9

There are many lessons I've learned over the course of my life. Don't run with scissors, don't talk with your mouth full, don't start fights if you can help it, be kind to the rando's, don't get caught stealing, and many, many more.

In this case, I did not learn something new. I've known this lesson for years.

But my eyes have been opened. I see now why this lesson is so important. Why only a fool would ignore it.

Avoid angry women.

"What do you mean," Liza hissed, eyes like fire. "That you've never had any blood work done?"

Now, I'm sure you're confused. Trust me, I was just as confused as you were, still am to be honest.

Perhaps a jaunt down memory lane will help?

Upon leaving Professor Oak's ranch, Winter brought me into the region of Johto, parking in Azalea Town, where I spent the night at the local Pokémon Center. Now that I had ID, I was good to go, and Nurse Joy was happy to have me. She took my Pokémon for a checkup, fed them a bit, and looked over my egg.

Apparently, Viserio- Dragonair. The Dratini in that egg was Viserion, its mother was just Dragonair.

Anywho.

Dragonair basically forced the egg out of her body earlier than intended. While the egg was whole and hale, it was on the smaller side, and Joy worried that the Dratini inside of it wouldn't develop entirely, and that even if it did it would require extra care to reach its true capabilities.

I was annoyed, and why wouldn't I be? More work is more work. But, even when I was annoyed, I didn't kick up a fuss. Pokémon that hatched from eggs required extra care in any case, and I intended to treat the Dratini that hatched properly.

So, at the end of the day, it didn't really matter. I had a premie baby on the way, and I needed to prepare accordingly.

Preparations involved doing a whole lot of nothing. An egg was an egg, there was nothing to be done. Once the egg hatched, I just needed to be careful and give Viserion plenty of space and make room for some allowances.

I just grabbed the egg, thanked Nurse Joy, and tuckered in for the night.

The next day, I didn't leave the Pokémon Center until eleven. I'd been attempting to contact Liza for the whole of the morning, and she had only woken up thirty minutes prior to my leaving.

I told her I was ready to go, that I was already in Azalea Town. She said that that was perfect, since she had just finished up her side of the preparations two days ago. I could come over whenever I wanted but would need to land in front of the main gate of the valley. If I flew over the gate, the Charizard would assume I was an invader, and, well, things would hurt.

I was ever so glad for that warning.

And thus, I left the Pokémon Center after a quick meal and after searching through the mountains, found the Valley in… Some time between twenty and thirty minutes.

Liza was standing at the front, waving me over. Her own Charizard, a great beast of a Pokémon that liked to wear a pink bow along her horns, called Charla, greeted Winter easily.

After returning Winter and keeping a good grip on my incubation unit, Liza led me inside. The Valley was massive, red-brown stones making up a small canyon where what seemed to be hundreds of Charizard's and their pre-evolved forms were doing their do's.

I had actual chills when I entered. The Valley was that impressive.

The Charicific Valley Natural Reserve was a unique landmass. According to one of the scattered legends of Johto, Ho-oh created Entei here, absorbing the lava of a dying volcano to do so. What was left was a crater that would always give off heat but would never combust in truth. Basically, the perfect natural reserve for Fire types. And it shows, there weren't just Charizard here, but other Fire type Pokémon as well, Vulpix and Growlithe and Cyndaquil, along with their evolved counterparts spread throughout.

Liza offered me an explanation of the Valley as we walked. Apparently, while the legend might hold true as to how the Valley was formed, there was some extra stuff that occurred. A couple hundred years ago, the first of the caretakers came to be. He was a Pokémon trainer that specialized in Rock and Ground type Pokémon, and wanted to release his starter, a Charmander. The man was done with his journey and intended to allow all but a few Pokémon their freedom. When he found this place, where wild Charizard could be found, he knew that this was perfect. His Charizard found a mate, and in celebration the man had his many Ground and Rock types carve out the habitats of the Valley, all so that his friend would be more comfortable.

After that, he appointed a trusted friend of his own to look after the Charizard. That friend had a sculptor create the grand gate located outside, and the rest was history. The Valley became a national landmark years later, the Charizard line turned into a protected species, and the Valley became quite selective in who could enter.

