Welcome Larvitar!

After saving Alto Mare and Latias and Latios joining Ashlyn's team, the gang is now on their way to New Bark Town where Ashlyn will get more information about the Silver Conference.

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The gang arrived at a local Pokémon center for a break when Nurse Joy told Ashlyn that she has a phone call from Prof. Elm.

"Pick up a Pokémon egg?" Ashlyn asked.

"Yes, Naomi, the director of the Marine Pokémon laboratory had found the egg and wanted to give it to me. Since you're nearby, I thought that maybe you could do it." Prof. Elm explained.

"We don't mind. We're on our way to you anyway." Ashlyn accepted.

"Thank you. I'll see you all soon." Prof. Elm said before the screen went black.

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The gang arrived at the Marine Pokémon Laboratory. But when they got there, the lobby was empty.

"Hellooo! Is anybody here?" Brock called out.

"I wonder where everyone is." Misty pondered.

"Can I help you?" A famine voice asked.

The gang turned to the voice and saw a woman who looked to be the same age as Prof. Ivy. She had short light red brown hair with a low ponytail with brown eyes and wore a lab coat. Ashlyn knew that this woman is Naomi.

Brock suddenly appeared right in front of Naomi and held both her hands, "Why yes you can. You can tell me your name. Then you can tell me about your likes and dislikes, favorite band, favorite color, your blood type, everything!" He smiled sheepishly with pink cheeks.

Misty grabbed his ear and started dragging him away, "Enough. How about most annoying Pokémon breeder she ever met?"

"Togephriii!" Togepi chirped.

Ashlyn, Tesla, and Volkner sighed while Naomi blinked in confusion.

"You're Naomi, right?" Ashlyn asked.

"Why yes I am. So you must be Ashlyn, right?" Naomi asked.

Ashlyn nodded, "Yup."

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Naomi brought the gang to her lab and showed them the Pokémon egg she had found.

"Here it is." Naomi brought out the egg, which was in an egg incubator, onto the table.

"Wow, it's green. What kind of Pokémon do you think will hatch from it?" Misty asked.

"It's a complete mystery to me. It had been said that the egg was from a Pokémon preserve area on Mt. Silver, but it was stolen by a group of poachers. Somehow got away from the poachers and it was found and brought here to my lab." Naomi explained.

"And that's when you decided to call for Prof. Elm for help." Volkner pointed out.

"That's right, Volkner. I figured that he could preserve the egg and make sure its in good health." Naomi stated. "Here you go." She gently handed the egg to Ashlyn who held it carefully.

Ashlyn recalled that this was a Larvitar egg. However, this Larvitar had suffered a lot while it was still unhatched. It amazed her how a young Pokémon could see all that while it remained in its egg.

"Thank you, Naomi." Ashlyn thanked Naomi.

Naomi smiled and nodded, "You're welcome."

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The gang were on the road to New Bark Town, and they were now having lunch. Ashlyn, who had been taking care of the egg all this time, was stroking the egg gently with her hands.

"You know, I'm feeling a scared presence from inside the egg. It's like the baby Pokémon doesn't want to come out of the egg." Ashlyn stated.

"But why though?" Misty pondered, "I mean I'm sure that all baby Pokémon can't wait to hatch out of their eggs."

"Well this egg was stolen by poachers." Volkner pointed out.

"So this egg must have gone through something really bad, which would explain why the baby Pokémon doesn't want to come out." Brock explained.

"Yeah." Ashlyn agreed as she continued to rub the egg gently.

Suddenly the egg started to glow.

"Hey it's going to hatch!" Misty said, excitedly.

The gang watched, excitedly, as the egg continued to glow brightly, and then the egg hatched. The Pokémon was a green Pokémon, with black markings and a red tail. There was also a blunt spike on its head.

"It's a Larvitar." Brock said.

Ashlyn looked up Larvitar on her Rotom phone:

[Larvitar, the Rock Skin Pokémon. It feeds on soil. After it has eaten a large mountain, it falls asleep so it can grow.]

Ashlyn placed a hand on Larvitar to stroke it, but she took it off again quick.

"Larvitar is freezing." She gasped.

Brock touched Larvitar next. "You're right Ashlyn. Its body temperature is way too low for a rock Pokémon. We need to get it to the Pokémon center and quick."

