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Kressen simply chuckled as he watched his charmander dance about ready to get this battle started. "Be cool buddy. You get too excited you'll end up making a mistake." The fire pokemon stood still waiting, his tail blazing a bit brighter as he tried to remain calm.

Kressen had also missed the game of rock, paper, scissors, but he didn't question Alex once her Abra was chosen. "This will be a fun warm up for our journey." He looked up at Hayley as she asked the question of how to start. "Well a coin would be the-!" Before he could finish the Nidoran and Rattatta began their assault.

"Eager aren't they?" Okay Gigas use ember!" Gigas sent a blast of hot embers at the charging Tisyphone hoping to slow it. He had plenty of time to do so since the Nidoran wasn't using Quick Attack, but before he could see if either attacks hit something very strange happened.

A glow appeared in front of him then a Pokemon egg appeared and started to fall. "Gah!" His hands lashed out grasping a hold of the egg and pulling it to his chest. Staring down in bewilderment he watched as the egg began to glow and shake as if it was about to hatch. "Uhhhh ladies could we pause for a moment?"

(OOC: Whoop egg hatching time what could it be biggrin )

Kasiya couldn't hold back a yawn as she continued to comb the few remaining knots from her hair, still trying to peek into Sasha's bag as she awaited the return of her clothing. She'd almost fallen into a trance-like state, from a mixture of the steam and her own exhaustion. A knock at the door made her jump and she blinked, looking up into the mirror as Sasha entered the room and she smiled. "Okay," she said, looking over at the spot where Sasha had set her clothes down, able to see a few rips and tears from where she sat. "And I promise I won't run away on you next time we go shopping, too," she added, her cheeks turning rosy and she smiled sheepishly. "Thank you, Sasha, you're a good friend." She waited until the door was closed securely before practically rocketing out of her towel and into her clothes. She was in such a hurry to get dressed and back out to the waiting room that she hadn't even noticed that her clothes still had a slight sulfur smell to them. She threw her hair up into a lazy but acceptable braid at the back of her neck and made sure everything was put away. As a second thought she took her towel and mopped the floor dry as she'd managed to get water virtually everywhere and she hung the towel over the shower stall to dry, certain she could hear Sasha talking to someone outside. She didn't even bother to give herself a second glance in the mirror as she grabbed both her and Sasha's bags and hauled them over her shoulder before exiting the smallish washroom.

The air was sharp and cool in contrast to the muggy steam of the bathroom, and she quickly found her initial suspicions to be correct as Winona had joined Sasha. A bit of relief flashed across Kasiya's face, as it meant that Winona and Kilik probably got Maxie to jail without incident. She threw the bags down on the floor nearby and approached the two girls slowly, as though testing the waters to make sure it was safe. "Hey," she said quietly, taking a seat next to the gym leader. She wanted to ask how the delivery had gone, but decided against it. She also didn't bother to ask Sasha if Mike's condition had changed, as she knew the pink-haired girl would have already told her. She sighed, and stared at the floor. She really hated waiting like this. Waiting, and worrying.

=-=-=-=-=

"Yeah, I guess," Flannery sighed, looking over at Mr Summers and resisting the urge to throw a rock at the man, hating the fact that Keegan was so scared of his own father that he wouldn't even come home to show his parents he was still alive. Instead she offered an apologetic shrug and turned her focus on the Charizard that now stood before them. Flannery had always been impressed by Nitro, but words couldn't really convey how she felt when she looked upon the grand Charizard. Her scales were darker in orange and her body was covered in battle scars, all of which only added to her impressive demeanor. Flannery wasn't even sure of the Charizard's origin, as it was speculated that Mr Summers was a trainer in his younger days, though he never bothered to deny or confirm those rumors. Flannery figured that The Dame was either his first Pokemon, if that was the case, or one of them. She hadn't seen many Pokemon that could keep up with Nitro's mama, at least on her good days, as age did tend to catch up to her now and then.

Flannery steeled her nerves as she climbed onto The Dame's back, recalling that she'd only flown with Mike and Nitro a few times, so the experience was still quite new to her. The redheaded gym leader barely had a chance to hold on or secure herself before Karen had commanded the dragon into the skies and she let out a shrill, terrified scream as they took off into the air, Lilycove their destination.

