Spoon: 5.13 Entree

Aaron’s Pokemon

- Artoria (Kirlia)
- Jeanne (Flaaffy)
- Durvasa (Primeape)
- Magellan (Chikorita)
- EnEGGma (Larvesta)

Entree 5.13

Aaron Fulan
Lavaridge Town

The friendly nurse said my larvesta was about to hatch. She, Artoria was quite clear on that, would emerge into the world either today or tomorrow. As such, we’d collectively headed out of town so we could welcome the newest member of our family in peace. My room in the pokemon center was too cramped for that so I figured we’d just camp out for a bit.

I took us to an old campground off the beaten path. We weren’t so far away from civilization that the pokenav lost signal, but nor were we so close that we’d be disturbed. That was important. I promised the twins and Lisia that they’d get to watch the hatching.

Well, I promised the twins. Lisia promised untold pain and vengeance upon me if I left her out. I doubted that girl could hurt a fly, but her pouting would be the stuff of legends.

Lisia picked up in the first ring, as I suspected she might. She woke up almost as early as I did and I’d gotten to know her daily rhythm quite well.

She was dressed in a baby-blue tank top and white short shorts. Her pastel-blue hair was swept into a high ponytail and an absolutely drenched sweatband kept her face mostly clear. It seemed the exercise nuts in Dewford had rubbed off on her.

To my surprise, Chaz was right by her side. He was sprawled over a stone bench, one of several I saw in the background. He wore a light-gray t-shirt and navy basketball shorts. His shirt had been drenched with sweat and he had a soaked handkerchief draped over his face in a futile effort to keep himself from overheating.

“Aaron? Chaz, look! It’s Aaron,” Lisia chirped. She was panting as well, but she had so much more energy than Chaz. “Hi, Aaron! Hi, Artoria! Hi, everyone else!”

‘Greetings to you, chipper one. And you as well, foppish one,’ Artoria said from my side.

I conveyed their greetings with a laugh. Chaz didn’t even have the strength to glare at the “foppish” comment. I felt a surge of vicarious pride at that. No matter how sorry a sight he made now, he was trying. Effort was to be commended at all times.

“What’s up, Aaron? How’s Lavaridge? You’re in Lavaridge now, right?”

“I am, and Lavaridge is very peaceful,” I said. “Lots of hot springs. There’s one attached to the pokemon center. It’s been great. Oh, hold on, I’m connecting my siblings now.”

“Yes! I get to meet your siblings?”

“Yes, and here they are.”

The pokenav’s screen split in two. Liza stared at the camera, just a bit too close, before scooting back. She looked around, found herself alone, then huffed in annoyance.

“Sorry, bro, gimme a sec,” she muttered before yelling towards the kitchen. “Tate, get your butt in here!”

“Wait, I’m almost done,” I heard my baby brother call.

Liza had never been the patient sort. With a telltale glow of her eyes, she made a “come hither” motion with her fingers.

Her brother yelped. He appeared on-screen, dragged through the air by Liza’s telekinetic grip. In his mouth was a banana to go with the yogurt cup in his hand. After him floated the spoon he was just a bit too slow to grab.

“Really, Liza? Aaron can wait five seconds,” Tate grumbled, though much of it came out muffled. It was only my finely honed big brother senses that allowed me to translate.

“Huh… Your little siblings are really talented,” Chaz said numbly.

“I did say so, didn’t I? Those two are the most talented psychics in the Summers family in generations, mother included,” I said proudly.

“Well, sure, but it definitely hits different now that I’m seeing them do weird stuff.”

“This isn’t weird. What’s weird is that my precognitive little brother still manages to lose his socks in the dryer.”

“Alfonse is hiding them!” Tate protested. “Being a precog doesn’t help if mom’s alakazam is also one!”

“I’m sure he’s just trying to help you train your Sight, Tate.”

“I thought that too. Then he teleported them to the roof when I found them. He’s just messing with me, the jerk.”

Lisia had been watching silently. She was grinning ear-to-ear, positively delighted by the twins. “I want one. You promised, Aaron. I can have the twins if I win the Grand Festival.”

“I did. Are you sure you want both? They’re a lot more manageable when they’re separated,” I pointed out.

“Stop trying to give us away,” Tate complained.

“Yeah, even if Lisia is super pretty and way cooler than you,” Liza added.

