Upon entering route ten, Nick and the others were sitting around enjoying lunch; Nick was looking at his badges and thinking.

A lot had been on his mind lately, a few days ago he watched Joshua loose a battle against Champion Dominic, it was nothing more than a slaughter, Dominic relied on strategy and ability, rather than Joshua who relied on power.

As Nick looked around, he let his own Pokemon out of their Pokeballs, Butterfree and Tranquill were flying around, while Gible and Flareon were sitting and eating, Croconaw was sitting and talking with Fortress and Dawn's Piplup and Typhlosion.

He looked to his side and found Pichu sleeping next to him, Nick had to admit, he wondered what went on in Pichu's head sometimes, worry, happiness, excitement, he had no idea what his partner was dreaming. But he knew one thing, Pichu was conflicted.

Pichu had lost after one round for the last two gyms in a row, when he faced Andrew and Annie the first time, Pichu was almost killed, Nick didn't know if maybe Pichu was scared of battling or if he was simply wishing to evolve.

Nick didn't talk much about Pichu evolving; actually, the thought never came up in conversation after eight years since Pichu hatched.

He'll always remember when he got Pichu, it was eight years ago to the day, a man he met on his journey through Johto was studying Pokemon breeding habits and how they worked differently. Pichu was the last egg he was studying from a select set; the owner gave it to Nicholas right before his departure to Goldenrod City.

Nick felt a drip on his shoulder, he took his hand out and felt another drip touch his glove, followed by another, the process continued and got harder, that was until he realized, it was the first time it rained his whole journey.

"Nick! Come on we gotta go!" He could hear Tom yell

Nick recalled his Pokemon two at a time until they were all tucked away in their Pokeballs. Everyone else followed his actions and everyone started running for shelter.

"Sir, with the loss of the lab, we….we has to move forward with Project Zero."

"You don't give the orders here Benedict." The Illusive Man snapped

After the lab, most of the surviving employees moved to either the main base or to a safe house on the way to the base.

"I agree with him sir…if I may be so bold." Juno remarked

"You couldn't even defeat Nicholas Gray in a contest battle Leaf, why should I believe I can continue to count on your victories?"

"Sir, I can get it done…." Juno had a look of despair on her face

"Maybe I should send you back to Kanto, let Thomas Walter have his way with you, turn you into one of his brainwashed slaves." Now it was Kai Leng who spoke up

"Leng…" Jupiter growled

"What? You know if it wasn't for me, your apprentice would be probably programmed by Teache and Walter."

"Enough! All of you!" The Illusive Man shouted

Everyone looked at him, off to the corner by Omega, Minerva stood, looking at the conversation, not saying a word.

"Leng, I want you to head for Flightoria City, take care of transportation to Sleetfall."

"Yes sir." Leng saluted and took his leave, glaring at Jupiter then stormed off

The Illusive Man turned to Omega "I want you to remain in town, take care of the gym leader and whatever else you can to prepare. Gray and the others will be here soon."

"Yes sir."

"And take Minerva with you."

"Of course." Omega replied

"Yes sir." Minerva nodded in approval, there was still in life in her eyes

Finally, he turned to Jupiter and Leaf "I will need you two to take care of the Elite four, do not let them get here. They'll prove to be a problem."

"Yes sir."

The Illusive Man tapped a key on his keyboard and the Doctor's picture appeared.

"Doctor, what is the status of our projects?"

"Sir, Project one received heavy injuries with Team Rocket's destruction….project two was captured by a trainer who was affiliated with Jason Malone. Projects three through twenty are standing by and awaiting your orders."

The Illusive Man smiled "Unleash them when and if the Elite four manage to arrive in Sleetfall, no doubt they'll try to liberate the city."

"What of the gym leader?"

"Let Gray and the others get his badge, he'll be of no use to me soon."

Nick and the others managed to hide under a large tree, they ran as far as they could, it was a tall oak standing at least a hundred feet tall, with branches going off from different points in the tree, then it managed to slump in a V shape toward the middle, a lower branch provided shelter, but not that much.

