“Why are you so stupid...?” a girl shook her head in disbelief as she watched TV.

“What are you complaining about now Rylee?” her brother said as he was passing by her door, stopping and leaning against the doorframe.

“They made a show about that awsome trainer Red, but instead of someone cool we have this moron Ash Can't Ketchum. Who thought that was a good idea?”

“Most people aren't as good as Red. They created this character so the kids had someone to relate to,” he explained.

“You weren't supposed to have that kind of an answer,” Rylee pouted.

“Do you think you'd be a better trainer than Ash?” he asked, turning off the tv sitting near the door and sitting down next to her on her bed.

Rylee looked straight at him. “Will, anyone could be a better trainer than that idiot.”

“So says the girl who doesn't even have her own pokemon.” He looked at the various pokemon dolls she had all over her room. “You clearly like the things though.”

“Of course I do. I just haven't found the pokemon I'm looking for yet,” she said, grabbing the Eevee doll off of the nearby shelf and hugging it, imagining it as the real thing.

Will laughed. “That's because you only want Eevee. You know that pokemon is insanely rare.”

She looked right at the Eevee doll, holding it in her hands like a trophy. “I'd go out and try to find one myself but some old guy shows up out of the blue and tells me I can't leave town unless I have a pokemon. No idea where he comes from or goes after.”

He grabbed the Pikachu doll from the opposite shelf as the Eevee and set it on Rylee's lap. “How about one of these?” he asked. “Much more common.”

She sighed, setting the doll down. “Then I'd just be imitating Red.”

“Well you do have red hair,” he laughed.

“Rylee, you have mail!” their mom called from downstairs.

“What's that?” Rylee asked as both her and her brother left her room and walked downstairs.

They arrived to find a large package sitting on the kitchen table addressed to Rylee Skysong. “I didn't order anything,” she said in confusion.

Will examined the package, making note of the message “Fragile” on the box. “I don't see a return address. Whatever it is, its breakable.”

“Open it Rylee!” her mom said with excitement, almost as if she already knew what was waiting inside.

Tearing open the packaging and digging through a mountain of styrofoam peanuts, she felt something cyndrilical hiding inside. Grabbing the handle on top, she pulled it out to reveal a container holding a large white egg with thick wavy brown lines going across it on the top and bottom.

“That's a pokemon egg!” Will blurted out suddenly.

Her mom closely examined the egg inside the container. “That it is,” she said, then looked at Rylee. “Do you know how to hatch one?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “They hatch after a person holding it takes a set amount of steps. How does that even make sense?” she questioned. Setting the egg down on the table, she dug through the box again, trying to see if there was anything else buried within the sea of styrofoam.

At the very bottom she felt another item. Digging it out, spilling styrofoam all over the table, she found herself holding a small rectangular box with a note on top. Looking at the note, it read: “Hatch the egg before you open this.”

“All right, I'm off to hatch this thing.” She puts on her boots, grabs the container with the egg, and steps outside into the beautiful spring weather as a large flock of Pidgey fly overhead.

Rylee attempts to run but her legs won't listen. No matter how hard she tries to move them, they completely refuse to go faster than a normal walk.  “Argh!” she yells. “I don't have my running shoes on so I can't run!”