Becoming a Hero
Chapter 2: Calm Before a Storm
By: Dark rose Hikari
"No! Absolutely not!" Alymere's father shouted as he slammed his hands down on the table. "You are not going on a Pokémon journey and that's final!" Silence reigned for a moment as everyone present (both humans and Pokémon) looked from Alymere to her father, then back. Anyone who knew the Baker family would tell you the two most stubborn members were the father and youngest daughter.
"But Dad!" Alymere looked up at her father, holding the egg in her lap "Everyone else gets to go on a Pokémon journey at age 10!" The young Audino finished its Pokéfood and crept over to the lavender haired girl, gently latching on to her sleeve for comfort.
"You don't even have a starting Pokémon!" Her father countered staring at his youngest daughter. The attack by Team Plasma on his daughter had shaken him… and now this little Alymere, the child he was closest too, wanted to go out into certain danger and travel alone with almost no protection. "How will you look after yourself?"
"Don't forget you and Mom have been paying me for making the milk runs every week for the past 3 years and I haven't spent so much as one credit of that allowance. I'll be fine as long as I'm careful with my money." Alymere paused then lifted the egg from her lap for everyone to see, "And this will be my first Pokémon once it hatches."
"You don't know anything about it." Mr. Baker retorted back. He didn't trust that egg, why had Team Plasma been chasing the other man for it? Would they come after Alymere if they figured out that she had it? "I don't think you understand just how dangerous this situation is, young lady." Alymere was about to open her mouth to protest that statement and plead her case once more when her mother raised her hand for silence.
"Alymere… Why don't you take your dinner upstairs to your room and finish it while you do some packing?" At first Alymere didn't move trying to figure out why she was being sent from the table. After about a minute of silence she angrily rose from her seat and stormed up the stairs, leaving her plate behind.
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Later
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Theodore Baker and his wife Anise had much to talk about. Theodore sat on their bed while Anise slowly put her long black hair into curlers, both unaware their youngest daughter was outside their door. Alymere had packed her clothes and had been expecting everyone to be asleep by this point, now she was frozen outside her parent's room afraid that the noise of either advancement or retreat would draw their attention.
"You know," Mr. Baker said as he shook his head "I always thought that by the time I saw our third child off on these adventures I would be used to it. But I'm not and this is the hardest one yet."
"If you think about it." His wife countered as her dark brown eyes met her husband's blue through the mirror, "When Arthur left Alymere was just learning to walk, and when Morgan took her turn Ally was just starting the Driftveil milk run on her own, none of this is surprising. You're just suddenly realizing all our kids are growing up and you have nothing to distract yourself anymore." Mr. Baker stared at his wife and chuckled a little.
"You know me better than I know myself, love." Theodore leaned back on the bed gazing at the ceiling with rapt attention. "So… What do we do? Just let her go, knowing Team Plasma might go after her? If she were leaving in a group with some close friends I might be more comfortable… She probably hates me right now."
"You are being way too hard on yourself. The both of you are like a pair of bookends, she doesn't hate you, though if she was half as much trouble as you were at that age I'd be worried about her sneaking out." Outside the room Alymere blushed in the darkness as she hoisted her bags over her shoulder to keep from having to put them down and make noise. "Any how," Anise Baker continued, "She was never the close friends type, she gets along great with Pokémon but not other people… she inherited someone's stubborn need to always win."
"OK ouch." Theodore winced, he and his daughter did match more than he liked to admit, she had his hair, his posture and way of walking, and last but not least his stubborn attitude, "It's a good trait in a Pokémon trainer! It means she won't quit and come home before she's finished growing!"
"Yes but it also means she will press on no matter how dangerous things get… What we need to do is make her compromise." She pointed to her husband who had his mouth open in a decent impression of a Magikarp. "I know that's a foreign concept so pay attention. Elgyem can teleport her to Nuvema Town, She stays there until the egg hatches, then goes on her journey. The Plasma people will be expecting her to start from here in Castelia or over in Nimbassa."
"Assuming Juniper says yes." Theodore began to counter, "….You already called him, didn't you?"
"As soon as I hung up the phone from Clay, yes." Anise grinned as she once again shocked her husband.
"Ok, so you planned all this out… but one thing isn't clear. What part of this is a compromise on her part?" Theodore crossed his arms trying not to look like he was sulking; adult ex-Pokémon trainers did NOT sulk.
"Well she can't start off right away like she wanted." Anise clarified "She has to wait for it to hatch, and Juniper promised to keep her in Nuvema till the hatchling was on par with what is normally given to starting trainers." Anise moved over and lay down next to her husband turning off the bedroom lights. "Now Shhh, lets sleep now so we can outsmart our daughter in the morning if she tries to fight the plan."
