Cuteness awaits!

[BirdyBot]

Hinote the golden ghost Arcanine padded into the Nursery, sniffing all the new scents of newborn Pokémon and Eggs. He caught lovely warm smells of Fire Pokémon, horrible wetness of Water types, the emtpyness of Flying types, the earthy scent of Ground types. And, above all, he smelled eggs. Lots and lots of them. He wagged his long, bushy tail excitedly.

Sulteron stood behind him, writing out a form that had been given to her. She scribbled down her answers in her flowing handwriting, then handed it to the Nursery Lady. It read like this;
Name: Sulteron Koagle
Gender: Female
Age: 12
Pokemon in Party: Arcanine, Groudon, Egg. My others are a Chikorita and his wife and two children, a Sneasel, a Cherubi and a Dratini, but they wanted to go to the Daycare Center.
Experience with Pokemon: I am part Pokémon, so can understand them. I took a lost Delibird from Route One to his mother in Magma Volcano, and rescued a Monferno from Groudon.
Why you wish to adopt a Baby Pokemon: For the extra experience it will give me, to give my Chikorita's children and the egg when it hatches someone to play with, and to give someone a loving home and show him/her the world.

Sulteron smiled. That should do it. She turned to Hinote; she wanted her Pokémon to be content with her choice, too. "I was thinking of getting two Pokémon; a Suicune and something else. What would you like to be with?" she asked.

Hinote shrugged his fluffy shoulders. ~I don't know... Tauros? Aerodactyl? We could do with a Ground or Rock type... oh, I know! How about one of those adorable Eevee, like cousin Tsuki has? Then you could evolve it into an Espeon just like you!~[/color] he grinned, wagging his tail furiously.

Sulteron nodded. That was fine with her. She turned to the Nursery Lady. "Could I have a look at any Suicune and Eevee you might have?" she asked.

[Pikachu]

The lady smiled, and ushered Sulteron through a door.
"It's nice when trainers come in with an idea of what they want." she said. "Our babies are just through here."

The room opened out into a larger space. In the middle of the floor was a large pen, and various babies were rolling, playing and swooping around it happily. A very excited-looking baby Zapdos flew immediately up to Sulteron and started flapping about her ankles. There were a couple of Suicune, and one or two Eevee around. One Suicune was looking warily at Sulteron, as if it didn't trust her; it soon looked away when its playmate gave it a soft bat on the nose. Another was sleeping with a baby Mew in the corner.

[BirdyBot]

Sulteron smiled at the sight of so many happy baby Pokémon. She watched one of the Zapdos flying around for a bit, then moved to crouch down between the playing Suicune, the Eevee and the sleeping Suicune. She wondered what the sleeping Suicune's personality was like, but she was not sure whether she should wake it or not. She held out a hand to the Pokémon, in reach of all, including the sleeping Suicune. They were so cute! She waited for one to come over to meet her. "Hello. My name is Sulteron, and I would like to take two of you on my journey as a trainer," she introduced herself.

Hinote padded about, finally stopping to lay down beside the sleeping Pokémon. His warm form lay next to the Suicune's, and he watched her progress with interest, chocolate eyes bright and bushy tail wagging.

[Pikachu]

Raising its head, the Suicune gazed blurrily at Sulteron, before yawning widely and curling back up - that is, until it registered the form of the much larger Arcanine sitting next to it. Giving a yelp, the timid Pokémon went and scurried behind one of its playmates. The baby Mew it had been sleeping with didn't give Hinote a second glance; she simply went back to sleep.

The second of the baby Suicunes was more than a tad alarmed to find the first attempting to bury itself in the second's mane. Advancing warily forwards, the second, bolder-looking Suicune fixed its gaze upon Sulteron's face, with the first poking its head out from behind.

[BirdyBot]

Hinote gave a low chuckle as Suicune ran away, watching the scene. He didn't want to interrupt Sulteron's progress with the braver puppy with his apparently scary appearance. He assumed he must look big and scary to a small Pokémon of that size, despite the fact it was a baby legendary.

Sulteron smiled, relieved, as the bolder Suicune approached her hand. She carefully reached out closer. Her hand met the icy blue fur, and she gently stroked it, taking care not to scare the little Pokémon. She watched the Suicune's reaction, of course, but also kept an eye out for anything else; the Eevee, Mew, Zapdos, and other Suicune, in case any of them were feeling brave as well.

[Pikachu]

The Suicune flinched its head back as Sulteron started to stroke it, before twisting and snapping gently at the offending object. A low 'rrr-rrr-rrr' noise coming from its throat, it drew back slightly.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity, and a small brown blur catapulted into Sulteron's legs. It began jumping excitedly up at her, waving its bushy tail around - it appeared to be an Eevee, and small jewel-like sparkles flew out of its coat with every energetic leap. Friendly, no?

[BirdyBot]

Sulteron and Hinote laughed in unison. The Espeon 'morph tried to watch where the brown blur was centred, watching the sparkles-

Sparkles? Why was an Eevee sparkling?

