Over the past few months, Ethan had imagined what it would be like to fly on a pokemon. Chatot wasn’t large enough, and Emolga was completely out of the question, but he had seen others fly on their pokemon and had always wondered what it would be like up high in the sky with them.

  Back on Earth, he’d ridden in planes going to and fro from state to state—Whether it be for vacation or a rare family gathering—but never once had he been up in an air balloon. Now that he was in one, stuffed together with two other humans and four pokemon in a cramped wicker-like basket, he quickly discovered that this imaginary joy of being in the sky was just that—imaginary.

  “Ethan… This wasn’t what I imagined…” Ralts’ meek voice rang in his mind as she desperately hugged his shin. No doubt the little psychic could also feel his fear and uneasiness as he was right there next to her in the basket, too afraid to look over the edge.

  “Well,” Ethan cleared his throat, attempting to sound more confident. “I didn’t expect this either. It—It’s not the height… but the only thing keeping us up here is this flimsy balloon.”

  Jessie hip-checked his head, knocking him to the side. “This flimsy balloon has lasted years and hasn’t failed us yet. Man up. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

  James held up Growlie as the little firedog blew a stream of fire upwards to keep them aloft. “It’s fine. You’ll be fine… probably.”

  A gust of wind burst against the basket, causing them to tilt. Ethan screamed, Ralts screamed, Wobbuffet yelled out his name to join in…When they eventually settled back to a rest, Ethan risked letting one of his deathgrips loosen from the basket to point upwards. “Explain the patches then! You maniacs! I should have walked…”

  James snorted as he lowered Growlie back down and settled into his arms. “And how were you going to get your stand to Floaroma?”

  At that… Ethan had to admit that without Smeargle’s teleport, getting the stand to Floaroma would have been a hassle. Currently, his creation was dangling below them, tied up by ropes, a wish, and a prayer.

  “Judging by the wind,” Meowth started, holding up a paw. “Wes’ll get there by the end of the day. Not having to wander about them trees cuts down time.”

  —---------------------

  The longer they stayed afloat in the air, the more relaxed Ethan became. He wasn’t someone who was afraid of heights—well, not overly afraid of heights. After a few hours of badgering from Jessie, James, and Meowth, along with some encouragement from Wobbuffet, who strangely felt like rubber, Ethan began to appreciate the sights.

  Eterna Forest was his home. Although he hadn’t explored it, it was, and most likely will always be, his home. The sights from the plateau where he’d found the crystalline metal couldn’t stand up to the sights from even higher above in the balloon.

  It was like looking out over an ocean, but instead of water, there were only trees, with ebbing highs and lows as the trees rose and fell. To the west, north, and south, trees of green with small patches of darkness, indicating small clearings, littered his view. To the east, the full grandiose and majestic painting of Mt. Coronet laid before him in an almost frightening display of geographical might.

  While not a well traveled individual, he’d seen mountains back on Earth. Mount Saint Helens wasn’t the largest mountain, but it looked like a pebble compared to Mt. Coronet. Although they were many, many miles away—with Mt. Corronet being on the far horizon—Mt. Corronet stood as a wall in the world, easily breaking through the clouds and blanketing his entire view with gray, brown, and shadows. It broke Sinnoh in two, and Ethan wondered how much higher it climbed above the clouds.

  Eventually, the endless sprawling sea of green ended in a baptism of brilliant colors. Yellows, blues, oranges, and reds carpeted the ground and marked the end of his home. The expanse of flowers had a gentle dirt path leading forward, which wound its way a few miles down to a beautiful rustic town with stylish modern buildings, hundreds of people roaming the streets, and splashes of colorful pokemon going about their way.

  James had been keeping his eyes on the air in the balloon since they’d left, and as the air cooled, they started their slow descent into the field flowers below.

  Ralts didn’t wait, teleporting down to the solid earth before they even landed. Her small petite form was dumped right into the flowers, lost in the sea of colors. Although he couldn’t see her, she must have forgotten to break their telepathic link.

  “Oh Lord Arceus, thank you… And thank you, creator of land. I will never take your sleeping yet stalwart presence for granted ever again… I swear it…”

  Before the Balloon drifted to a stop, Ethan’s stand hit the ground first. There was a bit of worry about the whole thing breaking, but thankfully it slid across the field of flowers on its side, leaving it undamaged.

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  As he hopped out of the basket, Ethan did take a minute to get his bearings. The constant shifting of the basket was like being on water for a tad too long. The stability of the ground felt foreign to him, but Jessie, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet came out unscathed.

  It was a little comical watching Jessie help Wobbuffet out of the basket. The large blue pokemon didn’t have legs to speak of, so it was a kind of topple instead of a climb out onto land.

  Ralts quickly found them, no doubt using her emphatic powers to find her way, and hastily grabbed a handful of his pants to hold onto—like a child holding their parents hand.

  After untying the stand and securing the balloon, which took a solid fifteen minutes, James, Jessie, and Ethan worked together to carry the small stand into Floaroma town. The narrow dirt pathway leading through the massive field of flowers and into the town was thankfully right next to their landing zone, so getting everything into town was a simple task.