“Oof, I see how it is.”

“Ahem, anyway, what did you want, Aaron?” Chaz cut in. He still looked like death warmed over, but he was at least breathing normally now. “We were in the middle of our morning run.”

“I can see that. Good on you, blondie. Pick up some karate alongside Macherie while you’re at it. I’ll test you when we meet again.”

“W-Wait, test?”

“Of course. Don’t worry, I’ll use bamboo.”

“Whatever. What do you want, sword-idiot?”

I chuckled. I figured that was enough smalltalk. I motioned for Jeanne to roll the egg over. It had a slight crack. “It’s cracked.”

“What?” the blonde leaned forward. “Did you break the incubator?”

“He didn’t. Big bro wouldn't be joking with us if he did,” Liza said matter-of-factly. “It’s hatching, isn’t it? The hairline fracture is proof that something is pushing.”

“Flaaffy!” Jeanne cheered. She set the egg in the middle so we could all watch.

“Ooh! A baby larvesta!” Lisia exclaimed as all of us peered closer.

We waited…

And waited…

And waited some more…

Then, the egg stirred. A tiny fracture formed on the surface, as if something was straining against the shell from within.

I couldn’t do anything to help; the nurse had been quite clear that the hatching process could take a while and wasn’t at all like the cartoons. It was the all-important first milestone that the baby pokemon had to undertake alone.

That didn’t mean my pokemon were silent. Both Artoria and Jeanne crowded around the egg, whispering quiet encouragement. Magellan and Durvasa were further back, but they couldn’t hide their interest.

“So… Did you decide on a name?” Chaz whispered.

“Eneggma, because volcarona are mysterious pokemon,” I said, ducking as Jeanne shot me a mild Thunder Shock in rebuke. “Okay, fine… Sunnyside?”

“Flaaf.”

“So that’s a no,” Tate said. “Aaron jokes when he’s not sure about something.”

“You know your brother well,” Chaz commented. He looked a little wistful at that. I couldn’t remember if he had any siblings of his own.

The hatching took a lot longer than anyone but I expected. I read online that a chick can take a full day to emerge fully from its shell. That was in line with what I experienced on my cousin’s farm in my past life. Of course, pokemon were not normal animals. Nor was a larvesta a bird.

Still, a solid hour of sitting around, staring at an egg that occasionally jiggled and chipped, was a bit much to ask a bunch of children. Lisia and Chaz had returned to Lisia’s room in the pokemon center. She’d sent Chaz to buy them breakfast while she kept an eye on the egg. Tate and Liza had taken to doing their homework, several days in advance, of course.

‘What do you hear in there?’ I asked Artoria. I was curious. Insects tended to be highly independent even right after hatching. ‘Does she have conscious thoughts?’

‘She is very hungry, my lord,’ Artoria said plainly. ‘She also does not appreciate your egg puns.’

‘She understands puns?’

‘She does not. She does understand that she is being compared to food, however.’

‘Oh, fair enough. I’ll stop doing that. Does she… want help…?’

‘No, she will be out soon. This is the first of many trials that she must overcome on her own.’

‘Right, of course.’

The last few minutes were far more exciting than the rest of the hour. When I compiled the video recording and spliced it all, I’d probably cut out the rest. Dad did say he wanted to see it when he got back from work.

The newest member of my little family began to chip away at the egg in earnest. Through this, I found out that larvesta had an egg tooth, or an “egg burster” as it was called in insects. It was a small, horn-like protrusion on her head that helped her saw through the shell.

Finally, she emerged. She was quite chunky and reminded me of a soggy potato. In my first life, had I seen an insect that was over eight inches long from birth, I would have left the fucking continent.

Here, this was normal. Rather than disgust or gut-wrenching terror, I felt a mix of awe and a strange paternal instinct. It helped that I could see her emotions, wonder and curiosity, as she took in her new family.

The larvesta looked at me with big, blue eyes. They were compound eyes, like a butterfree’s, but with a sensitivity for color and motion that far outstripped my own. I read that this was because of their fire type. Seeing how they spent much of their lives literally crawling through infernos, they were exceptionally good at filtering out brightness.

I was ready. I’d already prepared a bed of charcoal, each lit by Durvasa’s blazing palms and arranged with the care of a florist. The scorching flames would lick her white fur and burn away the egg-fluid. It’d also help her ignite the red torch-horns around her neck.

