After eating lunch, rounding up the playing pokemon, and finishing the afternoon training, Ethan was feeling pretty drained. Emotionally, that is.

Previously, he’d been tutoring pokemon one-on-one or in small groups—The Oddish and their dances were a good example. While the simi’s fit into that subsection of prior experience, bouncing between several different pokemon, who were each attempting to learn their own unique moves, wasn’t anything he was used to.

As Ethan praised and had small individual conversations with each of the tutoring pokemon before they wandered off to explore or return to their trainers, he gave a tired smile to the Growlithe who had been waiting patiently all day… Okay, he just played around and kept himself busy all day. No patience to be found.

As Growlithe trotted over toward him, Ethan thought about the progress each of the pokemon had shown throughout the day. Hitmonlee was an excellent martial artist, quickly adapting his movements to make his actions smoother and more efficient. At the moment, the fighting chicken-nugget with legs could use Leg Sweep twenty percent of the time. He would easily complete his beginner's mastery over the move tomorrow, Ethan was sure of it.

Sneasel, like Hitmonlee, would more than likely also complete Sucker Punch tomorrow. The tough berry stealing competition was working wonders, and Chatot was learning quickly as a bonus. She wouldn’t be learning Thief anytime soon, maybe a few days from now, but it was good practice.

Gogoat had the movement of Bulldoze down, which wasn’t a surprise, but it was struggling with adapting the ground energy into its move. Sadly, Ethan wasn’t sure what he could do to help the goat pokemon, as he wasn’t even sure if he was going about teaching moves the proper way. He was operating by feel and common sense. Definitely not something you wanted to hear a ‘professional’ say aloud. The best he could do for the goat was to have Pachirisu show him the move Dig a few times, hoping that seeing a ground move in action helped.

The three colorful monkeys, with their equally colorful trainers, were tackling the tutoring process slow and steady. The gentle, playful, and colorful pokemon were having a hard time getting their head into the zone and amping up their thoughts and actions to learn the move Work-Up. They’d get it after a few more days of training… Hopefully, he wasn’t quite sure.

The large Noctowl was in the same boat as the three monkeys. Partly because it was having to use the move Calm Mind a lot throughout the day, draining a lot of its energy while doing so. The big-bird often fell asleep in broad daylight, unbeknownst to everyone nearby, as they thought it was simply using Calm Mind. Tutoring a nocturnal pokemon had its own fair share of struggles. At least Joji, Noctowl’s trainer, had a good grasp and understanding with his pokemon. They were fine to take it slow and steady, and they’d need to if they wanted to learn Stored Power.

He felt a little bad about how Elizabeth stormed off without a word after her… chat with Nurse Joy. She didn’t even ask for a refund… But all of his trailing thoughts stopped when the excited pup in front of him let loose a loud yip.

“Gro!”

Its tail wagged back and forth as its tongue lolled about, waiting for orders. Without looking away or dropping his slight smile, Ethan spoke aloud. “Pachirisu, come over here and teach this beacon of justice and duty about the stars. He’s learning Swift.”

Pachirisu leaped ahead from the edge of the training field, finishing its chat with Smeargle, who had begun their own special training by painting earlier in the day. When Pachirisu arrived at the excited doggy, he gave Ethan a confident nod and a mock salute.

“Pachi-Pach!”

Ethan rolled his eyes and listened to the pokemon have their own conversation. Growlithe’s excitement dulled to an intent listening as it nodded to Pachirisu’s words. When they both gazed upwards into the darkening night sky and beheld the twinkling stars up above, Ethan jumped in. “Each of those tiny lights—stars, is a sun. Just like the one that gives us the light of day. I don’t know for sure, but I think there’s a bunch of different pokemon who live up there, waiting to be found. Solrock and Lunatone are both from space I think.”

Both the pokemon looked away to find Ethan gazing upwards with a twinkle in his eye. “Each one of those tiny stars could swallow this world whole. They’re brimming with untold, unmatched, but attainable power. Power that I want you to hold as your own. Pachirisu, use Swift. Aim for the stars. Show Growlithe what he’s shooting for.”

Pachirisu scrambled forward, climbed up Ethan’s leg, and took his rightful place before flinging his poofy tail forward with a small yell, sending forth a sea of twinkling white stars which disappeared and blended in with the real ones up in the night sky.

“Pachi!!!”

When Ethan looked at the small fire-dog, he could see the reflection of the night sky in its dark brown eyes—stars, swift, and all. “This move is not easy to teach. It took Pachirisu over a week… but I think you have what it takes. Go ahead and give it a go. Harness those stars for yourself. They’ll never miss.”

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Over the next few hours, Chatot, Shuckle, and Pachirisu watched on from the sidelines as Ethan did his best to teach Growlithe the move Swift. Smeargle switched from painting the pokemon and started painting a landscape view of the treetops and stars behind it.

When Ethan noticed the small firepit of the nearby campsite dim to nothing but smoldering embers, he checked his phone and saw it was already midnight. “Alright. That’s enough for today, Growlithe. Time for some sleep. Do you want to sleep outside, surrounded by nature, or do you want to sleep in my house?”

“Gro!” Growlithe ran over and sat next to his feet, and he took that as a sign for sleeping indoors.

“Shuckle, go grab Growlithe some Leppas from the storage as a treat. I’m dead tired.” Ethan released an enormous yawn. “I’ll leave the door cracked open. Close it when you come inside, okay?”

