Chapter 4 : I Promise

Sehun always woke up before Yifan, for one thing because it was part of his job, and for another because it was hard not to get up before Yifan. He was a bit of a night owl and tended to sleep until noon if he wasn’t made to get up sooner. It didn’t really matter, anyone who challenged the Elite Four tended to come around sunset, it was much more dramatic that way. While Yifan slept, Sehun saw to the gym. He cleaned up, made sure that the fridge was stocked, wrote up a shopping list if one was needed, and sometimes he would even do laundry. When Yifan finally rolled out of bed and staggered to the gym, the first thing he would do was kiss Sehun soundly.

“How did I manage to get an assistant as wonderful as you?” Yifan always asked, his voice still hoarse from sleep.

Sehun would hold up a bottle of water. “How did I get a boyfriend so considerate as to brush his teeth before even getting something to drink?”

“I guess we’re pretty even,” Yifan would say with a sleepy grin.

A few days were more special than others. The day that Sehun always looked forward to was his birthday. This would be his third one with Yifan, and his knew by now that Yifan would have some kind of surprise in store for him.

Sehun sped through his morning routine and finished just as Yifan was getting up, almost two hours before he normally did.

“Happy birthday,” Yifan said, holding out his arms. Sehun ran to him and hugged him tightly, and they spent a few minutes kissing, but even that couldn’t hold Sehun’s attention for long on a day like today. He was so excited he could hardly hold still, and Yifan knew it.

“I just want to do a little bit of training, then I’ll give you your present.” He said. Sehun nodded eagerly. Seeing dragon-type pokemon always made Sehun feel so awed. Yifan could purposely lose every single battle he’d ever be in and he’d still be one of the greatest trainers around, just for how much trust his Pokémon had in him.

Today Yifan has decided to start with Goodra. Most people were totally shocked when Yifan brought out Goodra because, well, he didn’t seem the type to train a Goomy. Or to have anything to do with goo, really. But Yifan was a dragon type trainer and there weren’t that many dragon types that weren’t legendary. Being a trainer of these Pokémon meant having a lot of patience and being willing to take on messy jobs. Bringing up a Goomy was one of those jobs.

Yifan’s Goodra was a female, and he nicknamed her Princess. She was very affectionate and immediately draped her long neck over Yifan’s shoulders, nuzzling her head under his chin and dripping gooey drool all over his shirt. Yifan scratched her under her chin and cooed at her, “Hello my beautiful girl, how are you this morning?”

Princess Yifan’s cheek and he gave her a responding kiss before turning to Sehun.

“You know what people think when they see me with her, right?”

Sehun nodded. Despite being a powerful Pokémon, Princess and Yifan were often the victims of snide remarks. Yifan had picked the nickname “Princess” back when Goodra was still a Goomy, in an effort to boost her spirits whenever people remarked about her gooey nature. As an affectionate Pokémon, Princess liked to be held and coddled, but few people wanted to handle her. Sehun was one of the few who hadn’t reacted to her in such a way, and it was one thing that had made Yifan choose Sehun as his assistant.

Yifan continued, “Princess is a beautiful Pokémon, I thought so from the moment I laid eyes on her, and I knew training her was going to be a challenge. It would take a long time for her to evolve, and she would need a lot of love from me to do so. I waited a long time before seeking her out, because I wanted to be the best trainer I could be for her.”

Sehun smiled and reached out to pat Princess on her head. She made a pleased little noise and, not realizing it was Sehun who was petting her, snuggled further into Yifan’s shirt, almost knocking him over as she did so.

“It’s not easy to train dragon types,” Yifan grunted. “But of course that could be said for any number of types, and each one has their own special needs.”

“I’m aware,” Sehun said.

“Exactly. I’ve seen how well you manage dragon Pokémon, and I think you’re ready for a challenge of your own.”

Sehun was puzzled. He didn’t think Yifan was giving him a dragon type Pokémon as a present. Just a month ago Sehun had, with Yifan’s guidance, caught a Vibrava that he fully intended to evolve into a Flygon, and he didn’t think he could handle more than one young dragon at a time, even Yifan had trouble with such a thing. But Yifan said no more on the topic, instead he began to train with Princess in earnest. Sehun watched from the side, helping by cleaning up or fetching Yifan things that he needed. The session didn’t last long, and when it was over Yifan returned Princess to her Pokeball and pulled his goo-covered shirt off and changed into a clean one.

