"Congratulations on your first Gym badge," Sonia said, smiling broadly from Ash's Rotom Phone screen. "But I didn't call you just because it, we have something for you here in the lab, could you deviate on your way to the next Gym to pick it up?"
"What is it?" Ash asked curiously and Gou and Serena on both sides of him nodded. Sonia smiled mysteriously. "You'll see then," she just said and ended the call.
The day after Ash's victorious Gym battle, they had packed their belongings to set off for Hulbury. Ash had just gotten all his stuff packed after Sonia had called them. Ash, of course, had immediately reported his first Gym badge and Sonia had congratulated him. Then she had told her real thing and after saying her last mysterious sentence, she had ended the call.
At Pokemon Center, the trio had, of course, been amazed, Ash the most. What did Sonia and Professor Magnolia have in the lab for him? And why couldn't it have been delivered to him directly?
They decided to deviate on their way to the lab, even though the trip brought extra miles on their journey. However, their curiosity was too great to miss the opportunity and so they set off.
Time Skip to Wedgehurst:
Ash, Serena, and Gou walked again along the streets of the city from which they had begun their journey a few days ago. Pikachu on Ash's shoulder follows people and Pokemon passing by with interest, and Ash himself wonders what "something" that Sonia said might be.
Gou has sunk into his Rotom Phone with Scorbunny lying on his head and Serena also walks in her thoughts next to Yamper. It's in a stubborn mood again and refuses to go to its Pokeball, so Serena has decided to let it go outside.
Serena herself was in an internal struggle. She walked beside Ash, while Gou was a little in front of them. Would she dare take Ash from the hand? What would he say if she took? Would he just shake it off, or would he let it be? On the other hand, Ash seemed to be so immersed in his own thoughts right now that he could barely even notice the whole thing.
Serena cursed herself for having to be so damn shy. Shy in Kalos. Shy here. Shy for the rest of her life. No, it would end now. What had she said at the airport then? That she would be an even more attractive and changed woman when they meet again? Well, it's time now. New journey, new Serena. And the new Serena would start by grabbing Ash by the hand now.
Serena had made her decision and was just grabbing Ash by the hand when Gou suddenly turned and said, "Guys, should we go eat... Serena, what are you doing?"
Gou looked at her questioningly. The attempt to take Serena's hand had been left halfway and her hand had remained close to Ash's hand in a strange, straightened position. Ash and Gou stared at her and Serena blushed deeply.
"Eh... As long as I'm stretching here.. my hand was a little numb, nothing more, I'm not trying to grab anyone's hand, nothing like that.. ehheh heh.." she laughed akwardly, but Gou didn't be bluff.
"Really? Looks like you're going to take As...", Gou began with a grin, but Serena looked at him sharply and he changed the subject. "Whatever. Are we going to eat at that nearby cafe?" he said, and Serena replied loudly, "Yeah it fits well," and set off to march toward the cafe, with Yamper beside her and a grinning Gou, as well as a very confused Ash, after her.
****
After they had eaten, they headed straight for the lab. There they were greeted by a cheerfully smiling Sonia and her Yamper, who was sitting kindly next to his trainer. When Serena's Yamper noticed it, it started barking and Serena had to take it in her arms so he wouldn't have rushed towards Sonia's Yamper. Silly Pokemon, she thought and Yamper licked her cheek.
Sonia came with a smile against them. "Nice to see you again," she said and Ash, who first came up against her, went straight to the point, "What is the thing you were talking about? Is it here somewhere?" he asked, blinking eagerly around him and Sonia laughed. "It's in the lab, Grandma takes care of it," she explained, then pointed her hand to follow them. "Come on, I'll show you"
They stepped inside the lab and saw Professor Magnolia standing at one of the tables. Hearing their arrival, she turned and smiled kindly. "Oh, hello," she said, leaning on her walking stick. "I'm sure you're eager to see why you came. Well, without further ado, here's the reason."
She moved a little and they saw what was on the table. "Pokemon egg?!" Ash exclaimed and his eyes shone with excitement. Professor Magnolia nodded. "This came from Kanto here. It was known there that you were here and reportedly was told to give this to you. The reasons were not told. To hear you know them yourself when the Pokemon hatch," Professor Magnolia explained and shrugged. "Either way, it's your responsibility now. Take good care of it."