Soon both parents were asleep, leaving Alymere standing on the stairs feeling foolish. Here she thought she would have to leave in the middle of the night… but her parents…. Ok her mother, had already planned it all. Sheepishly the 10 year-old girl climbed the back stairs to her room and eased into the bed, dreams of her journey lulling her off to sleep.
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The next morning
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The first sign that that morning was different came when dawn arrived, at first Alymere was confused because she was usually going back to bed at daybreak, then she remembered today was the start of her Pokémon journey. Alright maybe not the actual start, but once she and her parents had their talk she would be leaving home.
The second sign was the youngest Audino clung to the girl like it had been glued in place. Clearly it didn't want her to go without it. Whenever it was forced to relinquish its hold on Alymere it began to cry and sob, volume escalating until the 10 year old was certain it would wake the whole house. This was finally put to a stop by Morgan Baker coming out of her room and capturing the tiny creature in an ultra ball.
Alymere stared at her older sister; Morgan had inherited their mother's Raven hair and shared her brown eyes with Alymere. The only difference was she had inherited some of her facial structure from their paternal grandmother. This made her resemble a face one would see on a stern angel in a renaissance painting and this morning, half asleep and angry; she was scarier than a Garados.
"You!" Morgan shouted pointing at her little sister "Waking the entire house, typical… Mom" Morgan broke off ranting and yawned loudly "Wants you fed, dressed, and packed by the time she gets back from the milk run."
Backing away from Morgan, Alymere began apologizing profusely as her sister slowly retreated back into her bedroom. Once the door was closed the youngest Baker continued down to the kitchen, only to find her brother Arthur sitting there with a large breakfast waiting. Blue eyed and black haired with a smile that made most girls melt Arthur was the friendliest of the Baker offspring, his only fault was that he was a morning person, something that neither Morgan nor Alymere appreciated.
"And there she is, my dearest little sister!" Arthur practically sing-songed as he picked Alymere up into a hug, spun her around, and then began pinching her cheek. "The little baby is all grown up and heading out into the world!" Arthur put his little sister down and gasped theatrically, pretending to cry and wiping his eyes with his apron "I'm so proud!" There was a loud sigh as Arthur's purple Audino, fully used to its trainer's overly dramatic behavior, rolled it's eyes and patted him on the shoulder.
"Shouldn't you be advising me like a good older brother instead of picking on me?" Alymere said as she slid over to the kitchen table and began eating breakfast at a pace only a 10 year old in a hurry was capable of.
"Um, no." Arthur said with a loud laugh as he refilled his sister's plate. "As an older sibling it is my duty to make any major event in your life as embarrassing as possible."
"Will the both of you shut up!" Morgan yelled down from her room "I am trying to get some beauty sleep!"
"It won't help!" Both Arthur and Alymere chorused back before grinning at each other and then Arthur got down to business
"So you want advice?" Arthur began, Ally nodded and waited "Unless you need special medicine or capture balls, avoid the shops." Arthur sensed his sister was about to say something but held up his hand "Listen I haven't seen a potion yet that smelled like something I would actually drink. Bottled water, Soda pop, Lemonade, and Moo Moo Milk are much cheaper than their potion counterparts. Only use them, your Pokémon will thank for it."
"I thought you weren't going to advise me?" Alymere said as she helped herself to a french toast stick from the plate in front of her.
"I wasn't, but if you're going out, I don't want you to be a failure like Morgan." Arthur grinned as he heard a loud angry noise coming from his sister's room; though whether it was her or her liepard that made the noise couldn't be told.
"She didn't fail…" Ally defended her sister "She wants to be a Pokémon musical writer, and is staying at home while interning there."
"She left wanting to be a battler, then a coordinator, and now… whatever you just said." Arthur pointed out "Eventually Mom will put her back on track; maybe send her to visit our family in Hoenn where there are more contests. But that brings me to my last bit of advice. Whatever you do, do it to the best of your ability and don't give up, reach for the stars and go beyond if you can."
"Wow… that is so corny. I expected that sort of thing from dad." Alymere snickered as she gathered her plate and began washing them in the sink.
"Hey, don't lump me in with the old man!" Arthur said as he ruffled his little sister's hair then handed her a piece of paper. "It's too bad we didn't get to hang out more when you were growing up runt, anyhow there's my transceiver number. If you have any problems or want to check in, call it anytime."
"You won't be saying that if I ring you at 4 in the morning to talk about Rattata or something." Alymere pointed out as she took the paper and copied the number in a phone book and placing that in her bag. "Okay… Bag, check. Transceiver and Pokétech, check. Egg, check. Food, check. Water filter, check. Balls, check." Ally had barely finished going through her supplies list when her parents arrived back from buying milk.
