A/N: To coldblue (guest): I'm not angry with you at all =)

It's just that I'd really like to answer your questions. Um… Do you play Team Fortress 2? What I'm trying to ask is whether you have a Steam account? If you do my Steam profile name is written on my profile here on the website. (Just click my name at the top of this page. It should appear next to the cover picture of the story)

Chapter 7 - The Mysterious Egg

Jake sat down in the shade provided by the nearest tree with Charmander before opening his backpack and searching for one of the potions he had purchased earlier in the pokémart. He didn't really pay much attention to the rematch that was just beginning between Brad's Squirtle and Jacob's Bulbasaur. He could care less about anything that Brad had a part in, even if that short battle between Charmander and Bulbasaur just now wasn't as bad as he'd worried it would be. Besides he had no doubt that Jacob was going to win again, and once that happened he was going to make sure to rub it in Brad's face as much as possible.

"Oh, here we go." he said with a small smile after finding the potions, taking one of them out of the bag as he did.

While he did indeed know almost nothing about pokémon and therefore nothing about items that were used in order to take care of them, he did figure out that the potion was some sort of a medicine (seeing that its purpose to heal the injuries of pokémon). Therefore he had no doubt that it was going to sting a little.

"This might hurt for just a sec okay?" he asked in a quiet tone, getting a rather apprehensive but trustful nod in return.

Once Jake had Charmander's approval he went ahead and sprayed some of the potion on her cuts. The pokémon winced slightly when the liquid inside the small bottle came in contact with her small bruises, causing Jake to quickly withdraw his hand away from her. But the stinging sensation was soon replaced with a more soothing one. Jake couldn't help but smile at Charmander's noticeable comfort.

"All better now are we?"

"Charmander!" exclaimed the little pokémon, nuzzling the human's leg and hugging it, much to his surprise.

Jake then realized that he'd just sounded like that nurse from the pokémon center that took care of Charmander after a week ago, but it didn't really bother him.

"That was really cool by the way, especially the part with all the fire." he said after a few seconds, referring to the short battle against Jacob's Bulbasaur that took place a few minutes earlier. "It always amazes me how strong pokémon are, especially the smaller ones." That was something that he had been astonished by his entire life. As much as it made him curious all these years, it was also one of the things that made him look at pokémon in a more negative light up.

"Char!" The pokémon's jolly expression was a clear indication that she liked the compliment.

Jake couldn't help but wonder whether female pokémon liked compliments more than male pokémon. It seemed like something that had no importance whatsoever but, seeing how Jake has always been the curious type, now that he would be tagging along on his best friend's pokémon journey (with a pokémon of his own no less), he couldn't help but wonder. Having taken care of healing Charmander's cuts, Jake went ahead and lay down on his back on the grass, looking up at the leaves of the tree they were under and observing the way they swayed in the wind.

He was able to ignore the racket caused by the pokémon battle that was still going on between Brad and Jacob and was about to fall asleep when a ringing sound made him jump into a sitting position. Poor Charmander, who seemed to have settled down a short distance away from his hand, was easily startled by the noise. After a second or two Jake realized that the noise was coming from the Xtransceiver Jacob had given him before they left Pewter City earlier that morning. He looked at Jacob and Brad in the distance and saw that they were still in the heat of their battle. So, if it wasn't Jacob, who else could be calling him?

It took Jake a few more seconds before he realized how to answer the call, seeing that Jacob had forgotten to explain how he was supposed to pick up a call or how to make one himself. He found himself looking at somebody he had never met before once the caller appeared on the screen of his Xtransceiver.

"Hello? Jacob?"

It was a man who seemed old enough to be his grandfather. Jake was only able to see the upper part of the man on the screen and it looked like he was wearing a lab coat.

"Um... No." said Jake with a raised eyebrow. "Who are you?"

The man on the screen stared at him for a moment before a rather embarrassed look appeared on his face.

"Oh, dear me… My name's Professor Oak. Jacob's father gave me this number so that I could keep in touch with his son, um… Maybe I wrote it down wrong… Do excuse me..."

"Wait a sec," said Jake, noticing that the professor was about to hang up. "I'm Jacob's friend. His father got us both one of these phone-watch thingies; he probably didn't know which of them Jacob would be using so he gave you the number of this one."

"Oh, you're Jake?" asked the professor with a smile. "Your friend told me quite a lot about you. I take it that his father didn't find it necessary to give me both of the numbers because you're traveling together?"

"I wouldn't call it traveling… yet…" said Jake, looking at Pewter City which was about a few minutes' walk away from where he was. They haven't really left the city behind yet so he didn't find it appropriate to say that they were traveling.

"But yes, he's here."

"Would you mind handing your Xtransceiver to him for a moment?"

"Oh, he's kind of in the middle of a battle right now."

