Chapter One- The Hatching
Pidgey! Pidgey! Pidgey!
The small alarm clock on the bed chimed as it struck 8 am. A small Pidgey replica popped in and out of a small hole in the center of the clock. Pidgey! Pidgey! Pidgey! It continued. The boy in the bed beside the table moaned. Pidgey! Pidgey! The clock chimed on, not going to stop until someone turned it off. The boy moaned again and slowly reached for it. Once he had it, he held it up in the air. Pidgey! Pidgey! Pidgey! It continued, oblivious to its' soon to come fate. With another moan and a single flick of his wrist, the clock went flying through the air and crashing into the wall, shattering into pieces. The boy moaned one last time, and then sat up with a yawn.
Tetsuya Tekakairi hadn't changed much in the last four years. He still had his ice blue eyes, somewhat dark skin from being out in the sun a lot, and long dark hair. Only now his hair was almost nose-length. He had to constantly push it out of his face so he could see. He yawned again, and then he slowly got out of bed. For a twelve years old, Tetsuya was tall. He was also quite skinny, though this tends to happen on a diet of almost nothing but ramen. Tetsuya yawned and streched again, then he pushed his bangs out of his face. Then he looked over at the broken alarm clock and sighed.
"Mom's gonna kill me...this is the fourth one this month," he said.
And it was then that his eyes fell upon it. The egg that he had inherited from his grandfather four years ago. Tetsuya walked over to the desk it sat on and picked it up. The black and blue egg still felt as warm as it had the day Tetsuya had first received it, still felt as smooth...and showed no signs of hatching anytime soon.
"Maybe you'll hatch into an unbreakable alarm clock," Tetsuya said as he placed it back on its normal spot. He looked back at the broken alarm clock, sighed, and left the room without another pause.
Tetsuya smelt bacon before he even got close to the bottom of the stairs. As he reached the bottom of the flight of stairs, he stopped to deeply inhale the scent. He smiled as he exhaled.
"I smell BACON!" he exclaimed happily as he turned the corner and walked into the kitchen. His younger sister, Tori, sat at the table already eating. She giggled as Tetsuya entered and made his exclamation. Tetsuya turned to her.
"What are you laughing at?" he said as he walked over towards her. He glared at her a bit, and then he smiled, rumpling her short black hair up gently. "Hey!" Tori complained, raising an arm up to stop Tetsuya. Tetsuya laughed and quickly moved his hand, then struck again. Tori moaned.
"MOOOOOM! Tetsuya wont leave me alone!" she whined.
It was at that time that Tetsuya's and Tori's mother, Kathrine, entered the room. At first glance, one would mistake her for a female version of Tetsuya. She looked exactly like him- mildly tan skin, long brown hair, everything was the same- except for the fact that she was a small fraction taller than him and she had green eyes. She looked at her two children and smiled.
"Tetsuya, leave your sister alone," she said, walking over to the stove. Tori giggled again and stuck her tongue out at Tetsuya. Tetsuya smiled and returned the action. He sat down in the chair directly across from Tori.
"So, Mom, is the rest of the bacon ready yet?" he asked.
"No, not yet," Kathrine replied, without turning to look at Tetsuya as she spoke. "Oh and by the way, Tetsuya, I heard a sound from your room earlier...did you break your alarm clock again?" she asked with a frown. Tetsuya sighed.
"Um...well....uh...yes." he admitted sheepishly.
Katherine sighed. "Tetsuya, how many more times are you going to do this? Alarm clocks get expensive once you have to start buying a new one every week, you know."
"That may be true, Mom, but why can't we get a Dodrio like everyone else? They aren't quite as...loud." Tetsuya said.
Kathrine turned to face her son. "We've been over this before- your Dad doesn't like them. And I don't really like them either. I don't know why you just can't be satisfied with an alarm clock." she said with a stern look.
"I told you, they're too loud!" Tetsuya shot back. "Imagine waking up to a Pidgey in your ear every single morning-"
"Tetsuya, we all have clocks like that, but you don't see us throwing them against the wall, now do you?" Kathrine replied.
