(Sorry for the massive delay, but I'm so glad you all have been giving this story some love with your faves and follows. I sure do hope you'll continue the support. Thanks again and enjoy!)

Chapter 24: A Genuine Miracle – Part 1

At around 8:30 the next morning, Karthaniel Davis had just arrived back at the Training Dojo at the very heart of the Isle of Armor, where all of the Paldean guests were just settling into the kitchen for a hearty breakfast with Master Mustard, Sonia, Klara, Leon, Hop, and Diancie. He saw the peaceful atmosphere of it all and was just tearfully full of joy as he eventually took his seat between Iono and Rika while Sonia only did the cooking for a moment. Rika couldn't help but admire the handsome smile of pure happiness from the formerly mentally fragile trainer and volunteered to hand him a clean handkerchief from her front pocket of her shirt as she started the conversation off right:

"How did it go last night? Did you really perform your best at 9PM sharp, like Hatterene said?"

"Absolutely!" Karthaniel replied as he wiped away his tears. "That entire moment with her was sensational and it is safe to say that I did indeed perform my personal best. She's currently heading towards the same nursery where her own Mother laid her egg."

"It really worked?!" Iono asked with excitement. "She's currently pregnant as we speak?!"

"Yes, but she's a wee bit nervous about the whole thing. Luckily, it'll only be her, Wallace, Elegance, and a few members of the nursery staff over there with her to assist her in any way they can."

"What about Jaymes, Meloetta, and Queen Diancie? Are they still here?"

"Unfortunately, this is the disappointing part for you and Nemona to hear. Those three have already said their goodbyes and went back to their humble home in Japan, but they will always be remembered forever. They'll stop by for a visit every once in a while to check up on Hatterene's progress after the egg hatches."

"Aww, man!" Both of those said women complained with disappointment.

"It still was an honor to meet them, though." Geeta reassured professionally. "And of course, we all have to give extra credit towards Rika, Sonia, and Jacq for digging deeper into this theory." Hearing this made those very same three people blush with embarrassment, even while the young professor was nearly done cooking the massive pot of blueberry oatmeal. "All of this wouldn't have been possible without you."

"It was our pleasure." Jacq replied on behalf of the other two ladies. "We needed to shed that hopeful light for Sir Davis and Hatterene since we were celebrating their marriage and since Elegance brought it up. I do believe she should receive the extra credit as well for even saying it as her own unique and euphemistic way of granting good luck in her daughter's marriage."

"Here-here!" Everyone else in the kitchen agreed unanimously before Karthaniel continued alone just a millisecond later: "I'm sure she's already figured that out as we speak, though."

"Still!" Nemona cheered. "Mad props to her! She definitely deserves to be the first one to carry your baby, too! After you and Hatterene carry it first, of course!"

"Huh! For once, I agree with her." Arven admitted. "The appearance of the baby won't matter, either. Right?"

"Absolutely!" Karthaniel replied with pride as everyone was just getting served the oatmeal by Sonia. "I guess now's the time to tell you all a small little secret about me: I'm not exactly like Jaymes when it comes to having a spirit animal, but I do have one. Maybe it'll be incorporated into the baby."

"Aww, cool!"

"What is it?" Sonia asked calmly as she just took her seat on the steel type expert's left side.

"I've always been fascinated with tigers. Their appearances are beautiful, but it's their everlasting bravery and strength that intrigues me about them the most."

"Can't argue with you there." Master Mustard agreed. "You've been having those strengths of the tiger all throughout your journey, even against that bloody Wonder Guard Demon. If this child of yours turns out to be that way, it'll be the perfect embodiment of your love towards each other." Hearing that statement made Karthaniel shed the happiest tears in his life as he even allowed Rika and Sonia to lay a slender hand of confidence upon his shoulder and a loving embrace respectively.

"Thank you all so much for this motivation. Here's hoping for a healthy baby as well." He held up his glass of orange juice as a toast upon saying this. Everyone else did the same with their own various glasses of water, juice, and milk, even while Sonia as still hugging him with a free arm.

"CHEERS!" They all said with utmost honor.

Meanwhile, at that fateful nursery…

"It was here where Ditto and I made it happen." Elegance pointed out as she and her pregnant daughter were standing before a plastic makeshift cave within the massive backyard. Wallace and approximately five more staff members watched the two anthro Silent Pokémon from a distance, having the humble retired trainer with his arms crossed with confidence. "The staff at the time was wondering about what happened to us and, when they found the egg, they literally didn't know what to do with it. It happened so quickly after Ditto and I had just met."

"Wow." Hatterene semi-whispered with absolute shock. She just couldn't believe that she was conceived that way. "And it was all for science?"

