New Life - Part 3

Ross felt the sudden need to bang his head against a wall, tree, rock or whatever was around; yet he was wise enough not to do it.

Five weeks! Five weeks and three days had already gone by and he was still unable to tell her! Not a better explanation than being a coward.

He was sure Saria wasn't even enjoying whatever time they were spending together anymore, he had been way too nervous about it lately. As a result everything he said felt awkward and either he ended up just running away under any excuse or she would just walk away without a word.

Maybe he had been way too obvious and Saria had already guessed his intentions? The Leafeon was probably struggling to find a way of rejecting him once and for all while still being nice about it, after all she did see him as one of her best friends. This was indeed an extremely hard, if not impossible, feat for her.

Deep down he wished for the Leafeon to reject him once an for all. Yes, it was going to hurt, but once the doubt was gone he would be able to live with it. Yet there was also the high probability that Saria treated him differently once he popped the question, becoming distant over time...

Well, worrying about it wasn't going to do anything, just trouble himself even more. He had to calm down and go back to Saria, stick to the plan. At least he had a fairly decent excuse this time.

"Ross, What took you so long?" The Leafeon's face seemed to lit up as she saw him come back.

"Beats me, must have been something I ate," Ross chuckled as least nervously as he could. He instantly recognized his mistake when he noticed the look of concern on her face. "(Really smooth Ross, you really do know how to impress the lady, don't you?)" Ross mentally facepalmed.

However, it all turned out better than he had expected when he saw her let out a small laugh. "I'm pretty sure you just ate too much again. Try laying it down a bit on the cookies next time, OK?" She giggled as she poked his belly in a rather playful way.

"Hey! I don't see you holding back on them either," Ross said with a mocking hint of edge in his voice.

"Oh really? When was the last time you saw me?"

"Well, how about this morning when Scratch crashed the cookie jar into the floor? I clearly saw you sneak out at least five or six cookies before master came in."

The Leafeon blinked in surprise, the Raichu had a more watchful eye than she had expected. "Oh, so you did notice that? I really can't say I regret it though," Saria giggled mischievously.

For a moment they remained in near total silence as the laughter faded out and they just stared firmly at each other, almost hypnotized by the sight of them alone.

This was the right moment to act: they was no one else around, she seemed to be enjoying herself and he wasn't overly nervous. It was now or never.

However, before any of them had a chance to say anything else Ross noticed a familiar Pachirisu coming straight at them. The Leafeon turned around as well, the Pachirisu was yelling something really loudly. Neither of them couldn't tell what but judging by his excitement it had to be good news.

"Brother!!!" Scratch hollered bouncing up and down in excitement as he came to a near stop. "The egg! I saw it move! It's about to hatch!!!"

Saria gasped in excitement and they both stood up at the moment. Seeing that now they knew Scratch turned around and rushed back, shortly followed by the Raichu and Leafeon.

By the time they reached where Napoleon and Cotton were they found out that at least half the ranch had already gathered near them. The egg lied on the Cotton's arms, with several cracks already noticeable.

While everyone's attention was set on the egg tumbling back and forth quite violently now, Ross managed to take a quick peak at Cotton and Napoleon's faces.

He had already seen several eggs hatch before, and yet this was so different: this was one of his teammates, one of his best friend's child hatching. The look on their faces... He couldn't remember having seeing Napoleon this excited, or Cotton so proud before.

Finally, the first piece of the egg shell came apart. It was but a tiny hole, yet everyone went dead silent at the moment. The very tip of a tiny red paw peaked out as well as a small grunt was heard. The paw then went back inside and a tiny grey nose began to peak out in its place.

The nose sniffed out a few times before the small grunt was heard again. The crack in the egg shell began to grow larger as the head began to push against it. Not before long the egg finally cracked open to reveal a small grey  Vulpix-like creature with a tuff of red hair over its head, similarly-colored paws and a bushy, gray bushy tail not unlike the one of an Eevee.

The young creature's eyes slowly opened and stared at the Lopunny who was holding her before letting out a small moan. The exclamation of awe was general, save for Cotton, who limited herself to smile warmly at her newly born daughter.

"Hello sweety, I'm your mother," she said softly as she gently stroke the creature's face. She then proceeded to lift her out of whatever remained of the egg and held her in her arms closely against her chest.

Their master had already told her that it wasn't a Pokemon she knew anything about, coming from a distant region, and she was able to tell that now. Yet, this didn't seem to bother her at all. It was also a girl; she didn't know exactly how but she somehow knew it since a while, and she had this feeling that Napoleon knew as well.

"Napoleon..." Cotton giggled softly as the young creature rubbed her head against the Lopunny's chest, making herself comfortable. The Lopunny then lifted her up and handed her over to Napoleon.

