Rustboro City, Steven's home.
As soon as Steven walked through the door, he received a call from Kanazawa City.
While walking into his treasure vault and looking at the wall full of rare stones, he pressed his communication device.
A kind middle-aged man's voice came through.
"Steven, what have you been busy with lately? How are the gym challenges going? I heard you've been traveling back and forth between Rustboro City and Autumn Leaf Town recently. Did something happen?"
"Everything's going smoothly." Steven paused, then added: "Father, I've met a very interesting person."
"Oh?" Hearing this, Mr. Stone immediately became interested: "A boy or girl?"
"A boy. He's the owner of a breeding house."
"A breeding house?" Mr. Stone's interest was piqued.
Steven hummed in acknowledgment: "I'm in Rustboro City now. I'll be suspending my gym challenges for a while—I have something to take care of."
Hearing this, Mr. Stone became even more curious.
What could be important enough for his son to treat it this way?
However, Steven didn't elaborate. After chatting briefly, he ended the call.
Looking at the wall of stones before him, he didn't hesitate to pack them all up, planning to bring everything to the breeding house for Carver to study.
Three hours after Steven left, Chingling's egg finally reached its hatching time.
Accompanied by a brilliant flash of light, a small Pokémon that looked like a bell with red and white ribbons on its head appeared before Carver, Growlithe, and Bewear.
Carver focused his attention, and this Chingling's information appeared before his eyes.
[Pokémon: Chingling] [Gender: Female] [Ability: Levitate] [Moves: Wrap, Growl] [Status: Healthy] [Mood: ️️️(◦˙▽˙◦)] [Joy Level: 50] [Friendship: 50 (Is this my mommy?)] [Description: So happy to be born today! —Chingling]
The newly hatched Chingling looked curiously at this world that was brand new to her, as well as at the human who had been caring for her incubation all this time.
Was this her mommy?
"Ching-ling~!" Hello, Mommy!
Carver: "..."
While newly hatched Pokémon did tend to see the first creature they met as their parent, the problem was that he was male!
Carver helplessly held his forehead.
Seeing that Mommy seemed a bit displeased with her, Chingling immediately furrowed her little brow, feeling somewhat at a loss.
Chingling's joy level began dropping rapidly.
"Growl!" Growlithe barked a few times at Chingling.
Carver sighed helplessly. Oh well, what was the point of arguing with a child?
"Hello, Chingling. I'm Carver. Welcome to our family!"
Seeing that Mommy wasn't displeased with her but was actually welcoming her arrival, Chingling immediately became happy. She swayed her body, producing clear, pleasant bell sounds.
"Ching-ling!"
[Chingling's mood improved. Joy Level +60. Received Chingling's gift: "Growl" TM.] [TM (Growl): Normal-type move. Makes the opponent hear a cute cry that distracts them and makes them careless, lowering their Attack. Uses remaining: 9999/9999.]
Carver: "..."
Growl, huh...
While the move was quite common, thinking about it differently, this was one of only two moves Chingling knew. To her, this was her most precious possession.
Upon their first meeting, Chingling had given away her most important thing.
"I understand, Chingling. I'm very happy to meet you too." Carver reached out and gently petted Chingling's little head.
This made Chingling even happier. Her joy level reached 100, and she gave away the other of her two known moves as a gift.
[Chingling's mood improved. Joy Level +30. Received Chingling's gift: "Wrap" TM.] [TM (Wrap): Normal-type move. Attacks by wrapping the opponent with long body or vines. Uses remaining: 9999/9999.]
"Alright, little cutie, come downstairs with us and get to know our home!" Carver said.
"Ching-ling!"
Chingling floated beside Carver's face, then settled on his shoulder as they went downstairs together.
Carver took Chingling on a tour around the breeding house, introducing her to the general situation and the Pokémon living there.
All the Pokémon in the breeding house warmly welcomed Chingling's arrival.
Whether it was Bewear, Oddish, Growlithe, or the Clefairy.
Chingling was also very happy about everyone's welcome. She swayed her body, producing clear bell sounds as her way of greeting everyone.
After playing for a while, Chingling seemed to get tired and settled beside Carver to sleep peacefully.
Just from taking Chingling on one tour, her friendship had risen from 50 to 100, and she had completely accepted Carver as her mommy.
Looking at the sleeping Chingling, Carver suddenly found this Pokémon quite adorable.
No wonder James in the anime was so fond of Chimecho.
For the breeding house, Chingling could serve a decorative purpose.
Once she evolved into Chimecho, she could hang from the breeding house's eaves as a wind chime.
If customers visited, she could produce clear sounds to welcome guests to the breeding house.
Pretty good!
Carver had thought Steven would need several days to return from Rustboro City to the breeding house.
But unexpectedly, the next day at noon, he saw Steven push open the breeding house door carrying a large backpack.
"You're back so soon?" Carver was very surprised.
Steven nodded. To return to the breeding house as quickly as possible, he had used his family's helicopter, which was why he could come back so fast.
He placed the backpack on the counter, then pulled out a colorful stone about the size of a basketball.
Carver looked down, and the next second, information about this large stone appeared in his mind.
[Key Stone Ore: A stone containing unknown power that can allow Pokémon carrying Mega Stones to Mega Evolve. Unpolished, appears to be raw material for making Key Stone bracelets.]
It really was it!
Next, Steven poured out round stones from his backpack that looked like marbles with strange patterns embedded inside.
Those were unmistakably Mega Stones that could allow Pokémon to Mega Evolve!
What surprised Carver was that Steven had unknowingly collected so many—there had to be at least twenty!
Carver's gaze quickly swept over them, and detailed information about each stone appeared in his mind.
[Gardevoirite], [Gengarite], [Metagrossite], [Aggronite], [Mawilite], [Alakazite], [Houndoomite]...