  The sun was just tipping over the horizon, blanketing the flower field and town in a hue of orange as they made their way into the town proper. James, eager to set things up for ‘The Plan’ quickly split off, carrying the stand with Wobbuffet’s help to its designated spot. The market for Floaroma town was open to all, with square cordoned off sections for any and everybody to claim.

  While James and Wobbuffet prepared their spot, Ethan and Jessie made their way to an inn, passing by many trainers and pokemon along the way.

  Unlike Eterna City, nearly everyone they passed were trainers, and you could pick out the locals at a glance. Trainers walked with a pokemon by their side nearly exclusively and traveled in groups of two or three, with only a handful of them going solo. They were obviously prepared, carrying backpacks and supplies.

  The locals wore simple, yet warm, clothing and seemed to know exactly where they were going. Unlike the trainers, they seemed to ignore everyone passing by around them, like it was commonplace.

  The Lilac Inn was more like a motel from Ethan’s earthly memories. The layout was reminiscent of the terrible night that Smeargle, and Ethan, would never forget. Thankfully, unlike the one in Eterna City, this motel/inn was much cleaner and seemed to be a very popular place to rest. Up above on the third floor, a pair of young women talked along the railings with pokemon in their arms, laughing. Across the way, a smiling young man and his Buizel made their way into their rooms while chatting excitedly. Ralts’ head swiveled in awe, staring at all of the people out and about.

  Five minutes later and a handful of pokedollars poorer, Ethan and Jessie made their way into their rooms for the night. Ethan had one to share with James, and Jessie got her own.

  “I’ll go find that idiot before he gets into some trouble.” Jessie stated, as Ethan walked out of his room, which was just next door. “I’ll bring him back and then we can find somewhere to eat. Sounds good?”

  “Yup. Sounds good to me.” Ethan replied, watching Jessie as she bounded down the stairs.

  “Ethan! What are we doing here?” Ralts asked, still attached to his pants leg. “Are we battling? Getting those badges people seek?”

  “Uhh,” Ethan tilted his head down, locking eyes with an almost eager troublemaker. “No. We’re here to sell stuff to make money. Berries and stuff.”

  Like a petulant child, Ralts tossed Ethan’s pants leg aside like it was trash and pouted. She sat down on her butt and crossed her arms. “You and your coins. Lame.”

  “Oh! What a cutie ralts you have!”

  Both Ethan and Ralts turned to look at a young woman, obviously a trainer judging by the little sleeping Shinx curled up in her arms and backpack on her back. She wore a long sleeve white shirt with a navy blue cardigan. She knelt down and used her free hand to tuck a stray strand of blue hair behind her ear. “Such a beautiful pokemon shouldn’t be pouting.”

  Shockingly, Ralts gagged and trudged back over towards him. “Take me back to the ranch. This place is foul.”

  Ethan looked between Ralts and the mystery woman, praying that the snippet wasn’t transmitted to the woman as well as himself. Seeing that the woman didn’t look completely offended, he assumed he was safe. Ethan scooped up Ralts into his arms, and Ralts buried her face into his chest, shying away from the woman.

  Awkwardly, Ethan tried to conversate. “Sorry, she doesn’t like new people.”

  “Make her go away.” Ralts communicated, hiding her face.

  “Have a nice evening.” Ethan lamely and abruptly said, going into his room and shutting the door. He placed Ralts on his bed and shut the curtains. “What the hell was that about?”

  “She’s icky.”

  “What do you mean she’s ‘icky’?” Ethan asked, “She seemed friendly enough.”

  Ralts shrugged, looking slightly dejected. “She is icky. Trust me.”

  Ethan sat down next to Ralts and held his head in his hands, his palms in his eye sockets. After trailing them across his face, he sighed and looked at Ralts. “Okay. Did she think bad things about you or something? I don’t know how your empathy thing works.”

  “...” Ralts stayed silent, but Ethan just waited patiently for a response.

  After a solid ten seconds, she finally broke. “She wanted me.”

  “Okay…” Ethan said, “Like, maliciously?”

  “No. But I didn’t like it. We’re not meant for each other."

  From what he could remember, Ralts could sense general emotions from the small horn on their head. She hid away until they sensed a human they liked, like what happened to Wally from the games. “Well, people will think you’re mine while you’re here.” He explained. “A lot of people like your species. It’s not a bad thing for people to want you to join them. Where I’m from, you’re very popular.”

  She just shrugged, and Ethan could tell that she didn’t want to talk about this anymore. Nonetheless, he still wanted to make sure she understood something. “Nobody wants Magikarp. No matter how many of them probably want to be with someone. Just… understand that people wanting you isn’t a possessive thing most of the time. They just like your species a lot. Kind of like how I like Emolga. Humans are weird like that.”

  She gave him the silent treatment, so he moved on. “Do you want to stay here and watch T.V with some of James’ pokemon and mine? Or do you want to come to dinner with me, Jessie, and James?”

  “I’ll stay here.” Ralts stood and traversed the covers to pick up the T.V remote, turning it on and finding a show to watch. All of her practice from staying at his home came in handy.

  Fifteen minutes later, after feeding his pokemon with meals he made before they left the ranch, Ethan was on his way for his first meal at a restaurant since he’d arrived in the world of Pokemon.

  Never would he have imagined that his first meal would be with Team Rocket.

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