185: Day Care

Feeling everyone's gaze resting upon her, Lily's cheeks couldn't help but flush once again.

"Uh, uh…" Lily stammered, unable to form coherent sentences.

"Don't be nervous, Lily. Just bring your Pokemon out." Yellow tried to encourage her friend, who was always a little shy around strangers.

Lily eventually approached Hisoka and made her best effort to look up at him.

"Mr... Hisoka, this is my Pokemon." After Lily said that, she held up the teddy bear she was holding.

"Where is it? I don't see it." Hisoka was looking around to see if he could find her Pokemon and didn't notice the teddy bear.

"Here," Lily said, shaking the teddy bear in her hands. "She never comes out during the day. The only time she comes out is at night to play with me."

Seeing the odd look on Hisoka's face, Yellow couldn't help but jump headlong into the conversation.

"It's true, this teddy bear is her Pokemon. She can change how she looks," Yellow told him before turning to Lily, "Lily, can you call her to come out?"

What Yellow said just now reminded him of a folk tale from Hoenn. Taking a glance at the tattered teddy bear in Lily's hands,, he was pretty sure he knew what kind of Pokemon it was.

"Can you show me your teddy bear, Lily?" He asked.

Lily gave him a quick stare before turning to Yellow for her opinion. After Yellow gave a slight nod, she passed the teddy bear to him before stepping away.

As soon as he touched the teddy bear, a shiver ran down his spine. He looked into the teddy bear's eyes and suddenly felt as if he were being watched.

Just as he was about to ask for Gardevoir's help, a cackle broke out from the teddy bear. His hands were starting to get cold even though it was the middle of summer.

In the end, he had no choice but to let go of the teddy bear. The teddy bear fell to the floor, but immediately a strange black mist surrounded it, and it slowly rose to its feet.

Its eyes were now purplish pink with slit pupils, full of anger and desire for revenge. As time went on, the teddy bear, or rather the stuffed animal, grew to about the same height as the girls.

The black mist quickly dissipated and a dark grey, doll-like Pokemon appeared before them. It had a long ribbon off the back of its head with a zipper on its mouth.

As he guessed, it was a Banette, also known as the Marionette Pokemon. Banette, according to some, originated from a discarded doll. Legend has it that the doll was cursed when it made contact with a malevolent energy, transforming it into a Pokemon and imbuing it with a deep-seated feeling of hatred.

Right now, Banette was standing in front of him. Yet, he stayed calm because Gardevoir was already next to him.

"Mis-dreavus!"

All of a sudden, a pokeball attached to his belt opened by itself and out came Misdreavus. Earlier, Misdreavus sensed an energy in the surroundings that was strikingly similar to her own, so she went out of deep curiosity.

However, the moment Misdreavus appeared, Banette stared at her with wide eyes as if she had seen something terrifying. Within a single second, she was back to being a teddy bear and tucked away in Lily's arm.

"What did you do to her?" Hisoka looked over at Misdreavus, who was hovering close by.

"Mis-dreavus?"

Misdreavus cocked her head to the side in confusion. It appeared that she, too, was confused by what had just happened.

"Oh well," Hisoka sighed, then looked back at the two girls.

After much deliberation, he finally agreed to take them as his gym trainers. He also sought Principal Simon's assistance in enrolling them in Pokemon Academy classes. Though, most of their time would likely be spent in the gym.

Sometime later, he returned to his gym along with the two girls. There, he noticed that the people he had hired earlier were already waiting at the front door. He let them inside the gym and told them to gather in the study room.

"I think that's all I have to say for today. You can pick your own room in the back. There is nothing for you to do today. Just learn your way around the gym first. Are there any questions? No? Then you are all dismissed." After that, he sat in his chair.

A group of about a dozen people got up, gathered their bags, and filed out of the study room.

"Emily, can you stay for a moment? There's something I need to discuss with you." He called out to a petite woman with black hair braided into two braids that reached just below her shoulders. She was the breeder he hired to take care of his Pokemon.

"No problem, Mr. Hisoka," Emily said and sat back down.

"Emily, you said that your family runs a Pokemon Day Care, right?" He asked.

"Yes," Emily nodded.

"Do you sell Pokemon?" He asked.

"No, all of our Pokemon will be sent out when they are big enough, but we do have Pokemon eggs for sale." Emily replied after a short pause.

"Is that so? Alright, can you take me there later?" He inquired.

"Sure, I'd be happy to." Emily replied with a smile.

"Thank you, you can leave now."

After sending Emily away, he addressed the two girls who had been waiting for him.

"Starting from today, you will be my gym trainer. Apart from doing some cleaning work, your only job now is to learn. I have enrolled you in some classes-" a small groan escaped Yellow's mouth "-in the academy. So make sure you learn well, all right?" He looked at them, waiting for their reply.

Lily quickly said, "yes," and Yellow did the same albeit reluctantly.

After lunch, he followed Emily to her family Pokemon Day Care along with Yellow and Lily. A guy on a Rapidash, dressed like a cowboy down to the orange hat and long pants and boots, welcomed them as they arrived at the Day Care. For a second, he thought he was in the wild west.

"Sorry, my dad is a tad strange." Emily apologised awkwardly.

Once Emily had explained why they were there, they were finally invited inside the Day Care. Emily's mother took them to a spacious room where a dozen eggs were incubating.

"These eggs were supposed to be sent out once they hatched, but they haven't yet. So you can pick any of them," Emily's mother said to Hisoka.

He thanked Emily's mother and asked Yellow and Lily to choose one Pokemon egg each. Then, he left the two girls to choose by themselves and went to talk to Emily's father.

A while later, they returned to him each with their own egg. Yellow picked a Pichu egg, while Lily went with a Gastly. After paying for the two Pokemon eggs, along with two incubators, they bid goodbye to Emily's parents and returned to the gym.