Choose an Egg

Choosing an Egg

No. 2 Senior High School, Chang'an City.

"Ring, ring, ring~"

"The exam is over. Put down your pens. Student in the last row, collect the papers."

The proctor said this after taking a sip from the thermos in his hand.

"Hey, Lu Ze, how'd it go? I wasn't sure about several of the last questions."

"Not bad. I thought they were pretty easy."

Lu Ze stood up and stretched.

"Still showing off? I couldn't do them, so you could?"

Sui Yan looked at Lu Ze with disdain.

"Fine, then let me ask you. Which Pokémon isn't countered by any type?"

"Tynamo, Eelektrik, and Eelektross."

Lu Ze sat back down and calmly gave the answer.

"Not bad, Lu Ze. But I knew that one too. Second question: which Pokémon is the only one whose type changes to a single type after evolution?"

"Eevee."

Lu Ze found it strange. In this world, Eevee's evolution conditions into Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, and Glaceon had already been discovered, but Sylveon's evolutionary branch remained undiscovered.

"Oh, nice. Then the third one. I couldn't do this either. Which Pokémon is the only dual-type Pokémon that evolves into a single-type Pokémon?"

"Gloom evolves into Bellossom."

"Heh, I don't believe it. Which ordinary Pokémon has a unique type combination?"

"Croagunk. Poison type plus Fighting type."

"Question five: which Pokémon has the same Hidden Ability and Standard Ability?"

"Ferroseed's Iron Barbs."

"Damn it, you didn't secretly go cram without me, did you? Why do you know everything I don't?"

Embarrassed and furious, Sui Yan grabbed Lu Ze by the shoulders and shook him back and forth.

Lu Ze thought, If I told you I saw all this on Bilibili in my previous life, would you believe me?

"Alright, alright. Pack up. We've got the afternoon off, so let's go to my family's shop and see if there are any good Pokémon Eggs. It's about time I chose one."

Lu Ze stood up, slung on his backpack, and spoke to Sui Yan.

"Sure, let's go. I'll call my aunt later and have her save the Growlithe Pokémon Egg for me."

"Okay, let's go."

The two headed toward Lu Ze's family shop with their backpacks on.

Lu Wu was a doctor specializing in Pokémon evolution. He had discovered Espeon's evolution condition, then used Espeon to later discover Umbreon's evolution condition.

But after an incident, he stopped researching Eevee's evolution chain. After resigning from the Dragon Kingdom Research Institute, he opened a small private research institute.

Because of Lu Ma, he purchased the land beside the institute through the Dragon Kingdom Research Institute and opened a modest Day Care.

It only housed the Eevee family, the Pikachu family, and Feebas, along with a few scattered boarded Pokémon and lone wild Pokémon.

The storefront outside mainly sold Pokémon Eggs, Pokémon food, Pokémon supplies, and so on.

"Whoa, there are so many people."

"Of course. The exams just ended, and everyone can't wait to get a Pokémon of their own."

Sui Yan explained to Lu Ze.

"Huh? Isn't this your family's shop? What's wrong with good business?"

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, I'll take you to my mom."

As Lu Ze spoke, he pulled Sui Yan toward the back of the shop. The young female clerk recognized the owner's son and let them pass.

"Mom, are you here? Mom~"

"I'm here, I'm here. Why are you screaming like you're calling the dead?"

Lu Ma came out of the room in the back and spoke to Lu Ze.

"What, you finished your exams? How'd they go?"

"Pretty well."

"Fine, I'll believe you this time. Just don't have your teacher calling me again later. Oh, Sui Yan's here too."

"Hello, Auntie. Lu Ze really did pretty well this time."

"Aw, good job, son. Come here, let Mom hug you."

The moment Lu Ma heard Sui Yan's words, her expression changed. Beaming, she pulled Lu Ze over and ruffled his hair into a mess.

"Mom~"

Lu Ze called out helplessly.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"I want to pick a Pokémon Egg."

"Sure. You and Sui Yan can go inside. I knew business would be good today, so I specifically called the main store and got another thousand Pokémon Eggs. They haven't been put on display yet, so you two go pick first."

"Okay, Mom."

"I probably shouldn't go in. I already have one."

"Come on, keep me company."

Lu Ze dragged the reluctant Sui Yan into the room Lu Ma had just exited.

"Wow, that's a lot of Pokémon Eggs."

The moment they entered, they saw rows of open boxes, each one containing ten Pokémon Eggs.

"You little brats, hurry up and choose. I still need to put them on the shelves later."

"Alright!"

Lu Ma's voice from outside snapped them out of their astonishment. Lu Ze eagerly placed his hand on the nearest Pokémon Egg.

A dream from my previous life... has it finally come true?

Lu Ze felt tears welling in his eyes.

"Ding. The Super Breeder System is at your service."

