Tommy woke in his bed to find his new best friend sleeping soundly beside him. He ruffled her ears, and she cracked open one bleary eye and gave his hand a small lick. She was still sleepy so he left her to sleep on his bed, the egg between her and the pillow for warmth as he set about his morning routine.

After doing his chores it was off to school on his bike, Houndour in her Pokéball clipped to his belt and egg nestled away in his backpack. He wouldn’t leave the egg unattended, just as his father had told him not to.

When he arrived at school he was too sore to meet Darius at the recreation center to exercise so he decided instead to go to the park and hike with Houndour. He called her out of her Pokéball and they set off about the circular trail together. Tommy laughed as Houndour ran around, chasing butterflies and squirrels, relieving some of her excess energy.

After he was done walking he strode over to the amphitheater for his morning class with Professor Hemlock. He was one of the first to arrive so he got a seat in his usual spot and waited for all of his friends to show up. He was pleased to see all of his friends and was glad that they did well on their trip together. The three of them had gone to Ecruteak City for their first trip and Darius and Jonathan had each caught their first Pokémon while Aubrey managed to catch her second one.

Professor Hemlock started her lecture and Tommy tried his hardest to pay attention. He found himself caring less than he normally did though, the information she was talking about seemed inconsequential and boring now that he had his first field experience under his belt.

At the end of class Professor Hemlock dismissed most of the students for lunch, except for a handful of kids, including Ashley, Tommy, and Nessa.

“Your prize catalog,” she said simply, handing each of them a small pamphlet. “Your choices are split into different tiers and for now you may select one item from the tier one list. Each time you accrue another win in an expedition you may select an item from the next tier if you choose. For example, after three wins in three different expeditions you would be able to select an item from tier 1, 2, or 3. Make your selection by the end of the day and inform the front desk or you will forfeit your winnings. Good day to you all.”

The students filed out of the room but Tommy hung back to speak with Professor Hemlock.

“Professor,” Tommy started hesitantly. He placed his broken and cracked PokéNav on her podium. “I got into a bit of trouble on the expedition and my PokéNav broke. How much will I need to pay to get a new one?”

“Fortunately for you, Mr. Hartford, your chaperone Zach spoke on your behalf,” Professor Hemlock said casually. “He forfeited his paycheck from the trip and said to use the money to give you a new set of gear. Said some rubbish about you two being even now or something.”

She handed him a sealed box and collected his broken gear.

“You’ll have to set it up again but once that’s done you should be set. Try not to break it again, yes?” She said with a giant fake grin plastered on her face.

“Thank you professor,” Tommy said, as he blushed a deep red. She must have thought him completely incompetent for breaking the first PokéNav on his first time out.

“If there’s nothing further…” Professor Hemlock trailed off and Tommy didn’t dawdle. He grabbed his new gear and left the room quickly.

He set up his PokéNav again at lunch and now that it was fixed he immediately received a notification that he was challenged by the student ranked 93 which he promptly scheduled for the end of the week. It wasn’t ideal to have a challenge this early but he hoped with the match on Friday he could spend some time with Houndour in the park; he wanted to practice some moves and get to know her better. He made his way there after lunch, separating from his friends who were all anxious to spend time with their own Pokémon, especially Darius and Jon who had each caught their first Pokémon as well.

Tommy called Houndour out of her Pokéball once he was alone and when she looked up at him he couldn’t keep the grin from his face.

“Hey there girl,” he smiled brightly. “It’s only been a few hours but I can’t believe how much I’ve missed you!”

She barked happily and jumped up at him, knocking him to the ground and licking him all over his face. He laughed and wrestled with her in the grass enjoying his free time and wishing that it would never end. It finally began to sink in that he had captured his first Pokémon, it hadn’t even been a day but he could barely remember what it felt like when he was on his own. He checked the egg in his backpack and was surprised again at just how durable it was. He had forgotten it was in there when he was knocked down but there wasn’t so much as a scratch on its shell. He took it out and placed it atop his bag so that it could get some sun and watch him play with Houndour.

Tommy spent the afternoon playing fetch with Houndour and trying to chase after her and catch her. By the time the end of the school day was rolling around he realized he hadn’t checked anything about her or her condition. He wasn’t upset though, there would be plenty of time to look her over and start their battle training later in the week.

