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By the time the sun peeked over the mountains in the east Glint had already checked on the eggs stored in hutches one through eleven and was on his way to hutch twelve. Despite the early morning cold Gruff was his attentive self, first looking in on the slugma nests under each hutch, then going inside to Glint and the eggs.
"Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day, Gruff," Glint said. There were a few swathes of cloud overhead, drifting slowly to the north, but the horizon was blue, east, south and west.
The main building of the daycare was at the bottom of the hill that led up to Cerulean City and as such the garden at the rear - where the hutches were - was on an incline. Gran and Grampa always said that Glint should start at the top of the garden and work his way back to the house, but Glint liked to start at hutch one and work his way up to hutch twelve. He liked to think that Gruff preferred that too.
"Graw?"
"Yeah, I think I saw it too. Looked like a pulse of light, huh?" Glint said. He'd just seen something from the crack under the hutch's door, but he didn't really pay it any mind until Gruff reacted. At a guess he'd have said it was the Abra egg, since that one had been there the longest. The only way to find out was to go inside, though.
"Graw," Gruff said. He ran on ahead, up the ramp and through the flap in the wooden door.
Glint picked up his pace too, finding the key for the hutch on his chain and turning it right side up, ready to slot into the lock.
"Glint?" a call came from the house.
Glint turned back and looked down the hill. Grampa was there, waving an arm. He probably saw on the hatchery monitor which egg was glowing. Glint cupped his hands around his mouth to funnel his voice. "Is it Abra?"
"Sure is. Bring it on down here," Grampa called.
Glint nodded knowingly. He'd have been surprised if it was any of the other eggs--most of them had only been at the daycare for a couple of weeks. It must have been nearly two months since the Abra egg was dropped off. "Give me a few minutes. I'll see you inside."
Gruff popped his head out of the flap in the door and Glint could tell straight away that he was distressed. Something must have been wrong with the Abra egg. "Gruff, ruff!"
Glint tried not to panic as he skipped up the ramp, unlocked the door, and rushed inside.

"Now what's all this fuss?" Gran asked. She followed Glint into the clinic, where Grampa was looking down on the egg, which was back in its straw-filled container.
"I'm stumped," Grampa said. "Glint thinks this Abra is suffering from a build-up of psychic energy. What do you say?"
Gran brushed past Glint, putting a hand on his shoulder as she went. She approached the table then leaned in to look at the egg inside the container.
"It was just a guess, really," Glint interrupted.
Gran looked at him and smiled. "It's called intuition, m'boy. You get it from me, you know."
"Intuition?" Glint wondered. But Gran turned away again, to speak to Grampa.
"That's what it is; this little one doesn't want to hatch, so it's storing up a lot of psychic energy that would usually be released as it moves around. I was worried something like this might happen."
"Mm. Then there's only one thing for it," Grampa said.
"What's that?" Glint asked. He knew that with electric types you could release the energy using a couple of paper clips, an industrial-strength electrical wire and a few batteries. But psychic types were a whole different story.
"We return it to its owner. She can solve this sort of problem much more easily than us," Gran said.
"But how? And is that really right? People are relying on us to look after their eggs and make sure the pokémon they leave with us are healthy and happy. Can we really just take this pokémon back to its trainer and tell them to help it themselves?" Glint argued.
"Mm. A lot to learn, still," Grampa sighed.
"A lot to learn," Gran agreed.
"Graw?" Gruff growled, tilting his head to the right.
Glint shrugged to the growlithe, since he didn't know what they meant either. He didn't see how he could be wrong--it was their job to look after pokémon. Sending one back to its owner at the first sign of trouble was like giving up. They might as well not take the pokémon at all.
"Kiki?" Grampa called.
The crobat appeared in the doorway in a flash--as though it had been waiting close by. "Khee."
"Fetch Glint his satchel, won't you?" Grampa said. "He's got an emergency errand to run."

Mezame bent down putting the egg container on the floor and covered her head as Starly flew over to Glint. She peered out behind her arm and saw the Pokémon pecking contently at the food in Glint's hand and with a deep sigh of relief sat down on the floor. Feeling calmer Mezame stood up taking the egg and bravely went over to watch the Pokémon eat the food.

Mezame shook her head at Glint. "It's not that I don't like it." She explained. "I've just not had great experiences with flying types. They're scary!" She continued to watch the harmless Starly eating out of Glint's hand. "Even though I caught Starly by accident, this pokémon helped me save this egg. It cares about it just like I do. So we're not so different."

Sternly, Mezame made a fist with her free hand and glared into Glint's eyes with determination. "I don't want to be cooped up in doors any more. I wanna go on a journey and make friends with Pokémon!" She dropped her arm limply and sighed looking down at the floor. "I just need to get over my stupid fears first."

