Patter, patter, patter.
The sound of slippers against the floor made Moltres's already-quickening heartbeat pound like a drum.
Oh no, it had let out a cry without thinking!
What should it do? Should it destroy the evidence?
But even if it did, it would still get beaten to a pulp.
Just as Moltres froze completely, Luo Mu hurried over with a group of Pokémon. When he saw Moltres standing stiffly on one leg like a flamingo, with unmistakable fear on its face, and the Pokémon Egg beneath it flashing like a blinding strobe in the incubator—
How could he not understand what had happened?
Luo Mu's racing heart gradually returned to normal, and the tension that had seized his body drained away. Only then did he realize that his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
"What was that? You scared me." Luo Mu let out a long breath and looked at the frozen Moltres with an amused smile. "Relax. The Pokémon Egg is fine. This is just a sign that it's about to hatch."
Hearing Luo Mu's words, the five Pokémon, whose fierce auras had made them seem like demons, relaxed out of their battle stances. Realizing there was no danger, they came over to look at the Pokémon Egg. Then, wishing it a smooth hatching, they yawned and headed back inside to catch up on their sleep.
The false alarm had come and gone in a flash.
Only Luo Mu and the relieved Moltres remained, staring at each other. After a few seconds, Luo Mu was the first to break the awkward silence. "Moltres, weren't you hatched from a Pokémon Egg? Why are you making such a fuss about this?"
Luo Mu was curious whether these genderless Legendary Pokémon hatched from Pokémon Eggs or were brought into being by nature itself.
Moltres was silent for a while, as if searching through its memories. After a moment, it gave him a definite answer.
"When I became conscious and opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was lava all around me. I have no memory of anything like the Pokémon Egg you mentioned hatching—or glowing."
Luo Mu nodded thoughtfully. Based on Moltres's answer, it had probably been born inside a volcano, and there was a good chance it had been created naturally.
Luo Mu walked over and crouched in front of Moltres, then picked up the incubator. The third bottle of Nutrient Solution had also turned clear. In just over a week, the Pokémon Egg had absorbed nearly all the nutrients that an ordinary Pokémon Egg would take twenty-one days to absorb.
Watching the Pokémon Egg glow in a steady rhythm, Luo Mu wondered what kind of Pokémon would hatch from it.
"Let's move inside and wait there until the Pokémon Egg hatches," Luo Mu suggested.
The weather hadn't warmed up yet. Before the new life arrived, they should provide it with a warm environment.
Moltres had no objections. Its body, which hadn't moved from its spot for days and had spent all that time eating and sleeping, slowly followed Luo Mu.
At the front entrance, Luo Mu opened both doors as wide as they would go. Even then, Moltres had to tuck in its wings to squeeze through.
Before Moltres came inside, Luo Mu had asked whether the flames burning on its body would set the house on fire. Like Ponyta and Rapidash, Moltres could keep its flames from spreading to the surroundings if it deliberately held them back.
Otherwise, with the wooden furniture and floors inside the small house—materials that could catch fire so easily—Luo Mu wouldn't have dared to let it in.
Luo Mu brought Moltres to the fireplace in the living room, tossed in some firewood, and then looked at it.
Moltres: "?"
Why was he looking at it like that?
Luo Mu said helplessly, "Light it. You're the only Fire-type Pokémon here, and I can't use Eruption."
"And just a few small flames will do. Don't set my house on fire."
Moltres: "..."
Moltres hadn't expected that one day it would end up serving the same purpose as a lighter or a match. It held back its temper for a long moment, and in the end, it didn't flare up. It just felt that its time on this farm was rapidly making it calmer and more even-tempered.
Moltres rolled its eyes at Luo Mu, opened its long beak, and carefully dropped three orange-red flames into the fireplace. The firewood caught at once, and warm, yellow light spread from the hearth.
"Impressive control," Luo Mu praised, clapping. Moltres lifted its head, clearly pleased by the compliment.
He placed the Pokémon Egg not far from the fireplace, with Moltres beside it, its body radiating warmth like a little sun. The first step in hatching a Pokémon was complete: creating a warm environment.
Luo Mu also got out several bottles of room-temperature Moomoo Milk he had specially bought on his last shopping trip, as well as hot water and a large towel.
When a Pokémon was delivered at a Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy generally had little more than this on hand besides the monitoring equipment.
Luo Mu stayed beside the fireplace with Moltres, adding firewood from time to time as they watched over the Pokémon Egg.
They kept watch for an entire day.
By the time the Pokémon who had been out tending the farm returned to the house and gathered around the Pokémon Egg in several layers, the sky had grown dusky. At last, the Pokémon Egg's flashes reached a peak.
It flashed almost without pause, making it look like a giant light bulb that shone continuously.
A tense feeling hung in the air. Even the two usually lively and mischievous Hoppip seemed to sense it; they sat very obediently beside Whimsicott.
Finally, when the light reached its peak, the crisp sound of cracking eggshells made everyone and every Pokémon there perk up.
Crack, crack—
The eggshell cracked faster and faster. The little life inside knew that this was its one chance to leave the Pokémon Egg. The Nutrient Solution Luo Mu had bought had restored its originally frail body, and the little one inside gathered all its strength to push its tiny horn against the inner shell.
In the hushed room, even Moltres couldn't help joining Luo Mu and the others in silently cheering on the little life inside the Pokémon Egg with encouraging looks.
Moltres didn't know whether it had been moved by Luo Mu and the others, or whether it had developed some unexpected feelings after spending so much time inseparable from the Pokémon Egg during this brief period of its life.
Moltres had once regarded all the weak as ants. Now, it sincerely hoped that the incredibly weak life inside the Pokémon Egg could come into this world.
The Pokémon Egg took just three short minutes to hatch, yet those three minutes felt as long as an entire year.
"Wooo~~~"
Just as dusk gave way to darkness, a short, clear cry rang out. Like the break of dawn, it heralded a new beginning.
A relieved smile appeared on Luo Mu's face. He said softly, "Little one, welcome to this beautiful world!"
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