The sleeping arrangements were subpar for his guests, considering that his own house wasn’t very large to begin with. Chase and Justine set up a large tent in his campgrounds with practiced ease, while Justine’s Magnezone hovered and rotated in the air, making beeps and boops at random. Ethan liked to think that it was shouting encouragement, but for all he knew it was just speaking gibberish. The fire pit was roaring, stocked with self brought logs which created a comfortable circle of warmth in autumns nightly chill.

Elm had retreated into his guest room, exhausted from the day's work and wanting some sleep. Smeargle would be bunking with Ethan, along with the two eggs which could hatch at any moment.

After making sure Chase and Justine were all set, Ethan wandered off back to his house to turn in for the day. As he left, a glance over his shoulder at the two aides caused him to quirk a brow and smile. Justine sat next to Chase on a log by the bonfire, her head resting on his shoulder as they chatted.

It seems that they were more than co-workers. The sharing of the tent gave him a hint, but this was enough for a confirmation.

Halfway to his house, Chatot fluttered down to land on his… right shoulder? With a slow head turn, he inspected Chatot from head to toe, coming to a conclusion. “Your trainer was looking for you. Also, don’t let my Pachirisu see you on my right shoulder. That spot is his. You can’t fool me.”

With a tilted head, ‘Chatot’ stared into his eyes. Then, the imposter sank into itself in dejection. The Ditto fluttered off back toward the campgrounds, sad that the ruse didn’t work.

After brushing his teeth and doing his nightly routine, Ethan hopped into bed and made sure Smeargle was comfortable next to him. The painter pokemon was already fast asleep and didn’t stir in the slightest at his entrance.

What felt like five minutes later, Ethan was being shaken by his shoulders, his eyes shooting open and locking onto a panicking Smeargle. A quick glance to the window as he sat up in bed let him know that it was still deep into the night. “What's wrong?!”

Smeargle grabbed his hands and drug him out of bed in a hurry, leading him to the corner of the room where both of his pokemon eggs shook furiously on their blankets. “Oh… OH!?”

Once Ethan registered what was happening, Smeargle rushed out of the room, leaving him alone.

Ethan threw on pants and a shirt, his eyes never leaving the shaking eggs. Each rumble seemed to spur the other in a contest of unborn vigor. The sounds of the door opening caused Ethan’s eyes to flicker away for just a moment, finding Smeargle returning with a handful of berries with a bright, eager, but extremely nervous smile.

Then, with a duo of loud cracking snaps, both of the pokemon eggs flared their bright and blinding white lights. Just like with Emolga, the white light that blasted his room into daylight reeled back in, coalescing and sculpting itself into the forms of two pokemon. The first was that of a smaller Gogoat, knee high in length with much smaller horns that jutted off to the sides. Its orange tipped hooves clattered along the floorboards as it tried to find its footing within its new surroundings and its leafy shrubbery coat rustled like leaves in a storm.

The other pokemon was one Ethan had never seen before. All of the white light faded into a bright blistering pink humanoid body, small like a human baby. The top of the pokemon’s head, its hair, appeared to be done up in a small topknot. Unlike a human baby, the proportions were off. Its head was large for its size, and its arms were much too thick and stocky. On its chest, a pyramidal-diamond of what looked to be steel or iron rested in place. The last identifying feature was on its lower lip. The lip had a square growth giving the appearance of a cute under-bite. It looked worried, but that may have been its natural appearance. He wasn’t sure.

As Skiddo tried to stand, failing miserably on its newfound feet, the pink pokemon raised its hands and stared at them in wonder… just before it began to freak the fuck out. It began looking around the floor, the ceiling, the items around the room in a panic. It garbled out a bunch of baby nonsense as it did so, reminding Ethan of Donnie from The Wild Thornberrys. “Ribba dabba tinka wowah! Blib-blab kach zazzaa!”

With its little pink feet, it sprinted past Ethan in a toddler’s run, moving past Smeargle and aiming straight for the door. With Skiddo right in front of him and the mystery pokemon doing its best to flee, Ethan didn’t have much time to make a plan. “Smeargle! Follow that pokemon and make sure it's okay! I’ll stay here with Skiddo!”

Smeargle immediately chased worriedly after the pink menace that continued to bang on the door, wailing “TIIIIINNNNKKKK!” as it freaked out, wanting to be let out of the room NOW!

Smeargle obliged, opening the door as it spoke to the pink pokemon and following it out of the room. Ethan tried to put that worrying behavior out of his mind as he focused on Skiddo in front of him. He knelt and helped it stand, its muscles still struggling to hold its own weight and its coordination not quite there yet. After a minute, with lots of wailing “TINK!!!!” echoing through his home and the murmurs and exclamations of Professor Elm from the living room, Skiddo got a hold of itself and began to strut around the room. It came forward after a lap or two, settling itself into Ethan’s lap with contentment—unfazed by the ruckus going about in the rest of the house. Ethan was pretty sure he heard the clattering of glass and the slamming of drawers a few seconds ago…

In less than a minute, Ethan was 99% sure that Skiddo had fallen asleep. With a shout, not scared of waking the Skiddo in his lap (If it could fall asleep with the war going on in the other room it could sleep through his shout), he asked. “Munchlax! Bring me two pokeballs!”

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Munchlax slept on the couch, and he’d be damned if the glutton wasn’t awake. A few seconds later, Munchlax opened the door and ran forward with a handful of pokeballs—Three of them. With a lazy tap, Skiddo was sucked inside one of them.