He looked through the guide to see if there was a Pokémon center nearby and the good news there was. So they wrapped Larvitar in a blanket and ran to the Pokémon center at once.

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At the Pokémon center, Nurse Joy checked Larvitar all over at once. But she couldn't find anything wrong with it, so she decided to call Prof Elm for help at once.

Unfortunately Prof Elm was not at home, so she just sent an email to him. All she could now was to keep Larvitar warm; she wrapped it up in another blanket and put an electric heater on.

"I just hope that Prof Elm will get my message and get here as soon as he can." Nurse Joy prayed.

Just then trouble happened; it was raining very hard outside and thunder and lightning was happening, and the Pokémon Center's power went out. And the worse news was lightning had struck the emergency generator, and without the power Larvitar would become colder. Nurse Joy, Misty, Volkner, and Brock went to check on the generator at once. To help Larvitar, Ashlyn sent out Typhlosion, and Typhlosion used the flames on his back to warm up Larvitar.

Ashlyn held Larvitar in her arms to warm it up more. "Hang in there Larvitar." She said.

"Rai Raichu, Rairai? (Will Larvitar be okay, Ashlyn?)" Tesla asked as she sat down next to her trainer.

"As long as we keep Larvitar warm." Ashlyn replied.

Tesla curled up into Ashlyn's lap, trying to help keep the egg warm.

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Later that night, Ashlyn was still holding onto Larvitar while she slept. Then she was dreaming. She dreamt that she was in Larvitar's egg and she was experiencing some bad things. Ashlyn got drifted about in a river, got kicked about by everyone's feet and was about to get run over by a truck. When Ashlyn woke up from the bad dream, it was morning.

Larvitar was trembling in Ashlyn's arms. "Larvitar, you were having a nightmare and somehow I was sharing it with you." she said.

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Later that day, Prof. Elm, Prof. Oak and Delia arrived at the Pokémon center. Ashlyn was surprised to see her mum as well as the two professors. Nurse Joy told the professors about Larvitar's condition.

"I've done everything I could, but nothing has helped Larvitar much." she said.

"Okay you leave this to Prof Oak and me." Prof. Elm assured her.

"Yes, we'll make Larvitar alright again." Prof. Oak added.

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While Prof Elm and Prof Oak tended to Larvitar, Delia went to the Pokémon Centre's kitchen to make breakfast for everyone. Thanks to the professors, Larvitar was feeling well again. But Prof. Elm told everyone that Larvitar wasn't responding to anything, like its mind was all shaken and scared. Ashlyn told everyone about the dream she had with Larvitar about what had happened when Larvitar was still in the egg.

"If Larvitar did experience something that bad, that would explain the reason of its lack of response." Prof Elm suggested.

At that moment Delia told everyone that breakfast was ready. Everyone left the emergency room to let Larvitar sleep and have their breakfast.

During breakfast time Ashlyn got an idea. She thought that if she took Larvitar outside for a bit, she could show Larvitar that it doesn't need to be afraid of the world. Prof. Elm thought Ashlyn's idea would help Larvitar so he agreed to let Ashlyn take Larvitar outside.

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When breakfast was finished, Ashlyn and Tesla went outside with Larvitar. Ashlyn and Tesla showed Larvitar a green field, the ocean, the sky and some wild Jumpluff that were flying about the area.

"Larvitar, I know that you experienced some very scary things while you were in the egg. But you don't need to be scared of this world. There are a lot of great things in this world, which you don't need to be afraid of." Ashlyn assured the Rock type Pokémon.

"Raichu. Rairai Raichu Rai Raichu Rairai. (That's right. We're all happy in this world and so will you Larvitar.)" Tesla added.

Larvitar just stared, like it was a mindless soul. Ashlyn and Tesla sighed. Ashlyn took out a leaf and began to play Oración. Little by little, Ashlyn began to sense that Larvitar's aura was changing. Suddenly, Ashlyn sensed Team Rocket nearby.

"Quick Tesla use Thunderbolt!" Ashlyn pointed to the bushes.

Tesla quickly let out her electrical attack towards the bushes and heard three yelps of pain coming from them. Then an explosion and three figures being sent into the air.

"How did that twerp know we were there?" James asked, confused.

