New Beginnings - A Pokemon Slice of Life. [OC/Isekai/Move Tutor/Breeder] - Chapter 38
“You okay up there, Chatot?” Ethan said with a raised voice as he and Nurse Joy listened to the faint ticking of the metronome atop his home.
“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”
“You wanna come say hi to Nurse Joy?”
“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”
Ethan waited a few seconds, waiting for his tropical bird to fly on down for a greeting, but that moment never came. “Was that a no?”
“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”
“Hmm. Looks like that’s a no.” Ethan mumbled as he turned to Nurse Joy with a shrug. “She’s been perfecting her nest up there. You’ll see her later I suppose. Smeargle should be in the guest room watching over the other eggs.”
Ethan held the door open for Nurse Joy, letting her enter his home first, then led her toward the guest room where Growlithe sat outside the door, dejected by having been banished from the room due to the zoomies.
“Groooooooooo.” Growlithe whined as he slumped against the hardwood floor, but his wagging tail gave away his true feelings.
“That’s Growlithe, he’s here for some tutoring. Now, he’s waiting for his trainer to come pick him up—Same situation as Gogoat. Speaking of…” Ethan held the basketball sized Skiddo egg outwards, showcasing the new egg to the saddened fire dog, perking him right up. “You can watch over this one, right?”
“Gro! Gro!” Growlithe nodded enthusiastically, then scampered over to the living room’s couch and patted the cushions, ordering Ethan to place the new egg next to him. Ethan did so, much to the amusement of Nurse Joy, then gave Growlithe a rub behind the ears.
After making sure Growlithe was happy with the egg’s placement, Ethan knocked on the guest room door, waited a second, then opened it, revealing Smeargle painting on his easel while facing the two eggs. He had his arm outreached, thumb up, and tongue out as he gauged the distance for his artwork.
Nurse Joy brushed past Ethan as she hastily made her way to see what Smeargle was painting with a large smile on her face, Pikachu bounced atop her head letting out a nearly inaudible “Pika-Pika-Pika-Pika-Pi” as she bobbed up and down in accordance to the movement. When Nurse Joy saw what was being painted, she fanned her face as he nearly burst from excitement. “Oh! You’re so talented! I haven’t seen a Smeargle in years! Always a joy to meet.”
Smeargle rubbed his nose with his orange-tipped tail still in hand, embarrassed but taking the well deserved praise. “Where did you find a Smeargle? They aren’t native to Sinnoh.” She asked Ethan as she continued to admire the colorful painting of the two pokemon eggs.
Ethan shared a look with the painter pokemon, but Smeargle didn’t seem to mind the assumption that Smeargle was his pokemon. “I didn’t find him, he found me—with his old trainer. They separated as amicably as could be. But, Smeargle is staying around until he finds out what he wants to do. Even if that means staying here forever and joining me..”
Smeargle paused in his brush stroke for only a fraction of a second, but continued onwards without any further reactions. They hadn’t had a lot of time together, but Ethan was more than willing to have Smeargle be a part of his family. For one, the painter pokemon could help out a lot around the ranch, and given Ethan’s goal to be a move tutor as well as a breeder, having a pokemon that could learn nearly every single move in the world sounded like a good idea. Smeargle was also a kind, caring, and conscientious pokemon. He didn’t cause trouble, he was helpful and hard working… There was no reason for Ethan to not want Smeargle to join him. He just needed to find out how Smeargle felt. Maybe it was still a little too soon.
“He’s got the greatball on my belt. Not mine per se, but under my watch. Smeargle, how about you show Nurse Joy the eggs and have her do a quick checkup? If that’s something you’re capable of? I don’t know how often you work with eggs.” Ethan said as he took a seat on the side of the bed.
Nurse Joy waved away his concerns as she strutted forward alongside Smeargle who didn’t really know what to do. He pointed at the eggs with his tail, then shrugged.
Nurse Joy picked up the egg with streaks of lightning. She turned it over in her hands and held it up to her ear, causing Pikachu to stick her head down and listen in as well. She slid her eyes toward Ethan with a grin. “Do you know what pokemon are in these eggs?”
“Nope!” Ethan said with a popping P. “Leaving it as a surprise. Can you at least tell me if they’ll be happy at my ranch? The environment and all that?”
Nurse Joy swapped the lightning egg for the egg with pink stars and did the same process as she talked. “That egg should hatch any day now, and it will be more than happy around here. Especially because of its trainer. You’ll love it.”
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The grin faded from Nurse Joy’s face as she concentrated and furrowed her brows when listening to the star egg. She inspected the outside shell once more, finding the pink stars and silver streaks. “I have a guess as to what this pokemon is, but I’m not sure. If my guess is correct, then it should be okay on the ranch. You’d need to go buy some supplies, but that’s about it.” She looked at Smeargle and pointed at him. “It’ll be like Smeargle—how he needs paints and art supplies. This pokemon would need something similar, but different all the same.”
She placed the egg down and rubbed her chin as she thought deeply. “If my guess is correct, you don’t know this pokemon. That much, I’m certain of. It’ll be another week before I could give you a time frame on when it should hatch, but I don’t think I’ll be here by then.”