Train was determined not to let Misty get another direct hit on her Pokémon. Every single one of her attacks had landed so far! ”Raticate, get out of there! Go after that thing with a Quick Attack!” She demanded almost immediately after Misty’s command. Raticate darted to the end of the floating bed and leapt into the water, shooting through it at a surprising speed, closing in on the Quagsire quickly as the ball of mud flew past him. He leaped out of the water, eyes focused on the Water Fish Pokémon, rocketing back down towards it.

He felt as though he should be panicking, running through the Pokecenter in hysterics, but Jett did quite the opposite. He thought of only logical explanations, knowing that despite how fast an Ekans might be, he had only turned his back for a moment or two and she could not have gotten far. That is, unless the mysterious egg dropper had come back for something in exchange. But that was unreasonable, improbable, not worth considering. Instead, he walked to the open doors leading into the cafe, checking the straightforward hallway for a streak of purple he knew he would've seen had she gone this way. When he saw nothing, he quietly closed the doors if only for the moment, to make sure the Poison-type would not escape. He cradled the egg in both arms again, glancing to make sure that River, Aerosmith, and Athena had returned to eating, which they had. After a pause in which the youth simply stood there, absently petting his Pokemon egg, there was a telltale clanging of pots and pans behind the serving down and a woman's scream.

"No," he muttered, hurrying into the kitchens where he found presumably the cook (or janitor, he wasn't sure) petrified by his hissing Ekans. When Jett called her name, Naja turned around and narrowed her eyes. He wanted to recall her, to just leave his problem for another day to handle then, but knew that it would be better if he talked to her now. At least, he thought it would be better. "Naja, go back out there. Don't steal anything else, and wait for me." He made his voice sound like there was no room for argument, willed it not to tremble or falter. After a moment during which Jett refused to look away from the Ekans, she finally slithered back out into the main room. He turned to the woman terrorized by his Pokemon and turned a slight red. "I'm so sorry; it won't ever happen again, I promise." Figuring that to be an acceptable apology for now, he rushed back outside, pleased to find Naja waiting for him, albeit distanced from the rest of the team. He crouched down beside her and looked her in the eye.

"Listen, you can't just go... stealing food, especially not from your teammates." She did not seem particularly pleased by that use of term, but inclined her head just a fraction of an inch, as if to acknowledge that she understood. "They won't uh... they won't hold back in defending themselves, and I don't want to see you getting hurt. I especially don't want to see you guys fighting; you're a team, y'know." He paused, trying to think of his next point and adjusting the egg, before looking down at it. "You have to work together, you have to all be together despite your differences. Especially if we keep this little guy here... he'll need a lot of strong Pokemon to protect him, right?" The Poison-type did not answer this, but when he waited for a response, she blinked once or twice and dipped her head again in assent. "You could be strong, I think. But if you want to get stronger with us, you can't... you can't steal food, or snap at the other Pokemon. You have to behave yourself, all right?" Naja looked away for a moment and then dipped her head a third time, apparently agreeing, although he could sense her reluctance. We'll have to work on attitude some other day, he thought before managing to acquire her Pokeball and recall her, bidding her goodnight. He still had his own dinner to eat, and it would be best if he didn't have to worry about the cafeteria suddenly becoming a battlezone. Seeing that his other Pokemon were all finished with their food by now, he recalled them without a word, feeling very fatigued all of a sudden. After he ate, he would have to find out about this egg and if anyone was missing it, and maybe talk to Scarlet a bit, before he could turn in for the night.

Kasiya's heart was thundering in her chest and she closed her eyes, able to hear the stir of voices around her. Nearby, Rosemary's confusion finally wore off now that the battle had all but come to a halt and she stood up, feeling quite weak. Without being told to, she initiated a Synthesis, and her large petals began to soak up the sunlight, healing her injuries. Now that she had taken care of herself she plodded over to her trainer, her large eyes wide with concern though when she heard Riza cry out from the other side of the field, she craned her neck in that direction. Like Kasiya, an egg had seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the dark-haired girl's lap as well and the Meganium tilted her head, obviously confused. Eggs didn't just drop down out of the sky, out of nowhere, did they? Rosemary glanced down at the younger Bayleef and cooed as well, giving the youngster a gentle nudge with her head to say hello.

