Please excuse any historical inaccuracies.
I do not own Pokemon. That belongs to its respective owner.
Thanks to my beta reader MythGirl Writes for helping!
Mary giggled happily knelt down next to Athena,
"Hey Athena, Would you rather stay in your Pokèball or stay out here with Me and Crane?" Mary asked Athena, petting her. Athena patted the ground with her paw and nodded. Mary smiled and put Athenas and Cranes Pokèballs on her belt.
"Let's head out!" Mary stated excitedly, walking to a town exit followed by her two Pokèmon.
"S-so, where are we going?" Athena asked nervously, staying at the back of the group.
"We are heading to the Ruins of Alph I think. We won't be there long though." Crane answered.
"Okay..." Athena stated nervouly.
"What's wrong?" Crane asked.
"I-I just feel a little out of place," Athena answered sheepishly.
"We all do at one point or another, I don't blame you," Crane sighed. By this point, they had made it to the edge of town, where a rather small cave entrance covered by bushes presented itself.
"This cave goes straight to the Ruins of Alph. Raven found it a few months ago and I want to head by before I start my adventure," Mary Explained to them, pushing some bushes aside and crawling into the cave.
Athena and Crane followed, not having many problems with the low ceiling, as they weren't very tall. The cave opened up a little allowing Mary to stand and walk normally, but she was already covered in dirt and dust. A little after the cave opened up, they heard some rumbling behind them, and when they turned around the entire cave shook as the cave collapsed behind them. The three of them started sprinting forward, the cave crumbling right behind them. Mary and Crane reached the exit of the cave first, entering straight into a forest where the Ruins of Alph were in sight. Crane sighed and turned around to see the Athena wasn't behind them. Crane looked back into the cave to see Athena being held back by a rock that fell into her tail. Crane sighed and ran back into the collapsed cave, having to maneuver between some rocks before he finally reached Athena.
Athena was crying, thinking she was left alone in the collapsed cave to die. She was right behind Crane when a rock fell right into her tail, not only causing immense pain but effectively gluing her to this one spot. Athena was caught up in her thoughts when she felt the pressure on her tail weaken, she snapped her head back to see Crane pushing the rock off of her. When Crane went to push again, the rock tipped to one side, allowing Athena a split second to remove her tail. Athena jumped back from the rock, removing her tail from under the rock.
"Crane! Thank you!" Athena yelled, hopping around.
"You're welcome... looks like we aren't getting out this way though," Crane sighed looking back at the exit of the cave, seeing the entrances sealed with large boulders.
"Well, what do we do?" Athena asked, looking around.
"We go that way," Crane stated, nodding down an extremely dark passageway that seemed to be opened up by the Cave-in.
"I-I don't like the dark," Athena whined, her nervousness returning quickly.
"Then stay close to me," Crane stated, adjusting his body heat to start to give off a faint glow, Crane knew he would have a use for this ability, though the glowing crystals back at the Cave would have worked better if he had remembered to bring one. Crane slowly walked down the passageway, as soon as Athena realized Crane was moving, she jumped up to Crane and stuck to his side. Crane gave off alot of heat, but Athena didn't care much, as she was a fire type herself.
"Ummm... why are you leaning on me?" Crane asked, looking at Athena, who was firmly planted to his side.
"I-I'm scared," Athena answered, squeezing her eyes shut and pushing more into Crane every time a small rock hit the ground. Crane could barely walk, as he was spending all his focus and energy just trying to keep from being pushed over by Athena.
"Okay. I think it would be better if we just calmed down and rested for a little," Crane stated, trying to calm Athena's nerves. Athena was too scared to speak and just nodded. Athena stopped leaning on Crane, who sighed in relief. Crane laid down and gave another sigh as he was finally able to relax. The relief was short lived as Athena pushed herself as close to Crane as possible, resting her head on Crane's neck-fluff. Crane wanted to protest Athena laying on him, but decided it was for the best, as he didn't want her to lean on him as they headed out again. After an hour, Crane started to fall asleep, becoming more and more immune to the creepy noises of the cave.
Crane was slowly woken up to hear Athena whimpering. Crane sighed, causing Athena to jump up in fright.
"Why are you whimpering?" Crane asked as Athena once again curled up closely next to him.
