Day 29 of the journey. Clear.
Another bright morning. Reiji got jolted awake again by the river's steady rush. It still wasn't even light out, and once he was up, sleep wasn't coming back, so he got up early and made breakfast for his Pokémon.
After breakfast, the team went off for morning training. Reiji took Butterfree and the other two down to the river, did the same thing as yesterday—catching Magikarp, then checking each one's proficiency panel.
Partway through, one of the Pokémon staying behind at camp came running to tell him something had changed inside the tent. Reiji had to set the Magikarp aside and hurry back.
The moment he stepped in, he saw the incubator glowing—more precisely, the Egg inside it. The blue Egg was shining. The brown Egg still wasn't doing anything.
Mudkip was about to hatch.
Today was only the tenth day. Normally Mudkip would take twenty days, but maybe Riku had already started incubating it, and Reiji had simply taken over halfway through. That would explain why it was coming out after just ten.
Reiji immediately called out to Krabby and the others who were still training near camp. He had them stop and wait outside the tent. What came next mattered.
When a Pokémon hatches, the first thing it sees becomes "family" to it. Reiji wanted Mudkip's first sight to be him, so he could secure it right away.
It was a kind of bond between Trainer and Pokémon. A bit opportunistic, sure—but it was also how plenty of early Trainers got their start.
He shut the tent flap, poured Moomoo Milk into a bowl, and set it within reach. Then he took the Egg out of the incubator and waited.
The Egg's flickering white light grew brighter and brighter. At the peak, a flash of white filled his vision—then vanished just as quickly. The Egg in his arms was gone, replaced by a small Pokémon with slick blue skin, like a tadpole with legs, lying quietly against his chest.
"Kla-la… kla-la…"
Mudkip slowly opened its eyes. The first thing it saw was Reiji.
It looked around, confused, taking in the strange new world. Once it settled and decided there was no danger, Reiji carefully nudged the small bowl toward it.
Mudkip caught the milky smell first. Then it lowered its head, licked the milk, and immediately started drinking in big gulps.
It only finished half a bottle—because Reiji had only poured half. Afterward, Mudkip began exploring, nose and mouth busy, trying to figure out what was edible and what wasn't.
It circled the tent, checked everything, then climbed back onto Reiji's leg and flopped down, falling asleep right there.
Mudkip didn't question whether this human was its mother. A newborn Pokémon only knows one thing: get close to the first thing it sees.
It had been born in Reiji's arms, so it treated his hold like its nest—the place it came into the world, and the safest place there was.
Once Mudkip was fully asleep, Reiji gently stroked its damp head and used the Dive Ball he'd prepared to catch it.
A Dive Ball's moist interior suited Water-types well. He'd let Mudkip stay inside for its early stage.
After catching it, Reiji opened Mudkip's proficiency panel. At last—his long-awaited starter.
[Mudkip]
[Type: Water]
[Gender: Male]
[Potential: 56%]
[Level: 1.07%]
[Ability: Torrent/0.13%][Hidden Ability: Damp/0.23%]
[Moves: (Bite/0.21%) (Hydro Pump/0.11%) (Waterfall/0.14%) (Rain Dance/0.21%) (Mud-Slap/0.22%) (Mud Shot/0.23%) (Earth Power/0.31%) (Tackle/0.31%) (Growl/0.52%) (Water Gun/0.45%)]
"Holy…," Reiji muttered after reading it. This Mudkip was absolutely a League starter. With this kind of potential, once it grew up, it was a lock for Elite Four tier—maybe even quasi-Champion tier.
It even had two Abilities, and the move pool was loaded. Its Water talent especially stood out: it had inherited Hydro Pump, a high-power move, and it also had Earth Power—another high-power move, Ground-type.
Fresh out of the Egg, and it already had the strongest moves it could possibly know at this stage. Water talent and Ground talent—there was nothing to doubt. That 56 potential was proof enough.
This starter Egg alone was worth at least fifty million. Even a typical Elite Four Pokémon's offspring could sell for fifty million, let alone a rare starter—still in Egg form.
Now Reiji finally understood why Riku had a fifty-million bounty on him. If anything, it was cheap. This Egg alone was worth more than that.
It was a huge surprise from his last haul. And who knew what other surprises were still waiting ahead?
By "surprises," he didn't mean the other brown Egg. He meant Riku's other belongings—those notes counted too. They'd be useful later when he started raising underlings.