Sulteron held the Eevee to her face and smiled, ruffling it's soft baby fur. "Hello. Aren't you cute!" she cooed, letting it jump up and down again as she turned, first watching the cautious Suicune, then the Daycare Lady. "Did you know that this Eevee sparkles? Why is that, do you know?" she asked, wondering if the fox had eaten something it shouldn't or something like that.

[Pikachu]

The Daycare lady smiled softly.
"It's a rare occurence around here, but I believe that that indicates it's a shiny. See, shiny baby Pokémon look just the same as ordinary babies of the same species, and they don't get the shiny coat until they mature. The properties of their fur are still the same, however, and they still release the small sparkles from the hair follicles." She laughed gently. "It's taken quite a liking to you, hasn't it?"

Indeed, it did seem to have. The baby Eevee licked her face softly, and the two baby Suicunes watched; one rather warily, the second with an expression that told it was going to doze off again.

[BirdyBot]

Sulteron smiled as the Eevee licked her. A shiny, huh? Extra good! She stroked the Eevee, looking at the Daycare Lady. "I guess I have no choice but to take it with me, then!" she laughed, knowing the fox Pokémon would most likely be happy, since it seemed to like her. It was more a case of Eevee had chosen her, rather than the other way around.

Well, now onto the matter of which Suicune to choose. The first seemed cautious and a lone wolf, the other easily bored and lazy. She sat down in between the two. "Well, I have to take one of you with me." smiled. "Which of you want to see the world and travel to the edge of the region, become the Champion and whatnot?" she offered.

[Pikachu]

The second Suicune - the dozy one - looked up at Sulteron and gave a soft, mewling noise.
~Mraaaaahw.~ it said, blinking happily. ~Mraaah mraaahw.~

The first one, likewise not seeming to understand Sulteron, went off back to its playmate, a third Suicune who seemed much more energetic, and they resumed their game of tag. Huhn... not as much as a lone wolf as you had thought, then. The second looked quickly around, seemingly feeling a little uncomfortable all alone with this giant lady. It looked back up at her, mewling again, only this time it was much softer.

[BirdyBot]

Sulteron smiled at the Suicune left with her. It seemed nervous or something of the like. It was hard to think that her presence could intimidate a Pokémon which would grow up to be a large legendary taller than her. She watched the others loose interest and continue with their game, but her concentration was not with them any more. It was with the other one, mewling occasionally beside her.

"Hello. Don't worry; I won't hurt you. I guess... you wouldn't perhaps be interested in joining Eevee here and travelling with me?" Sulteron asked the Pokémon's permission before she took it. It seemed that would be the way things should be.

[Pikachu]

The Suicune, again, didn't quite seem to understand Sulteron's words; but the sight of the Eevee, clearly not in any danger, comforted her, and she gave another, happy mewl. The Daycare lady smiled and scooped her up.
"Well, there's your answer. It's so nice to see our little babies going to good homes. I'm sure you'll take good care of them. Will you be taking them both in?" She stroked the Suicune's mane gently. "You seem like a very capable young lady, but your application form said that you didn't have any prior experience with directly taking care of baby Pokémon. You're probably working on getting Gym badges, hmm? I know that training your capable Pokémon, working on your moves, and taking care of but a single baby Pokémon can be a huge workload." She nodded to Hinote, standing proud by Sulteron's side. "I know I'm rambling, and you look like a natural with Pokémon, but it's so sad to see babies that don't get proper care or, even worse, are maltreated, simply because the trainer doesn't have enough time to care for them. If you like, I could give you a couple of pointers." The Daycare lady winked at Sulteron. "After all, I've had a lot of experience, and you look like you could use a little tutoring, if you're going to have two hungry little mouths to feed."

[BirdyBot]

Sulteron smiled. Her newest and youngest companions were better than she had hoped. She was glad she had listened to Hinote's input and chosen an Eevee; her one, picked on personality, seemed friendly and cheery. The Suicune was more timid, but she hadn't really expected very good personalities from legendaries, and this was fairly good on her standards.

As for the pointers... how could she refuse? With Hino and Chikorita's children, Sira and Ria, who were now almost ready to leave home, the parents had done most of the work, for she preferred to allow them to experience it and let the babies have their parents. So she didn't know how to take care of a baby Pokémon herself... "Yes, some advice would be great, thanks," she said, rubbing the top of Eevee's head.

[Pikachu]

The Daycare lady gave another smiling nod.

"The babies will drink milk for the first week or so. Water will do, but I can provide the milk at no extra cost. After that, they'll normally move on to regular solid food, though at first you may want to mush it up with their milk. They'll need feeding between two and three times a day, mainly depending on how they're feeling and how much activity they've had. Never try to put a baby Pokémon in a Pokéball. Try to spend as much time bonding with them as possible, and if you're planning to name them, do it sooner rather than later. They reach maturity in two and a half to three months, which is when they'll reach their full size. The same goes for Pokémon eggs, I believe; they hatch after two and a half months, sometimes later, depending on the species. In fact, I think I heard a rumour that the eggs of some rare Pokémon take even longer; legend has it that the egg which Azelf, Mesprit and Uxie hatched from was incubated by Arceus for a full year. Of course, nobody knows for certain."

