Hello, everyone! Here is another chapter!

School's started (my school starts a bit early, so it started this week), so my writing-time has been cut down, especially because my teachers insisted on getting us started with homework and projects. I like school, but I don't like the work-load preventing me from writing. I don't have that much homework yet, so I can still write, but I can't promise that updates will always be at their usual time. Don't worry, I'll still do my best to update once a week!

Now, let's get started!

Today's topic was suggested by TheBestNameEvah.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Egg-cellent Responsibility Skills

Grade Three

May (8), Drew (8), Gary (9), Paul (9), Ash (8), Misty (9), Leaf (8), Dawn (8)

"Okay, class." Mrs. Primm, the grade three teacher, got everyone's attention. "Last week, I announced that we would be doing a special project starting today. Well, I'm about to tell you what that project is.

"As you all know, when someone turns ten years of age, he or she gets to keep a Pokemon partner, and is allowed to start carrying Pokemon with him or herself. But having a Pokemon means you have to be very responsible. Each Pokemon has its own needs, so you will have to take really good care of it.

"In grade three, in most schools, we do a small project to help students understand how responsible they have to be. Each of you will be assigned a Pokemon egg, which you will have to take care of for all of this week, including the weekend. Of course, they aren't real eggs, as I am pretty sure you can not be trusted with those just yet, but they are designed to resemble real eggs for effect. Each of you will get a different one, so I am pretty sure there won't be any mix-ups. Is everyone clear?"

Mrs. Primm glanced around the class to see if there was anyone looking hopelessly lost. She noticed when Dawn's hand shot in the air.

"Yes, Dawn?"

"Mrs. Primm, how would you know if we have really been taking care of the eggs? What if someone just left theirs and then told you that they took care of it?"

The teacher nodded. "The eggs have a special system inside of them, which can sense how it is being treated. If it falls, or wasn't warm enough, or was handled gently or roughly, it will record all that. In the end, it'll add up everything that's been happening to it, and will show you what the result would have been had it been a real egg."

There were a few groans from the more irresponsible students in the class. That meant they couldn't take the easy way out.

"I will call each of you to the front one by one, and assign you an egg from this box." She gestured to a large box sitting on the desk.

Soon, everyone had an egg. Mrs. Primm explained some of the basics of taking care of Pokemon eggs to the class before dismissing them when the bell rang. During recess, May got together with her friends Dawn, Misty, Ash, Gary, Drew and Paul.

"Oooo!" She looked at all her friends' eggs. "What do you think will hatch from your eggs?"

"Nothing. It's not real." Paul stated bluntly.

May frowned. "No, I meant if it were real, what Pokemon egg do you think it will be? They are made to look like they're real."

"I think mine's gonna be very cute!" Dawn looked adoringly at her pink egg that had a white stripe around the middle.

"I don't know." Ash shrugged, observing his egg that had brown and dark brown stripes. "I bet it's gonna be cool though!"

"Not as cool as mine!" Gary held up his orange egg that had a light, crescent shape on it.

"I hope mine's a water type." Misty looked over her light green egg, which had dark green markings on it.

May shook her head. "I don't think so, Misty. A water type Pokemon's egg would be blue."

"That's not true." Misty argued. "Water Pokemon can be many different colours."

"It could be a grass type." Drew reasoned. "I mean, most grass types are green, so maybe that's more likely."

"What about you, Drew?" Dawn asked. "What Pokemon do you think your egg's going to hatch into?"

Drew looked at his brown egg, which had three green circles at one end, thoughtfully. "I'm not sure..." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter, though. I'm still going to have to take care of it. What about yours, September?"

"Delcatty!" May announced, holding her purple egg, that had a yellow marking on it, lovingly. "And my name is May!"

"It can't be a Delcatty." Gary said, rolling his eyes. "That's an evolved Pokemon."

"Oh." May wondered for a bit before shrugging. "I don't know, then."

"What about you Paul?" Ash asked, turning to his purple-haired friend. "Where is you egg, anyways?" The teal-coloured egg that had been assigned to him was nowhere to be seen.

"In my backpack." Paul's answer was straight-forward.

May's eyes widened in horror. "In your backpack?! It could die in there!"

