The plane landed on Maisoram City, Gudrut's capital, very early in the morning. Elyan had accomplished his task. The renowned trainer Ash Ketchum, with quite a few distinguished feats to his name, had agreed to participate in the local league. Not only that, but he had brought along his dear friend Serena, herself a renowned performer from Kalos, to travel all through the region with him.

The trip had made everyone sleepy. Without noticing, Ash and Serena were taken from the airport, from the urbanized, frenetic and restless city, into the calm and quiet plains full of green and brown on the rural village, a few miles outside Maisoram City. They arrived at Elyan's big house on the countryside just as the sun was about to come out.

Ash and Serena went through the front door, noticing a clear change of atmosphere which was very welcome. Outside it was dark and cold, but inside the cozy house it was very warm and very bright. It instantly revitalized them.

Elyan's mom was in the living room, she jumped from the couch with gusto. It was obvious from her vibrant demeanor that she had been waiting patiently for their arrival. She had the same pale blue eyes as Elyan, and her hair was as red as his, hers reached her shoulders and seemed old fashioned although it suited her motherly cheerfulness.

"Come on in guys!" she said, and kept going eagerly. "The breakfast is ready, make yourselves at home. You must be tired, how was the trip? My name is Juliette by the way, I'm Elyan's mom. It's nice to meet you, I hope Elyan was a good chaperon. it's part of his job, he works with the local professor at his laboratory."

Then a big man appeared, both tall and wide, wearing a flannel shirt, with messy hair of a lighter shade of red. "Nice to meet you! I'm Benjamin, Elyan's dad," he said with the same energy as Elyan's mom. "Did you know, Elyan used to watch cartoons on the tub during his daily bath. Everyday he'd spend hours in there. His body would be all wrinkled by the time he came out."

"I haven't even taken off my coat," Elyan said, seemingly very tired all of the sudden. "And you're already embarrassing me."

"Come on dear, he just walked in." Elyan's mom said to his dad.

"Thanks mom. You know, you could've said something beforehand. You could've maybe asked Dad not to embarrass me, instead of scolding him after the fact. But it's okay, don't worry, I still love you. Don't listen to my dad guys, he's just joking around."

"Come on son, I have to get the conversation started somehow."

"Yeah no, I know. I'm not ashamed anyway. I miss those days. It was one of the best periods of my life actually. I wish I could go back to being a slightly chubby kid submerging his little red butt on the water, too bad I can't."

"Don't worry Elyan, we totally know what you mean, right Pikachu?" Ash said. "You can still watch Tv while you take your bath if you really want to."

"Yeah I guess, thanks Ash. Doesn't matter let's just go to the kitchen," Elyan said, just as pale as always. Years of exposure had made his embarrassment difficult to activate. He proceeded to lead Ash and Serena to the dinner table that was right next to the living room.

Elyan's parents were both retired. Throughout their long careers in teaching they had acquired a bit of money which they wisely invested on the safe, comfortable, warm and spacious place were they resided with their son, instead of anything flashier or more complicated.

"Let me introduce you to our other guests," Elyan's mom said. "They didn't wait to start eating."

Sitting at the table were two older gentlemen, one of them fully bald, the other mostly bald. They were sitting right next to each other, sharing the place at the top of the table that was meant for only one chair, seemingly without any issue.

"This is Blaine," Elyan's mom said, with her open hand directed at the balder gentleman with the mustache and the ugly sweater. "And this is Pryce," she said referring to the second gentleman, with some white hair mainly on the sides and the back of his head, and the even uglier sweater.

"Why should I wait? I'm too old for that," Blain said grumpily.

"I could have waited, but I didn't want this bald idiot to be the first one to eat," Pryce added with the same grumpy tone.

"Wait, what!" Ash exclaimed, almost jumping from the sudden excitement. "Elyan! You didn't tell me Blaine and Pryce were in Gudrut!"

"Do you know each other?"

"Know them, we're colleagues! I challenged their gyms a lot until I won. I had like five matches overall with both of them! How have you been guys? Why are you in Gudrut?"

