Chapter 7
Nurse Joy was both surprised and grateful when Charles and the three girls brought back the eggs they had found to the center. "Oh, thank you," she said gratefully. "We were so worried when we saw these eggs up there without any caretakers."
"Who will take care of them?" Crystal asked curiously as she knew from experience that Pokemon eggs took a bit to hatch and the Pokemon they hatched into sometimes had to be looked after with care until they were ready to go into the wild again.
"We have a special place here at the center for the eggs," Nurse Joy said. "In fact, I think a few eggs may be already hatching. Would you all like to come see?"
Kairi perked up, as did Rachel while Crystal jumped up and down in excitement. "I'll take those reactions as a yes," the nurse giggled in amusement before showing them the way.
When they got to the room, the girls' eyes widened. "Wow," Kairi said softly.
Crystal was stunned. "It's just like the one at home!" She said excitedly.
Rachel nodded. The room where the eggs were being cared for was much like the one their uncle had at the sanctuary if not a little bit bigger. A few eggs had begun to shake. One had green spots, one had yellow spots, and the other had purple spots. Nurse Joy smiled. "Girls, would you like to hold the eggs to encourage them to hatch?" She asked.
"Yes, please!" Crystal said excitedly as this was her favorite part of the eggs hatching. "Can I hold the one with the yellow spots?"
"Of course," the nurse said, carefully handing the egg to the child.
Rachel smiled. "Kairi, how about you hold the one with the purple spots?" She suggested.
The brown-haired girl smiled and nodded, accepting the egg from Nurse Joy while Rachel accepted the egg with green spots from the nurse.
A moment later, the eggs started to crack, indicating they were ready. "Come on, little one," Kairi cooed to it. "You can do it."
A moment later, the egg broke to reveal an Azurill, making the brown-haired girl gasp in surprise. "Oh, he's so cute!" She cooed.
"Azurill," the Pokemon said happily, bouncing up to her shoulder to nuzzle her cheek, making her smile.
Crystal pulled out her Pokedex curiously. "Azurill, the Polka Dot Pokemon," the computerized voice said. "Azurill can bounce on the ball end of their tails, which has the nutrients it needs to grow."
The egg Rachel was holding then hatched and to her surprise, it was a Dewpider. "A Dewpider," she said, pulling out her Pokedex to learn more.
"Dewpider, the Water Bubble Pokemon. Dewpider form the bubble on their heads to allow them to breathe while on land looking for something to eat," her Pokedex explained.
"Dew," the small Pokemon said, looking at her curiously and she smiled.
"Don't worry. I bet Nurse Joy has some yummy food for you," she said to it.
The egg in Crystal's lap hatched into a Roggenrola. "What's this one?" She asked.
"A Roggenrola," Kairi said, pulling out her Pokedex, which went into a bit more detail.
"Roggenrola, the Mantle Pokemon. They are hard like steel and slightly warm thanks to the energy core inside them."
"Cool!" Crystal said in happiness.
Nurse Joy came in with some food for the newly-hatched Pokemon, who hungrily ate as the nurse thanked the three girls, giving them some Pokeblock she had made for Pokemon. "Be safe on your journey," she said.
"We will, thank you, Nurse Joy," Kairi said before the three girls bid Charles farewell and continued on down the path, making it to a new town and heading in.
The town was rather busy as there was a market set up and people were shopping. "Maybe we should get some souvenirs here," Crystal said.
"Let's see what they got," Rachel said.
"Sounds good to me," Kairi said.
They went up to one stand that had a girl around Rachel and Kairi's age and she was sitting on a stood petting a shiny Eevee. The Eevee perked up at seeing the visitors and yipped happily, making the girl look up at them and smile. "Hi," she said, standing up while Eevee jumped to her shoulder.
"Hi," Rachel said in greeting. "You have a very cute Eevee."
"Thank you," the girl said. "I've been raising her since my dad found her a while back."
She then saw Kairi and gasped. "Wait, I know you," she said before grinning. "You won the fishing competition and got that really awesome Milotic!"
Kairi was surprised and blushed a little. "Well, yes, I did," she said softly.
"Can I see your Milotic? Please?" The girl begged. "I've never seen one for real before."
Nodding, Kairi pulled out her Pokeball and released Milotic. "Milotic," the Pokemon said, making the girl gasp happily.
"She's so pretty!" She said. "Can I pet her?"
"Sure," Kairi said, not minding at all.
Milotic, seeing the girl was curious and sensing no ill, leaned her head forward for the girl to pet her. "Milotic," the Pokemon said, nuzzling the girl's hand happily.
Rachel smiled. "She likes you," she said. "By the way, what's your name?"
