Pokémon from Galar

Hearing her brother's words, Mary looked somewhat helpless, reached out and took the Pokémon egg, examining it for a moment.

"It's definitely still a Dark type, right?"

"Well... anyway, it would definitely suit you perfectly, Mary."

"Yeah."

Mary picked up the fairy egg, then looked at her brother and smiled.

"Thank you, brother, I will take good care of Him."

Chapter Sixteen: Naming Our Partners

That evening in the hotel room, Marie sat on the edge of the bed and placed the Pokémon egg in the middle of the bed. Ichigo and Ralts were resting on the side, not very interested in the egg. However, Dragapult, who was used to being a babysitter, and the two little Dragapult Messias were very interested in it.

My older brother didn't tell me what kind of Pokémon egg it was, only that our father was very powerful and it must be a Pokémon with great talent.

Considering her brother's preferences, this should be a Dark-type spirit. It's a gift from her brother to his sister. Her brother's aesthetic sense is generally good. Although he's a bit rock 'n' roll, he's never come up with anything weird when choosing things for Mary.

Therefore, it's speculated that although it's a Dark-type Pokémon, its appearance shouldn't be too bad...

However, there are still some Dark-type Pokémon that fit Marie's aesthetic... The easiest one to think of is her brother's Obscurus, which has a pretty cool black and white color scheme.

Unable to think of anything for the moment, and too lazy to think about it anymore, Mary picked up the egg, stepped barefoot onto the carpet, and placed it along with the incubator on the table next to her.

"By the way, Dorombalto, I've gotten so used to calling him that I've almost forgotten. Do you want to come up with a short name for him? And the two little guys too."

Turning around to look at the entire dragon family sprawled on the bed, Mary offered her suggestion.

"Roar? (Abbreviation?)"

"nya~ (What does that mean?)" x2

Mary walked over, sat down sideways, reached out and hugged Ichigo, placing her in her lap, and said with a smile:

"We used to just call you by your race's name, right? Now that we're partners, how about we give you names that can distinguish you? That would save time when we're directing each other in doubles."

Doronbaluto flicked his drooping tail and glanced sideways at Marie.

"Hmph... (That's fine, we all know who's who, so it doesn't really matter. Mary, you can choose whichever one is convenient for you.)"

"How about we call you Balu? You probably won't get used to a brand new name for a while, and then there are you two little ones..."

Mary thought for a moment, then reached out and poked the little head of the boy she had known before, Dorgonmesia.

"If you like staying on the right side of Balu's head, then let's call you Yuu-chan, and for you, we'll call you Sasuke-chan~"

"nya~ (Xiao You? Sure~)"

"nya~ (I think so too...)"

It seems that wild Pokémon aren't very enthusiastic about names, while Ichigo, who lives with Marie, seems to care more about names.

Thinking of this, Mary suddenly remembered something, reached out and patted I-chan's little belly, and said with a smile while looking down:

"Ichi-chan, the name Ralts is yours now."

"Ee...? (What...?)"

I-chan was lying peacefully on Mari's lap when her name was suddenly called. She looked up blankly, wondering what her trainer wanted to do.

"A name, a name! Ralts is planning to travel with you, isn't he going to give it a name?"

Pinch the long ear that had just landed beside her; Mary's words made perfect sense.

"..."

I-chan turned her head and glanced at Ralts, who was hugging its tail and continuing to practice the 'meditation' it had recently learned. She felt that her trainer was just lusting after the girl's body but didn't want to seduce her herself.

Then they went to great lengths to indirectly get me to take care of them, train them, and even name them… Is that something a human being would do?! If you're after them, just say so! What's the point of having me do all this…?

Meditation can calm the mind and concentrate mental energy. Its temporary effect is a temporary enhancement of superpowers, while long-term training results in the slow growth of superpowers.

So Ralts has been practicing extra hard lately and hasn't noticed what's happening outside.

However, despite her teasing, Ichigo didn't refuse the offer, since Ralts had been quite clingy these past few days. So, she tugged at Ralts's little body with her tail, and after Ralts snapped out of its daze, Ichigo said:

"Ee~ (Would you like me to give you a name? That way you'll be different from other people, and it'll be easier to call you later.)"

"Ralu... (A name? Is it like I-neechan's?)"

"Eek. (Yeah, like me, but I'm not very good at naming things. If you don't like it, Mary can help you choose one.)"

"Ralu! (It's okay! I love whatever name you have for I-neechan!)"

Ralts seemed quite happy, teleporting to land in front of Ichigo, then reaching out its little arms to hug Ichigo's neck and starting to rub against it affectionately.

"Ee... (Let me think about it...)"

Ralts tilted its head slightly, letting it do as it pleased. Ichigo had always been quite permissive, since Ralts was like a clingy little sister, giving Ichigo, who was always being taken care of, a novel experience in many ways.

"Ee! (How about calling her Sis-chan?)"

"Ralu! (Yes, yes! Anything is fine!)"

"Ee... (Well, I'm glad you don't mind...)"

Ichigo stretched out her front paw to support Ralts, who was getting closer and closer. She felt a mix of helplessness and happiness. Ralts seemed to be getting more and more clingy lately. This older sister feeling was actually quite nice...

Marie, who witnessed the interaction between the two Pokémon, didn't comment on the name Ichigo chose. Since the people involved liked it, she didn't say anything more.

Having a better understanding of Pokémon than humans and having interacted with all sorts of Pokémon, Palmo observed Ralts's reaction and silently hid behind him with a fatherly smile.

Feeling that even more interesting things would happen in the future, Balu suddenly realized that the fun of being with Mari might become even greater.

While Marnie and Eevee have had their fair share of contact with Pokémon, they can't compare to Pazu, who has spent so many years raising children in the Wild Area.

