Ethan really needed to thank Cynthia for giving him that portable speaker, it made life on the ranch that much better. “Tinkatink, nail me!” Ethan shouted over the blaring music blasting through the barn—Mr. Highway’s Thinking About The End, by A Day To Remember.

  “Tinkah!” His pink menace responded before waving her hands atop some of the scrap metal left over from her tinkering experiments. With a tongue sticking out to help with focus, she carefully molded one sad lump of iron into a suitable, if thick and unrefined, nail.

  She tossed the nail over with a lazy throw and Ethan caught it out of the air and began hammering it into place with Tinkatink’s old hammer. Ethan was on his back, building a stand for their soon to be outing into Floaroma town. After all, if he wanted to sell his berries, he’d need a spot to sell them at.

  Ethan paused, hearing the best part of the song coming up. He looked to Tinkatink as she looked back towards him… They had an understanding…

  “? ? Disrespect your surroundings! ? ?” Ethan screamed to the best of his ability.

  Tinkatink took her cue and began flailing about like he’d taught her. She didn’t have much hair to headbang with, but she had a hammer and confidence. The one pokemon mosh pit was a success.

  Just then, the door to their little party/building room opened up, revealing Munchlax. The big eater pokemon looked about in bewilderment for only a second before running up to Ethan and pulling his hand, wanting him to follow.

  “I’m coming. I’m coming.” Ethan said as he turned down the music with his phone and patted himself down to get rid of the sawdust and dirt coating him from head to toe. “What is it? Is it an emergency?”

  Munchlax thought hard for a second before shaking his head no. “Okay then, lead the way. This better not be about food…” Ethan trailed off before Munchlax smacked him in the leg with indignation.

  “Be right back Tinkatink. Keep on doing your thing. Make sure Skiddo isn’t dead in half an hour.” Ethan finished his goodbyes as he stepped over the sleeping Skiddo who somehow managed to sleep through the loudest and most aggressive music he had as they banged away on metal and wood.

  “Skii… Skiiiii…” His leafy goat murmured, deep in a dream, ear flicking gently.

  Munchlax held his hand as they traveled across the ranch. Munchlax was a slow pokemon, but not nearly as slow as Shuckle. He didn’t need to tone down his normal walking speed to accommodate him.

  But…

  With momentous effort, a grunt, and hopefully prayer for his back, Ethan ducked down and swooped up the nearly two-hundred pound pokemon into his arms. Munchlax flailed wildly in surprise at the fact that he wasn’t on solid ground anymore—A rarity in his life. “Climb up! Legs around my shoulders!” Ethan grunted out. So, Munchlax got to work, climbing like a spider monkey.

  Once in place with his weight evenly distributed, Ethan felt much better about giving Munchlax a ride. The ride wouldn’t last too long, but he felt bad about never picking up the pokemon. Like a child riding on his dad’s shoulders at a concert, Ethan trudged along down the cobblestone path winding its way through Berry Falls with his friend.

  “Munch-Munch-Munchlax!” Munchlax cheered and patted Ethan’s head as he pointed where to go—The Pokemon Center.

  Ethan still hadn’t said a word to Jocelyn about their ‘therapy’ incident, and he still didn’t want to talk about it. He did manage to have a normal, if formal, conversation with her about finally registering his new pokemon, but it had been all business.

  As Ethan reached the automatic doors and walked inside, adjusting Munchlax along the way, he came to a sudden stop. Inside the lobby of the Pokemon Center, a young woman with curly brown hair and a large pair of spectacles, probably in her teens, paced back and forth with a face full of worry.

  Munchlax wiggled, obviously wanting to be let down, and Ethan crouched to let the hefty muncher flop onto the floor with an awkward landing. The sound of Munchlax’s ungraceful dismount caused the mystery trainer to acknowledge their presence. Ethan raised a hand in greeting. “Hello…?”

  “Hello…? Are you Munchlax's trainer?” The young woman responded with uncertainty. She was clearly out of place and uncomfortable, but with her pacing back and forth being worried in a pokemon center in the middle of nowhere, Ethan could guess why.

  “That’s right. My name is Ethan. This is my ranch. Did one of your pokemon get hurt?” He asked as he helped Munchlax roll over to get up on his own two feet, which earned him a grateful nod and a sheepish smile.

  “One of Miss Rally’s pokemon did in fact get hurt, Ethan.” Jocelyn answered his question as she strolled out from the set of swinging double doors which led towards the back of the center. Jocelyn then looked at the young woman. “Miss Rally, your pokemon will be fine.”

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  “Oh thank Arceus…” The young woman nearly lost her balance from the sheer relief given by the good news.

  Ethan felt like a third wheel, but this was the first time someone had actually ever found his ranch to use the Pokemon Center stationed here. While not too dangerous to him, these lands deep within Eterna Forest were rife with stronger and more wild pokemon. The recommended badge level to reach his ranch was five, and not to be rude to the young women in front of him, she didn’t seem to be at that level by just a casual glance.

  As Munchlax waddled off to steal a sucker from one of the jars set-up near the counter, Ethan made his way up to the duo and joined the conversation. While this wasn’t his business, they were on his ranch… He decided he should know if there was trouble nearby.

  “... has taken some damage, but nothing a little rest and recuperation won’t fix. No training or battling for twenty-four hours and make sure he gets a lot to eat. Okay?” Jocelyn finished, earning grateful and quick nods from the young trainer.