"No it can't." Paul sounded annoyed. "It's not real."

"But still." Drew faced him seriously. "If it gets damaged or something, Mrs. Primm isn't going to be very happy."

"Yeah!" Dawn chimed in. "You have to take care of your egg better, and give it a lot of attention! It's not going to hatch if you treat it like that."

"It's not going to hatch at all, cuz it's not real!"

"Yeah, yeah, Paul's gonna fail; so what?" Gary smirked. "I'm going to get the best marks, cuz when my egg hatches, my Pokemon's gonna be the best of all!"

"No way, mine is! Right, Brownie?" Ash stared determinedly at his egg, as if expecting to get an answer back.

"Brownie?" Misty raised an eyebrow.

"Why not? I don't know what Pokemon this is gonna be, so maybe I can give it a name for now." Ash justified.

"Great idea!" Dawn squealed delightedly. She turned to her egg. "Hi, Blossom! How are ya?"

"And I'm going to call mine Noodle!" May announced. Everyone stared at her.

"Why 'Noodle'?" Misty asked.

"I don't know. I just really like my egg, and I really like noodles too. So Noodle it is!" It sounded logical.

"That's a pretty good name." Ash commented.

"Not as good as my egg's name!" Gary thought for a second. "Thunder! Its name is Thunder!"

Misty shrugged. Everyone was naming their egg. Even though it was all pretty ridiculous, she might as well too. "Mine will be... Splash."

"Come on, Drew! Tell us your egg's name!" May urged. "Wait, I know! Drew The Second! It has hair like you and everything!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

May pointed at the three green circles at the top of his egg. "See? Green hair."

"Oh." Drew tilted his head. "Actually, I don't think I want to name my egg. I don't even know what Pokemon it is."

"What?! But you have to!" May was shocked. "I'll name it for you! If you don't like Drew The Second, we can call it Circley!"

"Why don't I just call it Spot?" Drew suggested, not really liking either names.

"Okay, but it sounds kind of boring..."

As everyone talked to their eggs, and did their best to make them feel loved, Paul stared at them exasperatedly.

"What's wrong with everyone? They're not real!"

The week went by quickly. Mrs. Primm gave them class time to take care of their eggs and ask questions, but they were mostly expected to take care of them at home. Eventually, Saturday arrived, and the seven friends found themselves hanging out at Gary's house, with Leaf, Gary's next-door neighbour, there as well.

"You're doing the egg thing too?" Dawn noticed the pink and dark blue egg Leaf was holding.

"Of course I am! All the grade threes have to do it, no matter what school they go to."

"So, did you guys find out what your Pokemon are?" May asked.

"Blossom's a Happiny." Dawn said, holding up her egg, which she had brought with her. "My mom looked it up for me. I saw a picture of it, and it's so cute!"

Dawn was definitely giving her egg enough attention. Apparently, she had pasted small, fake dark and light pink jewels all over it in decorative patterns. Not to mention she got it its own blanket and case for when she didn't have it with her.

"My dad said Noodle's an Aipom." May showed her her egg, which was currently wearing a red bandana like May's.

"One of my tutors said that if my egg were to hatch, it would be a Bonsly." Drew's egg was in a special case like real eggs were put in. It was evident he was taking really good care of it.

"Professor Oak told us what our eggs are." Ash said. "Mine's Sentret, Gary's Teddiursa, Leaf's Mime Jr., and Misty's-"

"A BUG!" Misty yelled out. "Mine's a bug! How does Mrs. Primm expect me to treat a BUG with love and affection?!"

Drew confusedly turned to Ash. "What?"

Ash sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "It's a Spinarak." he explained.

"Splash the Spinarak. Has a nice ring to it." Leaf commented.

Gary, who was currently absorbed in a chess game with Paul (as usual) while he half-listened to his friends' conversation, snickered. "Misty won't even touch her egg now. She gets Ash to take care of it." he muttered, trying to decide what move to make.

"And Ash actually does the work for her? Pretty dumb of him. He's just doing twice the work." Paul said, not moving his eyes from the chess board.

"Where are your eggs, anyways?" May asked the two boys curiously.

Without turning his head, Gary used one hand to point to the sofa, where his egg was resting on a cushion, wearing... sunglasses?

