Pokemon: Fate's Path

Chapter 14

Freya Stark

We walked from the stalls and shops along the east side of Iceshore and through the larger, busier, urban district slightly to check it out as well as we made our way to the north western part of the city. I was impressed with how the city meshed together- the outer parts seemed older, especially near the Pokémon Center and the docks from what little glances I managed to get of them- while the center was full of taller important looking buildings and homes. Jay would answer our questions about this or that but she mainly stayed silent otherwise and I got the feeling she wasn't keen on going home.

I wasn't sure why though when we finally got there. The place was huge! Well the house was a pretty average size: two or three bedrooms, possibly two bathrooms, a garage, and probably a decent sized living room and kitchen too judging by the number of windows at least. But the entire thing had a large fence around it with pokémon roaming around and another fancier building off to the side seemed to be where they actually stayed. Jay ignored the pokémon as she unlocked the gate and led us through as they gave us curious but friendly looks. I expected her to head to the house first but instead she made directly for the other building. I was right behind her as she let us inside. The barn was like any other mostly, stalls for the pokémon, tall, filled with supplies in some places. But it was also a little like a lab with some of the equipment near the incubators where some eggs were resting safely, numbers and words flashing across the screen.

"This place is cool." I commented. "So... your parents are breeders?"

Jay shrugged. "Yeah. The starters the professors give out to new trainers are bred and raised here until they're ready to be sent to their lab in Rookrust."

"I see." Soren moved forward to look into a stall where a rapidash has moved to stare at us. "So, why didn't you just get Litten while you were here?"

"Because the Alolan starters aren't in yet so we couldn't breed them. Though, my parents plan to get them soon I think." She didn't seem too interested.

We continued to look around, spreading out slightly but not wandering off completely just yet. I moved over to the eggs. "So, you knew a lot about pokémon before starting your journey didn't you?"

"Yeah. I did but it doesn't really help with actual problems that come up. You can't raise a pokémon that you catch in the wild the same way you raise one that you hatch. There's a bond between trainer and pokémon but ones from the wild are more out of respect for the trainer's power while a hatched pokémon tends to love its trainer out of a friendship, though... I guess any pokémon loves a trainer over time." Jay shrugged and walked over to where the eggs were incubating. "These pokémon will be stronger than those from the wild once they're hatched, even more so once they get the proper training."

"Well said." I turned quickly at the male's voice to see him walking over, a tauros at his side.

Jay shifted slightly but didn't respond to the complement, merely handing over the bag of supplies before glancing at us. "Um, this is my father..."

"You must be Jay's friends." He smiled slightly. "Welcome to our home."

Soren moved closer slightly. "Thanks, uh, I'm Soren."

"I'm Freya." I spoke up, before quickly introducing the other two. "And those two are Ivan and Josef."

"Nice to meet you." Jay's dad nodded. "You can call me Leon. Follow me, I'll take you inside, my wife should almost be done cooking soon."

I followed behind Leon, glancing back at the eggs in an attempt to guess what pokémon would hatch out. The tauros that had been with him moved off back into an empty stall as it saw us leave, glancing at Jay in recognition before laying down to rest. Inside the house we were greeted by a small growlithe and a bored looking glameow, both wanting to know why strangers were invading their territory.