"Okay, in all fairness." Alex said, Nick could tell he was being sincere "we're screwed if we don't find shelter."

Nick smiled "It's just a little rain, what harm can it…" as he walked into the rain, a rumble of thunder and a flash of lighting soon followed his footsteps, he immediately bolted under the tree again "Okay, maybe it's not just rain!"

Tom and Alex both laughed at Nick's reaction to the thunder and lighting. Nick glared at them as Pichu hung onto Dawn's shoulder.

"Hey, is it just me or do I see a light?" Holly pointed ahead

Nick looked out and confirmed her suspicion; there was a light a few miles to the north of their current location. He thought about their situation, stay under these threes and place themselves where Anubis could get them, or go inside the house and get shelter.

"Everyone run for it! We're heading for that house!" Nick called out

Like a mad house everyone ran for cover toward the light with Nick at the lead, as they ran closer, Nick began to notice fencing around the perimeter on what appeared to be a large grazing field. As they got closer, Nick noticed a large barn, he began to wonder where they were, but something seemed familiar about it. The light was to a two story house half the size of the barn.

Nick walked up to the door, and banged on it, the door didn't move, then another light being activated on the bottom floor, a slit on the door opened up and a pair of eyes glanced at the kids approaching. The eyes wandered, and then when they saw Nick, the slit closed and the door opened.

An old man stood the door way, he was in his early fifties with graying black hair, tired brown eyes, a bit of a hunch in his back and he wore a checkerboard pattern shirt, tan overall pants, brown shoes and a large straw cowboy hat over his head.

"Come on, get in, before this here rain be pickin' up some more."

As everyone stepped inside, Nick took Pichu and dried him off as the man brought some towels over for everyone.

"I'm glad to see ya'll managed to get to safety." The man looked out the window as the rain continued to pound on the windows "They say that in NeoTerra, when it rains, it rains down."

Nick looked up "Stanley?"

The man turned, he had a smile on his face "It's good to see you again Nicholas." He spoke with a thick southern accent; he looked at Pichu "And is that the same little…"

"Yup, it's him alright." Nick replied quickly

Tom smiled "Good to see a friendly face Stanley."

"Thomas Martin! My oh my how much you've grown." Stanley shook his hand "And Alexander Miles, it's good to see you again."

"Good to see you as well Stanley, my Vaporeon is doing fine."

"I'm glad to hear it." Stanley smiled

Tori looked over at the old man "So Stanley….what do you do?"

"Well little lady, I mostly study…" Stanley started before Nick stepped forward

"Stanley specializes in Pokemon breeding, he hatches eggs and studies how their abilities and just how each egg is different." Nick interrupted "But he does give these eggs away to families in terms of adoption."

Dawn glared at her boyfriend for a minute "So, how do you know Nick, Tom and Alex?"

Stanley smiled "Oh, these three boys have lived near me for years. I've known their parents and their grandparents. Practically Nick's grand pappy. He was a good friend of mine right before he disappeared."

"He could have just died; he was in his late fifties with a heart problem." Nick said with a sigh

He had the utmost respect for Stanley, Nick just never known he would see him ever again, or at least for a few years. He was worried about Pichu in particular, he was just an egg when he left Stanley's farm in Johto.

"Here Nick, I want you to have this."

Stanley stood in front of ten year old Nicholas Gray with a Pokemon egg; it was golden with a black stripe going right in the middle diagonally moving upwards, it was encased in an egg case surrounded by glass.

Nick took it gently in his hands, with Lyra and Tom standing by him.

"That is the last egg I'm going to be raising here with that old Pikachu."

"Is he going to be okay?"

"Of course!" Stanley smiled "Ya'll come back now you hear!"

Nick sat down as Stanley showed Alex, Tom and Holly to their rooms, leaving Tori and Dawn with him.

