Playtime
"G'morning, Mrs Elm!" Lyra said brightly as she ran past the woman on her way to the lab. The Professor's wife smiled and waved back.
"Good morning, Lyra!" she called after the hyperactive little girl- not as hyperactive of her son, but who was? "Krissy and Gold are in the lab. The Professor's got a surprise!"
"Surprise?" Lyra squealed and took off. "Yay!" Mrs Elm just smiled as the eight-year-old tore into the lab. New Bark Town was very small, so the entire town probably heard the three children's happy screams.
"They're so cute!" Crystal gasped, kneeling down in front of a little red-and-yellow creature with a puffy head, though it wasn't much shorter than her. Gold was bouncing from one little Pokémon to the next, excitement overflowing.
"Dad says they're baby Pokémon!" he yelled happily. "Pokémon nobody's ever seen before 'cause the Pokémon never let us see 'em before!"
"Gold, I'm sure I explained the concept of an indoor voice to you," the Professor said, putting a hand on his hyper son's head to try to hold him still. "These Pokémon were only recently seen at a Pokémon daycare centre. I suppose the Pokémon there trusted the old couple running the centre with their babies."
"Nobody's ever raised a baby Pokémon before?" Lyra asked, giggling as a round, pink little one with large red eyes popped out of her hands and started bouncing around like a beach ball, cheering happily the whole time. "Aahhh! Come back!"
"Whoops!" The professor yelped, grabbing a net from under a desk and scooping up the bouncing baby. "That's an Igglybuff. It'll be a Jigglypuff someday, and its body is extremely soft and bouncy. Try not to start it bouncing, or it's very difficult to stop!" He plucked Igglybuff out of the net and set it down very, very gently. "But yes, this is the first time we've seen little ones like these. Normally, Pokémon are so intensely protective of their young that they keep them and raise them far from where humans live and travel, and few domesticated Pokémon have young, sadly."
"Hey, Dad, what's this one?" Gold asked, now closely examining a little blue one that was bouncing on a spherical tail that was almost larger than its body. He started jumping up and down too, imitating the baby's bouncing and making both of them laugh.
"We call that one Azurill," the professor said. "It'll become a Marill someday, and then an Azumarill!"
"Wooow," Gold giggled, continuing to bounce. Crystal was now playing with the blonde hair of a purple-and-white one with big lips- Smoochum, according to the Professor, a Jynx's baby. Both girls played with all of the babies, but Gold seemed to like playing with Azurill best. It bounced after him everywhere on its tail, lacking arms or well-developed legs, the only creature Lyra had ever seen that could keep up with Gold's limitless energy. She and Crystal always got tired out eventually.
The next day, and the day after, and for several days after that, all any of them wanted to do was play with the cute baby Pokémon. They were probably going to be at the lab for a while; the Professor just couldn't figure out how the babies evolved into adult Pokémon.
"Special stones?" He muttered, examining Azurill closely. "Maybe they need to fight? No, I don't think the parents would allow that, and it's not a viable survival strategy anyway. Is it simply a matter of age, like with humans?"
"C'mon, Dad, let Azurill come play," Gold whined, tugging his father's arm. "It's just a baby, it just wants to play!"
"Look out!" Crystal shrieked, laughing. "Igglybuff's bouncing again!" she was chasing the rapidly bouncing blur of pink all over the lab, occasionally jumping over Lyra, who was laughing so hard that she was just curled up on the floor, clutching her stomach. The Professor put Azurill in Gold's arms and ran for the net.
One particularly nice day, though, the girls wanted to play outside rather than in the lab. It took a lot of cajoling (and more than a few threats) to get Gold to come out too, but they'd never even consider playing without the third member of their trio. It had always been the three of them, and in their childish minds, it always would be. If one of them was ill, the others would always play with them at their house until they'd caught whatever it was too, and it was far more common for the three of them to sleep over at the same house than for any of them to sleep alone at home.
When Gold finally did come out, he insisted that they meet him at the back of the lab and snuck out. He had to sneak out because he was carrying Azurill under one arm, her tail in the other.
"Gold!" Lyra giggled with a loud whisper. "Are you supposed to be bringing Azurill with you?"
"No, so let's go!" Gold laughed, running for it, holding Azurill tightly. The little blue Pokémon just laughed too, probably being very badly influenced by her constant proximity to Gold. Lyra and Crystal just looked at each other, laughed, and ran for it.
"This is a river, Az," Gold said, holding onto Azurill as she splashed in the water, laughing happily. As a water-type, of course she'd love water, but Lyra had to wonder if Azurill had ever seen a natural water feature before, being born in care and living in the lab.
"Pokémon don't belong in labs," Gold insisted, splashing water at the girls. "I bet they won't evolve in there at all. They've gotta get out and play!"
"That's what being a kid is for," Crystal agreed, before, for no real reason, pushing Gold into the river. "Teach Azurill to swim, Gold!"
"Gold?" Lyra said, looking around as the boy failed to surface. A moment later, she screamed as a small hand grabbed her ankle and dragged her into the river, at the same time that the same thing happened to Crystal.
"Payback!" Gold yelled, taking off as Crystal and Lyra both started swimming after him, alternately yelling angrily and giggling like crazy. He scooped up Azurill, who was clinging to her floating tail.
