Chapter 12

"Nina."

Skrtch. Skrtch. Skrtch.

"Nina, what are you doing?"

Skrtch. Skrtch. Skrtch.

"Nina? Hey, Nina, are you listening to me?" Peering at the orange haired girl seated on the stump of a log curiously, Ryan watched as she scribbled furiously into her special sketchbook, the green one, her pencil was making harsh strokes onto the drawing paper as she went about detailing her latest inspiration. Ryan moved behind her and glanced over her shoulder at whatever it was she was drawing at so attentively, his brow quickly raised and a look of confusion set in on his featured "hey, that's not a Pokémon, it's a person. Who is that guy?" Nina stiffened and her hand stopped moving, she blinked once and then glanced at Ryan out for the corner of her eye, his own eyes still fixed on the clearly human face and feathery looking hair she was still in the midst of touching up. A hint of red made its way to her cheeks and Nina quickly slammed her book shut, closing her eyes in embarrassment "I-It's nothing, so don't worry about it." she squeaked out, stuffing the sketchbook into her bag and zipping it closed.

"Nothing huh?"

"Mhm."

A short silence fell between them.

Only the sounds of their Pokémon in the distance could be heard. Ryan folded his arms behind his head, his posture relaxed, and inclined his head slightly towards her.

"Soooo… is he your boyfriend?"

Nina froze and almost choked on her spit. Her face heated up again and she shook her head furiously "n-no way!" A devious grin made its way onto his face "Ohh, I get it, you like this guy! So who is he? I don't remember seeing him," Ryan hummed thoughtfully to himself and tried to wrack his brain for anything that could give him a clue as to who this person was "hey wait, what about the other day when I went to train for the Cascade Badge, you came back looking awfully happy." When he saw Nina's flush growing at his response, Ryan grin widened like a Meowth that got its cream "ohoho, so that's what you and Chewy were doing that day. You were out looking for a boyfriend!"

"H-He's not my boyfriend!" she exclaimed huffing "he's just this really nice guy I met is all! A-and I wasn't out looking, we ran into each other!"

"Riiiight," he gave her a flat stare that clearly meant he wasn't buying it "and you mean to tell me you draw all nice guys you meet in your sketchbook that's predominately filled with pictures of Pokémon?"

"I-I— ju— doh— S-Shut up!" Nina stammered for a response, glaring at him "You wouldn't understand. You weren't there."He snickered at her flustered state, watching as she stood up and marched over to where the Pokémon were gathered. "She is so in denial," he mumbled to himself with a grin before glancing around the area thoughtfully, this was a good place to train. Reaching onto his belt, Ryan pulled out two Pokéballs "Alright, Spearow and Sandshrew come out!" He threw down the balls and out popped the bird and mouse Pokémon; Spearow took to the skies with a caw, circling the area once before landing on Ryan's outstretched arm, while Sandshrew stood by Ryan's side "Spearow!" Ryan grinned and stroked the bird on its head "hey Spearow, it's been a while since you've seen some action, so I was thinking today we could do some training," he glanced at the bird perched on her arm "sounds good?" Spearow gave a curt nod and Ryan jerked his arm, allowing the bird to take flight.

"Alright, we're gonna work on your dodging and defending," he pointed to Spearow "now Sandshrew, use Swift!" Sandshrew nodded and opened its mouth, firing multiple yellow stars at Spearow, who easily dodged them by veering out of the way and then responding with Drill Peck, its beak glowing a vibrant white as it zoomed in on Sandshrew, spinning rapidly like a drill "Spear!" Sandshrew quickly curled into a ball, baring its rock hard exterior to Spearow, resulting in the bird crashing face first into it and screeching in pain while Sandshrew was unaffected "now Sandshrew, use Poison Sting!" Sandshrew complied by uncurling from its ball and fired multiple purple darts from its mouth at Spearow, who quickly flapped its wings backing away from Sandshrew to get out of its firing range "Spear!"

Spearow stretched its wings and ascended higher into the air, climbing higher and higher until it was blocked by the light of the sun, while down on the ground below Ryan spoke to Sandshrew. "Be on your guard Sandshrew, Spearow could catch you off guard and attack at any moment, so be ready for it." Sandshrew nodded and stiffened its posture, ready to take anything Spearow was going to dish out "ROW!" Spearow came zooming out of the sky, its body spinning as it performed its Drill Peck attack and Sandshrew opened its mouth, launching another Poison Sting, to meet Spearow's drilling beak, however a Pokémon came flying out of the bushes, right in the middle of both attacks paths. Ryan's eyes could only widen in shock as this Pokémon got hit directly with a Poison Sting and Drill Peck attack simultaneously, while Sandshrew and Spearow froze. "Oh no." He ran over to the unlucky recipient of the attack and saw it was a tiny pink humanoid Pokémon with large lips and yellow hair "Smooch…" she groaned dazedly as swirls appeared in her eyes "a Smoochum? What's one of these doing all the way out here…" Ryan pulled out his Pokédex to scan it.

"Smoochum, the Kiss Pokémon. The pre-evolved form of Jynx. This sweet natured Pokémon has sensitive lips, which it uses to explore and examine with."

"Hey," Ryan gently gathered her in his arms and lightly shook Smoochum, hoping to rouse her awake "hey, you alright Smoochum?" Smoochum just groaned weakly in response and Ryan brushed his hand over her head, he realized she was rapidly burning up "Great. Freaking great," he huffed loudly before glancing at Spearow and Sandshrew "Spearow, go get my bag. I left it with Ivysaur and Sandshrew," he paused thoughtfully before thrusting the baby Pokémon in the mouse's arms "hold Smoochum." Sandshrew blinked, but nonetheless held onto Smoochum, while Ryan got to his feet and started rummaging through the bushes.

