Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or any of the characters. Just the random plot bunnies that my mind creates.

Chapter Warnings: Language

Pairing: Ash x Gary

Chapter 19 - Egg

It's been three days since they returned from the Power Plant. His wound is healing well and thankfully didn't get injured any further on the mission. Gary still has to rub the paste on every morning and evening but at least it doesn't hurt anymore.

Ash wanders into the kitchen in search of food with a mostly recovered Pikachu on his shoulder. The electric pokemon jumps to the ground and sniffs the contents of the fridge as soon as the raven opens the door.

Noticing the thick gauze wrapping around the pokemon's neck, brown eyes fill with sadness. I'm sorry you had to go through that buddy.

The mouse squeaks happily and paws at a container with chilled pokemon food. Smiling at his excited electric pokemon, he takes out the container as well as sandwich ingredients. Pouring the pokemon food into a bowl, he places it on the counter. Pikachu hops up and begins digging in eagerly as he makes and demolishes his own meal.

Ash heads out to the training grounds to feed his other pokemon. He freezes when he sees both his and Gary's pokemon surrounding the long trough near the edge of the open space. Spotting his partner putting the gigantic bag of food away, he walks over to join him next to the small storage shed.

"Thanks for feeding my pokemon too."

The brunet glances at him as he closes the shed door. Slinging an arm around his shoulders, Gary steers them towards their pokemon.

"Not a problem Ashy-boy. You up for some sword practice or is your back still bothering you?" Gary questions.

Perking up at the prospect of a good workout after being forced to 'take it easy' for so long, Ash quickly speaks up before his partner can take back his offer. "Nah, it's a lot better now. I could use the practice after a week and a half of just laying around."

Grabbing the mouse on his shoulder, he holds the electric pokemon in front of his face.

"You feeling well enough to lead the others' training, buddy?"

Pikachu nods enthusiastically before squirming out of his hands and landing gracefully on the ground. It sprints over to join the other pokemon and waits patiently off to the side for the others to finish eating.

The duo walk over to a clear area and separate, pulling out their claymores from their sheaths. Eyeing his partner warily, Ash holds the sword out in front of him in a ready position. The brunet mirrors his pose before rushing forward. The long steel blade gleams in the sunlight.

Raising his sword to block the attack, the weapons collide with a sharp clang. Ash steps to his right and slides his blade up to disengage their weapons. He spins with the sword's momentum and slices sideways at Gary's unprotected back.

Taking a large step forward, the brunet arches away from the blade and turns to once more swing at Ash. The blades clash again. Brown locks onto green as they struggle to overpower the other.

"What are you two doing? I thought we were being attacked again!" A loud shout echoes out over the spacious backyard.

Ash blinks in confusion. Blade points dropping to land in the dirt, they turn to face the harried Professor standing just outside the lab door.

"We are just doing some sword training, Gramps." Gary answers nonchalantly.

Ash nods in agreement and glances between the two Oaks. Why is the Professor so upset? The pokemon normally work out around now. It makes sense for us to train now to.

Professor Oak quickly crosses over the ground to them. Body taut with tension, he eyes their blades warily.

"Can't you boys at least use wooden practice swords or something?" The old man pleads. "I don't want to have to take care of any more injuries."

His partner scoffs at the innocent question. "Gramps, our swords are heavy. At least five times heavier than a matching wooden sword. We need to keep our muscles in shape."

"Besides," Ash adds, "We have been partners for so long that we have each other's battle style basically memorized. We can't hurt each other even if we wanted to."

With a worried glare at the two soldiers, Professor Oak storms back inside the lab. Ash glances towards his partner before taking a step after him. A warm hand on his arm prevents him from following.

"Just let him calm down for a while Ash. Experiments on the egg haven't been very successful, so Gramps is a little stressed. We can check up on him after we train."

After a hesitant nod, the duo rush towards each other once more, blades slicing through the air. Again and again, their weapons clash in the noontime sun.

Ash halts the duel some time later. The sweat is causing his already tight Kevlar shirt to cling to his burnt back.

Itchy. Time for a shower.

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

Refreshed and squeaky clean, Ash makes his way back to the kitchen with Pikachu trailing at his feet. He grabs a protein bar from the cabinet and joins his partner and Eevee at the table. He eats quickly and together they stand to head out to the lab.

Ash follows Gary through the door. Brown eyes widen at the mess on the floor and various tables. Papers are scattered all over the place. Small instruments sit precariously on the edge of the biggest table. In the middle of destruction, the olive colored egg sits innocently in its containment unit.

