"Why did you move the egg without my authorization?" 18-year-old Lazarus Hawke enters the lab with a sour expression on his face. "You'd better have a good reason for it!"
One of the older researchers rushes to explain the situation to him.
"It was an emergency, sir." He says as he leads Lazarus to the middle of the room, "We had to bring it here. The egg is hatching earlier than we anticipated."
Lazarus sees a group of researchers gathered around the biggest incubator in the facility.
The researcher continues, "The previous facility was getting crowded because of the new batch of eggs we had to monitor, and we couldn't take the risk of the egg hatching in front of everyone, so we brought it to this facility."
"Alright, good call," Lazarus nods as he gives the order, "Now, please tell everyone to leave."
While the researchers vacate the facility, Lazarus approaches the incubator.
Inside is a dark dragon scaled egg.
He waits for a moment and then notices the dark brown egg beginning to tremble.
Small cracks start to appear on the dragon scale shell of the egg, gradually growing larger until the egg cracks open completely.
Lazarus hears a weak but high-pitched squeal before he sees a small, ghostly green reptilian pokémon resembling a translucent dart coming out of the shell, fully covered in amniotic fluid.
The Dreepy looks around the lab with its big yellow eyes full of curiosity.
It looks at Lazarus, the first life form it has ever laid its eyes on, and the biological instinct of the Dreepy imprints him as its parent.
Dreepy lets out an even more excited squeal, and tries to float over to him, but the glass shield of the incubator gets in the way.
"Hey there, buddy." Lazarus smiles as he clicks a button, "Hold on. Let me get you out of there."
The glass shield of the incubator recedes, and through the hot steam Dreepy flies out.
The Dreepy yelps as it floats up to Lazarus and snuggles against his face, smearing the fluid that covers its body onto his cheeks. "Mmm look at you, aren't you the cutest? And quite talented too. Barely ten seconds out of the egg and already learned to fly."
Lazarus feels the warmth emitted by the dragon's tiny serpentine body, "I have been waiting for you for quite some time now. I even thought of a name for you while you were inside the egg.
I am going to call you Kamish." Lazarus looks at the Dreepy and uses his thumb to gently caress its head, causing Dreepy to squeal in pleasure.
"I hope you like the name. It's from a story my mom used to read to me when I was a kid. About a godly being who could summon shadowy creatures from the dead to fight for him.
All he had to do was command them, and they would arise from the dead to fulfill the will of their new master.
But even he, with all his power, fell short when it came to Kamish."
Kamish blinks and tilts his head, not understanding a word, but Lazarus doesn't mind.
"As a kid, I used to think Kamish was the coolest thing in the world, the epitome of pride and power." Lazarus continues, "But now I understand… Kamish isn't about pride or undying will but is a reminder that even gods can't cage what is truly alive."
Kamish just eyes his fingers and decides to nibble on them.
"I want you to have that name because you represent a new beginning for both of us.
One where we will grow strong and free, unbroken by fear, past mistakes, or limits anyone tries to place on us. You, me and the friends we pick up along the way."
Lazarus closes his eyes, and tragic memories still fresh in his mind threaten to spill out.
He quickly banishes these thoughts from his mind and takes a deep breath before announcing, "I failed my last pokémon, but I won't fail you.
One day, by my side, you will become the most powerful Dragapult in existence."
–5 Months Ago–
–The Fumelands, Battle Zone, Northeast Sinnoh–
There is a place known as The Fumelands on the island hailed as the Battle Zone, there are no humans in this world that call this place their home, because at the center of the region stands the Stark Mountain, the largest volcano in the world.
This geological engine of heat and ash fuels numerous other active and dormant volcanoes in the region, which has led to the birth of the largest volcanic chain in the world.
The entire region is plant less, for the clouds above don't let the sun grace the land below, where fissures in the ground leak hot molten lava.
But dangerous as this place might be, it is still not enough to deter every human to stay away from this place.
At the edge of The Fumelands, near a dormant volcano, stands a lone steel and concrete building, a research outpost bearing the logo of Hawke Industries.
Inside one of the core rooms of the outpost, a tall young man with short blond hair is reading through reports sent by the researchers on his laptop.
"The migratory pattern of these pokémon doesn't make any fucking sense," Lazarus mutters to himself, tapping his finger on the desk.
He is wearing a compression shirt made from high-quality Ariados silk, fingerless exo gloves, and tactical pants tucked into reinforced boots.
Beside him, a bipedal pokémon with bushy eyebrows covered in a coat of shaggy white fur is creating a weak blizzard to bring down the temperature of the room.
Lazarus hears a notification chime and looks at the terminal on his right wrist to identify the caller before answering the call.
A holographic projection of the caller materializes from his wrist terminal.
"Hey, Dad," Lazarus says, "I thought you would be busy all day with the architects?"
"Something else came up. But before that, tell me about the situation there. What progress have you made?" Arthur Hawke, the Chairman and CEO of Hawke Industries, asks.
"The project is progressing smoothly. Just as we expected. We are about forty percent done here.
Oliver and his team finished analyzing the lava samples yesterday.
Today, they collected some soil samples from inside the volcano. I'll send you the results once they are out.
If we keep going at our current pace, we will be done with this place in about three weeks."
