The Surprise

The heat of the summer sun bears down on me as I wipe sweat off my brow. I

look around. Flame is basking his large body on one of the many rocks in the area,

enjoying the heat. Rocks surround us on his horrible trek. I really regret coming

out here. My friend, Dav, seems to be enjoying the view from the cliffs. How he

can do that in this heat I will never know. Why did I agree to this? Why did I not convince him to stay in the nice, cool air-conditioning? I sigh as I shake away mypointless thoughts.

"Lynne, come look at this!" Dav tells me while gesturing that I join him Debating whether or not I should tell him to stop calling me Lynne, I walk over and gaze my eyes over the cliff. We were up pretty high. The land before us was

made of rocks stained in reds and yellows. A small river fought its way through

the dry ground. Amazingly, no pokémon, other than Flame, were in sight. It was

enough for me to use the camera around my neck for something other than

annoying people with my conveniently taken pictures, but I could not see what

Dav was so excited about.

"Okay so what am I looking at? The views nice, but it's not something you

normally get excited about," I asked as he gave me a surprised look.

"That's the point Lynne! The area is perfect for the research! Tyranitar use this

place as a breeding ground! You do remember that's what we're here for, right?"

"Yes, I know that, but do you see any Tyranitar around here, because I don't." I

looked around waiting for my words to be proven completely wrong, as they

often were when I was with Dav. My assumptions were, of course, quickly proven

right as two Tyranitar came running our way. A smirk formed on my friends face

as he drooped to the ground and pull out a pair of binoculars. I did the same,

minus the binoculars.

The two stood facing each other, and looked down as a small head appeared; it

was a baby Larvitar! Two more came out and walked up to the proud parents.

One of the Tyranitar- the female, as Dav informed me- looked worried and started

digging. One small egg appeared as the fruit of her labor. She and the male looked

down at it. The Larvitar nudged against it. I look at Dav, confused and waiting for

an explanation.

"It's the last egg. They seem to be trying to discover why it hasn't hatched yet."

He informed me in a confused tone. The grin that had covered his face as the

hatchlings emerged, faded away and was hastily repainted as a look of sadness.

I looked back at the family and discovered them leaving the egg to go on their

own way. Sadness filled me.

That poor little egg is all alone now. What will

happen if it hatches to find itself all alone in the world? I would hate that. What can I do? My thoughts and eyes remain fixed on the scene. I look at Dav and,somehow, caused him to agree with me. I call Flame, waking him up from his

basking session, and ask him to take us down there. He lazily gets up as I climb

onto his large back. Dav tries to back away, but I grab him by the collar and pull

him up with me. We glide down, Dav almost suffocating me by holding on too tightly. He can deal with amazing heights without breaking a sweat, but put him on a Charizard and he suddenly gets terrified. My annoyance causes me to roll my eyes. We land and Dav topples to the ground, seeming to worship it.

I walk up to the egg and pick it up. It was smooth and green, with a red patch in

the middle. It was warm and I could feel movement inside. I walk back over to

Dav, help him up, and literally drag him back onto Flame, which is hard to do

while holding an egg.

"No, no! I am too young to die! Please do not put me back up there! Have a

heart Lynne please? Lynne? Lyyyyyyyyyyynnnnnneee!" He screamed like a little kid that did not want to get a shot. We started flying back to the higher ground. When we got back to our original position, Dav started crying and kissing the ground. There has to be something wrong with him. The only bad part about flying is crashing into mountains, which Flame does a lot. Then this would make sense, but not now .I laugh for no reason other than my friend's strangeness.

"So now what? Is any other 'research' needed today?"I ask. He looks up at me

from his crying spot and suddenly regains his knowledge of the task at hand.

He looks at the notes that I don't remember him taking, ever. When did he take those? I was with him the whole time! Is he psychic or really fast…? No, no he could not be I would know that by now.

"No, we can go back to the lab. Great, more flying…" His look returned to its terror from before. We mount Flame one last time and return to the professor whose name I can never remember.Arriving at the lab, I call Flame back into his pokéball, watch Dav's ceremony ofblessing the fortune of not flying, and go inside. He darts strait for the professorand starts talking about our observations. I sit down at the table, set the eggdown, and stare at it.

I zone out and almost fall asleep when a bright light enters my eyes. I pick the

egg back up and examine it again. Nothing seemed off, so I set it back down and

drift away. The light returned. I held the egg again and decided to watch it. The

light returned, enveloping the egg. It started flashing repeatedly until it

seemed to be continuously glowing.

"D-Dav! Help!" I call out as I stand up. He looks up from his observation report

that he vocally gave to the professor and runs over. He looks at the egg and

furrows his brow.

He then asks one of the stupidest questions my eleven-year-old ears have ever

heard, "Do you have a pokéball?"

I look at him, utterly shocked that he would ask me that. I quickly reach into my

bag and pull out a slandered red and white pokéball. I give him the 'why did you

ask me that' look He may be an twelve year old aide to a professor but he was

clueless when it came to what would come out of my bag next. I smile at his

ignorance. Then I notice another change in the egg; it was glowing brighter.

It starts to change shape in my arms as a blinding light comes from it. A small

cry meets my ears as something nudges against my chest. My sight returns and I

see a Larvitar in my arms. Surprised, I sit back down and place it on my lap. It

snuggles up next to me and falls asleep in my lap.

"Congratulations," the professor's voice rings out. "You're now the owner of a

male Larvitar. What are you going to call him?" I look down at the little guy and

think about the events that led to this. I smile and look up at the two.

"Crusher, his name is Crusher," I reply, thinking back to the flights. I look back

down at the little guy. He was a lot smaller than the other Larvitar were And he

almost seemed soft. I smile at the baby pokémon in my lap. I reach over to grab

the pokéball that I set down on the table in my panic. I press the button against

Crusher's head and watch as a red light surrounds him and darts back in. The

pokéball shakes in my hand a few times and a click announces my success. I

immediately let him back out and discover him in the same position. The pride I

felt made little sense, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

That was two years ago today and I find myself at another rocky place with heat

cooking me to a golden brown. Dav's looking over the iron rich rocks at a mother

Aggron and her hatchlings, eating all of the rocks up. A small aron that befriended

him hear two weeks ago is joining in on the feast. I had let both Flame and Crusher out when we got to this torturous spot in Hoenn. I look up at Crusher and smile, remembering when he could fit in my arms. I hug his leg and he looks down at me.

"Happy birthday buddy!"