"Alright Darkrai, I'm sick of your shit!" Maverick yelled out to the vast empty skies.

Complete and utter silence came back to him, much to his displeasure. He crossed his arms as he returned to his trekking. He felt such a strange sensation in his heart. It was like a void was inside of him, but he did not know why. Was he scared? No, not for himself... he was worried about Courage.

Looking down to the ground, he realized it transformed from a walkway of sand and grass, into a pathway similarly to a rocky mountainside. There was something awkwardly familiar about all of this. As Maverick looked up and down the mountainside, he discovered where he was. Mt. Coronet...

Gazing to his side, he saw, of all people, the young, eleven year old version of himself. The clothes his young self wore was vastly different from the ones he wore now. His child self wore a blue backpack, along with a red and white hoody, and blue jeans. And though he were the same person, it was clear that the boy beside him was younger, due to the happy chipper face he had.

"Man." he said, his voice high-pitched, "I think we need to get back to Hoenn... I really shouldn't have headed out so far..."

"Tramp..." Misty, who was only a Trapinch at the time, replied.

"I know, I know Misty." Maverick said as he rubbed her head. "But the boat from Canalave to Hoenn won't be here for a while, and I refuse to sit down all day waiting for it... besides, those things get me sick."

The older Maverick chuckled at his younger self. He remembered when boat rides gave him headaches and stomach cramps. Looking up and around, it suddenly hit him. This day, was the day Courage hatched from her egg.

"Man, Sinnoh has some weird Pokémon. Before I head back to Hoenn, I plan on catching me one of those Bunearys... and a Pachirisu, while I'm at it... just two, don't wanna get in over my head, ya'know? Not yet, at least. Can you imagine, I whip into one of those gyms with my Sinnoh Pokémon! Everyone'll be jealous!"

A low rumbling, similar to a tremor, suddenly began to course through the ground. Maverick, that is the young Maverick, looked back down the dirt path he traveled on. Heading his way, a jeep with with a stylized gold 'G' on it. Young Maverick quickly leaped back, dodging the huge vehicle with time to spare. It stopped moments later, with strange people wearing astronaut like suits stepping out. Most of them had light blue hair, which caused a surreal feeling to spur within the young Pokémon trainer. One of the men, a very tall fellow with greyish blue hair, stepped out only after everyone else.

"I see... so this is Mt. Coronet."

Moments later, a few more jeeps pulled up, along with a great eighteen wheeler. The young Pokémon trainer looked up at the truck with awe. How such a big thing was able to get its way up here was a mystery in itself.

"Let's set up base camp quickly..." the grey haired man said, "Near the summit should be good."

"But, Commander Cyrus!" a blue haired boy said running up, "What about our base in Veilstone?"

The man's face didn't change as he slowly looked down to his subordinate.

"Calm down Saturn, I'll leave you in charge of it."

Slowly, the man's eyes looked up the tall, tall mountain, until he noticed the little black boy out the corner of his eye. There was a deep silence as everyone with the gold 'G' on their clothes, gazed long and hard at the young Maverick. Misty opened her big mouth seconds later, before yelling out,

"Traaaaaaaaaaaap!"

"Uh... calm down Misty." Little Maverick whispered.

"Well well," A purple haired vixen said, "Look at what we have here."

Young Maverick quickly began to blush, before he said,

"Uh... good afternoon Miss..."

"And he's polite. Such a rarity." she continued.

"Tell me boy, what brings you all the way up here?" The grey haired one, Cyrus, said.

"I was going on my Hoenn league challenge, but somewhere along the way I ended up here."

"I'll say, Hoenn is far, far away." a red-headed girl said.

"Oh don't tease the boy, Mars." the purple haired woman continued, "So, how did you get all the way up here?"

"Adventure..." Young Maverick said a bit flustered.

"Hmm... I see..."

"Jupiter!" Cyrus called once again, causing her to back off from the young boy. He slowly closed the distance between himself and Maverick, his stern look not once changing. When he came close to Maverick, the young trainer was surprised to see just how small he was compared to the much older man.

"Tell me." Cyrus said, his voice almost commanding respect, "What do you believe in?"

"Uh... God?"

Cyrus chuckled.

"A christian, I see... Tell me, how do you feel about emotions and such?"

"Emotions... well... aren't they a good thing?"

Cyrus' face did not change, but a shimmering gleam echoed in his eyes.

"Emotions as a good thing huh? How about the negative emotions? Ones such as greed, hate, lust... how do you feel about those?"

"They can be done away with... they bring nothing but unhappiness."

"So you do understand. Strange, most adults can't comprehend what these evil emotions do to our world, and yet a boy as a young as you knows." Slowly, he bent his head upwards, and gazed off toward Mt. Coronet's summit, "How old are you?"

"Eleven."

"Hmm... so very young." Cyrus chuckled to himself, before reaching into his pocket, "Here child." He said as he withdrew a small object, "Come back when your done with your Hoenn quest. We'll talk more then."

Opening the palm of Maverick's hand, the Galactic leader placed in it a golden stylized 'G' badge, similar to the ones on the jeeps.

"I'll see you later..." he commented as he stood and walked off, "Now come Team Galactic, we have much work to do."

Instead of returning to their jeeps, the group of astronaut like men and women continued up the mountainside on foot. Young Maverick watched them trek off, while he looked down at the golden badge in his hands.

"Wow... what a strange man... what do you think Misty?"

"Trapinch..." she said solemnly.

"I understand... c'mon, let's get back to Canalave... For some reason, I'm itching to get back to Hoenn."

