Dawn was worried for Barry. Usually the blond boy was a never ending ball of energy ready to go, go, go all day. He would normally have dragged her out of bed by 7 o'clock in the morning, despite only having gone to bed at 3 o'clock himself. However, ever since a little old lady had given him an egg to take care of a little over two weeks before, Barry was calm. A little too calm.

"Barry?" Dawn called one morning, wrapping her knuckles against the door to his room in the Pokémon Center. The boy sat at the table in the room, staring at the egg he'd propped up with his scarf so if it hatched one of the first things it would see would be the summer scenery outside his big picture window. He didn't respond when she said his name, so Dawn came a little closer and set a sandwich on the table. "Empoleon and Piplup were playing earlier, you should've seen them! Poor Piplup kept trying to copy Empoleon, but he just fell over or got kicked in the face!" Dawn recounted, trying to pull Barry's attention off the egg.

Barry huffed in amusement, smiling slightly at the image. Dawn puffed her cheeks and picked up the egg.

"Hey!" Barry shouted. "Put it down!" He snatched the egg and nestled it back in the middle of his scarf.

"Barry, you just watching it won't make it hatch," Dawn tried to explain. "There needs to be excitement, movement-"

"What if it doesn't hatch?" Barry asked, interrupting the girl.

"What do you mean? Of course it'll hatch," Dawn said. She hopped up on the table and peered down at Barry. "It probably just doesn't want to because you're boring it."

"Wow jeez thanks, Dawnie," Barry mumbled. Dawn giggled and patted his shoulder. Barry looked back at the egg and sighed, "You're probably right…"

"Look, why don't we go play something? Nurse Joy has a ping pong table set up in the lobby?" Dawn suggested. "We can take the egg with us, some excitement might even make it hatch."

"OK," Barry sighed. The two teens stood and Barry picked up the egg, cuddling it to his chest. Dawn giggled and wrapped his scarf back around his neck. "Just so you know, I'm going to kick your butt at ping pong."

"I can't believe you kicked my butt at ping pong!" Barry shouted, stomping his foot and banging his fists against his head. "You're gonna pay a fine!"

Dawn snickered from the other side of the table, using the paddle to cover her smile. He was so intense it was just comical. "Wanna go again?" she asked.

"Nnnnnno!" Barry shouted, spinning around and crossing his arms. "Just because you can win once doesn't mean you'll win a second time, and I was raised to not make girls cry, so I don't wanna beat you as badly as I would," Barry reasoned. Dawn just rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, there was a rocking sound. Both teens redirected their attentions to the sound, only to see the egg was moving. "My egg!" Barry shouted, running the short distance to the hatching pokemon. It started to glow and rock more violently, which was making Barry bounce in his socks. "It's hatching, it's hatching!"

A bright flash filled the room with light, causing both trainers to squint and cover their eyes. As it faded, a Chatot sat on the table. Barry blinked, so Chatot copied.

"Chatot?" Barry called.

The bird smiled and flapped its wings happily. "You're gonna pay a fine! Chat! Fine!"

Barry blinked; Dawn blinked; heck, even Chatot blinked.

"Did she just say what I think she said?" Barry asked through his growing smile.

"Yep." Dawn was internally screaming, knowing that any chance she may have ever had at peace was permanently gone.

"Fine! Fine! You're gonna pay a fine! Tot tot!"

I love Barry. Just. He's so great. I need one.

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