"-nd the amenities guys! I'm gonna have a pool! A hot tub! A sauna! And-and! A TENNIS COURT! It'll be so awesome when it's all done!" Whitney said cheerily through a video call.

"I await the day that we can visit," replied her mother hoarsely.

"How long until it's done?" Robb asked from her right by Catelyn's side. They were smooshed together in their home on Catelyn's bed for the call with Whitney, having been taking a late Sunday nap prior to her outreach.

"Soon! The building team said they'd probably need another month to finish finalizing the facilities. Then the electrical and plumbing people will take another month to get it finished up. Since there's always problems in construction, it'll probably be three more months till it's ready to go. But it's happening! Get ready guys. The Goldenrod City Gym is almost here!"

Robb and Catelyn smiled, sharing her enthusiasm. It was almost hard to believe that so much had happened in just three years for Whitney, but the proof was in front of them. In the wake of her victory over Wattson, her subsequent winning of the Evergrande Cup, and her victory over Sidney, the Dark Master of the Hoenn Elite Four, her winning streak was still being spoken about in awe. Her subsequent loss to Phoebe the Ghost Master had more to do with the horrible matchup of Ghost types verses Normal types. Many online forums lamented the unfairness of the matchup, though many others were happy that a Kanto native wasn't able to beat back the Hoenn challenge. Patriotism, or something along those lines.

Regardless, Whitney had truly shown her stuff to the world, proven herself to be in the league of the Elite, and there were many that clamored for her. Offer after offer was made to Whitney, many of which were insulting, but many more were quite lucrative.

Norman Maple of the Petalburg City Gym offered to take her on as his number two, with a high chance of taking over the gym upon his retirement. Unfortunately, with Norman being a man barely in his early thirties, and with most gym leaders not stepping down until they were in their sixties, Whitney rejected the bid. Staying in one place for that long when it wasn't even hers didn't sit right with her. That, and Norman had two children, and it wasn't unlikely that one of them would take over the gym regardless of his initial intentions with Whitney. Norman fortunately understood and there were no hard feelings.

Professor Elm tried to make her his research assistant. With Lickilicky and Whitney's propensity for powerful Pokémon, they could do quite a bit together. But Whitney had no patience for research, and no interest in studying things outside of her own desires. Once again, the offer was declined. She did counteroffer to let him look at Lickilicky for a price though, which earned her quite a bit of good will.

The Pokémon Rangers went so far as to offer her a captainship after completing their training. The position was fought over relentlessly from within their ranks, but the chairman was ready to stake his reputation on the line to get Whitney under his payroll. An elite trainer of her caliber would be monumentally helpful in their duties, especially when higher level threats came about. Unfortunately, though Whitney was tempted, she chose not to join the Rangers for the singular reason of being a coworker of her father, which, in her own words, would be icky.

Even Kaiser from the Safari Zone joined in on the action, though that one moreso happened out of the old man missing her. Whitney rejected him for the same reason she rejected the Rangers. Working with her mother did not sound like a fun time.

Perhaps the most surprising offer made on hand was for Whitney to emigrate to Rota and become a knight of Queen Eileen. The only reason Whitney denied this was because of the title itself. Whitney would rather have been a princess than a knight. She made the counteroffer of adoption. Queen Eileen, being the same age as Whitney, and yet unmarried, was not in the position to adopt her.

Catelyn wouldn't have let that happen anyway.

Regardless, no matter how many offers came at Whitney's feet, they all paled in comparison to what Goldenrod City was giving. Though the city was the most populated in the region, it was still quite young. Johto, a staunchly traditional country, had a credence in place that did not permit cities or towns less than fifty years old to challenge for gym status. Goldenrod City had celebrated its 48th birthday just a few weeks before Whitney's astonishing rise and, knowing their chance at a gym was finally near, the city mayor contacted quick to offer Whitney the chance to be the face of Goldenrod.

Naturally, she accepted.

With a highly valued career in place, Whitney took another two years of self-imposed sabbatical to catch and train as many new Normal-type Pokémon that she could in preparation for what she felt was her soon-to-be position. To be a gym leader required enough Pokémon of differing levels to handle the various challenger levels, which was the only weakness Whitney seemed to possess, what with her stringently keeping to a main roster of six. When two years had officially passed and Goldenrod City celebrated it's fiftieth year, so too did they challenge the Psychic-type Gym of Len Town for the rights to being one of the primary eight gyms of the Johto League.

