Spoink's Divination

The New Year in Verdanturf Town was bustling with excitement. Compared to previous years, the increasingly prosperous town offered more entertainment activities, and its popularity was on the rise.

However, happy times are short-lived, and in the blink of an eye, the New Year festivities were over.

Not long after the New Year, Luna set off on her training journey as planned. Her aunt complained to Yuga for quite a while, feeling that there was no need for a young girl to work so hard—after all, they could easily support her. Her uncle, on the other hand, fully supported Luna's decision, believing that it was a good thing for her to pursue her dreams. Hard work is inevitable; after all, is there any job that isn't tough?

In addition, Lain and Misaki returned to their respective posts one after another, and Cheren also came back from Unova.

At the start of the New Year, YoYo Day Care received several large orders in quick succession, making it a great start to the year.

These orders all came from the external business that Yuga had initiated earlier.

The external business involves outsourcing the surplus low-potential Pokémon from YoYo Day Care to other smaller Pokemon Day Care. Since the launch of this business, Yuga has gradually established partnerships with several well-reputed Pokemon Day Care.

This initiative brought about a new dawn for many small Pokemon Day Care, like the Blissful Day Care in Mauville City.

Mauville City is a famous metropolis in Hoenn, where competition in the Pokemon Day Care industry is intense. For small Pokemon Day Care like Blissful Day Care, which lack competitiveness, the pressure to survive is enormous.

The owner of Blissful Day Care initially collaborated with YoYo Day Care to find a breakthrough opportunity. He was hesitant at first but is now immensely grateful for having taken the risk.

Blissful Day Care markets its Pokémon with the slogan "Stocked from YoYo Day Care." This approach had YoYo Day Cares approval, which not only boosted Blissful Day Care's Pokémon sales but also indirectly promoted YoYo Day Care.

YoYo Day Care's reputation has grown immensely. With the endorsement of such a well-known establishment, Blissful Day Care quickly made a name for itself in Mauville City, standing out among other small daycare centers.

Initially, some people doubted whether Blissful Day Care was fraudulently using YoYo Day Care's name, but YoYo Day Care soon published a list on its website of all the small Pokemon Day Care it was collaborating with. Coupled with the fact that Blissful Day Care indeed sold high-quality Pokémon, its reputation grew even further, with the potential to expand beyond Mauville City.

Other small Pokemon Day Care that collaborated with YoYo Day Care experienced similar outcomes, and they were all relieved to have made the right choice by partnering with the right entity.

As for those Pokemon Day Care that had originally been invited by YoYo Day Care but declined the opportunity, they were now filled with regret.

The success of Pokemon Day Care like Blissful Day Care quickly drew envy from their competitors, who privately reached out to YoYo Day Care expressing their desire to collaborate.

Unfortunately, YoYo Day Care has very strict standards when selecting partners. Each potential partner undergoes careful scrutiny and is verified by the White Light Intelligence Agency. Pokemon Day Care with poor reputations stand no chance of working with YoYo Day Care.

Later, YoYo Day Care selected a few more collaborators, but the number was small—only four or five, fewer than the first batch.

The current success of YoYo Day Care is not only due to the quality of its Pokémon but also largely attributed to the star power of Yuga's name.

Yuga is now one of the most famous celebrity trainers in Hoenn, and many people know about YoYo Day Care because they first heard about Yuga himself.

It's clear that Yuga's decision to use his fame to promote YoYo Day Care was the right one.

Since their business revival, small Pokemon Day Care like Blissful Day Care have increased their stock orders from YoYo Day Care.

Unlike YoYo Day Care, which focuses on high-potential Pokémon, small Pokemon Day Care like Blissful Day Care take a lower-end approach, and the majority of their customers are not trainers.

In this Pokémon world, thanks to the long-term promotion and advocacy by the League, keeping Pokémon has gradually become a cultural habit. Even families without trainers will often buy a Pokémon for their children if their financial situation allows it, so the kids can have a companion.

This is the embodiment of the League's philosophy of "Harmony between People and Pokémon."

Under this cultural influence, as soon as the name of Blissful Day Care got out, its business naturally flourished.

Although the Pokémon and eggs that Blissful Day Care and other small Pokemon Day Care purchase from YoYo Day Care are low-potential and inexpensive, the sheer volume of orders from a dozen or so Pokemon Day Care adds up to a significant amount, making the profit substantial. That's why Yuga considered this a great start to the New Year.

