Ch. 24

"You want me to take one of them with me?"

It nodded.

"But they are so small. They must be really young."

It nodded again before ruffling my hair gently with it's beak. Then it used a wing to push me closer to the Pidgeys, sitting down I held my hands out in front of me and the curious little birds hopped over to investigate. Using my System Pokedex I started scanning each one hoping to find something different about any of them that would make my choice easier.

[Would you like to temporarily unlock advanced scanning features for 500 SC?]

'Advanced scanning? What's that?'

Like usual there was no response but I guessed that it must be useful otherwise I wouldn't have received such a prompt.

'Purchase Advanced Scanning for 500 SC.'

[Advanced Scanning unlocked for one hour.]

The prompt disappeared and I noticed an arrow pointing sideways at the bottom of my Pokedex screen. With a thought I swiped to the side and a screen I had never seen before was now in front of me. Shifting my eyes to one of the Pidgeys a soft green glow appeared and two stars lit up on the screen. Sliding my gaze from one Pidgey to the next anywhere from one to three stars lit up. Half way through my screen lit up with a bright golden flash.

Three stars glowing incredibly bright lit up my screen and I knew this one was the pick of the litter so to speak. Moving my hand slowly I pet its head gently with one finger. It chirped and hopped closer nuzzling my hand with it's head. Turning my head I looked at the Pidgeot beside me who had lowered it's body to watch me closely. My screen lit up with three stars but nowhere near as bright as the little Pidgey in my hand.

"This one. I'll take good care of her."

The Pidgeot nodded and I pulled a Pokeball from my Item Box by way of my jacket pocket. Seeing the ball in my hand the other Pidgeot squawked loudly but the first Pidgeot just gave a loud chirp which caused the one on the nest to settle down unhappily. Turning back to the little bird in my hand I held out the Pokeball.

"Want to come with me little one?"

It tilted it's head in confusion but the Pidgeot beside me gave a soft sound and bumped my arm which pressed the Pokeball to the young Pidgey. With a flash of red light the Pidgey was sucked in and after the ball shook a few times it let out a soft click. I had just gotten my second Pokemon.

With a rustle the Pidgeot beside me rose up and started walking out of the tree hollow. Rising to my feet being careful not to step on the little birds I followed. It lowered itself and I knew it was time to go, climbing carefully onto it's back I barely had time to wrap my arms around it's neck before it took to the sky once more. Many of the Pidgeottos as well as some of the largest Pidgeys followed as well.

I was so caught up in the sensation of fly that I didn't realize that the flock of birds was heading directly towards Pallet Town. When I finally realized where we were a shudder went up my spine as I saw my house growing closer. There was already a small crowd of people gathering, after all a large flock of Pokemon heading straight for town is usually a bad thing.

"Land in the field a little ways away from that crowd please. We don't want them attack us."

It let out a cry and started a shallow dive towards the ground. Once all of the Pokemon had landed I slid off it's back and took a step away.

"Thank you for trusting me with your child. I will take good care of her."

The Pidgeot ruffled my hair again before looking at the crowd of people that were slowly approaching. It's gaze focused on someone in the crowd and it's whole body went rigid. After a few moments it turned it head to the other Pokemon and gave a soft cry. Then it turned back to the crowd and started walking forward, I kept pace with it until I saw my mom. She did not look happy.

I left the Pidgeot's side and walked over to my mom before looking back at the Pidgeot. It's gaze was still on someone in the crowd but I wasn't sure who, then an older woman took a few step forward from the crowd, swatting a man's hand away when he tried to stop her. She kept walking until they were only a few steps away from each other.

"Is that you Flutter?"

The Pidgeot let out a cry that was heartbreaking as it darted the short distance to the woman and draped her head on the woman's shoulder. The woman wrapped her arms around the Pokemon's neck and hugged her.

"I've missed you girl."