The battle between Whitney of Goldenrod City and Salidor of the Len Town Gym was not the stuff of storybooks, it must be said. Salidor was well known for being a fair gym leader, but none could say he was enthusiastic about his work. Salidor had been an acclaimed sculptor who rumor claims was forced to put his art career on hold after inheriting the gym from his elderly father. Everybody knew he would rather carve his rocks than train his Pokémon.

As a result, theories abounded that Salidor threw his match with Whitney to get out of the gym business. Salidor vehemently opposed this opinion in every following interview in which the question was asked, stating that Whitney won fair and square. Regardless of this being a truth or a lie, the result was unquestionable. Whitney slaughtered him in a 6-on-6 battle with an impressive score of 5-0 and was officially titled a Gym Leader by Champion Lance himself within the same day of her victory.

All Whitney needed now was a gym to accompany her title.

Goldenrod City had been hard at work this year getting their new landmark set up, following her specifications to the letter, even when said specifications were entirely unnecessary. A Normal-type gym did not needed Olympic sized heated pool, nor did they need a fully outfitted movie theatre or a ballet studio. But Whitney wanted what she wanted, and the mayor was willing to spend whatever necessary to make her happy. The people of Goldenrod City were surprisingly in favor of this, which certainly threw Robb for a loop. He'd never heard of a population in favor of their politicians wasting of their tax dollars.

Apparently, in their collective mind, if it kept Whitney in their favor, they were willing to waste away some of their tax dollars. Better on her than on bureaucrats.

Which, if nothing else, was understandable.

Now, a year after her crowning achievement, the gym was nearing its completion. In just three months' time, Whitney would stop squatting in a hotel basement battle facility to perform her duties as a gym leader, and instead be able to bask in a space made by her, for her, and with her always in mind.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

"I'm glad to hear it, sweetie. I'm sure it will be everything you've always wanted," Catelyn said, a tired smile on her face. Her smile briefly turned strained, before it fell off with a hacking cough that had blood and spittle leaking from her lips. Chansey rushed forward with a pre-prepped bottle of water and capsule of medicine in hand, shooing Robb away so she could do her job. Taking Catelyn's phone, Robb did as bade by Chansey, moving into the backyard, still on the line with his sister.

Whitney looked much more serious now that it was just the two of them. "How is she doing? Really?"

Robb's face contorted with dismay. "Not good. The doctor says she overstrained herself at work. Again."

"Any news on how bad it really is?"

"No," he groaned, slumping into a seat. "But Kaiser finally put his foot down and is refusing to let her go back in the office. If he's doing that, then I can only guess it's not going to get any better."

"But there's still hope, right?" Whitney asked desperately. "I know they're still treating her! I help dad pay for her medical expenses!"

"She's…" Robb started, sniffling. "There's no good way to put it, sis. Mom's dying."

And she had been for a while. Whichever nameless disease was eating away at her didn't seem to have a cure, only temporary remedies. Doctors would prescribe Catelyn with powerful medications, and she would appear fine for a few months, but inevitably she would relapse. Catelyn was in her bed roughly 90% of the time nowadays and Robb had an unshakeable feeling that it wasn't going to get better.

It had gotten so bad that she felt she could no longer support her own Pokémon. Robb remembered the scene vividly. Catelyn Stark, a stubborn, fiery woman with more snark than sense at times, bawling her eyes out as she transferred ownership of her Miltank to Whitney, before releasing her Kangaskhan into the Safari Zone soon after.

Kang was still dependent on her mother at the time of their release, and no amount of begging or pleading would see Kangaskhan letting Kang go early. Kangaskhan understood his disappointment but would not budge in her parental duties. No matter how much she trusted the Stark family, her decision was final. They joined back up with the Kangaskhan pack and the reality of the situation became unbearably apparent to Robb as he was ushered back home.

Kang could not be his Starter.

That had Robb sobbing right alongside his mother.

Only Chansey and Persian remained of her original five, and only because they did not require Catelyn's support. Catelyn tried to release Chansey into the care of the Fuchsia City Pokémon Center, and she tried to transfer Persian's ownership to Whitney, but the egg-bearing Pokémon simply skipped back to their house without any further say and Persian threw such a destructive tantrum that Whitney had no choice but to revert Persian's ownership back to Catelyn. Technically speaking, Chansey was a wild Pokémon. Not that that mattered to Chansey.

Robb had no reference as to how much longer Catelyn had left, but seeing her waste away was easily the most gut wrenching thing he'd ever experienced in any life. He almost wanted to go to school, if only to escape the inevitability of her demise.

