All of the sudden the Egg Chamber began vibrating while flashing blue as the Egg itself began cracking.

“I thought it would be a lot longer than this” Heath said as he held his breath.

“This is highly ironic” Brendan smiled while he looked at the spontaneous event but Claire just hushed him while shaking her head. Heath held the egg in hands while they waited as egg continued hatching, piece by piece it began crumbling until the placenta ripped off along with the top as a pokémon peeked its head into the world for the first time. It looked up and it saw Heath first.

“Papa?” the pokémon mewled. Heath saw the rest of it crumble away leaving its body in his arms.

“Yeah” Heath said as he nodded slowly.

“Sniv?”

[You have accomplished hatching an egg. WARNING: Pokemon hatched from eggs need dramatically less time to mature to be battle ready.]

[Pokémon auto added to team]

[...]

[...]

[...]

[Done]

[Reward 3x Rare Candies, 1x System Candy]

‘That was unexpected. Especially it’s a weird, well not weird, it’s a shiny though.’ Heath thought as he looked into his status through his C-Gear.

Snivy

Age: 1(3)(F)

Lv. 1 (Low Copper)

Exp: 0/9

Moves: Tackle, Dragon Breath, Leaf Tornado, Dragon Tail

Ability: Overgrow, Pure Power.

[Quest Issued: Join the tournament

Details: You tried to evade it but fate had other ideas, you this pokémon and battle for the top.

Rewards:

5th: 2x rare candy

4th: 4x rare candies

3rd: A random recipe

2nd: A Random Technical Machine

1st: All of the rewards + ??? ]

‘What the-’

Heath’s thoughts were quickly interrupted.

“Why is your new Pokémon so large, It like- We should go to Nurse Joy. Like now.” Claire eyes looked steely and serious as she began pushing Brendan out of his seat. Heath tilted his head but he was pulled apart from his seat as they began running out of the store. He quickly put Piplup who had yet to finish in his pokéball and made sure not to hurt or startle Snivy but she seemed to enjoy the motions. They left the establishment while leaving Brendan to pay for their meals as the two of them sprinted along the cobble. Heath was a little more fit than Claire let on, as their pace began to switch from her leading to the other way around. After a couple of minutes, they found the closest Pokemon Center which was the one he had visited and quickly got to see nurse joy as she was currently on lunch break.

“Oh C’mon” Nurse Joy tried to sound as polite as possible but such a thing was impossible as she trying to eat a long sandwich. She dusted off her hands and walked gently to the counter, before snatching Snivy from his paws.

“Snivy had just hatched from an egg not even an hour ago but she looks like she’s 4 about years old. What the fuck. Is this PMS?” Claire slammed her hands on the table.

“Real question is how did a Snivy hatch out. I thought it would be Gible, or…Axew maybe…Axew would’ve been cool, does that mean Snivy is a Dragon? Or Grass-Dragon?” Heath calmly questioned. Claire looked at him before titling her head is confusion before shaking it and looking back at the Nurse who was extremely startled.

“What??? Right..” Nurse Joy choked before looking at Snivy. She picked her up before giving her to an Audino, who took her to the back.

“How do you even know that? Maybe it’s just developed faster than most.” Heath questioned.

“I was raised by pokémon, I raised pokémon. I know my pokémon okay and usually when that happens, there’s a chance where you pokémon could be permanently stunted or die prematurely” Claire stressed. Heath knowing that his system is the reason, just nodded before looking at Nurse Joy who tried to hold a smile but it mixed with an understandable annoyance.

“She will be fine” Nurse Joy comforted before telling them to wait, as the scans won’t be too time consuming. They took a seat in one of the tables in lobby as they waited. Brendan had yet to come, still sorting things out at Splinda’s.

“So your extensive knowledge of Dragons or all pokémon… must’ve taken you quite a while to build, you probably know more about it than Nurse Joy.” Heath tried to make small talk. Claire who had let Oshawott come out of his pokéball. She hugged him squeezing the otter in her chest before holding her breath.

“Well that’s because I’m related to Cynthia.”

“Well I figured you had some history to dragons but-”

“And my father is Palmer, the Sinnoh Frontier Head” Claire quickly interrupted.

