The miltank pushed angrily against the fence in front of her and mooed loudly. The rising sun was bearing down hot, and the temperature would only get worse as the afternoon approached. Her belly was swollen and fat, holding the egg that, if it eventually hatched, would become the newest addition to the farm. Due to the dry cracked land that engulfed the area around the desert near them, however, grass was not a common sight here, and her feed box was completely empty and had been for two days. The only means to escape the heat, due to miltanks not having the luxury of sweat glands, was a small, filthy tub of water in the center of her enclosure, and an unkempt shelter to provide shade to the left. She could feel herself losing strength, and had no other pokémon for support since she was separated from the herd to better protect her during her pregnancy. Miltanks would sometimes roughhouse or wrestle when playing, and the heifer would risk harming the shell of the egg as it developed. The other miltanks were in the barn a few feet away, equally restless and hungry. Loneliness and fatigue were kicking in and one could hear it in their cries.
She let out a final moo of desperation before meandering back to the shelter to lay in the shade. She would try again in a few hours, pushing the fence and mooing for assistance. She did so periodically. The others, back in the barn, also mooed and cried every once in a while to show their discomfort. Unbeknownst to the pokémon, the farmer that usually cared for them had slipped and fell six days ago, and had not been able to get to his feet. With rarely any passersby, the miltanks and tauros that lived here were in danger of starving or dying of heat exhaustion.
The dairy farm is located on the outskirts of the town of Aster, a rural village right on the edge of the scorching desert that separates the Laazin region from the Johto region. The Laazin region isn't very notable, being that it contains no unique pokémon, and it is quickly forgotten by most. Nobody wants to visit, as it is ravaged by crime, has no exceptionally beautiful beaches, and not a single amusement park. It had actually once been considered part of Johto – sharing most of the same species – however two savage wars had separated the two. Any chance of reuniting the regions had been ruined when Team Rocket jumped upon the opportunity of Laazin's failed economy and exhausted people, taking a quick hold on the region and bringing a myriad of Kanto pokémon with them. Operating in both Kanto and Laazin had proved to be too stressful for the crime origination to handle, and internal conflicts caused the two branches to separate, with Team Rocket remaining solely in Kanto (before it later moved to Johto) and the Team Rocket in Laazin changing their name to Team Stars.
Almost eighty years had passed after Team Rocket saw its first major mutiny in its members during the creation of Team Stars when Leonard Ryan Harper was born in Laazin's most populated area: Birds of Paradise City. Four years after his birth, Leonard's father's more dubious activities with drug trafficking caught up with him, and he was found dead in a back alley in a more scummy area of the city. Life moves on, and only nine years after the death of his father did Leonard and his mother decide to move out to live with Leonard's grandparents in Aster village. Rent was rising, and the mother, Margaret, couldn't keep up. And finally, only six days after an old man slipped in his kitchen on a dairy farm on the fringes of the desert between Laazin and Johto did Leonard and Margaret arrive at their destination.
"Hurry up, Leonard." Margaret shouted, already halfway down the stone path that led to her mother's house. Leonard, her son, was always lagging behind. "You don't want to keep your grandparents waiting."
"Yeah, yeah." Leonard said. He was stuffing clothes into a big blue bag. He had taken them out to look for something lighter, since the heat near the desert was much worse than he had expected, but didn't have time to find something before they pulled into the driveway. "Here, I'm coming now!" He zipped up the bag and ran to catch up to Margaret.
"Did you lock the door?"
"Yeah, yeah. I locked it. Geez, we haven't seen Grandma and Grandpa in almost two years and all you can worry about is if our car is going to get robbed."
"It wouldn't be the first time." Margaret sighed, gazing up at the petite white house before them. It was falling apart a bit, with chipped paint, a missing shingle, and the wood in the patio seemed to be cracking, but it was still quaint. Margaret had seen the house before of course, having visited her parents countless times in the past (regrettably not as much as she'd have liked), but every time she saw it she couldn't help but be in awe at how staunchly different it was to the city. The yard here was huge, and the neighbors were a twenty minute drive down the road, despite her mother living fairly close to the village center. Margaret could barely imagine how it was to live closer to the deserts edge, where there was barely a soul around you. She was incredulous when her parents told her they were going to move out here seven years ago, but she understood their decision. City life was simply becoming too fast paced for them in their age. They wanted something new, something a bit slower and easygoing, and Aster gave it to them.
