Chapter 4 - A new job. 
It had been 4 days since Aster and Cinder had rescued Azurill, they woke up early as usual, Aster had to visit Audino the next day, after the morning cheer Loudred called them over. 
"Look you two, Diglett's got some stuff to do today so you two are taking over sentry duty"
"Sentry duty...? What do you mean?" Cinder tilted her head, confused about the whole thing.
"Ya remember the grate you stepped on? How Diglett said it was your footprint?"
"Oh! So...we're doing that job?"
"Exactly, you and Aster will be identifying footprints...Well, Aster will. You'll be seeing if it's correct. I of course will be here as well. Got it?"
"Loudred, I do, but what about my legs? Won't it cause pain to get down there?"
"You handled missions tougher and longer than this! Besides, you can sit if you want. You already got a cushion for that" Aster blushed a bit as Loudred's comment, but conceded and headed down with Cinder, it took him a bit to find the grate area and he sat down as soon as he got into position. As the day continued, Aster got the footprints correct as Cinder relayed the answer to Loudred, after about 6 hours, they were done. Due to getting every single visitor right, they got a good amount of rewards. Aster went to change as Cinder talked about how the next day was Aster's appointment with Ms. Audino.
"I see, i'll inform the guildmaster so he knows you both will be at the hospital tomorrow." Chatot nodded to Cinder before sending her off, Cinder went to find Aster and saw him on his back.
"Um...Aster?"
"...My legs gave out. I just laid down here to rest..."
"Well, you seemed to have gotten changed without my help. That's a good sign."
"Please Cinder...Bandages? I kind of need my legs to work..."
"Oh right! Sorry Aster!" Cinder grabbed the extra bandages and got Aster's legs wrapped and helped him up. The pair decided to head to the beach to relax before dinner. As they sat down, they reminenced over how they met on the very same beach. 
"You know something Aster...When I found you washed up on the beach...The trip to Ms. Audino's...I...Um nevermind. It was stupid forget I said anything."
"Cinder...You're pretty, you know? I'm glad we're a exploration team...I don't think i'd be able to do it if it wasn't with you." Aster laid his head against Cinder. Cinder looked at Aster's eyes and both parties stared into the others eyes before they blushed and turned away a bit. 
"Um...T-thank you, Aster. You know...um...Hey? What's that?" Cinder walked over to the shore, and Aster followed. A yellow egg with a pink stripe near the bottom had washed up. 
"An egg...? Um Cinder...Isn't an egg washing up...Bad?"
"It...Means either it was abandoned or the parents sent it off before...Meeting their end...Let's get it back to our room. Wigglytuff has to know..." Aster patted Cinder's back and picked up the egg, both rushing back to the guild, carefully of course. 
"Guildmaster Wigglytuff! We need to talk!"
Chatot jumped up when Cinder barged in as Wigglytuff and Chatot were speaking.
"Oh my friend, what's wrong?" Wigglytuff walked over as Aster walked in holding the egg.
"We..found this egg...washed up on the beachshore." Wigglytuff and Chatot looked shocked, as it was rare for an egg to wash up. After a bit of talking, they made a makeshift crib for the egg. Wigglytuff promised to watch the egg while Aster and Cinder were on missions. Chimecho soon called for dinner after a blanket was placed on the egg to slightly cover it up. Cinder and Aster ate, but their worry over the egg and their apprenticeship at the guild weighed on their minds. As the next morning rolled around, Wigglytuff himself came to wake up Aster and Cinder, as they got up and got set to go visit Miss Audino, Wigglytuff promised to watch over the egg.
"Alright...If...If anything happens please inform us immediately." Cinder looked at the egg worried
"No worries friends! Uncle Wigglytuff will watch the egg! Please be safe on your way." Wigglytuff smiled and waved them off. 
Aster and Cinder made their way to Miss Audino's clinic, arriving right as the doors opened to be greeted by Ace.
"Ah, Cinder, Aster! Right on schedule. Audino, ma'am, Aster's here."
"Ah thank you Ace, please send him and Cinder in. Thank you dearie." Cinder noticed Ace's cheeks flush a bit as being called dearie, smiling a tiny bit to herself as she and Aster went to the exam room. Audino did an examination of Aster's normal functions before checking the legs. After about 2 hours, she had her results. 
"Well, the good news is your legs are healed up. Sure they can get inflamed if overexerted but they're stronger than before. Keep the gauze incase the legs start burning and hurting. Other than that, you're in perfect health. Have your apprenticeship been going well?"
"Yeah...Well um...there is ONE thing that's come up." Aster explained to Audino about the egg and how he and Cinder weren't sure how to raise it while also being apprentices.
"My my...that certainly IS a big change. Well, I do have a list of items you'd need to raise a baby correctly. Besides being a doctor, i'm also a licensed pediatrician."
"What aren't you, Miss Audino?"
"hehe, Oh Aster, i'm not an astronaught" Cinder chuckled at the sarcastic remark.
Audino handed them a list. Things seemed to be understandable. Diapers, formula, etc. Aster and Cinder sighed after it and put the list in their bag, in order to remember what to grab. They left and paid Ace at the front and exited the clinic.
"You know, Aster, we'll be parents to this child..."
"Ah...Cinder you really gotta remind me? I never raised a child as a human...I don't even remember if there were ANY babies in my family after I was born." Cinder patted Aster's back as they headed back to the guild. Aster looked at the paper, talking about how to tell how close the egg was to hatching. They stopped to buy a thermometer to check the egg temperature. As they walked back they chuckled to one another. Eventually they got to the guild and went to their room.
"Hello friends! Welcome back!" Wigglytuff had a children's book in hand.
"Hi Wigglytuff, were you reading to the egg?" Cinder walked over and sat down while Aster put their bag up where they made a spot for it.
"Yep yep! I wanted the egg to hear some words before it hatches."
"That reminds me...let's see...73 degrees...80 degrees means the egg will hatch in a day or two..." 
"Oh? Where did you get that info friend?" Wigglytuff walked over to Aster who got the thermometer set. Aster showed Wigglytuff Audino's notes. Wigglytuff called Chatot over and the 4 talked, when the egg was at 77 degrees, Aster and Cinder would stand by helping with sentry or errands while one stayed with the egg in order to make sure they didn't miss the egg hatching. With the agreement made, Chatot and Wigglytuff headed back to Wigglytuff's room. Aster sat next to the egg.
"Well Cinder, looks like we'll be parents..."
"Yep, but let's be happy knowing the egg isn't going to be raised by evil or bad pokémon."
"Yeah...We should rest for today. We'll have to put in extra hard work tomorrow." Cinder nodded in agreement as the pair rested until dinner, and than after dinner went to sleep making sure the egg was taken care of.