Ethan's house was a two-story duplex with many rooms. One of them had been converted by Joanna into her own laboratory, where she usually conducted less important research.
Although Emily's house was directly across the street, she rarely stayed there. She spent most of her time at Ethan's house, where she also had her own pink room, the decor of which was, of course, chosen by Joanna.
Emily had mentioned a few times wanting to connect the two houses and utilize them together, but Joanna didn't agree. In her view, it was one of the heirlooms left by her parents, and it was better to preserve it well. Moreover, Emily would have her own house when she got married. Although everyone thought she would end up with Ethan, nothing was absolute, and who could say for sure?
This was also why Joanna had the idea of arranging their engagement. Emily had lived in their home for over a decade, and if one day she were to be married off, Joanna would feel reluctant. So, it was better to settle it early to avoid many future complications.
As for Joanna's laboratory, the two had been in it countless times. After all, Ethan was half an assistant, often helping her with auxiliary work, and Ethan had made significant contributions to many studies, especially in the research of the new three types and Eevee's multiple evolutions, even surpassing Joanna and her grandfather, who was a senior researcher.
However, the laboratory today seemed vastly different. As soon as Ethan and Emily walked in, their eyes were drawn to two large incubators on the workbench. Inside each incubator was a black and white striped Pokémon egg, waiting to hatch.
"Is this?" Ethan exclaimed. Although he had done a lot of research with Joanna, the number of times he had seen Pokémon eggs was still very few. And putting two Pokémon eggs in the house to hatch at this time, the result was self-evident.
"These are gifts from your father, descendants of his Leafeon," Joanna said with a smile, looking at the excited duo.
Ethan's father, Ethan Sr., was a Grass-type Gym Leader. His Pokémon were naturally mostly Grass-type. To save Emily back then, he lost quite a few of his Pokémon, which led to a significant drop in his overall strength. Otherwise, he would have reached the peak of a Gym Leader and could have challenged a Pseudo-Elite Four member by now, unlike his current struggle at the intermediate Gym Leader level.
With his Pokémon dead or injured, Father Ethan naturally had to replenish his team. This Leafeon was one of the later additions. At the time, it was still a small Eevee that he found in the wild. Its parents had died in a struggle, and only it was discovered by Father Ethan and brought back.
However, at that time, only the Electric, Fire, and Water evolutions of Eevee had been discovered. So, Father Ethan, who specialized in Grass-types, did not plan to raise it. It was only due to Ethan's persistence that it stayed. Then, by all means, he managed to evolve it into the rare Leafeon, which has now become one of Father Ethan's main Pokémon.
It was precisely because of the discovery of Leafeon that the multiple evolutions of Eevee were once again brought up by the research institute. Then Glaceon was discovered, and later Espeon through high friendship. However, Umbreon and Sylveon were never publicly announced. This was why Ethan knew the Alliance was unwilling for Dark and Fairy types to appear. From then on, he became much more cautious about research on the new three types. For a long time, he even completely abandoned this area of research, just to avoid being targeted by the English family.
Fortunately, the discovery of Leafeon brought them huge economic benefits. Although it couldn't be proposed under Ethan's name, there was no problem using Joanna's name. Not only Leafeon, but all subsequent research on Eevee's evolutions paid the Ethan family a large sum in royalties. So, although they seem like an ordinary family now, their wealth can catch up to the tail end of Jake's family.
"Tsk, Little Leafeon is doing well, having descendants so quickly! Not bad, not bad!" Ethan exclaimed, looking at the incubator with pleasant surprise. He hadn't expected that little guy from back then to have offspring in the blink of an eye.
"Yes, so shouldn't you two also work harder? Combined, you're much older than Little Leafeon!" Joanna said teasingly, not forgetting to poke fun.
"Mom~~~" Ethan called out, feeling deflated. At the same time, he secretly glanced at Emily, seeing that she was just blushing and not speaking, which made him secretly relieved.
"Heh~~~" Such a movement naturally couldn't escape the keen eye of Mother Joanna. She smiled inwardly but didn't expose them.
"How long until they hatch?" Emily asked at the right time to ease the awkwardness.
"About a month, give or take. It should be just in time for your school to start. But have you thought about what type you want them to evolve into later? After all, the conditions for different evolutions vary quite a bit," Joanna asked.
"Umbreon." Without hesitation, Emily said with certainty. This was the path she had decided on from the very beginning.
"Hmm~ Dark type? Then you'll have to spend a lot of time cultivating intimacy and synergy," Joanna said, frowning slightly. As someone with the power of life, she naturally disliked dark types, but she respected Emily's choice.
"Mm, it's fine, I'm not in a hurry." Emily nodded, then stroked the Weavile beside her. Having it was enough.