"It's just hanging out." Gary explained.

"What about yours, Paul?"

"It's in my closet in a box." Paul mumbled, too focused on his game to look up. "By the way, Gary, it's check."

May, Dawn, and Ash stared at him in horror.

"What?! In your closet, all alone! Are you crazy?! It could freeze to death!" Dawn cried frantically.

Paul finally looked up, clearly annoyed.

"Okay, first of all, it can't die. It's not real. Second of all, it doesn't matter whether it's all alone or not, because, again, it's not real!"

"But still. You can get a bad mark if you don't take care of it properly." Drew reasoned. "If it gets too cold or something, the sensors inside it will record that, and the teacher won't be too happy."

"Yeah yeah, taken care of." Paul rolled his eyes. "I made sure the temperature is okay and all. I don't want to fail, although I think this whole project is dumb."

"But... why put it in your closet?" Ash asked. "You're supposed to treat it as if it were real. Would you close it up like that it it were real?"

"Wouldn't put it past him." Gary muttered.

"Oh, I get it!" Leaf giggled. "Paul's egg was being naughty, so it's in a punishment right now. It's part of its disciplining!"

Everyone stared at her for a second before shrugging, and letting it side.

"Ha! Checkmate!" Gary shouted victoriously as he moved one of his pieces into position.

"What?" Paul's attention was drawn back to the chess board and he quickly scanned it over. Scowling, he turned to face his opponent. "Rematch."

"Nah." Gary lay back, with his hands behind his head. "Later. Everyone's talking is too distracting."

"Fine." Paul would have preferred a rematch now, but he agreed with his friend about the distractions.

"Hey Paul," Dawn spoke up suddenly. "I was just wondering what Pokemon your egg is. You never told us."

"According to my brother, Munchlax." the purple-head drawled as he lay back, mimicking Gary.

"Poor Munchlax..." May said a bit sadly, thinking about the fact that it was all alone in a closet.

It was Sunday, which meant that the next day the egg-project would be over, and May would have to part with her beloved Noodle. She made up her mind that she was going to spend every free minute with her egg, and have as much fun as she could with it.

"May, what are you doing?" her little brother, Max, who was holding a large book in his hands, asked as he peeked into her room.

"Playing with Noodle." May explained, gesturing to her bandana-wearing egg.

"Who's Noodle?"

"Silly Max! Don't you remember? I already told you; it's my egg!"

"Oh ya. The egg your teacher gave you that you have to take care of."

"Yup!"

Max frowned. "It doesn't look very happy to me. It's looks very bored, cuz it's just sitting there, doing nothing. Why don't you teach it something? Maybe it wants to learn something new."

"I did! I told it all about myself."

Max was about to say something else, but May's mother began calling her. May left her room to quickly answer to her mother's calls.

Max turned to the egg lying on his sister's bed, a thought entering his five-year-old brain.

"Noodle, I'm back!" May announced when she returned a few minutes later. She paused and looked around, realizing her precious egg was not where she had left it.

"Noodle?" She searched everywhere. It wasn't on the floor, under her bed, in her closet, or anywhere else in her room.

"Noodle, where are you?" May cried desperately. "Hide and seek is over; I give up! Noodle!"

Not being able to locate her missing belonging, May sat down on the floor to think. Where could it have gone? It was here just a short while ago!

Horrifying thoughts began entering her mind. What if it were hurt? What if it were kidnapped, or lost and cold? All because she hadn't been responsible enough. Her poor little dear, suffering because of her own irresponsibility. She didn't care that she might fail the project; she wanted her Noodle!

May sadly stood up, her eyes trained on the floor in her sorrow. It was then that she noticed something. There was a large book lying on the ground. It certainly hadn't been there before. How had it gotten there?

May picked it up, and immediately realized who it belonged to. And if he had been in her room, then chances were, he might have been the one who had stolen her egg.

"Max!" May roared as she barged into his room. Max looked up, startled. His sister faced him angrily.

"Where is it?"

"What?"

"Noodle! Where. Is. NOODLE!"

Max's eyes dropped guiltily to his feet, but he didn't respond. May furiously scanned the room, and eventually, her eyes caught sight or a certain bandana-wearing egg.

