New Beginnings – A Pokemon Slice of Life. [OC/Isekai/Move Tutor/Breeder]

Ethan was broke. It wasn’t so much as a statement, rather than a fact. He’d spent nearly all of his slowly accrued wealth on items he desperately needed for his day-to-day life on the ranch, and he was eternally thankful that he even had any money to begin with.

After releasing all of his friends, Ethan went inside to sort through his new purchases. The first thing Ethan tried to take out from his new Silph CO magic bag was the sturdy, heavy, metallic safe. It took a minute of finagling with the magic bag, but after eventually finding out how to withdraw specific items, Ethan held the safe in his grasp. It wasn’t unwieldy and was quite thin compared to the large rectangular blocky structure he’d imagined it was going to be.

The safe was very similar in appearance to a painting, just a few inches thicker, several feet long and wide, and obviously durable. Whoever built it designed it to hang on a wall for easy and repeated access. The front of the safe held two swinging doors with clear panes of either hardened glass or durable bullet-proof-esque plastic on each side. In the center, where the doors seamlessly connected, a fingerprint scanner and combination code were clear to see.

After reading through the manual provided, Ethan registered his fingerprint and selected a four-digit security code. Once successfully registered, he heard the sucking of air and the clicking lock of some internal mechanical mechanism. Experimentally, Ethan tried to pry the thin doors open, but the two thin doors didn’t even budge a millimeter.

Using his fingerprint to open the doors revealed the lightly cushioned, slightly indented rows of placeholders for pokeballs. The pokeballs would have to be miniaturized like they were when attached to his belt, but that didn’t seem too bad in the grand scheme of things. He’d use this safe as a place for trainers to ensure their friends pokeballs in case of emergency or to securely store his friends should the need arise.

After hanging it up next to his front door, he realized that someone could come and rip it off the wall and take the whole thing. Well, he supposed someone could at least try too, as he and his pokemon would blast the thief into oblivion as they made their attempt. It was good for now.

Next, Ethan placed Smeargle’s art supplies into his personal room. With their important guest arriving tomorrow, Smeargle would bunk with him for a few days to give them the guest room. Then, once Ethan had set that up, he smiled as he withdrew various packets of seeds.

No longer would his food be bland! No longer would he have to live without bread! Carbs! Proper sustenance! He had purchased seeds for wheat, rye, coffee, various herbs, spices, fruits… a smorgasbord of options! Once grown, processed on his new stone grinder, and stored, Ethan would be able to make nearly anything as long as it didn’t require milk or eggs—With milk being next up on the chopping block and eggs not being a feasible option as far as he was concerned. Wasn’t there a pokemon that made whipped cream…?

Unable to stop his thoughts about food, Ethan immediately sauntered out his home and off into the berry fields with seed packets in hand. The sun would set soon, so he was on a time crunch to plant as much as possible. As he walked down his rows of ripened berry trees, Ethan heard the shifting of dirt and the faint whispers of poke-speak.

“Shuu! Shuuuuu!”
“Munch-munchlax!”

Ducking down to stare beneath the leaves, Ethan spotted Munchlax and Shuckle playing with a mound of dirt and pile of berries at the far end of the line of trees, two rows over. He snuck up behind them as they patted down the dirt mound, then spooked them as he spoke. “Whatcha doin’?”

Both of the pokemon jerked in fright as they swiftly turned towards him. Munchlax slid sideways to block the suspicious mound of dirt with his body. Shuckle was flustered, acting like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar as he flailed worriedly and looked at Munchlax for help. Munchlax ignored his noodly friend and pointed at Ethan’s seeds. “Munch?”

“Nice try, not changing topics that easily. Are you guys planting another tree? Ethan raised his chin and stood on his toes, pretending to look over Munchlax's shoulder, which caused the pokemon to raise up awkwardly in an attempt to casually block his view.

Shuckle, being the sweetheart he was, nodded solemnly as he stared at the ground. He didn’t have it in him to lie to hide things from Ethan.

“We have a lot of trees already, so I try not to plant too many more. Which berry did you plant?” Ethan asked, eyes sliding toward the mound of berry options at their side. They’d collected pretty much the entire array of options he had.

Both pokemon, upon registering that they’ve gotten a bit of permission, eagerly pointed down at the ground as they rambled about their mound of dirt. They were so enthusiastic about it, that Ethan just smiled and nodded along. Once they slowed down and continued to pat down the earth, Ethan spoke. “We’ll keep an eye on it and ask Gloom to help it grow. This can be your guys' tree, okay? You’ll have to watch it to make sure it stays healthy or all the berries will wilt and the tree will die. Dead tree equals no berries to eat!”

Both pokemon hurriedly nodded before discussing and gesturing toward the mound with one another. Ethan left them to their botany trials and walked off a few more meters to come to his own personal garden. After extending it another twenty feet and planting the new seeds, Shuckle and Munchlax both watched on as spectators as Ethan ran back to and from the house to bring well water to jumpstart his new seed’s lives.

Now sufficiently dirty, Ethan wiped his hands and knees clean with a wet rag and turned to face his two hanger-ons with a grin. “Gloom should wake up soon,” Ethan pointed to the dimming sky. “Let's let them know about your new tree and my new plants.”

Ethan followed the slow-moving duo as they chatted and chittered happily to one another as they led the way to Gloom. It warmed his heart to see Shuckle making friends after Dunsparce’s departure. He’d been worried that Shuckle would forgo friendships to save himself from the pain of them leaving, but thankfully, his fears were unfounded. Munchlax was obviously happy here on the ranch, and having Shuckle as a friend was just a bonus to the near infinite food and fun.