*Ding!*

Storing Skiddo’s pokeball in his pocket for now, Ethan made to leave for the other room with the other two still in hand. Then, Munchlax blocked his path and gave a short hop and head-butt his hand—No, the pokeball in his hand.

*Ding!*

Ethan flinched, mouth agape as he stared into the empty spot Munchlax once claimed. It had to be now? Out of all the times Munchlax had to make the decision to get caught... With a click of a button, he released the grinning but nervous Munchlax onto the floor. “We’re going to talk about this later…” He promised, before leaving the room and entering a warzone.

Elm noticed his exit and gestured around the bend into the kitchen with a strained smile. “Well, I was right. You need metal.”

After reaching Elm’s side, he found Smeargle fretting over the pink pokemon’s shoulder as it thrust open cabinets and sniffed the air. It climbed beneath the sink and into the open cabinet doors, throwing out wooden plates, metal pots and pans… it was on the hunt for something in particular. “What pokemon is it? I’ve never seen one of its kind.”

Elm flinched as a thrown pot clanged against a nearby wall with deceptive force. For such a baby pokemon, it wasn’t weak. “It’s a Tinkatink. A pokemon found only in Paldea. Right now, it’s searching for metal to make its signature hammer… are you familiar with Farfetch’d?”

Ethan nodded, so the professor continued. “Its hammer is like Farfetch’d leek, without it… Well, you see what’s happening.”

“So, I need to give it a hammer?” Ethan asked, earning a rueful shake of the head.

“No, they craft their own hammer. They’re quite… bold pokemon. They will actively hunt steel type pokemon and use their remains to fashion and upgrade their hammer. The more their hammer is upgraded, the stronger they get. At certain breakpoints, they will evolve.” Elm flinched as another pan was flung across the kitchen. “They can be very powerful pokemon, but their temperament is… not for everyone. She won’t be this bad all the time, but until she gets her hammer, you’re going to have your hands full.”

With a garbled excited squeal, the Tinktink crawled out of his cabinets and held aloft her prize! The shattered remains of a pokeball! It plopped itself down on its little tushy right then and there, then began sorting through the pokeball pieces. With careful and deliberate precision, the pink bundle of trouble outlined what looked to be a crude hammer. With some innate poke-power, the metal began to fuse and meld together, flaring brightly with white light. In a blink of an eye, a… rattle? A rattle/hammer was held her hand.

“Tinka-TINK!” She declared, and without further ado, the pink pokemon slowly blinked, let loose a squealing yawn, then fell onto her back, hammer in hand, letting out a loud snore as soon as her head touched the ground.

Ethan, Elm, Munchlax, and Smeargle all stared at the snoozing and snoring pink pokemon, incredulous at the sudden change in behavior. Without a word, Ethan walked into the kitchen, stood over the faintly smiling snoozing pokemon, then tapped her with a pokeball.

*Ding!*

As he righted himself, he looked around the kitchen. The tossed pots, pans, plates, and cutlery made it look like a tornado had swooped in. “What time is it?” He asked as his shoulders drooped, not really expecting a response as he was thinking about the cleanup.

“A little after two.” Elm said as he bent and picked up a nearby plate.

“Do you think cleanup could wait until the morning? Oh, Skiddo hatched as well, professor. They’re both in pokeballs.” Ethan asked as he began picking up the mess.

“Most freshly hatched pokemon fall asleep quickly, but some stay awake. You’ll need to feed them first thing in the morning to give them strength. I see Smeargle had that idea.” Elm nodded towards Smeargle, who still had a handful of berries.

“So, best to let them sleep? Or wake them and feed them?” He asked.

Elm shrugged. “Up to you. I say we all sleep.”

Ethan huffed out some air. “I agree. I’ll clean this up in the morning… Sorry for the disturbance.”

The professor waved away his complaints. “I’ve had worse times for eggs to hatch. Maybe I can share some of those stories in the morning. Goodnight, Ethan.”

“Goodnight Professor.” Ethan responded appreciatively as the good professor went back into the guest room. As soon as the door closed, Ethan slowly turned to face Munchlax who was looking everywhere but at Ethan. “You could have just asked.”

Smeargle looked between them both, confused at the interaction. Ethan withdrew a pokeball and lobbed it up and down in his grasp, staring intently at the suddenly sheepish glutton. It was then that Smeargle understood. “If a pokemon wants to be part of my family, I’m not going to say no. You didn’t have to sneak in your capture.”

“Munch…” Munchlax shrugged. The deed was done and there wasn’t much else to say in his defense. He understood that asking for forgiveness was better than asking for permission, but this wasn’t a scenario in which he expected to be subject to that rule.

It was then that Smeargle walked away and into Ethan’s room. A few seconds later, he plodded his way out and held out his Great Ball towards Ethan with a great smile on his face and his tongue sticking out.

With a knowing smile, Ethan grasped the Great Ball. “I figured this would come sooner or later. You’ve basically been a part of my family already. This will just be confirmation. You want to stay here and be my pokemon?”

Smeargle nodded, holding his tail against his chest as he fidgeted.

“Consider it done. Next time we go to Eterna City, I’ll get you registered along with the rest… I have to say, I didn’t expect to get four pokemon at two in the morning.” Ethan rubbed Smeargle’s head as he walked back towards his room. “I’m going back to sleep. We’ll let everyone know about tonight's shenanigans in the morning.”

Munchlax helpfully took the berries that Smeargle had placed aside and ‘cleaned’ them up before hopping back onto the couch, while Smeargle and Ethan both went back to bed.

Hopefully, nothing too exciting would happen that could top this anytime soon.

As Ethan finally fell asleep for the second time that night, he missed the vibration from his phone going off on his dresser.