As for the Egg that had been incubating for fifty days… today made day fifty.
Pseudo-legendary Eggs usually took forty days. The three legendary birds took eighty—people had hatched them before, and plenty of Trainers in the anime had those legendaries…
This one had already hit fifty days. It had missed the pseudo-legendary window, and Reiji wasn't holding out hope for a legendary either. Riku had fallen so far—there was no way he had a legendary Egg. That would be absurd.
Still, there was another month to go, and Reiji could afford to wait. He'd already waited fifty days; one more month wouldn't kill him. Bad egg or not, he couldn't be bothered to care anymore.
Right now, his focus was Mudkip.
The rest of the team's training was basically on track. They just needed steady routine work—and time battling alongside him—to turn into real combat power.
Mudkip was different. Reiji already knew exactly how he wanted to handle it: he'd raise this one under the Spider identity.
First, Mudkip was contraband—Riku's contraband. Reiji couldn't train it openly.
Second, Mudkip was a starter. League Trainers who received starters had them registered on record. Reiji's Mudkip didn't come from a legal channel. That was a serious problem.
Third, once he became a League-certified Trainer, Mudkip's origin would become a ticking bomb. He couldn't explain it. One poke, and the lie would collapse.
If he claimed he caught a wild Mudkip, the League would investigate: time, location, what else was around, what Pokémon were present—everything.
If he claimed he bought it on the black market, it would become a permanent stain. And once he tried to join the League, someone would eventually use Mudkip's origin as leverage against him. Reiji couldn't withstand scrutiny. In the end, it could force him into compromises he didn't want to make…
Fourth, the Spider identity didn't have a Water-type yet. That roster right now was Croagunk, Gengar, Darkrai, Zubat…
Sure, he was working on catching Magikarp, but he still hadn't landed the one he wanted. Mudkip would be the Spider identity's first Water-type. The "idiot" would be the second.
With Mudkip's future settled, Reiji left the tent. The hatch had cost him time, and by now it was already noon.
He returned to the grassy bank and checked the Magikarp the three Butterfree had caught. None had the potential he wanted. He waved everyone back to camp for lunch.
While he was getting lunch ready, Quincy showed up again—this time carrying forest game, plus wild mushrooms and greens he'd picked after the rain.
"Rai, look what I brought you!" Quincy walked over with a grin, holding a bamboo basket like it contained treasure.
"What is it?" Reiji looked in and saw mushrooms and greens. His face went stiff. Would he be seeing aliens with giant heads if he ate this?
"These are nature's finest. Most people can't even get them. In the market, they're expensive," Quincy said, setting the basket down. Then he casually sat at the table, poured himself a cup of tea brewed by Farfetch'd, and sipped it slowly.
Every few sips, he clicked his tongue in admiration. "That Farfetch'd is sharp. Brewing tea and everything…"
He really did envy Reiji. Having a Pokémon that could help with daily life made things easy. He was half-tempted to catch a Farfetch'd for himself.
"Spinarak, come check if these ingredients are poisonous," Reiji said. He ignored the praise. He still didn't trust wild mushrooms.
Gengar would've been best at this, but Gengar couldn't show itself. Spinarak would do.
"Yito… yito," Spinarak crawled over, sniffed the mushrooms in the basket, then picked out several dull gray ones—and several brightly colored ones too.
You couldn't judge mushrooms by looks. Poison-types knew food like this. They lived in forests and ate things like this all the time.
"Quincy," Reiji said, eyeing the poisonous mushrooms Spinarak had separated, "you sure these weren't toxic?"
Quincy immediately shook his head. "No way. I eat these all the time…"
"Maybe the toxins are weak," Reiji said. "And you don't eat them every day, so your body breaks down the small amounts."
He paused, then added, "But poison is still poison. If you keep eating them long enough, it builds up. Eventually it'll catch you."
Reiji knew people in this world had higher poison resistance. That didn't mean you should abuse it.
Quincy's face darkened as the thought hit him. He'd been eating toxic mushrooms for who knows how long without realizing it. He'd always picked the ones with bite marks—how could those be poisonous?
He'd probably forgotten something simple: the forest had Poison-types too. Weedle, Oddish, Bellsprout—those could bite poisonous mushrooms all day and be fine. Humans couldn't.