"That will always be a mystery." Meowth commented.

"We were so close." Jessie growled.

"Yet we were so far." James added.

"We're going far alright." Meowth stated.

"Wobbufet!" Wobbuffet saluted.

The trio sighed in defeat.

"TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!!!" They screamed before they disappeared into the sky.

"WOBBAAAA!" Wobbuffet added.

Ashlyn and Tesla sighed.

"They're never going to learn." Ashlyn stated.

"Raichu." Tesla nodded, agreed.

"Larvitar? (Who were they?)" Larvitar asked.

"Just a bunch of idiotic thieves who keep trying to take Tesla. They fail every time." Ashlyn replied.

Then Ashlyn and Tesla blinked in confusion and looked at Larvitar.

"Larvitar, did you just talk?" Ashlyn questioned.

Larvitar nodded, "Larvitar. (Yeah I did.)"

Ashlyn let out a sigh of relief and held Larvitar close to her, "Thank goodness. We were so worried about you."

Larvitar blinked in shock at Ashlyn's closeness. Then he remembered the warmth of his mother and how she held him close to her. Larvitar closed his eyes and smiled as he snuggled into Ashlyn's chest. Ashlyn smiled as she gently stroke Larvitar. Tesla jumped onto her shoulder and gazed softly at the sight.

Then they heard the Bellossums singing. Larvitar turned to the sight and saw them dancing and caught sight of the Pidgey's and Butterfree's flying up into the sky. The Jumpluff were floating around. Larvitar smiled happily at the sight. Ashlyn had a good feeling that Larvitar was starting to open up to the world.

"Ashlyn!" A female voice called out.

Ashlyn, Tesla, and Larvitar turned to the voices and saw Volkner, Prof Elm, Prof Oak, Brock and Misty coming towards them.

"Are you okay?" Volkner asked.

"We just saw Team Rocket blasting off." Misty said.

"Yeah. I easily figured that they were coming after Tesla and probably Larvitar as well. But we protected each other." Ashlyn replied.

Then Larvitar tensed up when he noticed the others. Ashlyn gently stroke Larvitar.

"It's alright, Larvitar. These are my friends. They won't hurt you." She assured Larvitar who looked up at her with confusion.

"Larvitar? (Really?)" Larvitar asked.

Ashlyn nodded, "I'm sure."

Larvitar looked at the others and then turned to Ashlyn and snuggled into her chest.

"I'm afraid its going to take a while for Larvitar to completely open up to the world." Prof. Elm guessed.

Prof. Oak cupped his chin, "I believe so." He agreed.

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Later that day, Prof. Elm gave everyone a ride to New Bark Town. Ashlyn signed up to participate in the Johto League Silver Conference at the Pokémon center, and Nurse Joy told the gang that the Silver Conference was held at a place called Silver Town at Mt Silver. So the gang got ready to leave for Mt Silver. They informed Prof. Elm, Prof. Oak and Delia of their plans and they wished the gang good luck. Prof. Elm asked the gang to take Larvitar to the Pokémon preserve area, which was also located near Mt Silver. Apparently Larvitar only trusted Ashlyn and Tesla at the moment and Larvitar didn't want them to leave, so the gang agreed to take Larvitar to the Pokémon preserve.

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So now it was time for the gang to head off to the Johto League and they said goodbye to the Pokémon professors and Delia, and left New Bark Town.

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Pokémon Caught: Heracross (M), Furret (F), Stantler (F), Meganium (F), Typhlosion (M), Togetic (F), Feraligatr (M), Steelix (M), Ampharos (F), Girafarig (F), Misdreavus (F), Inteleon (M), Rillaboom (M), Shiny Greninja (Genji)(M), Shiny Chestnaught (Cybele)(F), Kommo-o (M), Goodra (Nessy)(F), Meowstic (Orin)(M), Meowstic (Bella)(F), Thievul (F), Gothitelle (F), Rapidash (F), Houndoom (M), Shiny Noctowl (M), Zeraora (Raiden)(M), Alolan Raichu (Nariko)(F), Marshadow (M), Murkrow (M), Elekid (F), Celebi (Moriko)(F), Shiny Corsola (Coraline)(F), Ho-Oh (Aveline)(F), Phanpy (Tantor)(M), Latias (F), Latios (M)