Cyndaquil dozed in my arms as Espeon rubbed her head gently all over his small body - she would meander back and forth to different sides of me on the couch, just to make sure to get every possible angle. Unfortunately, Espeon couldn't produce milk for the little guy, so we were going to head over to Birch's house; to show Cyndaquil off and see if the professor had any late-night recommendations in such a small town.

"Well, Beloved, we had best get a move on, shouldn't we?" Espeon was going to be the best mama bear that Cyndaquil could ever want.

"You'd best clean up all my cum, first," I replied impishly. Espeon's head snapped to the trail she had left behind: her embarrassment at her blunder was highly amusing. Fortunately, psychic power was very useful in such situations - it cleaned it all up quite easily.

"We will never speak of this again: to anyone." Espeon gave me a death glare.

"Yes ma'am." I responded truthfully - why would I even want to tell anyone about this?

Cyndaquil cooed in his sleep: right; it's time to go. I got up off the couch, and laid Cyndaquil back onto it - Espeon immediately curled up around him: I went to get the rest of my clothes back on.

XX

I knocked on Birch's front door, Cyndaquil tucked in my other arm. Fortunately, it wasn't the dead of night yet - but it was getting close to bedtime.

Birch opened the door with a bemused expression, before taking in the sight of Cyndaquil - then a huge smile bloomed onto this face, "congratulations Tobias - that was even faster than I had hoped. Please, come in: my wife might not want babies full-time; but she'll never say no to holding one."

"Thank you professor." Professor Birch lead us into his home, towards the living room; inside, Kirlia was on a couch with a matronly-looking woman and a young boy - maybe ten years old... he was wearing a very familiar spiky white beanie. They were watching TV: an old episode of Spongebob, nice.

"Martha, Brendan, this is Tobias; the trainer I entrusted with the cyndaquil egg. As you can see, it just hatched."

Brendan and Kirlia both hopped off the couch to come and take a closer look at Cyndaquil, who was starting to rouse from all the excitement. "His thoughts are barely even existent at this stage... but he likes being in his father's arms," Kirlia idly remarked: I almost died to death at that cuteness overload, but managed to stay alive through sheer force of will.

"He's so small..." Brendan just stared in wonder at my amazing little guy.

"He'll get bigger - and eventually evolve; but for now he's just a tiny little thing. Martha, do you mind holding him while I go out to find formula for him? Birch thought that you would be amenable."

"Of course - I love babies... just not all the time," Martha replied, as she shot Birch the stink-eye; I guess he has a bad habit of bringing his 'work' home with him.

Birch spoke up, pretending he wasn't in any trouble, "the local pokemart closes soon; but they'll have anything you should need."

"Thanks again professor: you've been very good to us." He really had. I left the five of them to dote on Cyndaquil as I exited the house; only to run like a maniac as soon as I could: can't let the pokemart close before I get there.

*Espeon POV*

"So, Professor Birch, do you mind if I ask for your first name - Tobias probably forgot you would even have one," Espeon sighed out.

"Ha! He did say he was bad with names. My name is Chris; nice to formally meet you."

"A pleasure to formally meet you as well."

Espeon jumped up onto the couch beside Martha, just staring at Cyndaquil again: he was perfect... and her son. She couldn't stop from feeling giddy at the idea of being a mother; Tobias may have sprung it on her quite abruptly, but she couldn't be mad at the outcome.

"I know that look," Martha stated matter-of-factly, startling Espeon from her contemplation, "that's the look Chris and I both had when holding Brendan in the hospital for the first time... I'll never forget that day."

"Indeed: Martha was positively radiant then," Chris added on.

Brendan was sitting beside his mother, petting Cyndaquil gently, "I guess I was really small once too, huh?"

"Yes... and now you're almost ready to go on a journey yourself... time flies..." Chris gained a faraway look in his eyes, which Martha matched.

Kirlia was doing her own viewing from a distance, unable to keep herself from dancing around at the idea of becoming... wait... "Are you already calling yourself onee-chan in your own head? How many other anime have you been watching?" Naruto was the current shared series, but Kirlia was free to do whatever she wanted on her own time.

Kirlia paused and became embarrassed at that, not expecting to be called out, "not many, I assure you." Hmm... where had she even found the time? Oh well; it wasn't really Espeon's business anyway.

It was then that the front door could be heard opening, as heavy gasping for breath could be heard of a distinctly male persuasion - what was Tobias doing now?