But time changes things. With Pokémon trainers becoming more popular and children ever curious, it made sense for fostering programs to begin to come into form. Many places started these programs, and after a while the Charicific Valley too allowed those that wished to learn to enter.

I didn't really get to interact with the Pokémon of the valley. A few Charmander approached me curiously, but a Charmeleon shooed them away, shooting mistrustful looks in my direction. There was a Cyndaquil that bumped into me, but it ran away the moment it realized I wasn't a Pokémon or Liza.

After packing my belongings into the room I was given, not a lot happened. Liza slowly introduced me to the various Pokémon in the Valley, and I in turn introduced my own Pokémon. Winter was wary, though quite interested in the behemoths. Arakh and Umber, not so much. Natural type disadvantages did that sometimes.

Five days later, after getting to know one another and beginning the process of learning my duties, Liza asked about my medical records.

I can't remember the exact words that I stated, but they went along the lines of: "I think I was born in a hospital, but I had only been in one recently, and that was because I got hit by a Thunderbolt."

Now, she was naturally worried about the fact that I was hit by a Pokémon attack, but more than that, she was mad that I had never gotten any blood work done. Or, at least, I don't think I did.

Which is how we get to where we previously began.

"Well," I hummed, knowing she was not happy. Best to but honest. "Yeah, I don't think I've had any blood work done. Is that really that big of a deal?"

She groaned, raking her red nails through her green hair. "Is that really that big of a deal, he says. Of course it's a big deal! Do you know how many diseases some Pokémon hold? Hello! There's an entire subsection of Pokémon known primarily for being poisonous!"

…I will admit, in the eight months I've been here, I have not considered such an obvious dilemma even once.

So, when she grabbed me by the collar, dragged me into her little blimp and had Charla the Charizard fly us to the Blackthorn City general hospital, I didn't make a fuss.

Though I totally would have been faster on Winter.

.

It took us two hours to reach Blackthorn and an extra twenty minutes to enter the hospital grounds. Liza had to land at the Blackthorn City Gym, where she had a Gym Trainer keep watch over her blimp while we were gone. Apparently, she was good friends with Clair, the Gym Leader of the city. Like, good enough friends to say that "Claire and I are totes bff's" with a straight face. The trainer that was tasked with looking after her blimp didn't even fuss, likely used to her presence.

Arriving at the hospital could have been easier. Could have been harder too, now that I think about it. We had to sit in a lobby for an hour, awkward energy abound. We spent most of our time in that lobby ignoring one another, Liza through way of generic magazines and me through way of my Pokégear.

When it came time for me to get my blood work done, old fears crept up. It was stupid, I'm aware, but I don't like needles. I'm not phobic or anything, I just don't like them

In the end, after I thrashed like the twerp I was, I had to be essentially strapped down to a table for a half hour, where they took my blood and gave my injections. If anybody attempts to question why the doctor that looked me over is now sporting a black eye, I will say I know nothing. That's right, Jon Snow knows nothing.

Nothing!

Ahem.

After my visit to the hospital, we were told that my information would be returned within the next week or so. Liza, being the person in charge of my fostering, would be the one to receive the information, and it was up to her discretion to give me my information.

While we were here, she took the opportunity to give me a tour of the city.

Originally, Blackthorn City was known as Blackthorn Village, a town built near the famous Dragon's Den, a cave-system and valley grassland home to various Dragon type Pokémon. It was – is – a preserve, a place where wild dragons reign supreme, allowing only a select few humans to enter their abode.

Blackthorn became a city in the aftermath of Lance Blackthorn becoming the Champion of Johto some fourteen years ago. With the rise of Lance, Blackthorn's population skyrocketed, a Gym taking shape and a city in the making. Five years later, both were realized, and Blackthorn City became the most recent destination of note on the Johto/Kanto maps.

Blackthorn City was big. Big enough that Liza didn't feel like giving me a proper tour. Instead, she brought me back to the Gym, where I was introduced to Claire and summarily shown the prime destinations to see in the city.

Claire was a pretty cool woman, good looking too with her lightly tanned skin and sky-blue hair. She was willing to talk about anything, and when I mentioned that I had Dratini egg (no way in hell was I going to mention I had been jipped out of a Dragonair), she got really excited. Bring up Dragon types around her and you have a chatter box.

