Hi everyone and welcome back to chapter ten of this story. This chapter not only marks the tenth installment of the story but also breaks the 30k word for the story which is longer than anything I've written before. So Yay!
Also a shutout to theiampinaylove who guessed on what pokemon Brendan would be getting this chapter and not exactly getting it wrong (since I actually do plan to give him some of the pokemon you mentioned in the future), but I guess I should of been more specific when it came to my hint so sorry about that. This chapter is also a bit different than what I usually write as it contains some slightly graphic content, but I hope you guys enjoy!
Chapter 10: A Mother's Wish
The loud sound of an opening door followed by quick heavy footsteps fell into a young boy's room. He had been accustomed to this customary greeting from his father whenever he would be taken on fieldwork trips, but he was always annoyed that his father would choose to go on trips at four in the morning!
The boy was an early riser, but this was just ridiculous.
His father would always say that reason for that was so that they could spend more time working. As his father said, or any early riser said, "the early bird catches the worm."
The boy pulled the covers over his face in an effort to drive his father away, even though he knew this was an ineffective method. Maybe for once he would let the boy sleep in.
Maybe this is how May feels when I wake her up early. Now I know how she feels. I should stop doing that… he never got to finish his thoughts as Professor Birch pulled the covers off the boy and grabbed him by the legs. He began to pull the boy out the bed as Brendan's hands instinctively latched onto the wooden frame. It had been a regular occurrence between the two males for the past couple of months. If he would of known that his father would wake him up at four in the morning, he would of never agreed to accompany him to his work.
"Come on Brendan we're burning daylight," the professor said still pulling on the boy's legs.
A grunt escaped the boys lips before speaking.
"What daylight? And besides, why must you wake me up at four in the morning? I'm pretty sure even the nocturnal pokemon are asleep," he grunted. He was still grabbing tightly onto the bed-frame.
"You won't be a fine researcher with that kind of attitude my boy," he responded with.
His hands gradually and reluctantly let go of the frame. Although it was the boy's dream to someday become the region's champion, he also wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps and become a researcher. He was gently pulled off the bed where his dad helped him on his feet. He let out a long yawn, stretching his arms out. The boy glanced back at his bed where a certain water type was still sleeping.
If I don't get to sleep in, you don't either, he thought before gently tapping the water type on the head which caused him slowly open his eyes. He too didn't like the idea of waking up so early.
"Get ready Brendan, I've already cooked breakfast, so come down once you're ready."
"Yeah dad," letting another yawn escape.
His father headed downstairs while the boy sat back down on the bed for a minute. He had on his blue pajama pants and red t-shirt. He glanced to the digital clock on his desk where it read 4:05 AM. He glanced down to the water type who had made his way to lay down on the boy's lap. He blinked for a couple of seconds, trying to rid himself of sleep but it kept coming back.
He tapped the water type again looking him straight in the eye before saying, "you know what to do Skipper, just like May."
The water type nodded releasing a water gun that struck the boy straight in the face. The cool and sudden change pushed the remaining shards of sleep away, vanishing them until the next night.
He shook his head once the torrent had ended. "Thanks Skipper. You really know how to wake people up."
"Mudkip kip," the pokemon responded jumping from his lap and to the floor. The boy shortly stood up and grabbed a change of clothes. His clothes consisted of blue denim jeans, a white long sleeved button up shirt and a pair of white sneakers. He also wore a white lab coat his father had got him when they went on their first trip.
He noticed the white hat May had given him two years prior sitting on his desk. He wanted to wear it, but at the moment it still fit him a bit too big.
He finished changing clothes, then rushed to dry the remaining drops of water from his face, then brushed his teeth. Once that was set and done, he picked up the blue pokemon who was laying on the ground placing him on his head. That spot seemed to be the water type's favorite for some reason.
He walked downstairs to be greeted with the sweet smell of breakfast. Ever since his mother had gotten sick of waking up at four in the morning, his father would be the one to cook breakfast. At first he was terrible, turning every ounce of food into some sort of dark matter that was utterly disgusting. But as time went on, he gradually improved and was able to cook pretty well. Not as good as his mother of course but still pretty well.
"So dad where are we going today?" the boy asked taking a seat in front of a large plate with about ten large waffles. A bowl of Pokemon food was already on the table for Skipper to eat. He jumped down from the boy's head happily eating the brown chunks with berries mixed in.
"There's this creek in route 101 I wanna check out today. There's all types of water types there that we can take data on."
He took a sip out his mug that read World's Greatest Scientist. Brendan and Lisa had given him that mug for his birthday that year and he just liked showing it off.
After about ten minutes, Brendan and the professor finished their breakfast placing their dirty dishes on the kitchen sink. Professor Birch grabbed a brown satchel that carried lab supplies, snacks, and files. Brendan picked up his green turtle shell like backpack that carried a greater number of supplies than his dad did.
The reason for this was because the same technology that is used to store pokemon in pokeballs was incorporated into bags. In short, it means that one can carry as much as they want in their bag without it feeling heavy or overfilling. It was like an infinite storage system.