“I do love that girl, no matter how dirty she gets me.” Yifan said.

“I know. I love her too.”

Yifan put his arms around Sehun’s shoulders. “What I’m about to show you is more than a birthday gift. It’s a way of showing you how much faith I have in your ability as a trainer.”

Sehun wondered if Yifan was going to give him a badge, or maybe a fishing rod. But instead Yifan lead him to the nursery, past the baby pokemon, and to a special room where eggs were incubated. There, Yifan stopped at a towel-covered incubator and told Sehun to go ahead and open his gift. Sehun pulled back the towel with shaking fingers, and when he saw what was waiting for him he gasped.

“But that’s…is that a…a Togepi egg?!”

Yifan grinned. “Happy birthday!”

Sehun flung himself into Yifan’s arms and began sobbing. He had wanted a Togepi for so long, he couldn’t believe Yifan had actually found an egg for him! “How did you manage?” Sehun asked.

Yifan walked them over to a chair and sat, pulling Sehun into his lap. “I have a lot of friends with a lot of connections, and this is something that has been in the works for almost a year. I didn’t even know if I would find one in time for your birthday, but we were very lucky. I consider that a good sign for your future with this Pokémon.”

Sehun wiped his eyes. “I can’t even begin to thank you enough. This means so much to me…”

Yifan kissed Sehun’s cheek. “You deserve it, love.”

Sehun was positively b with excitement. He could hardly believe this! Togepi weren’t rare but they weren’t crawling all over the place either, and to get one before it hatched was beyond his wildest dreams. They needed a lot of attention but the rewards of having one made it worth it, and Sehun had wanted to raise one since he was a child.

“I’ll take good care of it,” Sehun promised. “I’ll raise it well.”

“I have no doubts about that,” Yifan said. “And I know that you’ll need some time to bond with it, so don’t worry so much about doing everything you normally do. We can work out a new schedule to free up more of your time.”

That was a good thing about dating his boss. Sehun didn’t need to explain his personal problems to Yifan, he already knew about all of them.

“I’m so excited about all of this,” Sehun said. “I have no idea how I’ll ever be able to sleep again, I’ll just be in a constant state of excitement for the rest of my life!”

Yifan began training dragon typ Pokémon when he was eighteen and picked Charmander as his starter. He gave his new friend the name Ace, a name he had always liked, and planned to make his first Pokémon the center of his battle team someday. Of course, Yifan couldn’t just train dragon types forever. He needed other Pokémon, and he focused a lot of time and energy on understanding them and learning what he needed to do to be a good trainer for specific Pokémon, and using that to figure out what they all had in common. Yifan quickly learned to be patient, loving, and kind. If he showed Pokémon kindness and repect, they would show it back to him. But he wasn’t a pushover, he was also firm when he needed to be and he didn’t tolerate nonsense. There had been a point where his Hydreigon wasn’t listening to him, and Yifan hadn’t tried to bargain with the Pokémon or beg it to listen. Eventually Hydreigon learned that his evolution didn’t put him about Yifan or the other pokemon, and he never gave Yifan another problem.

It was a delicate balance between listening to one’s Pokémon and not letting them be the boss, and it wasn’t an easy line to walk, especially when working with powerful dragon types. Hydreigon was often considered a brute, but Yifan had never considered his to be particularly brutal. One had only to watch it play with Charizard or protect smaller Pokémon to understand that. Before Yifan had picked his assistant, he had introduced each applicant to his Pokémon. Most never made it past Goodra, the second one to be introduced, but Sehun made it all the way up to Hydreigon. He had been hesitant, but not because he was afraid. In the end Sehun had made it clear that he respected Hydreigon, and the pokemon had shown Sehun respect in return by playing with him. Hydreigon’s favorite game was fetch, and when he brought Sehun his favorite ball to play with. Yifan knew he had found not only his new assistant, but possibly his soulmate.