"Because here no one asks us questions like that, boy, let me eat my soup," Blaine said cuttingly.

"Don't you remember me?"

"No, do you think I remember every trainer that has challenged my gym?" Pryce added with an even harsher tone. "I can barely remember to put on my trousers in the morning, in fact I forgot to put them on today. But don't worry my khakis are tight enough. Now shut up and let us eat in peace."

Also at the table there was a taciturn girl, inconspicuously sitting at the farthest corner from the action. Unlike Blaine and Pryce she was not eating yet.

"And this is Agnes, she's Elyan's childhood friend," Elyan's mom said.

Agnes had pitch black hair which reached her lower back, a mechanical smile on her lips, and an eyebrow raised. She slowly raised her open hand and then said "Hello," with a rather sullen tone.

"What are you doing here?" Elyan asked her.

"Your mom invited me," Agnes answered. "What, was I not allowed to accept her invitation? Do you not want me here?"

"No. I mean that's not the case, I'm just asking. I'm very glad you're here."

"I bet you are."

"Sparks are flying am I right?" Elyan's mom added.

"So, what cartoons did you watch while you were on the tub?" Ash casually asked.

"Ash!" Serena intervened. With the sudden intensity that his remark brought out of her she couldn't help but give him a light elbow to the rib. "Don't talk about that right now."

"Don't worry Serena, everyone knows," Elyan answered. "Agnes definitely knows about that. It's probably the first thing my dad said to her."

"No it wasn't," Elyan's dad said. "The first thing I said to Agnes was regarding the time when you were a baby and you cried because you couldn't poo."

"Ah right, of course!" Elyan said with a hint of irony. "I have a faint memory about that as well, it was quite a harrowing moment for me. Anyway! How are things at the library?"

"The same," Agnes said.

"Great! That's fantastic! Agnes works at the local library by the way. A fine job I might say, albeit one that does not produce many anecdotes."

"I… I have to say Elyan," Serena said. "It seems like it's very hard for you to get embarrassed."

"Thanks, however, trust me Serena, I get embarrassed a lot. Shame, just like pain, is a sensation that never goes away."

"Wow, that's deep," Ash said.

"And depressing," Elyan's mom added. "Have you told Ash and Serena about all the great things they have to look forward to during their stay in Gudrut?"

"I have not," Elyan replied.

"Why not son?"

"Because I thought it'd be better if they discovered everything by themselves, that way the trip would be much more fun."

"I think it's because you don't want to go through all the trouble of explaining everything about the region," Agnes said, without bothering to look at Elyan. "And what you're saying now it's just an excuse to avoid talking more."

"Thanks Agnes, you aren't so talkative yourself, but thanks nonetheless."

"Oh yeah? Well if you're so loquacious Elyan, then why don't you give us a general rundown of the region, for the sake of your guests?"

"That's a grand idea!" Elyan's mom added.

"Mom, come on."

"Elyan, you come on dear."

"Oh snap," Agnes silently added without looking up from the table.

"Why don't you admonish Agnes too?"

"Because she's our guest."

"At this point, is she still considered a guest?"

"Yes, she can do whatever she wants."

"Ah, I understand. Well then, I should start my speech then." Elyan cleared his throat. "In Gudrut you will find, many pokemon, pokemon gyms, with powerful gym leaders, pokemon centers, places to buy stuff for your training endeavors. And it is very cold. Thank you."

"That explanation sucked," Blaine rushed to say. "No offense Elyan, but that was the most boringly bland piece of explanatory manure that I have had the misfortune of listening with my old and hairy ears, and you should feel unbearably guilty for having uttered it. In fact you should think about changing your ways altogether, and if you don't want to do that then you should think about ending your ways, if you catch my drift."

"Thank you so much Blaine, you know what, you're absolutely right," Elyan said with restrained anger. "The stage is yours sir, if you have anything to add about Gudrut."

"Who, me?" Blaine said, as if, with fake modesty. "Oh no, I couldn't. Oh well, I guess this region needs a stranger's eye to be fully appreciated."

Blaine got up from his chair and then pulled it back further, but then he stopped himself.

