It took two more days to finally arrive back home at Berry Falls after the battle fiasco. Along the way, Ethan checked in on all of his pokemon to make sure they each got a turn to travel alongside him through what was the outskirts of their home. Chatot had a sore throat and cleared her throat every minute or two. Ethan did his best to make a berry smoothie for her, hoping that it would help, but thankfully her throat wasn’t in pain or injured, just sore from strain.

  Emolga wasn’t happy that she didn’t get a go in the battles, but being out and about flying through the trees quickly made her forget about missing out. Munchlax’s only contribution was a Helping Hand, but he didn’t seem to mind it. He would battle if it was needed, but he wasn’t fiending for action.

  Unlike the fourth battler of the bunch…

  Tinkatink was currently held against his chest as they approached the ending of the route offshoot that ended at Berry Falls. For the last hour, she’d been loudly mumbling and talking to herself, occasionally making herself angry with her thoughts and waving her… much smaller and miniscule hammer in the air. Tinkatink’s new hammer was just a stopgap replacement until she got back home and truly got to work. Currently, she had some bits and pieces of her old hammer, long solid pieces of Lairon’s metal shell, hope, and prayers holding together.

  Jessie, James, and Meowth each apologized to the little gremlin, and to himself, but it wasn’t their fault; Not really. If anyone was going to take blame, it was going to be Ethan. Being unprepared for a battle in the world of pokemon was just foolish in hindsight. For the last few days, he’d been lying to himself about ‘doing it for his pokemon’, but in truth, he needed to learn how to do it just for personal protection. His pokemon enjoying it was a bonus at the end of the day.

  Thankfully, he and his pokemon could work out a plan in the safety of their home for the next time. Helping Hand and Boomburst was a devastating combination, and would be his go to finisher for a long time to come. In single battles, his pokemon were comparatively weak, but together? Together, the pokes are strong.

  It was late in the afternoon as Ethan finally breached the end of the forest and appeared at the entrance to his slice away from life. After only a second of glancing about to make sure the place didn’t explode while he was away, he let all of his worry and thought fade away with a smile and a sigh. Seeing where they were, Tinkatink wriggled and yelled to be let down, too excited to get to work on a proper weapon.

  After placing her down, giving her her metal, and watching her run away in an awkward wobble towards her little blacksmithing den on the opposite side of the ranch, Ethan released his other pokemon. “We’re home! Hope you guys had some fun during our trip. If you guys see the others, let them know we’re back.”

  All his pokemon cried out in joy as they scattered freely, finally back home. Emolga and Chatot headed straight down the cobblestone path in the sky, heading towards their actual house, while Munchlax and Skiddo both ran together towards the berry fields to get some snacks.

  As Ethan stared at their retreating forms, specifically Skiddo’s, he reminded himself not to take his little goat on too many trips. She… was content with leaving, but he could tell that she didn’t really care for it and was even uncomfortable at times. She didn’t want to battle, just like Ethan, and was quiet and quirky when out and about. It wasn’t a bad thing, just different. Each of his pokemon had needs and wants, and it was his job to make sure that they were fulfilled.

  As the duo entered past the training field and entered the berry trees, Ethan spotted how full they were. While Shuckle was his berry bud, he wasn’t capable of harvesting from the trees themselves. Usually, Shuckle grabbed the ripe berries that had fallen from the trees. He’d need to take some time in these next few days to make room for more to grow, since he actually had people to sell them to now.

  Jessie, James, and Meowth all wandered back home, splitting at the path that led to their small cottage as Ethan carried on toward his house. It was when he could make out the details of his comfy home when he saw the appearance of red amongst the green grass and dull autumn leaves.

  “Shuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Shuuuuckle!” Shuckle cried as he breached his little den’s hole in the ground, noodly arms flailing and heaving him to the side towards Ethan.

  Ethan jogged ahead to make up the distance and got on his knees when Shuckle was just a few feet away. Shuckle crawled forward as Ethan’s heart nearly burst from happiness. Although Shuckle was a hefty boy, Ethan could pick him up, and so he did. “Shuckle! I’m back my little berry buddy! Did you miss me?”

  Shuckle tucked his head against Ethan’s chest and wrapped his long rubbery arms around his waist in a giant buggy hug. Ethan could feel the sloshing of bug juice from within Shuckle’s shell as he gently swung his friend from side to side. “Shuuu! Shuuuuuuuu!”

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  “I missed you too. Next time, I think I’d like it if you came with me. What do you think about that?” Ethan asked, his voice higher than normally as it shifted into his ‘child-speaking’ voice. Shuckle, of course, nodded rapidly. “I’ll have to get Chatot over here once she’s all settled in so we can have a proper conversation and catch up! I bet you’ve been busy this past week.”

  After carrying Shuckle to his home, Ethan opened the door, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath—happy to be home.

  Ethan placed Shuckle down, and as soon as he finished, he spotted Smeargle peaking around the doorframe to his bedroom. “I’m back!”