"What's your deal with him anyway?" Tori asked

"I don't have a problem with him. It's only what happened to Pichu do I have a problem with." Nick replied

"Why? What happened to Pichu?" Dawn asked as she wrapped her hair up in a bun, taking her hat off

Nick looked at Pichu began to wander the halls toward where they were going to be staying "Pichu's dad is here. From what Stanley told me, he was sick when I was a kid, but from what Stanley last told me, he was making a full recovery."

Dawn looked at him "When are you going to tell him?"

"When the time was right, you didn't see him when he hatched." Nick frowned as he let his mind wander

Nick smiled as his egg began to glow; it was going to hatch any second. Tom and Lyra were asleep while Nick sat up with it.

As it finished glowing, it started to break, Nick smiled as the tiny Pokemon began to come out of the shell, its tiny head came out first with black trim on its ears, a tiny black tail, little pink cheeks, and little yellow feet.

Nick took out his Pokedex and scanned it.

"Pichu, the tiny mouse Pokemon. The electric sacs in its cheeks are small. If even a little electricity leaks, it becomes shocked." The Pokedex said

Pichu looked around and tears starting to build up in its eyes and it started crying. Nick smiled and held onto Pichu close.

"Hey, it's okay Pichu." Nick smiled "You and I are quite alike. We both didn't know our parents."

"Pichu pi? (Really?)" Pichu asked

"Yeah, I never knew my parents and you were given to me by your father. Don't worry buddy, I promise you one day I'll introduce you to his trainer at least." Nick promised

Pichu began to relax in Nick's arms as it drifted off to sleep. Nick couldn't bring himself to tell Pichu his dad was sick, all he knew was that one day he was going to have to face the music.

Pichu walked silently around the house the next morning, the rain was still going on, but it was much lighter than before.

"Pikachu…" A dull voice said behind him

Pichu turned to a medium electric mouse appeared behind him. It looked a lot like Pichu, but it had a long lightning bolt shaped tail, long ears with black tips, but its brown eyes had an old look in them and there were wrinkles on its face.

"Pichu pi? (Who are you?)" Pichu asked

"Pika Pikachu (Did you come with that boy?)" Pikachu asked

"Pichu pi Pichu! (Yeah, Nick is my brother!)" Pichu said happily

Stanley walked into the hallway "Pika Papa, I see ya'll met your boy."

Pichu looked at Stanley, then at Pika Papa, a wide expression on his face.

"Pika Pikachu…. (It's good to see you again son.)" Pika Papa smiled at his son

Pichu walked over and embraced his father, tears streaming down its face.

Nick walked into the barn and smirked at what he saw. Shelves were filled with Pokemon eggs and Stanley was tending to them. They were of all different colors, some red, blue, and green, white, yellow and had various patterns like stripes, symbols, dots and various other patterns.

"Stanley, how's Pichu's father?" Nick asked, leaning up against the barn door

"He's doing better." Stanley smiled as he faced Nick "Still can't forgive me huh?"

"Not after the pain I saw in my brother's eyes when he realized his father wasn't coming back." Nick replied back, his tone a bit angry

"Don't get angry with me boy. I've done nothing to you." Stanley replied walking out of the barn

"Pichu's the only family I have." Nick replied, and then he realized what Stanley did "You…you told him. Didn't you?"

"He found out, now come on. Lunch is ready." Stanley continued walking toward the house

They all sat down for lunch, while the kids let their Pokemon play with the others outside, the humans sat inside eating and talking.

"So Stanley, do you have any family?" Tori asked

"I've got three daughters. My oldest, Mary is married now, second oldest Lynn is about Nick's age now, and my youngest Annabel just turned twelve." Stanley replied back with a smile

Tom looked at Nick and nudged him; he had had a bad experience with Lynn a few years ago.

"As I seem to recall, Lynn took quite a liking to you Nick old boy." Stanley smiled

Dawn frowned and looked at Nick who simply shrugged in response.

"Married?" Dawn asked

"I was. Poor old woman, she divorced me a few years ago. Said I was making her get sicker by the minute. We weren't getting along anyhow." Stanley replied

Nick stood up and walked out of the room without a word, Alex looked over at Tom.

"What's with him?"