But he could not do that. Catelyn Stark deserved better than to die alone in her solitary, overly sized bed. With Whitney's career taking off to heights unknown and Edward so regularly embroiled in the ranger politics of Fiore, barely able to visit for a few weeks out of the year, it was up to Robb to keep her company.

No matter his discomfort, she deserved that much. That much and more.

The following Saturday started as they tended to do.

Robb awoke to his alarm clock bleating out the morning crow of a Pidgey, and went downstairs to help Chansey prepare breakfast. They would bring the food to Catelyn, watch something on her bedroom television, oftentimes a documentary on a subject that admittedly went over Robb's head, and then Catelyn would go back to sleep and Robb would get started on his weekend homework, assigned by the tutor that came by three times a week.

Robb could have gone to school. Catelyn had frankly wanted him to do so, believing he'd been missing out too heavily on social interaction within his age-group. But he stubbornly refused to leave her alone with only Chansey and Persian for company. What if something went wrong? No matter how capable the Pokémon were, they were still Pokémon; unable to contact the appropriate emergency services.

Kaiser was in favor of this, as were Whitney and Edward, and wholly outvoted, Catelyn instead signed Robb up for online schooling with a personal tutoring component. Should he have any grades below a B, Robb would be shipped off to school without any questions asked.

He'd yet to get a grade below a 97%. And that was only because he forgot to show his work one time on basic math. And as weeks passed and routine was established, things fell into an uneasy calm.

Only, on this Saturday, Robb's routine had changed.

Chansey was still in the kitchen, starting on breakfast as was her wont, but the difference, this time, was that Chansey was not alone in the kitchen. Joining her, in a frilly pink apron, was the white haired, red eyed, musclebound form of Edward. Robb's father.

"Dad!" Robb shouted, rushing the man. Edward oofed as Robb barreled into him, uncaring of how childish his actions might be. Robb's father was a Pokémon Ranger Captain based in the Fiore headquarters. He was sent all over the world to take care of all manner of emergency, from natural disasters to overly aggressive Pokémon to poachers and even major crime syndicates. He was, in the most basic terms of the word, a hero.

Unfortunately, with his job being so demanding, and with his rank and experience and general capability being so high, Edward rarely was given the ability to take time off. It had been over seven months since Robb had last seen him in person. Before that, it had been even longer.

"Robbie!" Edward laughed, lifting Robb up into the air. The unexpected throw had Robb flailing his limbs all over. He quickly fell into a laugh when he was caught by the armpits. "You've gotten big! I don't think I'll be able to do this for much longer, kiddo!"

"Pssh," Robb snorted, squeezing his father's bicep. "You probably bench an easy three hundred. I bet I weigh nothing to you!"

"Ah, but that was back in the day," Edward said wistfully, putting Robb back down. "I haven't been able to bench that much in years."

"So what are you hitting now then?"

Edward winked at Robb, returning to his breakfast prep. "Somewhere around 295."

Laughing, Robb started to wash the first batch of dishes, falling into an easy conversation with his father. "So what was the mission that took up your time this time around?"

"Oh, it was a big one! We got the call that Mt. Chimney was about to blow! Did you cover that in your Hoenn geography book yet? I know that's the region you're studying right now."

It warmed Robb that Edward remembered his studies. Just because they hadn't physically been in each other's presence didn't mean they didn't speak. Edward was very good at calling the house a minimum of once a week, and he had a pretty strong memory on even the more minor things, it seemed. "The big volcano in the middle of northern Hoenn, right? It was ready to blow?"

"That's what the Lavaridge folk thought. To be fair to them, they weren't wrong to think that way. It's an active volcano, so smoke is always coming out from it. But the amount of smoke that was coming out of the mountain this time around was ridiculous. Anybody would have thought the same."

"But it didn't?"

Edward shook his head, idly flipping a pancake. "It turned out it wasn't the volcano that was making the smoke at all. But it was just as dangerous and people needed to evacuate because of that anyway. A pair of Salamence were fighting, and they had been fighting for weeks by the time we got out there."

"Woah," Robb sounded, thoroughly impressed. Though he was intending on following his familial path in prioritizing Normal-type Pokémon for his Journey, there were plenty of Pokémon out there he would make exceptions for. The pseudo-legendary beasts of the world easily hit that target, and though he would be happy with any of their rank to join his Journey, Salamence were on the top of his list. They were monstrous fighters of the highest caliber, with the endurance to battle for days on end and the ferocity to dominate swaths of land in bids for territory. "What were they fighting over?"