Kasiya opened her eyes, fully expecting for the egg to only have been part of her imagination, as her very stressful past few days had left her virtually exhausted. "I... I don't know," she answered, tears in the corners of her eyes as she looked up to see Amy. "I'm not sure what just happened, but this egg, I..." she couldn't explain it, but it almost felt as though she knew this egg, like it had been meant for her. Her fear and concern started to ebb away and she hugged the egg gently. "It's strange but, I feel like I know it." She looked around again, realizing that only Amy and the red-haired girl had come over to her. "Where's Riza?" she asked, looking past the two to see that Riza hadn't really moved much other than the fact that she was sitting down. "Is she okay - WHOA," the blonde's question was interrupted as the warm egg in her arms had started to glow brightly, signalling that it was starting to hatch.

=-=-=-=-=

"What... where... who... why... what?" Jake uttered a series of 'w' questions as he stared down at the new egg in his lap. It was still humming and he could see it shifting, and even as he sat up straighter to get a better look the egg teetered forward, nearly falling from his lap and onto the ground. "Oh, no you don't," he told the egg, grabbing it and holding it securely, but gently. "I don't. What. But I. How?" The blonde's eyes were comically wide and he looked over and up at Jade to see if she had an explanation for him. What he was greeted with, instead, was the sight of Jade now holding onto a seemingly random egg of her own. For a moment, all both trainers could do was look from their eggs to each other, then to each other's eggs and back again. It really wasn't serving any purpose other than wasting time.

"What just happened?" Jake said finally, standing up as carefully as he could while cradling the egg under one arm. "Where did... where did these eggs come from?" It occurred to him then that Jade was probably just as clueless as he was, but the question needed to be asked, even if neither of them had an answer. It sunk in then that Jade had fallen hard to one knee to catch her egg and he moved toward her, blue eyes full of concern. "Oh, your knee, are you okay?" he asked. "Let me see it, you might have cut it."

=-=-=-=-=

Karrigan was quite speechless by this point, having no idea where on earth the egg had come from. She looked to Lennier for an answer, as the Kadabra seemed to always know something, but he simply shook his head. I sensed powerful psychic energy, he explained. It was everywhere. The Kadabra stopped, and looked off in the distance, at something that the non-psychics couldn't see. The energy is starting to build again. Miss Karrigan, please hold out your hands, the telepathic voice echoed in her head. Karrigan, by now, knew better than to doubt Lennier and she did just that, obediently holding out her hands, though she had a suspicion of what might happen next. Just like before, a flash of light appeared, coupled with a feeling of lightheaded-ness and Karrigan was sure the Kadabra was using his psychic powers to keep her upright. Even though she was expecting it now, her green eyes went wide as an egg seemed to materialize out of no where before floating down gently into her outstretched hands. It seemed that whatever gods of fate or destiny had decided that she should receive an egg, too.

The fireball raced ahead with the fury of a shooting star, and though the scorch Cindy left on him was near the top of the scale of the 100 Most Painful Wounds a Fire Type has Inflicted on a Water Type list that he was beginning to construct in his head, Vector managed to dive to his right. Unfortunately, though, he got cuffed in the ribs, and again, as the small burst of flame blossomed on his size, he let out a pained grunt, registering another entry on his list and deciding that Cindy’d earned a hydro pump one day for her troubles.

Then he felt something well up in him. “Vec, you okay!?” he heard Cyan call out. Okay was an understatement he made known with an eerily wide, razor fang filled grin. Though he knew that his physical attacks would hurt too much to use effectively, thanks to Cindy burning his gorgeous face, Vector felt like his water gun could cut through steel, and he couldn’t wait to try it on Cindy’s smug little face.

