Ash and co. had stopped to take a rest on their way to Pallet Town. Now that Ash had collected all his Johto Leauge badges, he was heading home to train for the Johto Leauge.

"Pikachu? Whats up?" Ash asked his electric pokémon as he walked around there campsite in the centre of a forest.

"Pika..." Pikachu said uncertaintly as it looked at the ground. [I smell something]

"Really? Like what?" Ash ask standing up and walking over to Pikachu.

[I don't know. But it's underground] Pikachu said, getting down on all fours as he began to dig.

"Mind if I help?" Ash asked, puting his hand in the shallow hole and pulling out some of the dirt.

Brock and Misty looked over at the two and sighed. "It's probably nothing" Brock said.

"Then again it might be something" Ash said as he and Pikachu continued to dig.

"Pikapi, pikachu" Pikachu said after fifteen minutes of digging.

"What is it Pikachu?" Ash asked, looking into the hole. There was silence for a second before Pikachu walked out, carrying something with him. "An egg?" Ash thought as Pikachu handed him a golden egg, or at least thats what it looked like. It felt slightly warm, and he could have sworn he'd felt it move. "Hey guys, check this out" He said standing up and turning to the others.

"You guys found gold?" Brock said in disbelief.

"No, it's an egg" Ash said, sitting down next to them. Pikachu trotted over and jumped onto his shoulder, looking curiously at the egg. "Wonder whats in it"

"Well I've never seen a Poké-egg like that before" Brock said. "And I've read about many kinds"

Ash looked at Brock and noticed he was staring at the egg. Ash held the egg a little closer to himself. "Your not taking this egg" He said, glancing at Togepi. "I'm taking care of this one"

"Aww" Brock moaned. "But I wanted to mind the weird egg"

As soon as Brock said that, the egg wobbled, as if angry at the comment Brock had just made.

"It's not weird, it's cool" Ash argued, and the egg became motionless once again.

"Has he let that thing out of his sight at all sence he got it two days ago?" Misty whispered to Brock as she looked over at Ash, who was sitting against a tree with the golden coloured egg on his lap, Pikachu sitting beside him.

"Don't think so" Brock said, sounding slightly annoyed. He had really wanted to be the one to take care of the egg, but what could he do? ash wasn't letting the egg out of his sight.

"Prepare for trouble!"
"Make it double!"

Team Rocket suddenly appeared out from behind a tree opposite Ash and the others.

To protect the world from devistation,
To unite all peoples within our nation,
To denounce the evils of truth and love,
To extend our reach to the stars above,
Jessie,
James,
Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light,
Surrender now, or prepare to fight.
Meowth, Thats Right!

Before the others could do anything, Team Rocket used a strange metal clawto reach out and shot towards Ash. The Claw slammed into him before grabbing the Poké-egg. The claw came back and James grabbed the Poké-egg.

Ash jumped to his feet. "Hey, thats mine! Give it back!"

"Now why would we do that?" Jessie asked.

Ash grinned. "Cause Pikachu's gonna fry you...go!" He ordered.

Pikachu leapt forward and used quick attack on James, causing him to let go of the egg. The egg went soaring through the air and Ash ran forward to catch it, just barely catching it before it hit the ground. Ash sighed and stood up. "Pikachu...Thunder attack!"He ordered in an annoyed tone.

Pikachu grinned and closed his eyes, sparks flying around him. "Pika...CHU!" He cried out as a huge burst of electricity escaped from his cheeks, causing an explosion.

"Looks like Team Rockets blasting off again!" Team Rockets voices faded out as they went flying through the air.

"Way to go Pikachu!" Ash complemented. He smiled and looked down at the egg. "We were lucky that-" Ash stopped mid-entance as he felt something shake inside the egg. "Is it?" He asked, and another vibration confired what he thought. "It's hatching!"

Crakes began to appear in the egg as it began to shake more. Crakes traveled the whole way around the egg until the top of it was like a lid. The top of the egg moved up a little and two red eyes appeared from inside. Suddenly, the whole top of the egg was thrown off, and there, inside the bottom half of the eggshell, sat a small, pidgey-sized bird-like Pokémon.

Ash was frozen as the Pokémon smiled up at him and chirped happily.

"Oh, it's so cute!" Misty squeled.

"Ya but, what is it?" Brock asked.

Pikachu looked up at his trainer, who seemed to be in a daze. "Pikapi?"

"It's..." Ash said, still sounding shocked. "...A Ho-oh"

Ash was right. The tiny Pokémon was indeed a Ho-oh, with yellow, green and white wings, yellow tail feathers and a black circle around it's bright red eyes.

The Ho-oh just smiled up at Ash, not caring why he was so shocked to see it.