"Oh right, I shouldn't get on top of this table anymore, I forgot," he said. "Elyan, bring me the coffee table from the living room."

Elyan unceremoniously obeyed him and dragged the smaller table to him, to a neat space on the living room facing the kitchen, in front of the crowd. Blaine then gave Elyan a buck for his troubles, which he then put on his pocket as if he had done it many times before—because he had done it many times before.

"Alright," Blaine said. Then he hopped onto the coffee table. "Here goes nothing." Then he started singing with his old and tired voice, which although it wasn't especially pleasant still had a good tone, so it wasn't either bland nor hard to listen to. "Ahem! …Peace and silence you'll find here! On a bed made out of snow! For it is quite cold you see! But there's also quite a show! Hoetee, hoetee, hoetee! Oh hoetee, hoetee, hoo! Shubee, dobee, dobee, doo! I, love Gudrut, bro!"

"You should end it on 'I love Gudrut', don't say bro at the end," Pryce interrupted.

"Did I ask for notes?" Blaine said suddenly full of anger. "One of these days I'm gonna bash your head in! Shut your mouth you old fart. Now where was I? Ahem! …Can you believe there's beaches too! And a whole lot of snow! But one thing you won't find here, is your cold heart, you know! Because you aren't here, and I just want to sob! But in this sad lonely land I can just take off my shorts! And no one would notice!"

"You should end it on the rhyme," Pryce said.

"Shut up!" Blaine cried out. "Okay, it's your turn," he then said more calmly.

"Alright," Pryce said. And then he got up on the table and started rapping, rather fast for a guy his age. "Now for some poke-rap it's your boy Icy P! To tell stupid kids you mean nothing to me! Don't shout useless attacks make sure you stay quiet! Use your mouth for something else this'll give you a riot!

Seems like everyday another trainer appears! Up to mad Pryce to make sure the fool fears! Rolling and scorching with some oddish in the trunk! Water, rock and ground got nothing on this hunk! Cush on my left, can on my right! Blast you off Mahogany then hop on my ride!

"Fire and ice, two worlds collide! Blazin' and chillin' on the gudrutian side! Mad trainin' mad tokin', Joy and Jenny on my lap! Nurse and officer tappin' before I take a nap! Senile ages approaching easy peezy don't cry! Ain't afraid of dementia we be gym leaders for life! Articuno and moltres make sure you catch them all! Stay alert fool or I'll pop your brain out of your ass!"

"What the hell was that!" Serena exclaimed, seemingly the only one angered and disturbed by the songs from the senior citizens.

"Yeah, wow! That was awesome!" Ash said, enthusiastically. "Man! Blaine, you have to do that again."

"If you insist." And Blaine sang his quirky, stupid song again, for Ash, and for himself, and for no one else.

Elyan and his family had gotten used to them and so they were then able to turn their senses off during their performances. After repeating the whole thing twice, including Pryce's verses, at Ash's insistence, Blaine fell on his knees on top of the table, sweaty and without breath. Everyone clapped, but—with the exception of Ash—they did so only halfheartedly.

"That was way better than your meek exposition Elyan," Agnes said sarcastically. "At least they put some effort into it, I mean look at them."

"That's not a very nice thing to say," Elyan replied. "My speech may have been more dull, but it was definitely more concise and intelligible, in fact, I'll do it again too."

"No you won't," Pryce intervened. "It's my turn to showcase my beautiful singing voice. Not my rapping voice, you already enjoyed that. I mean my singing voice. Now I don't have a song about Gudrut, but I do have one about a long lost love."

Serena had stayed quiet for quite a while. She was not entertained by the proceedings, let alone pleased. She actually thought both Blaine and Pryce were quite rude and disrespectful. So when Pryce mentioned it was his turn to sing, she felt like dying right there.

"Oh wow, well, I wish we could stay to listen to your song Pryce," Elyan said. "But I have to help Serena and Ash go through the logistics of their impending travels around the region and such, so you'll have to excuse us. And so we leave you to take our breakfast on my room."