In the end, she gave me her Pokégear number and offered me some training tips for my Dratini and any future Dragon types I might catch. She very blatantly winked at Liza when saying this, earning a sad shake of the head from the greenette, nearly dashing the hope I held in my heart for a Charmander in the near future.

There were plenty of Charizard around, plenty of their line in the Valley to take. But if Liza said no, that was it.

I'd need to convince her. I'd need to show her that I was worthy. More than that, I'd need to show them that I was worthy.

We returned to the Charicifc Valley at the peak of night. The Pokémon in the Valley were either asleep or nearly there, and Liza and I hit the hay ourselves.

All in all, it was a good day.

Aside from the needles.

Claire Blackthorn was a well-known woman in the region of Johto. Dragon Mistress, Strongest of the Gym Leaders, Onezie Enthusiast, her titles were heavy and grand. Her fanbase was solid, her position secure, and above all else, she was the only female Gym Leader that wasn't jailbait.

…Claire did her best to avoid the fans that mentioned that tidbit. While she didn't mind the stares, the detail of her being twenty-years-old was one she tried to ignore when it came to her popularity.

Claire was a prudent woman, strict and domineering, with a soft side seen only by family and close friends, friends like Liza Hawsen. Claire was loyal to a fault, especially to Lance, her beloved cousin who had adopted her as his sister after the passing of her parents, her idol. It was Lance that helped raise her, helped her along the path to becoming a Dragon Mistress. He even went so far as to give her the progeny of his mated Dragonites as a starter Pokémon.

Lance was a very important person to Claire, and she would do anything to help him.

So, when she received a called from the Blackthorn Hospital claiming that there was an issue regarding her brother, Claire rushed over. The wait in the lobby filled her with worry, but she was soon cleared to enter a screening room. A doctor with brown hair and a healing black eye was waiting for her, looking over a document.

"Claire Blackthorn?" He asked, eyeing her.

"Yes, doctor." Claire nodded, taking a seat. "That's me. What's wrong with Lance?"

Scene after scene had played in her mind, horrors of the craziness Lance got up to getting the better of him surfacing in her dreams. Claire hadn't felt such an anxiety in years.

"Ah, nothing is wrong with him, per se, but we did learn something… interesting, about Lance Blackthorn that required either his, or his emergency contact's, attention."

Claire calmed, slouching ever so slightly into her seat. So, Lance was alright, that was good. She was also touched that he listed her as his emergency contact.

The doctor passed her the document he'd been looking over, a tan folder holding bloodwork details. Confused, Claire took the document, eyes widening at the first line of text on the document.

This was a paternity form.

"To be perfectly honest, this was as unexpected for us as it was for you," the doctor commiserated, likely noting her gob smacked expression. "Still, we found this information and felt you deserved to know. As you can see, you apparently have a nephew that had been previously unmarked in our registry, Ms. Blackthorn."

Claire was thinking up a storm, reading the document as if it were a lifeline. It actually was, especially when she looked over the name of her apparent nephew.

"Jon Snow? I met him last week, one of my friends is fostering him."

"Liza Hawsen, caretaker of the Charicific Valley, yes?" Upon her nodded, the doctor before her smiled. "A coincidence then. She brought him in so that he could take his mandatory injections for his Journey and have blood work done to ensure that nothing debilitated his ability to travel extensively."

He took the document from her and flipped to the fifth page, a psych eval available.

"Part of the mandates set down by the League require a general evaluation of physical and mental health from our patients before they can set off on their Journey proper. To be perfectly frank, he's quite astounding. Very mature for his age. Normally, children raised in such confusing environments show signs of abuse in one manner or another, but Mr. Snow was perfectly fine. Well, aside from an apparent fear of needles." He calmly pointed to his black eye, not that Claire was in the mood for such humor at the moment.

No, she was looking over the evaluation that was available to her. In it, the past of Jon Snow was made apparent, and Claire couldn't help but bite her lip at what she read.

The boy, her nephew, was essentially a street rat. Born to a mother that abandoned him and given to family after family, he never understood what a stable home life entailed. In an attempt to find some normality, he decided to become a Pokémon trainer, nearly dying in his leaving Kumquat. It was luck that he washed up on the shores of Shamouti Island, where the local Nurse Joy made him her ward and offered him the first modicum of stability he'd ever had.

