Inside the Breeding House.
Jenny sat upright on the sofa, watching as Bewear brought over a glass of juice and placed it in front of her.
Carver sat opposite her. He recalled what that kid named Ye had said earlier and spoke up:
"Thank you so much, Officer Jenny."
He was referring to how she had been helping to promote the breeding house around the town.
Jenny smiled and said, "You don't have to call me Officer Jenny. Actually, by family relation, you should be calling me 'sister.'"
Carver was stunned.
In the original owner's memories, there wasn't much information about the Jenny family—just that the original Carver had refused their invitation to go back to the family.
"Your mother was my aunt's cousin," Jenny said, "We came to Autumn Leaf Town three years ago. They wanted to bring you back to the family, but you refused."
Carver nodded. The original Carver did indeed refuse.
To him, the Jenny family was a completely unfamiliar place. But this place—Autumn Leaf Town—was where he grew up, where his parents were buried. So he didn't want to leave.
Carver fell silent, mostly because he wasn't the original Carver.
"Sigh..." Jenny looked at the poor boy in front of her.
His parents had passed away, and his grandparents and aunt, who fought to maintain peace and catch criminals and Pokémon hunters, had also heroically sacrificed their lives years ago.
While such sacrifices were considered honorable in the Jenny family, for those left behind, it was incredibly painful.
Forget it, there was no point in bringing up old memories. Now that young Carver was managing the breeding house in an orderly manner, it showed he was ready to start a new life.
As a fellow member of the Jenny family, she felt she should help him out a bit.
Jenny straightened her expression and finally got to the main reason for her visit. "The reason I came today is that I have something to ask you."
"What is it?" Carver asked curiously.
Jenny replied, "If you need Pokémon eggs, I can contact the Hoenn League and have a batch delivered to you."
After all, to operate a breeding house, having enough Pokémon was essential.
"And the cost?" Carver asked.
"It's free," Jenny shook her head, explaining, "Every year, the Hoenn region sees some wild Pokémon lose their homes due to natural disasters."
"Humans and Pokémon live together in this world, so the Hoenn League can't just stand by. They send people to rescue these Pokémon in need."
"When these rescued Pokémon lay eggs, or when eggs are found abandoned in towns or in the wild, they don't have anyone to care for them. Usually, these eggs are sent to one of two places."
"One option is to hatch them and give them to new trainers as their starter Pokémon."
"The remaining eggs are sent to nearby breeding houses, where breeders take care of them before selling them to trainers in need."
Of course, this "selling" wasn't about the price of the Pokémon itself, but more about covering the cost of care and nurturing.
"The Hoenn League only has one requirement," Jenny continued. "They hope you can help these young ones find suitable trainers."
"I understand," Carver nodded. Right now, the breeding house was in dire need of those Pokémon eggs, so he did not refuse Jenny's good intentions. "In that case, I'll leave it to you!"
A smile appeared on Jenny's face. "No need to be so polite. I believe you'll be an excellent breeder."
She could tell just by how attached Growlithe was to him.
After all, Growlithe was known to be a very intelligent Pokémon.
As she thought about it, Jenny couldn't help but look over at the little Growlithe.
Right at that moment, Growlithe suddenly sneezed.
Instantly, sparkling particles floated out from its nose.
Bewear, who was standing nearby, accidentally inhaled some of the particles. Very quickly, it yawned, and its eyes grew heavy with sleepiness.
Jenny: "?"
Wait a minute... Was that Yawn?
No... it looked more like Sleep Powder!
But... how could a Growlithe use Sleep Powder?!
A massive question mark popped up in Jenny's mind.
The scene before her eyes completely defied her understanding. Jenny looked at the little Growlithe with a bewildered expression.
Even as composed as she normally was, she couldn't help but be stunned.
"A Growlithe with Sleep Powder?!"
"What... what's going on here?"
Jenny turned to Carver, her eyes full of confusion and disbelief.
From what she knew, it was impossible for Growlithe to learn Sleep Powder!
Carver: "…"
He hadn't expected Growlithe to use Sleep Powder in such a way.
Was it some kind of alternative Yawn?
Faced with Jenny's bewildered expression, Carver scratched his head awkwardly.
"Well, before Growlithe hatched, I tried explaining the principles of Sleep Powder to it. I thought, if Oddish can learn Sleep Powder, why couldn't Growlithe? So I just gave it a try... and it worked!"
"You just thought it would work?!"
Jenny: "…"
It... kind of made sense?
But that doesn't seem very scientific!
Jenny fell silent.
As someone from a prominent family, she began to consider several possibilities.
This Growlithe was exceptionally gifted.
The common understanding of Growlithe was wrong, and it actually could learn Sleep Powder.
Carver himself had some sort of special power.
She immediately ruled out the first and second options. Jenny knew Growlithe very well. There was absolutely no way it could learn Sleep Powder.
Her family raised many Growlithe, and none of them had ever displayed that ability.
So… the third option?
If Carver really had that kind of ability, he was born to be a Breeder!
"…"
Forget it. As long as Carver was safe, that was all that mattered.
Jenny decided to stop overthinking it.
The police station still had matters to attend to, and she couldn't stay too long. She stood up and said, "I will contact the Hoenn League, and you should hear back in a while."
"Alright, thank you very much," Carver replied gratefully.
Jenny soon left; she had many things to handle and couldn't stay long.
When she contacted the Hoenn League and arranged for the delivery of the Pokémon eggs, she would come back to check on Carver.
Carver was truly grateful for Jenny's assistance.
She had given him a lot of support.
With that batch of Pokémon eggs, the breeding house could finally begin running in full swing.
But until then, he just had to wait patiently.
That morning, quite a few visitors came to the breeding house, but most of them were kids under ten or just turning ten.
Most of them were from ordinary families. They heard from Officer Jenny that there was a breeding house nearby, so they came running from the town to check it out.
Carver naturally treated these children warmly, knowing that they could be his future customers.