“Wait seriously?” Heath said as his eyebrows scrunched together.

Claire pulled up where Pokégear, before showing him multiple pictures of Cynthia and her doing random things. There was also a baby picture of Claire, a professor, Drasna, Palmer and Cynthia but thing that Heath found weird was that the baby picture she showed was the only she had showed with her father.

“Then who was that guy that-? I ran into him an- ”

“In Little Root? That was my grandfather on my father’s side. He wanted to see me before I left on my journey here in Hoenn and he lives in Little Root. He wanted to live Verdanturf but life happens and he had to be taken care of.” Claire explained but that just made Heath more curious

“Then if Palmer is your father and Cynthia is your mother? Why aren’t you in Sinnoh and wouldn’t Barry be your brother?” Heath asked.

“People don’t really know about me here. Both are very powerful, and so people would love a bargaining chip, which is why I’m not in Johto or Kanto, there too media crazed. Plus, it’s complicated and he’s just half.. ” Claire shyed away.

They talked for a while from all types of things but it was obvious that she was still worried about Nurse Joy lack of appearance after a couple of hours and a text from Brendan saying that he was going to take a nap in their hotel room, the nurse finally came with news.

“Come with me.” Nurse Joy held her hands together grasped into each other.

“Is she okay?” Claire asked concerned.

“She’s fine Claire” Heath tried to console. He knew the truth but he also knew that he couldn’t share it. He didn’t even know if he actually could nor was he going to decide that at the moment.

“How do you know?”

“Cause it’s my Pokémon, I took care of her and she’ll be okay. I have faith.” Heath comforted. They both followed Nurse joy to one of the observational beds but all that was shown was Snivy who was very confused until she saw Heath. She immediately mewled.

“Papa” Snivy smiled.

“Okay, she is right about one thing, Snivy's biological age seems to be that of a three year old but I am guessing you were worried about a post maturation condition rendering pokémon to not develop properly in their eggs because of an defect that might be possible? It’s highly common in dragon types since they are highly stressed during their incubation but, she’s fine. Actually she’s a little rowdy for a pokémon just born. I suggest giving her at least a couple of days to adjust to being out the egg before you start letting her battle. It’s a little hasty of a plan but I don’t see why shouldn’t be ready for those activities” Nurse Joy explained.

“Wait, are all Pokémon immediately battle ready?” Heath asked.

“No, well rarely but most are typically ready for light exercise in a month or two. While typically battle ready within 3 to 4, sometimes as late as a year. It depends.” Nurse Joy explained. Heath looked at Claire who herself looked relief. Heath smirked before looking at Snivy looking at them.

“So may I take her back?” Heath asked, Nurse Joy immediately opened the door and nestled Snivy into her breast before handing him off to Heath.

“Now back to my show.” Nurse Joy quickly ushered them out.

“Let’s go girl.” Heath smiled as he played with her.

“Oky” Snivy tried to speak but he didn’t exactly know what they were saying. Heath and Claire took Snivy to his hotel which took a while but when they did, they saw a gray dog barking all over the place.

“Poochy” Poochyena barked. Brendan was tied up in fresh medical tape on the floor where he was struggling to get up.

“What are you-”

“Help please.” Brendan interrupted. Heath complied but before he did, he snapped a beautiful photo of the uncomfortable Brendan who vehemently protested against it.

“Help the poor boy.” Claire pleaded for Heath to not do it, though her attempts to hide her laughter didn’t go unnoticed, so Heath also took a sly photo of her which went unnoticed before unraveling the Johto native.

“Wait what are you doing in here?” Brendan said as he sat rubbing his limbs. Heath sat on his bed while Claire hung around the door.

“You guys aren’t-” Brendan stopped pointing at the two of them.

“I don’t think so.?” Heath looked at Claire pretending to see what she thought but that only earned him Oshawott sniping him in the head with his seashell.

“NO” Claire groaned while rolling her eyes.

“Brendan, No?” Heath said as his mentally winked. Claire than walked around to make sure his Snivy was okay which caused him to wave her off before telling Brendan what happened with the hospital. They hung out in the room for a while before Brendan remembered a very important question.