Unwilling to let this go, Claire set the file down and pulled out her Pokégear. While Jon had a higher tech model of the Pokégear, Claire had the proto-type of the newest model that was made specifically for holographic communication.

She dug through her favorites file, found Lance, and range him up.

Ring~

Ring~

Rin-"Claire?" Lance asked, his image appearing in a mote of blue light.

"Lance," Claire nodded. Normally she'd be far less informal, calling him Bro or Lancie, but there was nothing normal about this situation. "Are you busy right now?"

"A little," he admitted, the hologram of his face frowning. "I've got some paperwork I'm dealing with at the moment, then I have to help facilitate a territorial dispute between Cerulean City and Saffron City. But I can talk for a little while. Is everything alright?"

"No, Lance. Everything is not alright." Claire signed, fiddling with her ponytail. "I'm here at the hospital and we've got some news."

"I'd like to jump in on this point." The doctor said. Lance's image twisted to face the man of medicine. "Mr. Blackthorn, my name is Dr. Erik Scalin. I've worked at the Blackthorn Hospital for the past thirteen years, primarily dealing with pre-Journey injections and child psychology."

"Er, hi doc." Lance awkwardly offered, coughing slightly.

"The reason for the call is that six days ago, we had a nine-year-old boy come in for his pre-Journey injections with some blood work added to the mix. He'd apparently never had any done before, and the woman he is fostering under demanded such."

"He's fostering under Liza, Lance." Claire clarified, earning a hum from Lance.

"Alright, always nice to hear about newer trainers, I guess. What does that have to do with me?"

Dr. Scalin traded a look with Claire, one that Claire nodded at.

"Well," he started, fumbling with his words. "The boy's name is Jon Snow, an orphan of the Orange Archipelago. Due to his orphan status and the screenings he went through, we had to put his information into our scanners to try and find an immediate relative. Policy is policy, you see. After putting his blood in our system, a match came out. Paternally."

"Lance, he's your kid." Claire bluntly stated. Better to rip off the band-aid than slowly peel it back.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Claire wished she had brought her camera. Lance was normally a very put together man, rarely showing emotion. This? His jaw dropped, eyes bugged and the small "eep" he let out? It would have been a perfect moment.

Alas, such was not to be.

A loud crash was heard, Lance's head leaving from for a moment, followed by a colorful amount of swearing. He returned to frame, almost frothing at the mouth. "WHAT?!"

"Jon Snow is your biological son," Dr. Scalin repeated.

"HOW?!"

The humor of Lance's reaction spurred Claire on, the seriousness of the situation finally losing its edge on her end. "Well, when a mommy and a daddy-"

"Claire, just – just, shut up. Please."

He was groaning, banging his head on the desk. At this point, he wasn't even talking to them, just berating his own self. "Stupid, stupid, stupid. How does this even happen? I'm always careful. Always! And he's nine? What the actual fuck. Let's see… what was I doing ten years ago... Ah! I did go to the Archipelago, and… shit, I was drinking a lot on that vacation. Great, just great... I'm such an idiot."

"Because you two are his closest living relatives, as well as being the closest to the hospital, we decided to give you this information before delivering it to Ms. Hawsen. Currently, neither she nor the lad have any idea of this news."

Lance's voice was a whisper, barely loud enough for the speaker to track. "Well, what's the kid like?"

"He's a cutie," Claire shrugged. "I didn't think about it, but he's got your hair, might have your chin too. A real stubborn one. Says he wants to be a Flying type specialist. Already has a pretty good team, a Pidgeot and a Scyther and a Delibird. I don't know the details of how he did it, but he got his hands on a Dratini egg too."

"That's, that's good." Lance wheezed. "A Blackthorn should have a dragon. And he's at the Charicific Valley, right? A Dragonite and a Charizard, that's a good combo."

"There's a worry that the egg won't survive, sadly." Claire admitted. The conversation with Liza about the smallness of the egg tugged at Claire's heartstrings, and now that she learned the boy was her nephew the tugging was more akin to a torrent of sorrow. "It was lain prematurely, its mother being a recently captured Dragonair that took Professor Oak's own Dragonite to mate while Jon was getting his license. The egg was bred previously, and you know how their line gets when they meet a life-mate. We aren't certain yet if it will survive. And Liza… She's not very hopeful that there will be a Charmander for him. She said that this years breeding season was scarce, that she's only expecting a few Charizards to have clutches, and you know how territorial they are."

