May and the Mysterious Pokémon Egg

After confirming that Vivillon was pregnant, Yuga significantly reduced her training routine, leaving only some basic exercises. He also made a point to visit the Flower Sea Sub-Ecopark to check on her almost every day.

Meanwhile, Volcarona, the soon-to-be father, had stopped staying in the Volcano Sub-Ecopark. Instead, he now spent all his time in the Flower Sea Sub-Ecopark to accompany his partner.

However, the Pokémon in the Flower Sea Sub-Ecopark didn't particularly welcome Volcarona. His intense Fire-type energy was a problem for the mostly Grass-type Pokémon living there, so they tended to keep their distance.

On several occasions, Volcarona got so emotional that he started emitting sparks, almost setting the flower beds on fire. If it weren't for Florges, who had complete control over the plants and flowers in the garden, the entire flower field would have likely been burned.

Vivillon had a great relationship with the Grass-type Pokémon, but since they avoided Volcarona, who always hovered around her, even they started steering clear of Vivillon. This situation made Vivillon increasingly frustrated, and her patience with Volcarona quickly wore thin.

She tried to drive Volcarona back to the Volcano Sub-Ecopark, but Volcarona refused to leave, sticking to her side without fail.

As a butterfly species Pokémon, Vivillon loved sipping nectar. To ensure the healthy growth of the baby inside her, Yuga arranged for Venusaur to stay by her side. The flower on Venusaur's back produced high-quality nectar, which was excellent for Vivillon during her pregnancy.

As one of Vivillon's close friends, Chimecho, along with Florges—who used to be part of the "Three Sisters of the Flower Field"—took great care of her during this time. Chimecho would soothe Vivillon's emotions daily with a Heal Bell, while Florges used Aromatherapy once a day to ease her physical fatigue.

In addition to Vivillon's pregnancy, Yuga was also stressed about Cheren's internship.

Since Cheren was interning at the gym, Yuga felt responsible for providing him with proper training opportunities. But with the end of the year approaching and the next League Tournament still months away, no one was coming to challenge the gym. It wasn't ideal for Cheren to only practice on paper without actual experience.

If more challengers came, Yuga could let Cheren experience handling them firsthand. But ever since Gon, not a single challenger had shown up.

As a responsible Gym Leader, Yuga couldn't help but feel like he was letting Cheren down.

While Yuga was dealing with Cheren's internship, the ship carrying May and Max had docked in Lilycove City, bringing them back to Hoenn.

"Ah, finally home!"

May stretched her arms wide and cheered after disembarking the ship.

Compared to the Kanto region, Hoenn's winter was much warmer, and May definitely preferred Hoenn's climate.

"Big Sis, there are so many people here. Can you not embarrass me like this?" Max followed closely behind, covering his face, unable to bear his sister's tomboyish behavior. He was almost ready to pretend he didn't know her.

May grabbed her younger brother's ear and grumbled, "How am I embarrassing you?"

Max immediately wailed, "You're saying you aren't? Look, everyone's staring at us!"

May turned to see that, sure enough, people on the dock were all looking at them. She quickly let go of his ear, her face turning red. "I'll deal with you later!" she snapped.

With that, she took off running, and Max hurriedly puffed out his cheeks and chased after her.

They hadn't walked far before they overheard someone say, "Hurry! The Marina Group's performance is about to start. If we don't go now, we'll miss it!"

Hearing this, Max immediately exclaimed, "Sis, it's the Marina Group! Let's go watch it!"

May hesitated, "But weren't we planning to go home?"

Max tugged on his sister's arm and said, "We can go home anytime, but it's not every day you come across the Marina Group!"

Seeing May still hesitating, Max quickly started begging, "Please, big sis! Let's go watch it together! I'm begging you!"

May had no choice but to agree, "Will you stop calling me embarrassing next time?"

Realizing the situation wasn't in his favor, Max quickly relented, "I was just kidding! You're the best sister in the world."

May, pleased by the flattery, took Max's hand, and the two walked toward the Marina Group's performance.

Meanwhile, Gon and Hill, who were tracking Suicune, had also arrived in Lilycove City.

On the coast, Gon, with a cloak concealing his face, asked his elder, "Uncle Hill, have you noticed any patterns in Suicune's movements?"