“Are you ready to go?” Tommy asked her. He bent down and placed the egg carefully into his backpack. “It’s getting close to the end of the day and we should probably get ready to go home.”

Houndour barked happily in response and began bouncing up and down, her energy apparently limitless even after playing together for the last two hours. Tommy grinned and set off towards the entrance to the park with Houndour falling in step beside him. He didn’t want to recall her to her Pokéball until it was absolutely necessary.

“I’m jealous,” Tommy heard a voice call out to him as he found the path and began to make his way back to the entrance. He looked around and saw Nessa waving at him from the edge of the forest ahead of him.

“Why are you jealous?” He asked her as he walked towards the treeline where she was standing.

“I still don’t understand how you can befriend a Pokémon so quickly,” Nessa responded, a sad smile on her face. “I was down at the lake for a little while but got bored by myself so I started to walk around. I’ve been watching you and Houndour for the last few minutes. It hasn’t even been a day but I can already see that your bond is just as strong as Shellder and mine is after ten years. I don’t understand how Houndour came to trust you in this short amount of time.”

Nessa’s face seemed to get more and more dejected as she spoke on.

“I really don’t know,” Tommy said, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry, if I knew I would tell you.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Nessa told him. “You must think me petty for being jealous over your relationship with your Pokémon. Believe me, I’m happy for you Tommy. I’m really glad that you found a partner finally, you really deserve it. I just wish that I had the same gift that you do. Like I said, it took me a long time to earn Shellder’s trust. I could tell that you had Houndour’s trust from the moment you caught her yesterday afternoon.”

“You’re amazing in your own right though,” Tommy said to her. “I hope that someday the bond that Houndour and I share is as strong as the one that you have with Shellder. I’m jealous that the two of you have been friends for so long; you two must know everything about each other. Houndour and I will get there someday too though, I know it.”

“You’re right,” Nessa said. “Thank you for cheering me up. Sorry again for being so jealous.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Tommy assured her. He looked down at the ground, “I didn’t do anything embarrassing while you were watching me did I?”

“No! You and Houndour looked so cute rolling around out there together!” Nessa laughed. Her face turned serious a moment later and she now wore a hungry grin. “The two of you need to get stronger though. I can’t wait for the day I get to battle you in a match. Promise me you’ll challenge me this year, I want to see the bond that the two of you have in a fight!”

“No promises. I’ve got a long way to go before I’m as strong as you,” Tommy smiled and shook his head. Houndour barked beside him and licked his fingers. “Sorry Houndour. Of course I meant that we have a long way to go!”

Tommy bid Nessa farewell and headed back to the front of the school to collect his bike. He was tired from running around in the park all day and grumbled under his breath because he forgot that he still had to bike home. Maybe he should just wait for mom to come pick Tori up so he could ride home in the truck.

“Tommy!” He heard a voice call from the front entrance of the school. He turned around to see his sister racing down the steps to catch up with him.

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“Hey sis! How was school?” He beamed at her. “Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah! A great day!” she smiled back at him. “And now I’m even happier because I get to ride home on your bike with you! I told mom this morning that she didn’t need to come pick me up because I wanted to ride home with you!”

“Hey, that's awesome!” Tommy said aloud while he screamed silently in his mind. “Are you ready to go then?”

“Yeah!” She jumped onto the back of his bike and wrapped her arms around his waist. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”

Tommy’s legs screamed in protest as he set off from school, dragging along the extra weight. Once they were outside of the city limits Tori told him to stop and call Houndour out so she could say hello.

“Did mom say that it was okay?” Tommy asked as he unfastened the Pokéball from his belt.

“She didn’t say that it wasn’t okay,” Tori smiled to which Tommy could only laugh in response. He tossed the Pokéball into the air and Houndour materialized on the ground in front of them.

“Well are you going to say hello?” Tommy asked. “Why are you hiding if you were the one who wanted to meet Houndour?”

“She looks a little bit scarier than I thought. Is that a skull on her head?” Tori spoke meekly from behind Tommy’s back.

“Come on, she’s really nice,” Tommy said reassuringly. “Come say hello to her, sis. Do it just like dad showed you. Hold your hand out just like that.”

Tori stepped out from behind Tommy’s back hesitantly but held her hand out and crouched down. Houndour sauntered up casually and sniffed at Tori’s fingers, then licked them causing Tori to smile. Houndour tackled Tori to the ground and started licking all over, causing her to shriek in delight. He smiled down at the scene, glad that the two of them were able to get along.

