Minseok has already lost count of how many times he has circled the Lu family's yard with his bicycle and his legs feel like they were made of cement but he would rather upset a Tyranitar than give up.

He decided in the morning that today would be the day his Cryogonal finally hatches from its egg and nothing is going to stop Minseok from making that happen. Not even the fact that he is insanely worried about his pokémon who are on a large grass field playing tag with Lu Han's fleet in the hot midday sun.

“Guys, move into the shade, I'm sure so much direct sunlight can't be good for you! We all need to stay in top shape for the upcoming gym battle!” he instructs his pokémon while wiping sweat from his forehead.

Lu Han waves at Minseok from the window and once he's got Minseok's attention, blows him a kiss. He's been on his Pokégear with the Saffron Gym staff for over an hour, taking care of the daily business of the gym mostly long-distance ever since Minseok arrived in Silver Town.

Minseok pulls lightly at the straps of his backpack, making sure the egg is still securely on his back. He picks up speed again, determined to cycle the next lap around the yard even faster than before, even though his legs feel heavier than ever.

His precious Vanillish comes over to circle around Minseok's head a few times, cooling the air around him. Piloswine and Delibird create a curtain of snow for Minseok to cycle through but are extra careful not to freeze the ground so the egg won't be in any danger. Lapras and Jynx join forces to make a their trainer a snow cone. With all the support he's getting, there's no doubt Minseok's fleet is eager to see the newcomer, too.

Lu Han's pokémon get excited about the snow cones and soon all the pokémon are gathered together on the grass field again, making and eating delicious treats. Minseok continues making his laps.

He has been looking forward to having a Cryogonal in his fleet for a long time. It took a while to find an ice type breeder from Unova or the mountains of Kalos who was willing to sell eggs to trainers in Johto since the breeder Minseok got his Vanillish from had no Cryogonal eggs. Eventually Minseok found a breeder from Unova who sold eggs of several different types, including ice. The Cryogonal egg cost him more pokédollars than he likes to admit but he has never regretted the purchase, not even for a moment. The least of all now that he is only moments away from meeting his new pokémon.

He circles the yard another three times, all the while looking at his and Lu Han's pokémon playing on the grass. Kadabra uses his psychic powers to hold Piloswine in the air, a foot above the grass field, while the hairy pokémon tries to flap its ears in mimicry of Dumbo. Minseok supposes he has Lu Han to blame if Piloswine falls down and hurts himself. Lu Han was the one who insisted on having a Disney movie marathon with their pokémon.

Minseok doesn't have very long to ponder about the dangers of showing animated films to pokémon. He feels it. The egg is shaking in the backpack. It's just gentle little shakes, like something was pushing at it from the inside. Something most likely is.

Minseok carefully slows the bicycle to a halt, afraid he'll break the fragile egg if he makes any sudden movements. He leaves the bicycle to lean on its kickstand and walks a few feet away from it. He sets the backpack down on the yard and instead of lifting the egg up, he decides to roll down the backpack so there's no risk of the egg getting damaged.

Minseok sits down next to the egg and for a while just watches it shake in wonder. It's only the second time Minseok has witnessed the hatching of an egg he himself has cared for. He places his hand on top of the shell and feels something trying to poke his hand. Soon. Very soon his Cryogonal will join the rest of his fleet and Minseok can become a loving trainer to yet another pokémon.

He calls the pokémon over to him and the egg and once they're all in a circle around the egg – at a safe distance, of course, so the newly hatched pokémon won't get overwhelmed by its new brothers and sisters – Minseok can see they're all just as excited as he is.

Lu Han is still on his Pokégear when Minseok signals to him that the egg is about to hatch. His expression changes from business-serious – which isn't very serious at all when it comes to Lu Han – to exhilarated and Minseok sees Lu Han say something into his Pokégear, probably something about “becoming a dad,” as it has been one of Lu Han's favorite topics to talk about whenever their discussions even slightly concern the egg. Then Lu Han disappears from the window. Minseok assumes he's run off to get the celebratory champagne he bought for the occasion with his substitute gym leader money.

Lu Han is still indoors when the egg cracks for the first time. First there is nothing but a sound, then a clear line running down the side of egg until the line first splits into two, then into even more cracks on the shell.

Then, a small puff of smoke exits through the cracks.

Once the shell begins to shatter around the pokémon the first thing Minseok sees are yellow, curly eyebrows.

Cryogonals do not have have yellow, curly eyebrows.

When Lu Han finally steps outside with a bottle of champagne and two flutes, he finds his and Minseok's pokémon in a small circle, most likely surrounding the newcomer. What's odd is that Minseok is sitting several feet from the pokémon, shouting at his fleet to back away from whatever is in the middle of the ring. When he notices Lu Han, he begins to gesture wildly at the pokémon.

“Hannie, draw the backpack back over it! Do it!”

“What's the matter? Is a wild Persian is approaching you again?” Lu Han chuckles, amused by Minseok's reaction.

“Lu Han!” Minseok whines in distress. “Can't you see what that is?”