Hill, also cloaked, shook his head and replied, "Not yet, but it seems like Suicune is searching for something!"

Gon nodded in agreement, "I've had the same feeling."

Hill gazed out at the sea. "We need to be careful and not lose track of Suicune."

On the other side of town, May and Max followed the crowd and soon found the Marina Geoup's performance area.

The show was being held at the central plaza of Lilycove City, and there were so many people gathered to watch. May held onto Max as they squeezed their way to the front.

Large water bubbles floated in the air, controlled by Water-type and Psychic-type Pokémon, with the troupe members and Pokémon playfully diving in and out of the bubbles, creating a fun and lively atmosphere.

"Big sis, look! This is so cool!" Max cheered while clapping his hands in excitement as one water bubble after another floated past them. The Pokémon inside, sometimes controlled by the Psychic-type Pokémon, would even interact with the audience.

When a bubble containing a Buizel floated in front of them, May excitedly waved at the Buizel.

Buizel, inside the bubble, waved back at May. Just as it was about to swim away, it suddenly noticed the bead bracelet on May's wrist, and a flicker of surprise flashed in its eyes.

After thinking for a moment, Buizel swam back. It extended its paw out of the bubble and grabbed May's hand, inviting her to join in the fun.

May pointed at herself, confused, "Me?"

Buizel nodded and pulled her into the bubble, causing a wave of envy from the surrounding crowd.

Seeing this, Max immediately waved his hands and shouted, "Me too! Me too!"

Buizel, realizing that Max was with May, quickly swam back and pulled Max into the bubble as well.

Once inside, May and Max discovered that the bubble was hollow, and sitting inside felt soft, almost like sitting on a cloud.

With Buizel leading the way, May and Max temporarily became part of the Marina Group's performance, having an absolute blast for the rest of the afternoon.

By the time the performance ended, it was already late in the day, and May and Max got the chance to meet the Marina Group leader, Shep.

The elderly man, who had taken a liking to the two siblings, smiled and asked, "So, little ones, did you have fun?"

Max immediately jumped up and shouted, "Yes!"

Feeling a bit shy, May added, "Thank you, sir, for all the trouble we caused today."

Shep waved his hand dismissively and said, "It's no trouble at all, as long as you had fun!"

Upon learning that May and Max had just arrived in Lilycove City earlier that day, and noticing the sky growing darker, Shep kindly invited the siblings to stay with the troupe for the night.

The Marina Group traveled in a large caravan designed for touring, fully equipped with all the necessary living facilities. Accommodating May and Max for the night was no problem at all.

May had been worrying about where to stay that night, so when Shep offered, she readily agreed. She always felt a strange sense of familiarity and trust toward the elderly man, as if there was an inexplicable bond between them.

Ship felt the same way, which was why he invited May and Max to stay.

That evening, Shep invited them to join his family for dinner, where May and Max met Shep's son, Kyle, his daughter-in-law, Meredith, and his granddaughter, Lizabeth.

Shep's family took an instant liking to May and treated her and Max with kindness. The group got along wonderfully, making the evening a pleasant one for everyone.

Later that night, as May slept soundly, she was startled awake by a sudden clinking noise outside. Jolted with fear, she quickly sat up.

"What's that sound?"

She didn't wake Max, who was sleeping in the top bunk, and carefully crept out of bed in her pajamas. Quietly, she opened the door of the caravan and stepped outside. The bright moonlight bathed the entire central plaza in a silvery glow, and rows of caravans were neatly lined up. Everything was completely still and quiet, making the eerie silence even more unsettling.

May, her heart pounding, looked around cautiously but saw nothing.

"Phew!" She sighed, trying to calm herself. "Maybe I just imagined it."

Just as she was about to turn back and return to bed, the clinking noise rang out again. She froze on the spot, too scared to move.

"Buizel!"

A voice suddenly sounded behind her, making her jump. Trembling, she turned around to find Buizel standing there, looking up at her.

Relieved, May clutched her chest and exhaled deeply. "Oh, it's just you! You scared me half to death. What are you doing out here so late?"

"Buizel! Buizel!"

Buizel lifted the object in its arms, and the clinking sound echoed again.

"So that's where the sound was coming from!" May realized.

In Buizel's arms was a transparent incubator, inside which lay a Pokémon egg that was shimmering brightly.

