Ethan smiled as he sat on the edge of his patio, his old phone in hand and his colorful bird on his shoulder. Chatot bounded up and down, wings flared out in a happy dance as Ethan skipped through his old playlists.

It’d been over a year since Ethan had the chance to listen to any music from Earth, and he was thankful that he’d downloaded his music for when the service was spotty during his commutes. It wasn’t like he could magically stream all the songs now that his phone was working and had an internet connection. All the songs he had now were the only songs he would ever get.

Still, even without the ability to stream, he still had several hundred songs thrown into random playlists to enjoy with Chatot and the others. He had genres galore, ranging from old 90’s R&B to the standard Pop and Rap that constantly repeated on the radio.

Some of the music he had on hand wasn’t suitable for… younger audiences. They also referenced things that those in the world of pokemon wouldn’t have. It wasn’t the end of the world if someone overheard the lyrics, but it would be awkward having to explain the origins.

First things first, Ethan played thirty seconds of several popular songs or genres and tried to gauge Chatot’s reactions, aiming to see what she liked and disliked. First up was country music, which had a surprising reaction—She liked it. He didn’t have many country songs on hand, mostly the songs his mother would listen to when they were together. So, with a heavier than normal heart and memories coming to the forefront, Ethan let the song Islands In The Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers play on.

Chatot was enthralled, her metronome tail clicking back and forth to the proper BPM. If Ethan let go of his phone, he was 99% sure that she would dive to catch it before it got damaged solely just to save the now glorified music player.

Next up was Rap, a genre Ethan wasn’t too much of a fan of. Oh, he liked some songs and could appreciate the wordplay, but the songs he gravitated toward tended to be of the ‘sad boy’ type. $uicideboy$ was the go too after a long day of tiresome work, so he played And to Those I Love, Thanks for Sticking Around. Unlike the other $uicideboy$ songs he had on hand, this one didn’t have… too much language unsuitable for Chatot’s innocent ears.

She bopped to the beat, thoroughly liking the beat itself but not caring much for the words.

Moving on, next up was a song that reminded Ethan of his first meeting with Chatot—Girl by Jukebox The Ghost. It was Indie-Pop if Ethan was to hazard a guess, but he wasn’t completely sure. It was a bop though, that was for certain.

After singing along with the whole thing, Chatot hugged the side of his head. “Love Ethan.”

Ethan lifted a hand to rub her head while still scrolling through his songs. “I love you too. Now, tell me what you think of this one.”

Ethan pushed play, and immediately Chatot jerked away in mild surprise. Ethan laughed at the reaction. After all, that was about what he expected from anyone’s first time hearing METAL!!! There were many sub-genres to metal music, and Ethan enjoyed them all. Thrash Metal, Power Metal, NU Metal, you name it, Ethan more than likely liked it. Sadly, that didn’t appear to be the case for Chatot.

The first song Ethan played had been Angel of Death by Slayer. She wasn’t a fan of the initial screaming nor the vocals or lyrics. Once he realized she didn’t vibe with that, he moved on. Chatot didn’t mind Metallica or Linkin Park, but she very much liked the song Dragula by Rob Zombie.

And since Ethan now had long shoulder length hair, he felt responsible to showcase a proper head-bang to his very first pokemon. Ethan laughed as Chatot held onto his shoulder for dear life as he whipped his hair during the chorus, her talons snapping down onto his shoulder.

After that, he let Chatot pick the song. His playlist was long, and Chatot’s talons didn’t register on the touchscreen, so Ethan had to be the one to actually push play, but he let her order him about to her whims. Together, they listened to what must have been forty different songs throughout the evening, and they only stopped having fun once he realized that he hadn’t even started dinner.

Chatot flew off to her nest on top of his home as he made his way into the kitchen to begin preparations. As he ordered his fruits and vegetables along the countertop, his front door opened, revealing Chase and Justine. They looked unsure about entering unannounced, but Ethan called them forward. “Come in, come in. I’m getting dinner started.”

With permission, the duo took off their shoes and entered inside. Chase went over to the kitchen table, where Rotom was busy entering and exiting Ethan’s laptop, while Justine joined his side. With a flick of her wrist, she unclasped a small pouch on her side, then withdrew something wrapped in paper. “We had prepared for this trip, so ‌use some of our resources for dinner. Elm paid for it all.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Ethan took the offered package and opened it up to reveal filets of salmon-pink flesh. Noticing his hesitation, Justine curled an eyebrow. “Something wrong? If you’re allergic we have other—”

Ethan moved the fishy bits to the countertop and shook his head. “Nothings wrong. I just don’t eat meat.” Justine’s eyes widened, but Ethan powered on. “Don’t force yourself to change your diet around me, but… You’ll have to cook that yourself.”

Justine nodded, then grabbed a nearby pan and began heating it up. The next ten seconds were extremely awkward, and Ethan didn’t want to talk about his moral quandries when it came to eating pokemon. The last time he had that conversation was when Ursaring had a glint in her eye staring down the Magikarp in his pond… Convincing her to hunt for her own food wasn’t a big ask, as she’d been doing that for most of her life, but it was still awkward nonetheless.