That's how some travelers seemed to pull bikes and tables out of their bags. Brendan could probably carry a mountain in there and it would feel as if he were carrying nothing. This new technology was still pretty new and Professor Birch was given a bag by the league to aid in his research. He of course gave it to Brendan who could make better use of it.
If Brendan remembered correctly, this new technology was developed by a large company in the Sinnoh region that went by the name Diamond. After doing a bit of research, Brendan found out that the company was owned by a single family that also went by the same name. Apparently the family was known in the region for their wealth and power for centuries. Although Brendan didn't pay too much attention to their background, or rather he didn't find much information about their past after a certain point, he did manage to find that the family consisted of multiple members with the current head being married and having a son around Brendan's age and a younger daughter.
His thoughts had come to an end when Skipper had jumped to take his position back on the boy's head. The two walked out the door, turning the lights off as they left. The sun was nowhere near rising once they left the home. Only a couple of street lamps lit the small town. Professor Birch fired up his jeep placing his satchel on the backseat. Brendan had taken a seat on the passenger side. He quickly pulled out the driveway and began driving out of the town.
One would assume that the lack of light would force the professor to drive carefully, but he was driving as if he were in broad daylight. The jeep jumped multiple times as it sped through the dirt path of route 101. It jumped over ditches, skillfully maneuvering around the trees and finally arriving at a small creek where a small waterfall overlooked it.
"Dad how many tickets have you gotten?" the boy to his side asked. Wondering as to how his father drove like a maniac yet never seemed to crash.
"Well son between you and me, and don't tell your mother." The man leaned in to whisper a number in his son's ear.
The boy's eyes widened before he exclaimed, "That many?!"
"Yep my boy, now let's go, we won't find any pokemon if we are lazing around inside," turning the jeep off grabbing his satchel then exiting. The boy was quick to follow behind.
The next couple of hours saw the pair sneaking behind bushes, hiding on trees, and observing pokemon from a distance in order to gain data on their behaviors. They had to observe them from a distance as to not disturb their natural behaviors. Pokemon generally tended to act differently around humans.
The sun was slowly beginning to rise over the horizon bringing with it a cool spring breeze. The light revealed that the cherry blossoms were in full bloom while the other trees displayed their new green leaves after the short winter.
The light of the sun didn't last long as rain clouds began to approach, shrouding the surface of the Earth with their cool shade.
They had managed to collect samples such as wurmple silk, zigzagoon fur, maril furr, as well as poochyena saliva. As well as observing the many types of pokemon that came to the creak.
Brendan had decided to get in a little training in while observing the pokemon. So far Skipper knew tackle, mud slap, water gun, and Brendan had taught the small water type ice beam after a lot of practicing and researching.
He practiced away from the creek so he didn't disturb any of the pokemon that were visiting. Skipper's attacks had gained more power and accuracy over their last training sessions, but he rarely had the time to train his little partner as he would be busy with school or helping his dad out with fieldwork.
It was around lunchtime that the rainclouds from earlier began crackling. Professor Birch was about to call it a day, before a loud combination of a pained cry and roar was heard. Brendan also noticed this. He looked at his dad for answers but he too didn't have any idea of where or what caused the cry.
"Dad, you heard that right?" Brendan turned around to try to spot where the sound came from.
"Yeah I did," the professor whispered. He was just finishing putting the last of the samples inside his satchel.
"Should we check it out? Maybe it's a pokemon that needs help," the boy continued still listening for an indication of the sound. He had grabbed Skipper letting him rest on his head after the training session.
"Let's be careful though. We have no idea who or what is making that sound," the professor said, placing his satchel around his shoulders. The sound of another cry filled the area alerting the two of where the sound came from.
"Dad I think it's coming from over there," he whispered, pointing over to the waterfall.
The two began walking towards it as the dark clouds kept crackling. A minute later the clouds released their cool rain, cooling and seeping the ground underneath. Thunder loudly cracked as lighting lit up the sky. The two hurried to the waterfall where, to their surprise, there was a cave behind it.
They were quick to enter it as a means to avoid the downpour. They were both panting as they entered the cave both from the sudden surprise of the rain and their sprint.
Another cry resonated as the two entered. It didn't sound like a threatening cry, but more like a pained cry as if someone were calling for help. Skipper was the first to notice this as he jumped off the boy's head and ran towards towards the source. Brendan was about to call him back until it sounded like Skipper and another pokemon were having a conversation.
The pair looked at each other as they made their way deeper into the cave. They only had to walk a few spaces where they were met by a surprising sight.
There in the largest part of the cave laid a large blue pokemon with red wings. It had four large legs each containing large claws with a large gray underbelly. The pokemon also had a long neck with a red under neck.
To say that the two were shocked would be an understatement. Never in a million years would they have expected to find a salamence so close to Littleroot of all places. What shocked them more were the large gashes that were bleeding out from the pokemon's legs and belly. It looked as if the pokemon was sitting in a pool of blood. Its breathing was small and ragged, as if it hurt to breath and it looked like it had a foot in the grave.