There wasn't much interpretation of Ralts's behavior, also known as Su-chan's. Marie simply thought that Su-chan really liked the powerful I-chan, so she subconsciously developed a longing and admiration for her.

As for Ichigo... don't expect a one-year-old to understand anything too complicated.

After all, Ichigo has been with Marie since birth, and his contact with Pokémon is not that frequent or that he understands them, so don't expect him to be able to read the minds of different species.

She simply thought she could experience being the older sister for a while...

Thus, this pair of naive trainers and Pokémon have yet to grasp what this little Ralts truly yearns for.

Chapter Seventeen: Trainers are always quite busy.

The next day, Mary got up very early. The opening ceremony wasn't until tomorrow, but this morning Mary planned to sell all the things she had gotten from Doron to make some money.

Although Pazu himself didn't care much, Marie was aware that these things were Pazu's property. Even though they were now Marie's Pokémon, that didn't give Marie a reason to keep them for herself.

For example, buy some other nutritional supplements for Baloo and the two Doromias, or some useful carrying items.

There are two beds in the room, which are standard. Marie and Ichigo sleep on one bed, while Ralts sleeps on the other. Balu and Sasuke sleep on the other bed.

Squinting and yawning, Mary adjusted her sagging bra strap, glanced at the time—six o'clock, and it was still dimly lit outside the window.

Yi-chan looked up at Mary, who had already sat up.

"Ee... (Good morning...)"

"Good morning... haha..."

Mary reached out and ruffled Ichigo's hair, yawning as she greeted him.

"It's okay if you sleep a little longer, I'm going to wash up."

As a hotel sponsored by the president, the Shy Bud Hotel is quite a nice hotel. The rooms are very clean and the facilities are very sophisticated.

For someone like Mary who is used to being in the wild, the environment of an ordinary hotel would probably be quite good.

The bathroom had Mary's own toiletries set on it, but since she was going to stay another night, she was too lazy to tidy up.

While brushing her teeth in front of the mirror, Marie thought about her schedule for the day. She had to go to the Pokémon Center to sell things in the morning. Although it would be more profitable to sell at the outside market, Marie was not familiar with Motostoke and was worried about being ripped off.

In the afternoon, they went to the wilderness area to continue having Pazu practice Dragon Dance and Will-o'-the-Wisp.

Yes, after becoming partners with Bal, Marie curiously asked him how many skills he had learned, only to find that he had even learned Will-o'-the-Wisp, but unfortunately he had just left it aside and had basically never used it.

Mary wasn't unaware of this. Ever since this guy made a deal with her and learned how to use the skill machine, he had learned a whole bunch of skills in a haphazard way, so it was normal that he couldn't use them all.

But now that Mary knows, she naturally won't let this go.

Bal's fighting style is already set in stone: quick attacks. Mari doesn't intend to change it now, so she's having him practice Dragon Dance, high-speed movement, and Will-o'-the-Wisp.

Previously, Ichigo interrupted his Dragon Dance with a single Evil Pulse. If one is skilled enough, one can dodge some non-guaranteed hits while maintaining Dragon Dance, which would be very effective in disrupting Balu's offensive rhythm.

Will-o'-the-Wisp is used to defend against Foul Play and some high-damage moves. After being burned, it will affect the Pokémon's attack ability. If Illumi had been hit by Will-o'-the-Wisp, the power of Foul Play would have been reduced by half, making the outcome of the battle more uncertain.

Baloo doesn't know many status moves. That's just how the Dragapult race is; they can't learn many status moves, and Baloo himself didn't inherit any skills.

Then let's just keep going at high speed and high attack all the way to the end. As long as the opponent can't hit me, my defense is invincible!

However, Mary didn't have any extra Guardian Skill Machines left. She had one left at home and didn't bring it with her, otherwise she would have given it to Balu right now.

……

After washing up, Mary came out and found that several Pokémon had already gotten out of bed, so they looked like they had slept well last night.

Good morning, everyone.

"Hoo~ (Good morning, Mary.)"

"nya~ (Good morning!)" x2

"Raru! (Good morning!)"

"Let's go downstairs for breakfast. It seems there's a breakfast service prepared specifically for the players here."

As Mary said this, she picked up the meal tickets on the table, checked the time, and realized that breakfast was already being served. So she put everyone back into their Poké Balls, picked up Ralts, and left the room.

Although the corridor was only so wide, the hotel's cafeteria was quite large, at least Balu could sit down and have breakfast normally.

The cafeteria offers different meals based on Pokémon types, and the prices are very reasonable. Marie guessed that the meals were specially prepared by someone else, since Marie herself didn't think she could make special nutritional meals for different Pokémon.

She uses energy cubes to supplement her diet with extra nutrients outside of meals.

While eating breakfast at the table, Mary sent a message to Yuri, but didn't receive a reply. It seemed like she wouldn't get a reply anytime soon.

Although Yuri mentioned going shopping together yesterday, she didn't specify a time. Mary felt it would be more appropriate to go in the evening. She had to go to the market and then to the wilderness area, so it wouldn't be right to force Yuri to come along.

In a large industrial city like Machine City, the city wakes up quite early. After having breakfast, Mary and the others left the hotel and found that the streets were already bustling with activity.

The first thing we passed was a shop selling tree fruits. Although you can pick them in the wild, you can't buy them in large quantities. They're just for basic sustenance. If you really want to do something, it's better to buy them in bulk from shops in the city.

We need to make a batch of energy cubes for Baloo, Sasuke, and Yuu. We still have enough for Izumi. Then we need to make a batch of energy cubes for Ralts that are a mix of Psychic and Fairy attributes and can promote the development of mental power.