"You've lived out here this long and never thought to catch a couple Pokémon?" Reiji said with a helpless smile. "You wouldn't be eating poison mushrooms if you had."
Spinarak carried the poisonous mushrooms away to eat. It shared some with Croagunk and Zubat, and it quietly passed a bit to Gengar too—paying back that late-night snack Gengar had shared before.
Reiji washed the remaining mushrooms by the river, then cooked a fresh soup with the mushrooms and greens. He and Quincy ate lunch together.
After lunch, the Pokémon went back to training. Reiji and Quincy got busy too—Reiji focused on catching Magikarp, while Quincy released Magikarp back into the river.
Quincy wasn't doing Reiji a favor. While Reiji was catching them, Quincy could update the markings on each Magikarp. Some had no marks at all and needed to be tagged again.
Usually Quincy handled that work alone. With Reiji catching Magikarp all day, Quincy's workload got a lot easier. That was the real reason he'd come at noon.
If it weren't for the drinking last night, Quincy would've shown up first thing in the morning. The booze had left his head spinning, and he'd needed all morning just to recover.
With someone else effectively holding the "release" side steady, the two of them worked the whole afternoon. Reiji still came up empty—no Magikarp worth keeping. Quincy, on the other hand, seemed pretty satisfied.
There was no need to push into the night. Magikarp had a month-long return cycle. Reiji just needed to catch one good enough during that window.
Quincy was also only doing spot checks. Recording every single fish would be insane.
When they wrapped up, they sat under the tent's table again. Dinner was the usual—barbecue, and a bit of alcohol. They were going to be dealing with each other for a while, after all.
At least until Reiji caught a Magikarp he actually wanted, they'd keep cooperating on the lower River—each taking what they needed from the arrangement.
Dinner dragged late into the night. Reiji had Poliwhirl and Scyther escort Quincy back to his cabin. Quincy was woozy again, but still able to walk a little.
Reiji was fine this time—no drunken stumble. Back in the tent, he fed Mudkip some Moomoo Milk, played with it for a while, then lay down and slept with Mudkip in his arms.
Mudkip had only just hatched. Training wasn't even a question yet. Running around the tent twice was enough to tire it out. If he wanted to start training Mudkip, that would be a week from now.
By then Mudkip should be around level five or six. Once it was through the earliest stage, he could start working on accuracy drills.
When the time came, he could hand Mudkip to Slowpoke and Staryu for basics—teach it how to use Water Gun properly. They were both Water-types.
Once Mudkip's aim was solid, Poliwhirl could take over—especially for Waterfall technique. That was core to Swampert's tactical kit.
With that combination setup, Swampert's burst potential wouldn't be an issue. Whether it ended up with Damp or Swift Swim, Poliwhirl could teach it either way—Reiji had trained Poliwhirl himself.
That was why most Trainers raised Pokémon with similar typings. Older teammates could teach the new ones, saving the Trainer a lot of trouble.
"Kla-la… kla-la…" Mudkip nestled into Reiji's chest, softly smacking its lips in its sleep, as if mumbling to itself—maybe dreaming, maybe remembering that sweet Moomoo Milk—then sank deeper into sleep.
"Everyone, get to sleep. Training again tomorrow," Reiji said, waving a hand to shoo away the Pokémon peeking through the window or lurking by the tent flap.
He couldn't blame them. Ever since they found out there was a new little one, everyone had been trying to sneak a look at Mudkip.
After the scolding, they stopped spying. Some chose to sleep in the grass outside. Some slept in the trees. Some vanished into shadows. Some came into the tent.
Hanhan tried to squeeze into the tent too, but there was no way the tent could fit it. More importantly, it drooled in its sleep—Reiji refused to deal with that. Hanhan had to lie down by the entrance.
When Butterfree saw Reiji holding Mudkip while sleeping, it immediately darted into the tent to claim a hug too. Reiji let it, even though the powder drifting off its wings was a hassle.
Reiji usually slept holding Slowpoke. Slowpoke clearly wasn't going to lose that spot. It crawled up slowly and settled on him, falling asleep as well.
That left Spinarak and the night crew—Gengar, Darkrai, Zubat—taking turns keeping watch.
Everyone found their own little nest, got into whatever sleeping pose they liked, and drifted off. The forest grew quiet.
Only insect chirps, distant bird calls, and the river's constant rush echoed through the still woods…
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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