Sandshrew could only blink in confusion as it watched its trainer mutter under his breath whilst he peeled back several bushes in search of whatever it was he was looking for. Moments later, Spearow came back, with Nina and the Pokémon in tow, she was gripping Ryan's bag loosely in her hands, but promptly dropped it upon noticing the feverish Smoochum in Sandshrew's arms, her eyes quickly shot towards the crouched form of Ryan, who was still digging thorough the bushes "Ryan, what happ— what are you doing?" She asked watching as he peeled back one of the nearby bushes, before snatching something from its branches.

"Looking for something. Never mind got it!" Ryan pulled back out of the bush and revealed to her an Oran Berry "I'm guessing this bush is why Smoochum was even near here in the first place, but I have no clue why she jumped in the middle of Spearow and Sandshrew's attack like that." He just shook his head and sighed before grabbing his discarded bag off the ground and digging through it, he pulled out a medium sized orange pouch with a blue drawstring and tossed it towards his starter "hey Ivysaur and Sawyer, do me a favor and fill this bag with those Oran berries from that bush, they might come in handy later." Ivysaur nodded and grabbed the bag with one of his vines, while Sawyer started darting through the bushes, getting to work. Ryan dug back into his bag and pulled out a clear jar, filled with a light green powder. Nina and the others eyed him curiously as he also pulled out glossy black ceramic mortar, with a white interior and a matching pestle that was similar in design, having a glossy black handle and a white end.

"What is all this stuff?" Nina asked, narrowing her eyes as he poured a small amount of the powder into the bowl and snapped the Oran Berry in half, dropping one half into the bowl and eating the other, chewing briefly before swallowing and responding to her question "it's used for making herbal remedies. Smoochum's been poisoned. So, I'm going to use the Healing Powder and the Oran Berry, to not only get rid of her fever, but cure the poison too."

"Ohh. Hey wait a minute!" From his perch on her shoulder, Chewy jumped slightly at her exclamation "Since when can you make herbal remedies? Isn't that a bit far too advanced for someone your age? I mean, cooking is one thing, but herbs? Where'd you even learn to do stuff like this?" Nina gave Ryan a skeptic glance, "I guess," he shrugged while continuing to finely mash the berry and powder mixture together with the pestle until it became a teal liquid substance "but when you're raised by a crazy medical nut for a father, it's not advanced at all. This is all just basic medicinal technique I was required to learn since I was young. I can easily cure status conditions, treat wounds and point out several healing herbs but that's about it, my dad has way more medical knowledge than I do."

"And your dad taught you how to do all this?"

"Among other things," he snorted bitterly before reaching into his bag and grabbing a spoon, he then motioned for Sandshrew to move closer before gathering a spoonful of the liquid and positioning it at Smoochum's mouth and commanding her softly "open up Smoochum, this is going to help your fever go down." Smoochum slowly opened her mouth and swallowed the liquid "Smooch," she grimaced at the slightly bitter taste it left in her mouth "I know it might taste bad, but you need two more spoonfuls and then you can have some water," Smoochum's lips twitched in protest, but she reluctantly complied with Ryan's instructions, taking two more spoonfuls of the medicine and greedily guzzling down half the water bottle that was presented to her afterwards "Smoo," she cooed and Ryan sighed, taking the Kiss Pokémon from Sandshrew's arms and recalled it, along with Spearow. He then handed Smoochum to Nina to hold, while he cleaned off his spoon, mortar and pestle and packed up the jar of healing powder.

"We're finished picking the berries!" Sawyer and Ivysaur came back from their berry collecting with the bag filled with Oran Berries, which Ryan also packed away for later use and muttered a small thanks to the duo, Sawyer was perched on top of Ivysaur's head, eyeing him curiously as he stuffed his things back into his bag, she glanced briefly at Nina who was holding the now snoozing Smoochum "so, what are you gonna do with her?" then turned back to Ryan. "Put her back in the bushes where she came from and hope whoever she belongs to will find her?" He answered with such an even tone, Sawyer wasn't sure if she should take him seriously or not, though Nina was the one who spoke up, her tone incredulous "You're joking right?" Ryan snorted while zipping up his bag and pulling it onto his shoulders "of course, I'm not that heartless," he walked over to Nina and took Smoochum from her arms "let's get moving, maybe there's a Pokémon Center or something around here where we can find out who's the trainer."

"You think she might've wandered away from her trainer or something?"

"It's possible, or she could be wild and wandered away from her family, but since she's currently out like a light, we can't really ask her and knowing my luck, we're bound to run into someone or something eventually," as if on cue, some of the bushes nearby began to rustle and Ryan glanced at Nina with an exasperated expression "see what I mean?" The bushes stopped rustling and a Pichu came, darting out of the bushes and glancing around momentarily, before its eyes landed on the soundly sleeping Smoochum in Ryan's arm "P-Pichu!" Pichu's eyes went wide and it turned towards the bush where it came out of "Pichu pichu!"

"What's up Pichu, did you find her?" The voice floated through first and then came the body, an older male stepped out of the bushes. He had blue-black short cropped hair and green eyes dressed in a blue apron with a white Pokéball symbol on the middle, underneath the apron he wore a simple white shirt, rolled up to the elbow with brown pants and black shoes. "Pichu pichu! Pichu!" Pichu cried bouncing on the balls of its toes while pointing directly at Ryan and the guys eyes widened slightly at the motionless Smoochum in his arms, but upon noticing her soft breathing, they lowered and he sighed in relief "she's alright Pichu, she's just sleeping." Slowly Pichu lowered its arms and then clambered up Ryan's arm, startling the boy. "Pichu?" Pichu tilted its head slightly and then poked Smoochum's stomach, causing her to mumble and snuggle deeper into Ryan's hold "Smooch…" she muttered clutching tightly onto his bicep.