"Noodle!" May joyously ran to it, picking it up to give it a big hug. "Don't you ever leave without telling me again!" she scolded. "And Max! Why did you take Noodle?"

"I just wanted to show it something." Max mumbled. "I wanna have an egg too."

May's expression softened. "Don't worry! You'll get your chance when you get to grade three."

"Okay..."

May, not liking seeing her little brother so sad, turned to her egg. "Noodle, do you want to play with Uncle Max for a bit?"

Max looked up eagerly. "What did it say?"

May nodded. "Noodle said yes."

Her little brother beamed.

Monday came too fast. May found herself seated in her desk, Noodle in her arms, watching Mrs. Primm, who was making some adjustments to a strange machine that was on her desk.

"Okay, class." she said finally. "Today I am going to use this machine to see how you've been taking care of your eggs." She gestured to the machine she had been preparing. It had a screen and a scanner attached to it.

She sat down in her desk and looked at a list, starting to call everyone up one by one.

"Dawn Berlitz." Dawn made her way to the front, proudly carrying Blossom. She handed it to her teacher and watched curiously as Mrs. Primm scanned her egg. A small click was heard, as if the scanner had unlocked something. What happened next resulted in Dawn letting out a small, horrified scream.

Mrs. Primm opened the egg up, making it appear as if it had been cut in half. She poked around the mechanical insides until her fingers caught a tiny chip, which she plugged into the machine on her desk.

"Hmmm." Mrs. Primm scanned the data on the screen. "From the looks of it, you have been taking really good care of your egg! You have evidently met all of its needs and given it plenty of care and attention!"

None of the compliments quite made it into Dawn's head. She was absolutely shocked at what had just happened to Blossom, whom she had treated as if it were real all week. She returned to her desk, still in her stunned state, when Mrs. Primm called up the next student.

May hugged Noodle closer to her. She did not want it to end up the same way Blossom had. And she hated to imagine how heartbroken Max would be if he found out what was little Noodle's fate. Apparently, most of her classmates seemed to be as reluctant to handing over their eggs as her.

"Drew Hayden." Drew solemnly stood up, his egg in hand, and made it to his teacher.

"Bye, Spot." he muttered so no one else could hear. He had grown somewhat attached to the egg during his time with it.

Mrs. Primm studied the screen. "Very good, Drew! It seems you have taken care of this egg the same way one would care for a real egg."

Drew grinned and flipped his hair at the praise. At least he did the job well.

Eventually, Ash got called up.

"Can I keep it?" he asked hesitantly.

Mrs. Primm shook her head. "No. These eggs will be reset and reused for another grade three class next year."

"So... it won't remember me at all?"

"If by 'remember' you mean it will no longer have data on how you cared for it, then yes, it will no longer... remember you."

A frown appeared as she saw something on the screen. "Ash, I don't think it would want to remember you (as you put it) anyways. While you seemed to have taken decent care of it, there are some instances where, if it were real, you would have damaged it. At some points, it looks like you might have dropped it, or been slightly rough with it. And, what happened there? It looks like you dropped it several times in the same minute!"

"Well, it kind of accidentally slipped out of my grasp when I was going down the stairs." Ash explained, sounding ashamed. "It looks like it fell lots of times because it hit all the stairs on the way down." To his open egg, he quietly whispered, "Sorry, Brownie."

"Hmmm. You may have made a few mistakes here and there, but overall, generally it was well taken care of, so you pass. If it were real, however, you definitely wouldn't have! Please take a seat now."

May thought her turn came too soon. When Mrs. Primm called her name, she froze. She could not just hand over her dear Noodle to be opened up in half and have its memory erased.

"May Maple, please come up." her teacher repeated. May slowly got up from her chair and made it over to the teacher's desk.

"Egg, please." May hesitated at the request. She sadly faced the egg in her hands.

Well, this is goodbye then, Noodle. she thought, not being able to say it out loud. I'll never forget you, even if you forget me.

"May. Egg." Soon, the egg found itself in Mrs. Primm's possession.

"Okay, May, it appears you have done really well. It does, however, seem like your egg might have been too warm sometimes, probably because it constantly had that bandana on. You may return to your seat."

