Around an hour later, Ethan was cleaning up in the kitchen with all of his pokemon groaning and moaning from overeating. Well, not all of his pokemon, as Chatot, Shuckle, and Skiddo didn’t particularly like the pizza. They watched over the rest as the others laid on the floor in food comas. Maybe it had to do with the inability to grip the slices? No... it was probably just their diet.

  “So, let me get this straight… You’re a mother fucking alien!?” Jennifer said after taking a solid minute to sort through her feelings. They’d been talking during breakfast and Joy had taken immense pleasure in Jennifer’s facial contortions, going by her smug, self-assured, all-knowing look.

  “Yeah, you could put it that way. It’s probably why you were flagged for looking into me. It wasn’t any police or government corruption. It was just….” Ethan replied as he waved his hand about. He then put away the now clean dishes as Jennifer mentally rebooted.

  “Holy shit… But—what—How—”

  “Only people of extreme importance were clued in, Jennifer. There’s a reason you Jennys were kept in the dark…” Joyce started, but Ethan threw her an unimpressed stare. “You didn’t even know what you were signing up for Joyce, don’t pretend it was all planned out.”

  Joyce looked like Ethan spoiled all of her fun, as she flopped onto the table and buried her head into her arms. “Kill joy…”

  “Where?” Ethan said sarcastically as he rushed to the window to peer outside.

  “Hardy-har-har. But, Jennifer, seriously, are you okay over there?” Joyce questioned.

  Jennifer had her elbows on her knees, head down as she stared at the wooden floor. “I feel like an idiot… but at the same time, how the hell was I supposed to know about this!”

  “You weren’t. That was the entire point.” Ethan replied as he began scooping up his pokemon to put them onto the couch to rest. “Okay you guys. I’m going outside to do some work. Remember that some of you have tutoring today.”

  Several murmurs were all of the response he got from his pokemon, too far gone in their food coma to properly respond. Ethan put on his vest and made his way outside, Jenny and Joy following behind him. He scanned the sky with a hand held over his eyes to determine if it would rain. The gray morning overcast wasn’t a great sign. “Are you both staying for a bit?”

  Joyce nodded easily. “It’s my day off.” She gestured to her put together attire. “Thought I'd make a day out of it. Need any help?”

  Ethan shook his head. “Nah, just some basic work to do. Gardening, berry collection, making sure the pokemon are allright. You can join if you want, though?”

  “I have a lot more questions…” Jennifer jumped in, looking insistent and desperate. Ethan gave her a sad smile and said, “Understandable.”

  —------------------------------------------------------------------------

  “So, I was a side character?” Jennifer asked. Ethan had stopped counting her questions after thirty. They were growing a little tiresome, but he’d promised her answers and he would deliver.

  Ethan hand fed the Feebas and Magikarp near the shore of his pond as he answered. “Not you specifically, but your family showed up on occasion to catch bad guys.”

  Jennifer was making a legitimate groove in the earth from her frantic pacing as Joyce and Cleffy played with Lotad, much to the lilypad’s delight. “And you guys didn’t have real pokemon? Like, at all?”

  “We had animals, but no pokemon.” Ethan broke off from the conversation to speak to the fish pokemon in front of him. “Happy now, beautiful fishies?” The Magikarp simply opened and closed their mouths like—well, fish expecting more food. The Feebas had a little more life to them, quickly flicking their tails to send splashes of water all about.

  “Hope I’m not interrupting?” A voice called from behind.

  Ethan knew the voice and didn’t bother turning away from the water pokemon, giving them his attention. “Nope! Need something, Tobias?”

  “Just a quick word in private.”

  At such an unexpected request, Ethan wiped his knees and excused himself from the two women. Ethan met Tobias near the fencing separating the meadow from his berry plantation. He rested his elbows on the railing and met Tobias’ friendly smile with one of his own.

  “I’m leaving today. We have a lot to do before the end of the season.” Tobias just came out and said it, no beating around the bush. “Smeargle finished his sketch about ten minutes ago.”

  “Smeargle went to sketch? I thought he went back to sleep…” Ethan trailed off.

  “He wanted to get his mind off things. Keeping productive is a good way to not let your mind fester.” Ethan heard the accusation hidden within, directed at himself. After a second of silence, Tobias spoke again. This time he was surprisingly heartfelt. “You’re a good man, Ethan. I can feel how much you care about your pokemon and wish you the best. Don’t forget that they care about you just as much and want the best for you too.”

  The next thing Ethan knew, he was shaking Tobias’ hand and saying a brief goodbye. As Tobias stalked off through his berry field to collect his things, Ethan shouted a final word. “Come back to visit anytime! Tell Darkrai that he’s always welcome!”

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  The only response was a fade-away wave.

  As Ethan watched Tobias leave, a sense of melancholy fell over him. While they hadn’t known each other long and didn’t interact very much, Ethan had a lot of respect for Tobias. Unlike his anime counterpart, the man who stayed on his ranch wasn’t just some random guy made to stop Ash from winning. This was a guy trying to become the best there ever was, like many others.

  A slight surprising nudge to his half caused him to glance down. Greeting him were two eyes staring in different directions and a tilted, concerned head. “Looooo?”

  Ethan scooped up the lilypad pokemon and placed him on his head. “Everything is alright. Just saying goodbye to a friend.”

  Ethan felt Lotad’s six little nubby feet wiggle and press against his head, causing him to laugh. “You know what? I think you can help me with my next task. Want to help?”

  “Loo-tad!”

  Ethan walked over to join the women once more, who were having a conversation themselves. As he approached, he listened for an opening to ask Joyce—

  “理解すべきことが多すぎます。ジョイ一家はめちゃくちゃです.” Joyce spoke, holding Cleffy in her arms.

