As the first piece of shell fell away, the once perfectly intact Pokémon Egg quickly lost its balance and toppled onto the blanket laid out beneath it.
Qingyu felt his breath catch for a moment and immediately jogged over.
Clunk-
This time, it was a dull knocking sound.
Along with the sound came Bagon, smashing through the shell from inside and poking out part of its head.
As Bagon kept struggling to hatch, the Pokémon Egg, now on the verge of cracking apart, began rocking from side to side on the blanket.
"Mew~"
Mew instinctively reached out, seemingly wanting to pull the newborn Bagon free, but Qingyu scooped Mew up.
"Let it do this on its own."
Watching Bagon struggle, Qingyu was anxious too, but he resisted the urge to help.
Fortunately, just as Lance had said, this Bagon really did seem to have boundless strength.
Under its repeated Headbutt attacks, the shell, already covered in countless cracks, finally broke open wide enough for Bagon to crawl out easily.
"Vee..."
Eevee, who had been quietly watching from the side, couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.
"That's our Sunshine Gym's newest member for you! So determined right from the start!"
Qingyu chuckled and gently cradled the little one, freshly hatched and still unable to open its eyes, in his hands.
Newborn creatures really did have that ugly-cute look.
Still, it had finally evolved from a Pokémon Egg into a "hatched Pokémon."
"Looks like this is going to be a lively little Bagon."
Beside him, Cynthia smiled knowingly as she looked at the Bagon in Qingyu's hands, seemingly recalling when she had hatched Gible.
"Gar..."
As though sensing what its Trainer was thinking, the now mature and dependable Garchomp immediately turned its head away.
For most late-blooming Pokémon, their childhoods definitely