Professor Oak stands in front of the egg furiously writing notes onto his ever present notepad. The duo walk up to join the older man. Ash tries to peek at the notes. I can't read a damn thing. Does he code them or something?

"Ah boys. I'm afraid we might have an empty egg. By adjusting the frequencies on my x-ray machine, I was able to penetrate the thick shell without hitting a level that could be damaging to its inhabitant. However, I recorded no movement or heartbeat. All this work for nothing."

The Professor sighs heavily as he skims over his notes. Ash places a comforting hand on the elder Oak's shoulder. He stares at the dead object in front of him. But the containment...if it is protecting the egg from basically all outside elements, the egg won't be able feel any auras through it right?

Stepping forward, Ash begins running his hands over the containment unit, looking for a release switch. He quickly presses the button releasing a puff of stale air.

"What are you doing Ashy-boy?" Gary asks curiously.

"An experiment." The raven responds with a small grin on his face.

Professor Oak looks up from his notepad at the brief conversation. Tired eyes widen in horror as they lock onto tan hands reaching for the exposed shell.

"Ash wait!" The older man cries out. "The shell could be poisonous!"

His arms, which were slowly reaching in to pull out the heavy egg, pause before touching the smooth, warm object.

"With it as heavy as it is, it's probably a rock or steel type so I'll be fine." He reasons, immediately squashing the small sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at being poisoned. It's worth the risk if this allows the little guy to finally hatch after being poked and prodded for who knows how long.

He carefully lifts the egg from the container. At the confused glances of both Oaks, Ash carries the egg over to a nearby chair. Sitting down, he places the heavy object on his lap and gently runs his hands over the surface.

"Professor, you told us before we left that some eggs only hatch when they feel the right aura. How is this little guy supposed to find any auras when he is stuck inside that cage?"

Brown eyes watch piercing green widen in understanding. His partner moves toward him with his grandfather not far behind. They both place large hands on the egg. Even Eevee and Pikachu place a paw on the smooth surface.

It's ok to be scared. Your mom isn't here but we are. We won't let anything happen to you.

Five sets of eye widen in astonishment as the egg quivers. Hands are quickly removed as cracks appear on the surface.

"Holy shit. It's actually hatching. Ashy-boy was right." Gary whispers in astonishment

Ash pulls away layers of the egg as the pokemon inside pushes the broken pieces outward. A soft cry is heard. A smile breaks out on his face. It widens as the small creature opens its eyes and looks straight at him.

"Hey there." He whispers softly.

Small red eyes blink in confusion at him. Crimson orbs drop down to its broken shell as it struggles to get rid of the remaining bits. Professor Oak gasps in astonishment as a large piece falls away revealing the form of the baby pokemon.

"Oh my word...it's a Larvitar."

Brown eyes widen as he examines the newly hatched pokemon. Professor Oak is right. But Larvitar is a super rare pokemon in Johto. And you definitely can't even find one in Kanto.

"He must have rolled into the ocean somewhere in Johto and somehow ended up at the Marine Laboratory." Professor Oak muses. "I'll go make some baby pokemon food."

The Professor pauses in his rapid note taking to grind up some pokemon food. He pours the food into a blender and adds vitamin rich milk as well as various pills. Grinding them all together, he pours the mixture into a bottle and passes it off to Ash who has removed the rest of shell pieces and cleaned off the baby pokemon with a towel Gary had fetched for him.

Larvitar eagerly sucked down its meal as it fixed red eyes at the humans and pokemon around him.

"What were the pills for Professor?" Ash asks as he watches the baby pokemon still sitting curled up in his lap.

"Oh just some vitamins as well as regional medications. Since Larvitar is from Johto, it will get sick in this climate. It won't be as strong as it could have been over there because of that, and will rapidly get ill and die if it doesn't get a daily dose of them. Especially since young pokemon are more prone to illness compared to their older, evolved forms."

Ash glances worriedly at the defenseless pokemon in his lap. He reaches forward to pet the rock skin pokemon's head. Larvitar gurgles softly at his touch.

"Don't worry. We'll take good care of you." He whispers. Various emotions well up inside him as the small eyes lock onto his own at the sound of his voice.

"He'll be fine Ashy-boy. Regional medications are easy to make if you have the ingredients. They just are a cocktail of various pokemon powders and regional plants. Right Gramps?"

The Professor nods in agreement. He reaches forward to attach an instrument to the pokemon. Seeing the approaching withered hand, the pokemon instantly Hardens into stone almost causing Ash to drop the newly hatched pokemon in surprise.