Sure, the other members of the Elite Four respected dragon types, but each one admitted that they didn’t know if they could train them the way Yifan did. That was fine, Yifan knew it wasn’t for everybody, but even though Sehun wasn’t a dragon type trainer, he made it clear that he wasn’t afraid of them and he wasn’t going to be letting them walk all over him. About a week into the job, Sehun had snapped at Haxorus for playing too roughly with him. He didn’t leave the room or call Yifan over to deal with it, instead he did as Yifan had instructed him to—turn his back to Haxorus and wait for the Pokémon to make the first move of apology.

Yifan knew Sehun was going to be a great trainer, which was why he had no qualms about giving Sehun a delicate Pokémon to raise. Togepi could be tricky, and could be even more tricky as they evolved, because of their need for love and positivity. Yifan knew that Sehun could adapt to individual Pokémon’s needs, and aside from being the hallmark of a good trainer, that kind of adaptability was also the hallmark of a member of the Elite Team. In fact when Joonmyun had announced his retirement, Yifan suggested that Sehun try out to be a member of the team.

But Sehun had refused, saying he didn’t feel like he was ready. He also confessed that while he liked raising Pokémon, being a professional trainer intimidated him and he would rather not go down that path. Of course Yifan had respected that decision and had been proud of Sehun for his mature response, but he thought it a bit of a shame. Sehun could have brought so much to the name of the Elite Four.

Yifan was alone in the gym while Sehun watched over his Togepi egg. He was taking the time to let Princess play with some of his other Pokémon, and using the downtime to talk to Joonmyun. He had just come back from a two week trip to an island and had returned with several Shellos, and he was alternating between yelling at them and talking to Yifan.

“I can call back, you know,” Yifan said for the third time.

“It’s fine, I really don’t need to watch them so closely, it’s just that I’m excited about them so I’m—Don’t you climb up on that! Get down!”

Yifan chuckled. “And your Vaporeon?”

“Pissed off at me for bringing home so many but they will come around. Trident is actually making friends with them, I think. What about you, who do you have out right now?”

“Princess, Furret, and Skitty.”

“Skitty?”

“She’s in my lap, not playing.”

“Ah, that makes more sense. How are things at the gym?”

Yifan filled Joonmyun in on Sehun’s new Pokémon.

“Oh, he’ll be an excellent trainer. He kind of reminds me of you in that regard.”

“We’re all good trainers,” Yifan said. “But yes, he is very good. I asked him if he wanted to be part of the Elite Four, but he turned me down.”

“Oh, so he’s more like me,” Joonmyun said lightly.

Yifan immediately felt bad. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Oh, I know. I…maybe that was the wrong thing to say.”

Yifan dug his nails into his leg. “I…I really miss you.” Joonmyun had joined the Elite Four a little after Yifan, and the two of them had been there when Jongin and Lu Han replaced older trainers. Joonmyun had left six months ago already, but Yifan still felt his absence. He was much older than the other members of the team, and sometimes he wondered why he stuck around.

“I miss you too,” Joonmyun said. “But we’re both doing what we love now, right?”

“I guess.”

“Yifan, are you happy?”

“I am,” Yifan said. “I just wonder…I’m getting old.”

“You’re not even thirty!”

“I will be next year.”

“What, really?”

“How old did you think I was?”

“I…you’re not that old.”

“I’ve been a Pokémon trainer for eleven years, and a member of the Elite Four for six. I don’t know that anyone’s lasted as long as I have.”

“So what? You shouldn’t judge your happiness by age or how long you’ve done something for, not if you’re still happy.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

“Why, what else do you want to do?”

But that was just it—Yifan had no idea what more he wanted.

Sehun knew it was important to keep his Togepi egg at a constant temperature, so he rarely took it out of the incubator. He spent his days draped over the plexiglass, desperately hoping to see a crack in the eggshell. Even if the egg hatched in the middle of the night he would know, because of the sensitivity strips in the bottom of the cage, which would trigger an alarm on Sehun’s pokedex should something trip them. Still, Sehun hoped the egg would hatch during the day.