Today was the day YoYo Day Care was shipping out Pokémon to the small Pokemon Day Care they supplied. Yuga was overseeing the loading of prepared Pokémon eggs into the vehicle.

This batch was being shipped to Lavaridge Town, the nearest town to Verdanturf Town, so the first Pokemon Day Care to come for supplies was from there. The one picking up the order was the son of the Pokémon Day Care's owner.

Previously, when the Pokemon Day Care in Lavaridge Town sourced supplies from elsewhere, they had been robbed once. Since then, the owner's son had personally handled all pickups.

Despite his young age, the owner's son was quite capable and organized, and it was said he was also a skilled Trainer.

Once all the Pokémon eggs were loaded, Yuga took out a black case and said to the young man in front of him, "All the eggs have been loaded onto the vehicle. Here are the Pokémon you ordered. You can check them."

The young man opened the case, took a quick glance, and seeing that it was filled with Poké Balls, grinned and said, "No need to check. We trust Boss Shimizu."

Yuga smiled at that and said, "Alright then. I wish you a safe journey back."

The young man took the case, signed the delivery contract under Yuga's guidance, and then boarded the vehicle, carrying the case with him.

After seeing the young man off, Yuga was about to head back into the shop when he suddenly noticed a Spoink had appeared behind him, startling him.

"Spoink, what are you doing here?" Yuga asked in confusion.

"Spoink, Spoink."

Spoink raised a tablet, and on the screen was an image of a young girl dressed in a magical robe, accompanied by a Spoink wearing the same kind of magical robe.

This image was from a promotional poster for a recently popular film series called <<Magical Girl and Spoink>>. Spoink was a huge fan of this show, and it had borrowed the tablet from Windy specifically to watch it.

"So you want a magical robe like that one?" Yuga asked helplessly.

"Spoink, Spoink,"

Spoink nodded happily.

"But I don't know where to buy one. Or do you want me to custom-make one for you?" Yuga, who had the money, didn't mind ordering a custom magical robe for Spoink.

Upon hearing this, Spoink tapped away at the tablet and then held it up again, revealing an online purchase page.

It turns out, it had already come prepared.

"Alright then, I'll buy you one," Yuga said, surprised at Spoink's "middle-school syndrome."

"Spoink, Spoink."

Spoink was delighted by Yuga's response and began floating around using its psychic powers.

Because of its physical limitations, the "fragile" Spoink couldn't move around on its own and had to rely on psychic power for everything—even holding the tablet. Nurse Joy had said that due to a genetic defect, this Spoink might never evolve into a Grumpig.

Yuga didn't mind whether Spoink evolved or not. With the strength of its psychic powers, it already surpassed most Grumpig, and according to Nana, with proper training, Spoink's psychic power could become even stronger.

Spoink's daily use of psychic power was, in itself, a form of training.

The magical robe wasn't expensive. Yuga took the tablet and placed the order directly. Spoink, content with this, happily floated away.

Returning to the shop, Yuga saw Spoink in the corner, fiddling with a deck of tarot cards in front of its tablet, which puzzled him.

At that moment, Ayaka passed by and explained to Yuga that Spoink had recently gotten into fortune-telling and was learning how to use tarot cards. The deck of tarot cards in its hands was also a gift from Ayaka.

Ayaka herself was a casual fan of tarot reading and would play with the cards when she had time. Spoink had picked up the hobby after seeing her use them.

Two days later, the magical robe arrived, and it fit Spoink perfectly. As soon as the package was opened, Spoink donned the robe.

The wide robe completely covered its body, with the hood draping over its head. Using its psychic powers, Spoink made the pearl on its head float beside it, giving off a genuine air of mystery like a magical sorcerer.

However, Yuga couldn't shake the feeling that Spoink looked different from the one in the show.

"Spoink, Spoink, Spoink."

Dressed in the magical robe, Spoink confidently approached Yuga and "boldly" offered to do a fortune reading for him.

"Alright, go ahead and tell me what kind of luck I'll have today," Yuga said with a laugh, thinking that Spoink was nothing like the character in the show. The Spoink in the show was a magical Spoink, always battling evil with magic, but this one... well, it was more like a fortune-teller Spoink.