See, Tommy thought. I don’t know what Nessa was jealous about. Tori gets along with new Pokémon just as well as I do.

After a minute Houndour moved back allowing Tori to sit up. Her hair was a disheveled mess and there was a big grin plastered on her face.

“Tommy, she’s amazing!” Tori squeaked. She was scratching Houndour behind the ears and the puppy collapsed to the ground and panted in contentment. She rolled onto her back and Tori started scratching the puppy’s tummy. “Her fur is so soft and warm! I’m so happy you caught her!”

“Yeah, I’m happy too,” Tommy agreed with her. “Come on, let's head home. Houndour can run alongside the bike and then the two of you can play all you want once we get home.”

Pedaling uphill was agony with Tori riding on the back but he was able to do it, their bike racing down the grassy slope after they went over the top, Houndour easily keeping pace beside them.

The three of them finally made it home where Mom had dinner waiting for them. Houndour barked excitedly once they arrived at home and followed Tori into the house. Tommy stored his bike away and raced inside hoping his mom didn’t say anything about Houndour being outside of her Pokéball. He was worried for nothing though because Mom was rubbing Houndour’s belly once Tommy walked into the kitchen while Tori and Dad looked on from the table.

“I was worried you wouldn’t like her,” Tommy confessed to his mother as he walked into the kitchen. “I’m relieved that the two of you get along.”

“She’s beautiful,” his mom laughed. She smiled up at him, “I’m okay as long as you aren’t battling. Now come on, dinner is ready.”

After dinner Tommy went out into the backyard so he could look over Houndour with his PokéNav. He led her into the barn because he wanted to get her measurements using the scale that they normally measured the Miltank with. The Miltank shuffled nervously as they passed through the corral and Tauros grunted and snorted when Houndour walked by, but Tommy reassured the bull that Houndour wouldn’t cause any problems now that he had captured her so he let the two of them pass without any trouble.

Inside the barn Tommy led Houndour over to the scale where he was able to coax her up without any issue. She already weighed ten kilograms and was half a meter tall but Tommy wasn’t sure if that was good or bad because he had nothing to compare it to. He started a log in the notes section of his PokéNav so that he could keep track of Houndour as she continued to age. He decided he would measure her every week and write her measurements down so he could make sure that she was healthy and growing properly.

With measurements recorded he opened up the Pokédex function on his PokéNav to read through the entry on Houndour. He saw the average height and weight and saw that she was just under those measurements, but wasn't too worried about it because he knew she was still a puppy. If anything he expected her to be bigger than average, because of her body type.

There was a list of moves that Houndour could learn, filled in by various trainers who had raised their own Houndour, and Tommy wondered how many of those moves Houndour knew. He was excited to test it out, so he led her outside to the pond where they had first met. He found his dad standing there waiting for him.

“Hey there son,” his dad rumbled. “Can I watch the two of you practice?”

“Sure,” Tommy nodded. “I was just thinking that me and Houndour would try to figure out what moves she knows. Now that I think about it though, when we’re done can you show me some of the things you keep track of when you give the Miltank health check-ups? I know you measure their height and weight but I’ve seen you with the stethoscope. Are you listening to their heartbeats?”

“Yeah,” his dad confirmed. “I use the stethoscope to monitor their heart rate, you probably also want to check Houndour’s teeth and range of motion since she’s a canine. I can show you how to do some of those things but a large part of it will be trial and error that you’ll need to do on your own. You’ll just have to start a log today and keep track of everything you see, providing regular check-ups when you feel it necessary.”

“That’s what I figured,” Tommy agreed. “I just recorded her starting height and weight but I don’t know her age unfortunately.”

“Well a good estimate would be her Power Level,” Dad told him. “If you’re testing moves I’m assuming you have her Pokédex entry pulled up? Let me see it.”

Tommy held his arm out to show his father the entry on Houndour in his PokéNav. There was a list of moves with a number next to each of them which Tommy assumed was the Power Level that his father was talking about.