While to many, having a pokemon egg with a completely unknown pokemon would be worrisome or maybe even exciting. For Ethan, this was pretty much par for the course. If he remembered correctly, there were over a thousand different pokemon in the PokeDex… and Ethan could name maybe a third of them. This was par for the course.
The only thing that bothered him was the worry about caring for it. If the pokemon would be happy here. As he opened his mouth to voice his concerns, Nurse Joy spoke first, as if she read his mind. “Every pokemon cared for tells a story of joy and friendship. The bond between a pokemon and its trainer… It is truly special; it’s the secret to their happiness and health. You care, they’ll be happy. A handful, but happy.”
Ethan soaked in that bit of information as he sat on the corner of the bed.
“Shuuu?”
Looking down to his lap, Ethan looked at Shuckle to stared at him with curiosity. He stroked Shuckle’s head, earning him a gummy smile as he spoke. “I’m okay, Shuckle. Hey, why don’t you go gather some berries for all of us to enjoy?”
“Shu!”
Ethan placed Shuckle onto the hardwood floor and watched as his berry buddy trudged along on his mission. Nurse Joy cooed from the other side of the room, and even Pikachu let out a high pitched “Pii!” as her heart melted. Seeing the unevolved form of a stone evolution caused a sudden thought to pop into his mind. “Weird question, but how do stone evolutions work here? I’m going to have a lot of Gloom sooner or later, and I thought that I could offer them a Leaf or Sun Stone for their help later on down the line.”
Joyce turned her eyes upward, staring at the yellow mouse atop her head. “Evolution stones are a thing here like from your memory, but they work a little differently. For one, if I remember correctly, they were an on touch thing from your games?” Ethan nodded, and Joyce continued. “That’s not the case here. No accidental evolutions. The pokemon have to want it while in contact. Also, the purity of the stone in question matters. The more pure the stone, the more uses. You could find a green shard, a sliver of a leaf stone, and it would work for one use. You also don’t need a stone. They’re just the easiest way. Environment plays a large factor as well. Although, most of those locations are under heavy watch by the league, especially after the whole Team Galactic business.”
Ethan nodded along then got up from the bed. “Well, Smeargle and Growlith have been using this guest room, but we can find anoth—”
“Oh, they can stay! We’ll have a little sleepover.” Nurse Joy patted Smeargle’s beret as she walked past him and out of the room, ending the discussion then and there.
As Ethan sat there a little shocked, Nurse Joy’s voice traveled through his home. “Let’s go find your other two mystery pokemon, then we’ll start setting up your new business space.”
Walking out of the room with thinned lips, Ethan took a deep breath preparing himself for this awkward conversion—the one about the Teddiursa. Nurse Joy was rummaging through the large Silph Co bag as Ethan crossed his arms and fidgeted. Without looking up from the bag, Nurse Joy could feel the awkwardness of the room. “Ethan…”
“Okay, so, in my defense—”
“Ethan, if you even have to say that you know you’re in the wrong. What did you do?” Nurse Joy stopped digging through the bag and flicked her head up to stare Ethan down. Pikachu, picking up on the weird atmosphere, immediately glared at Ethan and sent tiny shocks of electricity out of her cheeks.
“So… I might have caught those two Teddiursa.”
Ethan stood there and waited for Nurse Joy to respond, but she was just glaring at him. She waved him on. “And?”
“And I might have sent them out with their mom into the forest.”
“…. And?” Joyce said, tone growing confused.
“What do you mean ‘and’? That’s it. I caught them so that nobody else could. They were endangering themselves just by visiting. Now, nobody can catch them because they’ve been caught. It’s just… I’m not planning on having them be ‘mine’.” Ethan finished with air quotes and waited for Nurse Joy to dish out some punishment.
“You realize that if they do anything bad that their actions will be your fault, right?” Joyce narrowed her eyes, but her tone was understanding—tense, but understanding.
“I understand. Ursaring asked me too. Someone tried to catch her children as soon as I opened for tutoring. It was… a disaster. I told them that they’d need to be checked in and registered with me, so that’s still going to happen!”
Nurse Joy rubbed her forehead, jostling Pikachu about. “Ethan… This is a gray zone. That’s not something people do. If someone I didn’t know told me this, It’d be a case of abandonment. There’s proper release laws for a reason.”
Ethan shook his head. “I didn’t release them. They’re still technically mine. They’re just with their family in the surrounding wilderness… until further notice.”
“I’m still going to see them before I leave. If they don’t come to us, we’re going to them. In my official capacity as a league sanctioned pokemon nurse, I can register them for you when I get back. I’ll need to use the healing machine to gather readings, though…” Nurse Joy’s gaze softened. “I would have done the same thing, Ethan. Teddiursa are one of the most poached pokemon in the world. Remember, they can still be stolen, but they can’t be captured. They will still be in danger.”
Ethan nodded seriously, but tried to defend himself anyways. “Ursaring will put a stop to anybody trying. She nearly Hyperbeamed the young woman who tried to catch them. I think it’s better this way for everyone.”
Nurse Joy stood and took a seat at the kitchen table, she reached up and grabbed Pikachu off her head and placed her down onto the ground to wander about. “Walk me through everything that happened…”