  Smeargle ran forward and gave him a much more normal hug when compared to Shuckle, but it was filled with love all the same. Ethan even heaved the painter up and gave him a twirl, causing the humanoid-canine to laugh.

  “Welcome home, Ethan. Have a good trip?” Joyce called as she stepped out from his bedroom. Smeargle and Joyce must have been having one of their therapy sessions.

  She gave him a warm smile as Ethan gave Smeargle a final twirl before setting him down. “It could have been better. There was some slight trouble, but the business side went very well. Were you two having a session?”

  “Paaachi!! Pachi-pachi-pachi-pach-pach!” Pachirisu yelled from within his room, interrupting the conversation. Ethan raised a brow at not being swarmed by his first friend, but was too happy to be home to question it.

  Joyce laughed and took a step aside to let him through as he surged forward to greet his friend. “Don’t be too surprised when you walk in.” She warned playfully.

  Ethan walked into his room to see many differences. First and foremost, they moved his bed up against the wall. On the floor, which was much more open now that his bed taking up some of the space, blankets, pillows, couch cushions, and sheets were piled high in an enormous mound that came up to his waist. There were some single marks across the white ones, which gave him a moment of pause.

  Suddenly, Pachirisu’s face breached the fortress of fluff with a pop. Pachirisu took a deep breath like he was just drowning, gave him a teary smile of joy, then dove into the mountain of mess again. After watching the mounds of fabric shift like he was tunneling, a foreign giggle reached his ears. When Pachirisu came up again, there was a bright yellow pokemon in his arms, tucked against his fluffy chest. “Pichu!”

  The little Pichu raised its hands as it greeted him, and Ethan raised his own. “It hatched!”

  “It did! Not too long after you left, actually.” Joyce said, laughing from behind him.

  Ethan didn’t move forward to scoop them up, as he had a faint recollection about Pichu’s not being able to hold their electricity, or something along those lines. Judging by the burn marks on some portions of the cushions and sheets, he was probably right.

  Too bad his caution didn’t mean anything, as Pachirisu leapt from the cushions right into his chest, Pichu in his arms. After some awkward kicks in an attempt to climb without his hands, Ethan wrapped his hands to hold them up. “Hello there, little Pichu. I’m Ethan, your dads trainer.”

  Pichu looked to Pachirisu for answers, but Pachi was just nodding in agreement, not paying the yellow mouse any mind. Ethan looked to Pachirisu, “Have you taken…”

  “Him.” Joyce supplied, earning a nod of thanks in return.

  “... Him outside yet? Let him wander?” Ethan finished.

  Pachirisu nodded and rattled off a long string of words which Ethan didn’t understand. When he finished, Ethan just nodded along and placed them back down into their little mound. “Well, I kinda-sorta expected to have a new member when I returned. I guess I just never realized how it’d be. I wish I could have been here for it.”

  “One? Oh, Ethan… You poor thing.” Joyce laughed, turning around and heading for the guest room, beckoning him to follow from over her shoulder.

  Pachirisu and his son Pichu burrowed back beneath the blankets and fluff for their fun as Ethan followed Joyce with some mild trepidation. “Did the Azurill get born?”

  Joyce didn’t answer. Instead, she opened the guest room and gestured to the bed with a flourish and a happy smile, eyes crinkling. On the bed, curled up and asleep, was a black and red kitty cat—a Litten. The sound of their entrance disturbed its rest, as it stretched out, let loose a mighty yawn which showcased its sharp fangs, and then burrowed its head into its belly with a rumbling purr to cover its face to sleep again.

  Ethan’s mouth was hanging open as he stared, but Joyce ushered him out, stifling a laugh. “Your Ursaring gave birth. She saw me, dumped off the little Litten, then wandered off back to her cave.” She gave him a pat on the shoulder. “It’s not uncommon for Ursaring to… pawn off their offspring if it's not a Teddiursa. She still comes by to check on him at least twice a day. A cave is no place for a cat, and I think she understands that.”

  “Well, damn…” Ethan muttered. “Don’t I need some sort of license to breed the regional professor starter pokemon?”

  Joyce smiled, tucking a pink strand of hair behind her ear. “Ethan, did you think Looker gave you the bare minimum when he did his paperwork? You’re fine. You could breed a thousand of them and nobody could do anything about it. Not that you have a breeding pair to even do it.”

  “Oh… Well, at least I have a fire type now. Those are suspiciously rare here in Sinnoh.” Ethan said, closing the door and letting the cat be. “Any other surprises I should be aware of? Or are you going to continue dumping them on me one by one?” He laughed.

  “Well…” Joyce toyed, earning a groan from Ethan. “You’re looking at the new Berry Falls Nurse Joy. I swapped spots with Jocelyn.”

  Ethan blinked owlishly.

  Joyce blinked, embarrassed.

  “Seriously?” Ethan asked, dumbfounded but happy at the thought.

  It wasn’t that he disliked Jocelyn, he just… liked Joyce more.

  “Yup!” Joyce smiled and patted him on the back. “I’m here to stay.”

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