"Arceus, My legs are killing me." Ally's father said as he collapsed in one of the kitchen chairs. "All these years of not walking that far, I forgot how tough that trip is." it was then that he noticed one of the breakfast plates on the table. "Oooh breakfast, Arthur you're a wonder"
"Don't whine in front of the children dear, it sets a bad example." Anise Baker told her husband as she came in the kitchen behind him and removed her goggles and sat gracefully in one of the other empty chairs.
"Alymere, Your father and I wish to apologize for last night." Anise smiled and Theodore nodded. "Truth is… You're our baby and last night we treated you as such instead of talking it out like rational adults." Pausing in her speech Anise scooped a Pokéball from her waist and released a small blue Pokémon, almost two feet tall with black lines on its face, the Pokémon also had glowing green crystal eyes as well as three colored gems in each hand. "Roswell, here will take you to Nuevema Town… All we ask is that you just wait a little while before leaving there."
"You mean until this egg hatches and is able to take down some of the local wildlife?" Ally asked as she hoisted her bag and collected her egg under one arm, it had not seemed close to hatching yet but everything she had read on the subject told the girl that with care and attention that could change at any moment. "I was planning on lying low somewhere anyway… until this whole thing blew over a little… Hey!"
Apparently not wanting to sit through a long series of goodbyes Roswell the Elgyem suddenly grabbed Alymere's hand and in a flash of purple light the 10-year old found herself standing outside of a large house with many windows and a red roof. Next to the door there was a brass plate that read "Professor Cedric Juniper & Aurea Juniper." Ally looked around bewildered for a few moments and realized what had happened turning to the Elgyem to get it to take her back but it was already gone. Alymere blinked a few times wondering what to do before her transceiver rang with a text message.
"Are you in Nuvema? Elgyem just arrived home. Anyway your father and I wish you good luck, the Professor's will be expecting you and please remember to call or we will worry." Glad her parents weren't worried about her Ally texted back that she was fine and knocked on the door to the lab.
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weeks later
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Alymere soon settled in to the pulse of life in Nuvema Town, She often spent her days helping people around town or looking after several young children who lived there. They made her the referee in their games and when she wasn't playing with she could be found walking to the abandoned boat launch at the end of the disused road leading to route 17, Sewing or reading under a large flowering tree behind the lab, or helping the Junipers tend the Pokémon they raised. Wherever she went however one thing never changed, her Pokémon egg was always with her.
"So… what is it going to be anyway?" asked one of the children one warm afternoon.
"Hmmm?" Alymere said as she looked up from a black tunic she was hemming to see a young boy with black hair and glasses, all of 3 years old he wore a white shirt and black overalls under a large blue coat that his older brother had left behind upon starting his own journey. His name was Cheren and he stood there pointing at Alymere's egg. "Oh, sorry Cheren. But I don't know what it will be."
"But why?" Cheren said with a solemn pout as if not knowing something was somehow fundamentally wrong.
"Because it was given to me so I never saw the parents, besides you can't know everything or life loses some of it's mystery" Alymere looked down at the winter tunic she was working on and would probably need before the year was out. As she looked down though Ally saw the egg twitch slightly "though it moves around inside sometimes. So It must be close to hatching, I guess we'll all find out soon enough."
"Can I watch it hatch?" Cheren looked up at Alymere hopefully as he took the older girl's hand and they took a walk down to the boat launch to watch Basculin spar with one another.
"Only if it happens during the day."
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Later
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As it turned out, it didn't happen during the day but rather late that evening. Alymere lay in her bed in the lab curled up around the egg, trying to ignore the sounds of a late spring storm outside. The 10 year old was so distracted by the raging winds outside that she failed to notice faint sounds issuing from inside the egg. Just as the storm was reaching its peak suddenly a loud cracking sound split the air of the room accompanied by a flash of red light, surprised by all this Ally shrieked and tumbled off the bed. More cracking could be heard and then a quiet rasping, just as Alymere calmed herself enough to realize what had just happened a small, red domed helmet and a pair of golden cat-like eyes peered down from the top of the bed.
Rising to her feet Alymere sat on the bed staring at her Pokémon partner. It stood barely over a foot tall and looked like the armor belonging to a doll samurai with a small sharp bladed horn on top of its head, a pair of claws that more resembled daggers in shape, and two slots in its chest from out of which slid a pair of hooked blades.
"Pewh?...Pwawn!" the newly hatched Pokémon was cold and confused it had been warm in the egg and under the blanket… and it could tell this was the being that had watched over its egg, but now as it reached up and asked to be carried did the human look frightened.
'It wants up?... but short of losing a hand… how?' Alymere thought as she stared. Finally the little creature grabbed her wrist, careful not to use the sharp edges, and placed the hand to its one of its chest blades which retracted at the slightest pressure. Realizing she wouldn't be cut Ally scooped the newborn Pokémon into her arms, cuddling it close and humming a lullaby as the storm outside continued to rage.