Reunion, Chapter 5: Keeping it Together!

First, my apoligies for keeping you all waiting so long for an update. I can't promise it will never happen again, as the creative process of writing is not something easily controlled, if at all possible. But I will do my best to keep this story going, hope this is a little taste of things to come.

This small story also found it's roots in the MorpheusShipping thread on Bulbagarden, where we were discussing how Angie might make another appearance now that Ash is traveling the Unova (Isshu) region. Member CrazyYanmega, also know under the same name on this fanfiction site, and the author of some great MorpheusShipping fanfics himself, mentioned a way how Angie could turn up in Unova. Unable to write at the moment, he suggested someone might make a fic about it, and I volunteered, since the idea appealed to me. As can be expected, this short story also involves MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you really don't like that idea, perhaps you should stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.

Ash and Angie slowly turned around, and looked straight into the faces of the guard that they encountered earlier inside the hatchery, with mr. Carey was standing right beside him! And judging by the looks on their faces, both didn't seem to be too happy with the situation they found these youngsters in...

"Eeeeh... mr. Carey... you see... we were... but these... and then suddenly..." Angie stuttered, as she fixed her eyes on the ground, not really willing to look mr. Carey straight in the face right now.

"We'll get to that later, young lady!" the Daycare Center's owner cut short her excuses.

For a moment Angie lifted her head a little, and at the same time felt Ash's hand briefly touching her shoulder, as if he was trying to reassure her. Just like back home, where he had stood up for her that time she goofed up a little at her parent's Daycare, during the "Lickytung accident", when her overactive training caused that Pokémon to evolve even though that was not allowed to happen.

"First we've got to ensure this Pokémon hatches safe and sound!" mr. Carey continued, interrupting Angie's reminiscing thoughts of better days.

Suddenly the egg started pulsing irregularly, instead of glowing steadily! Though Ash and Angie had seen an egg hatch quite a few times before, neither of them could remember having ever seen this phenomenon. Cilan also looked at this situation with a mix of awe and worry on his face. The odd behavior of the egg seemed to indicate something might be very wrong this time!

"Oh no!" mr. Carey shouted, as his face also started to show some anxiety"... this egg is already too close to the final phase to make it back to the hatching chamber in time! We need to act fast! Above all it needs to be kept at the right temperature, and out here it will most certainly cool down too fast! It probably is too cold already!"

"So that is what is causing the irregular flashing of the egg," Cilan remarked, as he was trying to analyze the situation.

"Correct!" mr. Carey replied, nodding, "and unless we can find a way to get it back to the right temperature fast...

Angie felt her stomach twist, hearing the words of the Daycare Center's owner. She didn't want to think about what could happen if the egg's temperature would drop too low... For a moment she looked at Ash, hoping to get back some comforting look from him, that all would be okay, but he appeared to be unaware of her silent cry for help... Then Ash turned his head a little, and he looked her straight in the eyes, with that sparkle in his eyes he often had when he was onto something!

"Maybe I can help," Ash said, as he stepped up towards mr. Carey, who was still holding the egg and examining it.

"Ash, what can you do?" Iris replied, "I mean, you are such a child at times, what do you know about hatching Pokémon eggs..." she added, while rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders.

"I think Ash might just come up with an unusual recipe, as he often does," Cilan came to the defense of their mutual friend and travel companion.

"Tepig, I need you now!" Ash yelled, while unleashing his third Unova Pokémon.

"Ah, I think I see what you mean..." mr. Carey said, as his features softened a little, "but you must make sure your Tepig doesn't use too much heat, or the shell could shatter, due to the sudden increase in temperature!" he quickly added, as he carefully put the egg down, and stepped back.

"I think I know a way how to do this..." Ash replied, "Tepig, carefully warm up the air around the egg with your Flame Thrower!" Ash commanded. "Remember, very gentle this time..."

Ash's fire pig Pokémon looked at it's trainer at first with a confused expression, as this fiery tempered Pokémon was used mostly to performing more direct attacks, going all out, instead of this somewhat strange command to take it easy this time. Then it inhaled deeply and breathed some fire from it's nostrils, which formed a ring of small flames around the egg. Everyone could feel the agreeable warmth coming from this fiery ring. As the flames slowly died away, the egg became better visible, and everyone could see the egg's glowing light pulsing at more and more regular intervals, like before, except it seemed the frequency of the pulses was slightly increasing.

"That's much better..." mr. Carey said, as she stepped towards the egg to examine it. "I think itt could be any moment now, though!" mr. Carey added, after his quick renewed examination, as he stepped back to create some clear space around the egg.

Everyone looked intently at this spectacle. Suddenly the egg started to crack a little! Angie instinctively took hold of Ash's hand, as the tension was almost overwhelming, and squeezed it tightly. Another crack appeared in the egg's shell! Then another, and one more! The light increased to almost blinding intensity, indicating that the hatching was imminent!

(To be continued...)

I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. I hope I succeeded in doing that. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.

Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.