A/N: Yes I know, Prof. Rowan is in Sandgem Town, but I didn't feel like sending them there lol. My fic my rules, don't like it? Don't read it P
After the fairy had arrived at the port in Twinleaf town and the last of the passengers had disembarked, Ash and friends met with an oddly dressed trio consisting of a woman with red hair, a man with bluish purple hair, and what appeared to be a pokémon.
"Hello," The woman started. "We're pokémon inspectors, and I'm afraid we'll need to check your pokémon before we can let you go see Professor Rowan." She explained, picking up Pikachu.
"We'll just start with your Pikachu and this one." The man said, picking Gatomon up off of Kari's shoulders.
Gatomon immediately protested. "I'm not a pokémon! Put me down!" She screamed, not liking the idea of being separated from Kari in the least.
"Hey, quit squirming you." The third member said, trying to calm Gatomon down, slightly surprised to see that she could talk.
"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon called, using her claws to free herself from the inspectors, causing their clothes to rip to shreds, revealing Jessie, James, and Meowth of Team Rocket. She immediately upon freeing herself jumped back into Kari's arms.
"It's Team Rocket!" Ash yelled. "Pikachu, use thunderbolt!" He commanded.
Pikachu nodded that it understood and unleashed a super powerful thunderbolt that sent Team Rocket flying into the sky.
"Meowth, how could you screw that up so badly?" Jessie demanded of the pokémon
"Me? It was your fault! You had to get greedy and try to take that other talking pokémon! It's odd though, I thought I was the only talking pokémon. She was kinda cute though." Meowth responded.
"We'll have to get that one next time." James said.
"LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" They all called as they flew into the distance.
"Ash, are you sure that wasn't over doing it a little bit?" Kari asked. She would have been more upset if Ash and Brock hadn't explained during the ship ride about Team Rocket and how they were pokémon thieves who often tried to steal pokémon from their group.
"Don't worry too
much about them Kari. They have been blasted by far worse than
Pikachu's thunderbolt, and they come back every time, determined to
steal our pokémon.
May explained.
Gatomon smiled at Kari. Even in this strange new world, and with most of her memories gone, she still worried about the well being of others. "So where exactly are we headed to again?" She asked.
"We're headed to the lab of Professor Rowan, and according to the pokenav, it should be just ahead." Max responded, pressing a few buttons on his pokenav before pointing to red brick building with a white roof and a huge iron gate at the entrance. "That should be it there."
Walking up to the gate, Ash noticed an intercom device on the wall next to it. Pressing it he spoke into it. "Hello? Is Professor Rowan there?"
"That all depends on who is asking." A stern voice answered back.
"My name is Ash, from Pallet Town. Professor Oak asked me to come see Professor Rowan about a strange egg." Ash explained.
"Excellent. I've been waiting for you. Please come in, I'm opening the gate."
The iron gate swung open to admit Ash and his friends into the compound. On the way up the path that led to the main lab, many Pokémon could be seen relaxing and enjoying the space that was provided for them by the professor and his assistants. Once at the door, the group was let in by an elderly looking man with white hair and a mustache. "Ah, you must be Ash and his friends. Yes, Professor Oak told me you were coming, please come in." He said, moving out of the way so everyone could enter.
Walking over to the nearby lab table Professor Rowan picked up a blue egg that had a black ring around the top and a black bottom and showed it to everyone. "This is the odd egg I was telling Professor Oak about. I've never seen a pokémon egg quite like this before and no matter what I or Nurse Joy do, we cannot get it to hatch. I would like you to take it with you and keep us informed if anything happens. Will you do this?"
Ash stood up. "Sure I'd love to, but why don't we let Kari take the egg since she doesn't have any pokémon yet." He suggested.
The professor nodded. "I don't have a problem with that. Now which one of you young ladies is Kari?"
Kari stepped forward, Gatomon clinging to Kari's shoulders. "I'm Kari sir."
Nodding again, the professor said, "Good. Then you will be in charge of taking care of this egg and making sure that when it hatches the pokémon inside is raised properly. Can you do this?"
"I'm sure I can sir." Kari responded, taking the egg.