"The same thing every man has to fight for at some point in their life. A woman. A female Shelgon that was going to evolve into a Salamence pretty soon that had made a mating call in preparation for when that happened. Those two were the males that answered, and both wanted to be the only one she mated with. Shelgon, knowing she had all the cards in her hand, decided she wanted to mate only with the strongest of them. They started to battle, and it didn't look like it was ever going to end. Those Salamence were fighting so hard that the ecosystem of Mt. Chimney was drastically changing, and if they continued going at it as they were, the volcano might have actually erupted."

"So what did you do?"

"Well, I followed protocol." Edward explained, putting the last of his pancakes onto a platter. He handed Robb his greasy pan, and the pink-haired boy started scrubbing. "First, I made sure the people were alright. My team and I evacuated as many people as we could from Lavaridge and the nearby villages to the shelters in Fallarbor Town. That took weeks. Once we did that, the next move was to use our Capture Stylers to get the native Pokémon of and around the mountain as far away as we could. That took months. Pokémon do not like to be moved, even when it's to their benefit. Then we moved on to the Salamence, who were still fighting, mind you, and let me tell you…"

"Yeah?" Robb breathed, wholly invested.

"It was actually super easy!" Edward cheerily announced. Robb almost face faulted, barely catching himself by the rim of the sink.

"How is dealing with a pair of wild Salamence supposed to be easy?!" Robb bellowed.

"Because I didn't," Edward grinned, shooting finger guns at his son. "I dealt with the Shelgon. Fearow and I moved her off from the mountain while the Salamence were distracted with each other and took her southeast, all the way over to the desert. Nothing worthwhile was out there, and when the Salamence realized what had happened, caught our scent and made chase, they were already far enough away from both Mt. Chimney and civilization for their fight to no longer be an environmental danger. Meganium scented me into being unrecognizable when we dropped Shelgon off, and after the Salamence gave up on hunting me down, they returned to their battle. They fought for another week in the desert, and in the end the victor took his prize, scooping Shelgon back up towards the mountain, leaving the loser moaning and groaning in the sand. And get this? The downed Salamence had been less than a quarter mile from where I was camping out."

Robb's eyes widened. Nobody could have been dumb enough to miss that chance! "Did you catch it?!"

"I wanted to! I really did. But you'll never guess who caught the tail end of their battle and captured Salamence right before I could."

"Who?"

"Drake! Of the Elite Four!" Edward exclaimed, taking his apron off. "Man just swoops down out of nowhere on an Altaria, pulls out an ultraball and captures the Salamence without so much as a by-your-leave just as I was in range to throw my own pokeball. Turns out he was in the area training up his Flygon in her natural habitat and wasn't willing to pass up the chance at a new Salamence. Can't blame him, but I was rightfully mad. Ended up battling him myself! He thoroughly trashed me though; said I wouldn't have been able to handle Salamence at my level even if I had caught him. I was annoyed, but he is the expert on all things dragons, so I decided to let bygones be bygones and took it for the advice it was."

Chansey had in her hands a bed-tray, filled with the food she and Edward had just cooked, and she trudged up the stairs as Robb's father continued talking. Edward followed her towards the master bedroom as he spoke, and Robb too followed along, hanging onto every word of his father's story. "Then we got to chatting, even had dinner together in the next town over, and when he learned I was Whitney's dad, ho boy! He was really disappointed he wasn't able to battle her when she tried to rush the Elite Four. Then I mentioned you, and his face. You'd be surprised how many expressions can be made beneath that big of a mustache. Out of nowhere he stood up left the restaurant, and I was ready to get mad again for a second, thinking he left me with the bill, but then he came back ten minutes later, and, well…"

"Well?!" Robb echoed, vibrating in place.

Winking, Edward held his finger over his lips and entered the master bedroom. Catelyn Stark was sleeping soundly in the middle of her king-sized bed, using Persian as a body pillow, a line of drool puddling on top of the big cats ear. Persian, in contrast, was wide awake, and as he took in the crowd that came into the room, noticing Edward in particular, he stood. Stretching without abandon, Persian loomed over the sleeping form of his master, and started to do the one thing in his arsenal he knew would wake her up without hurting anything.

Licking her.

