Inside the wooden cabin, three Pokémon appeared and lined up in a neat row.
The one on the left resembled a human, with large hands bearing a suction cup on each of its five fingers, and a face that looked just like a clown's.
The one in the middle had a green body, round blue eyes, red markings on its cheeks, two vivid crimson flowers blooming on its head, and leaves arranged around it like a skirt in shades of green and yellow.
The one on the right hovered in the air, its egg-shaped body covered in fluffy white fur, with broad triangular wings that made it look like a small aircraft.
"Mr. Mime! Bellossom! Togekiss!"
Caster's eyes lit up.
Like the starter Pokémon trio with Blastoise at their head, these three were clearly out of the ordinary at a glance.
"Come on, let's head outside!"
Noticing Caster's expression of stunned admiration, the Priest grew even more pleased with himself. These Pokémon were old companions who had been with him for many years.
Led by the Priest, the group made their way out of the cabin.
The sun was blazing, the wind still, as though the weather itself was a good omen.
At the Priest's instruction, Caster set the Pokémon Egg gently on the ground.
Then Blastoise, Mr. Mime, Bellossom, and Togekiss arranged themselves into a cross-shaped formation around it, with the egg nestled at the center.
"Start recording, Rotom!"
Taking in the scene, the Phone Rotom immediately activated its camera, determined to capture the entire process.
Whether to post it online was Caster's call, but the footage would undoubtedly be worth keeping.
"Then I shall begin."
After giving Caster a brief nod, the Priest's expression sharpened, and the aura around him shifted with it.
"Blastoise, Water Pulse!"
"Mr. Mime, Heal Wish!"
"Togekiss, Wish!"
"Bellossom, Pollen Puff!"
At the Priest's command, all four Pokémon began performing their chosen moves at once. Every single one was a recovery move, each reflecting a mastery over life energy.
Blastoise went first. Its body tensed as it gathered power, but only a few crystalline droplets drifted out from its massive cannons, landing softly on the egg before seeping slowly inside.
Next was Mr. Mime. Its body began to radiate white light, then released a burst of pale blue luminescence that wrapped gently around the egg.
Then came Bellossom. The two brilliant red flowers on its head pulsed with light, forming a glowing pollen cluster that struck the egg squarely. The moment it made contact, the pollen burst apart and dissolved into countless motes of white light, absorbed into the shell.
Finally, Togekiss. It folded its wings against its chest and tilted its head back in song, bright halos shimmering into existence around its body alongside a scattering of star-shaped sparks, all of which settled over the egg at the center.
"This is incredible."
Caster watched in quiet awe.
The Priest's Pokémon were formidable in their own right, but their recovery moves were something else entirely. It was clear that each of them had spent years honing a deep understanding of life energy.
Even without being a Pokémon himself, Caster could feel the rich, concentrated force of life swelling in the air and pouring steadily into the egg, nurturing its potential, willing it toward that first crack and the emergence that would follow. To avoid overwhelming the egg with more energy than it could absorb at once, the Priest and his four Pokémon kept their output measured, releasing it in a gentle, continuous stream.
Perhaps it was because Caster had spent so many days with this particular egg, and the two of them had formed some faint, fragile bond. He almost thought he could sense it celebrating inside, bright and eager.
"Come on, little one. Hatch. Hatch!"
Caster barely dared to breathe, afraid of breaking the Priest's concentration, and so he cheered in silence.
Time passed slowly. The life energy within the egg grew stronger with every moment, and it began to rock back and forth, as if it might burst open at any second.
"Almost there!"
Caster's eyes went wide, heart hammering with anticipation.
This egg was almost certainly a survivor of Professor Sebastian's experiments, and whatever it had undergone had left it extraordinary. Now, with the enigmatic Priest channeling so much life energy directly into it, Caster felt certain its potential had climbed at least another level.
"Mime..."
But at that moment, Mr. Mime, which looked so much like a little clown, suddenly began to sway. Its flow of energy cut off without warning.
A second later, its eyes rolled back in spirals and it collapsed flat on the ground.
"What? What's happening?"
Caster blinked, then quickly pieced it together. Heal Wish could cure any status condition and fully restore a Pokémon's health, but the cost was that the user itself would be left unable to battle.
He felt his stomach sink.
This was the critical moment. How could Mr. Mime give out now?
The Priest looked equally startled, and asked with genuine curiosity, "Young man, what exactly is inside that egg of yours? The amount of energy it needs is extraordinary. It's like a bottomless pit."
The Priest was quietly unsettled. He was almost beginning to wonder whether the Pokémon gestating inside was a legendary.
"Honestly, I don't know the exact species either."
Caster gave a helpless shrug and answered honestly. "But it's most likely a Water-type or a Psychic-type."
The finer details, like Team Rocket or the experiments, were not something he was about to share.
Bellossom, Togekiss, and Blastoise were still feeding energy into the egg, but none of them could hold out much longer. Each of them was visibly faltering, breath coming in rough gasps, which were the unmistakable signs of severe physical exhaustion.
"It's not enough. The energy is still falling short."
The Priest's face fell, and he shook his head with a sigh. "But my old friends can't hold on any longer."
Caster's expression changed the moment those words landed.
He turned his focus inward to his fishing space and swept his gaze across the hundred-odd Energy Orbs bobbing and glowing inside. Then he set his jaw.
"Let's go all in."
With a single thought, he activated every last Energy Orb in the space and pushed them all into the egg at once. As the orbs poured in one after another, the egg seemed to fully awaken to its own hunger. It pulled at the energy like a black hole, consuming everything greedily, without pause.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.
A violent energy storm erupted in an instant, radiating outward from the egg in every direction, nearly sweeping both Caster and the Priest off their feet.
"Mime!"
"Bellossom!"
"Toge!"
The three Pokémon had been feeding energy in voluntarily, but now they could feel the egg drawing from them instead, pulling at the reserves within their own bodies. The suction was terrifying, relentless, as though it would not stop until they were completely drained.
There was a thunderous burst as another wave of invisible energy erupted outward, and all three Pokémon were flung off their feet. When they hit the ground, their eyes were spinning in wide circles. They were down for the count.
Clearly, every last drop had been taken from them.
And yet, to Caster's despair, the egg sitting on the ground still had not cracked. It lay there like a stone, perfectly still.
"Did it fail?"
He exhaled quietly, and the disappointment on his face said everything.
The Priest's full effort, combined with the hundred-plus Energy Orbs Caster had secretly poured in, had apparently amounted to nothing.
Crack.
But then, without warning, a sharp, clear sound rang out.