"Oh, sorry. I got so excited that I forgot to tell you that," the girl said, looking a bit sheepish. "My name is Katie."
"Nice to meet you, Katie," Kairi said with a smile. "I'm Kairi and these two are Rachel, my best friend, and her sister, Crystal."
"Hi!" Crystal chirped before spying something on the stall and gasping. "Oooh, what's that?" She asked.
Katie smiled as she saw what the young girl was looking at. "It's a trainer/Pokemon bracelet," she said. "My mom came up with them. The trainer picks out the color of the bracelet from these bands and their Pokemon pick out a charm for the bracelet. This represents the bond between the Pokemon and their trainers."
"That sounds cool," Rachel said.
None of them noticed a mechanical hand trying to reach for the Pokeballs that were in Rachel's bag, but just then, Katie accidentally knocked over a box onto the hand, destroying it. "Oh, my," Kairi said, picking up the box, but not seeing the mechanical hand get jerked away.
"Oh, thank you," Katie said, accepting the box. "Thankfully it's just full of the bands for the bracelets, but the box is a bit heavy."
Crystal looked up at Rachel eagerly and her sister smiled. "How much for those trainer/Pokemon bracelets?" She asked.
"Bracelets are five dollars and the charm is free," Katie explained before holding out her arm. "This is the one Eevee and my other Pokemon helped me make."
Her bracelet was sky blue in color and had a gold sun charm on it. Eevee barked happily and sat proudly on her trainer's shoulder, making the girls smile.
"Why don't we all get one?" Kairi suggested. "It would be fun."
"Sure," Rachel said. "Crystal, why don't you go first since you were the one to spot them first?"
The little girl nodded and called up Treecko and Sawk. Katie was surprised. "Wow, a Treecko and a Sawk," she said. "We don't get too many Sawk around here."
None of them saw a bolo heading towards Sawk, nor did they see the Persian that caught the bolo in its mouth and prance away like a cat who got the cream as it began playing with the bolo, going crazy over it because it was filled with catnip.
Crystal smiled. "Treecko? Sawk? Can you guys help me pick out a bracelet and charm?" She asked.
Nodding, Sawk lifted his trainer up so that she could see and Treecko took a look at the bracelets before spying a turqouise colored one and pointed it out to Sawk, who nodded his approval before the Karate Pokemon spied a charm of a silver acorn and pointed to it, to which Treecko nodded. "Wow, good choice," Katie said, putting the charm on the bracelet. "Each bracelet not only represents the bond between a trainer and their Pokemon, but also is a message from the Pokemon too."
"What do you mean?" Kairi asked.
"Well, each charm represents something about the trainer," Katie explained. "My Pokemon picked the sun charm because apparently I brighten their day."
A Kirlia, Blastoise, Fennekin, Garchomp, and Rockruff all came into view, smiling at their trainer, who hugged them all, showing just how close of a bond she had to her Pokemon.
Rachel grew curious. "What does Crystal's charm mean then?" She asked.
"The acorn charm means that they feel she will grow into an amazing trainer one day," Katie explained. "They know she's just starting out and they want to encourage her to keep going and grow into being the best trainer she can be."
"That's quite a powerful message," Kairi said with a smile.
Rachel smiled. "Your turn, Kairi," she said.
The brown-haired trainer allowed Alcremie to come out too and Milotic pointed to a pink bracelet with her tail, to which Alcremie nodded and then pointed to a gold star charm, to which Milotic nodded. Katie smiled and made the bracelet. "Your Pokemon think of you as a bright star and are telling you to always shine bright," she said.
"Thank you," Kairi said.
Crystal looked at Rachel, who paid Katie the fifteen dollars before allowing Sky to come out. "Okay, Sky, what do you think?" She asked.
The Zubat gazed at the bracelets before choosing a purple one and then spying a silver castle charm, pointing his wing at it and Katie made the bracelet, smiling at Rachel. "Your Zubat believes you have a solid foundation and is telling you to remember to stay strong even in the toughest storms," she said.
"Thank you," Rachel said, smiling at Zubat, who squeaked happily.
Katie then invited the three girls to have lunch with her and they accepted, not knowing that two disgrunted grunts, Cassidy and Butch, were coming up with a new idea to get the Pokemon after being sold some fake equipment from a scam artist.
"We've been scammed," Cassidy said. "Should have known this junk wouldn't work."
"Then let's stick with what does work," Butch said as they snuck away to put another plan in action.
If you're wondering, the robotic arm was Cassidy and Butch's fautly equipment and a few other things that didn't go right for them as the girls had stopped at Katie's booth. What will their next plan be? Stay tuned to find out. :)
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