"That Pokérus X2 bacteria he was deliberately infected with was something that was truly man-made by Kenneth himself. He managed to implant it onto Ditto, but didn't want to use any Alolan pokémon as a test subject. He traveled here to Galar and immediately sought me out." Hearing those last four words spoken in a much more melancholy tone made Hatterene look over at Elegance with a regal glare of concern. That look became even more so after seeing that the brim of her Mother's hat hid her eyes that were full of regretful tears, which never escaped just yet. "Greed and lust were the two benefactors." Wallace was overhearing the whole conversation, but only remained as silent as the other five staff members. He nodded with expectancy. "To this day, I regret succumbing to his demands after that threat with a Master Ball in hand."

"…" Hatterene was just speechless as she was constantly looking at her shiny Mother and back at the fateful cave every ten seconds during that story. Everything that Elegance went through was like an exact replica of what happened to her before her escape from Lawrence. It soon became a harsh reality that'll have to be shared with her offspring eventually in the near future, but after a few moments of thinking about it all, Hatterene finally pulled off a smile that was glimmering with hope. She then stood before her ashamed Mother, lifted the brim of her hat, and started to gently wipe her tears with just her thumbs as she held on to her face with all the love in her soul, making the six humans in the distance smile with admiration.

"It's not the fact that I'm… (sniffle)…that I'm not a good mother. It's only because what I went through shouldn't have reflected what you've been through as well. Yet, it did and I know you must be disappointed in me for not fighting back in the first place. You've become the daughter of a lab rat and I don't want your baby to feel that way as well." Elegance finally looked up after that was said and was flabbergasted to see Hatterene with a heavenly smile on her face, her black-with-white-pupil eyes showing that sparkle of happiness within the sunlight. "And yet, you smile at me after all of this. Why?"

"Three reasons:" Hatterene started after, what seemed like, forever since she last spoke after entering the nursery. The sultry, British-accented voice of an angel along with that bright smile made the shiny anthro Silent Pokémon draw a small one of her own upon her lips as her daughter continued. "One – I love you, no matter what. The fact that you brought me into this world with your spirit to guide me is enough to call you an excellent Mother in my book. Two – This may have been for science, but you are not a lab rat. I am blessed to inherit this power from you and it's become very useful to me. I'm much stronger and braver because of you. Third and final reason…" Hatterene paused as she got closer to her Mother to show more of that exuberant glow in her smile and in her eyes, making Elegance's joyful tears practically become mini waterfalls. "…all of this does not reflect who you are: A caring, selfless, heartwarming pokémon who loves her daughter more than anyone else in the entire Pokémon universe. It shall not be a tragedy. If anything, it shall be pronounced as a blessing in disguise and Russex should be the name to honor forever." Hearing that name made all of the humans gasp with surprise alongside Elegance by accident, but before anyone could ask where the moniker came from, Hatterene continued: "That's my Father's name. I sensed it from his ghostly presence here. He may have been a ditto, but let's not call him by that name anymore."

"Oh, Hatterene-dear! May Arceus bless you! You truly are as selfless and loving as I am! Thank you so much for making me feel whole again!" The two then shared the most heartwarming embrace since their reunion. The three women among the staff were in awe as they started to shed tears of exultation while Wallace and the remaining two men of the staff just lightly applauded with glossy eyes of exhilaration. During that time, Wallace just had this to whisper to himself with pride:

"Sir Davis will be absolutely riveted to hear about this after the birth of his baby."

After that heartfelt moment between the two Silent Pokémon, the nursery was officially cut off from the rest of Galar to fully prepare for Hatterene's baby. Wallace and the men worked together to create a small birthing shed for maximum privacy when she feels the egg about ready to be laid. During that time, only Hatterene herself was just watching the midday sky while casually leaning up against a fence with bravery and nervousness taking over her sense of thought for a moment, although she also had Karthaniel on her mind as well:

This is the happiest I've sensed Sir Davis thus far. He doesn't even feel disappointed about the fact that he can't be here with me for now. That just goes to show everyone that, despite everything we've been through altogether, our perseverance and valor never ceased and it got stronger as the days went by between us. It'll surely get passed down to our baby and we'll take very good care of it. She then heard and felt her stomach rumble as she laid a gentle slender hand upon it with slight discomfort. Mm! The time is near, Karthaniel… and it feels heavier for some reason. I know eggs aren't supposed to be heavy, but this does for some reason. It rumbled again in a louder volume and this time, she felt a slight twinge of pain as she cringed and forced her hat off in reflexive response.

"MUM!" She screamed out in agony before Elegance and a Caucasian female staff member rushed over to her seconds after that. "I don't feel so good!"

"A common side effect before laying the egg." Elegance reassured calmly before an empty tall trash can was offered to the shiny hatterene, who pushed it over to her daughter right on time for her to vomit into it. Wallace heard this and rushed over to the group, grabbing Hatterene's famous hat in the process. "Sir Wallace, this happened to me, didn't it?"