The alarm on the stove soon went off. Kathrine turned her attention back to the stove.
"Oh, the bacon's done!" she said. "Oh, Tetsuya, don't forget you have to go to Professor Oak's lab today to help your father!"
"'kay," was all Tetsuya said. The entire conversation had put him in somewhat of a bad mood.
Afterwards, Tetsuya walked back upstairs and prepared for his visit to Professor Oak's lab. After showering and brushing his teeth, he went into his room and got dressed. As he put his shoes on, he looked up and saw the egg once again. Tetsuya put his shoes on and stood, immedeatly walking over to it and picking it up again.
Only this time, he nearly dropped it in surprise. The egg felt somewhat....warmer than before. Tetsuya stared at the egg for a moment, as if he was waiting for it to do something...but nothing happened. With a shrug of his shoulders, he placed it back on the desk.
"Must have been my imagination," he dismissed as he turned and left the room.
Tetsuya soon reached Professor Oak's Lab, and it wasn't hard to find the Professor or his father, John. Tetsuya ran up to them, and once he reached them, he looked at them, slightly panting. "I-I'm here!" he announced, as if they hadn't noticed him at all. Professor Oak, who was getting on in his years and didn't appear to have much time left to live, chuckled.
"Well hello there Tetsuya...still as energetic as ever I see," he said.
John laughed. "What do you expect, he IS the grandson of Arikukato Tekakairi after all," he said.
Oak smiled. "Oh, come now John, you know Ari isn't the only one he gets it from," he said, nudging his shoulder.
John smiled. "Maybe," he said, then he looked at Tetsuya. "Well, Tetsuya, today we're going to help Gary feed some of the Pokemon, and the Tauros fence needs fixing....again." he said, "So I hope your ready to do some work." Tetsuya nodded, but at the same time he was nervous. He hated being around the Tauros area- there were rumors that a young Trainer just starting out had once been trampled to death one time when they escaped.
"Ah, I wish I could help you two...but I'm just to old for anything like that now." Professor Oak said sheepishly. "But I suppose there comes a time when you have to step aside to let a new generation take over....speaking of which..."
The three looked back towards the entrance to the lab and saw a man with somewhat spikey hair wearing glasses and a white lab coat coming towards them.
"Ah, Gary," Professor Oak said. He walked towards his grandson, and John and Tetsuya followed.
Gary smiled as he saw John and Tetsuya. "Good to see the two of you again!" he said, his voice now deeper and more mature. He then looked at his grandfather. "Gramps, you should go inside and get some rest."
Professor Oak grimaced. "Why must you insist on treating me this way?" he growled as he slouched inside. Gary shook his head and turned back towards John and Tetsuya. "Now that he's gone...shall we get to work?" he asked, clapping his hands together.
Once they had finished feeding the Pokemon that were due to be fed, they began working on repairing the Taruos fence. Tetsuya was hesitant to go near it and was terrified just being near it. He ended up droping a board he was holding up for while his father hammered it when a Tauros walked
by . Tetsuya apologized quietly as John held his thumb in his mouth for a moment, attempting to lessen the pain.
"Ah...don't worry son...i-it's no big deal." John said once he had removed his thumb from his mouth and was shaking it violently.
Gary, who was picking up the remains of a broken board, laughed. "Well, well, seems Tetsuya isn't quite as courageous as Ari was, does it?" he said with a grin. "It would be interested if the boy were to become a Pokemon Trainer."
Tetsuya blinked. This one of the few times anyone had said anything to him about becoming a Pokemon Trainer. His father said that he should do it, but Tetsuya hadn't been interested in pursuing this idea and the idea was dropped sometime after his tenth birthday, but he knew he would eventually end up with a Pokemon if the egg ever hatched, Trainer or not.
John chuckled, ceasing his flailing of his hand. "Yes, it would be interesting...but...." John began. Tetsuya looked at him, waiting to hear the rest of his sentence, but John just shook his head.
"No, never mind," he said, turning back to his work.
Tetsuya stared at John for a moment, wondering what he had been about to say. Tetsuya turned towards Gary for any hints, but Gary had gone back to work as well, only he now had a grave expression on his face.