When they made it to his Patio, the Oddish and Gloom were just beginning to shake themselves awake. Puffs of Sweet Scent filled the air as they signaled their rise. Each of them found a singular Oran berry in front of them, placed by Ethan earlier in the day as a gift for throwing up and disturbing their rest.

Gloom stomped up to him and waved his hands with a large dopey smile, eyes crinkled in joy. Ethan knelt down to give Gloom a hug, it wasn’t often he caught their little horde when they were awake, but he cherished their presence, nonetheless. “Good morning to you too! I just planted some more seeds in my garden. If you can spare the time, can you give them the special growth treatment?”

Without breaking the hug, Gloom nodded into his chest. Then, a giant plume of pink mist sprayed him in the face. Ethan coughed as he swatted the air. “Than—Thanks.”

“Gloooooom.” Satisfied with himself, Gloom waved over his friends and family and waddled off into the meadow.

“Oh! Remember, someone’s coming to look over your children tomorrow! Be prepared to be awake during the day if you want to keep an eye on them.” Ethan yelled, causing Gloom to pause, face him, then give a solemn nod before continuing on its way.

Shuckle rested near the stairs, still a little afraid of speaking with the gentle plants Ethan had long grown accustomed too. Munchlax waved them off with a big smile before jerking to a standstill and plopping a hidden berry from his fur to plop into his mouth.

As the group of plants disappeared into the taller grass, Ethan spoke for their benefit. “You didn’t mention your new tree to them.”

Ethan laughed at their faces full of shock and despair before waving them inside. “It’s fine. You both took great care of it today, I’m sure Gloom won’t even feel the need to help because you both did such a fantastic job!”

Shuckled wiggled, embarrassed by the praise, while Munchlax rubbed his nose in an ‘of course’ gesture.

As they entered inside, Ethan held the door open for the two pokemon before picking up Shuckle and placing him on the couch. Munchlax was big enough to climb up by his lonesome, and Ethan liked having a back that worked, so he gave the feaster some independence. “Now, Shuckle. I’m going to let out Emolga so she can play. Do you want to play with her as well?”

Shuckle nodded, still a little unsure but glad to be a part of the fun.

“Munchlax, how about you go grab the smoo—” Before Ethan could finish, Munchlax was sprinting to the kitchen to grab the large pitcher of Berry smoothie Ethan had made earlier in the day. For such a hefty pokemon, he could move when he wanted too.

Ethan flipped open one side of his unbuttoned shirt, revealing his undershirt with the pokeball design and his new pokeball vest.

This purchase wasn’t something Ethan had planned well ahead of time, originally thinking of buying an expanded belt, but this vest was very cheap, well made, and quite frankly looked cool. It looked like it was a military vest, a plate carrier type of deal, but held an assortment of slots to securely hold pokeballs and even pockets for his berries, rags, and other nic-nacks he carried around for farm work.

It had a manufacturer's location, somewhere named Orre. He’d never heard of it, but maybe it was one of the many cities that was sure to be around since this was no longer a game and real life. He very much doubted that the anime or games depicted every location in the universe.

He unclipped Emolga’s pristine pokeball, then released her into the air.

“Emol!” Emolga spread eagle, then zoomed around the room in a very slow descent toward the ground. His baby pokemon was learning to glide well, and from the looks of it, was even using some of her mysterious flight powers to slow her descent. One of these days, he’d have a lot of trouble keeping her still and in eyesight.

“Come over here, we’re going to play with Shuckle!” Ethan cooed her over as she squealed as she had the airborne zoomies. She was growing more energetic these days, a good sign if he ever saw one. She was being quite a handful, but she still slept for most of the day as she got tuckered out easily.

Emolga landed with a face-plant into Ethan’s thighs, but rose up unperturbed by her awkward landing. Shuckle spoke to the baby pokemon, explaining the game he had in mind. It was times like this where he told himself to keep practicing with Chatot on her words. Having a translator would be a blessing.

“Shuck Shuckle Shuuuu. Shuuuuuuuuckle.”

Whatever Shuckle said must have been exciting, as Emolga jumped and rapidly squealed out her name. “Emol-Emol-Emol-Emol-Emol-Emolga!”

Ralts blipped into existence, missing the couch seats and landing on the backrest, causing her to tumble down the cushioned mountain. She shifted her eyes between everyone before climbing into Ethan’s lap to sit down. “Hello, Ethan.”

“Hello, Ralts. Would you like to play as well?” He asked, gauging her reaction.

“I shall observe.” She calmly stated, before making grabby hands at Munchlax who was walking into the living room with an unsteady armful full of colorful mix-matched berry juice smoothies.

Shuckle retreated into his shell and Emolga stood on her legs, slightly unsteadily. She narrowed her eyes as she focused on the task at hand.

With a flash of yellow, one of Shuckle’s limbs wiggled out of one of his holes, and Emolga launched herself forward with a battlecry. “Emol!”

With a handful of air, she shifted to watch the other holes, dashing forward at the next flash of yellow to appear.

It was a game of whack-a-mole.

Ethan sipped his smoothie with a gentle smile as he watched the pokemon cheer on the little, innocent game of whack-a-mole. It was the times like these where he was glad to have been transported here. He just wished he wasn’t alone to witness all the joy.