“This is fancy,” His dad said, marveling at the technology on Tommy’s wrist. “Back in my training days we only had an encyclopedia that you had to look through whenever you were at a Pokémon Center if you wanted to know general data about your Pokémon. That number next to the move is the Pokémon’s ‘Power Level’. It’s also a pretty good indicator of your Pokémon’s age, though it isn’t perfect. For example Houndour learns Howl at Power Level 4 and learns Smog at Power Level 8. So if your Houndour knows Howl but doesn’t know Smog, then she’s probably between 4 to 8 months old which is what I expect your Houndour is at. It isn’t perfect but it’s usually a good indicator of age for newly captured wild Pokémon. Of course a Pokémon’s Power Level will grow more quickly if it’s a trainer’s Pokémon, so it becomes less accurate the longer a trainer has a Pokémon in it’s care. Your Houndour is probably around 4 or 5 months old right now but once you train it, it will probably get to Power Level 8 more quickly than it would in the wild. So it should probably learn Smog before it’s 8 months old if you train it really well. Does that make sense?”

“You never told me you were a trainer,” Tommy said, staring intently at his father. “Why did you never tell me anything about your training days?”

His father sighed and put an arm on Tommy’s shoulder. “I decided to leave that life behind me, it wasn’t for me. I used to be a trainer but now isn’t the time for me to tell you about that. I promise to tell you about those days eventually. Maybe once you graduate I’ll tell you a little about my trainer days before you set off on your own. For now let’s see how you and Houndour do.”

Tommy walked over to Houndour and crouched beside her, “Are you ready to practice, girl?”

She yapped excitedly, staring up at him with her crimson red eyes.

“Alright Houndour! Use Ember!” Tommy pointed his finger out across the open water of the pond. The charred remains of the grove on the far side served as a stark reminder of the power of flame and he wanted to be extra careful, even with his dad standing beside him.

Houndour inhaled a massive breath of air into her lungs then unleashed a torrential downpour of searing embers into the air. Tommy stared in wonder as the beautiful pinpricks of flame burst from his Pokémon’s snout and spread across the water’s glassy surface like burning stars in the night sky. Soon after leaving Houndour’s mouth they lost velocity though, the wind carrying them into the water or winking them out of existence.

“An impressive display of power,” Dad nodded from beside Tommy. “Most Pokémon can only spray a handful of Embers at a time, Houndour has powerful lungs. Try some other moves.”

Dad ended up being exactly correct in his assessment of Houndour. She currently knew three moves, Leer, Ember, and Howl which Tommy logged into his PokéNav. He also put Houndour’s age down at 4 months, listening to the advice of his father. He scrolled down a little further in his PokéNav and saw a list that said ‘Egg Moves’. Unsure of what that was referring to he asked his father.

“Egg Moves are moves that a Pokémon is capable of learning through breeding,” Dad said. “Every Pokémon has at least one egg group that they’re a part of and Pokémon in the same egg group can breed with each other, even if they aren’t the same species. What egg group is your Houndour?”

“The PokéNav says it’s in the Field Egg Group,” Tommy said.

“So that means Houndour could breed with any other Pokémon in that egg group,” his father continued. “Rattata is a common one in that group. So your Houndour and a Rattata could breed and produce an egg, it doesn’t happen much in the wild though. Breeding is an extensive science and many people devote their whole lives to it. Why are you asking about Egg Moves though? Did something catch your eye?”

“Well when I fought Houndoom yesterday I think she used Fire Fang against Tauros,” Tommy explained to his father who nodded in affirmation. Tommy continued, “It says in the PokéNav that Houndour learns the move at Power Level 28, but it’s also listed as an egg move. Since the mother knew it, does that mean my Houndour inherited the move as well?”

“No idea son,” His father laughed. “It seems like a decent hypothesis though so why not try it out?”

“Alright then Houndour! Are you ready?” Tommy asked. She barked in affirmation and then assumed a fighting pose. Fangs bared and eyes narrowed in concentration, she started growling waiting for her trainer’s command.

“Use Fire Fang, Houndour!” Tommy shouted, heart beating away in anticipation. She continued to growl but after a few seconds looked back at her trainer, tilting her head in confusion. Tommy hung his head in defeat.

“No such luck. Oh well at least she’ll learn it at Power Level 28 like the Pokédex said,” Dad laughed. He looked Tommy in the eye and grinned, “Any other good ones?”

Tommy extended his arm out to his dad again who browsed around and grinned even bigger.

“Why not try that one?” Dad pointed at the screen.