  After using his pinky to clean his ear, Ethan listened closely once more. This time it was Jennifer who was talking. “なぜそうならないのでしょうか？この情報があれば、世界は崩壊してしまうでしょう.”

  Joyce caught his eye and flashed him a polite smile. “Any trouble, Ethan?”

  “With my hearing… I think?” He looked between the two questionably. “Are you guys speaking Japanese?”

  Jennifer looked at him confused. “Kojin. I’ve never heard of Japanese.”

  Well, that made sense he supposed. It’s not like they would call the language Japanese when Japan didn’t exist here. Joyce must have seen him reflecting and connected the dots. “It’s the language the older generation speak in Kanto and Johto. It may be similar to the Japanese you know?”

  “I suppose… I don’t know Japanese, but it sounds similar. Couldn’t really tell you for sure. I only know English.”

  “English?” “English?” The two spoke at the same time, and then flashes annoyed looks at one another.

  “Wait, what language are we speaking now?” Ethan asked.

  This time, there was an awkward pause as the two women waited awkwardly for the other, not wanting to be spoken over. Eventually, Joyce answered. “Unovan. It’s spoken nearly everywhere.”

  Unova was… Black and White? Black and White was America-themed if his memory served. Big bridges. Massive cities. The Battle Subway. Home of Emolga. In the games, things there seemed more modern… They also had the evil-PETA team. Cheren and Bianca were the rivals…? It’d been so long since he’d thought about that place that he’d forgotten.

  He did remember the Driftveil City theme, though. You don’t ever forget that.

  “Interesting…” Ethan murmured then shook his head. “Anyways, Joyce. Want to help me with a little task?”

  Joyce pretended to think for half a second, then immediately responded with a little too much enthusiasm. “Sure!”

  A short while later, the three of them, Cleffy, Lotad, and Larry the Espurr, stood in one of Ethan’s empty barn rooms. Ethan heaved Lotad off of his head and set him down on the floor. The little lilypad pokemon sniffed the ground and roamed about, inspecting his surroundings. “So, I want to make this room a breeding room for water pokemon. Lotad, what do you think water pokemon would like?”

  Joyce and Jennifer look around the room with conflicted expressions. “What?” Ethan asked.

  “Uhh,” Jennifer muttered. “Water pokemon, you know, like water…”

  Ethan just stared at her, unimpressed until she continued. “How are you going to get water in here? The floor is made of wooden planks. Water for water pokemon is step number one.”

  “Well!” Ethan began, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “A long time ago, I had a little Geodude visit my ranch. He made me a large bowl to store my water. It’s Chatot and some of the wild bird’s bird baths at the moment, but I figured I could use it as a large bowl here on the ground to set-up a little pool! I could place the eggs in the water!” Ethan turned back to watch Lotad sniff around the floor. “I want to know what else a water pokemon egg needs. I highly doubt it’s just water.”

  Lotad looked up at the wooden wall, then rubbed his beak across the planks. “Loo!”

  The three humans watched as Lotad… just kinda rubbed his beak against the wall while crooning. Joyce coughed a bit, then sheepishly whispered. “Maybe a different pokemon would have been better to ask?”

  For as much as Ethan liked the babbling lilypad… Joyce had a bit of a point. He kneeled down next to Lotad and tried to see what it was trying to convey. “Don’t like the wood?”

  “Loo! Lotad!” The little blue guy wiggled and Ethan guessed that he was wrong.

  “Is the space too small?”

  Wiggle.

  “Is it too dry?”

  Wiggle.

  “Is it the color?”

  “Loo!!!”” Lotad flailed wildly and gurgled, blowing small bubbles from its beak.

  Ethan threw back a glance towards Joyce to see if she had any input. “Do the colors of their environment matter? Seems like a stretch.”

  Snidely, Jennifer jumped in. “While her schooling was grueling. The Joy’s are not expert breeders. As much as her family might claim to be all knowledgeable about pokemon. They’re monopoly holders.” She took a step forward and scanned the room. “The Jenny’s didn’t use very many environmental enclosures to speed up the egg hatching process… I assume that’s what you’re doing here, at least?” Ethan nodded, slightly surprised. “Thought so. Long ago, us Jenny’s bred our own Growlithes. From what I remember, it wasn’t strictly about what the area had, it was a mix between functionality and feel. So, yes. Color would matter if it fit the theme of water—Blue and white. You’d still need water, plants, and the correct temperature and humidity… but color would also help, even though it seems…”

  “Un-scientific?” Ethan finished for her, and she snapped her fingers and nodded.

  A second later, Ethan felt like he’d been pinched and jerked his hand away.

  Plop Plop Plop Plop

  A stream of bursting bubbles bloomed from Lotad’s mouth as he sprayed the aforementioned wall in front of him. One of the bubbles bounced back and burst against his hand. “Ouch!” Ethan shouted, then scooped up the blabbering blue bubble blower to keep his walls uninjured. “None of that. We’ll get the water later, Lotad.”

  Lotad wriggled and wormed his body in protest, so Ethan walked the little guy outside to calm down. After placing Lotad in the grass, Ethan nudged him with his foot until he started waddling back to the pond. After making his way back inside, Ethan walked through the barn and brainstormed ideas with Jennifer and Joyce about his rooms and what they would require. Joyce was helpful, but Jennifer was surprisingly knowledgeable. Apparently, she had to learn her clan's history when growing up, and in said history, breeding growlithes was one of the main topics of discussion.

  After an hour or two, they all found themselves back in Ethan's home. He had many plans for his days before his eventual trip to Floaroma, and he needed to get everything done quickly.

  Selling berries was all well and good, but it would be better if he had more things to offer…

  It was time to put his stockpiles to use for experimentation. Candies, jams, jellies…

  It was time to cook… too bad Jessie wasn’t going to help.

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