Cynthia showing up unannounced should have been a surprise, but this was pretty par for the course. Ethan wanted to talk. He truly did. Whether it be out of some form of connection to people, or his desire of wanting to share information about himself, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was ready.

“So, are we going to take turns with questions? Because I have some questions of my own. Maybe you can ask a few and then I’ll take my turn?” He asked as he twisted around to make sure his little family was cleaning up the mess they made in the living room.

Cynthia and her Lucario shared a look, and appeared to be taking this seriously. Lucario was a little harder to read, but it was human enough in its mannerisms for Ethan to make some assumptions. “That’s fine by me. I’ll go first. Ethan, before you came here, what was your profession? Were you trained in anything?”

It was a fairly common question, all things considered. “I went to college. I'm not sure if you have that here. It’s a place of higher learning.” Cynthia nodded, so he carried on. “I started off in Nursing school, then swapped my focus to Data Analytics. I worked for a real-estate business and mostly managed the payments of rents and mortgages. It was a nice, stable, but boring job.”

“Nursing?” Cynthia asked, obviously surprised.

Ethan gave her a knowing smile. “Yes, Nursing. I was hoping to be a mini Nurse Joy but for humans. I didn’t get very far, so you can basically forget about me having knowledge beyond the basics.”

Cynthia’s Lucario looked impressed and respectful, giving him a nod of recognition. Cynthia looked at her pokemon, then spoke. “If you’re not aware, I think I should warn you. Lucario can tell the truth from lies with startling accuracy.”

“Not that I would begrudge you for omitting information.” She added as she sent a pointed look towards Lucario.

“Is it because of Aura?” He asked, looking at Lucario and not Cynthia.

Lucario nodded, his eyes having a hint of intrigue. He looked at Cynthia, and she asked about what her pokemon wanted to know. “What do you know of Aura?”

“Not much at all.” Ethan shrugged. “I know there is a guy in the Iron Islands with Aura. He has a Lucario as well. An Aura Guardian, I think? I don’t remember his name.”

Without pause, Cynthia asked her next question. “What do you know about Aura Guardians?”

“Pretty much nothing, other than I know about them. I don’t know what they do. I think it has something to do with the Lucario Kingdom finding matches for Riolu? After all, Riolu can’t breed. Only Lucarios can. I assume that’s one of the reasons, but I may be completely wrong.”

Ethan looked to the now shocked Lucario. “By the way, the method by which Riolu evolves is by…” Ethan couldn’t help but smile as both Lucario and Cynthia leaned forwards in anticipation. “Friendship. Or, should I say the bond between trainer and pokemon? It might be slightly different here.”

Ethan pointed over his shoulder to Munchlax, who was dragging the cushions of the couch back into place. “Munchlax evolves into Snorlax in the exact same way. There’s a lot of pokemon that evolve by friendship.”

Lucario and Cynthia looked… well, shocked wouldn’t be the correct word—Dumbfounded, perhaps? He ignored them and carried on with a question of his own. “For the record, I don’t mind Lucario knowing my past. It’ll be easier going forward for him to be in the loop.” Seeing as they were still recovering from his last revelation, he continued on with asking a question of his own. “In this world, how safe is it in the wilderness? From all my interactions, I get the sense that people are surprised by my interactions with the wild pokemon.”

With a frown, Cynthia responded. “It’s not very safe. Closer to the routes, you’d be much safer. The pokemon there are accustomed to humans, and oftentimes seek them out to test themselves against wandering trainers and their pokemon. The farther off the beaten path you go, the more dangerous it becomes. Running into a group of Oddish this far away from Route 205—The route leading through Eterna Forest—would normally be deadly. They would assume you’re a danger and take precautions. Which, in their case, means spraying you down with enough powder to kill you.”

Ethan… could see it. It’s one thing to be told something was dangerous, and another thing to experience the danger. With him not having any issues with pokemon (Other than maybe the sand-attack back when he was looking for his first pokemon) it was hard to think that his little Oddish friends were walking disasters. Logically, he knew they were dangerous, but they weren’t dangerous to him, nor his pokemon.

Cynthia shared a long look with her Lucario, seemingly having a silent conversation, then spoke again. “Joyce asked Professor Elm to run some tests on you. She was trying to discover why wild pokemon seem to be comfortable around you. Elm, quite underhandedly, ran some tests without your knowledge.”

Ethan frowned. Seems like everyone wants to do stuff without my permission. He thought.

“You aren’t a Psychic, and you don’t have Aura, but something is different about you.” Cynthia shared another look with Lucario, and now he was sure that they had some means to talk to one another silently. “According to Lucario, you are… like an open book. Your emotions and intentions are on clear display.”

Ethan was confused. “So, I’m what? The opposite of an empath?”