"So, this Smoochum is yours?" Nina asked and the guy gave a slight nod "Sorta," he began with a sheepish grin "my grandparents own the Daycare Center around here, and she's one of the baby Pokémon we usually keep around for trainers who might want them. She's a bit of a troublemaker though, always wandering off and getting into trouble, this is the fifth time she's wandered off this week." He sighed and then shook his head before looking at the two kids and introducing himself "I'm Leon."

"I'm Nina and this is Chewy" she said brightly and then motioned to the yellow mouse on her shoulder, who waved "pika pikachu!"

"I'm Ryan," he murmured "and this is Ivysaur and Sawyer." Both his Pokémon gave curt nods.

"So, you said you're grandparents owned a Daycare Center?"

"Yeah, it's not that far, just up ahead actually." Leon pointed past the bushes and trees behind him "You can tell me how Smoochum wound up sleeping in your arms when we get there."

x-X-x

"So that's what happened."

"Yeah, she just came flying out of nowhere and then BAM! Next thing I knew she was on the receiving end of two direct hits."

"Her curiosity leads her into all sorts of trouble," Leon sighed with a small smile on his face "but, I am glad you were able to heal her poison. There isn't any Pokémon Center around and our current healing machine is missing a few parts before it can get up and working again."

"Whoa! Ryan, you gotta come see this!" Nina came running from out one of the two back rooms with Chewy on her shoulder and Ivysaur and Sawyer following behind "there's Pokémon Eggs everywhere!" Leon chuckled at Nina's excitement and stood up from the table where he and Ryan sat "how about I give you guys a tour of the Daycare Center?" Nina's eyes were alight with joy and she quickly nodded, while Ryan gave a shrug "Follow me then," he then motioned for the two children and their Pokémon to follow him past the counter and into the large room on the right. "This is our Egg room," he explained with a sweep of his hand, while Nina and the Pokémon were in silent awe, gazing at all the different types of eggs that were lining the shelves on the walls, while Ryan was gazing at the large machine in the middle of the room, which had three eggs resting under a warm light. He moved closer to the machine and peered at it curiously "that's our incubator," Leon murmured, startling the boy by coming up from behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder "it holds up to six eggs and speeds up the hatching process by quite a margin, we only use it for when Nurse Joy is ready to give out starter Pokémon in Vermilion City or trainers who might want to capture a specific Pokémon."

"Wait, did you say Nurse Joys gives out starter Pokémon?" Nina asked, turning away from the yellow and black striped Pokémon egg she was glancing at, to look at Leon, who nodded "Not all towns have Professor's to officially give out starter Pokémon, so Nurse Joy's are often certified to hand them out and we supply her with the Pokémon."

"Ohh, that's cool! But how do you get all the starter—"

"Magby!" Nina was cut off mid-sentence, by one of the baby Pokémon that came wandering in, its eyes filled with tears as it ran over to cling to the leg of Leon "magby mag magbyyyy!" it whined and Leon bent down to its eye level and asked what was wrong "mag magby," it pointed to the wall on the left and Leon stood, gathering Magby in his arms "I see." He mumbled and the kids were confused "what's wrong?" Leon sighed and motioned for the two to follow him as he exited the incubator room and entered the nursery room where several other baby Pokémon were being held, however when they entered the room, they saw most of the baby Pokémon huddled in the corner, while Pichu and Smoochum were head to head, glaring at one another fiercely. "It would seem Smoochum has awakened," earlier after Leon had led the duo to the center, he had placed the sleeping Smoochum in the nursery room with the other baby Pokémon and then had Ryan explain to him what happened to her.

"Pichu! Pichu!"

"Smooch! Smoochum!"

"What's going on?" Nina asked, peering over Ryan's shoulder and watching the two baby Pokémon bat heads, Pichu's cheeks were beginning to spark and Smoochum's hand was starting to glow, however, before either of them could launch an attack, Leon walked up and nudged them both apart with his foot, while he placed Magby on the floor and then turned to give the two fighting Pokémon a stern leer "Smoochum. Pichu." He began and the two Pokémon froze "what have I told you two about fighting. You're scaring the others," he motioned to the other Pokémon that were huddled in the corner and the tear streaked Magby's face, who sniffled and swiped at its eyes in response "Pichu pichu," Pichu mumbled, its ears dropping and an apologetic pout on its face, Smoochum on the other hand scoffed and crossed her arms, turning her head away from Pichu "Smooch..." her eyes then wound up landing on Ryan and Nina, who were still standing in the doorway, watching the scene in interest. "Smoochum!" Smoochum's eyes brightened and she ran up to Ryan, then leaped onto him and latched onto his arm tightly, startling the boy immensely "w-what the? H-hey! Let go!" Ryan tried to pull the Kiss Pokémon off his arm and then switched to shaking his arm in hopes of flinging her off, but she had a grip like iron and refused to let go. "Smoochum smooch!" She cooed nuzzling her cheek against his arm and tightening her hold, much to the chagrin of Ryan, who just stared down at her awkwardly, his eye twitching slightly "eheh…"

"Smoochum, let his arm go." Leon commanded walking over to the younger boy and plucking her off his arm with ease, Smoochum pouted as Leon placed her back on the floor beside Pichu "sorry about that Ryan," he gave the boy a sheepish smile and turned to Smoochum, getting ready to give her a minor scolding, however a low beeping noise sounded from the main room.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"What's that?" Nina asked following Leon as he quickly rushed out of the room to answer the low beeping. It was coming from the video phone positioned up against the far right wall, Leon picked up the phone and a slightly older looking man, probably in his mid 20s, wearing a bandana wrapped around his head and covered in grease stains appeared on screen.