This had to be a fake fan. It couldn't even get the essence of the cosplay right.

Yuga hadn't seen Spoink using the tarot cards it had studied a couple of days ago. Instead, he found it seriously chanting spells while looking at its pearl.

Spoink mumbled a series of gibberish that Yuga couldn't understand at all, probably because it didn't really mean anything.

"Spoink, Spoink, Spoink."

Someone would come to the shop today.

The pink pearl floating in front of Spoink suddenly changed to a light blue color, prompting Spoink to speak.

Yuga's eyes widened. "Wow, that's actually pretty impressive, Spoink! I didn't know your pearl could change colors!"

As for the fortune-telling results, Yuga clearly didn't take it to heart. There was hardly a day when the shop didn't have customers; without customers, how could he run his business?

It was just that while others used crystal balls for divination, Spoink was using a pearl—what a silly way to go about it! Yuga silently complained about Spoink in his mind.

"Spoink, Spoink, Spoink!"

Seeing Yuga's skepticism, Spoink became very angry, taking off its hood and turning to walk away.

"Are you upset?"

Yuga rubbed his nose and awkwardly went back to work.

However, while Yuga didn't believe in it, others did. Hidden nearby, Sneasel and its friends excitedly surrounded Spoink, asking it to tell their fortunes.

Spoink was very accommodating and didn't refuse anyone who wanted a reading. Each of them—Bunnelby, Fennekin, and Lillipup—took turns getting their fortunes told. Regardless of whether the results were accurate, Spoink only said nice things, making everyone happy.

When it was Sneasel's turn, Spoink looked at its and then at its pearl, pausing for a long moment before finally saying, "I can't tell your fortune."

Sneasel: … Do you look down on me? Everyone else can, but I can't?

Sneasel felt its had lost face in front of its friends.

"Do you want to fight? Come on, let's draw a line!"

Sneasel's group, who had just been happily enjoying their fortunes, immediately glared at Spoink, especially Bunnelby, who always looked up to Sneasel. Its long ears spun like propellers, making a whirring sound as it waited for Sneasel's command to charge at Spoink.

Faced with a group of "bullies," Spoink wasn't scared at all. Even if these little ones teamed up, they probably still wouldn't be its match. Despite being in its initial form, it was still a Pokémon created based on Mewtwo's experiments, so it had some standing.

"You guys being angry is beyond my control; I just don't have the right attributes to deal with it," Spoink said helplessly.

Right attributes?

Sneasel paused at this remark. That's true; Spoink was a Psychic type, while she was a Dark type. Psychic types are ineffective against Dark types. If Spoink had used its psychic abilities during the divination, then it made sense.

Feeling a sense of superiority, Sneasel proudly walked away with her friends.

After Sneasel and its crew left, Chatot unexpectedly popped out from somewhere.

"Little one, your fortune-telling is quite interesting," it remarked.

Spoink looked up at Chatot. "Do you want to get your fortune told too?"

Chatot shook its head; it didn't believe in such things.

"Would you like to help me tell fortunes for more people?" Chatot thought it had come up with a brilliant idea.

"Sure!" Upon hearing Chatot's suggestion, Spoink became interested immediately.

Thus, Spoink was coaxed by Chatot to set up a stall at the entrance of the Pokémon Paradise.

"Passersby, come take a look! This is a very accurate fortune-telling! Just five Pokedollar for a reading, the price of a bag of snacks; you won't lose anything for five Pokedollar!"

Chatot shouted from a stone pedestal at the entrance of the paradise, while Spoink, dressed in its magical robe, concealed its true appearance and quietly stood to the side with its pearl. It really did look the part.

Many people passed by the entrance of the Pokémon Paradise, and some even spent money to try it out. Spoink was responsible for the fortune-telling, while Chatot handled the translation. They didn't delve into anything too serious, just small matters like whether someone would have good luck today, if a date would be successful, or if a crush liked them.

Spoink was already sweet-tongued, and Chatot was an excellent smooth talker. Before long, a crowd had gathered around them, and Chatot was delighted to see a stack of money in front of it, laughing heartily.

Just as Steven arrived near YoYo Day Care, he was drawn in by the lively scene at the entrance of the Pokémon Paradise.

What's going on here?

He couldn't help but be attracted to it. In the crowd, he spotted Chatot and recognized it as a Pokémon from YoYo Day Care.