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Because of his parents, Buck never got to do the whole trip at 10 around the country to explore and get the badges or explore what being a Pokemon tamer meant. He actually gets his first personal Pokémon when he becomes a probbie, which was a dream come true.Maddie had one, a small Skitty, growing up, but his parents never allowed him any and when he finally left his family home, he didn’t feel like he was ready to have one, which was ironic since he was older than most people getting Pokémons.When he arrives at the 118, Bobby brings him to the local academy and has a few presented to Buck in their garden, where they keep unmatched Pokémon.There he sees the smallest Squirtle on record at this academy, one that was rescued and has a scar on his tail. Buck is just in love with him and stays with him for hours going through the garden and then goes home with his Squirtle. He spends the next few weeks doing deep dives into everything he can find about Squirtles and how to work with him at the station and on scenes.
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Tommy’s mom had a Togekiss and the only gift he ever remembers his mom giving him was a Pokémon egg when he was 8. He takes the egg everywhere with him, at school in his backpack, at the library, at the Pokémon academy, everywhere. He only leaves it behind when he has to share the space with his dad and his Toxicroak.His mom dies one month later and her Togekiss tries to take care of Tommy, but his dad pushes her away, and even has his Toxicroak attack her. It goes on for months and Tommy can’t do anything except trying to make himself as small as possible, cuddling his egg in his bed, and taking it to even more places now, fearing what his dad would do if he was to find the egg unattended.One day when he goes back home, his dad tells him that the Togekiss is gone, and as tears drop from his eyes he gets screamed at and his dad raises his hand as if to strike him, but stops at the last minute.He doesn’t stop himself 2 years later.The thing about Pokémon egg, is that they don’t hatch if they’re not secured, if they don’t feel like it is safe for them to hatch.Tommy still takes his egg everywhere. He knows it’s still alive. He has visited every Pokémon vet in the area, and he knows why the egg refuses to hatch. Each bruise on Tommy’s body is a reason it doesn’t hatch for him.He sometime thinks about giving it up, but it’s the last memory of his mom and her best friend and his second guardian, he can’t part with it.When Tommy reaches 17, he finally runs away, fake the parental consent and joins the army. He’s on the bus to camp when the egg cracks and finally hatches, now that they’re far away from his dad, far away from anything he can inflict on them.He hugs his Togepi the whole trip to camp, crying tears of sadness for the lost time but also of joy, joy that he’s not alone anymore, joy that even if it took years, he didn’t fuck up enough to make the egg unhatchable contrary to his dad’s mockeries. And so he cries.