"Hey Leon, I got those extra parts your grandparents wanted for the healing machine, think you could swing by and get them?"

"I would Eric, but I don't have anyone to watch the…" Leon trailed off and slowly turned to glance at Nina, who was blinking curiously back and him and then, his gaze slid to Ryan, who was currently trying to politely inch away from Smoochum, who had this odd glint in her eyes while she edged closer to him. He then turned back towards the video phone and smiled widely. "I'll be there to pick up the parts in 30 minutes, let me just consult my baby-sitters first," with that said, he hung up the phone and whirled around to face the kids "hey, do you guys think you could do me a favor?"

"What kind of favor?" Ryan asked, narrowing his eyes suspiciously and stepping back slightly to avoid the closed eyed leaping Smoochum, who ended up latching onto Ivysaur's flower instead, causing the Seed Pokémon to sigh heavily and attempt to pull her off with his vines, while she nuzzled the flower affectionately believing it was Ryan's arm. "I have to go pick up these parts for our healing machine in the village that's near here, but I don't have anyone to watch the Pokémon while I'm gone," he grinned sheepishly, bringing up a hand to rub the back of his head "so, I was wondering if you kids could do me a favor and watch these guys until I get back? I know we just met, but this is kind of important and I promised my grandparents I'd fix the machine by the time they got back."

"Sorry, but I'd rather not—" Ryan began to protest, but Nina was quick to cut him off, slapping a hand over his mouth and nodding her head furiously "Sure! We'll watch the Pokémon for you, go ahead and get those parts, we'll take good care of them."

Leon's eyes widened, before he broke out into a large grin "thanks so much! I'll be back within the hour!" with that, Leon was out the door before the kids could even blink, a moment of silence washed over them, before Ryan began to mumble around Nina's hand "What's with you?" He asked snatching her hand away from his mouth. Meanwhile, Ivysaur had finally managed to detach Smoochum from his flower and the Kiss Pokémon eyed the scene between the two humans with interest.

"What's with me? What's with you!" She fired back.

"Why did you agree we'd help him watch these Pokémon? The only reason we came here was to drop Smoochum off and be on our way. Not get roped into being babysitters."

"Because, it's the right thing to do! Why don't you like helping people? This is the third time, you've protested against helping someone, first it was with Aaron, then you refused Ryuuta and now you don't want to help Leon." Nina clenched her hands at her side, glowering at the brunette why was he so against helping others in need?

"I started my journey to become a Pokémon Master or at the very least a good trainer," he growled, returning her glare and crossing his arms across his chest "I didn't start this journey so I could go around helping every person I run into that has a problem!"

"Helping people is important!"

"More like time consuming and hardly worth my time! I could be doing other important things, like training or winning another badge! Not worrying about the affairs of others."

"Is that really all you care about? Getting stronger and winning badges? There's more to life than—"

"B-Bi, bibi?"

A gentle tug at her pants leg caused Nina to halt her response and she glanced down to see an Elekid staring up at her "what's wrong Elekid?" Elekid lifted its bulky arms and flexed its claws "bibibi!" The anger on Nina's face quickly melted and she smiled gently at the spark plug looking Pokémon "you wanna get picked up, is that it?" When Elekid nodded at her question, her smile widened and she bent down to pick up the baby Pokémon, hugging it gently while glancing at Ryan and frowning slightly at the boy "regardless of what you think and what you prefer to do, we have to watch these Pokémon now until Leon comes back, so I suggest you suck it up and stop being so grouchy, he said he'd be back within the hour, that's not such a long time." Nina then glanced back down at Elekid and smiled again "let's put you back in the room with the others, okay?"

"Bibibi!"

Ryan scoffed to himself as Nina headed towards the nursery room with Elekid in her arms and Chewy on her shoulder. "Tch, I am not being grouchy," he glanced down at Sawyer and Ivysaur, giving both of them a questioning look "am I being grouchy?" the two Pokémon glanced briefly at one another, before nodding simultaneously "yeah, you kinda are." Sawyer answered "oh, what do you guys know." Ryan snorted, crossing his arms and looking away from both Pokémon, who rolled their eyes "don't get mad at us, you were the one who asked," Sawyer muttered avoiding Ryan's narrowed gaze when she finished.

"Let's just head outside, we're training."

"Training? But, I thought you were going to help Nina watch the Pokémon."

Ryan waved Saywer's inquiry off as he motioned for his Pokémon to follow him outside "Bah, Nina can handle that, I've got better stuff to do than watch a bunch of baby Pokémon."

"Nina's not going to like that," Sawyer murmured with a slight frown, as Ryan led them a few feet away from the Day Care. The brunette scoffed in response "and since when," he paused and glanced briefly around the area, nodding to himself at the training spot "do I care about what Nina thinks?" Placing a hand on his hip, he peered down at Sawyer and Ivysaur with a grin.

"RYAN SUMMERS YOU GET YOUR BUTT BACK IN HERE THIS INSTANT!"

