Lexi and Aiden were walking through the forest. Both Serafine and Hoothoot were outside their pokéballs walking and flying next to their trainers, who were busy telling each other stories. ''And now I´m on my third day, so I am still somewhat of a newbie,'' said Lexi, petting Serafine, ''I´m not sure what I want to become. I mean, I like battling but I don´t think I want to become the best of all, like, the champion. I want to learn, train, and just try things.''
Hoothoot sat down on Aiden´s shoulder and closed his eyes. '' Well, that´s kind of normal, almost nobody has a real plan when they start their journey as far as I know. The plan to just become the best in something is used most of the time, and eventually they just end up doing something completely different. What is kind of logical, because not everyone can become the best, only one person can. Or maybe more than one, but like, only one in every profession or something, like you know….'' Aiden kept rambling like that for a while and Lexi looked around, hoping to find another pokémon. Aiden had ended his talk about ´´there can only be one best´´ and it was silent for a couple minutes.
Suddenly Aiden stopped walking and turned to Lexi, ''Maybe we can train a little, like with a battle. I want my pidgey and hoothoot to be in good shape before we challenge the Gym.''
''Sure,'' Lexi thought for a moment and slowly took a pokéball of her belt. She wasn't really sure about it, but if she wanted to use him in the gym she had to practice. 'Pero, come out!''
The geodude looked ready to fight, smashing his wrists together. Aiden seemed a little lost, seeing that both his pokémon were normal/flying and he had hoped Lexi would sent out her ponyta. Eventually he sent out Hoothoot, who almost fell from his shoulder when Aiden woke him up. ''Hoothoot use Hypnosis now!'' Aiden shouted, and the Hoothoot quickly took flight. His red eyes seemed to glow slightly and pinkish colored rings surrounded Pero, who was now flat on the ground, fast asleep. ''No! Pero wake up!'' Lexi shouted, but it didn´t help. ''Good job Hoothoot, now use Peck''.
''How can I train with Pero if he is asleep the whole fight?'' Lexi murmured. Hypnosis was such an annoying move, it could make you lose if your pokémon wouldn't wake up in time. The only thing Lexi could do was wait till her pokémon would wake up by itself. Hoothoot kept attacking and her geodude was taking more and more damage.
Finally Pero opened his eyes, he seemed a little drowsy and used his big fists to rub his eyes.
''Pero, use Tackle!''
Pero pushed itself from the ground with his fists and hit Hoothoot on its head with his full body. The owl pokémon quickly flew up, dodging a second attack.
''Tackle!'' both trainers screamed. Hoothoot dived down, but Pero moved to the side, grabbed a big rock from the ground and tossed it to Hoothoot. The angle was right and the rock hit Hoothoot right in his face, causing him to fall and faint as he hit the ground.
''Pero, that was Rock Throw! Good job!'' Lexi ran to her pokémon and gave it a hug. It felt really cold but Lexi didn't care. This was great! Her first fight with Pero and he listened to her, well, mostly at least. Pero didn't pay much attention to Lexi and just tried to show is toughness by growling loudly at his defeated opponent.
''Good job,'' Aiden admitted, putting his hoothoot back in its pokéball. ''Even though I hadn't expected to win at all with the type disadvantage.'' Lexi was worried for a moment, wondering if Aiden might be annoyed at her, but he smiled and motioned to some nearby rocks.
Lexi and Aiden sat down for lunch so they, and their pokémon, could rest a little. Aiden pulled a book out of his backpack and started reading. ''What are you reading?'' Lexi asked curiously.
Aiden began saying the things he read out loud. ''Ponyta´s mane and tail grow out about an hour after birth, it´s a world-class jumper, hooves harder than diamonds. Geodude is proud of its sturdy body and will bash against others of its kind in a contest of sorts to prove whose body is harder, it has an incredibly high defensive power.''
Aiden closed the book and put it back in his backpack. ''I always try to find as much information as I can about pokémon I see'' Aiden said, putting his backpack on. Lexi pulled her pokédex out of her backpack and handed it to Aiden. ''Professor Redwood gave me a pokédex, it has all kinds of pokémon information in it. You can use it if you want.'' Aiden eagerly took the pokédex from her and pointed it towards his hoothoot.
Instead of giving information, the pokédex screen went red, and black letters appeared, saying Aiden wasn´t the original owner. Aiden handed Lexi her pokédex back and sighed.
Lexi gave an apologetic smile, ''Sorry, I didn´t know it only worked for me. But why don´t you just tell me when you want to use it, then I will point it and it will give information. ''
Aiden nodded and the two continued their trip. Lexi looked around, she hadn't really been paying attention to the forest. It was very different from that of Diptera. Grey Forest was very quiet, the only sound Lexi could hear was them walking through the almost silver looking grass. The trees were more of a really light blue kind of color. The weird colors apparently had something to do with a certain mold in the ground, which was discovered by some guy and his Alakazam. He had even been on TV and earned a special award for it.