Reaching up I grabbed my mom's hand, she looked down at me and I could tell she didn't know exactly what to say. So she just looked back at the reunion between Pokemon and Trainer that was happening in front of us. After a few moments the woman let go and slid out from under the Pidgeot's head. It looked sad but it raised it's head and just looked at her.

"Is that your family behind you?"

The Pidgeot nodded.

"So which ones are yours?"

The Pidgeot shook it's head and used a wing to gesture at me as if to say 'ask him'.

"Emily? Do you have any idea what's going on here?"

"No idea Alice. I think my son has some explaining to do."

The woman looked at me as the Pidgeot shuffled closer to the woman and leaned against her side. The woman reached up and started scratching around the Pidgeot's neck as she focused her attention on me.

"Hi Jake it's been a while since we have seen each other. I'm Alice."

"Hello Miss Alice."

Alice smiled at me.

"Can you explain how you came to meet Flutter? It's been nearly 15 years since I've seen her."

The Pidgeot cooed hearing her name come from the woman's mouth drawing a smile from her.

"I've been exploring the woods for a while and made a little tree house for myself out there. Today while I was sitting in it reading a bunch of Mankey came rushing in looking for a place to hide. They were so scared they didn't even care that I was there as well."

I felt my mom's hand squeeze mine.

"Then the whole tree started to shake and when I looked outside there were a bunch of Pidgeottos attacking the tree. I think they were hunting the Mankey."

Everyone was looking at me in shock wondering 'A' if I was lying or 'B' how I got away unharmed.

"I started throwing rocks that I kept in my tree house as paper weights and got in a few lucky hits, which scared off the Pidgeottos."

A few people were nodding after hearing what I said finding my story at least potentially believable.

"After the Pidgeottos left the Mankey's fled leaving my tree house a mess. While trying to clean it up I heard something and when I looked out the Pidgeottos had returned with a Pidgeot leading them this time."

With that I pointed at the Pidgeot that was rubbing up against her.

"That one. When it saw me it didn't attack but landed on the ground and it's flock did the same. After climbing down I was backing away, ready to run when I noticed it's eye's. It was crying, that's also when I noticed the tag on it's leg."

I squeezed my mom's hand before continuing.

"I don't know why I took the risk but I walked up to it and hugged it. It lowered it's head onto my shoulder just like it did to you earlier. Just that alone told me it missed it's former trainer, I'm guessing that's you."

Alice nodded.

"After a few minutes I let go and stepped away only for it to turn and lower itself. I saw my mom's Pidgeot do that when we were going to get on so I asked if it wanted to take me somewhere."

"Mom always tells me to never go flying without a harness but I felt this was something I needed to do so I climbed on it's back and held on tight."

Almost everyone was looking at me like I was an idiot.

"It took me to it's nest and gave me something."

Moving my hand to my belt I took the second Pokeball off my belt and clicked it bringing out a very small Pidgey.

I turned my eyes from the small Pidgey to the Pidgeot.

"Flutter was very insistent that I accept one of it's babies as a partner."

The Pidgeot looked at me and nodded. Picking up the little Pidgey I set it on my shoulder.

"So that little Pidgey is one of Flutter's babies? How many of these other ones are hers?"

I looked from the woman to the crowd of people to the flock of birds a short distance away and smiled as I looked at her.

"All of them. Her mate is back at their nest sitting on a couple of eggs right now. This is only about half of their flock."

The woman turned her head to look at the Pidgeot and asked.

"Really?"

The Pidgeot just cooed and nodded. The woman smiled at her and turned her body to hug the large bird.

"I'm glad you made a family of your own Flutter. It makes me happy to see you like this."

The impromptu gathering continued for a few more minutes until the other Pokemon started getting fidgety. Flutter looked between her flock and her former trainer and looked like it didn't know what to do. The woman hugged it and said.

"You have a family to look after. Now that we have met again you can always come and visit if you want to."

The Pidgeot ruffled it's feathers before stepping away and with a cry took to the air followed by the rest of it's flock. After the flying Pokemon were out of sight Alice looked at me and smiled.