Lance frowned from his side of the transmission. Something was going through his head, something serious. He only frowned like that when he was about to do something foolish. Claire hoped this was one of those few times where his foolishness was useful.

"He may not have my name," Lance started. "But he has my blood. A Blackthorn without a dragon is no Blackthorn at all… You're positive he's my son?"

"One hundred percent," Dr. Scalin affirmed.

"Then…" Lance sighed, coming to a decision. "I can't raise a kid, Claire. You know I can't. Not with the media hounding me and all of the issues I have to deal with keeping the region under control. Not to mention the G-men."

"You don't have to worry about raising him, Lance." Claire said softly. "Don't forget that he's my nephew too, and that he's being cared for by Liza. By the time he's done with her I'll grab him. Before we know it, he'll be ten and starting his Journey. That's only four months away. We don't have to worry about this for a long time, not if you don't want to."

"You know it's not that. It's not that I don't want to, it's that I can't… If he's really my kid, and he's serious about his goals… Fine. Being of Blackthorn blood, being kin to us, I'll allow him our Rite."

There was no more to be said. Lance abruptly hung up the phone, the last thing Claire saw was a resigned look of determination on his face. Claire herself was quite shocked. Pleased, though shocked.

Dr. Scalin turned to her, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What does he mean by your Rite?"

"A family tradition," Claire answered. "It's not really a secret, but… Suffice to say, even if Lance can't be there for him, he's acknowledging Jon."

She stood, emotions whirling. Thanking the doctor profusely for his aid, she scampered off, headed for the Gym. There were surely trainers thinking they could conquer her, that would let her take her mind off of things.

Oh. And it seemed as though she had to give Liza a call, to let her friend know to expect a large package.

It had been two weeks since my visit to the hospital, and while I enjoyed the time spent in the Valley, one major facet of information was on my mind.

Eggs take a shit-ton of time to hatch.

Oh, sure. The games made it look easy, you walk a bunch and then poof, you've got a new Pokémon

Anime? They just went about their journey, and, like, seven or so episodes down the line, it hatches. The timeframe of episodes was confusing, but generally speaking they were either a day apart or two days apart. Meaning that Viserion should at least be showing some signs of hatching.

But no, it doesn't work that way.

Unlike the show and unlike the games, there was a further case to think about. The Pokémon typing of the egg in question meant that it would hatch at a faster or slower rate.

Taking the Valley for example. Fire type Pokémon, like Grass types, tended to grow at quicker rates, and hatch at quicker rates as well. Dragon types, due to their slow rates of growth, also hatch at slower rates. There's no exact date to be noted, every Pokémon and Pokémon egg being different, but one thing is certain: Dragon types take a while.

And Viserion was already going to be a trick. It being premie made things difficult enough. There was a worry that it wouldn't even hatch, that the egg was unfertilized.

But I had faith. Viserion would hatch. It would hatch into a Dratini, grow into a Dragonair and evolve into a formidable Dragonite. It couldn't not do that, not after all of the trouble I went through.

However, doubt still crept up on me. By this point, I've had this egg for almost three weeks. Nothing has happened in that span of time. Normally speaking, an egg would at least move a bit, or let off a periodic glow. As far as I can tell, neither of these things have happened yet.

"Jon!" Liza called from the living room space. I was in my little room, doing a lot of nothing. "Come out! You've got a package!"

A package? For me? Nani?!

Curious, I did as was bade, making my way into the living room. The caretakers living space was unique, built into one of the hollowed burrows that was made for the Charizard's to use. It looks like a modern home that was somehow built into a cave. A real unique feel.

And in the middle of this space was a large cardboard box, a letter sat on its top. The box was about two feet tall, a foot and a half wide. There was no address denoting where it came from.

I want to know what's inside.

Tearing into it like a child on a war path, I dug my way through packing puffs, gaping at what was inside.

It was an incubator, a teal egg inside of it, a smidge of grey colorations on its peak and bottom.