“Yes.” With a blip, a flop, and a fall, Ralts Teleported onto the table. She patted herself down, gave an embarrassed nod to Lucario, then turned to face Ethan as if she didn’t just take a tumble. “You are exactly that. I can tell your mood from across the house without even trying, and it’s not just because of my species. I’ve seen other humans, and I can read them, but you are exactly as described—an open book.”

Ethan looked across the table to Cynthia and Lucario to see if they were included into the telepathic conversation, and from what he could glean, they were. “So, is this a bad thing?”

“Not at all.” Ralts said adamantly, her pinkish-red eyes flaring. “It makes you trustworthy. Your intentions are clear. My species may be an outlier when it comes to sensing emotions and intentions, but all pokemon can feel something from others. The pokemon around here know you’re not a threat. They don’t need to ask, question, or find out your motives. They will just know what you want, or what you are feeling.”

Well, that didn’t seem too bad, all things considered.

“I didn’t know you had a Ralts.” Cynthia murmured as she leaned forward to take in Ralts’ tiny form.

“I don’t. I am watching her while her mother is busy. Ralts is a wild pokemon.” Ethan said.

“This...” Cynthia sighed and gestured towards him. “This is exactly the kind of stuff that has us all interested. Nobody just magically ends up watching a wild Ralts for their wild parents. It’s just unheard of.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It’s not like I go out of my way to make these things happen.” Ethan said in his defense. “I haven’t wandered into the forest looking for wild pokemon to befriend. I haven’t even gone into the forest in weeks. My last visit was bringing the Magikarp and—”

“I’m not saying that it’s your fault, Ethan. It’s not a bad thing.” Cynthia cut him off, ending his rant.

Being told that you were some emotional beacon wasn’t something you heard about everyday, and he may have instantly gone on the defensive. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing. He might have preferred to live in ignorance.

Feeling off-kilter, Ethan changed topics. “How important is battling. As a Champion, I know you have your bias, but I want the honest answer. Do I need to be a decent battler to defend what I own? Will people come to test my defenses? See me as an easy mark, so to speak?”

“TIIIIINNNNKKK!”

Before Cynthis could answer, the battle cry of his little pink pokemon rang out through the room. The rapid thumps of her little feet rocketed out from the living room. Turning around, Ethan saw her object of focus, then cringed. With a very awkward lunge, Ethan swooped up the baby Tinkatink into his arms, spinning from the motion, and flinched from putting weight onto his injured foot.

Tinkatink was strong, much stronger than a one day old had any right to be. He struggled to keep her in his grasp as she flailed and babbled nonsense. The rattle-hammer held high in the sky, coming down in fruitless attempts to attack the Champion’s Lucario. It was, after all, a steel type with jutting metal spikes coming out of its hands and chest. “Ah-ah-ah! No! Bad Tinkatink!”

“Blab-babababa! Tiiiink!” Tinkatink babbled, eyes zeroed in on her prize. Her struggles intensified, almost causing his grip to falter.

Lucario barked out a disbelieving laugh, like, literally barked. The five foot tall pokemon sauntered forward and let Tinkatink give him a solid whack on the arm, which did absolutely nothing to the steel/fighting type.

Tinkatink gave him another whack, before she looked at her hammer with confusion clear on her face. Her struggles stopped, and she softly wiggled to be put down. Seeing as things were calming down, Ethan set the pink gremlin onto the ground and watched her plop down onto her butt, right then and there. Tinkatink then proceeded to poke and prod at her hammer like it was dysfunctional.

“Sorry about that.” Ethan said, exasperated and embarrassed. “She was born literally this morning. Well, at 2AM.”

Lucario waved away his apology, then placed a hand on Ethan’s shoulder. Before he could react, a surge of purplish energy shot out in rhythmic pulses from Lucario’s hand. Instantly, it felt like Ethan had just gone through a professional massage. It only lasted around three seconds, but once Lucario was finished, he pointed to Ethan’s foot, then mimed placing a lot of weight onto it.

Testing his foot, he found that there was no pain. The pieces mentally clicked together. “Heal Pulse?”

Lucario smiled and nodded.

“Thank you very much.” Ethan thanked the jackal pokemon, as Cynthia got up from her chair to kneel down in front of Tinkatink.

“Was the other egg I gave you a Tinkatink?” She asked as she flicked her blonde hair out of her face.

“Yes. Joyce and Elm weren’t entirely sure what would hatch, but they each had their guesses. I am unfamiliar with the species, but I’ll do my best to make sure she’s happy.” Ethan paused, took a deep breath, then carried on. “I think she’d enjoy battling. I’ve only known her for the day, but going off the information I looked up, she would fit into battling nicely. In the wild, they hunt for steel type pokemon.” He threw a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Chatot and Pachirisu weren’t listening in. “Pachirisu and Chatot, as much as they try to hide it, also enjoy battling. I think they are disappointed with me.”