Both Pokémon and human winced simultaneously at Nina's sudden scream, which wafted through the open window at the front of the daycare center. Both Pokémon glanced up at Ryan, who frowned and crossed his arms across his chest; he refused to move from this spot especially because of Nina's yelling. There was a beat of silence. Nina's voice once again drifted through the front window, her tone a lot angrier than before "I SAID NOW!" Sawyer coughed and then murmured dryly in response to his previous question "since she clearly wears the pants in this relationship," they both then followed after a reluctant Ryan back into the daycare center, the brown haired boy grumbling all the way.

x-X-x

"Honestly, you act like such a little kid with this attitude of yours." She frowned disdainfully at the boy as he sat cross legged on the floor, directly across from her, arms folded with an irritable scowl she was used to seeing by now, on his face. Nina grit her teeth and clenched her fists in annoyance at his attitude, she took her eyes off the brunette and glanced at the Pokémon littered around the nursery. Elekid and Pichu were playing with Chewy, having bonded with the older and more experienced electric type, the game involved them gathering a small amount of energy lightly shocking one another. Magby was curled up on one of the large throw pillows in the room, napping soundly, with its thumb stuck in its mouth. While Cleffa and Igglybuff were getting a piggyback ride from Ivysaur, the two babies giggled happily with laughter when he leaped or bounced around or tossed them up in the air with his vines and catching them. Sawyer seemed to be searching for something, because she kept glancing around the room and running out towards the front of the center. Seeing all the Pokémon interacting so peacefully with one another put a smile on her face, but only for a moment because she glanced at Ryan and saw his sour expression and it instantly deflated her mood and reminded her that she was in the middle of giving him a stern talking to. Nina crossed her arms and gave Ryan an annoyed look "all Leon asked was for us to watch these little guys for an hour and you go run outside to train! You'll have all the time in the world to train, the rest of the day in fact! There's no need for you to be a jerk and shirk your duties."

"Duties! What duties? You're the one who agreed to this, not me."

"So what, you could still be nice and help out!"

"Hey guys… I think—"

"Who says I even wanted to help out in the first place!"

"Guys, Smooch—"

"You're a real heartless jerk, you know that!"

"And you're a bossy little nag, you know that!"

"Jerk!"

"Nag!"

"GUYS!"

"WHAT!" Ryan and Nina shouted simultaneously and glanced at Sawyer with fire in their eyes, the purple mouse shrank back slightly at their stares, dully noting that all the baby Pokémon were huddling behind Ivysaur for cover, save for the sleeping Magby, who just snorted and rolled over in its sleep, just in case the two kids decided to turn their wrath on them. Sawyer coughed nervously before responding "Smoochum's missing. I've seen all the baby Pokémon except her. I even ran out front to see if she was there, but she's not out there or in the egg room." At the announcement of the baby gone missing, the tension between the two kids was defused and a wave of panic swept over Nina's face.

"M-Missing?"

Sawyer gave a tentative nod in response and Nina promptly began to freak out "Oh no! Whatdoido! Whatdoido!" She was up on her feet, pacing the room back and forth, eyes wild with panic as her hands clenched tightly at the beret on her head, the baby Pokémon pressed even closer against Ivysaur as they watched her freak out, Chewy eyed her worriedly "we promised Leon we'd watch the Pokémon while he was gone! No one said anything about Pokémon going missing!"

"For the record, you promised Leon you'd watch the Pokémon while he was gone. I had nothing to do with this."

"Not now Ryan, this is serious! I don't have time for your comments! I gotta find Smoochum! C'mon Chewy!"

"Pika!"

"If you leave to search for Smoochum, whose gonna watch the Pokémon? You did promise to watch them, right?" At his inquiry, Nina paused at the threshold of the nursery, with Chewy at her feet, turning back to glance at him briefly and then the Pokémon, who were peeking out curiously from behind Ivysaur.

". . ."

Ryan shook his head and shrugged at her silence, watching as she chewed her lip nervously while trying to think up a solution for the current problem at hand. "Hm, I guess I could help you out," he smirked before continuing with an arrogant tone "by looking for Smoochum, while you stay here and watch the Pokémon, in case Leon just happens so to come back and notices you not only let one of his Pokémon go AWOL, but left the rest unattended as well. He'd probably be really disappointed in you for letting something like this happen." Nina grit her teeth, glaring at Ryan and his smug tone, the haughty little snot was totally doing this on purpose and it sucked, because he had a point, someone had to stay and watch the Pokémon while the other went looking for Smoochum and Ryan seemed more than eager to get away from these baby Pokémon, though she wasn't sure why.

"I… I guess that does make a lot of sense." She admitted looking away and stepping back into the room, while Ryan grinned at her "glad you could see it my way. I'll be back with Smoochum in no time. Sawyer, come with me, Ivysaur you stay here with Nina and help her watch these guys, we'll be back soon." With that said, Ryan all but rushed out of the Daycare Center with Sawyer fast on his heels, leaving a confused Nina and placid Ivysaur, who turned towards the babies and gave them a reassuring smile, clearing their frightened expressions "Ivy saur saur saur."

x-X-x

"Any luck up there?"

"Nope. Find anything in the bushes?"

"No, but I know for a fact she's been through here."

"Really? How?" From her perch in one of the nearby trees, deciding to take the high route, while Ryan searched low. He had also sent Beedrill and Spearow to scout ahead. Sawyer peered down at the spot where Ryan stood and he pointed at the clump of bushes and several various trees and patches of grass that had a thin sheet of ice covering them "because with my brilliant deduction skills, I have surmised that the cluster of frozen leaves and greenery we see before us might lead us towards the subject," he stated with a grin, while Sawyer felt a bead of sweat drop down the back of her head as her eye twitched "how… clever of you," she darted down the trunk of the tree and caught up with Ryan, who followed the trail of random partially frozen objects that would ultimately lead them towards their goal.