I immediately grabbed the letter and opened it. There was no note, just a CD drive.

Liza saw this and got her CD player ready. We both sat down on her couch, her television on and our interests held. After a few seconds, the screen shifted to a white background with a wooden chair in its centerfold.

And then Lance fucking Blackthorn walked into the scene and took a seat.

"So, this is awkward," Lance said, scratching at his head. "But I suppose I should start this off properly. Hello, my name is Lance. You might have heard of me."

"What that actual hell is going on?" Liza asked, perplexed. Honestly, she just spoke my thoughts near verbatim.

"I've certainly heard of you, Jon. I recently received some information, information that has put me in a strange position. To be blunt, the blood work that you put forth in Blackthorn City had a match, a match in the form of me. I'm your father, kid."

What the actual fuck.

"I know, crazy right?" Lance coughed into his shoulder, eyes shifting to the sides of the camera lens. Then he just slumped. "Look, they say you're mature, so I'll be blunt. I was thrown completely left field by that. While I don't mind the idea of becoming a father, I never intended to have you and I learned of you too late. I can't be what you want, and you aren't really what I was envisioning."

You call that blunt? I call that a sledge hammer. On glass.

"Don't get me wrong!" He said, waving his arms wildly. "I wouldn't mind having a relationship with you, but to suddenly act like a father and son… I'm not stupid, and I don't think you are either. Things don't work that way, and I won't pretend otherwise."

Unconsciously, my fists clenched. I knew all too well that things didn't work that way. Years of disappointment in the orphanage attested to such.

"But, ah… Here we are. You should be getting the forms of proof soon, that or you should already have them. I am your biological father, that much is fact. But I can't be there for you, I've got too much on my plate. And since you're trying to become a trainer, I had an idea. It's nothing compared to a family, but in my clan, in our clan, there is a tradition, a Rite in which a dragon is offered to a young man or woman so that they might grow together with strength. I've learned that the egg you yourself have might not survive, that you might not be able to get your hands on a Charmander, and… Well, I've also learned that you want to be a Flying type specialist. This is proof of me accepting that you're my kid. Hopefully, you and this egg, once it hatches, will become partners through thick and thin."

My eyes trailed the new egg, taking it in in its entirety. A Dragon type Pokémon that would gain a Flying type. Was it another Dratini?

No, no it wasn't. Viserion's egg was the standard for how a Dratini egg should look, the only exception being its Shiny variant. This was something else.

I admit, my interest was piqued.

"Normally, I'd ask for discretion," Lance said. "But this, our situation is different. You haven't had anybody for years, and while I cannot be there for you, my name and title might bring you some comfort. If you claim to be my son in public, I will not deny you. Just, be careful, okay? I've got lots of friends, yeah, but more enemies than I can count, and fame is like a Double Edge. It can fun, but it can hurt too. It can hurt really badly."

He shifted, looking to his left. "I've got to go now. If you ever need to contact me for something, ask Claire for help. I'll at least try and keep a correspondence with you."

With that, the screen turned to black, the CD neatly falling out of the player.

…

…

…

…

What.

Winter/Pidgeot – Male

Moves: Tackle, Gust, Sand Attack, Agility, Double Team, Whirlwind, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Twister, Fly

Ability: Keen Eye

Arakh/Scyther – Male

Moves: Tackle, Quick Attack, Slash, Pursuit, False Swipe, Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, Attract

Ability: Swarm

Winter/Pidgeot – Male

Moves: Tackle, Gust, Sand Attack, Agility, Double Team, Whirlwind, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Twister, Fly

Ability: Keen Eye

Arakh/Scyther – Male

Moves: Tackle, Quick Attack, Slash, Pursuit, False Swipe, Fury Cutter, Metal Claw, Attract

Ability: Swarm

Umber/Delibird – Female

Moves: Present, Icy Wing, Peck, Rest, Attract, Ice Beam, Hail

Ability: Hustle

Viserion/Dratini – Egg

Moves: Unknown

Ability: ?

?/? – Egg

Moves: Unknown

Ability: ?

Jon Snow – Male

Date: Aug 20

Badges: N/A

Pokémon: Pidgeot, Scyther, Delibird, Dratini(Egg), ?(Egg)

Currency: 19670