A Different Start

Chapter-31

Ash gave the worker a smile as he was handed his prizes and the flashes from the cameras around them gave him blind spots in his vision. The money had already been transferred to his account and the balls that were shrunken and placed in a box were tucked away in the pocket of the jacket he wore. All that was left was the egg. It was large, larger than Riolus' egg, and was covered primarily with white with a bit of red and gray striping cutting into the white shell.

The egg was warm in his arms and to be honest it was a welcome weight that he had missed from carrying Riolus' egg. He couldn't wait to get back to his room and put on the monitoring band so he could see the heartbeat of the little creature inside. The breeder did give him a hint as to what pokémon was in the egg, but didn't go into further details when he had asked. The pokémon was a bug type and that was all the information he had gotten.

The feast thankfully didn't take long before the passengers went on partying as they do o a cruise while children were sent to their rooms so their parents could drink and do things adults do. Ash though quickly went to his room were he released his pokémon and switched out of his formal clothes into more comfortable clothes with Paul following him into the room. Pikachu sniffed around the egg when Ash set it down and Riolu placed a small paw on the warm egg. Small black and white ears perked up as the pup let out a small bark toned with surprise.

Ash hummed softly as he saw the reaction Riolu gave. He assumed it was just Riolu using his Aura to feel the baby inside of the egg. "Step back pup," Ash said as he grabbed the band from inside his bag. He knelt and carefully wrapped the band around the hard shell before turning it on. He paired it to his watch and waited for a few moments until his watch let out a small ding letting him know the pairing was successful.

Ba(Ba)-Dum(Dum). Ba(Ba)-Dum(Dum).

The echoing sound of the heart beat was loud in the otherwise silent room. Ash sat there shocked as he watched the monitor on his watch.

"Ash? What is it?" Paul asked in a whisper as if he were hesitant in breaking the silence in the room.

Ash looked up, his red whiskey eyes wide, and saw Paul standing not too far away from him. The teen swallowed around the lump in his throat before clearing it. "T-Two heart beats," Ash said softly, "There's two heart beats."

"Well I hope that the pokémons' heart beats more than twice," Paul said as he moved closer to Ash.

Ash shook his head frustrated that Paul wasn't getting what he was saying. "Paul," Ash said with a shocked tone still in his voice, "There are TWO heart beats." Ash turned the watch around to show Paul the two separate heartbeat lines.

"Twins," Ash said softly as a smile appeared on his lips and all Paul could do was look at the screen with wide eyes.

A weird feeling woke Ash from the deep sleep he was in curled up next to Paul with Riolu and Pikachu curled up behind him. A freak storm had started in the middle of the night, a few days after the closing ceremony and the ship was still a week and a half away from docking back in Vermilion. Ash sat up before getting out of the bed as the feeling that woke him up started to get more intense. There was a tugging in his gut as if something was trying to get him to start moving. He never noticed that his eyes were glowing blue as he walked past the mirror.

He began packing all of his things into his bag and placed the egg, along with all his pokéballs after recalling everyone, inside as well. He didn't want to lose anyone after all. He only kept Seadras' ball on his belt since he had the feeling he would need Seadras' help later. He had to make the decision to put Riolu in a ball early, but it was needed. He also recalled Pikachu into his ball, much to the mouses' disdain, as Paul, who had woken up from all the noise Ash was making, watched from the bed.