The dragon-costumed maiden jovially waved at the other woman. “Nice to meet you, Sasha! Wow, you look really pretty! My name’s Andrea!” She introduced herself, while also lacking any sort of filter.

“Can you help me with this?” Andrea requested, offering one of the two bags of food to the beautiful blonde. “We need to get these to the feeders over there.” She explained.

With the weight shared between the two of them, the country bumpkin with the odd fashion sense felt comfortable engaging in some small talk. “How much do you know about Pokémon Breeding, Sasha?”

Sasha Huang //mission thread

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"That's usually true, but sometimes even Pokémon that don't have a gender can produce eggs." The young PokéManiac continued explaining, while pouring the contents of the bag into the feeder, drawing the attention of various farm critters that occupied the scenic ranch.

One of them was a Nidoqueen with two dots and a straight line for a face. The unusual Pokémon was revealed to have been a Ditto in disguise. A blue Nidoking followed after the gelatinous imposter, carrying half a dozen eggs in its beefy arms.

"Whoa, Simba, that's a lot of eggs!" Andrea exclaimed in awe. No wonder the Ditto looked so exhausted. "You're gonna be a papa soon! Congrats!"

Sasha Huang //mission thread

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Andrea couldn’t help but laugh at the Pawmo’s antics. “Heh. I’ve got something right here for this hungry little guy!” She shoved a hand into one of her onesie’s pockets, pulling out a plump and juicy berry, which she offered to the orange rodent.

The young cosplayer addressed Sasha’s next query. “The idea is to raise them here until we find someone willing to adopt them. Nidoran make for great partners if you know how to handle them. Once they evolve, that’s when the effort of training them really pays off!”

Nala, the real Nidoqueen, cradled half the eggs in her arms, crooning happily. Even though she had not laid those eggs herself, she would nurture them as if they were her children until they found a permanent home.

Sasha Huang //mission thread

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While her Pokémon gathered around the feeder, eagerly devouring all the food that had been poured into it, Andrea noticed the empty bag neatly folded up in Sasha’s hands. “There’s a recycle bin inside the barn. That’s also where we keep the egg incubators. Follow me.”

While making their way to the barn, she addressed the volunteer’s latest question. “We mostly breed Pokémon that belong in the Monster or Dragon egg group, because those are the strongest and coolest! Occasionally, though, we get requests for different species, so we make sure to raise a wide variety of Pokémon in the ranch.”

Sasha Huang //mission thread

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“They sure are!” The dragon-hooded girl beamed, sliding her own bag into the recycling bin as well. “I love all Pokémon, but I especially love Pokémon that look big and strong!”

Based on the high demand for Gible and Larvitar, a lot of trainers probably felt the same way.

“Raising them is kinda like raising a human baby.” The draconic cosplayer continued, while meticulously placing each of the eggs inside egg incubators. “A Pokémon is capable of battling as soon as it hatches. Doesn’t mean it’s good at it, though.”

Sasha Huang //mission thread

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Working together made things progress so much smoother. In a matter of minutes, all the eggs had safely been encapsulated. It would take time and patience for them to hatch, but the difficult part had already been done.

"Thanks for the help, Sasha!" Her contribution was rewarded with a smile. A smile that faltered somewhat at her next statement. "Oh... You don't need a human baby to be happy, you know." The younger woman pointed out.

A Pokéball popped open, releasing a tiny Fuecoco that immediately jumped into Andrea's loving embrace, growling happily. "This is Jalapeño. He's MY baby, even though I didn't give birth to him." The eccentric trainer said proudly.

Sasha Huang //mission thread

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