The three humans look at the frozen pokemon in shock and confusion. "What the hell? It Hardened?" Gary murmurs.

The Professor pulls his hand away slowly. The pokemon returns back to its normal self but glares warily at the older man. It repeats the same process as Gary reaches forward.

The Professor snorts in amusement at the annoyed look on his grandson's face. Making a quick note of the reaction, he turns back to Ash.

"Well it appears that Larvitar has attached to you Ash. He won't let either of us near him without Hardening in defense, at least for now. Do you think you can care for him? And collect some data for me?"

Ash nods as he glances curiously down at the wary pokemon. Does that mean Larvitar hatched because of my aura?

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

After recording the necessary data, Ash takes Larvitar out to meet the other pokemon. Seeing the new addition, they all rush over causing Larvitar to Harden once more.

It took several minutes of gentle cooing and coaxing on Ash's part to convince Larvitar to drop its impenetrable defensive shell. Ash smiles softly as the pokemon begin communicating with each other even though Larvitar remains firmly tucked into the crook of his arm.

Someone clearly has a Timid nature.

Taking a pokeball from his pouch, he taps the button to expand the ball and gently touches it to the rock pokemon's stomach. Briefly disappearing into the ball, Ash releases him once the ball stabilizes.

"Welcome to the team, Larvitar." He smiles down at the baby pokemon.

Larvitar snuggles closer to his new trainer and closes his eyes for a nap. The rest of their pokemon disperse to run more drills.

Carrying the slumbering pokemon back into the lab, Ash sits down at the table that his partner and Professor were occupying.

"He will be a challenge to raise, but Tyranitar will be virtually unstoppable once he evolves. Luckily, since both of you are soldiers, you don't have to apply for a license to train him."

Ash nods in agreement to Professor Oak's observation. Not needing licenses is one of the few good things about being in the League.

Excited to begin Larvitar's training, he turns to the older Oak. "Do you know how long it will be before he can start training Professor?"

Professor Oak stares hard at the young pokemon curled in his arms. He reaches down to do some quick calculations in his notebook.

"A few days maybe. It depends on when he starts walking more. He won't be able to do any intense training for a while since he will tire quickly. I don't have much data since he is from a different region though. I can contact Professor Elm and ask for a copy of his research on its evolutionary line. I suggest you take him to watch the other pokemon's training for now so he can begin to learn the routine and the other pokemon."

Ash nods in agreement as he softly pets the little Larvitar. It snuggles closer to his stomach.

Silence reigns for several minutes before the brunet next to him speaks up. "If it's so dangerous that trainers need a specified license, you should collar him Ashy-boy."

Brown eyes raise to meet steely green ones. His hand stills as he protectively holds the baby olive colored pokemon closer to him.

"No," Ash whispers fiercely. "We've seen how much damage those fucking collars can do. Just look at what happened to Pikachu and Charmander. I won't collar any more pokemon. It thinks I'm his father or something anyway. It won't attack me."

Gary sighs as he leans back in his chair. He runs a hand through his tousled brown hair. Green orbs move from his newest pokemon and back to him.

"Still, Ash. You have to do something. Almost none of your pokemon are collared. What are you going to do if we run into military personnel?"

Ash stares at the table in front of him. His body taut with barely controlled anger. I won't put anymore pokemon through what Pikachu and Charmander experienced. Especially a helpless newborn.

"I may be of some help here." Professor Oak states, pulling him from his thoughts. "I can adjust the collars you have left and some extras I have here. I will remove the solar powered capacitor that stores gathered electricity. That way, the pokemon will not be shocked and it will be able to be removed. The collar will basically just be a fashion statement. It will take a bit longer for me to develop a way to remove it from active collars though."

Ash can feel a triumphant smile burst to life on his face. That would be perfect! No soldiers will bother me and the pokemon won't be injured. His smile slips into a smug grin as he locks gazes with his partner. Gary rolls his green orbs at him.

Seeing the joyous look on his face, Professor Oak chuckles merrily. "Just give me a few days to change them then."

Everything is looking up. Larvitar hatched out of his egg. Pikachu is healing well. I hope this peace lasts for as long as possible.

xxx-War of the Dragon Riders-xxx

AN: So that's how I will deal with certain pokemon only appearing in certain regions. They just get sick and die otherwise lol. But I am glad that Larvitar is finally around! Chapters will be longer from here on out.

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Next up: Chapter 20 - Attack