Helen and Robert, Margaret's parents and Leonard's grandparents, didn't exactly take to the change from the city to the country well at first, either. They had difficulties getting along with their neighbors, who were distrustful of strangers, and the wild pokémon here proved to be much more dangerous than the occasional pidgey they would encounter in Birds of Paradise City. However, they managed, and soon found themselves falling into step with the rest of this charming village, and even found themselves enjoying it. They went to the village's meetings, gave their input on ways to improve the area, argued about the feasibility of eventually adding a pipeline, which would eliminate the need for the wells that dotted the area. They met up in the village center to celebrate holidays, and even occasionally gave fruit they grew to their neighbors.
"Look!" Leonard's voice rose up, his finger pointing towards a small phanpy. Margaret's arms were aching from the box she was holding, and didn't have time for Leonard's curiosity.
"Come on, Leo. You can look at the wildlife after we get everything unpacked, or at least until we get everything inside."
Leonard scampered ahead of his mother quickly, bounding up the three creaky steps of the patio, and knocked on the front door.
A small old lady appeared in the doorway. She was a short woman, with wiry hair that blocked most of her face. Her bones seemed to struggle to keep her up, and one could imagine them creaking and groaning as she walked, and would worry she would collapse at any moment. Her eyes were a bit beady and nervous looking, with great pools of gay for the irises, but they lit up when they saw who was at the door.
"Oh, Robert! Sweetheart, Leo and Maggie are here! Oh, oh, don't stand out in the heat now come on in. Yes, yes, just put your stuff right on the floor anywhere is fine – come on, come on. Robert! Come help them with their things!"
An old man, much taller than the woman, and better put together and chiseled, walked into the living room where everyone now stood. He took a quick glance at everyone: Margaret rubbing her sore arms from carrying the box, Leonard digging into the bag he carried in for a t-shirt, Helen rubbing her hands together excitedly. "Ah. They're here." He finally said, stepping fully into the center of the room and giving his daughter a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Yes of course they're here, I already said that! Oh, Leo, go hug your grandfather. Oh, this is all too exciting." The woman sat down on the floral patterned sofa near her. Both the sofa and her let out a huff of air as she did so.
Leonard slipped off the shirt he was wearing for a white t-shirt with the logo of a popular band called The Diamond Settlers before he turned to give his grandfather a hug. Leonard had always admired his grandfather; no matter what the world threw at him he seemed calm and patient. It was so different from his wife, who always seemed anxious and troubled by something that was happening. Leonard liked to look back to when he was seven, and he had visited Aster for the first time after his grandparents had moved. Robert had taken him out for a walk around the area to look around. Leonard was hot and miserable, and the land was flat and boring. He wanted to go home and play a video game, not look at dry grass and the occasional shrub. But suddenly, Robert tugged at his sleeve and told him to kneel, and after a few minutes the small tree they were look at began to move towards them.
"Whoa, what is that?" Leonard had asked his grandfather, who was pulling out a few pokéblocks from the pouch on his waist.
"It's a bonsly. There are a few of them out here, but they're rare. I've been following this one for weeks. Here, hold out your hand."
Leonard held out his hand, and Robert put the pokéblocks into his palm. The bonsly sniffed the air for a few seconds, before cautiously walking towards Leonard's outstretched hand. The bonsly quickly ate the pokéblocks, before running off into the weeds. Leonard, who had been holding his breath in fear of scaring the creature off, let out a sigh of relief. Robert hoisted the young boy up and said "Come on then, let's go back before your mother has a panic attack." Leonard had giggled, letting his grandfather carry him back to the house.
"Come on Leo! You have to help carry things in!" His mother's voice pulled Leonard back into the present. He turned and smiled at his grandmother, who was still fanning herself on the sofa, muttering about how exciting this all was and how she might need to lie down, before he went out the door and back down the stone path to the car. He paused for a moment to look out into the distance. The land was fairly flat here, but one could see small hills far in the distance, dotted by a few trees. He wondered briefly where the bonsly was he had seen when he was younger. He always wondered things like this, where people or pokémon were after brief encounters. Did the bonsly have a family of its own? Maybe it was moving in with its grandparents right now, far off in a different and new place, wondering how it would survive.
"Here, mom, I'll take that box in. It's heavy; I know your arms get sore." Leonard grabbed the box Margaret pulled out of the trunk, and took once last glance to the distant hills before walking back up the stone path to the petite white house.