"I called because he told me that the next place you'd be going to is Cerulean City." said the professor, "I happen to have a map of the caves of Mt. Moon. That's the mountain you'll have to go through in order to get to your destination. Wait just a sec, I'll send you a copy of it."

"You can send pictures on this weird watch?" asked Jake, surprised. There were probably a lot of other things the Xtransceiver could be used for that Jacob had forgotten to tell Jake about.

"Of course." After a few seconds, a beeping sound was emitted by Jake's Xtransceiver. "There you go."

Jake was about to ask how to access the pictures saved on his Xtransceiver so that he could take a look at the map but he figured he could just let Jacob do it later.

"Thank you sir, that's going to be very helpful." Jake then noticed that the professor appeared to be staring at him rather intently. "Is something wrong?"

"Who is this?"

After a few seconds of confusion Jake realized that Charmander had positioned herself on his lap and looking at the Xtransceiver in curiosity and wonder.

"Oh… This is... my Charmander." His... That sounded weird.

"Oh, right!" said the professor with a sheepish smile. "I remember now." Jacob must have told the professor about that too. "Well, it seems to-"

"She."

"I'm sorry." said Oak with a snicker. "She seems to like you a lot. You must be talented as a pokémon trainer!"

"Oh, I'm no trainer..." said Jake defensively.

"Well, make good use of that map! Tell Jacob that he can call me anytime if he needs any advice and that I wish both of you good luck for the future."

"I'll tell him. Thank you once again for the map." said Jake with a smile as he hung up the call. He looked at Charmander with a smile. "Now there's a smaller chance of getting lost."

"Char!"

"I have no idea how to access it though, so once Jacob opens it I'll let him hold it until we get out on the other side of the mountain."

Jake has always had a dislike for maps. The fact that he always needed to turn a map every time he changed the direction he was walking at gave him a headache. In addition to that, the odds of them getting lost would be much higher if he was the one holding the map and in charge of leading the way. He might as well let Jacob do it for the sake of not getting lost in a cave filled with wild pokémon that might suddenly try to eat them or steal their food.

"Plus, if we get lost, it'll be his fault and that will make the whole idea of being lost in a cave filled with dangerous pokémon look somewhat humorous. Well… at least from my perspective."

Charmander blinked a few times. Jake considered trying to fall asleep again but the fact that the noise coming from the direction of Brad and Jacob was now much louder indicated that their battle has already ended. He sighed and facepalmed. He didn't need to ask in order to find out who had won the match. Having known Jacob for 7 years already, he knew that Jacob would never make a scene out of a defeat. So obviously, when considering the now bigger lack of quiet, Jacob had to be the victor.

For a moment Jake wished that Brad had won just so that he wouldn't have to hear him talk so loudly, but when he thought about it again he realized that the victory would have made Brad happy, and he disliked Brad so much that it was completely out of the question. He was able to endure the headache Brad's shouting was giving him just because he had Brad's irritation to rely on as a source of joy and comfort. Reluctant, he took his backpack and placed Charmander back on the ground before standing up walking over to the two with her following closely behind.

"Is it over? Can we leave now?" he asked with obvious annoyance, cutting Brad in the middle of his sentence.

Brad looked at Jake for a moment, as if studying his expression. "Were you really trying to fall asleep?" he asked after a long silence.

"Yes." answered Jake, as bluntly as he could.

"…" Jake didn't know whether Brad's eye really twitched back there or whether it was just his imagination. "You know, there are places where that would be considered as being rude."

"Oh, excuse me your highness!" Jacob couldn't help but chuckle. There was something about the interaction between Brad and Jake that he always found amusing if not hilarious. "Next time I'll come over to your house for a tea party and you can teach me all about manners!" There really was something funny and absurd about someone like Brad complaining about somebody else being rude.

"Ugh, well… You…" Brad then looked at Jacob who was no longer able to keep a straight face. "This isn't over yet! I'll be back and-"

"Of course you will." said Jake with a sigh, causing Jacob to laugh.

"Be quiet!" he looked back at Jacob, "I'll be back and then you'll lose!" with that he stormed off.

"Thank goodness he's gone…" said Jake as he took off his Xtransceiver, "By the way, while you were battling I got a call from that professor from Pallet Town." He handed the phone-watch to Jacob. "Your dad must have accidentally given him the number of my Xtransceiver instead of yours. Anyway, he sent me a map of the caves of this mountain we're supposed to go through."

"Really? That's great. I should call him and thank him for that." said Jacob as he took Jake's Xtransceiver from him and loaded the photocopy of the map.

"You can thank him later. Right now we should start moving before Brad comes back."

"This cave is actually pretty cool." said Jake sometime later as he and Jacob walked through the cave with Charmander and Bulbasaur walking next to them.

The main reason why he said that was because they haven't encountered any wild pokémon yet and that allowed him to actually pay attention to the scenery rather than worry about random creatures that might suddenly show up.