“So are you joining the tournament now?”

“I don’t”

“Sniv” Snivy looking around before trying to walk around getting used the room. He looked at one of the wooden nightstand and two vines suddenly sprouted from its shoulders increasing in length before grabbing a glass of water bringing it back before grabbing it and sipping the water.

“Wow those are very… dexterous?”. Heath broke in a slight smile.

“You know, I’ll think about it. She’s going to need a lot of work. So we not make it in time” Heath sighed but a smile crept on his face as he thought of the different training methods he would have to work with Snivy on.

‘The extra rewards would be good too’ Heath thought.

“Yes.” Brendan pumped his hands in the air while Claire had a quiet smile. All of a sudden Heath’s pokéballs popped open and both of his pokémon had come out, standing on his bed.

“You dare encapsulate m-” Piplup chirped, before point it’s fin at Heath.

“Snivy” Snivy snuck up on the blue penguin before whipping its vine on its back.

“What the fuck, What the fuck, ” Piplup chirped before yelling. Piplup tried to roll the pain away which only made Snivy snicker harder. Heath’s sighed before getting up and nabbing Snivy before berating it.

“You know Piplup didn’t deserve that” Heath pointed. Brendan looked at the mess with interest while Claire snickered.

‘Sorwy’

“Why are you guys laughing?” Heath looked at Claire and then Brendan curious on their answers but Brendan shook her head.

”Snivy is protective obviously.” Claire walked off, before tickling Snivy under the chin who just smacked her away.

“Oh, she doesn’t like that. Well I’m glad you're joining the tournament.. Anyways I got to go, here’s my number. We should catch up some time.” Claire said as she wrote her number and email on a piece of paper before handing it over and she quickly saluting them off before leaving with Oshawott who mimicked her but with a shell. Heath checked on Piplup and was surprised that

Piplup didn’t even have a line on its back. Heath looked at his pokémon again.

‘Do the vines have a length limit?’ Heath tried to think about it but he then heard another round of pokéballs pop out and he saw Cyndaquil and Treecko.

“Oh yeah, he does have a Treecko.” Heath thought before seeing Piplup look over and make friends with the other starters. Heath looked at Guts sitting and meditating, rather content in the position he was in, which Heath questioned why he even came out in the first place.

Throughout the rest of the day, Heath took care of Snivy who was menace to the rest of the pokémon who were slightly more mature than her but it was obvious that Piplup liked to tease her. They had a great time while he thought about the ins and outs of the tournament that he would be participating in.

Meanwhile…

Blue- Green liquid bathed the luscious greenery around the forest new Oldale City, during the night. There laid a Beedrill who was furious and enraged in the inside but on the outside he was unnaturally calm. He looked upon the Persian that swiped its tongue on their paws as he laid down on the untainted grass.

“Join forces with me and we could rule Hoenn” A girl said as he walked around, circling the calm Beedrill. A Fennekin shakily walked behind it.

“Why should I trust you?” The Beedrill buzzed. The shaking Fennekin’s hair turned an invisible shade of white as she transmitted the information to the boy, causing him to smile and square off towards the Beedrill who didn’t move an inch.

“You shouldn’t at the moment but join and see. I promise that I’ll treat you the best I could. So what do you say” The boy brought its hand forward as a sign of a deal, causing the Beedrill to turn immediately, making the Fennekin shake even more terrified.

“hmm…”

“Bring me an enslaver, like yourself and let me kill it. Then we will have a deal.” Beedrill buzzed while the Fennekin tried it’s best to relay the information to its trainer but it didn’t that great of a job.

“Deal” The boy smiled before looking at the Persian's owner. It was a man who looked worried but not for the boy but the girl who looked slightly curious about what was happening but the only thing on her mind was her friend, who she wanted to be more than friends with and the person her friend chose over her.

“Ready, Sarah.” The man said, causing the girl to look at him and then the Fennekin who rushed towards her but was kicked down and stomped out of a bottomless anger.

“Come Erwin, put Fennekin back in her pokéball.” Sarah left, going back to her hotel room. Erwin quickly did as he was told, while the Boy disappeared in a foggy mist.