Three months later.

“I think that’s all I'll plant. I think the Oddish and Hoppip want to keep that field empty.”

Ethan wiped his brow as he inspected the lines of berry trees. At the moment, he estimated he had several hundred of them by now, and if he planted anymore, the surplus he would have would just be wasteful. He already fed all the nearby Pokemon until their bellies nearly burst, and he’d actually managed to collect a stockpile of sorted berries in his upgraded shelter.

“Pachi?”

With a nod and absent throw, Ethan lobbed a berry into the air. Pachirisu, shocked and unwilling to let the opportunity for a free berry escape, coated itself in white energy and shot off his shoulder. A beautiful textbook display of Quick Attack.

The Ursaring and Teddiursa came by every few weeks, but so far they hadn’t stumbled across any humans out in the forest. Ethan hoped that it would be a common occurrence, but apparently that wasn’t the case. He tried to get the Ursaring to estimate how often she runs across them, but she didn’t seem to have the same concept of time. They probably don’t count their days being wild Pokemon and all that.

Unlike the Ursaring, Pachirisu was a nearly daily occurrence. So much so, that out of boredom and wanting to live out his childhood dream of being a Pokemon trainer, he had begun teaching it some moves. Unbeknownst to him, apparently Pachirisu had already learned the move Dig from helping with digging holes for his trees. That was a surprise, given that he didn’t even know Pachirisu as a Pokemon could even learn Dig.

So far, he taught Pachirisu Dig, Swift, Mud-Slap, Quick Attack, and Seed Bomb. With Seed Bomb and Dig being the two biggest surprises. To teach Pachirisu the moves, he normally just made up games for it to play with him. Swift was the most difficult to teach, but explaining the stars in the sky had helped the little rodent a bit. Explaining that if he wanted, he could throw mini stars at his foes really made Pachirisu try.

He’d taught some of the Oddish some moves too, discovering in the process that they actually were listening to him when he talked. The first one being Growth. Turns out, that they don’t have to use the move on themselves, which was a great benefit. He had them practice using the moves on his trees, which caused them to grow berries a tad quicker, and sped up their… well, growth.

After that, he taught a few of them Sunny Day. Again, mostly for his own benefit for growing his trees, but they also loved to soak up the sun. It was a win-win all around, and they never voiced any complaints. Of course, that meant Rain Dance was also a move he tried to teach, but they were still in the process of that one. He thought that they were close, but he didn’t know for sure.

The Hoppip that lived near him didn’t seem interested in learning any moves, so he let them be. They didn’t really do much from what he could tell. Normally they just flitted about the grass and what few flowers were there.

“Pachirisu!”

Blinking away his thoughts, he looked over and watched as Pachirisu sauntered off into the forest once more. He’d be back again tomorrow, he was sure of it.

Back at his new and improved shelter, which was now half of a completed log cabin, Ethan splashed his face, washed his hands, and guzzled down some water from his giant bowl before going off into the still cleared part of his meadow to inspect the surroundings. He had started clearing away the tall grass, trimming it short with a sharp rock he found, but by the time he actually cleared most of it, the far end had already started growing back. It was a hassle, but he’d gotten it down to ‘mowing the lawn’ every few days, and today was one of those days.

Along the way, he picked a few of the berries that Hoppip and Oddish liked and passed them out along the Pokemon. To his surprise, one of the Hoppip was now different from the day before. Instead of the normal pink floating Pokemon, in its place, an ovalish green one with large floppy ears and a yellow flower on top of its head floated in its usual place. He walked up to the newly evolved Skiploom, and tossed it a few extra berries.

“You evolved! Congratulations! You can have some extra today!”

“Ploom!” It cheered while spinning in a circle. In its mouth, it gnawed on a berry and had extras in each of its little nubby hands.

Off behind him, a sound of blasting air caught his attention. Above the Oddish, a light pink spray of particles wafted and suffused the air. Right after the first, the rest of the handful of Oddish each launched their respective bursts of particles. Taking a deep breath, the air smelled like flowers and perfume. Ethan smiled, it was Sweet Scent.

“Well, I’ll leave you all be. Congratulations once again.” Ethan patted the Skiploom once before leaving for the far end of his meadow. Maybe he’d make it a pasture so that Pokemon could stay and eat?

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

One Month Later.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“As always, thanks so much.” Ethan said with a giant smile as the rain suddenly stopped.

“Oddish!”

“Odd!”

“Oddiiii”

“Oddishhhh”

He had finally taught his Oddish neighbors Rain Dance, and it really has been a blessing. No longer did he need to make the trip down to the small stream near his clearing to fill his giant stone bowl! Now, he could drag it outside and let the Oddish fill it up with rain! These Oddish were quite useful!

