The day had finally come. I turned 16! Officially!

I actually reached it the second time last year, but the humans don’t know that. I hadn’t had a problem with that, not until my request for a year’s advance on my trainer’s license had been denied last year.

Anyway, that meant it was party time!

After spending all day at the government offices wait to apply for my licenses, trainer’s and drivers, waiting to take the tests, waiting some more, and then finally being passed. The physical licenses will arrive in the mail in the next 7-10 business days, thank you for your patience! :)

Mukin’ bureaucracies are garbador no matter what world you’re in.

At least with the black and white printed version of the things, I could still legally prove my right to have a pokémon and not get in trouble.

And so we partied!

My classmates who decided to become trainers were off on their own journeys, with no reasonable way to come to the party, though I got calls, texts, and emails galore. Normally, this would have included my sister, but Patrick had picked her up so she could attend. He’d drop her back off where she’d been in a couple days.

Like last year’s graduation party, pokémon were not only allowed, but encouraged to attend. I still didn’t have any of my own, but I knew I’d be getting a couple eggs either tonight or tomorrow. But since I was lacking, I got to play with everyone else’s!

Argent was as beautiful as ever, being kept in meticulous condition by Patrick. Her scales were smooth and pleasant to touch. She was also getting really long, and from the strength I could feel in her, I wouldn’t be surprised if she evolved in the next year or so, not that I told Patrick. I’d let her surprise him when it was time.

Henry’s Nox was as darkly shiny as ever, and had gotten so large that he was like a string of ebony boulders. I noted that she wore a necklace that seemed to be made of metal coats. As there was no trade evolution muk in the real world, pokémon with special requirements would evolve after being exposed to things over time, or due to their diet. There were actually wild Steelix that had evolved by being around and eating metal ore. The metal coat items passively sped up this processes and would be absorbed when evolution occurred.

What amused me is that though they are all called metal coats, there wasn’t just one version of it. Instead they were composed of many different metals. Although the evolved form is called steelix, that doesn’t mean it’s outsides are actually composed of steel. I was hoping she’d evolve into black titanium or something like that.

Basil had evolved into an ivysaur, and the flower on his back gave off a refreshing fragrance. I pulled out the liquid fertilizer he liked and gave him a few sprays as I gave him some loving. He gave off a Sweet Scent and nuzzles in thanks.

Then it was time for a cuddle puddle. In addition to Sammi’s vulpix Haley, I was buried under a trio of espeons, triplets. Sammi’s Lori, Patrick’s Celia, and Henry’s Winry. Such fluff, much fun! Lori was younger than her siblings, because her egg had been kept in stasis when the boys had received theirs. Don’t ask me how it works, I don’t know. It’s some secret mom won’t tell me.

I didn’t forget to spend time with the other pokémon of my friends and family, but I wasn’t as close to them as I was the ones mom had prepared.

I was a little ashamed of myself when I saw the video my mom had taken of the event. Instead of acting my age, I’d reverted to acting extremely childish, especially when it came to mofumofu.

I got my two eggs the morning after. I’d been supposed to get them on my birthday, but I’d been really late getting back from dealing with red tape, so it’d gotten delayed. It wasn’t like they’d hatch immediately, there were always a few days to go when we got them. More stasis stuff going on. I’d learn how they did it eventually. Though I could do the same with my storage, I wanted to know how it was done normally.

The eggs I received were white. Like normal for my mom. I hate surprises, but she loves surprising people. Which is why she goes out of her way to alter the shells to not give the hints as to their occupant that they usually do.

I took them everywhere with me until the first shell started to break a week later. Dropping what I was doing, I teleported to the hatching room. Pulling out my phone, I notified my family that it was time. My siblings had already left, so my parents were the only family nearby to attend, if they were able. I’d set up a stream of the event that my family could watch if they wanted to or couldn’t stop what they were doing.

Just as the shell of the first egg was starting to crumble, the second started rocking, so I had to be careful. I wasn’t sure what would happen if the second one saw the first before me. Well, no time to think on that, the first egg’s occupant had fallen out of it’s egg and onto the cushioned surface the egg had been placed on.

She was beautiful! Through the remaining goo from hatching, I could see the shimmering pink and purple mane that covered the neck of the otherwise pure white fur of the horse pokémon. It also had a small horn, barely poking out of it’s fur that was a brilliant spiral that matched the mane. It was a Galarian ponyta!

Unlike the local variant, this one wasn’t fire-type, but psychic, and would gain the fairy-type when it evolved into a rapidash. It was naturally sensitive to malicious presences, and had a limited healing ability when it rubbed it’s horn on something living, be it person or plant.

Our eyes met, and I reached out, both physically as well as psychically, welcoming her to the world. I felt her acceptance of me, and stroked her gently before pulling a towel over to start wiping her down. She leaned into my touch, liking the feeling of my hands on her body.

