"Again?" the voice of one Gold Heart trembled as if it was imitating his body. There was no response, only heavy breathing and the rhythmic drumming of his feet. He couldn't accept it. "They rejected us again?!" his voice rose higher, more desperate and his fists clenched together subconsciously.

Elm sighed, shaking his head as he ran an unsteady hand through his own hair. "You heard correct," he replied solemnly, voice hollow and slightly distraught. "New Bark Town is just too small to require a Gym, Gold." Opposing the league? That was suicide.

Gold instantly slammed a fist onto the hard surface of the lab desk. His teeth clenched together as pain ran through his reddening knuckles. "That's bullshit!" he cried, swiping his arm across, flinging lab instruments, inciting a cacophony of sharp splintering noise as several glass test tubes ruptured against the pristine turquoise lab tiles. We need one, what if another disaster... Gold's thoughts took upon a vivid negativity, the image of New Bark Town being swarmed by wild Pokemon stampeding through his mind.

"Gold, mind your language!" Elm scolded, shaking his head in ever growing disappointment. "Gold, I understand but... we're all in the same boat," Elm placed a hand on his assistant's shoulder only for it to be slapped away with a furious growl.

"Be quiet!" Gold barked, backpedalling away from his boss, crashing into an old metal locker. "You just expect me to keep calm when they pull this shit with us?" his practically pleaded in desperation, Elm merely nodded in silence. "Right," he mumbled, allowing his body to go limp as he slid down the locker. "They're evil," he whispered in futility.

Elm's face contorted sympathetically as he gazed at his apprentice. He knew the young man was mentally absent. His glazed eyes offered a window to the typhoon of nightmarish visions he was experiencing. "Look... the circumstances are different from back then," he tried to reassure him, but his social ineptness made him come off as awkward and disinterested.

Gold closed his eyes and covered his ears with his hands. "I-I know that." He really did, but it didn't make things any easier. "How can they reject us ten times in a row though?" he begged for a reasonable answer, one that would erase his doubts. He got nothing, just silence and more negative thoughts. "It just feels like they're leaving us to die," he mumbled into his scrunched up knees.

"Don't talk nonsense Gold, the Indigo League operates in our best interests."

Gold growled like a wild Mightyena as he slammed his elbow painfully against the metal door of the locker, forcing it to dent inwards. "You and I both know that's a pile of lies!" He lashed out, getting to his feet so he could glare into his boss' eyes, his lack of response just infuriated him further. "Hah, ever since the war all they care about is Kanto, we're nothing but a buffer in case Hoenn decides to attack!" he cried conspiratorially, not even focusing on Elm, if anything he was speaking to himself.

Elm sighed, turning his back on Gold as he covered his bespectacled eyes with a lone hand.

"I see that you agree with me," Gold held his arms out wide as if he was speaking to an audience. "Not that it's a surprise mind you, everybody else around here thinks the same after all," the proud citizen of New Bark Town proclaimed.

"Even if that was true Gold, what would you do about it?" Elm's voice was quiet, practically inaudible. More importantly however, it lacked emotion. He knew that speaking ill of the league in any of the major cities would get you nothing except an early death.

"I'd go to them directly and kick their asses," he stated as he thumped his chest confidently, but his eyes spoke volumes for his actions. It was nothing but boisterous bravado. Gold wasn't a trainer. He couldn't control the deadly creatures that slept outside city limits, let alone one who could challenge the illustrious Elite Four.

Ferocious as they were, Pokemon could be tamed. The domesticated Delcatty exhibited this. Once captured they were more pliant to human command, prior to this however they were feral, vicious creatures that could attack human civilisation at any given moment.

"I'd like to see you try," Elm scoffed, distancing himself from the youth. His proposition was sheer idiocy. Nobody, nobody but the legendary Red and Blue had managed to face the Indigo League and come back alive.

"I could do it if I had the chance!" Gold stomped his feet immaturely, waving his arms in an erratic fury.

Elm's pinched the bridge of his nose, brows furrowing. This was going to give him another headache. "There is no way. Not in a million years," his words were short, concise and ever so harsh. Yet he had to hammer the point home, for Gold was just the type of fool to actually try.

Gold's hands curled into fists as he stomped past the Professor, his teeth clamping down on his gums. "Whatever!" he finally snapped.

"Gold..."

"Shut up, I get it!" he seethed, kicking an old bucket into the wall. "I'm going home. My shift isn't until later anyway." His anger had mellowed yet still boiled softly in his elicit tones. "Later," he hissed as he slammed the door shut.

All Elm could do was shake his head as he followed Gold's path of destruction with his eyes. "He's such a handful, that boy." He sighed, plopping himself down at a nearby desk. "I just hope sheltering him was the right decision on my part," Elm whispered, setting his head on the desk to rest his eyes.

The phone rang. "I'm not exactly in the mood for this," he groaned, eyeing the phone on the far side of the room lethargically. It rang again. "I guess I really should," he sighed, reluctantly pushing himself away from the desk and towards the receiver.

"Good afternoon, is this Professor Elm's laboratory?" a voice, clearly weathered with age yet still brimming with enthusiasm asked.

"Ah, uh yes. This is Elm," he replied unconfidently, fiddling with his collar as he tried to find a comfortable position to place the phone.

"Splendid!" the man on the other side stated rapturous enthusiasm. Elm could almost picture the man's smile which played through his voice. "I'm Mr. Pokemon, I live north of Cherrygrove City. I heard that you were the authority on Pokemon Evolution so-"

"I'm not exactly the authority," Elm cut in bashfully.

Fortunately Mr. Pokemon didn't seem to mind his intrusion. "Nonsense, this was coming from Professor Oak, of course its true!" the man laughed, forcing a heated blush of embarrassment onto the middle aged man's face. "Where was I again, oh that's it, I came across something very interesting recently. Something that I believe would be best suited for somebody in your position."

Elm scratched his head, murmuring with intrigue. "Interesting, how so?"

"Well... I think it's a Pokemon Egg."

Okay, guys this is an upload of a story I post on my deviantart profile, my username being Subsolanus, on there I have all the chapters which I will be posting on Fanfiction at a slower rate. If you wish to read my story quicker than a 1-2 day upload time then go on there, watch me and follow this story from that point.

Either way this is based off a Nuzlocke run I did, and I hope you enjoy.

Aquilon~