As he slowly and awkwardly maneuvered a giant stone bowl inside his almost completed log cabin, a small, unknown voice spoke up from the side.

“Ral?”

Twisting his head, Ethan looked down, and down, and down, to spot the barely foot tall greenish head poking out of the bushes at him. On top of the small orb-like head, two pinkish ridges rose from the center. It was a tiny humanoid Pokemon, and from beneath the green bulb of what looked to be hair, a tiny blue eye peered at him with curiosity. It raised a tiny hand and tapped its chin before waddling outwards toward him. It was cute. Its body looked to be wearing a tiny toga, or perhaps a dress? It didn’t matter, he knew this Pokemon.

“Well, hello there. What brings you to my little part of the woods little Ralts?”

The Ralts looked around his little clearing and trees, tapping its chin in question. “Ral?”

Ethan looked around to see what it was looking at, but it looked to be gazing about.

“Oddiiiiiiiish, Odd, Odd. Odddd.” One of the Oddish jabbered on, and soon, the two Pokemon were having a conversation.

“Ralts Ra, Ral?”

Oddddd, Oddish Odd, dish dish.”

Raltss Ralt Ralllll.”

As long as he’d been around here, he hadn’t really seen any Pokemon talk to each other. Sure, they would occasionally say their names once in a while, and one would say theirs back, but nothing like this. The only other example he had was when mother Ursaring called her children to leave, and there was no talking back when momma Ursaring said they were leaving.

A puff of Sweet Scent filled the clearing, and of course, the rest of the Oddish joined in with puffs of their own. They seemed to like doing that, and it smelled nice, so Ethan never complained.

Ethan let the two Pokemon talk and continued to maneuver his bowl back into his house. It would take awhile, but it was still better to do this for a few minutes than to take a few hours going back and forth to the tiny stream.

When he returned, some more Pokemon stood alongside the Oddish and Ralts. One much much larger than the others, but graceful as can be.

A Gardevoir stood about his height and gazed about the clearing. Its smooth gossamer dress-like body fluttered in the wind and its eyes looked on in cheer when inspecting the trees. By its side, a smaller ballerina spun in place on a pointed foot—A Kirlia.

“Like what you see?” Ethan asked the psychic fairies as they all turned towards him. He gave them a smile and gestured toward his trees. “Help yourselves. I have more than enough.”

The Ralts eagerly waddled foward and after tripping over its little toga dress, blinked out of existence. Ethan's eyes widened in surprise, but heard the ruffling of leaves and watched as the Ralts climbed down the tree with an armful of berries in hand.

The Kirilia gracefully spun in circles as it did a ballet dance across the ground, eventually reaching the same tree and having a glowing purple berry pluck itself from the tree. It slowly glided down into her open arms.

“Thank you.”

A mature woman's voice rang in his head, causing him to jerk in surprise.

Gardevoir covered its mouth and gently laughed. “First time?”

Ethan nodded dumbly. “First time I’ve spoken to anybody that I could understand in… a long time.”

Gardevoir nodded and walked over to get some berries of her own. Once she was done, she spoke in his mind again. “Humans are rare out here. They know better than to come so far out. Sometimes, the green ones come, just to check if everything is okay. They’re kind. Just like you.”

Ethan watched as everyone partook in his berries and shrugged. “I wouldn’t necessarily call it kindness, more like I can’t stop any of you from taking it. Might as well offer it if that’s the case.”

“No. You’re kind. The Oddish say so. They say you teach them a lot of new things. Teach them moves to help them, feed them willingly, talk to them. Also, I see your kindness. I see your loneliness, I see your fear, I see your hope. I see all of your emotions. Everything will be okay. They will come soon.”

Ethan didn’t know what came over him, but he started to tear up. “Th—Thanks for the kind words.” He joked.

Gardevoir just watched him for a moment, before she ushered her… family toward her. “Goodbye kind one.”

“Wai—”

Then with an instantaneous blink, they were all gone. Ethan’s hand held outwards in hope of more conversation. When it dropped, his throat tightened, then he broke down... again.

He sobbed on the ground and cried until he could cry no more. He had nobody. No family, no social interactions, no friends, no real home… nothing. Nobody to share his struggles with, nobody to motivate him, just nobody. He was nobody to the world. The world didn’t even know he was here… and he’d been here for so long.

When he was finished with his pity party, Ethan looked down at his clothes. His white collared shirt was basically ruined at this point. His cargo pants well on their way to being nothing but scraps. He’d lost his shoes months ago, and his socks were already gone.

All he had were his berries, and the nearby Pokemon. That was it. That was it until he either wandered through the forest aimlessly for help, or struggled out here until help came.

He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it.