"Hm? A system?"

Hearing the voice in his mind, Lu Ze kept a blank expression. Having been influenced by webnovels in his previous life, he was already accustomed to such things. He asked inwardly.

"System, what abilities do you have?"

"Ding. Information Datafication, Energy Cube production, and Pokémon food production."

"Hm? That's it? Is there anything else?"

"Ding. Please inspect it yourself, Host. The beginner tutorial has been completed. Goodbye."

After the mechanical voice faded, there were no more sounds in his mind. When he examined his memories closely, he found methods and recipes for making Energy Cubes and Pokémon food, but nothing else.

"Lu Ze, Lu Ze, what's wrong? Aren't you picking a Pokémon Egg?"

Lu Ze opened his eyes and saw Sui Yan waving a hand in front of him.

"No. I'm just too excited. I'm finally going to have a Pokémon of my own."

Lu Ze irritably slapped away Sui Yan's still-waving hand.

"Alright then. Let's hurry up and choose."

"Yeah!"

Lu Ze looked at the Pokémon Egg in his hand, and an information panel suddenly appeared beside it.

Pokémon: Caterpie

Gender: Female

Type: Bug type

Ability: Shield Dust (will not be affected by a move's additional effects)

Aptitude: Green Aptitude

Basic Move: Tackle

Egg Move: None

"So this was the system's Information Datafication? That's way too broken. I can directly see an egg's aptitude and Egg Moves."

Lu Ze suppressed the wild joy in his heart and moved on to the next one.

Normally, it was impossible to see the aptitude of the Pokémon inside an egg. Other than identifying the Pokémon by its patterns, nothing else could be determined.

From lowest to highest, aptitudes were White Aptitude, Green Aptitude, Blue Aptitude, Purple Aptitude, Orange Aptitude, Red Aptitude, and Gold Aptitude.

With recent technological advances, Pokémon aptitude could be identified through instruments, but each appraisal was extremely expensive.

Moreover, Pokémon Leagues around the world had issued an international convention long ago forbidding anyone from abandoning Pokémon, with exceptionally severe penalties. Thus, almost nobody abandoned their Pokémon because of aptitude.

A Russian professor's research showed that between Pokémon of the same species with Green Aptitude and Blue Aptitude, in an unattended match at energy level thirty, Blue Aptitude won by a narrow margin.

With one side being commanded, Green Aptitude won. When both sides had roughly equal command ability, it was a draw, though the Blue Aptitude Pokémon got back up first.

Thus, an international sentiment emerged: improving yourself as a Trainer was more effective than replacing your Pokémon with one of better aptitude. If you were incompetent, don't blame your Pokémon.

However, high-aptitude Pokémon were still highly sought after. It was just that nobody abandoned their own Pokémon in pursuit of better aptitude anymore.

"Lu Ze, have you decided? What Pokémon do you want?"

"No. I'm looking. I'll pick one that catches my eye."

With Information Datafication activated, Lu Ze examined the Pokémon Eggs in the boxes.

"Hm?"

Pokémon: Torkoal

Gender: Male

Type: Fire type

Ability: Drought (changes the weather to Sunny Day upon entering battle)

Aptitude: Purple Aptitude

Basic Move: Ember

Egg Moves: Smog, Eruption, Fissure

"Holy crap, I've struck gold. Maybe I should build a Sunny Team too."

Looking at the Pokémon Egg before him, Lu Ze nearly jumped up. After seeing so many Green Aptitude and Blue Aptitude eggs, he had finally found a Purple Aptitude one. It even had Drought and had inherited Eruption and Fissure. If this wasn't top-tier, what was?

Lu Ze bent down, carefully lifted out the Pokémon Egg, and couldn't help stroking it twice more.

"Hey, Lu Ze, are you sure about that one? Doesn't that look like a Torkoal Pokémon Egg?"

"Yeah, it's a Torkoal's. But I haven't decided yet. I'll take another look."

"Not bad, Lu Ze. This one's great. Get yourself a Torkoal and set up Sunny Day for me. My Arcanine can deal the damage. The two of us working together would be unstoppable."

Sui Yan looked at the Pokémon Egg in Lu Ze's arms with delight.

"Let's keep looking. What if there's one I like even more?"

"Hehe, sure. I'll keep looking with you. But seriously, if you get a Torkoal and I get an Arcanine, the two of us working together would be unstoppable."

"Yeah, right, right."

Sui Yan kept chattering beside him while Lu Ze examined Pokémon Eggs and absentmindedly responded.

"Holy shit!!!!!"

"What happened?"

"Nothing, nothing. This Pokémon Egg is exactly what I wanted. Oh my god."

Squatting beside a box, Lu Ze stared with shining eyes at an egg patterned with purple cloud markings.

"I've decided. This is the one."