Chapter 05 Settling In, and Hello Eggs-plorer

What just happened? Did I just get adopted by THE Professor Oak? My supefication might have been all too obvious because Oak had a good laugh.

"Haha, you should've let me finish young Rian. It might be strange to you, but I believe that people should help others when they are in need. I hope that you can help others when they need it as well. I can see you have great potential to do good, and my home is pretty spacious so one more addition to the family is not a big deal." he says this with a smile and a grandfatherly tone. I smile because it feels nice to have someone I can rely on. I don't know if I can accept him as family so soon, but I'll try my best to repay his kindness.

"Thank you, this means a lot to me." The moment is ruined by a mechanical *ding* in my head. Followed by a [Quest Complete, sending rewards]. The information then flows into my head, causing me to wince a little. I now have knowledge I've never had about cooking and engineering, an odd combination but it'll help me in the future. Oak must have seen my momentary pain because he suddenly asked Alakazam to do something.

"I'm sorry I should've given you the food and medicine before we talked about all this. Are you alright?"

"It's just a small headache, it's nothing major. Thank you."

"Don't worry young man, there's no need for thanks between family."

'Family', a word that still brings pain to my heart, but something that will be a fond part of my heart, always. I will never try to replace my old one but it shouldn't hurt to expand it, right? So with a smile on my face and a small "Right", we wait for Alakazam who came back with food, water and medicine. After eating my fill and some pain killers we continued our conversation.

"Now that you've eaten let's talk about your pokemon egg. If it's okay with you I can run some diagnostics and give you an incubator for it. I'm sure you'll be relieved knowing about its condition after your ordeal."

"Right! My egg! Please Mr. Oak, can you help me make sure it's alright?" Something I overlooked in my current dilemma. I have a feeling that this egg is the partner pokemon I wished for and I doubt something given by the gods would be affected by something like this. This is just my instinct, but this didn't quell my anxiety. Previously I tried to use my ability to scan the egg but all I got was a [?].

"Of course Rian, let's just move it to the equipment in the lab. Oh dear me, I seem to have forgotten. Are you alright moving so soon?" He looks to me in concern about my condition.

"Don't worry I can move, plus this is important to me." I get up with a little difficulty, but I can manage. I guess floating for years isn't good for your motor functions, who knew? Me and Oak continue to move towards a machine that I presume is what we're looking for. With my new engineering knowledge I can tell that this works like CT to run diagnostics but much more complex. It kinda looks like one of the x-ray machines that dentists use.

After some scans and looking at data Oak turns to me with a smile. "It's a miracle young man, it seems that there isn't anything wrong with the pokemon inside the egg. The vitals suggest that the pokemon is healthy and there were no complications due to your journey here. Once we put it in an Incubator we will know when it will hatch." He then puts it in the incubator and at the top is a timer that says 1 week.

(A/N: Egg and Incubator image.)

In a week from now I'll be able to see my partner, but I'm more relieved that it's okay. This egg is the last gift from my family, I'll make sure to treasure and protect my future family. With a relieved smile I thank Oak once more. We move out of the lab area and into the residential area to an empty bedroom.

"This'll be your new room, it used to be my son's but he moved out a while ago. You can get washed up and change into some of his old clothes. Get some rest, we can talk some more tomorrow."

After Oak leaves I take a look around the room. It's pretty basic, but definitely more modern than my past one. There's a bookshelf filled with pokemon books, a closet, dresser, bed, and a bathroom attached to the room. Deciding to get out of my stinky and tattered clothes I grab some clothes to the bathroom. Figuring out the shower took some trial and error, I should've asked about how to use it before Oak left. After getting nice and clean I changed into some black briefs, a slightly oversized black long sleeve that strangely fits,and white sweatpants that come just above my ankles. Taking a look in the mirror I see my body has barely grown to 5'2" with lean muscles. I'm sure I'll hit another growth spurt eventually, but I'm more curious about the clothes I'm wearing. So I decided to scan them, I'm amazed by the information

[Trainer Clothes:

Designed to last they have enhanced durability to traverse harsh environments and weather minor damage. Also has an auto fitting function to shrink or grow with the trainer, and an auto clean function for utility. Made with materials you are not familiar with.]

Technology is truly a wonderful thing, but its been a long day and I need to catch some z's.

~1 week later~

It's finally time for my egg to hatch, it should hatch sometime tonight. In this past week a lot has happened to me. For starters I met Daisy and Gary Oak. Daisy was really nice, she instantly treated me like a little brother and tried to do everything for me when she heard an abridged story of what happened to me from Gramps. Oh yea I've started treating the Professor as my grandfather, even though it's kinda awkward because I never had grandparents before. Anyway, as for Gary, well considering his character from the show it kinda went as expected. When he met me his exact words were, "Hmph, I don't care about your sob story. Know this, I Gary Oak don't accept you. Do you even know who's clothes you're wearing? They belong to a great trainer and you don't deserve to be in them. Smell ya later." I wasn't really offended because I kinda understand him. Some stranger came in out of nowhere and started wearing his dad's clothes who is also his role model. He'll warm up to me eventually, and it's nice having someone that doesn't look at you with pity.

