Ch 73. Hatching

Back at the Pokemon center, Ares stared down at the badge case in front of him, eight gleaming gym badges laid down in front of him. It still felt surreal to him, to have collected them all. Not surprising really, as Giovanni seemed to have lost interest in the battle at the end. The earth badge had been more like a give-away than something he had earned.

Mewtwo had disrupted and fleed the battle not long after it had started.

The gym had closed soon after he left, Giovanni having left rather urgently with a sudden appointment. No doubt the escape of Mewtwo had left a bad aftertaste, as shown by Giovanni's prompt leave. Even more so since not even a word about Mew was brought up. She did disappear shortly after Mewtwo left, so there was that. She hadn't even returned yet, as she was probably still chasing after Mewtwo, no doubt wanting to share a word or two about the situation from before.

Tucking the badgecase away in his bag, a sudden movement caught his notice. Reaching further into his backpack, his hand made contact with the smooth surface of the egg incubator. It trembled slightly at his touch, a sign that something was about to happen.

Clasping his hands around the incubator, Ares gently pulled it out, carefull not to drop it. Once out, small cracks were visible on the brown egg shell, trembling slightly as the little baby pokemon inside of it made an effort to break out of it.

Sitting down on the ground, Lucario next to him as he stared in wonder, he placed the incubator on the ground, the shaking making it wobble a bit from the force.

Lifting the trembling egg from the incubator, Ares sat crossed legged as he placed it on his lap, his eyes fixated on the cracks that were forming, becoming larger and larger as more time passed. At some point the egg began to glow from the cracks, the white light soon spreading as it burst from the egg completely, hidding it from sight.

At that exact moment, Mew reappeared at Aress's side, as she stared curiously at the occurence.

[Glad I am on time. I can't wait to see the little lad.]

Mew giggled, plopping on his shoulder as they waited for the light to dim down.

"Glad to see you are back. I didn't want you to miss this either. You looked after the egg so dutifully, I would be sad if you missed its hatching."

Ares replied, giving Mew one pat on the head while his gaze remained on the hatching.

[You know me, wouldn't miss it for the world.]

Mew countered, her eyes glued as much to the egg as much as his were. Their gaze intensified as the glow dimmed, revealing the brown figure of a healthy Abra. It was small, like most newborn pokemon were. It would grow rapidly in the coming weeks, as it would grow older and stronger.

Stroking the newborn Abra's head in soft, gentle movements, Ares could feel Abra's mind trying to connect to his, much like Mew did to talk to him. It was weak and subtle, yet no words were spoken. Small sparks of emotions came across, such as curiosity and joy.

The soft feeling of small paws clenching around his arm increased the sensation, letting the emotions seep through even more. Abra nuzzled closer, nestling against his chest as it fell asleep again. Not surprising, as Abra had just hatched. Don't even mention the fact that this specie in general slept for most of the day.

Craddling the small form in his arms, Ares sat down on the bed, Lucario looking on from the side as he looked at the small brown pokemon in his trainers arms.

It looked so weak, soft and fragile. He wondered if he was the same when he had just hatched. Lucario's eyes met Ares's, the silent words perfectly coming across without any difficulty.

"If you were the same? Not really, no. You were energetic, strong and inexhaustible. I would say you were the complete opposite."

Ares chuckled as a thought slowly formed.

"I wonder how the others were. I mean, it would be hard to know, but it would be interesting to know how different each of you were when you were little."

He couldn't help but imagine a boastful Pidgey with a lot of pride, challenging the other Pidgey to a fight almost daily. A small Pichu that was shy around others as she scoured for food. A young Lapras that was surrounded by her herd as multiple egg were hatching. A jolly but shy Cleffa that constatly his behind her parents.

The one he thought hardest about would be charizard, as he didn't have charizard as long as his earlier pokemon, but he knew that Charizard as a Charmander had to have been a little fighter, as seen from the many small and big scars Charizard wore on his body like a trophy.

"Nonetheless, I like all of you, no matter how you were or will be. No matter how weak you all start out, from the smallest newborn to the most powerful final form, you will still be my precious little friends."

Ares ruffled Lucario's head, who quickly batted Ares's misbahaving hand aside, a smirk still forming on his face as he barked, almost sounding like he was complaining yet laughing at the same time.

Seeing Lucario in a good mood, they got up. Ares moved carefully, afraid to jostled Abra too much and wake it up. Fortunately, it was deep asleep, not even waking up when the rest of his pokemon decided to come out and have a look.

The room quickly became crowded, some of them opting to remain in their pokeball, deciding to have a look when the rest returned.

It had become rather lively, which immediately begged the question, which pokeball would be best for Abra? He had a lot of different ones, yet he did have a preference for the Ultra ball. It was said to be one of the best ones.

Taking out an Ultra ball, Ares tapped it against Abra's head. Abra disappeared in a beam of red light, the pokeball later indicating the capture had been successful.

With a new pokemon on his team, one he wouldn't be using for a long time, as the baby period of Abra would be over after the league had finished, he decided to spend a bit more time with it, before letting professor Oak take care of him. He would have too many pokemon with him to truly give them the attention and care they needed to grow up healthy.