"There's no point in rushing. This kind of thing can only be done gradually. Dark type isn't evil; it's about protection," Ethan said.
For Eevee to evolve into the Dark-type Umbreon, it requires a sufficiently deep bond of intimacy, which then erupts at a certain moment to protect the other. This is also why Umbreon has never been discovered in the human world. Although the relationship between humans and Pokémon has improved, for most people, Pokémon are exotic beasts, tools. Very few truly treat Pokémon as friends or family.
Hearing Ethan's words, Emily pursed her lips and said nothing. She was well aware of the difficulty involved, but this was the path she intended to take.
"What about you? What kind of Pokémon are you planning to raise?" Seeing a brief silence in the laboratory, Joanna asked Ethan at the right time.
The greatest fun in raising Eevee lies in choosing among its various forms. The discovered Eevee family has nine forms in total, which can satisfy the choices of almost everyone. Of course, it's best to also follow the Pokémon's wishes.
Don't look at how heated their discussion is now; it would be most awkward if the Eevee hatched later and didn't want to choose an evolution direction according to their wishes. Fortunately, for egg-born creatures, Ethan had many ways to subtly adjust the elemental ability ratio within the Pokémon during the incubation period through artificial means. This way, the Pokémon born would naturally lean towards the trainer's chosen direction in terms of type. This was also one of the reasons Joanna called them over today; after all, this way she could adjust the types within the two Eevee according to their preferences.
"Mom, you gave birth to me so beautifully, so of course, I have to choose the most enchanting-looking Pokémon. Only then can it match my peerless beauty!" Ethan said with a grin.
"Vain! A Fairy-type Eevee? That actually suits you quite well!" Joanna said with a laugh, a little surprised by Ethan's choice, yet feeling a strange compatibility between the two.
Ethan awakened the power of the moon. If there was one type of Pokémon that could maximize the effect of moon power, it would undoubtedly be the yet-to-be-announced Fairy and Dark types. Therefore, for Ethan, the Fairy type could be said to be the best choice.
"Heh heh, anyway, I already look like this, so I might as well go all out." Ethan said, throwing caution to the wind.
He actually always felt that the reason he was able to awaken the power of the moon was probably due to watching a lunar eclipse in his previous life. A once-in-a-millennium red lunar eclipse likely granted him some mysterious power, and not only that, he felt that his moon power should contain some other ability, but it just hadn't been discovered yet.
"Oh, and these are gifts from your grandfather, the latest model of the Pokémon Pokedex!" Walking to a drawer, Joanna took out two Pokedexes from inside. These were benefits only enjoyed by new trainers recognized by the Alliance; ordinary people couldn't get them.
In this world, the Pokedex is a person's identity proof. From high-ranking Alliance officials to homeless beggars, everyone must carry a Pokedex. It's just that an ordinary person's Pokedex truly only serves as an identity document.
The Pokedex in a trainer's hand, however, combines a series of functions such as looking up information, recording identity information, surfing the internet, and making calls. It's no exaggeration to call it a super powerful mobile phone.
"The latest Pokedex?" Ethan looked excitedly. It was a palm-sized metal box with a Poké Ball relief on it. Although it was different from the Pokedex in his memory, it appeared even more exquisite.
"That's right. In addition to the original functions, it also includes energy level and energy quality detection, limited to levels below 50, of course. Plus, it has an additional 134 newly compiled Pokémon entries. You can't buy these on the market!" Joanna said.
"The latest 134 Pokémon entries? So this Pokedex has a total of 386 Pokémon entries?" Ethan quickly calculated. 386 Pokémon was the number of Pokémon in the third generation of Pokémon in his previous life. However, this didn't mean that the Alliance had only discovered that many Pokémon; it just meant they hadn't fully researched them or hadn't officially announced them for certain reasons.
"That's right, and you can compile and store Pokémon data yourselves. This is a feature that previous Pokedexes didn't have," Joanna said. She knew that Ethan's familiarity with Pokémon was far beyond that of a teenager his age, and 386 Pokémon wouldn't satisfy him at all. So, being able to compile and store Pokémon data himself would undoubtedly be a huge attraction for him.
"Really? That's great! Emily, I'll organize more Pokémon data for you these next few days. Then, when you encounter a Pokémon you haven't seen before, you won't have to look up information everywhere!" Ethan said excitedly. More Pokémon data could occasionally be seen on online forums and message boards, but collecting such data was very troublesome, and having to look up information every time he encountered a new Pokémon was very inconvenient. Being able to store this data permanently himself would undoubtedly save a lot of trouble.
"Okay!" Emily nodded, no longer paying attention to the Pokedex. Instead, she gently stroked Weavile's head while quietly watching the Pokémon eggs in the incubator. These would be her second partners.