  “Thank you, Nurse Joy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!” Miss Rally replied as she tucked and fretted over her hair in a nervous fit.

  It was at this time that Ethan joined in. “So, if you don’t mind me asking… What happened? Hopefully nothing serious nearby?”

  Jocelyn gave them two some privacy as Jessie awkwardly shuffled out of the double doors leading towards the back, dressed in full nurse attire. By her side, Wobbuffet waddled around carefree as can be.

  “I wanna go home…”

  The whisper and sniffling of defeat and regret caused Ethan to ignore the surprising sight of Jessie. The young woman in front of him was about to break down in an ugly cry—He knew that feeling well. Awkwardly, he reached out and patted her on the shoulder for reassurance. As soon as he touched her, she broke down and leaned in to cry into his chest.

  Unsure of what to do with a crying stranger, Ethan looked to Munchlax for help, mouthing ‘help me!’.

  …..

  Munchlax didn’t even notice him as he was much too focused on the delicious taste of the lollipop in his mouth.

  No extra treats would be given to this traitor this day.

  “I–I don—Don’t want to do this anymore!”

  Slowly, Ethan wrapped an arm around the young woman in hopes of consoling her. She cried for a solid thirty seconds before breaking the very awkward hug. She wiped her wet cheeks as her face burned as bright as a tomato. “Sorry…”

  “It’s alright…” Ethan paused to learn her first name.

  Somehow, the young woman's face burned even hotter than before. “Oh… Emily. Emily Rally.”

  The double doors leading toward the back opened once again, revealing Jessie, Wobbuffet, and a cushioned cart. Wobbuffet threw up a quick salute, “Woooobbuffet!” Jessie, ignored her pokemon and pushed the cart up to Emily.

  On top of a small cushion, a very memorable pokemon lay on its back, fast asleep. It looked fine physically, but must have tuckered out from whatever trials it had to endure to get here. Emily wasted no time in swooping the small one-foot seed into her arms.

  “A Sunkern.” Ethan stated with mild surprise.

  While memorable, Sunkern wasn’t a pokemon one normally remembers for its strength like a Dragonite. Sadly, it was known for being very, very weak. Sunkern, if his memory was correct, had base thirty stats. It also required a Sun Stone to evolve… and with how expensive evolution stones were, he didn’t see this pokemon evolving anytime soon…

  “He’s my partner.” Emily jumped in defensively, probably having heard enough from her peers about her choice of pokemon.

  Ethan didn’t respond, he just smiled. “There is a quote from Indigo. It’s one of my favorites.” He coughed to clear his throat, then did his best impression of being important. “Strong pokemon, weak pokemon… That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites.”

  Emily cradles Sunkern to her chest in silence as the weight of the quote settled into place… The silence was quickly broken by Munchlax failing his attempt to climb the cushioned cart, causing it to topple and crash onto its side.

  Everyone slowly turned to stare at the clumsy clutz…

  Ethan slowly reached for his pokeballs…

  Munchlax sprinted out of the pokemon center before Ethan could return him. “No treats!” He yelled, knowing that Munchlax heard him.

  “Sorry about that.” Ethan sniffed, earning a little laugh from Emily and a deadpan stare from Jessie.

  Jessie pointed to the downed cart. “Pick that shit up.”

  “Yes, ma’am…” Ethan capitulated, picking up after his pokemon’s mess.

  —---------------------------

  A short time later, Ethan was helping Emily set up her very small, very cheap looking tent up next to Tobias’. Tobias wasn’t anywhere to be seen, probably off in the forest doing whatever he usually does. He didn’t think the man would mind being neighbors for a day.

  As they finished up, Ethan wiped his hands on one of the rags he usually carried around his waist. “There you go! Feel free to explore and enjoy some of the berries in the farm. You can come over to my house for dinner tonight if you need to. It’s not often I get visitors.”

  “Thank you, Ethan… I appreciate it. I don’t like hospitals…” Emily replied as she checked over Sunkern for the thirtieth time in the last five minutes.

  The Pokemon Center had rooms for trainers, and that included the small one on his ranch. Emily didn’t want to stay there for some personal reason, and he wasn’t going to pry.

  “Where are you heading? To Eterna City or Floraoma Town?” He asked.

  “The city… I just started my journey. Never left Floraoma Town more than a handful of times. My dad made me take my journey. He said it builds character.” Emile slumped down onto a small foldable lawn chair she carried around in one of her bags.

  For how expensive these Silph Co. bags were… everyone seemed to have one.

  “It’s about a two-day trip to Eterna City… I can have my Smeargle teleport you there if you really don’t want to travel?” Ethan hesitatingly offered. He wasn’t sure if this was some social faux-pas, but it sounded like one.

  “Really?” Emily brightened immediately, obviously keen on the offer.

  “Sure thing. I never went on a journey. So, I kinda get how you feel.” Granted, his circumstances were vastly different from hers… She didn’t need to know that though. “Call your dad, explain your feelings to him. Like it or not, people can’t read minds. You have to explain how you don’t want this.” Ethan paused. “There is no shame in not going on your journey… but also don’t immediately write it off. Think hard tonight about whether Sunkern wants this, too. It’s not just you who makes this choice.”

  Emily looked deep in thought, so Ethan decided to let her be.

  “Now, I gotta go check if my Skiddo is still alive. See you around for dinner!”

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