A/N: This is my first Pokémon fic, and I decided to use an OC as well as original characters. This chapter is so-so, but it is just setting off the story, which is something I've always found hard to do...
And, I do not own Pokémon, nor am I using any of the Pokémon franchise for profit or exploitation.
He sat there, rubbing his forehead gently and tapping his finger on a sheet of paper on his desk. The stress of this work was really getting to him, but he had to get this right, he had to prove his worth in the Pokémon world. He could only count on himself, and his beloved Jewel also. Speaking of Jewel, where could that girl have gotten to? He had sent her out last week on a short mission to retrieve a new kind of Pokémon egg in Floaroma Town, a journey that should have taken only a day or two in her jeep. Alas, she was still gone, and her birthday had passed during that time, so all party plans had to be abandoned. Her mother was definitely not pleased; she had been looking forward to celebrating her daughter's eighteenth birthday with her daughter, but instead spent it digging herself into a pit of worry and woe.
Although he himself was worried for Jewel, he had assured every one else that she was old enough to care for herself and for her Pichu, named 'Elektra'. However, he knew that if they were faced with trouble, Elektra would die rather than see Jewel hurt. The problem was, Jewel felt the exact same way about her Pichu. They had bonded over the past few months, faster than he had ever seen a human and Pokémon bond before. She was Elektra's mother, in a sense, and Elektra was practically Jewel's child. After all, Jewel did care for her even when she was an egg.
"Professor Rowan," a male voice boomed out from the doorway. Rowan squinted his eyes and stared at the person in the doorway; he recognized that hair instantly: spiky, brown, long, outrageous. One of his assistants, Gary, grandson of the legendary Professor Oak, who was also a good friend of Rowan's. "You have a guest, you're not too busy are ya?" Gary inquired, whilst stepping forward into the Professor's view. He shook his head in Gary's direction and pushed the piece of paper away from him.
"No, no. Send them in, I'll gladly accept a break from this work." He sat back in his chair and smiled weakly as Gary made his exit and the door slammed shut behind him. Minutes passed and no guest came in, but he could hear some talking outside his door. Rowan stood up from his chair and moved silently to the door and pressed his ear up against it, listening to what was happening.
"Come on, let me touch it. Please? I'll be gentle! You'll like it, I promise!" Although Gary had changed immensely as a person, he was still a complete jackass and pervert to some of the women around here. Rowan sighed angrily and moved his hand towards the doorknob. He was going to go out there and give Gary a good piece of his mind, aswell as an official warning! He stopped, however, when he heard the woman speak back.
"No, Gary! I know what you're like, you'll squeeze them too hard and they'll start leaking or something." Rowan's heart did a somersault, that voice was all too familiar and he could not be happier to hear it.
"Come on, J! Just get 'em out, let me have a feel, and then you can put them back in your bra and go see the Professor. That's all I ask." Silence followed for a few seconds, before the girl sighed and resigned in defeat.
"Ugh! Fine, but be really quick, it took forever to put this bra on..."
That was it, Rowan had heard enough! He lunged at the door and tore it open, then sped down the hall towards the talking. When in the reception area, he saw Gary with his back towards him, fondling the girl stood before him, or at least; that is what it looked like to him.
"Wow, they're huge.." Gary said, obviously with awe in his voice. The girl giggled and he could see her nodding her head in agreement. Rowan tore across the room and grabbed onto Gary, spinning him around and punching him as hard as he could squarely in the jaw.
"DAD!" the blond girl screamed at him, resting something carefully on a chair behind her before rushing off to Gary and crouching down beside him. A Pichu clambered onto the chair and looked up at Professor Rowan carefully before saying "Piii!" in an obviously irritated voice.
Rowan stared at what the girl had set down, two Pokémon eggs. Encased in a bra. Oh. That was what she had been talking about, not her... never mind. He continued to stare, excitement rising inside him, followed by a surge of guilt over what he had done to Gary.