"So, why don't you like baby Pokémon?"

"Huh?"

"It's just," Sawyer paused thoughtfully and met the boy's curious gaze "you seem so against watching these Pokémon for Leon, so I thought…" she trailed off, unsure of what to add.

Ryan frowned at the question, lacing his fingers behind his head lazily "it's not that I don't like the baby Pokémon, I mean they haven't whined or cried yet so that's great, they all seem like a nice bunch, but as I said before. I didn't come to the Daycare Center to baby sit, all we came there for, was to drop Smoochum off and be on our way, but apparently we were just at the right place at the wrong time and somehow got roped into doing grunt work."

"Grunt work?"

"It's a figure of speech." He explained, noting the slight confused look on her face.

"Dri drill!"

Beedrill suddenly floated in their line of vision, wings beating rapidly as he buzzed, his stingers pointing towards the area up ahead with urgency, causing Sawyer to quickly dart forward, ripping through a cluster of bushes "he's found her, says she's gotten in some trouble." Ryan sighed and ran after his two Pokémon they broke through the bushes and Spearow was already there, circling the area. Ryan quickly thanked both Beedrill and Spearow and then called both Pokémon back, he then glanced at the scene before him and was met with an interesting sight of Smoochum fighting tooth and nail against a obviously irritated male Nidoran, the two Pokémon seemed to have been exchanging some harsh blows, seeing as how both Pokémon seemed to be covered in a multitude of bruises "of course, not only does she run away, but she's in the middle of fighting with the slim chance of getting poisoned… as if this could get any worse."

"NIDOOOO."

"You had to ask, didn't you?" Sawyer gave Ryan a flat stare as they both watched a Nidoking come stomping out of a clump of trees and bushes nearby, its eyes angrily locked on Smoochum, who didn't even flinch under the gargantuan beasts gaze "Nido nii do nido nidoran!" The Nidoran quickly ran to hide behind the length of its parent's tail, while Smoochum locked eyes with Nidoran and growled "Smoochum smooch smoo smoochum smooch," she pointed her stubby tanned hand at the Nidoran and then at a cluster of half frozen bushes "smoochum smooch smoochum!" Nidoking sneered at Smoochum in response.

From his spot on the sidelines, Ryan quickly turned to Sawyer for a translation, she nodded in response and began to explain "Nidoran is saying that Smoochum attacked it for no reason after he ate some of the berry's in that bush and Smoochum is saying that she was there first and he needs to find his own berries, that's why she attacked him, she also just called him a coward for running to his parent and not fighting his own battles."

"Whoa, Smoochum's got one heck of an attitude for a baby Pokémon."

"T-That's all you can say? Shouldn't we be like doing something? Y'know, before it gets way out of hand?"

"In a minute," he waved her off and eyed the three Pokémon intently "I wanna see how Smoochum is gonna get through this." Sawyer practically choked out her next words as she looked up disbelievingly at him "se— you— you can't be serious!"

"I can be and I am, now pipe down. They obviously haven't noticed us yet and I'd like to keep it that way." Sawyer could only gape in response at her trainer's nonchalance.

"Nido. Nidoking nido nii."

"Nidoran! Nido nii!"

Nidoran then darted into the bushes behind Nidoking, disappearing from their sight. Ryan looked to Sawyer, who was still trying to wrap her finger around Ryan's ridiculous notion "He… Nidoking told Nidoran to go home and that he'll take care of Smoochum. Nidoran said okay."

"Smoooochum!" Once Nidoran was out of the area, Smoochum wasted no time in attacking, taking a deep breath, she fired a gust of chilling wind from her mouth, which hit Nidoking square in the chest, but it was ineffective and bounced off the giant's chest plate with ease, Nidoking even scratched at its chest as though the attack was nothing more than a light tickling sensation "Smooch…" Smoochum's expression darkened at being mocked so nonchalantly like that, so she charged at Nidoking, her small fist becoming encased in a glowing blue light, she leaped into the air and slammed her fist into Nidoking's chest plate, causing most his entire front, from the lower half of his jaw, to his biceps and elbows and down to the tips of his toes to become encased fully in ice.

"Smooch." Smoochum smirked as she landed on her feet, staring up at the now frozen stiff Drill Pokémon.

"Wow," Ryan whistled appreciatively at the display "not bad for a baby, Smoochum's got a strong Ice Punch there, to be able to freeze that much of Nidoking when she's this small. Just think of the power if she evolves, it'd double in strength and that Powder Snow attack from before wasn't that bad either, but she shouldn't be so quick to claim victory, the battle is far from over." His eyes narrowed on the small jerk of Nidoking's claws, that clearly indicated the battle was far from over.

"Ni-Ni-NIDO!" The ice encasing Nidoking's body shuddered briefly before small noticeable cracks began to appear, Smoochum froze and watched as the small cracks soon became larger and with a loud roar and a flex of muscle, Nidoking was free. Then with a sweep of its thick tail, it easily smacked Smoochum aside, with little to no effort, her small body slamming into the base of a tree trunk nearby but Nidoking didn't stop there, much like Smoochum before him, it followed up with another attack, opening his mouth and firing several poisonous darts at the Kiss Pokémon.

The attack hit her successfully and a purple static surrounded her body, she fell towards the ground with a loud thump and purple waves and indigo bubbles rose over her body, indicating she was being damaged by the poison "S-Smooch," she winced, slowly rising to stand and ignoring the pain she was feeling. Sawyer's eyes widened as she watched Smoochum pick herself off the ground, she couldn't stand watching the baby go through something like this, it was cruel and unusual "Ryan, we have to help her! She looks like she's about to faint or something!"