The heavy breathing continued into the house, until Tobias appeared: with baby supplies in a convenience store bag. He bent over to lay it on the ground, before grabbing his knees and trying to get his breathing under control.

"What happened, young man?" Chris asked worriedly.

"Nothing... bad... professor... just ran... the whole way," Tobias slowly regained lung control.

Espeon wanted to be exasperated; but she could only feel warmth in her heart at the idea of her man going all out for their child. "Well, catch your breath before trying to make the formula - no need to hurt yourself," she lightly chided him.

"Yes, dear," Tobias shot her a wry grin, feeling how her love greatly overshadowed exasperation; his answering love was just as strong.

*Milotic POV*

The group had picked Milotic up on their way out of town the next day; their next destination was now locked in: Mauville. Tobias said that he had enough money to hit up two more cities for prism scales, before liquidating his assets; after telling everyone on the pokenet how to evolve a feebas first. Soon, Milotic's smaller brethren would become even more sought after than magikarp - a sure-fire evolution, in to a much more docile pokemon, would be very appealing to most.

Now they were on the road north of Oldale - just in front of a rather large river. Tobias had just returned all of the other pokemon - though he looked physically pained to be temporarily separated from his newly adopted son. Milotic herself hadn't interacted with the baby cyndaquil much, but she wasn't opposed to being the 'cool aunt' as Tobias had termed her. He still hadn't brought up Milotic's potential inclusion in his harem... the three girls were starting to believe he was wise to their schemes: blasted fairy aura making the user much too perceptive.

Doing that cheek slap thing, - it apparently allowed a human to change their state of mind instantly - Tobias turned to Milotic, "alright, it's up to you again, cool aunt - I expect to come out on the other side in once piece," Tobias made a bad joke: as if she would ever fail him in her natural habitat!

*Tobias POV*

We took a few days after Littleroot to meander up to Mauville. In that time, we continued watching Naruto, training, and doting on Cyndaquil... my little man is the cutest; even Milotic was warming up to him, after he gave her a cute little coo, as she was inspecting him. He already had enough strength to ride on top of her head as we travelled - he was growing up so fast. The psychics among us assured me that his thoughts were growing more coherent by the day: pokemon physically mature quickly. He apparently loved to look around from on high - especially at the rest of us: I could feel his familial love for all four of us.

But for now, Cyndaquil was sleeping in my arms, as we entered the city; just as the sun was beginning its descent in the sky. This was the biggest city I'd seen in the pokeworld yet - it was third in Hoenn; only behind Slateport and Lilycove.

My mental plans were quite clear about exactly where we were going from here: first things first; I'm buying out the cheap prism scales. Second: might as well beat Wattson while we're here anyway. Third: buy a bike and head south to Slateport. After buying more scales there, it will finally be time to bring 'Operation: Get Super Rich' to fruition. I even know where I want to go next after that.

The girls took Cyndaquil to the pokecenter, while I decided to scrounge up prism scales. My funds were definitely thinning; but we should be able to last until I can multiply my investment by a very large amount in Slateport - it just seems fitting to sell off my stock in Hoenn's largest city.

After buying only the cheapest prism scales I could find, it was time to book a time for my third badge; I was actually going to have to wait for once, as it was way too late to expect my challenge to be scheduled for tonight. As I expected, after the usual spiel and paperwork, Wattson was next available for a third badge challenge at noon tomorrow.

I headed back to the pokecenter myself, wondering what the girls were getting up to.

*Kirlia POV*

Kirlia had the pokenav all to herself again, as Espeon was busy playing with Cyndaquil - he was quite a cute little kit; his thoughts were becoming more robust by the hour. Milotic was - predictably - enjoying the center's outdoor pokemon pool.

Kirlia had been sampling some of the anime that Tobias had recommended to her; it was odd to think that he was originally from Earth - the fictional setting that many of the anime she had looked at were set in. It had been originally created by a group of writers as a 'what if' of sorts: of a world where pokemon did not exist. They had wanted a setting where pokemon could not easily assist in problems that humans found difficult to deal with on their own. It has long since become public domain and is an easy world to base any story that does not contain pokemon inside of.

Most anime not set in their own fictional worlds, were set in the Earth country of Japan - essentially the Earth version of the Indigo region; since anime originated in Indigo, it made a lot of sense. Kirlia had finally come to an anime that had fascinated her - one of Tobias' recommendations, named Initial D.

