As Blaziken ran through the city streets, Danica held onto him tightly, in more pain than she knew how to handle. His instincts were telling him not to let anyone near her, just as any Pokémon's instincts would while caring for his mate in such a vulnerable state. But at the same time, his determination to make sure she was ok overrode those instincts. If something was in fact wrong with her or the babies, he knew Nurse Joy would be able to help more than he could be. Once the hospital came into view, Blaziken topped out his speed and forced his way inside.
"Nurse Joy!" he screamed, catching the Nurse off guard.
"What in the world is going on?!" she gasped.
"Something's wrong with Danica! Help her!" he demanded. For a moment Nurse Joy was surprised at the demeanor of the usually gentle and kind Pokémon. But when she saw Danica holding her stomach in pain, she understood. She had been around enough pregnant Pokémon and their mates in her career to know that it was just their instincts taking over, and she didn't take it personally.
"Alright. Bring her back to the exam room." She nodded. She led the couple back to an exam room as quickly as she could. Danica bit her lower lip in pain as Blaziken laid her down on the exam bed.
"Just hang on honey…everything's going to be ok…" he assured her, holding her hand tightly. Danica looked up at him with tears in her eyes as she tried to hold herself together.
"B-Blaziken…I'm so scared…! What if…th-the babies are…?" she whimpered. Between the pain and the fear of losing her babies, she couldn't bare to even finish the sentence. Blaziken gently squeezed her hand to comfort her.
"Hey. Listen to me. Our babies are going to make it. We're going to make sure of it." He declared. Danica could only give a small nod as Nurse Joy began examining her and the babies. It only took a minute for her to find the problem, but it still took her by surprise.
"Uh oh..." she gulped.
"W-What wrong…?" Danica asked through gritted teeth.
"You've gone into premature labor...the babies are coming now..." she informed them. Both Blaziken and Danica gasped in a near panic at the news.
"What?!" Danica panicked.
"But she still has over a month before her due date!" Blaziken countered.
"The mixed genes of humans and Pokémon often create complications. This was always a possibility." Nurse Joy explained. Another contraction suddenly hits Danica's body and no longer able to hold back the pain, she screamed loudly.
"Please! Help her!" Blaziken begged Joy. She nodded and began gathering up her medical tools.
"Help her sit up and get into the position we worked on in the Lamaze classes." She instructed Blaziken. He gave a nervous nod and began helping Danica into the birthing position on the bed.
"Careful…" he said gently. Danica continued to pant heavily as she worked with him to get into position. He held her hand and squeezed her hand. Nurse Joy returned to them with her assistants and put her gloves on, signaling she was ready to go as well.
"Alright. Start pushing." Danica groaned in pain but did as she was told and started pushing.
"Good. Keep going." Joy nodded. Danica continued to keep pushing as hard as she could. "Almost."
"You can do it, Danica…" Blaziken whispered. Danica gave him a small nod and continued pushing until the cry of a baby rings out across the room.
"Got her." Nurse Joy told them. Blaziken finally turned his attention from Danica to look at their baby. Nurse Joy cut the umbilical cord and held up their crying baby.
"Oh my gosh...she's here..." Blaziken said breathlessly, both of them unable to take their eyes off their baby girl.
"She's perfectly healthy too." Nurse Joy smiled. The little girl continued to cry as Nurse Joy handed her off to one of her assistants.
"Now...for our little boy..." Danica panted. Nurse Joy nodded as her assistants cleaned and wrapped up their daughter in a swaddling blanket before handing her to Blaziken. He held her close to his chest with one arm while keeping the other hand in Danica's for support.
"Almost ready for the next one." Nurse Joy warned them.
"Ready…" Danica nodded tiredly.
"Alright then. Start pushing." Danica took a deep breath and started to push again. "Good...keep going."
"You can do it…" Blaziken encouraged her as Danica kept pushing.
"I see the head. Almost there." Danica took another deep breath and pushed as hard as she could until just as before, a little voice began crying loudly. "There!"
"Oh my gosh…" Blaziken whispered, tearing up. Nurse Joy cut the cord again and held the little newborn up for his parents to see him. "It's him…"
"Wow…" Danica panted tiredly. Nurse Joy handed him to her assistants they cleaned him up and swaddled him. He was given back to Nurse Joy gently handed him over to Danica, who cradled her new son in her arms.
"Congratulations. Both are perfectly healthy."
"Thank you so much, Nurse Joy…" Danica smiled tiredly.
"You're welcome. I'll let you all get acquainted before we take you to recovery." She replied before heading out with the others. Danica scooted over on the bed ever so slightly, just enough room for Blaziken to take a seat beside her. They each held one of their babies as they finally got a chance to really just look at them. There were thin tufts of blond hair on their daughter and similar tufts of red hair on their son. As both babies began to calm down, their eyes opened and were revealed to be a bright blue and a vibrant orange respectively.
