Prologue
I can't say that I remember many days where I felt happiest. But I suppose I can at least start with the one happiest day that I remember best. The memory of how I found her...on a trip with my Uncle to grab some things from the beautiful and scenic Cherrygrove City. Due to my fondness for biking, a hobby of mine ever since I was very little, my Uncle and I had ridden our respective bikes over to Cherrygrove City for minor shopping one day. It wasn't the largest city in Johto, but I didn't care. It was too soon in my life back then to become a Pokémon Trainer, and my Aunt argued many times before that the traditional age of ten was way too soon for Trainers to begin....
I'm getting sidetracked, aren't I? Sorry.... Now that I think about it, this isn't the right place to start. (sighs) Let's start back to sometime after I was born.....It was a bright afternoon in the green fields of New Bark Town. A decently sized town with many houses dispersed as if all over the place. For many, New Bark Town was a place of peace, where the highly respected Professor Elm had lived with his family. For one couple on the other hand, they had put the past behind themselves, wanting to start new lives as they walked off a plane that had landed not too far where their new home was going to be. As the two reached solid ground, the first looked at the sleeping and innocent child she held in her arms. Simply known to some as Hilda of the faraway region of Unova, she smiled sadly, and held the infant closer to her face as she shed a slight tear.
"What are you doing, Hilda?" she heard from behind. Turning around, she noticed the man that had become her husband. She walked up to him with his short black hair being blown by the springtime wind, and his signature reading glasses masking his feeble attempt to show concern. (Yes, I'm a Checkmate Shipper. Feel free to flame; I'll just summon a thunderstorm to extinguish the flames.)
"Just reminiscing, Cheren." Hilda explained somewhat sadly as she kept her grip on the newborn. "I'll explain when we find someplace to live."
"I understand." Cheren replied, as he looked around, and saw the multitude of people walking past the two, many that were residents of New Bark Town, while others were the passengers of the planet that shared the same amount of luck to have left Unova after what became of it. Exactly what will be told all in good time, as the old saying goes....
As the two were about to grab a Taxi, they heard someone calling for them. "Wait!" The two heard. Turning around, they saw a scientist running up to them, panting from exhaustion.
Taking a very lucky guess, Cheren got in front of Hilda, and questioned the man "I take it you are Professor Elm?"
"Ye....yes...that's...that would be me." The young Professor replied. "I was....contacted by.....N....to find....you two..."
Surprised at the mention of the name, Hilda asked, checking on the child she held "You've met him before?"
"Yes." The Professor replied. "Let me bring you to my lab. You're free to use my old house since you two appear to need a place to live." He continued as the three walked up to a plain white van he had owned.
"We can't, Professor...." Cheren began to reply, before Hilda gave him a look that told him to shut his mouth.
"Yes." Hilda replied almost sounding desperate. "It is much appreciated, thank you. We need it after what happened." As the three climbed in Professor Elm's van, Hilda held the child tighter to her, and began to cry as memories flooded her mind. Not sure what to say, Cheren just hugged her, knowing exactly what she was thinking.
"I guess that's your son, Cheren is it?" The Johto Professor asked.
"You'd be correct on our names, and forgive us on the lack of formal introductions; we're still shaken up with what happened." Cheren replied, as he rubbed Hilda's back. Surprised at how the child hadn't woken up yet, he continued "And no, this is our nephew. Her younger brother had entrusted him to us after....." Before he had a chance to finish, Hilda began to cry even louder, the poor young lady a distraught wreck after her childhood home was destroyed.
Putting the pieces together, Elm expressed remorse and said "I'm so sorry for your-"
"Don't be....please....don't..." Hilda responded in between tears. "You...had...nothing to...do with.....Them..." Soon stopping at the two story house that Professor Elm had continued to own, Hilda smiled sadly as she saw the new house, trying to wipe her tears away. After Hilda regained her composure, if struggling for a while, Cheren and the Prof. had killed some time by bring him up to speed with everything that happened in the Unova region, where Cheren and Hilda had formerly done before choosing to settle down, and attempt to raise a family before things suddenly changed for the worst.
After explaining how their nephew was conceived, Professor had a look of surprise on his face, an expression he tried to hide, and exclaimed "That....that....is incredible! To think that could even happen....but your secret of his inception is safe with me."
"When he's old enough to understand who his real mother is, we'll work with him in keeping it as much of a secret as we can." Hilda replied, as the three walked into what had now become their new home. "If he possesses any abilities that came from his mother, then we'll also help him hide them from the public eye."
"Of course." The Professor responded, respecting Hilda's opinion. "If it helps, Johto is very supportive of the acts that led to the birth of your nephew."
"That info's appreciated, thank you Professor." Hilda replied. "I just fear that people will want to take him away from us. His mother said to me once that she and another individual that she knows of see something great in his future, but even I wonder what that means."
"You're right, Hilda." Cheren responded. "I still don't know what to think of such relationships. But all that matters to me right now is to protect him." Turning to Elm, he continued "Thank you, Professor. We can't thank you enough for this."
"Not a problem." He responded, trying to lift their moods. "I see a lot of potential with your nephew. I can see him being a great Trainer in the future."
Not giving either of the two a chance to reply, Professor Elm left the two as he drove back to his lab. His own curiosity getting the better of him as he walked back into his lab, he went to his computer, and pushed a button. As the computer booted up, his own mind wandered as he looked across his old research papers detailing of Pokémon Breeding. Never once did he think of the possibility of Pokémon and humans being able to produce offspring together....no, human offspring that possessed the powers or abilities being passed down from either the father or the mother. "That can't be possible." The Professor thought to himself. "But is it chance that he might possess that powers that flow through his mother's veins? No, that can't be." Sighing, he began to look through history files, in attempts to find any recorded histories of people possessing powers that'd normally be seen from a Pokémon.
He was well aware of humans from the Sinnoh region to the North, as well as the faraway Kalos region to the West who could manipulate what people called Aura. But he saw them as an exception for the humans that wielded Aura usually had bonds with the Lucario species, either in sibling relationships, or even as couples to fully develop their abilities. Very rarely was there any news of humans that had Lucario for their fathers. But like Johto, the Sinnoh and Kalos regions fully supported relationships between Pokémon and humans. The native Hoenn, Kanto, and Unova regions from what he remembered on their laws strongly condemned such relationships. In minor cases, the Trainer and his or her Pokémon were given the chance to choose exile, and never return. However, he had heard recent reports of Trainers being assassinated, sometimes in the public, even in Johto or Sinnoh, and the police were having difficulty in finding the people responsible.
His old friend, Professor Samuel Oak of Kanto always said in public that he had no opinion on the acts committed, but had acknowledged, in private, that he was very supportive of such relationships, and people shouldn't get in the way of Pokémon and humans being couples. Someone must've found out his true thoughts on Poképhillia, for Oak's lab in Pallet Town had caught spontaneously combust in the middle of the afternoon, destroying everything, even taking the life of the aged Professor. A tragedy that caught everyone from both Kanto and Johto off guard and the tragedy had caused everyone to wonder whether Pokémon x Human relationships should be encouraged, or recognized as a crime.
Such a debate gave Elm too much of a headache at times, so he chose to stay away from the subject as much as he could, in anything, to protect his family. Continuing his research, he kept finding nothing upon nothing for even the slightest of information. Giving up, he turned his computer off, and locked his lab for the night. Taking one last look at the house he gave to Hilda and Cheren, he hoped that the three would be safe in New Bark Town. Sighing, he took a look at the evening sky, and turned around, back into his house he went. He feared the worst, but prayed that things would turn out for the better for the young family...