, grumbling about only having hay for bedding.
With the weather getting colder, he ordered the storage room's Eldegoss's molted cotton to be brought in for better insulation.
Normally, wild Pokémon stop breeding in cold weather, waiting for spring—low temperatures are tough on both newborns and eggs.
Thankfully, this was a farm; otherwise, the "silly sweet" Miltank wouldn't make it through winter.
Soon, the little hut became much warmer.
The eggs were lined up in soft, warm bedding, making the five Miltank's eyes shine as they tried to please Lucas.
They just knew—he's got a sharp tongue but a soft heart!
Yet Lucas was thinking about something else.
Not just cotton—maybe add something like Talonflame feathers for even better warmth (he'd ask Maomao to trade for some), and have Politoed bring its "Damp" Poliwhirl brothers to help humidify the dry air caused by constant heating.
Now, with Sandshrew successfully hatched, and aside from the Larvesta egg gifted by Alder, these new eggs would be the first lives born after the farm's expansion.
As for the Larvesta egg, though blessed by Calyrex and full of vitality, there was no telling how long until it hatched—Larvesta evolves unusually late for a Bug-type.
After a busy morning and a rushed lunch, Lucas collapsed onto the couch, dazed.
I miss Ash's Snorlax's big, soft belly. Aside from the risk of being squashed when it rolls over, it's the perfect nap spot.
Cradling the fluffy Cosmog, Lucas pinched and kneaded its cheeks until he drifted off to sleep.
In his dream:
A Tauros, standing upright, sporting dyed yellow hair and a tracksuit, revved a Ghost Rider motorcycle. It took a drag on a cigarette, blew smoke in his face, and asked,
"Old man, can I park my bike outside your house?"
He woke up to Oranguru's call, staring at the ceiling, finally calming down.
….
Afternoon.
Lucas visited Thunder Lake, planning its expansion and checking on Milotic.
And to see if Gyarados's brain had rebooted yet.
When he arrived, he was surprised to find a rare visitor—Serperior.
Serperior seemed to be chatting with Milotic, arousing Lucas's curiosity—so he snuck closer.
But Serperior, with its innate perception, noticed him immediately and, with a flick of its roots, yanked him over.
"Sssser?" (What are you doing here?)
Serperior asked, staring at Lucas's silly grin.
Lucas glanced at Milotic, who was gazing back, and said,
"Just here to see how it's doing."
"Milu~"
Milotic, smiling, surfaced and demonstrated its body control, showing off the skills honed back in its Feebas days.
Amid the lily pads Lucas had added to decorate the pool, Milotic's blue hair-like fins floated on the surface, its tranquil eyes shimmering.
Even Serperior had to admit—Milotic's beauty transcended species and gender; whoever saw it would stop and gaze in awe.
Milotic's body was now fully coordinated, clearly adapted to its evolved form.
Lucas sighed,
"I only planned on laying the groundwork for you yesterday, didn't expect you to evolve so soon. You must have built a strong enough foundation before—without this event, you'd probably have evolved soon anyway."
"Milu~"
Milotic shook its head, looking gratefully at Lucas.
Even if it initially just wanted to stick with Gyarados and freeload, without Lucas taking it from the narrow Crystal Pool, it would never have known how big the world was, nor gained the confidence to shine from within and evolve.
After evolving, its body brimmed with vitality, Water-type energy obeyed its every command, and things that once seemed hard became easy.
No wonder its species so desires evolution.
Milotic sincerely thanked Lucas for helping it evolve.
So, it was willing to fight for Lucas.
Milotic looked at Serperior, nodded quietly.
It accepted Serperior's invitation to go to the little hill and help as much as it could.
Nearby—
Lucas, not understanding why Serperior and Milotic had reached an agreement, could only scratch his head.
He visited the now bashful Gyarados and concluded:
It's over. Their friendship has changed.
….
Evening.
Lucas faced a new problem.
He had to send Dragonite to Naranja Academy to fetch the books he'd asked Penny to borrow from the library.
With all his Pokémon present, Lucas didn't hide his question:
"So, will those eleven eggs all hatch into baby Miltank, or is there a chance some will be Tauros?"
"—Or rather,"
"If a Tauros hatches, will it be a normal one, or could it be a Paldean one—the 'Combat Breed,' 'Aqua Breed,' or 'Blaze Breed'?"
Everyone went silent.
Luxray yawned, lazily licking its paw pads, long used to Lucas's weird, sharp-edged questions.
The less experienced Pokémon—Eevee Sisters, Victini, Alcremie, Gimmighoul—offered answers all over the place, but mostly wild guesses.
Calyrex, sitting on the couch with Cosmog, legs swinging, listened with interest.
Despite being the oldest being present, Calyrex had never seriously considered this kind of question before—feeling a bit ashamed.
Oranguru thought for a few seconds and gave a professional answer:
"In academia, Pokémon breeding is considered the crystallization of love after a sudden impulse."
"In simple terms, the offspring's appearance usually follows the mother, but there's a chance to inherit talents from both parents."
Lucas's expression turned odd as he listened to Oranguru's lecture on Pokémon reproduction.
Honestly, it gave him a strange, almost uncanny feeling.
What was it called?
Terror Valley effect?
Some kind of weird unease.
Anyway.
Thanks to everyone's efforts (especially Oranguru and Calyrex's help with the books), Lucas finally found some answers to his question.
He'd always wondered:
Miltank is only female.
Tauros is only male.
Yet they're clearly counterparts.
Miltank was easy to explain, but how did all-male Tauros reproduce in the wild?
Are there just Ditto everywhere, or can Tauros somehow breed with each other and produce eggs?
That seemed unlikely.
The book provided an explanation:
For pairs like Tauros (male) and Miltank (female), after they lay an egg, there's a mysterious phenomenon:
Eggs produced by Tauros and Miltank can randomly hatch into either Tauros (male) or Miltank (female), based on unknown conditions and probabilities.
This completely overturns normal Pokémon egg rules, but in some ways, it makes sense.
As for whether a Kanto Tauros and Miltank in Paldea would produce a normal or Paldean Tauros, there was no reliable data.
…
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