"Puh-!" Catelyn hastily exclaimed, floundering in surprise, though her eyes remained closed. "Persian! Please, not the tongue. It's too raspy." She tried to grab at her sheets and cover her face, but it was to no avail. Persian's paws descended atop the edges of her blanket, his weight overcoming her strength, and continued to bathe his master with his tongue, purring all the while.

Relenting with a groan, Catelyn waved him away. "Fine! I'm up." Persian backed off as she began to sit up, letting out a loud yawn with arms stretched wide. Blearily, as Catelyn looked around the room, she finally noticed Edward smiling from the doorway.

A few moments of bewildered silence passed between the couple as their eyes locked. The silence was broken by a scream that originated from Catelyn's body.

"Eddie-ack!" Catelyn began, forcefully stopping her words as her body fought against her. Her enthusiasm disturbed something in her, and she began to cough heavily. Edward raced over to her side, and Robb quickly took the tray of food form Chansey so she could to the same just a moment after.

"Hey, hey. You're good. I'm here." Edward whispered, rubbing her back.

"Chansey!" Chansey exclaimed, grabbing a water bottle from a nightstand, shoving it in Catelyn's face. She greedily drank from the bottle, trying to catch her breathing. When she did, she handed it back to Chansey and pulled Edward down into a desperate hug, one that he gently returned, conscious of her weaker constitution.

"I thought you weren't going to be back for a while longer," she muttered, face buried in the crook of his neck.

"They tried to keep me back, but I've been gone for too long. Unless something big happens, I'm going to be spending as much time as I can here."

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you too."

As they held one another, Robb felt an uncomfortable amount of awkwardness pool in his belly. Though these were his parents and were happy to have him in their lives at all times, this was a moment that should have been private. Eyes shifting, Robb wondered if he should leave them to it.

Persian made that choice before Robb could. Rowling, the big cat whipped Edward in the face with his tail, startling the man away from his lover. Persian neatly settled himself where Edward was, purring contentedly in the hug he took over from his owner.

Laughing, Edward backed away. "I wanted to dip away for a moment anyway, Persian. I've got presents! Robbie, wait here with your mother and I'll bring 'em up."

Robb sat down on the edge of the bed as Edward walked away, mildly startled when a hand fell on his head. His mother started to use her long nails to scratch his scalp, an action that had Robb almost melting. He loved head rubs.

"Can you believe he's back, sweetie?" Catelyn asked, a wide smile on her teary-eyed face.

"It came out of nowhere," Robb agreed.

Her expression turned reminiscent. "That's always been your father's way. He comes back into your life when you least expect it, but desperately need it. Sometimes I wish he wasn't gone so long, but I know how much good he does for the world, and I couldn't bear to make him stay back on my behalf. And I know he's thinking of us when he's out in the field just as much as I think of him."

Smiling, Robb nodded along to his mother, waiting for his father to return to the room. Three minutes later, he did so, with two large, artfully wrapped present boxes in hand, one in green wrapping paper, the other in striped blue.

Edward had a megawatt grin on his face as he handed Robb the striped blue box. With childish enthusiasm, Robb ripped into the paper and clawed through the cardboard shell covering his present. Getting through the material, Robb was left stunned in place and jaw agape as he took in the professional incubator in his arms, along with the plain brown egg inside. A Pokémon egg.

As Robb quietly lifted the incubator, taking in the soon-to-be life before him in all its glory, memorizing the sight and feeling of this moment as best he could, a letter fell out from its bottom. Curious, Robb set the egg down on the bed and picked up the letter, opening it with his teeth. Inside was a hastily scribbled note on a wine-stained napkin.

Your sister was strong. But not strong enough to reach me.

Use this Pokémon and exceed her. I expect you to be a worthy challenge.

Drake

Wide eyed, Robb looked at his father, who looked like the cat that got the canary, such was his smugness.

"Is this really from him?" Robb asked, still trying to process the egg by his side.

"Yup. I don't know where he got it or how he did it as fast as he did, but Drake gave me that egg just before we parted ways. Now, it's not a dragon. Drake made it clear to me that a Normal-type will hatch from that egg, though he wouldn't tell me what it would turn into. But if it comes from a breeder that an Elite Four member trusts, you know you're starting off strong. Can I take it that you're happy with your gift?"

"Happy?" Robb retorted, his enthusiasm returning with a vengeance. "Happy?! This is the best present ever!"