"I-I am so dreadfully sorry," he turned to look at Gary, who was on the ground, apparently over his pain and suddenly in pleasure as soon as Jewel kissed him on his cheek. Rage began to build up inside Rowan again, but he decided not to act upon it this time. "I overheard you and thought you were talking about.. something else."
Jewel stood up and reached down to help Gary up, then shot a look of daggers in her father's direction from her emerald eyes. Even when she was angry, she was still beautiful. In a scary way. She walked over to the eggs and Elektra and patted her trusted Pokémon on the head. Elektra then proceeded to climb up Jewel's arm and rest herself on her owner's shoulder. Jewel bent down slightly and carefully lifted the eggs (still entrapped in the bra), and waltzed off towards her father's office, with him following in tail. He had to be silent, because he knew he had already annoyed Jewel, punching Gary for no apparent reason.
When inside the office, Jewel set the bra on the table, undid the hooks and allowed the eggs to stand tall together. She then made her way over to one of the chairs, Elektra still sitting on her shoulder, and slumped down. Jewel did not look happy one bit, even Elektra climbing on top of her head and playing peek-a-boo did not cheer her up, which always seemed to for some reason. She was a simple girl at times, and simple things please simple people.
Professor Rowan sheepishly followed his daughter. When she set down the eggs, he just stared at them, paying Jewel no attention now. However, the eggs were marvelous and extremely captivating. One was a dark colour, close to black, with dark pink swirls going up it, forming finally into a solid pink where the shell itself formed into a large star-shape, the rest of the egg being regularly oval.
"The star gives it balance," Jewel commented, noticing her father's stare. "Here, look.." she stood up and crossed over to the eggs, taking the pink and black egg carefully and turning it over slowly so the star was now at the bottom. She placed it down on the desk at the star's tip and let go. Professor Rowan quickly held out his hands, ready to catch the egg, but it did not fall. It stood there, in perfect balance to Rowan's utter shock and amazement. "And this egg," Jewel pointed to the one next to it, which was a dazzling white colour with black splotches on it, "Does nothing special." She smirked and rubbed the white egg gently, giving it some of her heat.
"We should put these with the Chansey and Happiny immediately, or they're probably not gonna make it." Jewel also noted while she picked up the white egg and nodded her head towards the other egg in an instruction to her father. He understood and quickly picked the egg up, turning it back around so the star was on top once more as he did so.
Jewel walked towards the door to the office and looked around. They should have thought this through better, they both had their arms full and no way to turn the knob. Elektra sensed this problem and ran over towards Jewel, jumping on the back of her owner's skirt. Jewel jumped slightly, but soon relaxed as Elektra scurried to her front and jumped back off, landing on the doorknob. Both the humans watched in fascination as Elektra bit onto the knob and used her body weight to swing around, opening the doorknob and allowing the door to swing open.
"Thanks girl," Jewel smirked and winked down to Elektra.
"Piii! Pichu!" Elektra squealed as she clapped her hands together.
"I see you've been training her, Jewel. Not the sort of things I would imagine someone training their Pokémon to do.. but useful nevertheless." Rowan said as they were walking through the halls together, towards the medical bay. Jewel just nodded and carried on walking, with Elektra close in pursuit. They finally reached the medical centre of the lab after a walk in complete silence and the doors swung open. Jewel smiled as her eyes laid upon three Chansey and two Happiny, all playing together. They never did have much work other than nursing eggs and helping stray Pokémon that had been badly injured and luckily found.
Jewel set down her egg on a large bed, followed by the Professor's. She made her way over to the group of Pokémon and giggled as they all swarmed around her and began hugging any part of her body they could get to.
"Hey guys, good to see you too!" The Pokémon all chanted their agreement and continued to hold onto Jewel. "I need your help though, guys. We have two new eggs, and since you're all so awesome, I was wondering if you'd look after them for me?"
The Chansey all let go of Jewel and cocked their heads towards the bed. They all rushed off in different directions to get the needed apparatus and Jewel smiled.
