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Glint pushed open the door of the Saffron Gym and looked inside.
It was dark. Too dark to see. Glint was tempted to get Gruff to come inside and let out some embers to light the way, but for all he knew there were flammable materials nearby, and the last thing he wanted to do was burn down the whole gym.
"Hello?" he called. His voice echoed around what seemed like a rather large room, but there came no reply. Glint looked down and saw that Gruff had joined him. "Maybe you should stay outside with my bike and the egg?"
"Grr," Gruff disagreed. He walked a little way into the gym, checking that it was safe for Glint to proceed.
"Wait there, I'll get the egg," Glint said. He pulled the main door open and rushed over to his bike.
Gruff wouldn't like to be left alone for too long, and especially not in the dark. Glint was quick to unbuckle the straps around the safety box and lift out the egg container. He rushed back to the gym's main door and pushed his way inside again.
"Hello? I brought your egg."
There was still no reply. Glint turned and looked around for any sign of movement. As the main door crept closed though, the room was plunged into complete darkness.
"Gruff?" Glint asked. The door clicked shut. Everywhere was black. "I think maybe we should go back out. Find a doorbell or something."
Gruff didn't respond. Not even with a whimper.
"Where, where, where?"
"What? Who said that?" Glint asked. Then he remembered, the Saffron Gym specialised in psychic types. There were probably trials or something that challengers had to pass before they could battle Sabrina. The voices were probably designed to unnerve anyone who entered the gym.
"Who, who, who?"
"Look, I didn't come here to challenge your gym. Turn the lights on or something," Glint said.
"What, what, what?"
"I said I didn't come to challenge your gym," Glint said. He turned to try and pinpoint where the soft, eerie voice was coming from. Then he bumped into something. He span around. He tried to grab what he'd knocked over. But he didn't need to--it floated. It glowed green and floated in the air.
"Ho-kay. Seriously. Turn the lights on," Glint insisted.
Someone must have been listening, because flash, on they came. Glint looked straight at a young woman, who had Gruff sat in front of her happily. Her right hand was reached out toward the vase and it was glowing the same colour. She was holding the vase in mid-air, telekinetically.
"You should learn to be calm. Your pokémon can sense your anxiety."

"Are you Sabrina?" Glint asked the woman. He tried to pay attention to her, politely, but he found himself watching the glowing, floating vase as it moved back up onto the podium he'd knocked it off.
"I am. You're returning my egg. I expected you sooner," Sabrina replied.
Glint was a little sceptical that people could really see the future, or make things move with their mind. Pokémon, yes, but people? It seemed absurd.
"Abra is in pain," Sabrina said. She approached Glint, looking at the egg he held close to his chest. Gruff followed her, looking up to her face and still seeming happy to be with her.
"We think it's suffering from a build-up of psychic energy. It happens sometimes when pokémon refuse to hatch," Glint said. He suspected that Sabrina already knew what was wrong though--she'd known everything else without being told.
"You mean, that is what you think," the gym leader said. "You are perceptive. At least, of the world around you."
"Do you mean I was right? That's what's wrong with it?"
"Mm," Sabrina nodded. She took hold of the egg container by the handle on its lid and sat it on an empty podium, next to the one with the vase on it.
Glint was about to show her how to open the container when she undid the secure lock and handed him the lid. Next she lifted the cylindrical glass shield from around the egg and piled that into Glint's hands too.
"Abra thanks you for taking care of him."
"Huh? He does?"
Sabrina nodded. She delicately picked up the mustard-coloured pokémon egg and cradled it in her arm. As she did it glowed again, as though reacting to her touch.
"He thanks Gran and Grampa Hatcher, too," Sabrina said.
Glint held back from rolling his eyes. "Alright. So will Abra be okay?"
"Mm," Sabrina answered. "You may leave."
Glint stood there for a moment, watching Sabrina as she began to gently rock the egg. She didn't smile, but somehow she seemed happy. Glint almost felt privileged to see her like that--word was she was a right grumpy pants. It just showed the power of pokémon; even a mere egg could brighten someone's day.
"If you're finished judging me..." Sabrina said.
"I wasn't judging you," Glint protested.
Sabrina pushed the base of the egg container into Glint's chest, along with all the straw, then started walking away. "Yes you were."