Jongdae often joined Sehun and kept him company during those long hours. They had become great friends, Jongdae bonded with Sehun instantly after joining the Elite Four. He was still a little awkward with Yifan, which Sehun couldn’t understand.

“Yifan’s not half as scary as he looks. I bet you he’s snuggling with his Skitty right now, once you see that you’ll see what a much he truly is.”

Jongdae shrugged. “I’ve admired him for a long time, I just…I don’t want to stick my foot in my mouth around him. I admired Joonmyun too, I don’t know…if I knew I was going to join the team, I don’t think I would have tried out.”

That was news to Sehun. “What, really?”

“I really didn’t think I would be picked. I didn’t want to take Joonmyun’s place.”

“Well not to sound rude, but you didn’t. Nobody ever takes somebody else’s place around here. And Yifan admires you, too. We all do, that’s not an easy Pokémon you have right there,” Sehun said, nodding at Jongdae’s Zebstrika, Saturn. “Electric type Pokémon are a lot like dragon types, you know. They can both be pretty powerful and devastating if not trained properly.”

Zebstrika were notoriously difficult to train, but Jongdae’s was so obedient that it could follow him everywhere without issue, and follow him everywhere it did. Even in the nursery, Sehun didn’t fear Jongdae losing control of Saturn. Sehun had been there when the remaining three members of the Four had held interviews for trainers to join the team. Each person who interviewed had to introduce their Primary Battle Team and give a demonstration of their abilities. When the trainers had seen the level of control Jongdae had over his electric type Pokémon, Sehun could already tell that they considered him a strong contender. Jongdae had saved Saturn for last, since he was Jongdae’s most powerful Pokémon, and Sehun knew that the Zebstrika had been the clincher.

“Besides, you know how it goes,” Sehun said. “The goal of the Elite Four is not to be unbeatable, it’s—”

“To be excellent trainers that others can learn from,” Jongdae finished.

“And by that logic, you’re a great member of the team. Even without Saturn. You’re an amazing trainer.”

Jongdae grinned. “I hope so. You are too, you know. You’ll be great with your Togepi.”

Sehun pressed his cheek against the plexiglass and sighed. “I just can’t wait to hold it.”

Jongdae leaned against Saturn and his mane. “Have you picked a nickname? Do you want one?”

“I may just call it Baby for a while, until I learn it’s personality,” Sehun said.

“And you and Yifan already worked out a new schedule so you can train it?”

“Yep, that’s the best part about working for my boyfriend.”

Jongdae nodded. “Just out of curiosity, what made you want to be Yifan’s assistant?”

“Well, it wasn’t that I set out to be his assistant. But I had been on my Pokémon journey for two years and honestly, the whole wander around in the wild thing really didn’t appeal to me. I wanted to learn about Pokémon and train them, but I didn’t want to be on my own and I didn’t want to be in a school. I learned about being a gym assistant by chance, I always assumed assistants were just leader’s friends. And then it so happened that I was here when Yifan announced his intent to hire an assistant, and I decided to take a chance.”

“Funny how fate works,” Jongdae muttered.

“Indeed, it is.”

“So, how come Yifan is the only one with an assistant? Lu Han could really use one, couldn’t he?”

Sehun chuckled. “Yeah, he really could. But he’s so fussy about his babies, he could never leave them with anyone aside from Jongin. You’ve seen how he tries to tell us he doesn’t need help.”

“I thought that was because you guys were kind of…disapproving.”

“Only of the stress he puts on himself, not the actual rescues,” Sehun said quickly. “But yeah I suppose that’s a contributing factor. But other than that, they pretty much just lean on each other and they have a system. They don’t really feel like adding someone else to the equation. But they could have assistants if they wanted to, and so could you. Do you want one?”

Jongdae sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe? Do I have to have interviews, or can I just ask someone?”

“If you have someone in mind, you can just ask them. Just make sure they get along with your Pokémon before you hire them, and let the others know about it.”

Jongdae nodded, looking lost in thought, and even though Sehun was just about bursting with questions he kept them to himself. He looked back at the Togepi egg and gasped.

“IS THAT A CRACK?!”