"In a moment, this battle isn't over until she actually faint's, don't knock Smoochum down just yet, she's a fighter."

"But—" she began to protest and Ryan held up a hand to stop her.

"Just watch."

So she did watch. "Sm-Smooch…" Smoochum staggered to her feet, panting heavily, her eyes narrowed briefly, before becoming outline in purple, then Nidoking started to glow purple as well slowly, the hulking purple monster was lifted off the ground, Nidoking began to struggle and flail under the effects of Confusion. Sawyer could see how much of a strain it was for Smoochum to be doing this while being inflicted with poison and practically on her last legs, her body shook with exhaustion as Nidoking was lifted higher and higher into the air, until it floated above the tops of the trees "SmooCHUM!" With a harsh thrust of her palm, Nidoking was sent flying, where it would land, no one was sure.

"Told ya she's a fighter." Ryan smirked at Sawyer, who just gave him a weak smile in response, then her gaze turned back to Smoochum, who finally seemed to notice the duo and she somehow managed to shoot Ryan an infatuated smile, before promptly passing out from her injuries. There was a beat of silence between the two, then Ryan gathered Smoochum in his arms and began heading back towards the Daycare Center with Sawyer perched on his shoulder "well, at least since she's knocked out the poison won't affect her as much."

"Are you gonna heal her with that stuff you made from earlier?"

"After she wakes up, I'll give her some, that way it'll clear all the lingering toxins from her system." Ryan cradled the baby Pokémon in his arms "ah, who knew babies were such a handful."

x-X-x

"Special Delivery!"

"Oh! You've found her! W-What happened?" Nina had came running out the nursery, with Ivysaur and Chewy on her heels, grinning happily out of relief, as she not only had just finished putting all the other Pokemon to sleep, but hearing that Ryan made it back before Leon just brightened her mood even more. She froze however upon seeing the beaten and battered state of Smoochum in Ryan's arms.

"She got into a little altercation with a Nidoran and a Nidoking." He scratched his cheek and gave her a sheepish grin.

"Little? Ryan, she's covered all over in bruises and looks like she got into a whole lot more than a little altercation."

"Okay, so maybe little wouldn't be the right word, but the good news is, she beat the Nidoking!"

"You… you… YOU IDIOT!"

BAM.

Ryan did not see that punch coming.

"OW! What'd you hit me in the head for? Thank goodness for Ivysaur, because I would've totally dropped Smoochum on her head because of you!" Rubbing his aching head, Ryan scoffed "tch, and here you are always nagging me about the welfare of a Pokémon."

"You…" Nina's body shook with anger, her eyes were practically nothing but slits as she eyed the brown haired boy. He was still rubbing his head and adjusting his headband, which had slanted out of place due to her blow. Nina raised her hands and then wrapped them tightly around Ryan's unsuspecting neck "Imbecile! Did you really just let a baby Pokémon like Smoochum take on a full grown Nidoking and not even care about the consequences!"

Ryan winced at the high pitch her voice made when she said consequences and would have made a comment about it too, were he not currently trying to release the insanely tight grip Nina had on his windpipe "What is your problem!" She began to shake the brunette back and forth with all the strength she could muster "what in the world would possess you to let a baby Smoochum, take on A. FULL. GROWN. NIDOKING!" With every accentuation, she'd shake him roughly.

"Err… did I miss something?"

Standing in the middle of the entrance, looking about as lost as a Psyduck, was Leon. He had just come back from Eric's, with all the parts needed for him to fix his grandparent's healing machine and was met with an odd sight, of Nina in the midst of strangling Ryan, whose face was turning blue from lack of oxygen, his hands grabbing at her wrists in an attempt to pull her off, while all their Pokémon watch the scene with various worried expressions, ranging from fear, curiosity and sympathy and cradled protectively in Ivysaur's vines was a fainted Smoochum.

"Umm, how about I fix up the healing machine, heal Smoochum, and then you guys tell me just what in the world is going on." With that said, Leon quietly shuffled over towards the healing Machine, which was set up near the far right of the room. An awkward silence passed between the two kids as they gazed at one another, one through a rage induced haze and the other through an asphyxiated haze.

". . ."

Thud.

"Girl, you are insane!" Ryan choked out before clutching at his sore throat and gulping in all the oxygen he was previously denied.

"Hmpfh!" Nina just turned her nose up at the boy angrily and stormed off into the nursery to cool down.

The Pokémon just sat there.

x-X-x

"So Smoochum got away again and got into some major trouble?"

"Mhm, I'm sorry I couldn't keep a better eye on her. I didn't mean for this to happen." Nina glanced solemnly at the healing machine it glowed vibrantly with healing energies. Smoochum was healing up rather nicely, she had been in there for about 15 minutes now. "It's alright," Leon smiled and reached over, placing a hand on her shoulder, reassuring the girl "accidents happen and Smoochum is known to start trouble and wander off, so you did nothing wrong." He then stood up from his seat and entered the egg room, coming back out moments later with an egg resting in a simple blue egg case. The egg that was inside was a dull blue in coloration and had a few white spots on it.

"So, for being such a big help today, I want you to have this Nina."

Nina's eyes widened as Leon handed her the egg case, she took it hesitantly and looked up at him "a-are you sure? I mean, I didn't do much… and Ryan was the one who rescued Smoochum… so, I… I don't think I deserve something like this."

"Hey, if she won't take it, I'll gladly take it off her hands."