"Our babies...they're really here…" Blaziken smiled. Danica smiled back and nodded as tears of joy prickled in her eyes.
"Yeah..."
"They're both so perfect...more than I could've ever imagined…" he continued.
"They sure are..." Danica agreed.
"Can you finally tell me what their names are…" he asked hopefully. Danica gave a soft chuckle, nearly haven forgotten that she had never revealed the names she wanted.
"Yes…" she replied. Her gaze floated softly to their daughter, laying contently in her father's arms. "This is Evie…" she allowed her eyes to drift back to her son in her arms. "And this is Eric…"
"Evie and Eric huh…?" Blaziken smiled.
"Yeah…" she nodded.
"They're perfect." Blaziken answered, planting a soft kiss on her forehead. She smiled and blushed before turning her attention back to their kids. Both babies looked up at them with curiosity. They of course didn't know who Danica and Blaziken were yet, but they still could sense that they were safe with these people. These people would take care of them. The couple just spent several minutes just looking at their newborns before Danica finally broke the silence.
"Seems like our daughter has her father's eyes..." she commented. Evie looked up at her and blinked, almost as if she was emphasizing Danica's comment. This caused Blaziken to chuckle softly.
"So it seems." He replied. He took a moment to look at Eric, who followed his sister's example and blinked his own eyes. "And our son has yours."
"So it seems." Danica agreed. All of a sudden, Evie sneezed a tiny little sneeze. "Bless you, Evie." Danica giggled. But no sooner had the words left her mouth when Eric sneezed as well. "Bless you too Eric."
"They truly are twins." Blaziken laughed. Danica began to laugh with him. Even though the twins didn't understand what was going on, they could still sense the happiness in the room and little smiles graced their faces. Danica was the first to notice this newest revelation.
"Blaziken look!" she gasped. Blaziken looked at the kids and was surprised to see them smiling already.
"Oh my gosh…" he said softly. "They're smiling at us…"
"They sure are…" Danica nodded. Once again the two just sat in silence, watching Evie and Eric. Every blink of the eye, every breath they took. It was such a magical moment.
"The first humans to be more Pokémon than human...and they're our little ones..." Blaziken finally spoke up. It was that comment that began to make Danica think. She had always known that raising a baby was hard enough by itself. Raising twins even more so. But not only did their little ones have a lot more Pokémon DNA than anyone else in the world, but they had also inherited her Aura. There were so many things about these two that were going to be different from anyone else. There was no way to really tell just what problems they would be facing as they grew up. And the thought of not being able to help them through difficulties scared her quite a bit.
"Blaziken…?" she asked quietly.
"What is it honey?" he asked.
"Does all this…scare you…?" she questioned him.
"All this?"
"I mean…our kids are the first of their kind. Temporary Aura abilities often surface quickly in babies…and since they have so much Pokémon DNA…I don't know how that will react with their Aura…and that got them hurt somehow…I just…I don't want them to get hurt because we don't know how to teach them to control their abilities…" Danica explained.
"Well…it'll be interesting to see how they grow up of course...but I don't think we need to worry about that." He replied.
"You don't? It doesn't scare you?" she asked in confusion.
"Of course it's scary. But that just can't compare with how excited I am to raise them with you. Sure there will be problems and hiccups along the way, but I haven't known anything yet that could be too much for us to handle. Together." He smiled. Danica smiled back.
"Yeah..." she agreed. Her eyes drifted back to their babies who were slowly beginning to fall asleep.
"They're our little angels. There's nothing so big that would make me not want to enjoy every minute of it." He winked.
"Me too." Danica said, finally smiling again. There was a knock at the door as Nurse Joy walked back in.
"Ready to go to recovery?" she asked.
"Yeah, I am." Danica nodded.
"Alright. Just relax and we'll take care of things." Joy replied. Blaziken got off the bed and followed as Danica was taken to a recovery room. Before long, a few months had passed and the twins were growing up fast. A lot of big growing-up moments seemed to happen early for the twins, and Blaziken assumed it was because of their Pokémon DNA. After all, when a Pokémon is born, they always know at least one attack, and they often learned new ones quickly. So it made sense to him that the twins would be fast learners. But even as they learned quickly, Danica was surprised that no Aura abilities had surfaced. One day she was in the kitchen preparing their bottles while Blaziken watched them crawl across the living room floor.
"You two are getting so fast!" Blaziken smiled. Danica smiled and walked into the living room while shaking their bottles. "Look at them go honey!"
"I can see that dear." Danica chuckled. She kneeled down to the twins and handed them each a bottle, which they both began drinking from happily. "Hey Blaziken?"
"What is it, honey?"
