“Hey, if you’re looking at me, I got mine pretty late for starters,” Izumi replied with a shrug of her shoulders.

“I’m not going to bore you with how that happened since you already know how it occurred, so there’s that. Although I am going to have to say, to get them used to being around Pokémon… start ‘em off as young as possible. Teach them responsibility,” she continued.

Her own journey started… much later than everyone else’s. Josh knew this and was painfully aware of it. She was absolutely sure he did not want to hear about it all over again because it involved certain old flames that should be kept in the past and not dredged up anymore.

“And I know you started off even later than I did, so there’s that too. Might as well give them a head start, give ‘em what we never got to experience so early in our lives. Next thing you know they’re those battling twins you see around the area,” she added with a chuckle.

She was about to continue talking about the topic on hand but the clattering noise drew her attention—it was time to get ready. They were about to get jumped on!

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"I had Lightning since I was about ten, even if I didn't become a fully fledged Trainer until a decade later" He admitted when Izumi brought up that she had started way late too. But she seemed to be in agreement with them that perhaps they should start out as early as possible. She wanted them to learn responsibility early in regards to Pokemon.

"I can agree with that. Even when I didn't have Lightning, just growing up around a ranch pretty much decided for me that whatever I was going to be doing... I would be around Pokemon at all times. Learning how to treat them responsibly... That's something I had to learn even before then. And now with our own children growing up practically the same way I did... Aye. Perhaps it is good that we find a way to get them started early" He agreed. "And... It would be nice, I suppose. To let them experience something that we didn't get to experience until much later. That's always been something I've wanted to be as a father... Someone who can give our kids what I didn't get to have" He spoke softly.

Their conversation was temporarily interrupted by a rustling, but it ended up being a Numel. Smiling softly from nostalgia, Josh would walk over and pull out some berries to the Numel, and had a Pokeball ready depending on how it responded...

“See, it took you a freakin’ decade to go out on your journey… I had the advantage of starting maybe earlier than you… by what? Five years? I know, pretty old for someone to start journeying at fifteen, but you have to remember… I was the only one my mother could rely on with the café,” she continued with a shrug.

Izumi then stopped for a few moments to watch him catch a Numel, and the sound of skittering made her look around wildly. Sadly, it was just a gigantic Ariados scuttling away, looking for relief in the sweltering heat.

“So, what do you think? What should we get them?” she asked him a few moments later.

“Should we ask them, or just surprise them instead?”

Another scuttling noise drew her attention, as she looked around and tried to pick out where the hell the noise was coming from.

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The Numel would take the berries, and Josh smiled as he would soon enough catch them in a Pokeball. A Haunter would soon after approach, seeming to be eying the food that Josh had been giving the other Pokemon...

"You say fifteen's old, I was near twenty" He reminded her with a small smile. "But I've made up for it, I'd like to think. And I had a decade with Lightning by the time I started, so it wasn't all bad" He pointed out with a casual shrug, noticing the presence of the Haunter. "You know why my folks were hesitant to let me go. And I do understand now. Even if I didn't at the time."

At the topic of what Pokemon to get their children, he pondered it a moment.

"The Pichu Brigade could be an idea, though... They are a bit of a handful, even now" He admitted. "A Magikarp would be easy to raise... But probably a bit too boring as a first Pokemon to keep their interest. Having something that can interact with them more, teach them how to love Pokemon as we do... That would be best I think, but I'm not sure on ideas."

He would fish out a few new berries and hold them out to the Haunter as well with a curious eye.

“Oh no. Nononononononono. Not those nasty troublemakers. I swear! If you give them ANY form of a Pichu or Pikachu or Raichu line I will smite you,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You know what those little rats do when I’m in the kitchen?! They always cause chaos and always run away before you can catch them in the act! What’s fair about that?!” she continued, letting out an annoyed huff. Catching the eye of a fire monkey nearby, she shook her head.

“Look, not a Pichu. They’re trouble incarnate,” she went on, her arms still crossed. As the Pansear wandered away, she let out another sigh. “You never seem to believe me when I tell you your little Pichu platoon always causes mayhem in the kitchen…”

Shaking her head once more, she wondered if he was going to see reason.

“We let them choose what they want to take care of, that’s that,” she added.

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A laugh escaped him as his wife would mandate -- no, demand -- that the trouble-making little Pichus be kept well away from their children. He didn't see what the problem was. Wouldn't maturity come with experience? At least that's how it worked with people, and sometimes with Pokemon, by what he had seen anyway. Wouldn't raising those rascally Pichu and helping them mature help solve Izumi's little problem?

Still, she was insistent upon it. Dead set. So he just shrugged his shoulders. "Well, if one of them happens to take a liking to one of the Pichus... Guess there's no stopping them in that case, is there?" He teased with a small smile. "Letting them choose, it is."