Elyan grabbed a plate and put as many sandwiches from the table as he could on it. Then he whispered one word to Ash and Serena: "Run." Then led them upstairs.

Before he closed the door of his bedroom behind him Elyan took a peek downstairs, and was able to see Agnes mouth the words 'well played' as she looked at him. Elyan smiled, then closed the door.

Elyan was almost eighteen, and had been an intern at the local professor's assistant's office for over two years. He was sure they were about to offer him a real position at the lab, and then he'd be officially working with the professor's research team. That feat would turn him into his small village's most desirable bachelor, which he absolutely dreaded. With the exception of a specific girl, nothing really interested Elyan. In fact he was only hoping to get a real job so she, the girl, would see him in a more favorable light. There were other girls around who were interested in the slender and tall guy with blue eyes and a noticeable future, even if said future looked noticeably modest. But he was only interested in one of them. The one who had said no to him multiple times. He was sure he didn't like her just because she'd said no to him. His feelings for her existed long before he accumulated the courage to reveal them to her, and remained the same after her rejection.

Serena grabbed a sandwich and sat on the chair by Elyan's old and rustic desk. His room was just as cozy and warm as the rest of the house, and for the first time since they'd arrived she was able to relax. She was very thankful for being saved from Pryce and Blaine's songs.

"So Elyan, how long have Pryce and Blaine been staying in your house?"

"A few weeks."

"I can't believe it," Ash said. "You're so lucky Elyan, how did you manage to convince them to stay with you?"

"Yeah, I'm not sure about my luck. It was because of my job. I work for Doctor Brutia, he's the regional professor."

"Okay," Serena said, "so, if somebody like them, let's say a gym leader from another region, or a trainer like Ash, wants to visit, is it your duty to bring them here?"

"Not quite. I mean, that's not my actual job, I work at an office. This is something extra I'd say. I volunteered to host Blaine and Pryce. I mean, I asked my parents to do it and they agreed. And I also volunteered to try and recruit the two of you."

Elyan grabbed one of the sandwiches and ate it whole. "But, I guess since I'm not a trainer it doesn't seem as glamorous to me," he then said.

"That's a great idea though, I should invite some gym leaders to visit me when I go back to Kanto."

"I guess it would be much cooler if I were a trainer. But as I'm not, I just know Pryce as the old guy who takes too long while using my bathroom."

"Doesn't he have one in his room?"

"Yes. He likes mine better."

"That sucks."

"I know."

"Why did you volunteer to host them?"

"Because it would give me a better chance of getting a real job at the lab."

"So if hosting gym leaders and trainers isn't your job, what do you do there at the lab?"

"It's nothing important, really," Elyan shrugged off. He really didn't want to talk about it.

"Come on, it must be really exciting," Ash pressed.

"Well, not really, but if you really want to hear about it. What I do is, I look through the entries that local trainers write into their pokedex to help with research. As you know, they have to write their findings down as they train their pokemon, and my task is to discern the most useful entries from the ones obviously written as a joke. I specifically have to go through the ones written by trainers from ages seven through fourteen. That's my range."

Serena and Ash stayed put, quietly listening. Elyan thought they'd be done wanting to hear about it by then, but as they seem genuinely interested for some reason, maybe they were just very nice, he continued.

"Don't worry, I have an app that eliminates all the entries containing obscene words before I check the rest. However, not everything can be eliminated by the software, as some words are not inappropriate when referring to biological functions of the pokemon, so obscene entries containing those specific obscene words do pass through the software. Also, most of the entries contain stuff that's obvious or is already well known, or just garbage. But at least I work indoors and the heating works right now."

The mood kind of changed, neither Ash nor Serena knew what to say about it.

"You know… It's not that important really, it's just a job."

"Agnes and you seem to get along very well," Serena said. "Please don't be mad after I say this, but it seems like you like her."

Elyan took her remark as an insult, or at least he reacted as if it had been one.

"Oh yeah?" he said. "Well, it seems like you like her…" He then took a small pause to analyze his response. "I'm sorry, you're right anyway, I do like her. I'm very much in love with her."

"Have you told her about it?"