"Okay." May said hollowly, obeying her teacher after stealing a last, quick glance at her beloved Noodle.

Not long after, it was Gary's turn. He tried to act like he didn't care about the whole thing, but he forfeited Thunder to the teacher somewhat reluctantly. He received a decent mark as well, although, apparently, he had handled his egg a bit roughly at times.

After a few more students, it was Paul's turn. Unlike the others, Paul stood up willingly, eager to finally see the demise of what had been nothing but a nuisance to him all week. He relished the moment his Munchlax egg was opened up, savouring the fact that he would now have to neither continue this ridiculous project, nor put up with his friends' babying their little eggs as if they were real.

"You have clearly been meeting all the needs of you egg, Paul, though you might have handled it just a tiny bit too roughly once or twice. However, it does not look like you gave it any extra, special attention. Please keep in mind that all Pokemon need plenty of attention, whether you're playing with them, praising them, or giving them treats. Of course, you couldn't do that with the eggs, but please try to keep this in mind."

Paul nodded respectfully before going back to his desk, not really caring about the attention-thing the teacher had just told him.

"He passed?" Gary mumbled disbelievingly. "How did he pass?"

After a while, Misty went up to the front, holding her egg cautiously, and looking nothing but relieved when Mrs. Primm took it from her possession. It became evident that something was wrong by the way Mrs. Primm was observing the data that occurred on the screen.

"Misty," the teacher finally addressed her student. "From what I see here, it looks like during the first few days, you were off to a good start. But then, later on, did you get tired or bored with your egg? Because you haven't given it much attention since the then."

Misty just bit her lip. Her negligence was actually because she had discovered Splash was a bug, and after that, she could not get herself to care for it as much. But she couldn't use that as an excuse, because after all, her teacher would just point out that the egg wasn't real. At least she got Ash to take care of its needs.

"What's more," Mrs. Primm continued. "There were some days where it looks like you didn't even touch your egg, or look to its needs at all."

"Wait, what?!" Misty peeked at the screen. Her teacher showed her the data, and sure enough, she was correct.

Mrs. Primm glanced at Misty curiously. "Are you saying you did take care of it those days? Was there some kind of malfunction that prevented the egg from recording the data?"

"N-no. I just... forgot." Misty mumbled, half-honestly. This was so unfair! It had been Ash who had forgotten to care for it, not her!

"Well, Misty, I'm afraid I can not give you high marks for this. But not to worry. This project actually barely counts on your report card, so you can make up for it easily."

"Okay, Mrs. Primm." Misty shot Ash a deadly glare as she walked back to her desk, making the latter cower.

"Well, that went okay." Drew shrugged. "It was actually a bit fun taking care of my egg."

The friends were all outside for recess, discussing the project.

"How could she do that to my poor Blossom?" Dawn whispered hoarsely.

"Bye bye, Noodle." May sniffed, turning back to face the school.

"Aw, come on, guys! It's not that bad!" Gary was starting to feel the two girls were overreacting. "They weren't real after all. Just think, they do this every year! They probably got used to it by now."

"Yeah, if anything, you should be happy." Paul chimed in. "You don't have to bother treating inanimate objects as if they were real anymore." That didn't really help.

"Ash Ketchum!" Misty snarled. "You are so gonna get it! You made me fail, and when I find you...!"

Ash was not with the rest of the group, because he had been sure he would pay for not caring for Misty's egg enough. So, once the bell had rung, he had darted out before she could get her hands on him.

"Wonder how Leafy did..." Gary pondered. "She was taking care of hers really well, but I probably took better care of mine..."

"Cheer up." Drew turned to Dawn and May. "At least now you know what it would be like to have your own real Pokemon. So you know how great it would be taking care of your starters when you get them at age ten. And you get to keep them forever!"

May and Dawn turned to each other. "Yeah, that's right!"

"Can't wait! I wonder what my starter will be?"

And off they went, having fantasies about their future Pokemon.

Yay! This was really fun to write about!

To be honest, I actually didn't expect to finish writing this by today. I thought I would have to update on Sunday instead. But somehow, I finished. It might have been because I had already written a lot of it last weekend. Okay, I should go get started on the next chapter now if I want to complete it by next Saturday!

Please review, and thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! And have a smiling day! :)