Gleefully shouting, Robb rushed his father once more, hugging him for all his worth. Edward chortled as he patted Robb's head, sharing a fond, if exasperated, look with Catelyn. Catelyn was gladdened to see such enthusiasm in her son, especially knowing where the lack of it in recent times stemmed from. She was well aware of his dissatisfaction with the loss of Kang, and though she desperately wished she could have kept Kangaskhan and her daughter around, the fact was that Kangaskhan had only followed Catelyn because she was strong.

Kangaskhan was captured by Catelyn during the second year of her Journey as a young girl of thirteen, after finding her alone in the wild outskirts of Vermillion City. Catelyn cleanly beat Kangaskhan down with her recently evolved Persian and showed her kind heart in her care for Kangaskhan's daughter of that time. With no complaints to both the strength and empathy shown in Catelyn, Kangaskhan allowed herself to be captured, and for the thirty-six years and four daughters that followed, of which Kang was the youngest, their pact remained firm. So long as Catelyn could maintain the strength that she displayed when they first met, Kangaskhan would be content in their arrangement.

Which made it all the more saddening when Kangaskhan started to act out. With every day that Catelyn grew weaker, so too would Kangaskhan become more difficult to direct. It was undeniable proof that her condition was worsening beyond repair. No matter how their relationship had changed over the years, no matter the powerful friendship that had bloomed between them, no matter how vice-like the bond that grew between Robb and Kang, Kangaskhan still needed a trainer of strength to follow. When Catelyn had been confined to her bed, Kangaskhan had finally stopped listening to her orders entirely. And though Catelyn had tried to transfer Kangaskhan over to Whitney so she'd have that strong trainer she felt she needed, Kangaskhan could never follow a trainer she helped raise. For a Pokémon best known for their mothering practices, it felt wrong.

In the end, though it pained Catelyn greatly, she released her friend back into the wild before resentment could begin to fester, and with the release, so too did her son's chances of starting his Journey with Kangaskhan's daughter evaporate. Rather than return her to where initially found, Catelyn, with the aid of Kaiser, brought Kangaskhan to the pack roaming the Safari Zone, and, hopefully, it was there, among her own kind, that Kangaskhan would remain until her dying days.

With Kang gone, Robb had grown progressively depressed and withdrawn, his enthusiasm for many of the things he once loved noticeably dimmed. With this new egg in hand, Robb showed more enthusiasm than she'd seen from him in months.

It was a distinctly wonderful sight for a mother to see.

Smiling at her son, Catelyn motioned her hand towards the green box in Edwards hand that bore the exact same dimensions as the box Robb had just opened. "Can I presume you've given me an egg as well?"

Gently pushing Robb away, an act that was quite easy to do considering the pink-haired boy rushed back to his egg, picked it up, and ran to his room with a skip in his step, Edward shot her a bemused smile. "One way to find out, eh?"

With a roll of her eyes Catelyn held her hands out. As the package was deposited in her lap, she carefully used her nails to cut through the tape and clean wrappings. After two minutes of concentration, she perfectly unspooled the wrapping paper from the cardboard box and folded it firmly so it would not wrinkle. Then, using her nails once again, she cut through the tape holding the box opening, and withdrew the incubator held inside.

The egg inside this one looked nothing like her son's. Robb's egg was a singular-colored plain brown thing, with no identifiers as to what it held within, save for the guarantee of a Normal-type Pokémon. As brown was a very common color in many Normal-types, guessing what his egg contained was a seemingly impossible task.

Catelyn's egg, however, was much more distinct. It was a light blue thing, mottled with darker blue splotches that were nearly black in color, with a thin unordered line of tan racing through its middle.

Brow furrowed, Catelyn tried to think on what might be held inside. "The colors are odd. Perhaps a Whismur? No… they're more pink than blue in their first stage. A Tailow? No, can't be it either. There would be red in the mix if that were the case. Oh! Perhaps a Munchlax? You know how much I love Snorlax after my father had one. But you wouldn't do that to me. You're too smart. To even think about raising one of those gluttons… our wallets shudder."

"It could be one of those," Edward shrugged lowly, arms spread wide. "It could be none of them. I, ah, didn't specify for a Normal-type for this one."

Quirking her brow, she looked up at her lover with lilted eyes. "You mean to have me break tradition?"

"I, er, well… not as such? I just-," he sighed, giving up on any excuses. "I just wanted you to have a new Pokémon to focus your attention on. One that you wouldn't have to give away to keep them in shape. That was all I cared about. Honest."

"Hmph," she voiced, turning her eye back on the egg in her lap. There was a small smile dancing on her face. "I suppose with Whitney having gone as far as she did, I no longer need to be so… stringent, in my family's practices. It could be a fun change of pace even. How did you get this one?"