While keeping an eye on the second egg, we got to know each other, and we came to an agreement. She’d come with me for as long as she wanted to, and I’d release her if she wanted to leave. It was rather more simplistic than that since the foal wasn’t that smart yet.

After I had her completely clean and fed, she’d fallen asleep using my lap to rest her head in. I gently stroked her, playing with her mane and horn, smiling as I did so.

Sadly, our time was interrupted as the second egg reached the breaking point. Recalling Celestia, as I’d named my little ponyta, I moved close to the second egg, ready to welcome the inhabitant to the outside world.

A few minutes later, the shell fell apart, revealing the pokémon within. Sporting a bowl cut interrupted by a pair of rounded horns, the darling had a pure white body. But what was the most surprising was that the coloring was different, making it a variant. Instead of the horns being pink, they were a shimmering violet, while the hair was pink instead of green.

The color scheme was the same as my little ponyta. I was amused, but didn’t laugh, since I didn’t want to startle the ralts.

Two psychic/fairy pokémon as my starters, very interesting mom. Well, they were both absurdly cute, so it doesn’t matter.

The process I went to with the ralts, who I named Sakura, was similar to the one with Celestia, but far faster. It was no surprise, the ponyta may have been psychic, but ralts wasn’t called the feeling pokémon for nothing. She felt the affection I felt for her and bonded to me rather quickly.

After Sakura was connected to her own pokéball and eating the food prepared for her, I released Celestia. She was still asleep, so I didn’t disturb her, instead laying down on the waterproof cushion with her. Sakura continued eating for a while then yawned, making me yawn, and we all fell asleep curled up together.

---

I have no idea how long I slept, but I was woken up by my new companions when they got hungry, so we had to leave the room to find food. There’d only been enough for their first meal in there. I had stuff they’d be able to eat in my storage, but knowing my mother, she no doubt had much better stuff prepared. I just needed to find out where.

For some reason, she met me outside the hatching room, prepared with the food for my friends. Isabelle, her gardevoir right behind her.

Seeing the look of confusion on my face, she laughed at me.

“You do realize you were streaming the whole time, right? Even when you fell asleep.” She looked at her phone screen. “Actually it’s still running. You might want to stop it.”

Flushing in embarrassment, I pulled my own phone out of my pocket, connected to the cameras and killed the feed.

“So you were watching the whole stream?”

“Not all of it live. I was busy, so I had to play catch up after you fell asleep. If you made that public instead of keeping it to only our family, you’d get a ton of views.”

“No! I don’t want that kind of publicity. I stand out enough as it is.”

“Fair enough. So, introduce us?”

Celestia was leaning against me, her legs slightly wobbly, while Sakura rode on my shoulder. Her gaze was firmly fixed behind my mom. Where mom’s gardevoir stood, returning the look, a happy smile on her face.

“This is Celestia and Sakura. Girls, this is my mom, and Isabelle, who unless I miss my guess is also a mother?”

“Correct! I contacted the breeder you sibling’s espeon came from, but he didn’t have any eggs. I was going to look around, when Isabelle stopped me and brought me an egg. Her egg. She wouldn’t tell me who the father was though. Will you ask?”

I looked at her, but she shook her head, blushing slightly.

“Looks like she doesn’t want to say.” I took Sakura down in my arms, then held her out to Isabelle. “Sakura, this is your mom. Why don’t you say hello?”

The two looked at each other, neither spoke, but they were psychic, so they didn’t have to. After a moment, Isabelle took Sakura into her arms, cradling her like the infant she was. The pair continued interacting as we made our way to a more comfortable area. I supported Celestia as we did so. It would take a few days for her to get used to walking, and then she’d need to strengthen herself over time, just like anyone else.

-----

While I could have left as soon as my companions were strong enough, which took a month or so before I was satisfied, I decided to stick around the house until school let out.

Doing so allowed my pokémon more time to get stronger, aided not only by me, since both were psychic, but also by the other pokémon on the property as well.

I wanted to teach them how to use moves other than psychic, but I couldn’t do so at the house… so I teleported us to a safe, but isolated, spot in the wilds. Being out here was always nice, getting a breath of fresh air rather than the city’s. Pollution wasn’t as bad as Earth, since many things were electric due to using pokémon as power sources, but there still was some.

Because I ported us back and forth at least two to three times a week, both of them learned how to do it, though their PP and technique only allowed very short range movement for the time being.

It also helped that the instruction I was giving them was via linking, so we could pack more learning into a single day. Though with them so young, the sessions had to be really short at first.

By the time the end of the school year rolled around, the two were more powerful than many who were years older than them.

After celebrating the graduation of more of my friends, we left the city, following the path through the forests and grasslands that made up route one, starting our Training Journey.

The End.

Telerean

Of the human growth arc.

No, Sakura’s father is not a Machamp. In case you read this one too.