Gas-powered vehicles were not a common sight in the pokeworld - only extremely eccentric wealthy people and large companies used them consistently. But on Earth, pokemon couldn't easily fly you to your destination; teleportation didn't even exist - and no horse would ever run as fast as a speeding rapidash. Thus, the car racing of Initial D fascinated her: it was very detailed in describing just how a race between two of these vehicles would realistically occur. She had come across the 'tell instead of show' method of anime fight scenes already; Initial D really only described the things necessary for a layman to understand the action happening on screen.

However, something else also resonated with Kirlia: Takumi hadn't really been sure of what he had wanted in the beginning. Kirlia had known she had to get away from the coven; but it was only happenstance that Tobias' group had picked her up when they did. She hadn't had any real idea of where her life was heading before that; even now, she still wasn't sure if a harem was really for her... but seeing Tobias dote on Cyndaquil and Espeon so much... it was tempting.

But Takumi had found his passion and was steadily improving himself through it; Kirlia wanted something like that - she just hadn't found it yet. Oh well; anime binge watches will have to suffice for the moment.

XX

Kirlia appeared from her pokeball - those devices were very disorienting; fortunately, Tobias seemed to have something of an aversion to them and used them as sparingly as possible. Unfortunately, official league battles counted as a mandatory time to return all of your participating pokemon. Kirlia sensed Cyndaquil in Tobias' arms, even without looking: he was much too young to battle yet; let alone a gym battle such as this. She could feel the kit's interest in this battle: he was a curious one.

"Well my boy; let's see if that kirlia has what it takes, to face off against my magnemite!"

"I'm sure she'll do fine: I have confidence in my pokemon!" Kirlia could certainly feel Tobias' confidence in her abilities... she hoped that she could keep up the streak of gym sweeps.

After the pre-battle trash talk, the referee gave his rules spiel... everyone knew them by heart by now; but it was mandatory for legal reasons. Afterwards, with flags raised, the referee asked, "are both parties ready?"

"Absolutely!" Wattson exclaimed.

"Watch your nee-chan in action, Cyndaquil!" Kirlia could feel Tobias' amusement aimed at her - Espeon, why?!

Even the referee paused slightly at that out-of-left-field comment, but then dropped his flags, "Battle!"

"Shock that kirlia, Magnemite!"

"Dodge and confusions, Kirlia!"

Kirlia had been practicing her teleports recently; after evolving, they had become much more powerful. She was even teaching Espeon - but her fellow psychic was much slower than Kirlia with them currently. As the thunder shocks came towards her, she only had to give a little thought to relocating to the far side of Magnemite, before building up harmful psychic energy to envelop Magnemite in confusion.

Due to Magnemite's steel typing, it wasn't that effective; but so were all her other current moves. Tobias was teaching the others in his group about things they should know going forward: such as what each type is weak and strong against; and the typings of pokemon they are likely to encounter when going up against a certain gym leader.

It became a battle of attrition, but eventually, Kirlia stood tall over her defeated foe's body; she was starting to get tired though - could she make the sweep?

"I don't think I've ever seen such proficient use of teleports from a kirlia before: your training methods must be top-tier!" Wattson proclaimed happily - the audience hollered their own approval. Kirlia understood Milotic slightly better now - she could get used to this.

Tobias kept his sheepishness to himself: he was basically just letting Kirlia create her own training methods after all. "Yup; but Kirlia's the one who puts in all the hard work," Tobias was always quick with positive reinforcement.

Wattson considered his options for a moment, before releasing a voltorb, "get in there with spark!"

Almost before Kirlia could process what was happening, Voltorb was off like a shot; she barely had time to charge a teleport aimed right behind voltorb's current location - but she knew what to do now. Confusions were the order of the day; and Voltorb was not a steel type: Kirlia made quick work of her opponent this time.

"Excellent teleports indeed - I've seen gardevoirs that weren't that good at it; many people don't seem to realize the utility of instant relocation in battle."

"Absolutely: there's a reason I'm having Kirlia teach Espeon the move - it really is broken," Tobias replied smugly.

Wattson's emotions spiked with shock - but he kept it to himself, "impressive - espeon don't typically learn teleport naturally after all."

"Yeah, but I figured it was too good not to teach her: as you said; the utility truly is amazing."

"Indeed... I think your kirlia deserves a real challenge; just know there's no shame in losing to my next pokemon: I've been training them specifically for situations like this." With that ominous declaration, Wattson released a magneton from their ball: Kirlia was already tired and now she had to face down an even stronger pokemon than that annoying magnemite. "Use lock-on, Magneton!"