"Same way I got Whitney's Cleffa egg," Edward said, beaming. "Ranger Auction. A destroyed territory forced the original inhabitants to migrate elsewhere, leaving behind eggs that would die without our involvement. This egg was found near a lake in Rota that was unfortunately polluted by a Muk that moved in."

"A Water-type then?"

"Could be. Could also be a Bug-type or a Grass-type. The lake was next to a forest."

"Ah, but what if it is none of these things? What if you stumbled onto a Lucario nest, and in my lap lay a Riolu? You did say it was from Rota, after all."

Edward snorted. "If it's a Riolu, I'll eat my shoe."

Catelyn's eyes almost twinkled. "Now that's a bet. And what happens to me if it's not?"

Bending down, Edward placed his hand over hers. "Then you'll have a new partner in life."

The following month was a both calming and hectic, and Robb wouldn't have it any other way.

Edward had indeed stayed as promised. He had temporarily transferred himself to the Fuchsia City Rangers, who patrolled routes 13, 14, 15, 18, and 19. As a ranger with access to a saddled Fearow, he was often on the job, flying about as needed by his superiors. Fortunately, he was still able to spend time at the house with a certain amount of regularity. Spending only two nights a week in his own home might not seem like much to an outsider, but for the Stark family, who had become accustomed to months on end without his presence, it was an almost luxurious improvement.

Whitney's gym schedule had also gone through some changes. Her initial assessment of the construction taking three months was off, and it was off in her favor for the first time in the history of building timetables. Construction was ahead of schedule, and plumbing and electrical work was already underway. The expected completion time was in less than three weeks' time. Naturally, everybody was elated.

The Stark family of Fuchsia City had already purchased a trio of train tickets using the Saffron City connection to Goldenrod City, and Whitney had further procured the services of Salidor of Len Town's Alakazam to teleport them from their home to the train station on the day of their departure. Somehow, she was able to maintain a good relationship with the man she took the title of gym leader from.

Still. They were all, quite naturally, excited to see the culmination of Whitney's hard work.

Furthermore, Robb and Catelyn had been working steadily towards their eggs. Though there was not much needed to be done in their care, their incubation chambers taking care of the bulk of the effort, there were extra steps that could be taken to not only speed up the hatching of a Pokémon, but also have them recognize their guardian all the more easily.

Whenever possible, Robb and Catelyn both would talk to their egg. They spoke about everything and nothing, getting the Pokémon inside accustomed to their voice and human language. Though all Pokémon could eventually understand human speech, the sooner it happened, the easier it became to train them, and eggs were able to take in information quite well.

Additionally, they would sleep with their eggs. Skinship was a powerful way to grow closer to people and Pokémon in a primal sort of way, and there were documented studies produced by Professor Elm himself that stated long-term skin connection to eggs increased the rate of growth by noticeable factors. Robb wanted to hatch his Starter ASAP, and Catelyn too wanted to begin bonding with her own Pokémon. Thus, whenever they slept, whenever they could, really, they took their eggs out of incubation and kept them closer as can be.

In Catelyn's case, due to her being forced to remain in bed as a result of her condition, her egg was out even more often than Robb's. He had already seen it start to shake and wobble and let out the lightest of glows. It would hatch quite soon. And with its movement, with the life growing inside of it soon to show, life seemed to be returning to Catelyn in turn! She was paler than before, sure, and her breathing had grown more erratic, but she was much more energetic as a whole. She was even starting to walk!

Robb, Edward and Whitney all were hopeful that this egg would be what she needed to finally get back on her feet.

That said, Robb's own egg was considerably slower to show any change.

Currently, Robb was in the living room of the Stark house, browsing through internet forums on the family computer with a worried lip. It was early in the morning, much earlier than he'd normally be up. The reason for his early morning was naturally due to his egg. Robb swore he saw his unusually sedentary egg shook a bit last night, but considering it hadn't moved at all since then, he was starting to get a little worried.

Was his egg somehow sick? Weak? Even Dragon-type Pokémon showed more movement in their eggs within a month than his own did, and some of them didn't hatch for over a year.

Which was why he was on the computer. He typed his dilemma into a breeder chat channel and was taking in all the information he could from the random keyboard turning "experts" of the internet.

He was not best pleased with what information and techniques to speed of the gestation of his egg he'd thus far read. One person recommended putting over an open fire, while another thought the way he was caring for the egg was too coddling, suggesting Robb should start throwing it around like a football.