“Hello, I am Aaron, your trainer,” I said softly. “You must be very hungry from all that eggsercise.”

“Lar… Larvesta,” she muttered.

‘You said you would not make egg puns,’ Artoria said reproachfully.

“Not true. I said I wouldn’t compare her to food. Egg puns are still very much on the table.”

Artoria turned to our newest sister. “Kir-Kirlia. Kirlia lia.”

“Ves? Vesta?”

“Kirlia.”

My new larvesta gazed up at me. Her myriad eyes dimmed with disappointment. Whatever was said, I obviously was no good at entertaining newborn pokemon. Or maybe, she’d picked up my knight’s stuffiness through their prolonged mental contact.

Artoria then offered her a poffin that had been tailor-made for baby pokemon. The larvesta took one bite and chittered with joy. Artoria figured that like other bug types, the hatchling would favor sweet foods. She was right.

“This is magical,” Lisia gasped. “I want a baby pokemon now.”

“It’s also a little gross,” Chaz added.

“Hush, you.”

Jeanne looked at the larvesta, then at the poffin. She froze in shock. Artoria had landed the first blow in winning over their new baby sister. This could not stand.

She searched for something to gift her new sister. Then, she saw the bed of charcoal and bleated with joy. She stuffed the makeshift nest with wool. After all, the charcoal was the right temperature, but it surely wasn’t very comfy to lie on.

Artoria had provided food. Jeanne had built her a nest. Their eyes met and static formed between them, literally, given Jeanne’s element of choice. Thus, equilibrium was reached once again. 

I watched with Durvasa and Magellan, content to let those two pamper the hatchling. “She’s going to grow up so spoiled.”

“Prime.”

“Chi.”

“Well, I guess that’s okay. A child should be allowed to indulge. Our job, even more than training her, will be to help her find her dream.”

“Chiko?”

“Yup. Just like you. And when she has a dream worth chasing, I will give her a name.”

I did like Sunny, but that seemed a bit on the nose. Maybe Ra or Helios? There were plenty of solar deities to choose from and volcarona did have that association in Unovan mythology. It also fit in with the names of my teammates seeing how they were all mythical or famous figures. Then again, playing into the sun god archetype felt a bit cliche.

Oh well. I had time. Whether she took after Artoria’s nobility or Jeanne’s love for the st age, or adopted some other quirk entirely, I’d be right there with her to take her as far as she could go. Until then, she’d just be Larvesta.

X

We said goodbye to our friends and spent the rest of the day training in the woods. The larvesta could only watch for now, but she was a bug pokemon. They were very much known for swift maturity. It wouldn’t be long before she developed the fine motor control necessary to join in.

In fact, I expected her to experience an explosive growth spurt. She was eight inches at hatching. According to the dex, the average larvesta was over three feet long from nose to tail. Admittedly, there was more variance with the larvesta line than others, simply because the sample size was small, but I didn’t need to be a biologist to know she’d shoot up like a weed.

The larvesta line had the slowest evolution of all bug types, maybe all fire types as well. Despite this, they were far from helpless in their larval stage. They possessed surprisingly sturdy bodies and a great deal of mobility for something that should be languidly munching leaves and berries.

I finished editing the video for my parents and sent it off. Dad replied with a message saying the moon stone powder and silver ingot would be waiting for me in the pokemon center. He didn’t have to rush it, I planned to spend the night out here so we could all sleep together and Larvesta could get used to my entire team, but rush orders cost us nothing, perks of having hyper-competent teleporters in the family.

While I was seated, I figured I’d take care of some other administrative tasks. For starters, I received a response from the Mount Chimney expedition. I’d applied for a job as an itinerant trainer when I first entered Lavaridge. They refused my application on account of my lack of a fourth badge and said they’d reconsider when I had Leader Moore’s approval.

That was about what I expected. I planned on visiting the Lavaridge Gym the next day anyway. Not just for my badge, I wanted to pick the former Elite Four’s brain about a potential training plan for a baby fire type.

Forge Artoria’s sword. Investigate Mount Chimney. Get my badge. Take care of Larvesta. There was so much to do. I suspected we’d be here for a while, at least long enough to participate in the Lavaridge Contest without feeling like we were stalling our journey just for that.

Perfect.

X

Jeanne

She. Was. Here.