"Just take a deep breath every time your head's above the water, 'kay?" he said, "and then kickickick!"
"Aaaaaazz!" the baby Pokémon squealed, kicking frantically and bobbing in front of her tail. Lyra and Kris couldn't help squealing themselves; When Azurill giggled, it was the most adorable sound!
"They don't giggle like that in the lab," Crystal observed, forgetting her intent to maim Gold. "She's so happy!"
"We should take all of the babies out to play!" Lyra suggested. "I mean, if we're not in too much trouble for taking Azurill out."
"What we?" Crystal asked, climbing back onto the bank. "Gold took her out, so Gold can ask, right?" She grinned evilly.
"Riiiight," Lyra agreed, a devilish grin spreading over her own face. "Hey, Gold-?"
"Lyra! Kris! Come look! Come look!"
Crystal and Lyra, halfway up the bank, dived straight back into the water and started swimming towards Gold's frantic cries, wondering what was so interesting and why it would panic him so. He wasn't far along the river, so it wasn't long before they found him and Azurill-
"Azurill?" Crystal gasped, as she spotted Gold sitting in the shallows with the little blue Pokémon- though she wasn't so little anymore. She seemed to have inflated rapidly, her body now larger than her tail, her ears grown and darkened and a white patch spreading on her belly. Gold was also tugging at something extending from her sides…
"Are those arms?" Lyra said in surprise, and then she gasped. "Gold! Oh my- Azurill evolved! Look! She's a Marill now!"
"She is!" Crystal gasped, paddling over to examine Az- Marill, who was giggling and waving her new little arms. "Congratulations, Gold! You got Azurill to evolve! How'd you do it?"
"I dunno," Gold said, grinning broadly and hugging Marill. "We were just playing and having fun… she was so happy, she kept hugging me…"
"Y'know, don't some Pokémon only evolve when they're real happy?" Crystal suggested thoughtfully. "Like Chansey evolving into Blissey. Or Espeon and Umbreon. Maybe that's what baby Pokémon need to grow- to be safe and happy."
"She's right," Lyra agreed, sitting on the bank and shaking herself a little to throw some water off, before giving up and lying on the grass, letting the sun dry her. "It makes sense, right? Little kids and babies need to be protected, since they're so little and weak. So they can't need to fight like grown-up Pokémon. But mom always says that children grow up to be good adults if they're well-loved, so maybe it's the same with Pokémon? They can only grow up if they're safe and loved…"
"That's why Az evolved!" Gold said happily, splashing water at the round blue Pokémon, making her giggle and splash back with her tail. "Because she got to come outside and play. She's happy outside in the water, and she got so happy that she evolved!"
"And because she was loved, don't forget," Crystal said, joining Lyra on the grass, wringing out her dark blue hair, made even darker by the saturation of the water. "She couldn't've evolved like that if you weren't playing with her all the time, Gold!"
"Is that it, huh?" Gold asked Az, sitting on his knees and peering at the water Pokémon. "Is it because you're my friend?"
"Maaaa!" Marill- or Az, as Gold had evidently decided to keep calling her- cooed. "Mamarill! Riiiilmarill!" then she jumped up and hugged Gold, who laughed and fell over with a splash.
When they finally got home, Professor Elm was too impressed with Azurill's evolution to get angry at them for sneaking out a baby Pokémon, though it didn't get past their mothers how late they'd been out. Still, it was worth it, especially for Gold.
"This Marill only evolved because she bonded very strongly with you, Gold," he told his son, holding Marill in his arms. "Nobody else could train her now. It'll be your birthday next week anyway, so as an early present, you can keep her."
"REALLY?" Gold shrieked happily, jumping up to catch Marill in a tight hug as she leapt from Professor Elm's arms. Lyra and Crystal squeed quietly and exchanged thumbs-ups. "That's brilliant! Thank you so much, dad! Wow, my own Pokémon!"
"Maaaaarilril!" Az sang happily, clearly loving just being with her new trainer.
"Luuuuucky," Crystal moaned, watching Gold cuddle Az. He stuck his tongue out at her. "You're a trainer already!"
"You can't register with the League until you're eleven, like anyone else," the Professor reminded him. "But take as good care of Marill as you did when she was an Azurill, and I'm sure you'll be a great trainer someday."
"Yaaay!" Gold ran off with his new friend, ready to play again. Crystal tagged after him, but Lyra hung back.
"Professor?" she asked, looking up at him. "The other babies… they probably just need to be loved and played with, too. I don't think they can do that in this lab…"
"No, you're absolutely right," Professor Elm said, shaking his head. "I'll have to take them back to the daycare centre. They can go back to their parents and their trainers to be cared for. Don't worry, Lyra," he said, smiling affectionately. "I won't keep them cooped up in here!"
"Thank you!" Lyra cheered happily, shooting off after her friends. She was jealous of Gold for getting his own Pokémon, but he had earned it, giving Azurill all the love and affection it needed to evolve. Someday, when she turned eleven and became a trainer, she'd have her own Pokémon too, and they'd have to work hard to be great; but for now, they were still children, and it was time to play.
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This one is definitely from the Reviverse. To celebrate making it back from London, to a country where the water doesn't taste like crap and the air doesn't turn my nostrils black :)
I don't own Pokémon at all. This is just all in good fun ;)