“I think learning the basics of how to train your pokemon and getting into some battles would be good for you and your pokemon.” Cynthia must have seen his slight grimace. “Tell me, what are your worries?”

Ethan sat back down, his eyes on Tinkatink as she fiddled with her hammer. “I’m worried that I will let them down and let them get hurt for no reason. But, I am also worried about people coming here and starting trouble—Trouble that they won’t be prepared to defend against because I didn’t train them and they’re inexperienced.”

Ethan looked away from Tinkatink to find Cynthia staring at him, giving him her undivided attention. “This is my home… and I am in a different world. At some point, I guess I decided that everywhere else was dangerous. When I was lost and stranded, if I left my clearing for too long, I would get lost or run into pokemon. The first time Ursaring came to my clearing, I thought I was going to die. I survived here and know that this place is safe… I think I am just scared of change and the failure that will happen when I choose to change. We both know there would be ups and downs if I started to battle. If you don’t remember, I was never any good at it when it was a game.”

Cynthia patiently waited for him to continue, so he did. “When pokemon was a game, it was turn based. You choose a move, then I choose a move. Pokemon could only have four moves at any given point in time. You could use your turn to use a move, an item, or switch your pokemon. The main competitive scene was focused on double battles… I always lost, so I ended up just collecting all the pokemon in the games and breeding them to the best of their abilities. I had them learn egg moves and stuff… Sometimes I would go and try to find a shiny pokemon.”

He shrugged. “This isn’t a game anymore. If I mess up in battling, it isn’t just a little health bar going down. They get hurt for real.”

At the end of his little spiel, Cynthia got up and walked back to her chair. She brought it closer to him, then sat down. Lucario kept his eye on little Tinkatink, but still listened in on the conversation. “I understand.” She patted her pokeballs. “These are the things you learn when you go on your journey, or when you go to school. When I look at you, I see a man who cares deeply for his pokemon. You and your pokemon are close, much closer than many. It’s hard to see you as someone who doesn’t have experience.”

“For most people, connecting with pokemon is the hardest part of their journey. Each pokemon, even from the same species, are different from one another. Take my Glacion for example. She doesn’t mind battling, but that isn’t something she wants to do all the time. When people begin their journey, they want to win. They want to be the very best, getting badges and proving to themselves they have what it takes. Winning is the only thing they focus on. They forget that not every pokemon wants to win, some just want to grow strong. Winning and growing strong aren’t mutually exclusive, but they aren’t the same.”

“For many pokemon, growing strong is how they survive in the wild. You’re not a child, you understand what happens in this forest better than most. Some pokemon hunt each other to survive, strength determines living or dying on a day to day basis.”

Ethan glumly nodded. He’s seen Ursaring come back from the forest after hunting.

Cynthia continued. “You are a vegan. You don’t like to see pokemon hurt or die. I can respect that. I truly can, but there is a difference between getting hurt to better yourself and hurting others to win.” She pointed at Tinkatink. “Tinkatink was born today, and she already sought out an opponent to better herself—Lucario’s metal to improve her hammer. While she doesn’t realize the danger, as she is still a baby, she knows what she wants and needs. You, as a trainer, would be her guiding hand. You would help her with her goals, and she would help you with yours. Normally, that would be winning badges, but for you… I think you just want someone to help protect what you love, because you realize you can’t do it all yourself.”

Cynthia paused, and Ethan nodded once again, not knowing what to say. She took a deep breath, then put the final nail into the coffin. “You are failing them by not helping them grow—Not all of them, as some are perfectly fine living on your ranch, but some of them, and you know that in your heart. If you stumble and fall along the way while helping, I think that's much better than never trying at all. Bonds are formed through working together, and I for one, would love to see how powerful you and your pokemons bonds become. Right now, your bonds are already strong, but in the future? After training, battling, and growing stronger? I think you’d be surprised by how much closer you and your pokemon could become.”

Ethan closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “There’s a battle that's been a long time coming. Want to help me with it?”

Cynthia gave him a smirk and stood up, patting down her trench coat as she did so. “Why not?”

With a loud yell, Ethan called forward two of his pokemon. “Chatot! Pachirisu! Come here!”

Within moments, Chatot fluttered out of the guest room and landed on the table. She tilted her head curiously at him, waiting to hear what he called her for. Pachirisu scrambled out of Ethan’s room, rocketing up his leg and onto his shoulder in the blink of an eye. His fluffy tail curled around his neck for support.

Ethan looked at his pokemon, then to Cynthia. “I think it’s time to see who claims the right shoulder. Ready to battle?”

“Pachi!!!”

“♫ Chaa-tooot!!! ♫”