"Yeah, if you like her you should ask her to go out with you," Ash interjected. And then Serena laughed openly at his remark, for a little bit, just for herself.

"You think I haven't?" Elyan continued. "She has rejected me three times already. The only reason I keep asking her is that she says she does like me, but neither her nor I are ready for a relationship. I'd say that's a bunch of nonsense, someone else would say she's leading me on, but the reality is she's dead serious about it. An uneducated mind would say she's a bit uptight. Anyway, once I get a good position, and a job that actually pays me, decent cash, and once I become mature enough, and once she respects me, and once I get my own place, maybe, then I'll ask her to marry me (again)."

"Is the job at the lab the one you want?" Serena asked.

"Well yeah, it's a job. What do you want?"

She gave a fleeting look to Ash. "Well, I used to say I wanted to make the world beautiful, but now I conform with making it less ugly."

"Is that so?" Elyan playfully replied. "Will you go around putting decorative flowers everywhere?"

"I guess I want to do something other than winning the Kalos showcase," Serena said, just as playfully as him.

"Okay, I deserved that," Elyan said. "What about you Ash, what is your goal?"

"I want to become a Pokemon Master. Find every pokemon species I can find and learn all I can about them."

"You know some species haven't even been discovered, right?"

"I'm sorry Elyan," Serena said, because she could tell she had been a bit insensitive. "Your objective is very sweet, and I mean it in a nice way."

"I'm sorry too," Elyan said. "I shouldn't criticize your dreams, you're obviously more talented and capable than me."

"Have you thought about becoming a trainer?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, I tried when I was younger. I'm just not good at it."

"What are you talking about? Your parents are teachers, you have it in your blood."

"Good trainers don't become teachers Ash."

A shout was suddenly heard coming from downstairs: "What did you say?"

"Nothing ma! Crap, they heard me," Elyan shouted as he pressed his cheeks with his hands. "I'll have to do something about it later. Meh, whatever."

"But wouldn't you like to be a great trainer? I'm sure Agnes would go out with you then," Ash said.

"Maybe, she is a big fan of Errol from our Elite 4, but I just don't see how I could become good all of the sudden."

"You need a lot of time and effort, how about you travel with us?"

"Nah, I'm too old for that."

"No way."

"Would you really want me to travel with you?"

"Of course!"

"No, I really don't want to impose."

"You wouldn't, not at all," Serena added. "I don't think it's a good idea for two teenagers like us to travel all by ourselves anyway."

"I guess that's true. Wait, no, I have a job."

"Come on," Ash said as he put his right fist in front of his chest. He was suddenly very excited. "Do you want to be doing that for the rest of your life?"

"Of course not, but I do want to have a job."

"There's other ways to work for Professor Brutia, and I know you can do it Elyan, you're better than you think you are."

"Am I? Anyway, regardless. Thanks for the offer guys, it's very kind, but I don't think I can."

"We understand," Serena said.

"Yeah, it is important to be ready to take on your next mission, and maybe you're not ready yet. But you will be."

"What are you talking about Ash?"

"Wait here, I want to show you something."

Ash went out of the room. Seconds later he went back in carrying his backpack and a cautious smirk on his face. "Take a look at this," he said. Then he pulled Yvgeny's rather short but still dangerous sword out. "Do you remember Yvgeny from Nestan-Darejan? Who said the people from his region were sick but it turned out to be because they ate a lot of infected mareep? Well, after I have traveled all over Gudrut and won the league, I will travel to his region just to give this back to him."

"How did you get that through the airport?" shocked, Serena asked.

"Oh you know me, I can be quite sneaky."

"No, seriously Ash, how did you do it? That's worrying," Elyan added. He was just as shocked as Serena.

Ash didn't pay attention to him, instead he started swinging the sword rather carelessly all over the place, audibly cutting the wind. He then moved to strike one of the sandwiches set on the desk, and with a precise hit managed to cut one of them in half. He then maneuvered his sword to put a cleanly cut half of the sandwich on top of the blade, and masterfully led it to his mouth.

