Looking out over the softly lit cavern, I slowly reached over and flicked off the lantern. Checking the time, I made the easy choice to stay in this cavern for now. I’d been walking for hours and was recently injured, so I figured I deserved a rest.

I began picking my way through the cavern, heading towards the small lake. As I walked, I kept a careful eye out for any pokémon that may be around. While I didn’t see any Zubat, I did see more than one heap of rocks that could have been a resting Geodude. I decided to give them all a wide berth, just in case.

I found myself near the water's edge only ten slow minutes later. I felt an eyebrow raise as I realized there was a good number of Magikarp and Barboach in the water. While I wasn’t concerned about the Magikarp, I decided to set up a ways away to ensure I was far enough from the Barboach.

Finding a large enough area of flat ground, I cleared away dozens of rocks on the ground. When I was satisfied, I reached into the bag, retrieved the tent, and was delighted to see that it was one of the self-set-up kinds. While I’d learned to set up a tent just fine, I had no desire to do so with a hurt arm.

I began eating a travel meal as the tent propped itself up and began opening. I hadn’t quite realized how hungry I had gotten during my walking, but I was very suddenly ravenous. The food was probably mediocre, but in the moment, it tasted like the most glorious gourmet meal I’d ever tasted.

Once I’d finished eating, and the tent was set up, I brought out the sleeping bag and quickly laid to rest. I was fit, but I was not ready for day-long travel. My body ached all over, and my arm was beyond sensitive. Despite my many pains and general discomfort, my exhaustion was far greater. It didn’t take long for me to slip into a dreamless sleep.

I woke slowly, my eyelids sticking together as I groaned. Something had woken me, shaking me from my deep sleep. But what was it? Looking around me, I saw the bland beige of the interior tent walls and little else. Looking towards the source of the disturbance, I saw it quickly.

A rhythmic flashing light and a soft buzzing noise were emanating from the backpack’s screen, repeating over and over again. Clinging the warmth of the sleeping bag around me, I propped myself up to read the screen, curious about what was causing such a reaction. However, reading the words on the screen made me slam straight into wakefulness.

Incubator Preparing Egg for Hatching - Estimated Time : 6 Minutes, 47 Seconds

46 Seconds

45 Seconds

44 Seconds

I watched the seconds count down in stunned disbelief for a few moments before scrambling my way out of the sleeping bag. Almost tripping for a moment, I frantically kicked the bag off of where it caught on my clothes and hurriedly began retrieving the incubator from the backpack.

Half of me was so incredibly eager to greet the pokémon that was likely to imprint on me and become my starter, and the other half of me was more than a little scared of the dragon-type. Many dragon-type horror stories came from the Hydreigon line, and I was beyond nervous.

Nonetheless, I managed to free the incubator from the bag’s tight fit more quickly than last time. I could see the egg getting sprayed with some kind of treatment inside the incubator as I carefully carried it outside the tent. Setting it on the ground, I could feel my mind racing frantically to figure out what else I needed to do in the few minutes left.

Feeling stupid, I instantly ran back to the backpack and got out all the pokéballs before resting them on the sleeping bag. I was unsure which of them I would use for the Deino, and I wanted to make sure they were all on hand. I also made sure to grab a portion of the Deino pokéfood in case the dragon was hungry when it hatched. I’d much rather it munch on the food and not me.

Carrying the food back outside, I surveyed the area around my little campsite, making sure we wouldn’t be interrupted. Happy that I was alone for now at least, I settled in to watch the counter tick down, with only a couple minutes left.

At one minute and thirty seconds, I watched the egg begin to shake and rock side to side, moving around in the incubator. Finally, at one minute left, the incubator stopped spraying the treatment onto the egg and split in half with a hiss. The two halves slid smoothly to the sides and lowered themselves to the floor, giving the egg plenty of space as it wriggled in place.

Slowly, ever so slowly, cracks began to form and spiderweb across the shell. While hard to see on the black and blue shell, I watched with careful breaths as the cracks deepened and sections of the shell weakened. Finally, a small section fell inwards, only to be pushed out and away, letting the shell piece fall to the stone ground. More and more sections followed suit, slowly revealing the pokémon within.

Thousands upon thousands of small navy blue scales covered the thick muscles that covered the dragon's body, even as a newborn. Its feet were the distinctive round and pointed precursors to the claws of a Zweilous. Thick black fur covered its stout neck along with the majority of its skull and chest, along with a small portion of its back. The blue scales peeked through on the dragon's muzzle, and I could just barely see the amber eyes peering through the thick fur.

The newborn Deino simply stood in the remnants of its egg, peering at me just as carefully as I looked at it. I realized that the newborn was only a little short of two feet tall, giving me a slight bit of confusion for a moment. I could have sworn that full-grown Deino were only a little above two feet tall on average. I couldn’t remember how much they were supposed to grow from being hatched to full-grown, though, so perhaps it was normal.

I was torn from my thoughts as the Deino slowly walked over to me gently bumped its head against my knee before looking up at me again. Somehow those gently glowing iris’ were less scrutinizing and more pleading now.

Ignoring my heart beating a kilometer a minute, I reached out and began rubbing at its head. I smiled slowly as its eyes closed and it pressed up against my hand. I reached beside me with my other hand and grabbed the pokéfood, offering it towards the Deino. After a moment, I watched its muzzle lift, and for a moment, I could just barely make out where its nostril slits were as it scented the air. Its eyes snapped open once more, locking onto the food in a way that made me smile once more.