Anyway, what's arguably more important is the reason he's still at home even though we're the same age. In the show once you turn 10 you can set out on your pokemon journey as a trainer. However, here it seems that you can only leave after you turn 15, which sounds much more responsible. It's currently July 1st and I'll turn 15 in 5 days, Gary turns 15 in August. So I'll be able to join the next batch of Oak's trainers on January 1st, which is also the start of the Indigo League Circuit. The actual championship competition being 6 months later. I've already expressed my wish to be a trainer to Gramps and he encouraged me to do so, so I can find where I belong in my new environment. So he gave me some study materials for the trainer sponsorship test he gives out to the kids in Pallet. The top 5 scorers get a starter pokemon from the Professor, a pokedex and a beginner trainer kit. Anyone can get their trainer license at 15 at a local pokemon center with an id. Another thing that's changed is that gym battles are recorded and broadcasted allowing trainers to see their competition. I'm not sure about being a pokemon champion but it'll be a good goal while traveling with my pokemon.

"Are you excited about meeting your first pokemon En?" Gramps walks into the room, calling me by the nickname that Daisy called me, Ennie.

"Oh, hey Gramps. It should be any minute now, I'm really excited. This is my first time seeing a pokemon egg hatch."

*Crack**Crack**Shinng*

My egg starts hatching and in a bright light my first pokemon appears. Just like I thought inside the egg was the Zorua I had wished for, but when it hatched an illusion of dark plum blossom petals appeared. It seems to be the Illusion ability, exclusive to the Zorua line, but I guess it works differently in reality. The little Zorua looked around till it spotted me, just then I felt a special connection between each other. Like a spark in my soul I knew she was more than just a pokemon, but a part of me. That's right I knew from our connection that Zorua is a she. Running towards me I catch her and hold her close as she snuggles into my embrace.

(A/N: Zorua image)

"How marvelous, I've never seen this pokemon before. However, judging by its appearance it seems to be a variant of the Zorua species. Incredible! This could mean that certain pokemon looked different from modern day pokemon! Eureka! Oh dear me, I've seemed to ruin this moment due to my pokemon researcher tendencies. I'll head on out hehehe." Gramps leaves the room sheepishly laughing due to the deadpan stares that screamed "really dude?"

"Hey Zorua, from now on we're partners, we'll be together forever!"

"Nyu! Nyu!" Zorua seems to agree with me as she happily replies. I haven't had a real Pokemon experience until now, I can't help but feel a little melancholic about my past.

Zorua, as if sensing my mood, jumps out of my arms to climb onto my head to nestle in trying to cheer me up. She then points in the direction of the door followed by a "Nyu!" I think she wants to explore and get my mind off whatever I'm thinking about. I cheer myself up and tell Zorua, "Alright! Let me show you around the place Zorua!"

I show Zorua around Oak's laboratory, she's quite mischievous with her Illusion ability. Making illusions to prank Gramps while he's trying to research, earning some hearty laughs from all of us. Next was the ranch where all the other pokemon stay, most are asleep but she seems to enjoy running around anyway. After some playing around some, we return to my room. I give her some moomoo milk the professor gave me. Zorua is too young to eat harder foods, so it's nutrient milk for at least a few weeks. I finish the day with a bath for the both of us, carefully drying her fur afterwards. Even though she's a ghost type, because she's also a normal type she's tangible by default. I took a picture after brushing her fur with the PGQ phone to commemorate the moment. A new function I found after I came out of the distortion.

Taking the pokeball my father gave me I use it to catch Zorua. "Hey Zorua will you get into this pokeball? I promise to take you out right after." Walking up to me she presses the button on the ball which makes her disappear like magic. Hearing a click I look down to see her in the unique pokeball. It has a black top and bottom with a gold line going around it, just like a normal pokeball. Curious, I decide to scan Zorua to see her stats.

[Zorua

Ghost/Normal

Lvl.1

Potential: ✧✧✧✧✧ 5 Stars

Bond: 75%

HP: 30

Attack: 26

Defense: 17

Sp. Attack: 29

Sp. Defense: 17

Speed: 25

Moves: Bitter Malice, Swift, Shadow Sneak, Snarl, Extrasensory, Counter

Evolution Requirement: Bond 100% + Reaper Cloth at Night]

Holy Arceus! Her stats are insane, Charmander at level 5 only has an attack stat of 12 at lvl 5 which is what Gramp's starters level is at. Zorua is a little monster in the making, oh well that's future me's problem. Releasing Zorua out of the ball we snuggle up in the bed for the night. I'm excited for my journey there's so much to do… *Yawn* *Zzzzzz*