''Look!'' Aiden said, pointing. Lexi didn´t see what he was pointing at and Aiden sat down on his knees. ''They´re pokémon tracks.''
Aiden took a book out of his backpack and started observing. Lexi however walked around a bit, trying to find the pokémon who made the tracks.
''Ssssst,'' Lexi suddenly said, squinting her eyes. Aiden was about to say something but froze in place. Lexi started walking towards a bush, squatted and pushed some branches away. ''I thought it was a wild Pokémon,'' Lexi stood up, ''But it wasn't, look at this!''
In her hands Aiden saw a small blue, black and yellow colored egg.
''You found an egg! That's so cool, I wonder what pokémon is inside it!'' Aiden said, completely forgetting about the tracks, while immediately searching through his books hoping to find the answer in there. Lexi pulled a green towel out of her backpack and wrapped it around the egg. ''But what now? I don't know anything about egg care, I mean, I'm pretty sure I need to keep it warm but what then?''
''Maybe I can find something in my books, but we better continue walking. With a little luck we will be able to find a Pokémon Center.''
Lexi wasn't able to enjoy walking in the forest anymore, instead of smelling the fresh air or searching for new pokémon she was constantly looking around for a Pokémon Center. She felt responsible for the egg. It had been left all alone under a bush and felt cold to the touch.
While she rubbed the egg gently Lexi thought about everything that could go wrong. What if she dropped the egg, or if the pokémon in it would get hurt because it had not been warm enough, or something went wrong when it hatched?
Aiden was busy reading a green colored book, with the title 'How to do it Egg-cellent', hoping it would have some good information.
''Here it says eggs are usually kept in a special egg case.'' Aiden looked at the egg. He noticed Lexi's nervous face and tried to smile reassuringly ''Don't worry, it also says it rarely goes wrong. If we just keep it warm and safe, everything will be fine. I'm sure.''
Slowly the day passed, it started to become darker and colder. Lexi had begun using Serafine as a heat source, and the ponyta tried her best to keep the egg warm. ''We are close, I know it! Just a couple more minutes'' Aiden smiled. Lexi could already see lights in the distance and felt a little better.
Serafine was getting tired and Lexi could feel it getting colder. ''It's okay Serafine, you did great. Go inside your pokéball, I'll let you out when we get there.''
Finally the forest ended and they started seeing buildings. Almost all the buildings had a yellow-ish color with light grey roofs. The air was dry and the farther they walked into the town, the hotter it got. Lexi panted as she speed walked through the town. Keeping the egg warm wasn't a problem anymore, but maybe it would get cooked with this temperature.
Lexi recognized a small blue building and breathed a sigh of relief when she entered. Inside the building it was a lot cooler than outside, thanks to a small swinub sitting in the corner. Behind the cash register stood a man wearing a blue uniform. ''Hello, how can I help you?''
Lexi showed him the egg and asked: ''Is there a Pokémon Center nearby?''
''Sure, you just go straight till you see a big green sign, then turn left. You should be able to find it easily.''
Lexi sped past Aiden, who had started looking at the pokéballs, and ran to the Pokémon Center. Sweat ran down her forehead as Lexi stumbled into the building. Nurse Joy, who stood behind her desk, looked a little surprised.
''Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon Center. Are you okay?''
Lexi took a few deep breaths, then nodded. ''Yes, I'm fine. But I found an egg a little while ago, and I don't know how to take care of it! Could you check if it's okay?''
Nurse Joy smiled, took the egg and started examining it. Aiden walked through the front doors of the Pokémon Center, with Hoothoot hooting on his shoulder, and stood next to Lexi. ''It´s really late, would it be possible for us to stay here?''. Nurse Joy looked up, smiled and said, ''Ah, you're young trainers on your first journey, aren't you. Yes, there are still rooms free.''
She looked at the egg one final time then handed it back to Lexi. ''The egg is fine.'' Lexi nodded and hugged it tightly. ''Normally I would give you an egg case, but we don't have any left. Don't worry, it's not really necessary, it just makes it a little easier. Just keep it warm, that's all it really needs.''
''But what if it gets too hot?''
''The chance that happens is pretty small. The eggs are pretty resilient, temperature-wise. Most can comfortably take temperatures of 100 degrees.'' Nurse Joy reassured.
After getting a quick meal from Nurse Joy, the young trainers went to their room and got ready to go to bed. Lexi put a pillow on the ground, took the egg out of the towel and placed it in the middle. Now that she didn't had to worry about the egg anymore, Lexi felt extremely tired. After letting Serafine and Pero out of their pokéball, Lexi quickly brushed her teeth and walked past Aiden, who was still reading, to her bed. Normally Lexi did not sleep well in strange places, the smell was weird, the bed felt different, the temperature wasn't comfortable and Aiden was still making noises in the background. But she was so tired, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.