Ash nodded and looked at Pokemon Egg. It was white and had light blue patches. "Which Pokemon is it?" he asked, taking the egg gently in his arms. It felt warm.
"It wasn't told. And I haven't figured it out. So you know it when it hatches," the professor said and Ash nodded.
Serena found herself thinking it was somehow cute to see Ash with the egg. Like a father and a child, she found herself thinking and blushing. Gou noticed the direction of Serena's gaze, realized what she was thinking, and nudged this teasingly with his elbow.
"Go along, you can play mom," he said with a grin and Serena blushed even more and hissed at Gou that this would be silent. Gou fell silent, but watched with a grin at Serena, who was struggling with her own thoughts.
Meanwhile, when Gou teased Serena, Ash had put his backpack on the table and wondered how to get the egg transported without breaking it. Pikachu had jumped from Ash's shoulder to the table and looked at Pokemon egg with interest.
Ash finally came up with the idea to make clothes and other stuff for the egg nest in the bottom of his backpack. He took the egg in his hands to put it in there, and it occurred to him what the unborn Pokemon might think.
Suddenly he felt joy in his mind and a special feeling he could recognize as security. The feelings weren't his, so were they the Pokemon inside the egg he was holding in his hands? He smiled at the egg and gently put it in his backpack and arranged his clothes so that they supported the egg. He then put the backpack back on his back and Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. Then he turned to the others.
"Are we going to continue the journey?" he asked and the others nodded. They said goodbye to Sonia and Professor Magnolia and set out to continue their journey towards Hulbury.
****
Somewhere uninhabited Wild area between Hulbury and Wedgehurst:
"Rookidee, use Peck! Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash exclaimed to his Pokemon and they made the moves.
It had been about 3 days since they had left Professor's Lab. They had stopped at an uninhabited plateau in Wild Land and now Ash was training with his Pokemon. Serena brushed Braixen's fur, Yamper and Pancham playing a short distance away and Sylveon lay a short distance away watching them calmly. Gou watched Ash's training next to Scorbunny and Skwovet.
The moves of Pikachu and Rookidee met and collided. They landed back on the ground and Ash watched his Pokemon in satisfaction. "I think this was enough for this time," he said and Pikachu jumped on his shoulder and Rookidee flew over his head. Ash smiled at them and took the Pokemon Egg out of his backpack.
It had turned out to be the eggs that were incubated for a long time. Ash held it in his arms and wondered what kind of Pokemon it might hatch from. And why was this egg even sent to him?
Ash's thoughts broke when he felt the earth shake a little. He blinked around and noticed that Serena and Gou had felt it too. "What was that?" asked Serena and Yamper began to bark.
Suddenly Ash saw something... huge coming towards them. "Hey guys, what's that?" he asked the others, pointing to what he noticed, and the others turned their gazes to see what he meant.
Towards them came... Eevee? which was at least 1000 times larger than usual. Its coat was more fluffy and it shone a strange, fuchsia red light, and there were clouds of the same color on its head.
They stared at it in wonder and a little scared. About a large Pokemon would easily be able to crush them underneath. Their Pokemon might also think so, as they took a protective position in front of their trainers.
Gou looked at Eevee with interest. He picked up his Rotom Phone and asked, "Rotom, is that Dynamax?"
"Yes, that's Eevee's Dynamax or actually the Gigantamax form. Eevee is one of the few Pokemon capable of Gigantamax," Rotom explained, and Serena looked at Eevee with concern.
"Hey guys, if you didn't happen to notice, we might want to give up, that Eevee can crush us pretty easily," she said and was heading away as her horror Gou set out to walk towards Eevee. "Gou, are you crazy!? That Eevee can whip you into a pancake pretty easily!" shouted Serena, but Gou did not listen.
Gou walked towards Eevee and found himself thinking it somehow... looked scared? As if it didn't really know what had happened to it. Gou got pretty close to Eevee and exclaimed, "Hey Eevee, are you okay?"
Eevee spotted Gou and waved its huge tail, causing a huge gust of wind. Serena and Ash barely had time to summon their Pokemon to their balls so they wouldn't leave with the wind, and Pikachu held on to Ash's shoulder for not flying with the wind. But the same could not be said of the Pokemon egg in Ash's arms.