"Thanks guys, we'll see you later, okay?" The Chansey had barely heard her, they were all engrossed in their new work. The Happiny waved to her, to show she had not gone completely unnoticed. Jewel picked up her trusted Pichu and cradled it in her arms. Elektra was instantly asleep in that position, feeding off Jewel's body heat.
The Professor soon followed and quickened his pace to keep up with Jewel.
"Thank you for retrieving the eggs for me, honey. I thought there was only one though?"
"There was. I learned there was another egg around and got that one too." Jewel shrugged weakly, to show that it was no big deal.
"Is that why you were in Floaroma so long?"
"No. Me and Elektra just liked it there, thought we'd stay a while."
Professor Rowan could feel his anger rising up inside him.
"So you didn't even bother to phone home and tell us? We-- er, your mother, was worried sick about you! We didn't even see you on your birthday. We had no idea where you were, we couldn't call you or anything!"
Jewel sighed and tried to hide her frustrations.
"Of course you knew where I was. You sent me there. I was in the hotel you'd booked for me. Did you even try contacting me there, or did you just go around acting like a Magikarp out of water?"
"I- I.."
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Oh, and just so you know, I did phone home, but the phone was engaged every time I tried. Mom was probably busy chatting to all her girlfriends to even care about me, so don't give me that bull."
"I- It's not my fault you booked an extra few days at that hotel. You seriously could have told me. Phoned me here personally. Something!"
Jewel stopped walking, the rage finally being too much for her to suppress. She turned to her father and screamed out in fury, awakening and scaring Elektra, who held onto her owner for dear life. However instead of shouting, she spoke to him clearly, the rage evident in her voice still.
"Why the hell would I have to phone you? You're my father, you should be keeping up with me, you should have been checking that I was okay on your mission you sent me on. Not the other way around! Hell, Gary phoned me every fucking day, he sent me a present on my birthday. He wasn't a complete dipshit! Even Professor Oak called me on my birthday, and I barely even know the guy!" she was fuming, and she had every right to be. Her father, on the other hand, had forgotten he was angry and was filled with excitement at Professor Oak's name being dropped into the conversation.
"Professor Oak? What did he want? Does he want to speak to me? Why didn't you tell me sooner? My God, this is amazing. I'll be right back, I have to phone him to find out this instant!"
He began rushing off, but Jewel grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back.
"Do you seriously think he would phone me if he wanted you? The world doesn't revolve around you, dad. In fact, no one cares about Professor Rowan. You've done nothing in years, dad. You're old news, and I've been doing all your work for you lately. Noticed that?"
"Well.. looking after a few of the Pokémon is hardly doing all my work for me..."
"Like hell it isn't! And you know what, daddy? I'm fed up. I'm moving out, and I'm resigning from this job. S-so is Gary.." she added the last part very timidly and almost in a whisper.
"Oh, ha ha. Sure you are. Where are you going to move t-- wait; what has Gary got to do with this?"
"I'm moving to Kanto, and Gary is.." she faltered for a second, wondering if she should allow her secret to escape now. "Well.. he's my boyfriend," she raised her head up, it felt good to get that off her chest. "Has been for the past two months. We're moving to Pallet town, and we're going to work for his grandfather. A real Professor."
"Two months? That's not long enough to move in together, let alone to all new region and town! Oh my.. you were a minor when you first started dating, and knowing Gary he's already taken advantage of you... I'll kill him." The Professor's eyes narrowed and his hands balled into fists, the rage had definitely returned, stronger than ever.
"No you won't, dad! We haven't done 'that'. Not yet, at least." Jewel smirked as she watched her father's mouth drop and all thoughts drain from his brain. "Right, I'm going home, and I'm going to pack my bags. I'm staying at Gary's tonight, and then the day after tomorrow, we're moving. If, by then, you've managed to stop being a total asshole, then you can come see me before I leave. If not, don't bother and good riddance."
Jewel turned on her heel and stormed away from him, leaving the building with Elektra on her shoulder.
As soon as they were out of sight of one another, both allowed a single tear to fall from their faces.