No sooner was the egg in her arms then did the Crest of Light appear on her chest and shoot a beam of light at the egg, changing it. The blue colouring on it became pink and the black became white. Then, the egg began to glow as cracks appeared in on it. "What's happening?" Kari asked, concerned that she had done something wrong.
"Oh my! The egg is hatching!" Professor Rowan gasped.
There in Kari's arms when the light faded away, was a baby fox-like pokémon with a pink body except for its feet and ears which were white and a white stripe going around the middle of its head. Its eyes were a golden yellow colour as it stared up at Kari. 'Hello, my name is Riolu.' It telepathically spoke to its new trainer.
"It spoke!" Kari exclaimed, unsure of what to make of the new pokémon.
"It did? I didn't hear anything." Ash told her. "Did any of you guys?" He asked the rest of the group.
Everyone shook their head no that they hadn't heard anything.
"It told me its name is Riolu."
'That's right, my name is Riolu and you are the only one who can hear me, Kari. Because you're my trainer." Riolu explained.
"Oh, so that explains why the others can't hear you." Kari replied, still a little confused as to what had just occurred.
"This is simply astounding!" Professor Rowan declared, taking a P.D.A. out of his lab coat and beginning to write down notes on the odd incident. "Kari, what exactly was that light, and what did it do to the egg?" He asked.
Kari frowned. "I'm not sure what that light was or what it did to the egg. All I know is my heart felt really warm and nice, and then suddenly I was holding Riolu.
"I see." Rowan said, taking down what Kari had just told him. "Most interesting," he muttered.
"That light was from Kari's heart! It was Kari's Crest of Light that changed the egg." Gatomon spoke up. "Why it happened I don't know, but obviously, Kari and Riolu were supposed to meet. Nothing happens by chance."
Prof. Rowan then looked at Gatomon. "And just who might you be? Another talking pokémon perhaps?"
Gatomon looked offended that for the second time she had been called a pokémon. "My name is Gatomon, and I'm not a pokémon, I'm a digimon."
"What exactly is a digimon?" Rowan questioned.
"A digimon is a digital monster. That's all I can say without going into a very long story." Gatomon responded.
"Very well then." The professor responded, before turning his attention back to Kari. "Now that you have Riolu, I expect you will raise it with love and care?"
"Of course, sir. You have my word." Kari promised, bowing to the professor.
Nodding, Prof. Rowan handed Kari several pokeballs. "Take these. Use on to catch Riolu, and the others to catch other pokémon on your journey through Sinnou." He explained.
Having now completed their errand with Professor Rowan, our heroes leave his lab. Once outside, they are met by a young man about May's age with green hair, a black shirt with a purple vest over it, and turquoise pants. "Hey May, long time no see." He greeted her.
"Hi Drew! What brings you all the way out here? Weren't you going to Johto to compete in pokémon contests there?" May asked.
Drew nodded. "Yeah, I was. However, I heard the way they do contests here in Sinnou was quite unusual so I decided to check it out." He explained. "I saw you guys go into the professor's lab and decided to wait for you. May, I had an idea. Why don't you come travel with me? That way we can both get better together, after all, it makes more sense traveling with another coordinator rather than with someone who only goes after gym badges."
May thought for a moment. 'Drew does make a lot of sense. But that doesn't mean I should just abandon Ash and the others. Ash helped me a lot with my training last time. Drew is a lot better than Ash though and I could probably learn a lot more from him.'
"You should go May." Ash encouraged. "Drew can help you more with your training for pokémon contests than I can. Plus it would be a good opportunity to learn some of new techniques."
"I'll go with you on one condition Drew." May told him.
"What is that?" Drew questioned.
"Max has to come with us. It's my responsibility to watch him."
"Fine. I'm leaving now though, so say your goodbyes, May."
May and Max said goodbye to everyone and then departed with Drew.
Ash turned to Brock. "So, where is our first stop?"
Brock consulted the map. "It looks like the closest city to here would be Oreburgh City."
"Alright then! Looks like our first stop is Oreburgh City! Let's get going everyone!" Kari exclaimed, ever since Riolu hatched, she had become quite excited about the journey that lay ahead, and now it had finally begun.