"I-I h-hate the dark," Athena stammered.
"You're scared of the dark? How old are you?" Crane asked, raising his body temperature that he had gone down while he was sleeping to Create a soft orange aura of light around him, calming Athena slightly.
"I'm about one moon old," Athena stated, happy that Crane was once again slightly illuminating the passageway. Crane was suprised by this, as Nicolai said that One moon is about a week.
"So, you only hatched a few days ago. Explains your behavior." Crane stated, starting to make his way down the passageway. Athena was sad that Crane didn't like how she acted, but she couldn't help it, she was just too terrified of the dark. After two hours of silent walking and climbing some rocks, Crane and Athena reached a large opening with weird Pokémon drawn over the walls. Crane stared in amazement of the weird alphabet-like Pokémon that was drawn across the room, his eyes then settling on a large depiction of what seemed to be a nautilus. Under the picture of the Nautilus, there was an empty pedestal almost the exact height of Crane... How convenient.
"Hey Athena, Mary should be waiting at the collapsed exit, or somewhere near it to wait in hopes that we come out. Go see if you can find her," Crane stated, nodding to an exit close by.
"What about you?" Athena asked, walking towards the exit of the room.
"I'm gonna look around some more," Crane stated, already making his way to the Omanyte pedestal. Athena nodded and ran out of the door in search of her trainer. Crane sighed as he reached the pedestal, taking out the weird orb that Celebi had given him. Crane carefully placed the orb on the pedestal, causing what seemed like an earthquake to shake the entire room violently. The alphabet-like Pokémon cravings glowed as the Omanyte's eyes opened revealing a blinding white light inside.
"Who dares wake the almighty Helix?!" The Omanyte carving boomed, the room shaking with every word.
"I've come to deliver this orb from Celebi," Crane stated, focusing on staying on his feet.
"Celebi has sent you at the right time. I sense a dark force rising in the future." The Carving thundered.
"How will I defeat this dark force?" Crane asked.
"You can't defeat the dark force, for you are too weak... However, you may raise one that can...Take this egg and bring it back when you either find another Pokémon capable of raising a child or when you feel you are ready to raise a child yourself, Then it will be infused with the almighty power of Arceus himself! " The Carving boomed.
"Just a piece of advice, don't raise a child yourself or with a friend. Find a mate and bring them back here, it would work much better that way," The carving stated, seeming to break it's 'Almighty' theme.
"Now go! Leave me to my infinite slumber!" The Carving boomed, closing its eyes. Crane looked down at the pedestal to see that the orb had changed into a pure white egg.
"Great... Now I have to find a mate, cause I sure as hell am not raising a child myself." Crane sighed, thinking about how he would be able to carry the egg. After some searching, Crane was able to find an abandoned satchel with a broken strap. Crane grabbed the satchel and tied it to where the bag was snug on the left side of him.
Crane carefully put the egg in the satchel and sighed, heading towards the exit. Crane stepped through the exit and breathed deeply, finally being able to breathe without dust filling his nose.
"I'm finally out, now, to find Mary," Crane said to no one in particular, checking if the egg shifted or would fall out.
"Crane..." Someone growled behind him. Crane turned around to see Amber.
"Oh! Hey Amber," Crane stated happily, wondering how she found him.
"What in the distortion world are you doing?!" Amber yelled angrily.
"Hey, hold it with the hostility... what's wrong?" Crane asked, confused.
"You're holding an egg! What how do you not see what's wrong Crane!?" Amber yelled as sparks flew from her fur.
"Woah, Woah, Woah. You're getting it all wrong," Crane explained, trying to not get shocked.
"Wrong? Is that your egg?" Amber asked angrily.
"Well... Technically, Yes... But, I have an explanation!" Crane stated sheepishly, slowly backing away from the angry Shinx.
"Better be a damn good explanation," Amber growled.
"Arceus wants me to save the world, he sent me to Celebi, who gave me an orb and told me to come here. I came here and put the orb where it was supposed to go, and I talked with what I assume was another Deity, and the orb turned into an egg," Crane explained.
"How do I know you didn't mess around with a Mon' as soon as you left?" Amber growled, not buying into Cranes explanation.