"If I remember correctly, it didn't." Wallace said with a shocked expression. "You never suffered from a morning sickness side effect, but she is somehow! Could it be? Can you sense it from within her?" Elegance's eyes glowed blue as she tried to make it out and, within just ten seconds, she gasped.

"By the power of Arceus…"

"What is it?" Hatterene had just finished puking after that was said from Wallace and the staff member offered her a dampened paper towel to wipe her mouth. Elegance remained silent for a few more seconds as she approached her still-recovering daughter with a smile that was joyful to the max. What she said to her afterwards…

…stunned everyone:

"Hatterene-dear, you're about to make history once more. You're due for double the labor shortly."

Meanwhile, at Karthaniel's humble home in Hammerlocke…

Behemoth and Extonia were in the kitchen just starting to enjoy their healthy breakfast of an egg white curry while they were watching their only son just sit in silence in the living room alongside Rika and her trusty Clodsire within his lap for added comfort while he petted him non-stop. Why only Rika, however…?

"I've given you the most comfort out of all of us from Paldea, eh?" She started as a guess towards the formerly mentally disabled steel type expert on her right side.

"And because your Clodsire here is indeed a comforting companion for me." Karthaniel replied with all of the honesty in his heart, making the ground type expert chuckle softly. "Safe to say that Paldea is a peaceful region just like Galar."

"In a way. Despite the fact that we have Paradox pokémon within the region, that tranquility doesn't even try to cease to exist."

"I've heard about them from Geeta before coming back here. They're pokémon from the future and the past that share vague likenesses to some pokémon that we know and love today. My personal favorite already, although not a steel type, is definitely Iron Thorns. What pokémon does it resemble? It looks amazing!"

"Tyranitar. This future version of it is a rock and electric type with massive attack. Clodsire here could take it out with one Earthquake, though."

"I can imagine." It became silent for a seemingly slow three minutes before Karthaniel continued as he changed the subject: "How do you think Hatterene is doing? Ever since last night, I haven't been keeping her out of my mind. She's pregnant with our baby at the nursery and I'm just so excited!"

"I'm sure she's doing just fine." Rika then trailed away as she stared at the pure white carpet floor with a regal glimmer of hope in her red eyes. "You know, since we brought up this research and everything, I still find it shocking to hear your entire ordeal with her prior to our arrival. In all my years since becoming a student at Uva Academy and then becoming one of Paldea's Elite Four, I've never heard of such a journey with a pokémon like this before. That strong bond you and Hatterene share is so strong that it's practically impossible to break. See? I love my Clodsire like a sister loves her brother." She paused as she looked over at the two next to her, having Karthaniel smile with admiration as that said Spiny Fish Pokémon did the same from within his lap while Rika petted him as well. "That's how we've become quite the threat towards upcoming new trainers who plan to take us down in order to take down Geeta. The others could absolutely learn a thing or two from you and Hatterene." The two trainers looked at each other with honor and respect for another silent and slow two minutes before the doorbell rang and everyone looked over at the front double doors in high alert for a few seconds before Rika volunteered to take her Clodsire at the exact same time Karthaniel stood up and approached the doors with a hopeful smile on his face. A few seconds later, he opens one of those doors to see…

"Professor Sonia?" He asked in wonder. "Do you bring me good news?"

"Absolutely, Sir Davis." The young professor replied with a cheerful smile. "Wallace just gave me the most wonderful news about Hatterene and wanted me to tell you to take your time getting to the nursery after I tell you this – give ya some time to let it sink in: You're about to be a proud father of twins." This made his one brown eye and one blue eye widen at their biggest humanly possible size and the same was said for Rika and his parents as they all just approached them from behind the now speechless trainer. "She's just laid the eggs after suffering a bit of some morning sickness, but she's all better now. They'll hatch within two weeks."

"…twins?" Karthaniel semi-whispered with surprise. Sonia nodded twice. "Wow! We did a lot more damage than we thought."

"Can ya wait another two weeks, though? That's the first step to becoming a father of possibly human-pokémon hybrid twins."

"I was born a patient man and it's gonna stay that way. Will I be able to stay with her for that long after I get myself together?"

"Yep! Hatterene even said so herself that she's been anxiously waiting to see you again already. She knows it's only been since last night, but it seems like a lot longer than that to her."

"Awww, that's so sweet." Extonia commented, which made her only son blush a slight shade of pink upon his cheeks. "They're acting like a married couple already."

"Heh! I'll say!" Rika agreed with humor. "For Jacq's sake, can I come with him along with his parents?"

"Sure!" Sonia replied with her happiest smile yet. "She could use the company at this rate. When she got sick before laying the eggs, she was so scared. The comfort of her friends and family is what she really wants right now while keeping an eye on them."

