Sevil Islands, a lucky find

Weeks later, Grunt had attempted to catch one of the weaker Pokemon in the wild areas outside his present "base" in the Sevil Islands, but most had been far too strong to even dare confront by himself. Anything that he COULD capture was just...too beneath him. Sure, the Magikarp were plentiful and easy enough to capture, but would be almost IMPOSSIBLE to train with his current resources.

While it had been a rough couple of days, Grunt's patience hadn't completely dried out yet. Give it another day or two though, and it would be another story entirely. But for the moment, he was simply too exhausted to keep trying. What he couldn't confront, he often had to flee from, and his legs and feet had quite enough for today. If he could move them at all tomorrow without significant soreness hampering his efforts, he'd qualify it as a success in and of itself. But to be safe, he decided to take a day off and rest his legs.

It was at that point, halfway back to the Wearhouse he presently called "home" that he overheard a pair of hushed voices conversing nearby. Within seconds, Grunt had deduced the direction where the voices came from. Of course, the task was made easier by the voices raising in volume, only just barely remaining in the realm of whispering. It was clear that both individuals were trying to stay hidden, but definitely had some issues with one another if they couldn't keep quiet.

Luckily, the individuals were too focused on each other and their shouting/whispering match to pay attention to any possible eavesdroppers. The conversation was difficult to follow at first, but eventually their discussion started making sense.

"It was a stupid move and you know it!" Husher number 1 whisper/shouted.

"I saw a chance and I took it! We'll never get anywhere if we never take any fucking risks!" Husher number 2 responded.

"We've gotten by because we've never done something stupid until now! Because of your half-assed 'plan', we've got the Rangers from Unova on our ass!"

"We've stepped in worse shit and you know it!"

"The fucking RANGERS, dumbass! Do you know what they do to Pokemon Poachers!? Nothing nice, I can guarantee you that!"

"All we gotta do is lay low for a little longer, numbnuts! After a week or two, those pansy-asses'll move on, then we can sell the Egg to the highest bidder!"

"And who the FUCK is gonna pay top-dollar for an unknown Egg!? They didn't keep the paperwork together with the Egg, so we have no way to prove how valuable the damn thing is! This plan was a fucking bust the moment you decided to grab it in broad daylight and run off!"

"Getting the paperwork was your fucking job! I did my part, which is a fucking miracle considering you screwed the Poochyena on this one! Those guards showed up a lot earlier than they were supposed to!"

"Which is why I told you to WAIT for the fucking SIGNAL! I TOLD you that the information wasn't going to be entirely accurate!"

"Then what fucking good ARE you, if you can't even do that much right!?"

A fistfight quickly broke out between the two men. Had Grunt just walked out into the open, odds are the two men wouldn't have even noticed.

But it did provide an excellent opportunity to look through their camp for anything of value, since stale rations were becoming more difficult to swallow (literally). While their resources were even more pitiful than his own, they did have one thing of apparent value: a Pokemon Egg residing in a glass incubator.

Unfortunately, their conversation did not leave any clues as to the Pokemon that will hatch from it. But if their words were to be believed, then apparently it was of considerable worth. It's just too bad that it would be a gamble on his part relying on the word of two idiots who couldn't even bother to notice as a complete stranger rummage through their supplies and make off with the only thing of any value.

Their fighting had begun drawing attention though. Grunt could make out the pace of running nearby growing louder as it closed the distance. If he had to guess, the idiots were drawing the attention of people to them. Best case, it turned out to be some locals who could easily be convinced to leave the area. Worst case, the Pokemon Rangers the two had been so **** to avoid were close on their trail and might capture him for suspected involvement.

Regardless, this was probably the best chance Grunt was going to have at grabbing the Egg and making a clean break for it. Whether it would be worth it or not would remain to be seen.

Three days later, and the local news was finally done reporting on the Rangers' capture of the two Egg poachers. Naturally the idiots were upset to learn that the Egg had disappeared on them, but the Rangers were not entirely unconvinced that the duo hadn't just stashed it somewhere else. Grunt's hideout was almost discovered the next day, but thankfully they didn't press their investigation far enough to actually find it. From that point on, Grunt kept himself occupied keeping the Egg well cared for. It was more than a tad foolish in hoping that the two fools were right about it's value, but it was too late for those kind of regrets now.

The Egg was moving fairly often, and odds are it would hatch within half an hour at most.

The only clue Grunt had to the Pokemon's identity was that it apparently warranted the attention of the Unova branch of the Pokemon Rangers. That didn't necessarily mean that the Pokemon itself was a native of the region, but it was all he had to go on.

As the Egg began to shine, Grunt ceased any further line of thought and prepared himself for anything.