"Crapbaskets - don't even try to dodge Kirlia; just hit it while it sets up for now!" Kirlia obeyed, surrounding Magneton in confusion.

"No mercy - zap cannon!"

"Shit! Brace and use heal pulse on yourself: ride out the hit!" Kirlia did exactly what Tobias ordered - as she was hit with the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. When it was over, she could feel her muscles spasming without her input - paralysis.

Feeling Kirlia's determination, Tobias didn't hesitate, "it's all or nothing Kirlia: confusions as strong as you can make them; don't even bother moving!" She did just that - pouring more of herself into the move than she ever had before.

At first, it looked like Magneton had just shrugged her efforts off - but then it crashed directly into the ground: but it wasn't knocked out. "Snap out of it, Magneton! Confusion at the worst time!" Wattson bemoaned.

"Don't let up! This is your best shot!" Kirlia continued to pour all of her effort into confusions; eventually, Magneton couldn't take any more abuse - both self-inflicted and not: it was truly KO'ed.

The referee raised his flag in Tobias' direction, "Magneton is unable to battle! Kirlia and Tobias are the winners over Wattson for the Dynamo Badge!" The crowd was giving a standing ovation after that intense battle. "I got the sweep..." was Kirlia's last message to Tobias, before she whited out...

*Cynadquil POV*

Was Onee-chan hurt? Cyndaquil didn't like being hurt - but he was always safe in Daddy's arms.

*Tobias POV*

I returned Kirlia to her pokeball for easier transport - she really went the extra mile in that fight: my heart skipped a beat when she collapsed; but it was just exhaustion.

I met Wattson on the field, the crowd's applause beginning to die down, "outstanding showing, lad! Not many people can claim to have swept a third badge challenge with only one pokemon!"

"She really wanted to live up to my other pokemon's own sweeps."

"Ha! Well a third badge challenge isn't like the first two - as you saw, I'm allowed to take off the kiddy gloves if I want: that kirlia of yours is already a monster though!" He then looked at Cyndaquil, "now that's almost as rare around here as a shiny kirlia."

"He's my pride and joy! But there's something I'd like to ask you in private; if you don't mind."

Wattson looked intrigued, "by all means; let's go talk in my office." When we arrived, he handed me my badge, "almost forgot that, ha! Now; what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I've been learning about aura lately - apparently old trainers are the most likely to know anything about it."

"Who're you calling old?" Wattson said on reflex; before thinking through what I had just said. "Huh, not many your age know of aura: it's a potentially dangerous subject. Ignorance is bliss: and the league wants it to stay that way."

"Hmm, I talked to Mr. Briney over by Petalburg about it - he seemed downright afraid of it as a concept." I decided not to reveal my own bullshit level of aura use to him: I'm not repeating the Mr. Briney incident.

Wattson grimaced, "yeah, he's had it rough on the ocean at times; he's got a healthy amount of respect for anyone who can use their aura with any proficiency."

Pretending that did not apply to me, I continued, "Brian over in Dewford didn't even know it was that big a deal - but he could use his own aura a bit."

"Oho, little Brian can use his aura already? He's pretty young for that." I'm not self-conscious about how I'm literally a body-stealer from another universe, with potentially multiple gods' blessings: you are!

"So, I take it you won't really tell me much about it?"

"Sorry lad, but that's just not information I can give out willy-nilly; trust me: it's better if it stays as rare as possible."

I pretended everything was fine, "alright, well, thanks for humoring me anyway."

"Not a problem! I'm looking forward to following your career."

XX

After making sure Kirlia was okay at the pokecenter, - she'll be fine - I decided there was no reason to burn daylight: I wanted to hit Slateport tonight. Fortunately, the most famous bike shop in Hoenn was located in Mauville; it was known for customer satisfaction.

After a quick stop to get a fancy folding bike, - it fits perfectly into my bag of holding - I rode it to the entrance of the cycling road between Mauville and Slateport. Milotic immediately hopped in the water: we had already hashed out where to go; she'll meet us there. Espeon was holding Cyndaquil on her back with psychic power... so cute. Kirlia, of course, was still resting in her ball.

"Alright gang: we're just getting started!" I grandly proclaimed, while pointing towards Slateport. I ignored the others' reactions; I'm just too awesome for them.