"Maybe it's a Pokémon egg!" May thought to herself.

She had never seen such a beautiful egg before. The eggshell was transparent, with twinkling spots of light inside, though due to the moonlight, she couldn't quite tell the color of the egg or the lights.

"Buizel!"

Buizel held up the incubator and handed it to May.

Pointing to herself, May asked, "For me?"

"Buizel!" Buizel nodded with a big smile.

Though May didn't know why Buizel was giving her the incubator, or what was inside, she obediently took it.

To her amazement, as soon as her hands touched the incubator, the egg inside glowed brightly with a soft hum.

"Buizel! Buizel! Buizel!"

Buizel clapped its paws together excitedly and cheered.

"What's happening?" May wondered in awe.

May curiously held up the incubator, bringing it closer to her face to get a better look. As she did, the Pokémon egg inside lit up again with a soft hum.

"Huh?"

May found it amusing and started playing around—moving the incubator far away at one moment, then suddenly bringing it close. Each time she approached, the egg flickered brightly.

It seemed to May, as if she could faintly sense that whenever she neared the incubator, the Pokémon egg inside would radiate an emotion of joy.

After tiring herself out with her little game, May hugged Buizel and returned to the caravan, slowly drifting off to sleep. Buizel, too, curled up at the foot of her bed and closed its eyes.

What May didn't know was that as soon as she fell asleep, the egg inside the incubator began to shimmer once again.

It continued to glow for an unknown amount of time, until a bright white light—enough to illuminate the entire room—flashed. The Pokémon egg had hatched.

The next morning, May was still groggy when she was startled awake by Max's excited voice.

"Sis, sis! Wake up, quick!"

"Mmm… what is it?" May mumbled, clearly not pleased with being woken up so early.

"Sis, something amazing happened! You've got to see this!" Max shook his sleepy sister hard, trying to get her up. "Look, just look at this!"

Max held something up right in front of May's face. As she opened her eyes, she found herself staring directly into a pair of big, round eyes!

"Manaphy!"

The owner of the eyes greeted May with a cheerful call.

"Ahhh!" May screamed in surprise. "What is this? It's so cute!"

Without hesitation, May scooped up the Pokémon in her arms, and the creature happily hugged her back, clearly fond of her.

"Sis, do you know what kind of Pokémon this is? I woke up this morning and found it lying on your bed!" Max said, puzzled.

"Oh, right!"

Triggered by Max's words, May suddenly remembered the Pokémon egg from last night. She quickly looked around the caravan and found that the incubator was now completely empty.

"That's it! Buizel!" May slapped her forehead and then asked Max, "Have you seen Buizel?"

"Buizel?" Max looked confused. "No, I haven't."

May thought for a moment and said, "This Pokémon must belong to the troupe. They must be worried that it's gone missing. We should return it to them right away."

Just as May had suspected, Shep was in a near panic after discovering the Pokémon egg had disappeared in the morning. He immediately gathered Kyle, Meredith, and Lizabeth to start searching for it.

As May and Max approached with the Pokémon, they were spotted by Kyle.

"Manaphy!"

Seeing the Pokémon in May's arms, Kai let out a gasp, only to have his mouth quickly covered by Meredith beside him.

"Follow us!"

Meredith grabbed her husband and then sternly directed May and Max to come along.

Confused, May and Max were led to the largest caravan in the troupe. Not long after, Shep, Lizabeth, and a young man dressed in a clown outfit hurriedly arrived as well.

When Shep saw the innocent-looking Manaphy smiling in May's arms, he murmured, "It really hatched! But… why?"

The way Shep and his family stared at her made May incredibly nervous. Thinking they might suspect her of stealing the Pokémon, she quickly tried to explain herself: "Here's what happened..."

May recounted the events of the previous night in detail to Ship and his family.

"Buizel!"

At that moment, Buizel poked its head through the window and squeezed inside. Noticing everyone looking at it, it shrank back in fear, hiding in the corner. But when it saw Manaphy in May's arms, Buizel leaped onto the table, clearly overjoyed.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Buizel hurried over to May and tugged on her hand, revealing the bead she was wearing on her wrist.

"This is…"

The moment Shep's family saw the bead, they all stood up in astonishment.