Glint leaned away from the soggy girl in front of him. She looked like a drowned rattata. "Excuse me?"
Gruff looked at the girl suspectingly, but he didn't growl and he didn't stand between her and Glint. She was probably just lost.
"Wait, why are you all wet?" Glint asked. He glanced back into the gym, and watched Sabrina walking away while the door closed. Then the girl in front of him shrieked again. She thrust an egg into Glint's face and yammered on about a bird pokémon and a pond and a tree... Glint was already lost.
"Calm down. Let's start again. I'm Glint, and this is Gruff. I see you've got yourself an an egg. If you wanted us to raise it you should really speak with Gran at the daycare."

"Grawr?" Gruff cocked his head to Glint. He clearly didn't know what to make of the girl.
"So that egg was in a tree?" Glint asked. He figured that starting at the beginning was the best idea. "That's... well, for one thing, that breed of pokémon isn't usually seen in these parts. But on top of that, why would it be in a tree?"
The girl didn't look impressed. She didn't want questions, she wanted answers.
"Okay. Forget that. Put the egg in this container--it's safer than carrying it around like that. I'll get my bike and then I can take you to the daycare," Glint explained. He put the egg container back together - except for the lid - and placed it on the ground at the girl's feet. He didn't really know what to do with one of those eggs. If it was a bird pokémon - a local one - he'd say it should go back in the tree. But those markings... that was no flying type. It'd never survive if it was left in the wild.
Glint went to collect his bike from behind the wall around the gym. He looked at the girl and wondered whether the egg would survive left with her. "What was your name, by the way?"

Glint wheeled his bike back to Mezame then kicked out the stand for it and left it stood on its own. "My grandparents run the daycare and I help them out. It's a little way north of here. People bring us pokémon and eggs for us to look after when they're away or too busy to take care of them themselves," he explained. "That egg you saw me with was an Abra that belonged to Sabrina. I guess she brought it to us to look after because she's got no time to do it herself--not with the gym and everything."
Gruff picked up the lid of the egg container and put it in place, so that Glint could fasten it up.
"We've got plenty of these containers so you can probably go ahead and keep this one," Glint said. He secured the container, then lifted it up and handed it to Mezame. She seemed quiet.
Glint bowed a little and looked into her vacant eyes. "Did you want to bring it to the daycare so Gran and Grampa can give you an idea what to do? Maybe you want to talk to your parents first? I mean, I don't mean to rush you or anything, but I'm heading back now."

"You mean how do pokémon come out of pokéballs?" Glint asked. He almost thought Mezame was setting him up. Like maybe there were hidden cameras somewhere. "You throw the ball into the air and tell the pokémon to come out. It can hear whatever you're saying while it's in its pokéball, so just say 'Starly, come on out' or something. That's what I hear a lot of trainers say. Coordinators are different--they're showy. Usually go with something like "take the stage!" or "spotlight!" or something."
Mezame followed quietly. Glint pushed his bike along, feeling a little bit awkward. The less Mezame knew about pokémon, the more Glint felt weird being around her.
"Trainers battle. They challenge gyms to get badges, so that they can take on the Elite Four. Coordinators enter contests, to show off their pokémon and their moves. They collect ribbons and enter the grand festival to compete for the Ribbon Cup," Glint explained. He felt like if he were speaking to anyone else they'd shout at him for patronising them.

"Oh they..." Glint started. He looked back when Mezeme screamed, and watched her run around in a circle, flailing her arms around. The starly on her head looked like it was enjoying the ride, but Mezame looked like she was going to have a panic attack.
"You really don't like pokémon?" Glint asked. He routed around in his satchel and found some bird pokémon food. It was a useful thing to carry around--especially with so many spearow in the area.
Mezame wasn't listening. She was still screaming.
"Starly, you hungry?" Glint asked. He dropped a couple of pellets of the food into his hand and offered it out to the starly. It turned to keep its keen eyes on the food, as Mezame ran around in a panic.
"Star," Starly said. It flapped its wings and glided over to Glint's hand, where it pecked at the food contently.
"This little tyke's quite lively, huh?" Glint asked.