Lu Han steps closer to where the pokémon are either standing or hovering and looks at the newly hatched pokémon. Oh. He reaches into his pocket for his Pokédex and flips it open. It makes a soft beep and then an image of the newcomer appears on the small screen.

Darumaka, the Zen Charm Pokémon. When asleep, even when pushed or pulled, it cannot be knocked over.

“Cool, a Darumaka,” Lu Han voices. “I hear in some parts of Unova people use Darumaka droppings to keep themselves warm during the cold seasons. Don't poop heat packs sound kind of intriguing? Maybe even an excellent business idea? The XiuHan Poop Heat Packs! Can't you just imagine the sign on top of th--”

“Cool? Cool?! It's a fire type!” Minseok shouts in panic while Lu Han takes a few steps toward Darumaka to get a better look at it. “What is it doing now?!”

Lu Han looks at Darumaka scurrying around the ring, greeting all of the pokémon around it one by one when it passes them.

“Looks a lot like it's running around. I'm no fire type expert but I think Darumakas do that when their internal fire is burning.”

“There it is again – fire!” Minseok screams, struggling to crawl even farther away from the rest. “Lu Han, do something!”

Lu Han looks at Minseok and then back at the pokémon.

“Our pokémon seem to like it. Look at how they all want to play with the little baby.” Lu Han points his thumb at the group of pokémon getting excited over Darumaka's energetic performance. Minseok's Jynx even joins it in the middle of the ring.

“No playing with fire pokémon!” Minseok protests. “All ice types, get away from that thing! Lu Han, can't we throw something at it so it'll go away? Lapras, do NOT give your Exp Share to it! That thing isn't staying!”

“It's really cute though, isn't it?” Lu Han says, bending down to pick Darumaka up into his arms and trying his best to ignore Minseok's comments about how the pokémon is going to burn his hair off.

“Its eyes remind me of this kid I met one summer not long ago when my family was vacationing in Lilycove City, in Hoenn,” Lu Han tells Minseok “He was all tiny and squishy and cute, but also really skillful at capturing pokémon. I remember him catching a Rhyhorn in the nearby Safari Zone while we were there. He was a small and cute powerhouse – maybe this Darumaka can be like that, too?”

“But it's a fire type, Lu Han! It's my pokémons' worst enemy!”

“Do those guys really look like worst enemies to you?” Lu Han asks Minseok, pointing at Vanillish trying to tickle the baby Darumaka with its tiny icicle arms.

“Your pokémon are of a high enough level to handle a level one Darumaka around them. And besides,” Lu Han adds, “once Darumaka evolves into Darmanitan, it can achieve Zen Mode where it has a secondary psychic type. I'd love to see that.”

“You train it, then,” Minseok mutters, feeling defeated by everyone else's reactions to the newcomer.

“Fine. But I'm gonna put it down and let it play with the others now.” At Minseok's terrified expression, Lu Han continues: “What damage can it do? A level one pokémon that only knows Tackle? Come on, Minseok.”

“Okay, okay. We can keep it until it learns fire type moves. After that you may need to move it to the garage or something if you still want it around.”

Lu Han places Darumaka down on the yard and it immediately sprints away, running around the yard in its unique style. The pokémon play for hours until sometime around dusk Darumaka's inner flame shrinks and it tucks in its arms and legs, turning into a peculiar tumbler doll.

It isn't until Lu Han is carrying the sleeping Darumaka indoors that Minseok finally admits what has happened.

“I got scammed so hard by that breeder in Unova, didn't I?”

“You did,” Lu Han laughs quietly, “but it's not so bad. It got us a new family member.”

“We'll see if that thing is staying or going.”

“Just admit it, you already love the little pokémon!”

“We'll see, Lu Han.”

But when Lu Han is humming a nursery song while setting Darumaka to sleep on a large cushion, Minseok thinks living with a small fire pokémon may not be that bad, after all. It'll give him more incentive to train his fleet into an even stronger shape and Darumaka will probably prove to be an excellent practice opponent once it levels up a bit.

Not to mention, if it gets Minseok more moments of Lu Han acting all fatherly with the young pokémon... well, it can't be all that bad.

Happy (slightly belated) birthday to my friend Jini! <3 I really wanted to post something xiuhan-related in honor of her birthday and almost made it (the 14^th ended here just a few hours ago). What I originally hoped to be able to update this weekend was a whole different fic entirely but alas I don't have enough time for that so I decided to finish this piece instead. I had small parts of this ready thanks to Seokmonsters since this was going to be a scene in what is now known as chapter 2 here in AFF but eventually I cut it because it didn't fit in too well with the rest of that fic and decided to make it a separate story.

Everyone, whether it is your birthday or not (and congrats if it is! ^^), I hope you had fun reading this installment of Catch Rate 3. I wrote this one very quickly and on very little sleep, so I'll probably be back in a few days to proof this. This story marks the second time there's a hint of a character who has yet to appear in the series... I'm hoping someone catches both hints~ ^^ From the next installment on, more characters should be introduced. ...Unless I'm hit by an attack of the xiuhan plot bunnies. :D