My baby sister. The glorious sun. My brilliant rival.

I held her in my arms. She was so small, but Aaron said she’d grow quickly. I gazed into her eyes. She had two big ones, each made of many dozens of smaller eyes. They were so pretty, like gems.

I sniffed her and she sniffed me.

“You smell like grass,” she said tiredly. Her first day had been a slow but exciting one. Every one of us tried extra-hard during practice knowing she was watching.

“And you smell like smoke,” I replied as I gave her an experimental lick. A bit of charcoal was on her white fur, but I licked it clean. “Not tasty.”

“You are the bright dancer.”

“And you are the little sun.”

“Thank you for the bed.”

“You’re welcome.”

I settled her back into her charcoal bed. Aaron tried looking for a bed for baby pokemon, but had returned unsatisfied. He said that they either weren’t rated for heat, or weren’t easy to carry. Instead, he’d purchased a wok, a big, metal bowl that he used to make tasty things.

That worked. I didn’t know why the humans found it so funny, but it was perfect. It even had neat handles we could use to move it around. The inside had been filled with charcoal and lined with my wool. The wool was not flammable, and allowed in enough air to keep the coal smoldering while providing a soft layer for my sister to sleep in.

“Can you pull me?” Larvesta asked. She looked towards Magellan. The big, green chikorita was lying on his side, not quite asleep but dozing steadily.

“Towards him?”

“Yes… He smells nice.”

“He does,” I admitted. I grabbed the handle and dragged her bed over. “Hello, big green.”

“Hello, little yellow,” he said, yawning. “And hello, littlest white.”

“You’re too big,” Larvesta huffed.

“That I am.”

“I won’t be little soon.”

“That you won’t.”

“Why do you smell nice?”

“All of my kind do.” He noticed her staring up at his leaf so he leaned his head forward until his head-leaf drooped over the bed. Then, when she began to nibble on it, he jerked it out of reach. “No, this is not food.”

“Aww…”

Still, Magellan allowed her to keep her bed close. His leaf wafted gently, bathing her in the fragrance of fresh grass.

I watched them with a smile and a resigned sigh. Artoria and I had an unexpected rival. If I wanted to teach Larvesta the joys of praising the sun, I’d have to try even harder.

X

Aaron Fulan

The next morning, I picked up the sword materials and headed back to Mr. Machisuke’s forge. He still looked a bit weirded out at the highly customized spoon but accepted the commission. More than just the money, it was an experiment, a test of his skill and his pokemons’ aura infusion techniques.

Unfortunately, because weapons of this nature were so rare, he said he’d have to play around with the right composition of moon stone and silver alloy. He had no idea how long it’d take to figure out the right blend so agreed to give me a call when he finished.

I then headed out to Lavaridge Gym, both for my challenge and to meet Leader Moore. To either side of me walked Artoria and Durvasa. Artoria was a constant, but Durvasa had been feeling extra-twitchy today.

On my back was Larvesta. She’d quickly decided that it was the best perch, when Magellan was unavailable. I wondered what would happen when she evolved and became as big as a human. Hopefully, when that time came, I would have hit my own growth spurt and could wear her big, orange wings like a blazing cloak. Me, Lance, and Wallace could have a contest to see whose mantle was better-looking.

“Ready?”

“Prime. Primeape.”

‘Of course, my lord. Let us hone the fire of our spirit.’

Author’s Note

I could have kept going with the gym battle but decided against it. This chapter is Larvesta’s. We’ll return to the obligatory ass-kicking next time.

I decided that pokemon don’t shine and pop out of their eggs like an agitated can of Sprite. It’s a bit more interesting when they’re treated a bit more like biology and less like anime nonsense sometimes. Besides, I got to write more sibling antics and that’s always nice.

I do have a name in mind, but I’m willing to be persuaded otherwise. Also, according to the dex, the maximum heat a larvesta can generate via its torches is 5,500 F. That is 3,037 C, or hotter than the surface of the sun. I realize this is Pokemon being Pokemon, but it’s hilarious to think about. These things aren’t helpless.

Animal Fact: What do birds, bats, and sloths have in common?

Their fingies. When your digits are relaxed, they part open. You have to tense your hand to ball a fist. For them, it's the opposite. Their tendons are built in such a way that they relax closed and tense open, allowing them to hang from trees without continuous effort.