Producing two bottles of milk from her apron, she handed one to Sulteron and took the other in her hand. "Feeding a baby Pokémon is an excellent way to gain their trust. That Eevee already seems to like you, but this timid little missus is somebody you should try to feed personally as much as you can. Try it now; you take the bottle like this, and hold it pointing slightly down, so the baby can drink easily from it. I bottle-feed most of the babies around here, so they should catch on straight away."

The Daycare lady gently nudged the teat of the bottle towards the Suicune. She sniffed gently at it, then clamped its small jaws around it and began drinking eagerly. The lady smiled, before nodding at Sulteron to indicate she should try the same thing.

[BirdyBot]

Sulteron listened to the Daycare Lady, taking in every word for future reference. So Eevee would probably mature a few weeks before three months, and Suicune most likely later, for she- the Daycare Lady made it seem Suicune was a female- was a legendary, and so had more growing to do. That made sense; the larger or legendary the Pokémon, the longer it took to hatch or mature. She wondered what was in the Egg she had been given at Easter; if the Daycare Lady was something to go by, it should hatch in about a month and a week or so more time.

Now she needed to feed the Eevee in her arms. She used the Daycare Lady and Suicune as an example, trying to copy her movements. She held the bottle at a tilt, trying to match the angle of the Daycare Lady's. She watched Eevee carefully, easing the bottle towards the fox.

[Pikachu]

Eevee blinked, before licking the teat of the bottle gently. Chewing indistriously on the end of it, the fox gave a tiny hiccup before bitting down harder and starting to drink. With a loud slurping noise, it drained the bottle at a rather astonishing rate; it was half full quite rapidly. Pausing for a second, it let out a long, contented sigh and laid back, gazing lovingly at Sulteron with large chocolate eyes. This new person was great! She smelled real nice, like, wierd nice, and had big fluffy ears and a shiny on her head and would be good fun to play with. Settling down, the Eevee took hold of the bottle again in its jaws and quickly finished it off, before making a soft purring noise and half-closing its eyes.

The Daycare Lady gave a gently giggle. "These baby Pokémon sure do have an appetite, don't they? How much milk do you think they'll need? I could give you a pack of bottles... let's see, we do thirty-packs and fifty-packs last time I checked... or, I could give you some powdered milk to be mixed with water and then fed. Most trainers go with that; it's a lot less work and a lot less bottles, but some people prefer the milk naturally, hmm? Before it's been treated and dried, and all that. So what'll it be?"

[BirdyBot]

((Urgh, major lack of muse))

Sulteron stroked Eevee's soft head, gently easing the bottle away from her as she realised it was empty. That was quick- she could see what the Daycare Lady meant by 'appetite'! While still absently stroking the fox in her arms, she weighed out her options. Thiry and fifty did seem like a lot, but at this rate twice or three times a day, she felt she would need that much. As for the powdered stuff... she supposed it might not be as fresh as the milk, but she would be able to carry more and feed the Pokémon more. "I guess I'll take the powdered stuff, please." she asked.

[Pikachu]

The Nursery lady smiled, and placed Suicune down on the floor, where it looked a little worried. "That's just fine. Wait here for a moment while I go get it..."

She returned a minute later, clutching a bottle which appeared to contain about two litres of powder. "It's much lighter than it looks." she assured Sulteron, handing over the bottle. "Now, it may not look like an awful lot, but it'll go a long way. You should be able to easily get fifty servings out of it. It says on the back how to dilute it. I think you should also take these."
Handing over two fresh bottles of milk, she took the empty one back. "You need something to keep the milk in, don't you? The Pokémon should each have their own bottle; generally, they don't like to share. You can re-use them as much as you like."

Picking up Suicune again, she ticked a couple of things off on her fingers, murmuring to herself, then nodded. "I think that's all you need to know. Do you need anything else?"

[BirdyBot]

Sulteron thought about that for a moment. She thought that everything she could need to know in order to care for the babies had been dicussed; feeding, not putting them in a Pokéball, naming, and so on. Yes, she was certain that she would fare well with the knowledge she had. Taking Suicune from the Daycare Lady, she tucked her under her free arm, and shook her head. "There's nothing else I think I need to know. Thank you so much!" she grinned.

She walked out from the Nursery, thinking of suitable names for the babies. Since she had no arm free to wave, Hinote waved to the Daycare Lady for her, then nuzzled Suicune. ~Can I carry her?~[/color] he asked. Sulteron shrugged, setting the puppy on his powerful shoulders. Suicune was a little scared at first, then felt the fun of it and laughed out loud at the piggy-back ride.

[Pikachu]

(( Oh waitwaitwaitwait! You forgot to pay for the second baby! Naughty, naughty! =o


I can't deduct money, so do it yourself. It's, uh, five hundred for the second baby? Dunno, has it been changed? ))

[BirdyBot]

((Yup, 500 per baby. I can't deduct money either, that's why no money is gone. We'll have to bug Drake to do it!))