Brendan was the first to take action, but the professor was quick to stop him as he placed his arm in front of his son in a protective manner. The professor knew that dragon types such as salamence could be aggressive and attack when unprovoked so he had to make sure to be extremely careful.
"Brendan you stay back here while I make sure everything is alright." He received a nod from his son and slowly made his way to the hurt pokemon.
The dragon type picked its head up to growl at the man and the professor froze in place. He moved to lift his arms in front of him to show that he didn't mean any harm.
After a moment of staring at the man and the cries of a mudkip, the dragon type lowered its head back down. The man took a quick deep breath as he made his way closer to the pokemon.
He leaned down to its side to inspect the damage and then motioned for his son to join him as they could get more accomplished together.
Brendan managed a nod as he made his way closer to his father. The pokemon hadn't made any more movements which let a weight off his chest. The pokemon seemed to at least trust them.
The boy put his backpack down and began taking out his medical supplies out once he had sat down next to his father. Professor Birch was quick to follow behind him taking out his own supplies out.
Since Littleroot didn't have a Pokemon Center, the townspeople would often bring injured pokemon to the lab to be treated. Brendan had grown quite accustomed to treating Pokemon wounds, but the problem was that he mainly had knowledge in treating the local pokemon. He was way out of his element in treating the large dragon type.
The professor was also having a difficult time deciding on how the wounds should be approached. Although he did have more experience when it came to treating pokemon, he had never treated a pokemon that was hurt this severely or of this size.
"Here let me help you," Brendan told the dragon type. He tapped it gently on the head once he was sure he wasn't going to get attacked.
"I'll help too Brendan," Birch said once all of his supplies were out. They both nodded and began doing their best in treating the dragon type wounds.
They had applied painkillers as well as antidotes and burn heals to the wounds in case they had been inflicted with poison or burns. Skipper was helping in his own way by filling a hole on the floor with dragon type let out pained cries as the medicine was applied but soon calmed down at Brendan's touch. She drank some of the water from the hole before laying her head back down. The pair then began wrapping all the bandages they had around her injured legs, but there just weren't enough for the large pokemon. They knew that it needed the immediate attention of a pokemon center, but it would be near impossible getting the pokemon out the cave, especially with the wounds.
"Will she be alright?" Brendan asked in a shaky voice.
"I'm not sure my boy, it looks like her wounds are too serious for us to treat," the professor answered, looking away from his son's worried face.
"Can't we call Nurse Joy? There's gotta be something else we can do," he said nearly crying. He had seen pokemon in pain before, but this a completely new experience for him.
"Brendan, I'm afraid Nurse Joy won't be able to arrive in time, especially in this weather," looking equally as disheartened as his son.
"But.. but… we can't just leave her here," he almost yelled.
"Brendan there's nothing more we can do." Although the professor hated to admit it, there really was nothing they could do. He could of always lied to his son about the situation, but he knew that it wouldn't be best.
"Who do you think could of done this dad? This is a salamence we are speaking of."
The professor looked contemplative for a minute, "the large marks tells me that maybe another salamence did it or maybe even pokemon poachers, after all the salamence line are rare finds."
"Say, who did this?" he asked the dragon type who had her head down on the cold cave floor.
She turned her head to face the boy and began to lightly growl and whimper, telling him what had done it.
The boy could only nod as she kept growling.
It was times like these that he wished he could understand pokemon. Her head dropped again with her eyes slowly closing. She lifted up one of her large wings revealing a light blue egg with a gray coloring near the top resting near one of her back legs.
Both the boy and the professor's eyes widened.
Brendan spoke first, "wait you're a mother?"
The nod from the dragon type confirmed this as she raised her head to fully face them, then nodded. This time however her eyes kept staring at them as if analyzing them.
"So she was trying to protect her egg?" Professor Birch asked, still staring at the egg with awe.
After about another minute the dragon type made a move to slowly slide the blue egg towards the boy. He looked up at the dragon type who was giving him a motherly look.
"Wait you want me to take care of your baby?"
The mother's nod caused his hands drop by his side limpy before slowly reaching out for the egg. He slowly grabbed it then handed it to his dad as he was taking out a blue blanket from his bag then wrapping it around the egg so it could stay warm.
"Don't worry I'll take good care of it," he said in a shaky voice. The mother seemed to give him a smile before her head slowly fell down to the ground. This time however her eyes closed and her breathing ceased. They knew that she had passed away. Her final wish was for her baby to be in good hands.
An: When I was working on my drafts for this story, I wanted to incorporate the salamence story line from the manga in some way or another. Since many other authors have already written about Brendan(Ruby) and salamence, I wanted to try something different which lead me to this idea. I hope I didn't make anyone mad with this change and if I did then please forgive me.
Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed and I hope to see you guys at the next update. Next chapter will have more interactions between family members and our Hoenn pair.