"Wow! That was so cool," Serena said, and Pikachu, who was at that point still sleepy and tired, was reanimated by his trainer's prowess with the weapon, and he likewise praised Ash.

"What? No!" Elyan exclaimed. "That's really dangerous guys."

"Come on Elyan, I'll be careful," Ash said before he swallowed the sandwich. "In the meantime I'll make us of this, if it turns out to be useful."

Someone knocked on the barely open door. Instantly worried, Ash did his best to hide the sword on his back, slicing a good chunk of the hair from his right temple in the process.

"Hey guys!" Pryce said as he popped his head past the door. "Please pay no attention to me, all the singing and dancing has made my stomach unruly, if you catch my drift. If you didn't, what I meant to say is that I need to evacuate, he he. Don't mind me I'll just go in the bathroom. Elyan's seat is perfect for my tushy."

Pryce nonchalantly made his way to Elyan's bathroom and closed the door behind him. The room fell silent.

"…Hey, do you want to check my dad's greenhouse?" Elyan brought forth, attempting to assuage the situation.

"Yes please," Serena said.

Ash didn't reply, he just dropped Yvgeny's sword on the ground and went for the door.

The guys went outside. It was a bit chilly but not really cold, the bright sun was a warm and welcome help. Elyan's dad's huge greenhouse was very close to the house, they could see the vast green inside the see-through plastic walls covering the whole place. Elyan opened the door for them and a light breeze caressed their faces gently, and made them instantly attracted to the place. They went in and didn't stop walking until they were right in the middle of the place, completely surrounded by all kinds of plants of all sizes, trees and roots, healthy and nurtured green all around them.

Serena closed her eyes and breathed the atmosphere in. She identified many multifaceted aromas—all of them pleasant—which reached her nose and then filled her lungs.

"Check this out," Elyan said. Then he led them all the way to the far back of the greenhouse, where there was plenty of empty space and the ground seemed ready and eager to be planted upon.

"This is my space, I can plant whatever I want here. Do you want to transplant some seeds?"

"Of course!" Ash cried.

"Yeah, me too," Serena said. "This place is awesome Elyan."

"Yeah, I know, it's probably my favorite place. I spend way too much time in here."

Elyan grabbed a seed tray from a table next to the see through wall at the back, then placed it down right next to a nice zone on the ground and waved at the guys to kneel down with him.

"These are ready to be planted," he said. Then he grabbed one of the seeds from the tray and looked at it closely. "Oran berries, all of them. You can plant a few of them if you want, and I'll save all of the berries that come out of it for when you come back. If you want to come back, of course."

Both Ash and Serena eagerly accepted his invitation and moved the ground around very softly before placing some seeds on it.

"I have to ask you again Elyan. Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Serena asked.

"I'm afraid I am," Elyan replied. "It's not that I don't want to go, it's just that I know I'm not good, regardless of how attractive your offer seems, and how awesome it would be to travel with you, and how cool it would be for me to be a trainer. But I have a good thing going here. Well, maybe it's not that good, but it's definitely a thing."

"Hey Elyan!" Ash shouted while next to a tree, a bit far from them. "What's this?"

"How did he get there so quickly?" Elyan asked Serena as they went over to him.

"Oh, you won't be surprised once you get to know him a bit better."

Ash was pointing at a berry tree which barely surpassed him in stature. A pink berry of giant proportions hung from one of its branches with difficulty.

"That's a pecha berry," Elyan casually replied.

"But why is it so big?"

"I don't know, it's probably an aberration, maybe it's two of them, I don't know. You can take it if you want. In fact grab as many as you want, they might come in handy for your trip."

Ash didn't quite listen to Elyan, he mainly kept staring at the over-sized berry, almost not wanting to disturb its exceptional existence, but without being able to leave it alone at the same time. He touched it with the tip of his finger, and upon contact the giant berry fell from the tree and hit him in the head. Serena had moved right next to him, she managed to catch the berry before it fell in the ground.

"Oh snap!" Elyan exclaimed.

"Are you okay Ash?" Serena asked.

