Egg Center

Dame jumped up onto Kyrie's bed with the vaporeon and tilted her head. "So this one is yours?" she asked, her ribbon tendrils hovering just above the egg. "Does that mean you and Loop are, y'know, together?"

Sweep Potato shook their head. "I'm glad Loop trusts me enough to have a child with me," they said, "but he's not interested in anything romantic. He just wants to be a good father."

"And you want to be a good parent, right?"

They smiled. "Yeah! Like I said, I'm glad Loop de Loop trusts me to do that."

"So that one's yours," Dame said. "What about the other one?"

Potato turned to the other egg. "I know it's Loop's," they said, "but I don't know who the other parent is. Could be a situation like Rolly's other dad?"

"But we know who Rolly's other dad is, right?"

They shrugged and wrapped their long, finned tail around both eggs. "All I know is that I have to take care of them both." They brightened up. "Mine should be hatching soon! Kyrie said so."

"I'm glad!" Dame lay down next to Sweet Potato. "Honestly, now that I'm older, I kind of want to raise a child or two. Or more? I dunno."

Potato nodded. "This will be my first. I'm a little nervous, but I helped with Rolly…"

There was a knock on the door. "Sweet Potato? Can I come in?"

"Yes," Potato called back, though of course Kyrie, as a human, could only hear a vaporeon's cry.

Their trainer understood just enough of pokémon language to ask yes or no questions, so they opened the door. "Oh!" Kyrie said. "I didn't know you were in here, Dame. Keeping Potato company, huh?"

Dame purred in agreement and rested her head on Sweet Potato's back. Potato's heart beat faster at the touch.

Kyrie walked over and examined the eggs. "I won't bother you too long," they said. "They both look good! Actually, I think they're going to hatch soon."

Potato twitched their ears and nosed Loop de Loop's mystery egg. Kyrie nodded. "Even that one," they said. "I don't know where Loop got it, but we'll soon find out what's hatching from it."

The door creaked. Sweet Potato and Dame looked up to see Loop de Loop nosing his way in. Kyrie smiled at him. "Just checking on your eggs. Shout if you need me, alright?"

Loop barked and jumped up on the bed. He gave each egg a good sniff before stretching out and taking up the remainder of the empty bed space. Potato nudged his face. "You heard your eggs are doing good, right?" they said.

He nodded, puffing up his mane. Dame let out a short yip of amusement. "You're quite the proud father!" she said. "Will we ever find out where the other egg came from?"

Loop shook his head, then paused, his ears twitching. He whined and dug his claws into the blanket–a typical expression of being unable to express himself.

Sweet Potato nodded. "I'm guessing that's a maybe," they said, "but probably no."

Loop relaxed and nodded.

"That's alright," Dame said. "It's not like we have to know, I'm just curious." She nuzzled the egg in question. "Whatever hatches out of it will be a surprise, huh?"

One of the eggs twitched.

All three pokémon whipped their heads around to stare at it, their ears perked. The egg was Sweet Potato's, and as they watched, it moved again, a faint sound coming from inside. Potato couldn't suppress a grin. "This is it!" they said, pulling the egg closer to them. "Come on, little buddy…"

A crack appeared. Potato could see movement inside. More cracks appeared, a piece of shell broke off, and finally, a paw reached out of the newly-formed hole.

Loop pressed his face against the paw and received tiny claws in his nose. He whined, but didn't pull away.

Shortly after, the eevee's head burst from the egg, wailing. Sweet Potato and Loop de Loop began licking the newborn clean, oblivious to everything else until Dame tapped their shoulders.

"The other egg's hatching, too," she said.

They all looked at the other egg. It wiggled back and forth, then rolled nearly to the edge of the bed. Sweet Potato caught it with their tail and brought it back.

The egg cracked nearly in half and deposited a newborn eevee on the bed. Potato's eyes widened; the eevee appeared to have detached limbs. When they looked closer, they saw that the eevee's lower body disappeared into a golden ring and their legs reappeared out of smaller rings. Sweet Potato nuzzled one paw and the eevee pushed back, so their legs still functioned normally.

Loop de Loop carefully picked up the firstborn and placed them next to their sibling. The two eevees sniffed each other, quieting momentarily, and then they were back to wailing.

"Congratulations, you two," Dame said. "I mean, I know only one of them's yours, Sweet Potato, but they're beautiful."

"Yeah," said Potato. "You want to tell Kyrie the good news?"

The door creaked. Aether stuck his head in, gasped, and darted out again. "Kyrie!" they heard him yelling. "Kyrie! The babies are here! Digital, tell them!"

Loop purred in amusement. Sweet Potato leaned against Dame. "Never mind," they said. "You can stay."

Dame leaned back. "I'm glad to. I like spending time with you."

Sweet Potato felt their ears grow hot, but they didn't mind. It was wonderful to share the arrival of new life with Dame, and they hoped she would be there for the next, too.