"Staaaarly star!" Starly said and hopped along Glints hand closer to Mezame. She flinched but relaxed when the Pokémon didn't come any closer. Mezame laughed a little.

"Thanks Starly" She said awkwardly scratching the back of her head.

Mezame nodded and smiled. "I think you're right." She set off walking again as she thought about Glints last question. Mezame hadn't even thought that far ahead, where would she go? What would she do? Mezame shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know." She said sadly looking up at the sky. "I just know that my parents would never let me keep a Pokémon. They're really set against them. I've gotta take fate into my own hands and create my own dreams or I'll never be happy." Though it was simple in theory Mezame didn't really know how it would work out. Would travelling aimlessly be a good idea?

"I don't think it matters" Mezame said randomly after being quiet for a while. "Maybe I'll find my place if I do just travel around. At the very least I'll get to experience new things and learn a whole bunch of new stuff. Can only learn so much doing the same thing every day right?" She asked looking over at Glint.

"Hrm." Was all Mezame could say in response. Glint hadn't agreed with her about new experiences. "Well I think life would be boring without a little adventure." She said running ahead of him and looking back to stick her tongue out at him childishly. "Neeer!" She laughed. "Come on Starly!" Mezame called to her Pokémon as she ran off ahead.

"Starly!" The Pokémon flew after her happily and circled her again as it'd done before. Mezame wasn't scared this time, that is until the Starly landed on her head once again.

"AIEE! Get offa me!" Mezame squealed batting at her head.

Mezame was too busy yelling at her Starly to notice Glint and Gruff had sped past her. "Cut it out, Starly! You know that creeps me out- stop it!" She looked around for Glint. "Hey aren't you gonna hel- HEY!" She yelled angrily as she realised he'd gone off without her. Starly flew off her head and hovered in the air next to her seeming to shrug it's wings in mid air. "What's with that guy anyway?" She asked it.

"Star starly star." The pokémon said.

"Hmm." Mezame agreed. "C'mon lets get going."

Mezame walked with Starly flying at her side up over the hill to see Glint waiting for her at what she assumed was the Day Care.

Mezame watched Glint walk into the Day Care Centre and confirmed her suspicion it was the place. "Guess he doesn't like me much huh Starly?"

"Staaarly starly."

Mezame dug around in her pocket for Starly's Pokéball. "You better come back in here." She held the ball out to the Pokémon. Nothing happened. Starly looked at her like it didn't know what she expected. Mezame was confused. "C'mon get in." Starly cocked it's head in equal confusion. "Do I have to throw it at you again to get you to return?" The Pokéball opened and Starly was zapped back inside. Mezame shrugged and put the Pokéball back in her pocket and headed inside the Day Care.

Mezame wasn't sure what to expect but she was greeted by an older lady at a counter. "My, you are a bit soggy aren't you?" The day care lady asked with a light laugh.

"Uh, yeah." Mezame said scratching the back of her head. "It's a long story... Anyway" Mezame put the egg container on the counter "I saved this egg today, it fell out of a tree. Glint said it's definitely not a bird Pokémon, so it shouldn't have been in a tree right?"

"No indeed." The day care lady said nodding in agreement. "you're responsible for this egg now then?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"I guess so..." Mezame agreed staring thoughtfully at the egg. "But I don't know the first thing about Pokémon, let alone Pokémon eggs."

"Well we can raise it for you. However, I think you'll be perfectly capable of doing it yourself. We do charge a fee after all. But lets have a look at it." She took the egg out and looked it over.

"Waah, I can't pay for day care!" Mezame cried in dismay. The day care lady didn't reply, she kept looking over the egg, feeling it in different places and putting it on a weighing scale noting the numbers it gave. Then she put it back in the container.

"Well it's perfectly healthy" The day care lady said with a smile. "Probably lucky you caught it." She said nodding. "Now, it's pretty simple, it requires some time and attention but it's otherwise easy to raise an egg. Handle it gently and make sure it stays warm at all times. The container should help with that but still, don't go leaving it out in the cold or something silly like that. Wait there."

The day care lady disappeared into the back and came back holding a soft cloth and a Pokéball. "Use this Pokéball to catch the Pokémon when it hatches." She attached the Pokéball to the egg container. "Use this Pokémon egg cloth to rub the egg down at least twice a day. It'll keep it clean as well as warm the egg but also it will get the Pokémon inside the egg accustomed to people. If you treat it well it may even recognise you when it hatches."

Mezame was overwhelmed with infomation, she nodded as the old lady spoke trying to keep up and remember everything she was told. "Here give it a try." The day care lady opened the egg container and passed the egg and the cloth to Mezame. "Rub it gently but thoroughly." Mezame did as she was told. "Good! Make sure you don't miss a spot."

Mezame smiled as she cared for her egg and started to day dream about what kind of Pokémon was inside.