Arthur nods, "Good. And what do you think the outcome of this survey will be?"
Lazarus replies immediately because he is a decisive man, just like his father. "The volcano seems stable. I don't think it will become active anytime this century.
I obviously don't recommend skipping the survey, but I think it's safe to say we can build a breeding ground around the volcano without any problems."
Arthur nods, "I see."
Lazarus thinks of the report he just read and says, "But there is something more important you should know about.
When we came here, we didn't find any wild pokemon around. I thought it was weird but nothing to worry about, but I did ask Seth to look into it.
And it looks like the pokémon are leaving the area around the outpost for some reason.
Which is really out of the ordinary.
The environmental conditions are perfect for these pokémon this time of the year. It's even breeding season right now. So it's really weird that they would migrate away from this place.
It might be nothing, but I hypothesize the might be running from a predator.
But I am not sure how that is possible since all the powerful pokémon capable of driving them out are in the inner regions of the Fumelands anyway, and they have no reason to come out."
Arthur Hawke listens and nods, "Yes, I know about that. That is the reason I am calling ahead of schedule.
The league informed me that they spotted a lot of pokémon heading towards the Battle Tower. I guess now we know where they are coming from.
It's nowhere near enough to overwhelm them, but it could become a minor problem if this keeps going on.
So they asked me to look into the situation since we have an active research station in the area."
"Is this a formal commission?" Lazarus asks. "What do they want us to do?"
"It's just a simple investigation mission. But you are not to involve yourself with this.
Just carry on with your assigned tasks, leave this to the security, and send me all the data they gather along with any reports you have compiled.
I'll forward them to the league. If I had to guess, they are running from an invasive pokémon.
All you need to do is figure out which one. The league will take care of the rest.
Don't put yourself in any danger and don't go into the inner regions, no matter what, even if you have to abandon the mission. Your safety comes first."
Lazarus nods, "Understood. Seth and David are already looking into this. I'll let you know if they find something."
They talk for a few more minutes before Lazarus hangs up the call.
Getting up from the chair, he unclips a small pokéball from his utility belt and presses a button on top of it, which makes the pokéball bigger.
He points the pokéball at his Snover and with a red laser recalls it back, before making his way out of the room.
The door slides open to reveal a hallway with researchers coming in and out of research labs. Lazarus walks past them and heads outside the outpost.
The terrain beneath his shoes is red and rocky.
The sky overhead is ashen gray, thanks to the constant emission of toxic sulphuric fumes into the atmosphere.
A trainer is standing guard nearby with his pokémon, a bipedal primate pokémon, reddish-brown with sections of white fur on parts of its body and a raging flame on its head.
Lazarus approaches the trainer and asks, "Jacob, I assume everything is going well? Any pokémon sighting?"
Jacob heaves a sigh, "Nah, I'm sad to say that is been very peaceful so far. A little too peaceful for my taste.
Not a single pokémon in sight anywhere. I am starting to get bored out of my mind."
"That's good. I don't want any wild pokémon interfering with our business here," Lazarus says.
"Oh, come on, don't be a spoilsport. It's not like we can't handle a couple of wild pokémon," Jacob whines.
Lazarus shrugs, "We aren't here to fight pokémon."
"Speak for yourself. Your father hired me to do exactly that."
"And it's better that you don't get to." Lazarus retorts, "I don't want any unpredictable elements around."
Jacob turns to look at his Infernape and asks it, "What say you, Zippo? Do you believe Lazarus here wants to crunch numbers all day?"
Infernape looks at Lazarus and then back at Jacob before shaking its head.
"See, even he doesn't believe you." Jacob gives Lazarus a smug look.
"Why would I lie?" Lazarus says with a sigh, "If pea–"
A shrill screech interrupts Lazarus mid-sentence.
"I hope it's an enemy," Jacob excitedly looks at the sky. "Please be an enemy."
Lazarus also looks up at the gray sky but is unable to make out anything beyond a distant silhouette of something flying through the clouds.
Jacob activates the zooming feature of the visor he is wearing over his eyes as he commands his Infernape to become combat-ready.
Through the HUD, he identifies a silver-gray bird pokémon with a long metallic blue neck, sharp teeth, yellow eyes, and sharp red feathers under its steel wings.
"No, wait. It's friendly." Jacob confirms, and Infernape visibly relaxes, "It's David and his Skarmory."
"Glad to hear that," Lazarus says.
"Damn it," Jacob sighs, "I was hoping it would be our mystery pokémon."
He then turns to Lazarus and asks, "Do you think they found something?"
"Maybe. Dad just called to inform me that the League spotted the missing pokémon near Battle Tower. Now they want us to officially investigate this migrating pokémon case."
"Now that sounds fun," Jacob smiles at that, "The League never disappoints."
A few minutes later, the Skarmory lands near them. David gets off his pokémon, recalls it back into the pokéball, and makes his way over to their group.
"We found something you guys need to see," David says to them.
"What is it?" Lazarus asks.
"Please be something exciting." Jacob puts his palms together and mock-prays. "Please be something exciting."
David replies with a shudder, "A crater filled with dead pokémon. Half of them are melted into the fucking ground. There are countless dozens of them. It's really fucking morbid out there."
"Fuck Yes!" Jacob cheers, fist-pumping the sky.