A Late Start

Hatchling

"Hey, Lexi, are you up?" Alyssa whispered, just barely loud enough to cross our room.
"More or less," I groaned back. "What's up, Can't sleep?"
"No, it's not that, I keep hearing these weird noises." We both went silent, listening. The room was filled with little more than the quiet hum of our incubators.
"They've been doing that all night Aly, It's been a week now, are you not used to it yet?"
"Not THAT noise, it's like, a cracking, creaking sound." I listened again to the ambience within our room, sure enough, underneath the hum of the machines, there was a faint crack every few seconds.
"Huh, you're right, It's really quiet but definitely there."
"You think it means..."
"Well, it's definitely possible, they were supposed to be close to hatching." I glanced up at the digital clock hanging from the wall in front of my bed; 6:56 flashed on the display. "Sun'll be up soon, wanna take a walk to the cafeteria and see if we can beat the lines?"
"Yeah, I don't see why not." She yawned. I could barely make out her silhouette as she sat up. I slipped out of bed and into my slippers. Alyssa opened up our curtains and flipped the lights on, I flinched from the sudden burst of light before throwing my bag over my shoulder, grabbing the strap of my incubator and sliding it over the other side, the container leaning against my back.
"You know you don't have to carry that thing around with you everywhere right?" Aly asked quietly, her voice still waking up.
"Yeah, I know, just feel better having it close. Besides, it weighs like five pounds."
"Suit yourself," she said over her shoulder as she picked up her hair into a simple ponytail.
"Let's get going, cafeteria opens in like a minute." I made my way to the door, opening it and standing just outside.
"Alright, coming." she practically tripped over her own feet, hands still in her hair adjusting her fringe.
"You got your keycard?"
"Yeah, I don't plan on forgetting It again." We both laughed as I pulled the door shut and headed off down the hall. The automatic lights came on about halfway down the hall.
"Seven o'clock," I announced in jest.
"I wonder why they set the lights to come on at seven specifically, why not just, whenever there was someone in the halls."
"I guess this is just the earliest they expected anyone to be up. Not that I blame them." I yawned again.
"Well, What time would you usually be awake?"
"Normally I won't get out of bed until at least eight, but I'm just so amped about finally getting to train a Pokemon I can't keep myself asleep."
"Me too, I hope that I get a cute one."
"Heh, who knows. Only time will tell." The doors to the cafeteria slid open as we approached, The room was empty, outside of us and a handful of staff preparing breakfast for everyone.
"You girls are up early," One of the workers chimed in from behind the counter.
"Yeah, we were both up and figured we'd get started early. What've you got for us this morning anyway?" I replied.
"Pancakes today Ladies, take as many as you want, there's plenty to go around."
"Nice," I said quietly. I could practically feel Alyssa's excitement behind me.
"Well, you heard 'em, Lexi, let's go and help ourselves." She took off towards the counter before even finishing her sentence. I chuckled to myself and followed her over. We each grabbed a Plate, Alyssa grabbed one with 4 of the round cakes on it, mine only had 3.
"You must like pancakes huh Aly?"
"Yeah!" She practically shouted. "I almost never get to have these at home."
"I could teach you how to make them yourself if you want someday."
"That would be awesome Lexi, would you?"
"Sure thing, remind me someday we have some free time, It's pretty easy you know." By this point we had both sat down and started eating.
"So. What kinda pokemon do you think is in there?" Aly asked, pointing her fork at the machine still draped over my shoulder.
"Oh, I have no idea. I'll be happy regardless of what it is. If I can get this right, maybe mom will let me get a pokemon of my own back home too."
"Ooh, that's a good point, I better do extra well here, maybe when we're both trainers we can meet up again someday and have a battle."
"Hey, who knows. Anything is possible."
"You'd better show me what Unova is like."
"Only if you'll show me Alola."
"It's a deal then."
"I suppose it is." We both giggled a little over the idea. "It would be nice to have a friend in a different region, would make travel not feel as lonely."
"Plus we'd have more reason to go. Since we could visit each other."
"Yeah, that too."