"So far nothing tried to eat us." he added

"The reason why we're not seeing any wild pokémon in my opinion is because the pokémon that live here are used to being in the dark." Jacob had a flashlight packed with him in his bag but he had no use for it because the flame at the tip of Charmander's tail provided them with the light they needed in order to navigate through the tunnels.

"It's probably because of Charmander's flame."

"Great."

"I'm actually hoping we can come across a pokémon named Bronzor…" said Jacob, "They're originally from Sinnoh but recently they've been spotted here in Mt. Moon as well. But it's very rare to come across one of them in this area…" *

"Sounds like something that's going to take some time…" said Jake with a sigh.

"Well, it's usually the best idea to have a variety of types of pokémon on your team." explained Jacob. "By the way, can I borrow Charmander for a moment once we find one?"

"Why?" asked Jake with a raised eyebrow.

"Bronzor is a dual steel and psychic type and Bulbasaur is a dual grass and poison type. Steel pokémon have a resistance to grass type moves and an immunity to poison type attacks. Plus psychic has an advantage over poison. Steel types are weak to fire however."

Jake sighed. "I don't mind, if Charmander's okay with it."

Jacob looked at Charmander with a pleading expression. "What do you say Charmander? Will you help me out with this?"

"Char!"

"Well, from the tone and the wide smile I can conclude that it's a positive answer." said Jake with a shrug. "But you're leaving Bulbasaur with me in case a wild pokémon tries to devour me."

"Deal."

They kept on walking through the tunnels until Jacob suddenly stopped. "According to the map we're directly in the middle of the tunnel system. It's only 2 PM so we have plenty of time to look around and still make it out of the cave before the sun goes down."

Jake couldn't help but wonder why Jacob thought that this specific area was the best place to look for that one specific pokémon at. To him every single part of the cave looked exactly the same as the others.

"Why here out of all places?" It was still confusing how they haven't come across a single pokémon yet, but he wasn't complaining.

"I just have a good feeling since we're right in the middle."

"Alright." said Jake as he lay down on his back on the ground, using his bag as a pillow. The ground of the cave was cold and surprisingly comfortable. "You and Charmander can look around. Just leave Bulbasaur and your flashlight here."

"Okay." He got his flashlight out of his bag and handed it to Jake before looking at Bulbasaur. "Stay here with Jake until I come back alright?"

"Bulbasaur!"

"We'll be back later." He smiled and looked at Charmander. "Ready to go?"

"Char!"

The two left, leaving Jake and Bulbasaur on their own. Jake turned on Jacob's flashlight and simply placed it on the ground so to provide them with some light. Silence followed.

"Are you hungry?" he asked after a short while, looking at Bulbasaur. "I know defeating Brad probably wasn't too difficult for you," the grass type chuckled, "but who knows."

"Saur!"

"Alright then, here you go." He said, filling a small plate with some pokémon food and putting it down on the ground.

After that he placed his head back down on his bag and closed his eyes, hoping to maybe get some rest before Jacob and Charmander came back. Falling asleep in a cave filled with wild pokémon wasn't the best idea, which was the reason why he wasn't even feeling sleepy. Only a day ago he would have gone insane if he had found himself in a situation like this...

"Did you hear that?" he asked all of a sudden and sat up as he heard a noise in the distance.

The teenager looked at Bulbasaur and the grass-type pokémon nodded. The noise was not coming from the direction of the path Jacob and Charmander had taken, which made the situation even more confusing.

"Should we go check it out?"

While his instincts told him not to follow the noise because it might lead them to something dangerous he couldn't stop thinking that it might be someone who was in trouble or a pokémon that was injured. Then, much to his annoyance, his friend's pokémon decided to go and investigate, giving him no option but to follow.

"I just hope it's not that psychic-steel thing Jacob's looking for…"

He and Bulbasaur would be completely helpless against a pokémon like that. Jake knew that thanks to Jacob's explanation from before. He grabbed the flashlight and placed his backpack back on his back. As they both walked he carefully listened out but he couldn't hear anything else.

"Wait, can you see that thing in the distance? Over there?" he asked after a short while as he saw something on the floor ahead of them. It had an elliptical shape and it seemed as big as a soccer ball. Jake and Bulbasaur eventually stopped in front of it. "Is this a... pokémon egg?" Obviously he couldn't tell but Bulbasaur would probably be able to.

The grass-type pokémon sniffed the object for a moment before looking at Jake and nodding his head in approval. Jake found it very unlikely for an egg to be lying like that in the middle of a cave filled with wild pokémon. He looked around and couldn't see any pokémon at all, which meant that the pokémon which had laid the egg was not nearby. It was only a matter of time before something bad happened to it. By taking it, of course, he would prevent its mother from ever finding it, but there was also a rather big chance that something happened to its mother.

"Okay then..." He picked the egg up and looked at Bulbasaur. "Come on, let's go find Jacob."

* There's a way to locate them in Mt. Moon in HeartGold & SoulSilver.