Ash had no time to answer. As soon as the berry fell from his head and into Serena's hands it broke in half, and then it started coming apart. It was quite a bizarre situation as it was, with the giant berry tearing itself apart, but the weirdness escalated when two eggs were revealed to have been inside the pecha berry. The three of them noticed the eggs, but none of them knew how to react. Ash barely managed to react in time. He held one egg on his hand, but sensed that the second one would slip past his reach.

"Serena! Please catch that one!" he screamed. And the tone of his voice helped Serena react just in time to drop the remnants of the berry and hold the egg safely on her hands. The pair sighed, meanwhile Elyan was speechless and dumbfounded. Ash and Serena stood right next to each other analyzing the situation. They faced each other while holding the eggs, which touched, and then started hatching upon contact with each other. It was quite an eerie scene. Ash had instantly accepted the event and was enthusiastically awaiting its resolution, and he had passed his eagerness onto Serena, who was likewise expectant with a smile on her face.

The shells broke at the same time. Firstly, from Serena's egg, the top was separated from the bottom with a horizontal cut, and the top suddenly raised as if it were am impromptu hat for the newborn pokemon inside. A soft and tender white little beast showed its small head and blue nose, with a frozen drop hanging from its tip. It opened its eyes and blinked them adorably at Serena, who gasped from the barely bearable cuteness. The baby cubchoo moved its head and hit the egg on Ash's hand, revealing yet another soft baby with a blue nose on Ash's arms. Both Ash and Serena were ecstatic and full of joy. They exchanged looks at each other and at the newborn babies as they marveled at the miracle of life.

Meanwhile Elyan whispered some curse words to himself, and then started tearing apart every single berry he could grab from the trees. He then carved into every single one of them hoping to find more eggs, being unsuccessful every single time.

"What's going on!" He cried out.

"Mine's a girl," Ash said, without minding Elyan's mad fit at all.

"Oh dear, really? Mine's a boy. How cute!" Serena added, likewise casually.

"Guys! Why aren't you freaking out? Haven't you realized what just happened? A pokemon hatched from a berry. Seriously, why aren't you surprised?"

"We are."

"No you're not, You've just accepted it like it happens every day, I mean look at you, you're already cuddling with them like they didn't come out of a berry! We have to kill them, it's a wicked enchantment! I just know it."

"What!" Ash cried out.

"We are not doing that Elyan, are you crazy?" Serena said as she petted the jolly baby's belly with her index finger, quite incensed at Elyan.

"Okay fine. But, but you simply accepted it like it's nothing? Is stuff like this usual fare for you trainers? Or am I being pranked? Is Blaine behind this? You know he loves whoopie cushions right? And if you don't react surprised and kind of angry every time you sit on one of them he gets mad."

"Calm down Elyan, come take a look at the babies," Ash said.

"Oh my God Ash, this is the best thing in the world," Serena added.

"I know."

"Isn't he the cutest?"

"Okay, so this is how it is huh," Elyan said mischievously. "If you don't want to speak of this, then I'll find somebody who'll answer me!"

Elyan then ran out of the greenhouse like a madman, while Ash and Serena stayed right where they were petting the babies. Ash raised the little baby cubchoo over his head.

"Pikachu, where are you?" He shouted. A moment later Pikachu popped his head over the greenery and went to meet his trainer. He climbed on top of Ash and looked at the cubchoo with a visible smile on his red-dotted face. Meanwhile Serena raised her baby cubchoo over her head too, and then reached his little blue nose to her own and cuddled with him.

"You know this is actually quite unusual, I have to say," she said.

"I agree, I've never heard of anything like this happening before, but who cares, they are the cutest pokemon ever, aren't they Pikachu?"

Pikachu wasn't able to answer. Elyan hurried to them holding his dad's arm.

"Explain this to me please," he said.

His dad said nothing, but he did start inspecting the zone. He looked at the tree, knelt down right next to the residues of the peculiar berry while holding his hairy chin with his hand, then got up.

"Well… I have no idea," he said. "Cubchoo and Beartic are pretty common in Gudrut."

"That's not good enough for me dad. Can you at least explain why these guys have taken it so lightly? You yourself seem rather unmoved by it."