He was curious just what Pokemon they might choose to take care of. It was a good idea, teaching them this sense of responsibility this early, but it was still something he was a bit worried about too. What if they picked something a little too big for them to handle? Or something that might strike out? Still, if Izumi thought it was a good idea, he trusted her.

Though he would quirk a brow as he saw something moving between the rocks. "Is that a...?" He muttered as he would move to investigate. It didn't take long to confirm the presence of the Cyndaquil, and he smiled lightly. "Wow, I haven't seen one of you little guys in a little while" He admitted with a laugh. "Zuzu! It's a Cyndaquil!" He called out to his wife as he would hold out a few berries to tempt the timid Cyndaquil, who had almost flown the coop at the sight of them.

“Well…” she began, leaving the rest of the sentence unfinished. Who knew what to say if and when they started picking out Pokémon they wanted to take care of? She was sorely hoping for either one of them to either take a liking to either a Ralts or a Rufflet, considering that they were her own companions for the past decade or so.

Either way, she wasn’t going to say anything if they so happened to choose a Pichu-line for one of their starter Pokémon. But she would still be eternally sad and dismayed because…

Wait, what?

Shaking her head, she then followed Josh’s line of sight before seeing said Cyndaquil, almost bailing. “Josh, no, you scared him away,” she was about to admonish, when something decided to make an appearance with a flash of red light. Landing in a graceful position in front of them was her Gardevoir, Momiji.

“Well, then. Don’t scare it, go after it!” and off the Gardevoir went, Teleporting briefly out of sight and reappearing close to where the Cyndaquil was, releasing a blast of Psychic energy. Not to be outmatched, the Fire-type squealed and fired back a Flame Wheel attack—that ended up hitting thin air, as the Gardevoir had vanished.

Another Teleporting stunt later, a second blast of rainbow-colored Psychic energy went straight for the Cyndaquil at close range, who attempted to retaliate with a Swift attack. The star-shaped projectiles peppered the taller Pokémon, but she was faster. A finisher in the form of a Moonblast hurled the small Fire-type back their way, skidding to a stop near her feet.

“Aw, come on Momo, no need to go so hard on this one,” she chastised the dual-type before dropping a vacant Pokéball on the passed-out Cyndaquil.

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[attr="class","reward2"]IZUMI CAUGHT CYNDAQUIL!

Josh lowkey hoped at least one of them picked one of the Pichu. Who better to get those ruffians in line, right? That, and keeping the family tradition did seem like a fun thing... But in the end, it was up to the kids, wasn't it? But as he called Izumi over, the Cyndaquil he had been treating to lure in with treatos would suddenly dart away. But all of a sudden, Izumi's Gardevoir would make an appearance. While Izumi was handling that, Lightning had pointed Josh to a Spinarak that had been crawling nearby. Moving toward the Bug Type while Izumi was busy, Josh decided to try and feed the Spinarak instead.

As the spider Pokemon looked at the food though, it didn't seem interested. Josh nodded his head as he swapped the food for a set that he knew was more appetizing to Bug Types. That seemed to get its attention then, as it would advance toward his hand again...

Once the Cyndaquil had been captured, she had a feeling that somewhere, another Fire-type would be so very pleased to get his older brother back. Of course, that would be coming soon—not right now, as she had to regain her battle strength.

Although at the moment, this was looking very lopsided. While she did have two handy sources that could teleport and take her wherever she wished, she still found herself lacking something that could coast over water… or go through a forest. But then again…

She was so distracted with her thoughts she didn’t notice that Josh had gone off to catch a… spider. Oh, joy, a Spinarak. Wait, since when was he interested in arachnids?! She blinked a few times before seeing that there was a Vulpix idling around, however before she could approach it, the Fire-type decided to quite literally ‘open fire’ (in a manner of speaking) with an Extrasensory attack!

“Whoa, feisty,” she remarked, before nodding at her Gardevoir’s direction. “Mind if you take care of that one? Don’t overdo it like earlier!” she added before watching as the Gardevoir let loose with a Moonblast explosion of power. “Momo, what did I just tell you about—“ she remarked, grumbling as she massaged her forehead before the Vulpix retaliated with a Disable of its own.

“Gee, look what you did, get yourself out of that trouble,” she added a few moments later with a sigh as she then waved her hand at the Gardevoir, who then lobbed a rainbow-colored chunk of energy at it—a Psychic attack! Teleporting out of the way (as it saw a Will-O-Wisp attack coming right at it) the Gardevoir then appeared a few moments later, blasting the Vulpix from behind with another Psychic explosion.

“Seriously?” she chuckled once more as the Vulpix soared through the air and landed close to her feet, where another vacant Pokéball landed atop the passed-out Fire-type’s head…