Tom just shrugged "How am I supposed to know?"

Nick walked through the halls of the house, he was just lost in his thoughts, he knew the truth about Stanley, and he knew the truth about that lying old man.

He didn't even notice he walked toward a nursery and play room, he looked through the window that was placed along the wooden frame, hard wood flooring on the floor and hay was placed on the ground for a bit of cushion and looked inside, a wide variety of Pokemon were playing in there.

Baby Bulbasaur were using their vines to play patty cake with a Squirtle, Smoochem were playing with Igglytuffs, and even a bunch of Pichu were playing around on the floor, there were two separate sections of this room where the babies played with each other.

Nick looked inside and saw what he feared, even was a bit jealous about. He saw an older looking Pikachu playing with a Pichu, a Chimchar, a Totodile and a Turtwig were going down a slide, but Nick recognized the Pichu. It was his.

Pichu slid down the slide and he was having fun, he didn't even notice his trainer was outside.

"So, this has been what's bothering you?"

Nick looked to his side and saw Dawn standing next to him; one hand on her hip, the other was pressed against the wall.

"Yeah, this has been what's bothering me."

Dawn looked inside "Who's that Pikachu belong to?"

"Stanley." Nick looked through the glass again "That's Pika Papa, his original Pokemon from when he was a child. Pika Papa is Pichu's father."

"I see what's going on here."

"What?"

"You're jealous aren't you? Pichu found his dad and you don't even know about your dad." Dawn remarked

"Yeah, maybe I am a bit jealous, but I also know Stanley's lying."

"About what?"

"He claims his wife was driven away by the fact she was disgusted with him? False, she was driven away because the man is a fruit cake. He's a good man at heart, but he does all this just to make a profit."

"Really?"

"Take it, the man gave me Pichu. I always knew this day would come…I just didn't expect it to happen right when the most important league of our lives is coming up."

"The Platinum League?"

"Right." Nick nodded

"Well, why don't you go talk to him?"

"I…I can't tear him away from his father." Nick frowned and folded his arms across his chest "He…he always thought he died until recently."

"Why did he think his father was dead?"

"Because that's what I thought." Nick felt tears begin to build "Until about a year ago when I entered the Sinnoh League, he wrote to me and told me Pika Papa had made a full recovery. I…I couldn't tell him."

"So you don't want him to know you lied to him?"

"Right." Nick looked at Pichu "That's why I have to make the most difficult decision of my life."

Everyone walked out front; Nick was the last one out. Pichu walked by Pika Papa.

"It's a shame you kids have to leave already. It was nice having kids around here for a change."

"Yeah well," Dawn said with a smile "We really need to move along, the NeoTerra league will be starting soon and I'm sure everyone will want to register."

"Are you going to be entering the league Dawn?"

"Oh no!" Dawn replied "I'm a coordinator. I'm going to be entering the Grand Festival."

"And I take it your dating young Nicholas?"

"Yup." Dawn smiled as she wrapped her arms around his bicep, placing her head on his shoulder

"You two make a handsome couple." Stanley smiled

Nick slipped his arm out of Dawn's grasp, and then looked at Pichu then at Stanley.

"Pichu." Nick looked down at the ground "I….I think you should stay here."

Pichu looked at Nick with worry in his eyes, tears forming in his eyes.

"Your father is here. You need to stay. I'll be fine."

With that he took off running, he got ahead of the others, as he ran on the path, he left them behind, he left Dawn behind and he left Pichu behind.

He didn't want his brother to see him cry, he didn't want anyone to see how hurt he was that he left his favorite Pokemon, his travelling companion, and worst of all, he left his brother behind to be with the one person he cared about, his father.

Okay, now this chapter is another chapter I've been wanting to write for a long time. Kinda based off of 'Goodbye Pikachu.' but with a spin on the Pokemon Daycare.

This chapter definitly went the way I wanted it to go. This will be one of the last filler chapters that are not based on the plot. But there will be a big plot twist in part 2. Which will be up tomorrow or Friday.

Happy reading everyone!