PokeVentures - Honorable Hoenn - Yokai Backstory

Honorable Hoenn - Part Seven

"Since you've healed up, there's something I want to show you." Rowen winks and leads me by my arm to an empty corner of the living room only to pull open a secret trap door. "Under this cabin is a cave. It used to be an aqueduct but it's dried up and empty. We're too old to climb down this ladder but we thought that you would enjoy fixing it up and using it as your own space for all your pokemon."

I give him a surprised look and quickly stick my head in the door. "Woah!" It's too dark for me to see anything but there's light coming from somewhere inside the cave. I can hear some movement echoing on the stone walls along with my voice. "There's something in there.."

"Part of it caved in a while ago, before you came here. But it can be fixed up as an emergency exit." Rowen tells me with a smile before pulling me back up. "Don't fall in, silly."

"I won't!" I chuckle and get up to my feet again. "Arcanine, Cameron, Louie! Return to your pokeballs! We're gonna clean out the.." I pause and shake my head, my mind blanking for a minute moment. "The cave!" I grab the balls they vanish into and climb down the wooden ladder.

When I get on the ground I release them again. "Alright Arcanine. Light up the place." He growls and uses Overheat, lighting up the whole cave for a moment long enough to scare off the Murkrow out of the cave. The rapid flames engulf the nests and scattered branches, providing more light as we begin to search around. "Oh?" I find a little crawl in space where a single Murkrow egg sits alone. "The poor thing.." I stand up in the little room I've found myself in and pick up the egg. "I've never hatched an egg before..." I smile and bring the egg with me as I crawl out. "Did you three find anything?" I look around as they respond with various barks and yips. "Return!"

They bound over and flash into their pokeballs. I make sure they are hooked on my belt before I run over to the ladder. "Rowen! I found something really..." I have to search my memory for the right word to say after the thought fled away. "Really cool! Throw down my backpack!"

"What did you find?" He grabs my empty backpack from under the couch and throws it down to me. I put the egg in the bag and hang it on my shoulders. "An egg!" I smile up at him as I make my way up the ladder. "We scared off all the..." I space out as I try to think of the pokemon name. Rowen ends up clapping his hands to get my attention back. "We scared off a bunch of Murkrow but this egg as abandoned." I walk over to the couch and take out the egg. "Isn't it cool?" I wrap it in a blanket and set it on the couch to stay warm.

"It's beautiful." He chuckles and sits on my other side. "Are you going to raise it yourself?"

"Definitely. A Murkrow will be a great addition to my team." My other Absols approach the egg and sniff it. I can't help to laugh a little as they give each other confused looks. I pet each of them and let Arcanine, Louie, and Cameron out so they can see the egg too. Two of my Abols, Knight and Jessica, seem especially attached to the new egg, creating an idea in my head. "Will you two keep the egg warm? I don't think just a blanket will work." They look up at me and respond with a determined nod.

"How sweet!" Lisa says as she walks over with a bowl of warm oatmeal. "Those two will be great parents." She sets the bowl down and pets the two Absols. "You two are just so cute!"

I get up and bring the egg to the floor, keeping the blanket around it to act like a nest so it doesn't roll or move. "There has to be at least one pokemon with the egg at all times, otherwise it could get too cold." Rowen tells the crowd of pokemon. "But there's plenty of you to make sure that happens." He chuckles and gets up to get his own bowl of oatmeal from the stove.

Lisa sits down where the egg once was. "You'll have to get an incubator some day. You could probably breed your Absols after we fix up the cave."

"Well that's up to them. Jessica is the only.... girl I've caught." I chuckle weakly, used to my weird pauses and stutters now, and watch Jessica and Knight lay together around the egg. "But we'll see. Maybe I should go... catch another female."

"Some day. For now you have your work cut out for you. You have that whole cave to fix up first. So go eat some oatmeal, it'll help you finish healing."

"I'm just fine, Lisa. Don't worry." I get up and go over to the stove.

"She's gonna worry no matter what you say. Just let her take care of you." Rowen says with a smile. "So eat up."