"I'm not sure what happened Elyan. If I had to forward a guess, I'd say, that a particularly smart beartic somehow sneaked in here inconspicuously, perhaps while in danger, and placed its eggs somewhere around here, I guess inside a berry somehow? Perhaps on the still barely germinated root? Nah, I don't think so, I guess inside the berry is my best guess."

"I don't know what I believe the least, that they came from a berry or that these guys seem unmoved by that."

"What should we do with them?" Ash asked.

"I'm also not sure about that," Elyan's dad said. "They seemed to have latched on to the two of you almost immediately." As he said this, Ash's cubchoo literally sank her tender claws into his chest. Serena herself was not willing to release her cubchoo's belly from the hold of her hands.

"Perhaps, seeing as you are trainers, as well as the first ones the cubchoos saw, if you'd be gracious enough to raise them we'd be very thankful. Don't feel obliged to do so however, I'm sure Juliette and I would be able to acclimate them to us in no time."

"I very much want for her to be part of my team," Ash said.

"Yeah, you won't be able to take him away from me," Serena seconded him.

"Very well then, they are all yours."

"So that just happened," Elyan said. "And it seems like you're used to things like that happening to you, whereas all I have to wait for the rest of this day is for an old guy to get out of my bathroom, and to avoid walking in at the wrong time, so as not to encounter him as he comes out, so as not to hear his 'do not go in there' joke for the thousandth time. Dad, I'm leaving."

"Okay, are you going to the store? Can you get me a lunala bar? Or maybe two, you know what, bring me two please."

"No, I'm leaving, I'm out of here. I'm going traveling with these guys."

"What? Nice one," Elyan's dad thought his son was joking, then he looked at him. "What? But what about your job?"

"Screw that, no, but seriously though."

"Well, I wish you didn't think that way. Maybe wait and think about it for a while?"

"No. To be honest with you, I've thought about quitting my pseudo-job a lot, certainly every time the word 'nipple' appears on my computer screen, as written by Chad, or Shane, or Jeff or Nate, always a new and happy trainer ready to triumph in life. Those kids don't know the difference between glands and muscles dad, they really don't, and they are out there being researchers and all, that's worrying! I'm dead set on it."

"Listen, if you're so 'dead set' on it like you say, if that's the case, then I'll present myself to fill the vacant you'll leave for the internship tomorrow first thing in the morning."

"Oh crap. I guess I can't go back on it. Who cares, this feels right, you guys, Ash and Serena, you're doing it. Unlike my dad and his plants, unlike my mom and her baking. Unlike Agnes and her books, unlike me hosting old guys and filtering obscenities, you guys are doing it! Can I still go traveling with you?"

"Yeah sure," Ash said.

"Alright!" Elyan celebrated.

Agnes suddenly walked in. "Hey, Juliette went to the store and I didn't want to be left alone with Blaine," she said. "He's not awful, but I just didn't want to listen to him anymore."

"Hey Agnes, guess what, I'm a pokemon… uh… traveler, now," Elyan said.

"What?"

"I'm leaving with Ash and Serena. I'm going places, literally."

"Wow," Agnes said, not highly amused. "I thought you were at least stable. What is it? You think you'll become the next league champion or something?"

"I have to be honest with you, that's not the reaction I was looking for," Elyan said. "But, doesn't matter, I'll show you."

"What will you show me, do you even have a pokemon?"

"No."

"So, what are you thinking?"

"…I don't know," Elyan said, suddenly in low spirits.

"You'll get one in no time, I promise," Ash said nonchalantly. With this he reassured Elyan, who opened his eyes a little bit more.

"See, man, we're doing it," Elyan said suddenly in high spirits. "We're already doing it."

"What do you know about training?" Agnes asked again. She seemed annoyed all of the sudden.

"…I know all about it, I must," Elyan said. "My parents are teachers after all, I have it in my blood. You'll see, I'll come back better than I left, when I actually leave. When are we leaving guys?"

"Tomorrow morning I guess," Ash said. Serena nodded. "For the Maisoram Gym."

"Yeah, what they said," Elyan said, very decisively.