"I know the twins learn really easily…but it's a little strange that they haven't displayed any Aura abilities yet."
"It is?" he asked.
"Well yeah. I mean, every baby born with a strong Aura has it leak out as unique Aura abilities until about three years old. At their age, I was levitating all over the house." Danica explained.
"You could fly?" Blaziken questioned her, raising an eyebrow. She blushed a little and nodded.
"The point is that they should've surfaced by now…"
"I'm sure it'll happen with time. Or maybe their Pokémon DNA means they're not capable of summoning Aura. Either could be possible. If they come along, we'll deal with them. No problem." He smiles, putting an arm around her shoulders. Danica gives him a small smile before looking back over at the twins. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Evie crawling towards the brick fireplace.
"Oh!" she gasped, quickly making her way over to her daughter. Evie tried to climb into the fireplace when Danica scooped Evie up into her arms. "Sweetie no-no. We don't play in the fireplace." Evie sniffled and whimpered in protest, trying to squirm out of her arms.
"Evie listen to Mommy." Blaziken said, getting up from the couch and walking over to them. Evie whimpered again, but then her nose started to itch. She suddenly sneezed and a couple of embers of fire shot out when she did, causing both her parents to gasp in shock.
"What the?!" Danica stammered.
"Did she just...?" Blaziken half asked. Evie smiled at her parents and giggled, finding their slack-jawed faces funny.
"I think she did…" Danica slowly nodded.
"She can control fire...?" he realized.
"I guess so…" she replied. As they were trying to come to terms with what their daughter had just done, neither one noticed Eric as he crawled towards the couch after noticing one of his toys underneath it. "This is very different from Aura abilities...all I've ever heard of are physical changes. You know things like strength, flight, invisibility…"
"Maybe it's a different kind of Aura...after all, she has a lot more Pokémon DNA than even you. Maybe the Aura reacted differently to her and activated her Fire Type genes." Blaziken theorized. The two of them continued to talk as Eric tried to reach for his toy under the couch but to no avail.
"I guess that makes sense. …Although, would this mean that...?" Slowly her gaze drifts to Eric and Blaziken followed her lead. As they looked at him, Eric whimpered in annoyance at being unable to grab the toy. He pushed on the couch and it suddenly flew backward and right out the window from the force of his push. "What the?!"
"Oh my gosh...my Fighting Type genes..." Blaziken gasped as Eric grabbed and hugged the now loose toy. Both parents stood in stunned silence for a few moments, processing what they just witnessed.
"So…Evie gained your Fire-Type genes…and Eric got your Fighting Type genes...?" Danica asked.
"I…I guess so…" Blaziken nodded.
"But I…I don't understand how that's possible…why would one get one of the powers or another…? Why not both?" she questioned.
"I don't know…" Blaziken admitted, gently picking Eric up.
"And how could Evie use Fire at all…? You can't…" she added.
"Just because I can't doesn't mean my DNA is different from another Blaziken…I guess it just means Evie didn't inherit my disability…" he explained.
"I guess that makes sense…but why one type for each of them…?" she asked again. Blaziken thought about it for a few minutes before his eyes widened in realization.
"Oh!" he gasped, causing Danica to jump in surprise a little.
"W-What?"
"It all makes perfect sense. A single human baby couldn't handle the traits of two Pokémon types. It was just too much. That's why we had so many miscarriages...but because Evie and Eric are twins..."
"Each one developed handling one of the types for the other...!" Danica realized.
"Right!" Blaziken nodded.
"Wow…" she sighed in awe, looking between the two little ones.
"That's why they were able to survive...they helped each other..." Blaziken smiled.
"They sure did..." Danica agreed, tickling Evie's chin. "You two are already a great team aren't you?" Evie squealed and laughed in her arms and Eric begin to laugh as well when he heard his sister laughing. Blaziken chuckled to himself and soon the family sat down together on the couch. Danica and Blaziken rocked the twins to sleep as they whispered quietly.
"So how do we handle this? They'll need help learning how to control their powers." Danica reminded him.
"Well, I can help Eric with his strength and fighting skills...but unfortunately I don't know anything about controlling fire..." Blaziken elaborated.
"I know..." she sighed.
"But she'll defiantly need help to learn so she doesn't hurt anyone." He added.
"Right…but we don't have another Fire Type Pokémon to help us here..." she said.
"I think...I think I might know someone who could help." He suddenly spoke up.
"You do?" she questioned.
"Yeah…I'll explain more later." He replied, nodding towards the twins who were now fast asleep in their arms.
"Alright…" Danica nodded. As she held Evie close, her attention wandered over to their now broken window. "We'll get that fixed too, won't we? Blaziken chuckled softly and nodded.
"Raising these two just got a lot more interesting."
To be Continued...