Mutation and the Pokémon Egg (Please Bookmark)

A closer look revealed that this Caterpie was rather old.

Eichi had often run around with the Bug Catcher boys in town before. After spending enough time with them, he had learned how to tell the ages of Caterpie and Weedle.

Caterpie were fairly easy to age. There was a Y-shaped antenna on each Caterpie's mouth, and the markings on every Caterpie's antenna were different.

The deeper the markings on the antenna, the older the Caterpie. A close look showed that this Caterpie was quite old.

Most Caterpie would have practically been forced to evolve into Butterfree by this age. Since it had not evolved, it was likely malnourished and had very poor potential.

Fast-growing Caterpie and Weedle could evolve into their final forms in around ten days. Even slow ones only took about a month.

The Caterpie in his hand was already several months old and would almost certainly never evolve again.

Eichi pressed the release button on the Poké Ball and let the Caterpie out.

A flash of white light.

The Caterpie sprang out, looking completely bewildered.

Caterpie:?

Eichi pointed ahead and said, "Go on. You're free."

The Caterpie seemed to understand. It nodded, turned, and ran off. Its round body contracted and stretched as it quickly disappeared from sight.

Eichi sighed, silently set up the trap again, and continued waiting.

Over the next few hours, several more Pokémon fell into the trap. Either Eichi failed to catch them, like Pidgey and Spearow, and they escaped, or he caught them but was dissatisfied and released them.

By the time all that was over, half the day had passed, yet he still had not caught a Pokémon he was satisfied with.

Eichi was somewhat discouraged. Hungry, he decided to rest for a while before continuing, then took out some dry rations from his backpack and began eating.

Hmm!

To be honest, the rations tasted quite good. But why were his eyes itchy again?

Eichi rubbed his eyes. They had been itchy all day, which left him rather puzzled.

Just then, cyan light began flickering in Eichi's eyes, flashing rapidly.

His eyes grew itchier and itchier, so he rubbed them desperately. The more he rubbed, the worse the itching became. He could not stop at all. As he rubbed, he suddenly felt as though something was about to come out of his eyes.

Then a sharp pain shot through his eyes. Eichi cried out and hurriedly shut them.

The pain vanished. When he opened his eyes again and rubbed them, he found that they were no longer itchy. The scene before him did not seem to have changed either.

Eichi was utterly confused. "What a strange thing."

Suddenly, he saw a stream of green energy before him.

That was right—energy. It looked like the visual effects of energy surging around martial arts masters as they circulated their power in the wuxia films from his previous life.

The green energy slowly flowed forward, toward a spot not far ahead.

Eichi followed the direction of the cyan energy's flow. The path ahead gradually narrowed.

The surrounding weeds were half a person tall. After walking roughly four or five hundred meters, the path vanished altogether. He arrived at an especially dense patch of brush, with vegetation covering everything around it.

The energy drilled into a clump of grass, and Eichi squeezed his way in with difficulty. He began pulling apart the grass. After a while, he finally saw something round.

More precisely, it was a Pokémon Egg. The cyan energy circling the Pokémon Egg suddenly disappeared.

A Pokémon Egg?

Without questioning why the cyan energy had vanished, Eichi carefully lifted the Pokémon Egg out. Excited and curious, he examined it closely.

"What Pokémon's Egg is this?

What kind of Pokémon will it be?"

The Pokémon Egg before him felt smooth, warm, and comfortable to the touch. Orange and brown cloud-like patterns covered its surface, arranged in neat, repeating rings.

He quickly took off his backpack, carefully placed the Pokémon Egg inside, put the backpack back on, and headed down the mountain in excitement.

Eichi did not bother with the Trap Items he had set up and simply went home.

After returning home, he shut the door and went back to his room. He took off his backpack, removed the Pokémon Egg, and examined it closely again. Eichi was excited. This was his first Pokémon.

He wondered what kind of Pokémon it would be. He hoped it would be easy to raise.

He planned to ask his father that night if anyone nearby had an Incubator.

Before he realized it, night had fallen. When Eichi heard the sound of the door opening, he knew his father had returned.

Eichi opened his bedroom door and saw his father taking dinner from his backpack. Usually, if his father got off work too late, he would simply buy something to bring home for dinner.

During the meal, his father asked Eichi, "How was your haul today? Did you catch any Pokémon?"

Eichi looked up and said, "Dad, wait a moment. I have something to show you." With that, he stood up, returned to his room, and brought out the Pokémon Egg.

His father was somewhat surprised when he saw the Pokémon Egg. "Where did this Pokémon Egg come from? Don't tell me you found it?"

"Yeah, I found it in Viridian Forest today," Eichi said. "Dad, do you know who has an Incubator?"

His father thought for a moment before saying, "Your Aunt Keiko works at the Breeding House. Go ask her tomorrow whether she can lend you one."

"Okay, I'll go see Aunt Keiko tomorrow," Eichi said happily.

Aunt Keiko had been one of Eichi's mother's close friends. She had always been especially close to Eichi's family, and even after Eichi's mother passed away, that relationship had not changed.

So Aunt Keiko worked at the Breeding House. Speaking of breeding, in the world of Pokémon, a Breeding House was a place specifically responsible for raising Pokémon.

Many Trainers had more than six Pokémon but did not have enough energy to train them all.

At times like that, they would choose to leave their Pokémon at a Breeding House to be raised. A Breeding House could maintain a Pokémon's strength at its peak.

At the same time, Breeding Houses could also sell Pokémon. Aside from catching Pokémon in the wild themselves, most beginners bought their remaining Pokémon from Breeding Houses.

Of course, that applied to ordinary families. Newcomers from direct Alliance families would have their parents arrange for them to receive one of the local region's Starter Pokémon from the most famous Professor's research institute.

Although Pokémon at Breeding Houses were not cheap either, they were far cheaper than Starter Pokémon.

It was the same in the games. If Pokémon were left at a Breeding House, their levels would have increased by the time they were collected later.

So the Breeding House definitely had an Incubator.

That night, Eichi lay in bed with the Pokémon Egg in his arms. That was right—he planned to sleep holding the Pokémon Egg.

As he lay quietly, Eichi suddenly remembered how itchy his eyes had been that day. He had no idea what had caused it. There was also that cyan energy he had seen afterward.

Why could he see that energy?

Why had that energy gathered around the Pokémon Egg?

Why had that Pokémon Egg appeared there?

Could my cheat be appearing?

With countless questions on his mind, Eichi gradually drifted off to sleep.

In the pitch-black room, cyan light suddenly shone from Eichi's body before slowly flowing into the Pokémon Egg.

All of this happened without Eichi's knowledge.