First on the list was a television. Currently, the breeding house had no entertainment facilities other than playing with Pokémon or reading books.
Plus, given the early time period—Steven had just turned ten, and electronic devices like smartphones hadn't been developed yet—the breeding house, located in the wilderness and cut off from the outside world, desperately needed a TV to broadcast news and keep them informed of what was happening beyond their isolated home.
Next was a Pokéball transfer machine.
This device could remotely transfer Pokémon. In the future, if trainers wanted to remotely deposit their Pokémon, they could simply go to their local Pokémon Center and use the transfer machine to send their Pokémon directly to the breeding house.
Carver wasn't sure if this technology had been developed yet, though. If he remembered correctly, this technology was jointly developed by Dr. Bill and his team in the Kanto region.
Finally, he needed to learn how to make Pokéblocks to upgrade the quality of food for the Pokémon at the breeding house.
That informant Taillow had stopped visiting entirely because it thought the food here was terrible.
Carver was just about to set off with Bewear for Autumn Leaf Town to solve these problems when the lights in the breeding house suddenly went out.
After a thorough inspection, he discovered the entire breeding house had lost power!
Located in the wild, the breeding house received electricity through power lines from Autumn Leaf Town. The lines were old and deteriorating from years of neglect—something, somewhere, had gone wrong.
Carver checked around and found the breeding house's internal circuits were fine. The problem had to be somewhere along the lines connecting to Autumn Leaf Town.
Sigh. At times like this, having an Electric-type Pokémon would be perfect.
They could generate their own electricity, be completely self-sufficient, and wouldn't even have to pay electric bills.
Even a Pikachu would do.
Unfortunately, Carver had yet to encounter a single Electric-type Pokémon. The batch of eggs sent by the Hoenn League didn't include any Electric-types either, or he would have kept one to hatch and raise himself.
Oh well, this trip to town was perfect timing to find someone to fix it!
Carver gathered his money and found Bewear, preparing to head to Autumn Leaf Town together.
But before they left, there was one more thing they needed to do.
Carver called all the Clefairy and Oddish from the backyard into his room.
Facing the group of innocent, trusting Pokémon, Carver spoke:
"Bewear and I need to go to Autumn Leaf Town. It's quite far from here, so we'll probably be gone for a long time before we can come back."
"Clefairy..."
"Odd?"
"So while we're gone, you all need to stay in this room and not wander around, okay? I'll lock all the doors and windows, and no matter who knocks—anyone except me—you must not open the door." Carver instructed with concern.
"Clefairy..." Clefairy looked confused. "Clefairy?" Why?
Seeing its confusion, Carver explained: "Because I'm worried that bad people might come while Bewear and I are away and try to capture you. That would be terrible—captured Pokémon are forced to work, and if they don't obey, they get shocked. Not only that, they're sold off to random strangers."
"Clefairy...!"
"Odd..."
"Growl..."
The group of Pokémon: (⋟﹏⋞)
Hearing these words, the Pokémon were immediately frightened, fear showing on all their faces.
It sounded terrifying!
They didn't want to be captured!
Oddish didn't want to be taken away—after these days together, it had grown to love this place!
The Clefairy didn't want to be captured either—they still had to help Carver work and earn money to fix the spaceship!
Growlithe especially didn't want to be taken away—without Carver, it wouldn't be able to sleep!
The Pokémon all looked distressed.
This wasn't Carver exaggerating—these were indeed things that Pokémon hunters and evil organizations were capable of doing.
Of course, he was also deliberately frightening the Pokémon a bit.
Seeing his goal achieved, Carver scanned the Pokémon in front of him and asked:
"Until I come back, everyone needs to stay quietly in this room and not go out, understood?"
"Clefairy!" The Clefairy were scared and nodded their little heads repeatedly.
Oddish also cowered in the corner, trembling.
"Growl...!"
Growlithe looked a bit dejected because it wanted to go to town with Carver.
"No, Growlithe." Carver petted its fluffy head.
Under Growlithe's questioning gaze, Carver continued: "You have the keenest nose and can smell bad people coming, helping everyone stay alert. Besides, you're a big dog now—you need to stay and help me protect everyone."
Growlithe was naturally a Pokémon with a strong sense of responsibility and justice.
Hearing this, the Growlithe that had hatched less than a month ago immediately straightened its back.
That's right! It could now use Ember and even Hypnosis Powder. It was a powerful big dog now, so it had to stay and protect everyone!
"Be good, we'll be back soon."
Carver looked at the Clefairy hiding under the blankets, feeling somewhat speechless.
It wasn't quite that dramatic.
"Don't open the door for anyone except me, and don't respond to them either. Remember?"
"Clefairy!" the Pokémon chorused.
Carver nodded and was about to turn and go downstairs when he saw Bewear looking at everyone, its nose twitching as if trying to memorize the scent of every Pokémon here.
As a bear Pokémon, Bewear had an exceptionally keen sense of smell.
Carver's words had also awakened a sense of crisis in it.
So it wanted to remember the scent of every Pokémon here.
Because it had already come to regard everyone in the breeding house—including Carver and all the Pokémon—as its own children.
If anyone dared to capture its children, even if it had to chase them to the ends of the earth, it would bring them back.
And give that person a harsh lesson while it was at it!
"Let's go, Bewear!" Carver called.
Only then did Bewear follow.
Carver checked the breeding house thoroughly, carefully locking every door and window, then hung a sign on the breeding house door that read "Out on Business, Temporarily Closed."
Bewear scooped Carver under its arm, suddenly accelerated, and charged off toward Autumn Leaf Town.
Carver: "..."
At this moment, he really wanted to shout like Team Rocket's trio:
"What a terrible feeling!"
Being carried under an arm was quite uncomfortable, but if they walked, it would take half a day to reach Autumn Leaf Town. To get there and back quickly, this was their only option.
Fortunately, Bewear was fast enough that Carver didn't have to suffer for too long.
Autumn Leaf Town—they'd arrived!