They both ignored Ryan's input and Leon hid a smile while he watched Nina shook Ryan a look that made his face lose its color "I insist, you did me a huge favor by helping out. I mean, you could have protested and declined the offer, but you stayed. Just to help an absolute stranger out with his problems, out of the goodness of your heart, you've got a good head on your shoulders Nina and your kindness will get you far, that's why I want you to have this egg to show my appreciation for watching the baby Pokémon and allowing me to finally fix my grandparent's machine."

Nina's cheeks began to turn pink from the complement and she looked away from Leon bashfully, clutching the egg against her chest "uhm… t-thank you for this then. I promise I'll take good care of the egg!"

"That's the spirit!"

Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.

The healing machine finally gave off a musical chime and the kids and their Pokémon watched as Leon released Smoochum from the machine, slowly her eyes opened and from her spot in Leon's arms, she blinked up at the three humans crowding around her "Smooch?"

"Are you feeling better? I've heard you caused a bit of trouble while I was away Smoochum."

"Smooch smoochum." Smoochum folded her arms and turned her head away from Leon at his statement, but when her eyes landed on Ryan, she perked up and leaped out of Leon's arms and latched herself onto the front of his shirt "Smoochum!"

"H-hey! Cut that out! Let go!"

"Smoooch!" Smoochum just smiled happily and nuzzled the front of Ryan's shirt, refusing to let go as the boy desperately tried to get the clingy baby off him "looks like someone's got a little admirer," Leon pointed out, with an amused smile on his face "Ryan, you are honestly the first trainer I've ever seen Smoochum so attached to, I don't know what you did, but she definitely likes you a lot."

"S-she likes me? That's why she keeps jumping on me and giving me weird looks, because she likes me?"

"Yep," he chuckled watching as Ryan still struggled to remove Smoochum from his shirt "Smoochum's been struck by the love bug."

"Well, that's just great," Ryan sighed and his attempts to pull Smoochum off slowed until halting "I've never had a Pokémon grow attracted to me before." He glanced down at Smoochum, who blinked back up at him "you really like me huh girl?" Smoochum's pudgy face broke out into a cute smile "Smooch!"

"Well… I guess that's okay, I like you too Smoochum, even if you are a bit clingy, that battling you did earlier was really cool, you have one powerful Ice Punch on your hands." Ryan lifted both his arms, folding one underneath the Kiss Pokémon to allow Smoochum a bit of comfort as she still clung to his front and the other reached up to pat her on the head. Smoochum's pink face turned a bright red as she flushed out of embarrassment, hiding her head bashfully in the folds of his shirt.

"Smooooch."

Smoochum's body suddenly began to glow and Ryan felt himself stiffen, while Leon and Nina's eyes widened. A bright translucent bluish white light covered Smoochum's entire form and her body and shape began to expand and change, going from a tiny and cute size, to a full figured purple faced Pokémon with large lips, lengthy blonde hair, white arms and purple gloves. A red gown now covered her features. "Jynnx jynx." Jynx, was now tall enough to wrap her arms fully around Ryan's form, the top of her head stopping just below his chin.

"S-Smoochum evolved!" Leon exclaimed pointing out the obvious, while Jynx continued to squeeze the life out of Ryan, the boy was laughing nervously as Jynx wrapped him up in an iron like vice and he made a futile attempt to pull her off. Nina watched the two with a small smile, before glancing at Leon "so, what are you going to do with Jynx now? Don't you usually keep the Pokémon around until someone adopts them?"

"Yeah, I do, but I think Jynx has already found her trainer..." The two then both watch with amusement as Jynx tried to plant a kiss on Ryan, but the brunette quickly flushed and managed to somehow slip from her grip and get away, this resulted in Ryan tripping over various object in the room, before stumbling outside, with the lovestruck Jynx, hot on his tail.

"C-Cut that out! JYYNX!"

"Jynx! Jynnx!"

x-X-x

The warm afternoon sun was hot on their backs as a cool breeze swept up between the two kids and the Daycare Center's grandson, the duo had decided that they had lollygagged long enough and it was time to get back to their travels. After getting Jynx to stop trying to assault Ryan with kisses, Leon had placed her into a Pokéball and insisted he take her, because she would obviously be miserable without him, he was hesitant at first, but eventually took Jynx and thanked Leon for the new addition to his team. Ryan then sent Ekans to Professor Oak's lab, in favor of Jynx.

"It was really nice meeting you Leon and thank you so much for the egg! I'll be sure to take good care of it!"

"Mhm, you two take care on your journey and if you guys are ever in the neighborhood, come and say hi!"

"We will! You take care as well! Bye!" Nina waved back at Leon with a wide smile, clutching her brand new egg in one arm, while Chewy was seated at her shoulder.

"Can we get going now? I'd like to get somewhere down the road before nightfall." Ryan was standing beside her, a minor irritated expression on his face, while Sawyer and Ivysaur were at his feet.

"Ugh, don't be rude Ryan, he just gave you a brand new Pokémon! The least you could do is be patient." Nina rolled her eyes at his irritation, but started walking nonetheless, causing the boy to fall into step as they walked down the route.

Their next stop was Vermilion City.

I've gone back and made a few edits to like the first 4 chapters, nothing big, just my obvious grammatical errors, added a few minor things and I took out Nina's goal, which looking back on sounded really stupid, so its gone that's about it. Ryan is such a dick. I love him, I really do :) Nina's got an egg and Ryan is now the official the victim err owner of a lovesick Jynx who likes to start trouble and has the attitude and power to back it up! What an interesting addition to his team. Wow, this is my longest chapter yet, at 9000+ words. Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.