And her little face was quite smug. She was hurting pretty bad, sure, but the rush she was feeling, the eternal blaze of the fire in her belly, the endless warmth of the flames that erupted from her back… This is what battling was all about. She and Scarlet both knew that to get stronger, you had to endure hardships, and Scarlet’s smirk widened a bit as he watched the battle unfold. After all, the Quilava’s Blaze ability was the epitome of that belief. Seeing Cindy between the Croconaw’s jaw scared the hell out of him, but they had to power through. If she was ready, so was he. And the fire in her eyes was even brighter than the flames dancing across her body. “Looks to me like this next hit might just be everything,” the redhead said with a shrug, closing his eyes as a Snivy-class smugness event of a smirk passed across his face.

Cyan sighed, relief washing over her. Vector was hurt, but his eerie little slasher grin meant that he was still in the game. And Scarlet didn’t seem so utterly terrifying now Cindy was going full tilt. She folded her arms, slowly letting a smile play on her lips too. “Looks like. Try not to go crying to Amy when we win this time!” She yelled, Scarlet missing the ever so slight edge to her voice.

“Oh my god,” his voice cracked. “That was ONE TIME!”

~~~

Four Years Earlier

“What… uh… What a coincidence,” Scarlet muttered, glancing awkwardly to his side. An awkward silence set in as Cyan tugged her Totodile in for a hug, the little guy confusedly proceeding to pat the girl’s side reassuringly. Scarlet watched nervously, only breaking focus on her when he spared a glance and a smile at Cindy as she walked over and nuzzled against his leg.

“So…” She started, defensively holding her now flailing Totodile hoping that Scarlet would take the hint. He was so adorable, and while Cindy was cute, and she’d love to have a Cyndaquil later, she… She didn’t wanna give up Totodile. But as Scarlet stared expectantly at her, fidgeting, Cyan wondered if he knew what she was gonna say. She didn’t want to hurt him, knowing how much he wanted one of those Big Jaw Pokemon, and they made a deal, but…“I’m keeping… I um… I really like Vector, so…”

The redhead just stared. “I don’t… Who’s Vector?” Scarlet had no clue what was going on. She was holding that poor thing like she thought Team Rocket was gonna ride in and steal it from her.

… Oh…

The whole thing slowly seemed to dawn on him. Then his worried expression lightened considerably. Heck, he started smiling. “Is that his name, then, Cyan?”

“Yeah,” she said quietly, more than a little relieved. “You’re not mad?” Her bearhug on Vector loosed and the little guy staggered back, gasping for sweet, sweet oxygen.

“Nah, course not,” Scarlet said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “I was gonna tell you I wanted to keep Cindy… I have this… Link with her, and…” Whatever Scarlet was saying didn’t even make sense to him. After all, he’d barely known his Cyndaquil for twenty minutes, but… “Gah, I can’t explain it in words! It’s like… A blood bond! Even though I’m a human, and she’s a pokemon, I feel like maybe this was destiny!”

Cyan liked Vector, sure, but Scarlet always took things a little far. “… Right,” she said with the slightest roll of her eyes. She high fived her little croc, and rose up to her full height, grinning. “We’re cool then, Red?”

“Why be cool when you can be on fire?” He answered with a grin. “Y’know what we should do, though?”

“What?” She didn’t like that horrible look of ecstatic joy on his face.

“I challenge you!” He said, thrusting his index finger directly toward her center mass. “One on one Pokemon Battle! You accept!? Unless, y’know, you’re scared.”

Cyan instantly frowned, a vein popping up on her forehead. “WHAT!? I’M NOT AFRAID OF YOU! COME ON, VECTOR! LET’S SCHOOL HIM!”

The sandstorm raged on, but Electabuzz seemed to rage even more as he was charged and ready for this fight to go back in his favor. It didn't take long for the command to issue, and the pokemon was barreling towards pupitar with another Cross Chop. This was unfortunate, Pipitar definitly wasn't going to be able to take more than maybe two attacks of that nature. While his shell was hard fighting moves sure knew how to crack it, and with his defenses all screwed up from that screech he was feeling less sturdy than ever. But Electabuzz had taken a screech as well, and while his Rock Slide wasn't as powerful as a Cross Chop, it was very strong still and it was imbued with his natural rock energy. It was time to trade hits and see the result. "Brace yourself Pupitar, then counter with rock slide." The blue shell did as he was commanded and held his ground as best he could, but when those arms came across his chest he felt them cut through him as he was sent backwards several feet. It burned in the shape of an X on his body and his eyes closed tight from the pain, but he didn't lose focus and corrected himself mid air, shooting air from his ports as he rocketed back towards Electabuzz, eyes glowing as a chunck of earth rose with him and started to rain down eager to repay the damage.