"Tell her we'll be on our way in ten minutes." Karthaniel reassured in his most tender handsome tone to date since his landfall in Galar. "Rest assured that she'll be in good hands by the time we arrive."

"Yes, sir!" The young professor made a playful salute before she went on her way via her flying taxi, leaving the stunned group within the house to absorb it all in silence for about five of those ten minutes after Sir Davis closed the door and turned towards everyone with a tearful gleam in his anomalous eyes. That's when his father, Behemoth, approached him with a smile that was equally joyful.

"How about that, eh?" He started with humor. "The essence of Jaymes Totanuki must've rubbed off on you before he left."

"Heh, heh." Karthaniel chuckled in agreement. "Probably. What about you and Mum, though? Aren't you just as excited as I am to have Pokémon as your grandchildren?"

"Absolutely!" Both of the Davises replied as they embraced each other, having Extonia continue alone: "We promise to give them all the love in the world when they hatch. The same will probably be said about Elegance."

"Well, let's not leave her hanging." Rika casually announced with a graceful smile as she summoned her Clodsire back into his pokéball. "Let's get to the nursery and tend to her and the eggs right away."

Five minutes later…

The Davises and Rika had just walked into the entrance to the standalone nursery and they weren't surprised to see that it was very quiet in the main lobby. After a few seconds of casually walking behind the reception desk and into the open door, that's when only Karthaniel was awestricken by what he saw near the very center of the wide open backyard:

A wicker basket sitting on top of a table with the two spotted eggs perfectly nestled within a memory foam pillow and surrounded by a velvety soft blanket to keep them steady.

As he alone approached the eggs with his joyful tears looking like mini waterfalls across his cheeks, Karthaniel never looked away from the makeshift nest, even while Hatterene had just come out from his left side. She was full of energy and wore a pure white dress this time as she approached her human husband and her two eggs. Elegance, Rika, Behemoth, Extonia, Wallace, and the five staff members within the distance surrounding them watched this scene with honor and in silence.

"So glad you could make it, Sir Davis." Hatterene started sweetly as her eyes were glowing a new color while keeping the white pupils: Yellow. "I know you're extremely happy to see these eggs. They are our children within those shells and, within two weeks, we'll see how they'll turn out."

"…" Karthaniel was just overwhelmed with happiness and completely speechless as he finally stood right next to the eggs and gave each one a loving massage with each of his hands. Within the spectating half-circle, only his parents were just as overjoyed as they too started to silently shed tears of exultation as well while embracing each other.

Back out towards the center of the yard, Hatterene approached the eggs on the opposite side and placed her slender hands overtop of her husband's massive, but soft ones with compassion as she continued, even while her glowing golden yellow eyes were watery with contentment.

"Aww, you're truly speechless about this. You never thought you could become a father, did you? Especially towards potential human/pokémon hybrids." Karthaniel shook his head as he kept his one blue eye and one brown eye upon his eggs. "I know it's a lot to take in already, Sir Davis. And yet, despite your calm demeanor and silence, your excitement level is so high, every last one of my six senses are rattling along with you. Look at my eyes." He did so and didn't appear stunned at all. He remained calm with his handsome smile in check, but the seemingly never-ending tears finally stopped and his anomalous eyes were just moist for the moment. "They're glowing as golden as the sun for the first time in my life and, at first, I didn't know why. Then, my Mum told me that they're yellow because I'm just as filled to the brim with exhilaration as you are. You must've gotten that way long before you arrived." Again, her husband remained silent as he nodded twice in response. "Of course!" Her famous hat claw gently made its way to his face and just started a few gentle strokes upon his right cheek while she now showed a regal look of hope upon her face while their hands never released each other from themselves and the eggs. Karthaniel's eye contact never ceased either. His handsome smile only grew a little more upon that loving touch. "Now, why won't you speak? You act as if yours has actually overflowed over the brim and spilling out."

"…that's exactly what it is, Hatterene-love." Sir Davis finally spoke since his arrival. His soothing British-accented voice sounded cracked without the oncoming tears and the hat claw continued the loving massage upon his face. "It's a shocker that I'm still the patient man I was raised to be regardless."

"Awww, I'm so glad you feel that way!" The two finally released the eggs and only the anthro Silent Pokémon made her way around them to embrace her husband with all the love in her soul. Their tears resumed by the time they squeezed at their tightest, which made the spectators shed their own. Even Rika's Clodsire had to come out of his pokéball to admire this scene as well. This prompted Karthaniel's other pokémon to do the same within the half-circle, having Urshifu kneel down towards Clodsire with soothing pats upon the top of his head from one hand as he never looked away.

Overall, these next two weeks were due to the longest ones in everyone's lives, including all of the Paldean guests who were still waiting patiently at the Training Dojo on the Isle of Armor.

To be continued…