I smiled even wider as it let out a soft warbling cry before shoving its head down to begin eating the offered pokéfood. I kept petting it as it ate, marveling at the pokémon in front of me. Eventually, the Deino finished its food, causing it to once more butt its head against my knee for attention. Chuckling softly, I brought up my other hand to pet it, causing it to let out a pleased rumbling sound.

After lavishing it with attention for what had to be at least five to ten minutes, I reached back towards where I had set the pokédex. Looking back at the Deino, I spoke carefully and softly, hoping it understood me. “I’m going to scan you with this, okay? It’ll let me know a lot about you, such as your gender, ability, moves, that sorta thing. Okay?”

The Deino’s eyes had opened while I was talking, and when I was done, it just pressed more insistently against the hand, still giving him attention. I decided to take that as permission and activated the scanning feature.

Deino, the Irate Pokémon. Deino have a seemingly endless source of energy that often leads to them constantly exploring and fighting. Due to the thick fur impeding their vision, Deino have a tendency to bite and tackle anything that surprises them.

This Deino is Male and has the Ability, Hustle. Its moves are: Tackle, Focus Energy, Bite, and Dragon Breath

Warning: King Nature Present

The Deino opened its eyes to look at me curiously as I froze where I was, simply staring at the results on the pokédex. For a very long, long moment, I just locked up. I only snapped out of it when the Deino bumped his head against me, making me absently note that it was a he.

A King? What in the actual fuck? I had learned about the three exotic natures in school, or at least that’s what they were called. The first was Shiny pokémon, meaning they had a unique and unusual appearance. The phenomenon was rare; only one in roughly five thousand pokémon will be a Shiny.

After that was the Outlier nature. For some reason, a pokémon could either gain or change a typing. For example, a Ponyta that was not only a fire-type but also a ground-type would be considered an Outlier, along with a Shellos that was water and grass-type. Outliers were even rarer than Shiny’s, at around one in ten thousand.

But a King? King’s were somewhere around one in twenty thousand, and I just got a fucking King Deino? King pokémon would grow to around twice the size of their species, and they would be the absolute peak of what that species could be. They tended to be more powerful in general as well.

And I just got a King Deino. Absentmindedly I just pet the Deino as my thoughts raced. What were the odds?! They must have been insane that the egg I found myself stuck with was a King Deino. It took another ten minutes of petting and thinking before I managed to calm down again. In the end, I decided not to think about it. If anything, it was a massive stroke of luck and something I would almost certainly be thankful for in the future. I was not going to argue with it. Idly I thought with amusement that I was almost certainly going to use the luxury ball for him, given the increased comfort and space said to be within them. As a King, he’d probably need it.

“So, that’s why you were born so close to two feet tall,” I murmured to him as I pet him. I began wracking my head for names that he might like. “Hmm, trying to think of a name for you… Drakon?” The Deino opened its eyes to look at me before huffing at me. I smirked, “I guess not… How about… Ladon?” He considered for a moment before letting out another soft cry. Then, before I could react, he knocked me on my back and happily began licking my face.

Cringing away from the large, wet, and rough tongue, I raised my hands to defend myself while laughing, “Alright, alright! I get it!” He backed up but still looked excited. “Okay, okay! Ladon it is,” I wiped off my face before chuckling and stroking Ladon’s head, causing that deep rumbling once more.

After another minute or two spent relaxing together, I leveraged myself to my feet with a groan. Ladon looked up at me with wide eyes, probably just realizing that I had been sitting down. “Don’t worry, you’ll wind up this tall.” I snorted with amusement, “Taller actually, much taller. But that’ll be after evolving. Anyways, come on.” I gestured into the tent while holding it open, letting Ladon happily walk inside. I followed after to find him staring curiously at the pokéballs on the sleeping bag.

Walking over to them, I scooped up the luxury ball and admired its beautiful design for a moment. Kneeling in front of Ladon, I spoke softly, “These are pokéballs. They can hold pokémon like you inside them and help other people know you’re with me, so they don’t try to catch you. I think this would be the best for you, considering how large you’ll end up becoming.”

Ladon cocked his head as he regarded the pokéball with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. “I’ll let you out right after, okay? I’m going to need you after all.” I lifted my bandaged arm up in front of him, “This happened cause I didn’t have any pokémon to help me defend myself. So how about it, want in?” After a nerve-wracking minute of stillness, Ladon let out a surprisingly light-sounding chirp before leaning forwards and tapping his snout against the pokéball. I watched with a grin as Ladon changed into a brilliant red light before zapping into the pokéball.

Looking down at the luxury ball, I could see a stylized Deino on its upper half, serving as an identifier so I knew which pokémon was in which ball if I was using multiple of the same type. After a minute spent letting the pokéball transfer data to the pokédex, I quickly released Ladon once more. As he reformed in the tent before me, he blinked a few times before shaking his body as if to fling off water.

He refocused on me and ambled over to seek more attention. “You know, for a King, you’re a little attention seeker, huh?” Ladon rumbled as my hand reached down to pet him.

Looking down at the newborn Deino, a thought hit me out of the blue. “We’re gonna have to stick around in this cavern for a couple days for you to grow up a bit, aren’t we?” In retrospect, it seemed pretty obvious. Even a powerful dragon-type like a Deino could not simply be born instantly ready for battle. Sure, Ladon had pretty much every advantage he could get, but even then, he’d need a few days to get used to his body, moving around, and using his moves.

Looking down at Ladon, I sighed. I didn’t want to spend any more time in Mt. Coronet than absolutely necessary, but… This was necessary. So I supposed I would just have to deal with it.

“Alright, Ladon, three days. We’ll spend three days here to give you some adjustment time, but then we need to go.”