"Wait, I thought it took like nine months to give birth," Crane stated, confused.
"What? No, it only takes twelve hours after mating to lay the egg, the egg takes nine months to hatch... Do you know anything about mating?" Amber explained, now somewhat believing Cranes explanation, but still suspicious.
"No, I don't. I don't really know how to mate either," Crane admitted sheepishly. This was true though, Crane never 'mated' before, but he somewhat knew what to do. And now that he was a Growlithe, he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to do, though he assumed it was the same sort of concept.
"Okay, now, let's head back to the cave to discuss this further," Amber said turning around to leave.
"I can't, the Deity thing said I have to find a mate or raise it myself, and I sure as hell can't raise a child myself," Crane stated, looking at the egg.
"And why does that block us from going back?" Amber growled, swiftly turning around to face Crane.
"The deity said to bring a mate to back, with this egg, then it would infuse Arceus's power into the egg," Crane explained, nodding to the room behind him.
"Well, I don't want to come back. Let's do it now." Amber said walking towards the room entrance.
"Wait. What? They said I have to bring a mate. Do you really feel that way?" Crane questioned, surprised.
"Are you brain dead?" Amber asked, waiting next to the entrance of the room.
"Wha-... No, but when did you want to be my mate?" Crane asked, turning to face Amber.
"You... Really didn't notice? I've wanted to be your mate since we met, I made it painfully obvious. How in the distortion world did you not notice? Nicolai and Mike even joked around and teased you about it!" Amber questioned, tilting her head.
"I mean, I knew you liked me, but I didn't know you liked me like that...I'm not very good at judging emotions. And with Mike, he always does that, he's an asshole and likes to tease people. I guess I should have noticed it with Nicolai..." Crane sighed.
"Obviously. Let's go," Amber stated, walking into the room. Crane jogged after her until he was next to her, then slowed his pace to match hers.
"You really sure you want this? It would be a child we would have to take care of." Crane stated, nodding to the Omnimyte carving and turning to it, Amber following him.
"Yup, but the thing is, it would pretty much be our child. I'm much more willing to take care of it." Amber stated happily
"Why do I think our relationship is going too fast?" Crane said, cocking his head and looking at Amber.
"Going too fast? Normally two Mon' already have a child in half the time we've known each other." Amber stated, staring at all of the Unknown carvings.
"Wow... That's normal?" Crane asked, stopping in front of the Omnimyte pedestal.
"Yup," Amber stated, looking at the massive Omnimyte carving on the wall.
Crane gingerly took the egg and placed it on the pedestal. The entire room shook again, and the Unown carvings glowed once more. The Omnimyte carvings eyes opened again, illuminating the entire room.
"Blank egg and two suitable and accepting Pokèmon detected, beginning procedures!" The Carving boomed. The Unknown carvings on the wall glowed brightly and seemed to detach. The Unknown danced around the room and their eyes glowed a bright white light. Crane could barely see with all of the light filling the room, and soon it became too much and he was forced to shut his eyes. After a few minutes of blinding light, Crane finally opened his eyes to see that the Unknown had left and the Omnimyte Carving was the only light producing object left.
"Procedure complete, raise the child and save the world. Everyone else is watching you, doubting you, that is why they will not succeed, and you will." The carving boomed, closing its eyes. Crane looked down at the pedestal to see a light blue egg with a black stripe on the bottom and multiple yellow star-like patterns. Crane looked to the side to see Amber, she pretty much as stars in her eyes as she excitedly stared at the egg. Amber yelled in excitement and ran up to the egg, inspecting every inch of it. Crane walked up to it and put in his satchel at his side.
"Hey, I was looking at that," Amber stated.
"Let's head back to the cave, I want to rest," Crane yawned, heading out the door.
"Okay, do you want to head back to the main cave back in Ilex forest after we rest up?" Amber asked, following right next to Crane.
"I don't see why not," Crane stated, walking out through to the doorway.
"Crane!" Someone yelled, running up the stairs in front of the Ruins. After a few moments, they came into view, a young trainer with a Fenniken on her shoulder. Mary finally saw Crane and walked up to him, not having the energy to run after climbing the stairs. Mary was about to say something, but cut herself off as she saw Amber and the egg crane was holding.