The little Eevee who had filled their bellies just curled up in Naoki's arms and started getting drowsy.
A few of them soon fell fast asleep, their soft paw pads pressed against Naoki's legs.
The others were also very sleepy, but didn't doze off right away. Instead, they leaned on their companions, squinting their eyes in a daze and occasionally nodding their little heads.
Looking at this pile of Eevee, Naoki felt his heart melt.
He reached out to scratch the chins of a few Eevee and lowered his voice. "Go to sleep."
Hatching Pokemon in reality isn't quite the same as in the games. Pokemon that hatch from eggs can't battle right away, and compared to a normal Eevee, their bodies are more like a baby's.
The books say newborn Pokemon like this need plenty of sleep and nutrition to get through their infant stage.
But unlike humans, a Pokemon's infant stage is very, very short, probably only lasting about a week, after which they can grow to their normal size.
Only after all the Eevee had fallen asleep did Naoki line them up and place them on a soft blanket.
Then Naoki started checking the patterns on the little Eevee's tails to determine their gender.
"Male, male, male, female, male, female, female..." Naoki muttered. "Four boy Eevee and three girl Eevee in total, girl Eevee really are rare!"
If he remembered right, the male-to-female ratio for Eevee was 7:1, so getting three females out of this clutch of eggs was already pretty good.
"Mm, I'll evolve these four boy Eevee into Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Leafeon later."
"As for the three female Eevee, I'll evolve them into Sylveon and Espeon, and give one an Everstone to hold. That way I'll have collected all the Eeveelutions!"
Absolutely perfect!
Naoki turned to look at the two adult Eevee at his side and said to them, "From now on, you two will be the leaders of this group of Eevee!"
"Bui?!"
Glaceon and Umbreon were stunned. They lay by the bed, looking at that nest of little Eevee with troubled expressions on their faces.
But they'd never been leaders before?
"You'll figure it out bit by bit," Naoki said. He wanted to say more, but then his gaze fell on the Indeedee sister beside him, and a bad thought suddenly popped into his head.
Uh oh! He'd called the Indeedee sister up here—who's watching the pot downstairs?!
Naoki hurried down to check, and saw Flutter Mane at the stove, flusteredly smacking at the cooktop with its winglike claws.
Naoki: "..."
Good grief, the Indeedee sister found an "illiterate" to watch the pot!
He quickly stepped in to take over the kitchen, checked the chicken soup in the pot, and seeing it wasn't ruined, turned it down to a low simmer.
Seeing Naoki come over, Flutter Mane finally let out a sigh of relief, as if a huge weight had been lifted.
*
The little Eevee slept like logs and didn't wake up until evening.
When they woke, Naoki had the Indeedee Sibling help him feed them milk again.
After they finished drinking, the Eevee finally started curiously exploring this brand-new world.
The seven little Eevee sat obediently on the wooden floor, big dark eyes shining as they looked up at Naoki in front of them, the Indeedee Sibling, and Pawmot and the others.
Naoki pointed at himself and said, "I'm Naoki."
All the Eevee: "Bui?"
"This is the little sister Indeedee, and this one is the big brother Indeedee."
The Eevee looked over at the Indeedee Sibling standing to the side.
"Ai~" The Indeedee sister greeted them warmly.
The Indeedee brother kept his composure, nodded steadily, and said, "Ai."
The Eevee blinked and let out happy growls. "Bui!"
Naoki didn't need to introduce the rest of the Pokemon.
Because Pawmot, Alcremie, and Ogerpon were already impatiently introducing themselves.
But with so many Pokemon all at once, their round of introductions completely overwhelmed the little Eevee.
Very soon, one or two little Eevee shook their heads, crying "Bui bui" as they tried to escape this "meet-and-greet."
Influenced by them, the other Eevee followed suit and started running all over the room.
One Eevee ran under the bed, two Eevee ran under the cabinet, and a few others ran out of the room.
The hallway outside the door led to the stairs down to the first floor.
Naoki was startled, afraid an Eevee might tumble down the stairs, and hurriedly directed the Indeedee Sibling beside him to help catch them.
As Psychic Type Pokemon, this kind of thing was easy work for the siblings.
Their eyes lit up with a blue glow as they used Telekinesis, and they quickly caught all the fleeing Eevee.
The little Eevee looked utterly bewildered.
Naoki set them down on the blanket. Thinking that after napping all afternoon, they probably weren't sleepy at all now, he simply took them downstairs and put them on the sofa.
"Play here for a while."
"Bui!"
The next second, the little Eevee clambered up along him, crawling onto Naoki's shoulders and head.
They seemed to feel very close to this human who was taking care of them.
Seeing this, Naoki brought out some toys and played with them for a while.
Around eight or nine o'clock, the little Eevee seemed to have tired themselves out and started getting sleepy again.
Naoki also happened to feel a bit tired, so he took them back to his room and put them on the bed.
"You'll all sleep here tonight."
The Eevee didn't answer. They just trembled and looked at the Koraidon beside Naoki, looking absolutely terrified.