Rubbing his face, Robb closed his tabs and sighed, sitting back into his chair. He spared a look at the egg in his lap. "I'm worrying too much, aren't I? I bet you're doing just fine. You're just taking your time."

The egg did not answer him. It did not move or do anything really.

Robb had to hope that was alright.

Standing up, he put his egg back in its incubator and made way into the kitchen, intent on grabbing something to eat. Opening the fridge, Robb pondered the options available, before nodding quickly and grabbing a single Oran berry and a pint of milk. He put it in a countertop dicing machine and cut it into small cubes, depositing them into a bowl. Turning around, Robb grabbed a box of sugared oats out from a pantry door. Pouring the oats in his bowl, he then poured his milk into the same bowl, mixed it all together with a small spoon, and happily produced his morning sustenance.

Bowl in hand, Robb walked into the back yard, sat down on a small swing, and took his first bite. It was a calm day, without the hustle and bustle of city sounds polluting the air. With a gentle morning breeze and sunlight grazing over his skin, Robb allowed himself to relax in place.

A horrendous, agonizing screaming ruined any sort of relaxation Robb was beginning to feel. It was so loud and all-encompassing that Robb couldn't even tell where it came from. So startled was he that he dropped his breakfast onto the paved yard, the porcelain bowl shattering in place, spilling his food on the grass.

Robb cursed both at the loss of his breakfast and at the sharp feeling that came from his foot. Looking down, he saw a slice through the skin, a bloody red line welling from it. A bowl shard had cut him.

Steaming in quickly formed anger, Robb hobbled inside, intent on finding a bandaid. When he reentered his home, the screaming grew louder, and, wincing, Robb realized it was coming from within. Further, he realized who was screaming.

Chansey.

Eyes wide and heart thundering, Robb ignored his own pain and bunny hopped his way upstairs, into his mothers room. Slamming the door open, he saw her serenely sleeping in her bed, as should be expected at this time of the morning, holding her egg contentedly, as if she had no care in the world to concern herself with. She seemed at peace; a sight Robb had not seen of her in years. A Pokémon was standing right over her, roughly shaking her sleeping body to and fro, crying with a force that Robb had never seen. It was Chansey. Only, though this Pokémon had been Chansey, Chansey it no longer was.

Where before it was all pink, now white clashed against the bottom half of its body, with white wing-like tufts growing out from its hips and shoulder, creating the impression of a dress. Its hair, once hanging down from its scalp without much attention, now curled heavily either side of its head. And it stood a fair bit larger than previously, nearly standing at a flat five feet in height.

From where Chansey had been, Blissey now stood.

Robb felt his mouth go dry and his body go numb as he understood what that meant. Chansey were thought to only evolve into Blissey as a result of friendship, but this was a common misnomer caused by the odd evolution categorizations of the Pokémon League. Any Nurse Joy would tell you that it was more than that. A Chansey would only evolve into a Blissey as a result of pure, unequivocal love.

A Blissey, when paired with a trainer, were among the most loyal Pokémon there were, to near suicidal levels. Whoever they loved to the degree that allowed them to evolve would never know a more kind, caring or everlasting bond in their lifetime. But the love that a Chansey required to feel for somebody else in order to evolve was rare to develop, and even rarer to see shown. Very few Nurse Joy's had a Blissey companion, and as the clan that had the largest control of the Chansey line, coupled with the generally caring nature instilled into the practitioners of the Joy clan… that said something.

With all of that said, there did exist one way in which a Blissey could almost unanimously be born from a Chansey. One way in which their love is made clear enough to catalyze their evolution without a shadow of a doubt, though the method was such that it should never be chased.

"Blissey," Robb called, his voice rough and croaky. She turned to him, as if just noticing he was there, and tears streamed down from her face anew. Bouncing down away from the bed quickly, she engulfed him in a near bone-breaking hold, sobbing hysterically into his shoulder. Robb held her tightly and let her let it all out, knowing he had to be strong so that she could allow herself this moment of weakness.

Because the easiest way for a Chansey to evolved into a Blissey was to experience true, unadulterated grief.

For only in the darkness of grief can we see the light of love which transcends even death.

The death, Robb acknowledged with a shuddering, hard-formed breath, of Catelyn Stark.

This is the last of the pre-made chapters to be uploaded. I will begin the editing of previous chapters based on inaccuracies that commenters found, and I hope you look forward to the chapters to come.

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