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Aye aye aye aye, canta y no llores. Porque cantando se allegran, cielito lindo, los corazones!" Carlos sang out as he marched along the beach with his guitar. His family home was around the bend by the Dewford Cave, farther from the town than a lot of the homes but that was because they were musicians and were always playing something. In fact he could hear some music now in the distance, the faint wail of a trumpet most of all which had to be his dad, though it was hard to tell as most of his family played multiple instruments. He was about to start running towards the sound but suddenly felt a heavy pressure in his body, a pressure that caught him so suddenly that it knocked him on his back as something bright flashed on his stomach. He felt something plot on his stomach, and rubbed his head almost sure someone had hit him as he leaned up. "Coñio! The heck was th...eh? Un huevo?" He looked at the odd egg resting on top of him and looked around and around, did someone just throw an egg at him? The mystery was profound as no one was around, but as he lay a hand on its shell he could feel its warmth, and even its 'beat', it was close to hatching for sure but more than that it had a nice rhythm to it. A rhythm that fell in line with his own, like a steady maracca moving with his souls guitar, or a little drum, maybe even both. He didn't know where it came from but it was clear this egg was his. "Vamonos little huevo. You're totally playing my beat, hatch soon so we can be amigos." He smiled inexplicably as he wrapped the egg in his poncho and carried it close as he continued down to his home.

+++++++++++++++++++

Jason grinned from ear to ear as he and Atlas crossed the threshold of the mining town, impressed with the look of Oreburgh. Very different from Jubilife, it was an industrious town with workers all around probably going to or coming from the coal mine. It might be cool to check out, but at the same time a mine wasn't a playground and he didn't want to get in the way. "Oh, what's in that direction? Wanna check it out Atlas? He asked as he pointed to a big important looking building, but as he held his arm out and pointed, he started to snore, having fallen asleep on his Onix. Atlas looked at Jason with concearn, but just kind of chuckled when he heard the snores of his trainer. The rock snake carefully slithered towards the building, which unknown to Onix was the city gym, and took Jason up in his tail resting him against the side of the structure coiling up protectively around him as he lay down for a nap too. Unlike other town the people here didn't seem to mind or think oddly of a large rock snake slithering through town turning up the dirt where it went, and as Atlas drifted off he noticed that a lot of the people here were accompanied by rock pokemon too. Both being asleep it was hard to tell how long they had napped, but Jason was woken suddenly not by Zeus's thundershock but by a strange sensation and a bright light that shone through his closed eyelids. He rubbed his eyes as he sluggishly came around, yawning as something rolled out from his body and came to a stop against Atlas's body. Jason looked at what appeared to be an egg, and as he looked up he saw the shadow of a large bird pokemon flying by and out of sight. "....did I just have a baby?" The young boy, not yet having heard the Fearows and the Beedrills, looked at his egg for a moment before shaking his head of the notion realizing it had to be a pokemon egg, like the one Atlas came out of. Everyone knew baby humans were delivered in bundles already hatched and not in eggs. It was strange though, this wasn't his egg as he hadn't aquired it before...but as he touched it he couldn't believe that it wasn't his egg either. It just felt so...warm and so right. Like he'd been carrying it since day one. No one around seemed to pay him any mind, and no one was making any scene about having dropped or lost an egg, and the more he held it the more he was sure no one was going to claim it. "hmm, well little buddy you'll have to tell me how you got here some day. That is, if you even know what goes on outside your shell. Heehee, I like you! Ok just sit still." He said as he placed the egg down, fetching his pad from his bag and starting to read the egg as Atlas obliviously snoozed away. But Jason frowned as every time he went to draw the sides a chunk .of egg shell was missing, and when he drew in the missing space another chunk was gone and a crack appeared here and there making it very hard to draw. "Darn...oh w-wait a sec its hatching!"