The Floatzel took the child in his arms carefully and lifted her up, feeling proud but also awed and puzzled over what to do. The creature just leaned her head to the side and stared at his face curiously for a moment, then gave out what sounded like a snicker before revealing her teeth in a playful, mischievous way.

She had smiled, his own daughter had smiled at him. An unexplainable joy came to him and almost unwillingly revealed his own teeth at her in the same mischievous way.

It was by this time that Elisa appeared, intrigued by her Pokemon gathering around without her even asking them to. "What's going on guys? I'm not even making lunch yet if that's what you're waiting f- Huh?! A Zorua?! But how...?" Her voice trailed of. He had only heard and seen a few pictures of Unovan Pokemon so far, and apparently it was uncommon to find a wild Zorua even at the far away region. She couldn't explain how could one of them have wandered over to his ranch. On a closer look it wasn't common for Napoleon to be holding a stranger Pokemon if it wasn't for giving it a beating unless...

The breeder's jaw dropped at once, "The egg... A Zorua... It was a Zorua all along?" She gasped. It took her yet another moment to realize what had just happened. "Oh my god! Cotton! Napoleon! The egg...!!! You guys...!!!" The trainer yelled, still too excited to finish any phrase coherently, as she ran to her Lopunny with arms wide open and nearly crushing her ribs in the process. Cotton let out a muted yelp of pain but still managed to return the hug.

Napoleon's instinctive feelings kicked in at the barely audible sound of pain of his mate. He held the newborn close to him protectively, bared his fangs, gave the initial note of a growl and prepared to pounce at her attacker.

He forced himself to a stop at the moment though. This was their master he was talking about, she couldn't mean any real harm.

It was only until then that he realized he had been a split second from attacking his own master. The guilt sank in as he saw Elisa let go of Cotton and look at him slightly frightened. His head sank down in shame at the moment.

Elisa walked over to him slowly, "... Napoleon? It's OK, you didn't actually do anything, did you?" The breeder said almost jokingly as her hand gently fell over his head.

The Floatzel took in a deep breath as he looked at his daughter, she had probably already seen a side of him he would have rather not shown her yet. However, she looked at much a bit puzzled, but nothing as near as terrified.

The breeder also noticed this. "Now Napoleon, can I have a look?" She asked calmly. Napoleon sighed deeply before handing over his daughter to his master.

Elisa made sure to be extremely careful, this wasn't just a rare Pokemon from a distant region but also the son of two of her Pokemon; daughter on a closer look. After a short inspection the findings were astounding: she hadn't really seen many of her kind before but she was able to come to a conclusion, "Oh my, just look at you. You have to be the cutest Zorua I've ever seen," she exclaimed as she tickled her under the chin, earning a small cry of delight from the Zorua.

Zorua, the name of her species rang on Napoleon's mind as his trainer handed the small Pokemon back to Cotton. His sight fell on his daughter, then on Cotton, then on his daughter again. He realized he knew next to nothing about his own daughter, he would have to learn fast or things would get out of his hands quickly.

What lied ahead was sure to be hard, but just by looking at his mate and daughter, somehow, he already knew everything would be worth it.

***

The Raichu stared in disbelief at the sudden transformation of Napoleon. No matter how many times Cotton, Veruka or Saria had told him he wasn't as bad as he let show, that he had a soft spot, he never really thought he would live to see it. Now it was as if he was looking at a different Floatzel, sitting down right next to Cotton and caressing the young Zorua on her arms.

This couldn't be the same Napoleon he knew. No, it was the same, it still had his own vibe to it. Deep down, even with all that pride and ego, he had always gotten out of his whenever any of his way to stand up for any of his teammates whenever they were being threatened, at last by someone other than himself. He was more like Cotton than he let know, it was revealed in the way he looked at his newborn daughter, the way he held her.

It was then when it dawned on Ross: Napoleon wasn't good enough for Cotton; Vincent wasn't good enough for Veruka (Or was it the other way around? The Infernape was sometimes a bit too harsh on the Lucario). If seen strictly for who they were they probably weren't good enough for them for a start, but that hadn't stop them from trying.

Now, as he saw the Floatzled, the least likely of his teamntes to take care of a child, starting a family of his own along with the Lopunny, or his Lucario friend finally by the side of the one he had always longed for, he realized it had all been because they had remained honest to their feelings, taken their chances and proven to be true and faithful to them.

It wasn't about being good enough, it was about being true to his feelings for her and taking his chance to prove he could be worthy of her.

Doubts at the moment. He wasn't going to waste another day, another minute. No matter what he was going to tell her straight this time. Even if she rejected him she had to know; if that proven to be the case he could always keep trying to eventually win her heart, he had never felt so sure and ready to do so before.

He went straight over to the Leafeon.

"Saria, come with me, there's something I need to tell you..."



To Be Continued...