Firewood crackled and popped in the fireplace. Though the weather was cool, it wasn't cold enough to need a fire.
It was all for the sake of this Pokémon egg that still held a faint spark of life.
The fireplace in the small house hadn't been used in a long time and was covered in black soot, with old ash inside.
To get it ready, Lucas had Dragonite use wind to blow the ashes outside to the garden—they made great fertilizer.
Then Swampert used a gentle Water Gun to wash the fireplace clean. Ceruledge used its flaming sword to quickly evaporate the leftover water. The old fireplace was now serviceable.
Luxray, Mimikyu, and Serperior gathered firewood and lit the fire. The house warmed up quickly.
Then, around the egg, Lucas and his six Pokémon held a discussion.
The topic: How to help the Pokémon inside the egg hatch.
Luas told them the egg's whole story. Each Pokémon reacted differently.
Serperior's faint jealousy vanished; now it just felt sorry for the Pokémon still trapped inside.
Mimikyu and Ceruledge quietly distanced themselves. As powerful Ghost-types, just being near the egg could unconsciously affect it, possibly making it a dead egg.
Swampert didn't feel much, but it was willing to help however it could.
If there was anything it could do, it would do it without hesitation!
Dragonite's cute face was full of sympathy, and more than a little empathy.
Not long ago, it too had hatched from an egg and remembered the sensation of safety, mixed with the occasional feeling of darkness and confinement.
It had hatched on time—but how long had the Pokémon in this egg been trapped in that darkness?
"Meowr."
Luxray's deep voice sounded. It told Lucas to just say what he needed from them.
Lucas thought for a moment. "On the way home, I thought about how to help this egg hatch."
"This is an egg that hasn't hatched for who knows how many years. The fact that there's still life inside is already a miracle. So, we have to do everything we can to help it hatch as soon as possible."
"First, Dragonite." Lucas looked over, and Dragonite straightened up, eyes wide with determination. Lucas said, "Remember the nutrient solution you had when you hatched? Ordinary eggs don't need it, but this one's been trapped so long it's probably lacking nutrients. That might be why it can't hatch."
"You can't get a good nutrient solution in Los Platos. I want you to fly to Levincia City, where the largest mall in the Paldea region is. I'll contact my friend, and she'll take you shopping for the nutrient solution."
"Bwooo!"
Dragonite straightened and saluted, showing its determination.
Lucas looked at the others and assigned their tasks.
Ceruledge, Mimikyu, and Luxray would head into the wild to find a Pokémon with the Flame Body ability and invite it to the farm.
If possible, try to find a strong one.
Pokémon with Flame Body maintain a suitable temperature, which speeds up egg hatching.
Talonflame, Magcargo, Rapidash, Volcarona, even Moltres, and Heatran—all have Flame Body.
Serperior and Swampert would stay home with Lucas to watch over the egg and keep farming.
With his knowledge, this was all Lucas could think of—Nurse Joy probably tried all of this too.
His only edge was that his Pokémon were strong, so maybe they could find a higher-level Flame Body Pokémon.
The nutrient solution was expensive, but he could afford it.
He'd done all he could. Now, it was up to the little one inside the egg.
If none of this worked, maybe only a legendary Pokémon could save it.
…
The next morning, Dragonite took the box Lucas prepared and flew toward Levincia City.
Luxray told Serperior and Swampert to guard the house, then led Ceruledge and the once-again-ignored Mimikyu into the wild to find a Flame Body Pokémon.
As for Lucas, he geared up early, donned a straw hat like Monkey D. Luffy's, and, with Serperior, Swampert, and the egg (now in a temperature-controlled incubator), headed to the fields.
Yesterday, Dragonite had blown away all the weeds into neat piles.
With some basic advice from Peter, as long as the soil was loose enough, he could plant seeds anytime.
He took out six bags of seeds and glanced at the pile of wood ash Dragonite had gathered. Lucas decided to try planting potatoes—since they could even grow in Paldea.
Potato seeds usually have a low germination rate; most people use tubers. But in the Pokémon world, it's different.
Crops are easier to grow and yield more, and today he had Serperior and Swampert helping.
Planting methods are similar: dig a hole, bury the seed, add fertilizer, water, etc., with minor variations.
Even so, Lucas worked all morning with a hoe, barely planting one small bag of seeds with Serperior and Swampert's help, fertilized with old wood ash, and watered by Swampert's gentle Water Gun.
After all that, Lucas, sore and sweaty, looked expectantly at Serperior.
Serperior sighed, resigned, extended a vine into the soil, and transferred some of its Grass-type energy and nutrients to the potato seeds.
Serperior withdrew the vine. Lucas waited and watched the hole.
Nothing happened.
Lucas' expression was odd. That wasn't right.
Peter had told him the Jones Farm used Grass-types to transfer energy and nutrients, which made crops bigger and tastier.
So why didn't anything happen with Serperior and Swampert here?