Jongdae almost fell over and Sehun grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him towards the incubator.

“Where?” Jongdae asked. Sehun pointed to the tiny little crack. Jongdae narrowed his eyes. “It’s kind of small, isn’t it?”

But just then Sehun’s Pokedex started blaring an alarm, and Sehun knew he had been right.

“IT’S HATCHING!” He screamed, jumping up and down. “My baby is hatching, my baby is hatching!!!”

It took three hours for the egg to hatch, and Sehun was there for every minute of it. Yifan was too, but he kept a safe distance back so that Togepi wouldn’t see him when it hatched. Jongdae, Lu Han, and Jongin all came by periodically to see how things were going and to drop off food and water for Sehun and Yifan. Sehun barely noticed the passing time, he was so engrossed in the egg that he didn’t think about anything else. When Togepi’s little face was finally free of the eggshell, Sehun had to hold back tears at how beautiful it was. He carefully opened the incubator and cleared away all the remaining shell from Togepi’s head, arms, and legs. The baby let out a tiny trill and waggled it’s arms, and Sehun scooped it up.

“Hello, little one,” He crooned. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He felt around Togepi’s body, testing the eggshell that remained. It felt hard and solid, and very good sign. He took a warm, damp cloth and used it to wipe Togepi’s skin, and then he dribbled some fresh water into it’s mouth. Togepi snuggled against his chest and closed it’s eyes.

“I think you can come closer,” Sehun told Yifan.

Yifan came up behind Sehun and wrapped his arms around Sehun’s waist. “What a little cutie. Absolutely precious.”

“All thanks to you,” Sehun said.

“Well, partially thanks to you. You’re the one who has been watching over it.” Yifan took out his phone and texted Lu Han that Togepi had hatched.

Lu Han came in and gave Togepi a more thorough check-up, all without taking it from Sehun’s arms. Then came the important part—Togepi needed a blood test. In the wild, an unhealthy baby would be abandoned by its parents. Since Togepi was being raised by a human, they had to test its health by looking at its blood. That would also tell them if it was a boy or a girl.

The test results would take a while to come, but Sehun wasn’t worried. Eggs that came from breeders rarely had any issues, since parents were carefully selected. He was also pretty convinced that his Togepi was a boy, since they had a very low percentage of females, but he had nicknames picked out for both genders.

“I’m going to call it Promise.”

“That’s an interesting name,” Yifan said. “And in English, no less.”

“That’s because it’s easy to shorten further. If it’s a boy, I can call it Mister. If it’s a girl, I can call it Missy.”

Yifan chuckled. “That’s adorable. I love it.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Yifan said. He looked hesitant. “Sehun, I’ve been thinking…I don’t want to be a member of the Elite Four for my whole life. I’m just wondering…what would you do, if you could do anything?”

Sehun had to think about that. “I’m not really sure. Anything is a big word.”

“You didn’t spend a lot of time on the road. Would you want to go back to that?”

Sehun wrinkled his nose. “Back to sleeping in the dirt and eating out of a can? Thanks but no thanks.”

Yifan laughed. “Okay, maybe not like that. But do you have any ideas?”

Sehun shrugged. “I just want to stay with you. What do you want?”

“I’ve been thinking…about maybe going around to schools and teaching kids about dragon type Pokémon. Maybe not just kids, maybe adults too. I don’t know how I would even start something like that, but I think it could be a good thing.”

“I like that idea,” Sehun said.

“But would you be okay with that? I don’t want you to feel like you need to be my assistant for all that.”

Sehun shrugged again. “I lke being your assistant, not because I feel like I have to. Honestly, I want to have time with my Pokémon. That’s all I need to be happy, that and you.”

“You’re such a sap,” Yifan said with a smile. “Well, the day I decide to move on is still a ways off. So we have time to think about it more.”

“Okay. And don’t worry too much about it, we’ll figure it out together.”

A few days later Togepi’s blood test results came through, and they came with a surprise.

“What are the odds?” Sehun wondered out loud, shaking his head. Togepi toddled around him, and he reached down to offer her a steadying hand. “Be careful, Missy.”

ASDFGHJKL SO CUTE!!!