Eventually, the sun began to set and the sky had turned a brilliant shade of red-orange. They decided to conclude their work for the day and come back the next day to finish it. John and Tetsuya walked
home , moving as fast as they could before it got to dark. Soon, they reached their house and headed up the stairs to their front porch. Tetsuya reached for the door, but before he could, his father spoke.
"Wait, Tetsuya...I want to talk to you for a minute."
Tetsuya turned to face his father, looking confused.
"What is it, Dad?" he asked.
John looked up at the sky. "Tell me...what do you know about your grandfather?"
Tetsuya blinked. He wasn't quite sure why his father was asking him this, but he decided to not ask about his reasons because he was sure that his father would explain.
"Well...I know that he was one of the world's greatest Pokemon Trainers," he said. And it really was just about all he knew- he had never spoke to his grandfather, nor had he heard anyone talk about him much, so his knowledge of his grandfather was limited.
John nodded. "Yes, that's right...he was an excellent Trainer, and it was said that very few Trainers could match him in skill as he grew more experienced. But that's not all he did..."
John looked back at Tetsuya. "Arikukato was also a member of a special organization....one that was made to keep the peace and save the world from destruction, if the need arose. He joined them when he was only 15 years old, which was unheard of at the time. He eventually ended up rising up to the position of leader of this organization, and he remained there for a long time.
"But he eventually had a family to attend to. Within the next few years, he would disappear for long periods of time, and then come home and stay for almost a year. Arikukato was not only a great Trainer, but at the same time, a great father, though his long absences may make that questionable. Take it from his son, he was great....but one day he came home and suddenly he looked...aged. It was as if he had gone forward in time by twenty years. And it was then that he made a vow- to stay with his family until he died, which he did. Even when your uncle and I moved out, he was still trying to help us in anyway he could. But also...he had something with him that day..."
Tetsuya's eyes widened and his heart beat faster. He had a feeling he knew what this object was...
John obviously saw Tetsuya's reaction to his statement and knew what he was thinking, because he laughed.
"Yes, it was the egg that is sitting in your room at this very minute." John walked over to Tetsuya and placed a hand on his shoulders.
"Tetsuya....one day, the day will come when you have to become when you have to do something you don't want to, and then there is a good possiblity that several more painful decisions may come your way. But just remember that no matter what happens, you must keep going."
With those words, John turned and walked inside the house. Tetsuya stared after him, confused.
"What the heck was that all about? That barely even made sense..."
And then he heard it. A voice came out of the silence and said-
It's time...
Tetsuya froze. He looked around for the source of the voice, but found nothing. He sprinted inside and looked around for any sign of the voice, but all he saw was his parents talking about something that he didn't particularly care about listening to at the moment. He turned and sprinted upstairs towards his room and nearly ran into Tori as he reached his door.
"Ow! Hey, watch where your going!" Tori moaned. But Tetsuya didn't stop to reply. He immediately ran inside his room, slamming the door shut behind him.
He looked around...nothing out of the ordinary. What's gotten into me? Why did I even react that way? He thought as he walked around his room.
Rattle Rattle Rattle
Tetsuya turned around and his heart nearly skipped a beat at what he saw.
The egg that had sat silently on his desk for the last four years was shaking.
Tetsuya walked over to it as it continued shaking. But as he reached the desk, it stopped shaking. Tetsuya stared at it a moment, and then slowly picked it up.
Suddenly, the egg began to glow. Tetsuya stared in awe, his mouth a gape. The egg continued to glow, when suddenly Tetsuya felt something...it didn't take long for him to figure out what.
The egg was hot.
"OW, SHIIIII....!" Tetsuya began, but quickly cut himself off in case his parents or Tori heard him. As if on cue, the door opened and Tori walked in.
"MOOOOOOM! TETSUYA SAID A BAD WOR-" she began, but she too was cut off when she saw the glowing egg. The egg began to glow even brighter now, emitting an almost blinding light. Tetsuya could,t see a thing for a moment, then everything went back to normal.
Tori had left the room, and the egg was gone.
In its place stood a Riolu.