“I assume it’s a hurting pokemon thing?” Justine asked casually as she washed the filets beside him.

“Yup.” Ethan replied, short and sweet.

“You know, there’s a lot of pokemon that give up meat willingly. Slowpoke is the prime example. They lose their tails when fishing with them. It doesn’t hurt them, and they grow back.” She continued on, not bothering to look at his reaction.

She held up one of the washed bits of fish. “This is from a Veluza, a pokemon from Paldea. Well, this one was from Kitakami, but the point still stands. Veluza shed their excess flesh with their signature move Fillet Away to increase their speed when hunting. They have an absurd level of regeneration, capable of healing from their self-inflicted damage within the hour.” She turned to face him. “I won’t say no pokemon were harmed in the process of getting this meat, as Veluza does hurt itself in the process, but it was willing and doing something it does naturally in the wild. Just some food for thought.”

Ethan would need to do some research on that pokemon, as it wasn’t one he’d ever heard about before. He wasn’t going to take the word of a person he met today, aide of a pokemon professor or not, at face value without doing his due diligence. “That’s interesting, but I think I'll stick to what I’ve been doing until I learn more.”

The rest of the dinner prep went on without issue, some small talk was had about how the Oddish sprouts were looking, but most of the technical and scientific mumbo jumbo went right over his head. Professor Elm came in right as plates were being set, and with a long sigh like a man getting off from a long day of work, he plopped down at the kitchen table and began rummaging around in his magic briefcase. Out came several bowls, similar in appearance to dog bowls, and several bags of poke-chow. The professor divvied out the portions and then began taking them in hand to bring outside. Ethan stopped him before he exited. “Professor, you’re more than welcome to cut up some of my berries to give to your friends. Trust me, it’s not like I’m going to run out.”

The Professor, seemingly having completely forgotten about the hundred plus berries trees right outside, sheepishly came to the kitchen counter to grab a knife. Ethan opened up his cellar hatch and grabbed a vast assortment of berries, at least ten of each kind, and returned to hand them over.

All three of his visitors had their own private discussions over the berries, huddling up for some hypotheses about what kinds they were and what they could do. Ethan filled in the blanks, he walked right into the huddle and pointed down the line. “Cheri, Oran, Chesto, Pecha, Rawst, Aspear, Leppa, Lum, Sitrus, Figy, Lapapa, Tazz, Pinap, Hondew, Durin, Shuca, Ganlon, Starf, and Hopo.”

Ethan stood there with a smirk as the three researchers looked at him like he’d grown another head. He hadn’t been idle this past week—he’d done his own research. With the power of the internet, untold knowledge was at his disposal. One of the things he needed to know was what berries he had available and what properties they had. With a long extensive trip around his fields with Shuckle in tow, they categorized all of his berry trees and labeled the crates and sacks in his cellar. Shuckle could now properly store each berry in their own compartment, as he also knew what each of them was. Although he couldn’t read the labels, little berry paintings from Smeargle closed that gap quickly.

Elm was the first to speak. “Oh wow! You have a fortune out there ripe for the picking! Cheri, Chesto, Pecha, Rawst, and Aspear! You nearly have a cure for every situation!”

“Nearly?” Ethan asked. He was pretty sure he had them all.

“Perism, for confusion.” Elm tapped the side of his head with a smile. “You have such a wide assortment. You should sell your excess!”

Ethan grabbed a bucket filled with Sitrus and Orans for the Oddish and water pokemon for his pond. “Find me a place to sell them and I’d be more than willing. We’re out in the middle of nowhere and Smeargle is the only pokemon around that can teleport me to Eterna City.” Ethan shook his head. “Maybe in the future once I have more things to sell other than just berries. I’d like to make cheeses and other things as well. Do remember, I have a Shuckle.”

“Wait, you have a Shuckle?” Elm asked, surprise written on his face.

Thinking back, Ethan realized that Shuckle hadn’t been around any of the humans yet, only having met Loudred and Typhlosion. “Yes, I have a Shuckle. When he’s a little older, I plan on selling some of his berry juice. Whether that be as just the juice themselves, flavored cheeses, alcohol, or whatnot. He’s still young, but in two-ish months, he will be fully grown—at least, that’s what Nurse Joy said. He’s the one who goes and sorts the berries and collects them throughout the day.”

“That’s lovely. You’ll have to show me all of your pokemon when we have some free time.” Elm said, a gentle smile on his face.

“Maybe after dinner? After I eat my share, I’m off to feed the wild pokemon who live on my ranch. The ones who call the ranch home. We can find all my friends out and about, I’m sure.”

“That sounds like a plan. Now, Justine, you cooked me some food, didn’t you?” Elm rubbed his hands, nearly pleading in tone. Justine sighed, then pointed off towards a stacked plate. A filet of fish, vegetables, fruits, and a side of rice.

They all sat down around the dinner table and ate, small talk echoing around the halls of his home.

Being around people… it was nice.