"I never thought I would see Flutter again, thank you Jake."

I smiled at her.

"You're welcome Miss Alice."

After the crowd dispersed I was practically dragged into the house by my mom. She sat me on the couch and started pacing back and forth her arms crossed.

"How much of that story you told everyone was true?"

"Almost all of it."

Hearing that she stopped pacing and looked at me sharply.

"So those Mankey just happened to come across your tree house while running away?"

She looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Not exactly but close enough."

Mom flopped down on the couch beside me emotionally wrung out.

"Why would you think it was a good idea to climb onto the back of a wild Pokemon? What if it was taking you to it's nest to feed you to it's young?"

I snuggled up against her side.

"But it wasn't just any wild Pokemon. It was a formerly partnered Pokemon."

Mom was about to speak but I continued.

"Besides, something inside was telling me it wouldn't hurt me. I wasn't sensing any hostility at all only longing."

Mom just looked at me before sighing heavily.

"Please just be more careful in the future."

I smiled at her.

"Ok mommy."

** Emily's POV **

Listening to my son describe the series of events that led up to him returning home escorted by a flock of over 30 Pokemon was something else. Even though I know how strong he is due to his System it still scares me when does dangerous things like this.

After everyone left I dragged him into the house to find out just how much of that story was fake. When he said it was mostly true I wasn't sure whether I should be proud or angry. Even though I hadn't done anything I still flopped down onto the couch exhausted. Looking at Jake as he curled up against me my eyes moved to the little Pidgey that was now sitting on the back of the couch looking around at it's new home.

'Well if this is going to be one of Jake's partners I guess I should see just how much potential it has.'

Opening my System I quickly scanned the Pokemon and had to squint my eyes at how brightly my screen lit up. Three stars and a golden halo, I had only ever seen this once before when Green was battling Lance. This Pidgey was going to be one of Jake's strongest Pokemon if he trained it right.

"Your Pidgey is very cute Jake. Are you going to give it a name?"

"I'm not sure yet. I just call Growlithe by it's species so I think it would be unfair to him to give a name to Pidgey."

I gave Jake a little squeeze.

"I'm glad you care so much about the feelings of your Pokemon, it's the sign of a good trainer. By the way, what made use pick this one? Was it the only one."

I felt Jake shake his head.

"No there were a lot of Pidgeys there. When I was wondering how to choose one my System gave me a prompt to temporarily unlock Advanced Scanning for 500 System Credits. This Pidgey had the best potential out of all of the others."

When Jake said Advanced Scanning I froze, that's a feature of the Pokemon Breeding System.

'Allister is that normal? How was Jake able to use a feature from the Breeding System without unlocking it?'

[Honestly Emily I do not know. Even if I did I wouldn't be able to tell you.]

'Privacy restrictions?'

[That's right.]

'Whatever.'

"Advanced Scanning that sounds cool. Have you tried it on any other Pokemon other than Pidgeys?"

"I scanned the two Pidgeots. Flutter is three stars and it's mate was two stars. My Pidgey is also three stars but it was glowing brighter than the Pidgeot."

"Wooow! That must mean that your Pidgey is going to grow up to be really strong. You'll have to make sure you take good care of it."

"I will mommy."

Looking at my beautiful boy I couldn't help smiling. He was so smart. He had always been intelligent but after he awakened memories of a past life he became...more. Darkrai sealed his memories but there were side effects I guess is the best way to put it. Jake only has to learn something once and he will remember it easily. Almost like he is remembering something he forgot rather than learning something new and even things that he didn't know in his previous life he absorbs like a sponge. Then there is how fast he is maturing, in just a year he went from my innocent little boy who could barely speak in front of strangers to a child who could speak clearly and accurately about a dangerous situation he was in.

I was happy about how amazing my son is but I also worry for him. The tallest trees catch the most wind and my Jake was going to stand above other of that I am sure I just hope his roots will be strong enough to keep him standing tall.