It disengaged from Ash's grip and set off to wind away with the wind. Ash exclaimed and rushed after it and Serena in turn went after him.
Meanwhile, Gou looked at Eevee. It looked confused when it came to such a gust of wind, and Gou guessed that it itself did not understand the force of its Gigantamax deformation.
How had it even brought about its transformation? Maybe it had happened to some Power Spot and started it in it. Gou didn't know, but he knew that Eevee was clearly confused about it.
While Gou became acquainted with Eevee, Ash ran after his Pokemon egg. It had circled quite a long way under the influence of the wind caused to Eevee. Eventually, however, it had stopped next to a small rock and Ash got it back for himself.
He took it in his arms and heard Serena come next to him. "Is... is it all right?" she asked breathlessly and Ash nodded, turning to face her. "I think it is. At least I can sense it," he explained and Serena smiled in relief.
They went for a walk towards Gou and Eevee and Ash held the egg in his arms. To his own confusing, he found himself blinking at times Serena, who trying to smooth out her hair, which had been left messy by the wind. To Serena's immense relief, her blue ribbon had remained in place and she now wrapped it better in her hair.
Why did he blink Serena? And why did the girl cause him that same, strange feeling? That he felt like he had a flock of Butterfree in his stomach. Ash had been thinking about this a lot lately, but still hadn't come up with a solution. Maybe I should ask Gou, if he knew, Ash thought.
****
When Ash and Serena walked back to their stopping place, Gou had gone closer to Eevee. He knew that Eevee could very well crush him under, accidentally or intentionally. Nonetheless, he slowly walked over to Eevee, and to his surprise, Eevee just looked at him, as if it knew what Gou had in mind.
"Rotom, how does the Gigantamax transformation end?" he asked Rotom and this explained, "Usually in battles, Gigantamax or Dynamax only stays for three turns. After that, Pokemon comes back to normal. Pokemon can only be Gigantamax or Dynamax once during a battle."
That was enough for Gou. "Eevee, we're doing this," he said to the interested Eevee, explaining what he was going to do.
****
When Ash and Serena returned to their stopping place, they saw Gou stroking a normal-sized Eevee. It rubbed its head against Gou's hand and Gou smiled.
Ash and Serena looked at each other and Ash asked, "Gou, is that the same Eevee that was still a huge size a moment ago?"
Gou turned to him and nodded. "It is," he said, explaining how Eevee had returned to its normal shape. Serena and Ash listened with interest. "Oh, that's what happened," Ash said at last, after Gou had reached the end of his explanation.
Suddenly Gou felt a slight nudge in his leg and noticed that Eevee had come next to him and said happily, "Eveoi!" Serena smiled at it. "Gou, I think Eevee wants to come with you," she said and Gou looked at Eevee in amazement.
He knelt beside it. "Really? Eevee, do you want to come with me?" he asked Eeve and it nodded eagerly. "Eeveoi!" it exclaimed and waved its tail.
"All right then, it works for me," Gou said, picking up one Pokeball. He pressed it against Eevee's forehead and Eevee disappeared inside it.
The ball swung three times in Gou's hand until it stopped and clicked, announcing that Eevee had been successfully captured. Gou grinned and let Eevee back out. "Welcome to the team," he said and Eevee jumped excitedly.
Ash and Serena watched this with a smile, and suddenly Ash felt something of a Pokemon egg in his arms. It moved and began to shine brightly. Serena noticed it too and Gou also turned to look. "Guys, I think this is hatching now," Ash said and put the egg on the ground.
It shone for a while and then suddenly ran out. The Pokemon had now hatched and they saw what the Pokemon had been like inside.
In front of them sat the newly hatched Riolu and it stared at Ash tightly.
Yes, I decided to give Gou Eevee. I don't know why, Eevee just felt right for him. And because Eevee was able to Gigantamax itself, it will not evolve but will remain Eevee.
And Ash and Riolu.. well, I know Ash got Riolu differently in anime and it hatched in anime during the same episode, but .. what I'm explaining, this is a fanfiction, ANYTHING can happen here!