Misty opened her big jaw in a playful manner, showing she agreed with his decision. Latching his hands on his book bag straps, the young trainer stepped off with lively vigor. It wouldn't take him that long to get back to Canalave. So, stepping off, the young Pokémon trainer moved on with a spring in his step. A spring that was soon to be ended by collapsing rocks.

The mountainside shook uneasily, much to Maverick's ire. Gazing up, he noticed a rock slide was heading his way. He froze up, at first, before reaching into his backpack to withdraw a normal red and white Poké ball.

"Go, Blaze!" he called out, sending the capsule flying.

It snapped open against the ground, revealing the quiet, and young, Combusken from within.

"Combusken!" he yelled out quickly.

"Blaze, get rid of those rocks, Double Kick!" Maverick ordered.

The young fowl Pokémon nodded, before leaping up at full speeds. Using his powerful legs, he effortlessly destroyed boulder after boulder. But there was many boulder's and he was only one Pokémon. Young Maverick grew a bit more tense, before reaching into his bag once more.

"Now I wish I had a flying-type on me." he quickly exposited before yelling out, "Go! Queen!"

Tossing forth a great ball, Maverick sent out his next Pokémon, the live coal Pokémon,

"MAGBY!" she claimed.

"Queen, Mach Punch!"

The small fire type nodded, before running up to the boulders at high speeds. Her fist glowing, she delivered great punch, after great punch to the tumbling rocks, destroying them with each strike. Maverick nodded, before yelling out,

"Misty, Signal Beam!"

His Trapinch straightened herself up, before firing a vibrant and colorful beam towards the rocks aiding her friends. His trifecta of Pokémon were doing greatly, each time a rock came near, they would destroy it easily. Maverick was in awe at his Pokémon greatness, before a more pressing matter took his attention.

He felt a strange and violent bump in his book bag. Maverick at first ignored it, thinking it was a rock that fell onto him, but when the bump happened again, only stronger this time, he was worried. Looking back, he could have sworn he heard something.

"Go, Ace!" Maverick called, sending out a red and white Poké ball.

Landing on the ground, the Poké ball snapped open, and brought to being the dark-type hound,

"Poochyena!"

"Ace, Rock Smash!" Maverick called.

The bite Pokémon ran forward, and delivered a savage headbutt to any and all rocks that came his way, effectively destroying them in the process. This battling of the rocks went on for two minutes, before the rock slide ended, leaving Maverick's Pokémon tired and bewildered. But the young trainer had a more imposing matter to attend to.

Sliding his book bag off, and putting it to his front, he immediately unzipped it. Muffled noises echoed out from the small bag, gaining the attention of Maverick's Pokémon.

"Combusk?" Blaze said in an asking tone.

"Trapinch! Trapinch!" Misty probably replied.

Maverick reached his hands into the bag, before bringing out a coiled mess of blankets and clothing. Unraveling them, he revealed to his Pokémon the egg he held within for so long.

"Oh my God..." he said, as he watched the egg shake, "I think its hatching!"

His Pokémon gathered around him while he laid the egg on the plateau of blankets and clothes. The egg stood straight up pefectly as it's quaking grew more and more violent. Maverick's eyes were glued onto the small shell. Never before had he seen a Pokémon egg hatch, and boy was he interested. It shook over and over again, the calls from within grew louder and louder, and Maverick's interest was only getting bigger.

Suddenly an egg piece snapped off. Maverick angled his eyes to within the egg, before another piece of egg broke off too. Maverick looked at the creäture long and hard, when another piece broke. This piece was larger though, and revealed a strange creäture within.

It's head poked out the hole it made, as its paws broke off another piece moments later.

"Ri...oooll...uu!" it call out, it's voice a squeal compared to the world.

It was covered in egg juices, whatever that may be, for Maverick was in no need to find out. It's body was a hot pink color, an attribute akin to most, if not all, newborn mammals, and its eyes were closed, despite its need to know what was happening. The baby was a Riolu, Pokémon young Maverick had never seen before.

"Wow..." he said.

"Pooch?" Ace said as it got closer.

"Magby, Magby!" Queen scolded her canine friend.

"Shhh! Everyone!" Maverick said.

Slowly, he brought his hands to the small creäture, and took it out from its egg. Though he had egg juices on his hands, Maverick did not care. He looked long and hard at the small creäture within his arms as he wondered what it was.

"Riiiiiii!" it cooed, causing Maverick to smile.

"Hey now." he said, "Calm down... I'm here."

Grabbing a towel with a blue pearl imprint from his bag, the young trainer wrapped the small baby within it in a comforting style. Holding her through the towel, Maverick felt a swelling sense of pride. Though he did not know how to raise a baby Pokémon, he knew it wouldn't be all that hard. After all, Blaze was nothing but a baby Torchic when he first gained him, and raising him wasn't that hard. So, looking down to the small pink Riolu in his arms, he wondered what he should call it. Dragging his hand down the bridge of the Riolu's nose, his mind was filled with many thoughts and images.

"Courage." he said, "Courage is your name."

The Rioulu said nothing as it began to shiver.

"Courage..." he said again, "Courage..."

That name echoed into the older Maverick's head. The image of the day Courage hatched from her egg began to slowly melt away, leaving the Pokémon trainer alone in a void of white.

"Courage..." he said solemnly to himself, "Courage..."

That feeling entered him again. That pit of unhappiness, and loneliness. That pit of worriment for Courage. He was scared... fearful for his beloved Pokémon.

But he wouldn't show it.

"DARKRAI!" he roared as he suddenly began to run.