Growlithe yipped again with a nod and sauntered off with Shuckle as the berry collector led him toward his home.

“Smeargle. I assume you want to sleep indoors as well?”

“Smear-Smeargle.” Smeargle said, as he clutched his dripping tail with a slightly nervous smile.

Ethan laughed. “The more the merrier. I even have a guest room! You can sleep in an actual bed if you want.”

Chatot and Pachirisu both gave him goodnight hugs before flying and scampering off into the unknown, leaving Ethan alone as he walked back to his house. Smeargle nodded at accepting the guest room as he ran after Growlithe and Shuckle, probably asking to get a midnight snack himself.

As Ethan walked up near his home, he watched a conga line of Oddish leave his berry fields with Orans in their mouths as they trailed after the much larger Gloom. They headed out into the meadow, twirling and singing to one another. While he knew the Oddish slept during the day, he’d never taken the time to watch what they did at night. He was tired, but the day had been full of surprises, and he was willing to stay awake to see some more.

The Oddish didn’t notice him as he trailed behind, more focused on their casually dancing as they made their way out into the taller grass. He’d been much too lazy to trim it down like he had before, and had let it grow much too tall. He could barely see their leafy heads through the grass as they passed through it without any trouble.

“Odddd.”

“Odddddddd”

“Odd-odddd”

“Oddish-odd-odd-oddddd”

“Gloooooo”

The Oddish began circling the larger Gloom when they got into the center of the meadow. They teetered back and forth on their stubbly legs and spun around while singing their names. The Gloom leaned back, forth, and side to side as it swayed and shook its large leaves creating the sounds of a maraca from the four bulbous bulges on the top of its head.

Ethan watched on in awe, not wanting to interrupt their little ritual. When the Gloom began shaking like it had earlier in the day, prior to its evolution, Ethan couldn’t tear his gaze away. Something was about to happen.

The large Gloom made a small ‘pop!’ sound, like that of popcorn, as tiny seeds launched out in a volley in all directions. The seeds flew far and wide in all directions as Gloom spun on its heels and shook the top of its head side to side.

At first, Ethan thought it was the move Leech Seed, because as soon as the seeds landed, they sank and buried themselves into the ground. This idea was thrown aside as he realized only a small portion of the blown about seeds actually succeeded in being planted. He knelt down and picked one up off the ground to inspect it, as the Oddish scampered about the grass, collecting the unburied seeds and began manually planting them.

The seed was a dark blue with a tiny sprout near the top and he had no clue what it was, or what the Oddish and Gloom were doing. One of the Oddish finally noticed his presence and squealed in a happy tone as it ran forward and headbutted his leg affectionately. After its display of affection, it noticed the seeds strewn about near him and quickly began burrowing them into the ground with its tiny feet.

Ethan, in his wise and almighty wisdom, did as the Oddish did and planted the small seed in the ground and began to help the Oddish with the others. They all cheered and crooned as they noticed him helping.

When he was done, the Oddish began rooting themselves into the ground and chatted happily with their friends and family. The Gloom wandered about the field, continuing to search for unburied seeds. “Goodnight Oddish, Gloom.” Ethan said as he yawned.

They all stared at him with some kinda expectation, but Ethan was already completely confused and out of his depth. The Oddish, seeing his confusion, sang out their names in a sing-song voice then looked directly at Ethan.

“Odd’

“Oddddd”

“Odddddishhhh”

“Odd-odd”

“Odd-odd”

“I hope you’re not expecting me to sing to the seeds. My singing would probably cause them to wilt.” Ethan said, earning unhappy frowns from the Oddish. He sighed, unable to leave them unhappy. “How about a poem?”

Their frowns turned upside down as their eyes crinkled in joy. Ethan took a few seconds to think of a nice poem—Haikus were short and sweet, so he was going for one of those.

“Oddish, moonlit sky,

Seeds sown under stars alight

Ritual at night.”

“Odd’

“Oddddd”

“Odddddishhhh”

“Odd-odd”

“Odd-odd”

The Oddish responded with a few happy calls, indicating he met the requirements for their little ritual. As he headed home, he waved goodbye to them and caught sight of Smeargle and Growlithe as they wandered up the path from Shuckle's hole.

“Let’s head inside. I’ll show you the guest room.” Ethan said as he opened the door and then held it open for the two pokemon to enter inside. They both gazed around the interior, taking in the new space.

He led them to the guest room and let them both inside. “Have a goodnight. Rest well, as there’s more tutoring and training tomorrow.”

“Gro!”

“Smeargle.”

The two dog-like pokemon wandered inside and hopped onto the bed. Smeargle, with its bipedal and humanoid motions, climbed up while Growlithe hopped on top of the bed like a normal dog. Growlithe sniffed the blankets, did a few spins, then plopped down to rest as Smeargle actually climbed underneath the covers and fluffed the pillow behind its head.

Ethan gently closed the door and got ready to sleep himself. Tomorrow, some of the pokemon would finish learning their moves and he’d have to call their trainers to let them know. Hopefully, they were just exploring Eterna Forest and not on their way to Eterna City or Floaroma town. They’d have to turn right back around to pick up their partners if so.

As Ethan closed his eyes and tucked himself into bed, he had a single thought.

Today was a good day.