“Alright buddy, have you got a feel for it yet?” Ethan hung up the water hose connected to the outside of the Pokemon center as he watched Swinub play around in the tiny mud pit he’d created with Nurse Joy’s permission.

Swinub looked like he was having the time of his life. Oinking in glee while jumping up and down, sending splashes of mud everywhere around him.

Some of the nearby trainers waiting for their turn to battle in the battle courts watched on with slight smiles at the scene. Ethan didn’t mind the little audience, as he was sure that this wasn’t anything too out of the norm.

“Swiiiiinub” Swinub kept flicking mud out of the pit with his nose, and Ethan decided that this was a learning opportunity.

“Okay Swinub, now that you got a feel for the mud. I want you to focus on shooting the mud out of the pit. Like you’re already doing. Remember, you’re going to have to do this without any mud in place in the future. You’ll have to create it.” Ethan said as he bent down and made himself a little round mud ball.

With his human Mud Shot in hand, he launched it toward a faraway tree. Sadly, he watched as it couldn’t hold itself together, and splattered into the air before it reached its destination. “Did you see that? Mine was bad. It needs to stay together until it hits the target. Go ahead and give it a go.”

Swinub gave a little snort and looked from the mud pit to the same tree Ethan had tossed his projectile at. With a little shake, Swinub called out his name and flicked his head forward through the pit, launching a spray of mud ahead of him.

Ethan laughed. “We’re going for Mud Shot Swinub! Not Muddy Water! I don’t even think you can learn that move. Go ahead and try again.”

For the next few minutes, Swinub launched sprays of mud outwards in a wave. To someone who hasn’t been watching the whole process, they would say that Ethan was wasting his time. But after teaching all of the Oddish and Pachirisu moves, he knew what to look for.

The little mud waves Swinub was making were getting narrower and narrower. It wasn’t much right now, only maybe a few inches better, but soon, it would be a stream of mud. That was what Mud Shot actually was. It wasn’t a ball of mud like Ethan had been trying to show Swinub. He just set the bar extra high to push the Pokemon just a tad further.

After a few more minutes, Swinub had almost depleted its small mud puddle. However, the Pokemon was so focused on perfecting its move that it failed to realize it was now actually creating the mud it was throwing.

Ethan smiled softly as he watched the hard working Pokemon train.

“Excuse me.” A small voice called from behind.

Ethan looked over his shoulder and saw a young kid, maybe ten years old, holding a small Elekid in his arms. It was dangling limply, but didn’t seem put off by the treatment. The kid was obviously an aspiring trainer, as he had a graphic tee with two Pokemon having a stare off, and even wore a belt with a bunch of fake plastic Pokeballs on it. The Elekid was watching Swinub ‘play’ in the mud, and didn’t look interested in joining.

“Can I help you?” He asked the kid.

“Do you want to battle?”

Ethan looked from the Elekid to the Swinub, and tried to think of how to let the kid down easy. “I’m sorry. I can’t. It’s not that I don't want to. It’s just that this actually isn’t my Pokemon. I’m just teaching it a move for another trainer.”

“Oh… Okay, can I watch?” The kid asked, eyes full of curiosity at the ‘training’ that was going on.

With a shrug Ethan waved the young lad over and explained what he was trying to do. The kid listened to his explanation, and the Elekid did as well. The Elekid actually looked impressed with Ethan’s guile at tricking the Swinub. It nodded sagely, as if that was something it would do as well.

Swinub was making good progress, but he wouldn’t learn the move today. If he was persistent, he would finish learning the move by midday tomorrow. Ethan didn’t know how long it usually took to teach a Pokemon a new move, but Mud Shot didn’t seem that complicated in the grand scheme of things. It wasn’t like he was teaching the young Pokemon Earthquake, Giga Impact, or Hyper Beam.

The kid watched for awhile, but eventually someone came to find him as he had apparently wandered off. “Joel! There you are!”

Joel physically cringed as he slowly craned his head around. “Sorry…”

A younger woman, around twenty years old, probably his older sister going by their similar looks, strode up and placed her hands on her hips in displeasure. “You said you’d be battling. I spent the last twenty minutes looking for you.”

She turned her gaze to Ethan, who gave a small wave. “Sorry if he was bothering you.”

With a shake of the head, Ethan went back to watching Swinub practice. “No, it’s fine. He was just interested in watching me teach Swinub a move.”

The woman looked at Swinub and then back to Ethan. “You a tutor?”

“I’m trying to be. A breeder too, but that needs some more planning.” He replied.

“Huh…” The girl looked a little impressed, but shook her head and waved for Joel to follow along. “Anyways, thanks for keeping an eye on Joel. We gotta get going. It was nice to meet you.”

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“Likewise.”

He watched them both leave, and turned back to Swinub, who had finally realized that the mud he had been throwing wasn’t infinite. He looked around the now dry pit of dirt, heavily confused before turning to Ethan for an explanation.

“What? You’ve been creating mud for the last few minutes! Good job! I think you’ll have it down by tomorrow. Why don’t we take a break and go get you some food?”

With excited snorts, Swinub scrambled out of the pit and rushed up to Ethan, who bent down and picked up the hefty little Pokemon.

“Get… Some Food?”

Ethan whipped his head around to the sounds of his own voice. It sounded much more warbling and rhythmic, but it was most definitely his voice.

Up in the tree they had been using for target practice, a one foot tall bird stood with a tilted head. It was colorful, with a mix of pink, yellow, green, blue, and black interspersed in sections throughout its feathers. On its head, a large musical note pointed up into the air.

The Pokemon blinked a few times, then let out a singing cry. “♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”

Ethan had a giant smile as he looked upon one of his many favorite Pokemon—Chatot. “Why look at you! You know, you’re one of my favorites. If you'd like, I can get you some food as well. Wanna ride on my shoulder?”

The Chatot twisted and tilted its head quizzically. It hopped back and forth a few inches on the branch perch, and fluttered its wings, preparing for flight. Within a second, the Chatot soared across the small field he had taken over and gently landed on his shoulder. Its taloned feet clamped down on his muscles tightly, but not uncomfortably.

“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”

“Swiii”

“♫ Chaa-tooooooooot! ♫”

The two Pokemon started a little conversation as Ethan made his way back towards the entrance of the Pokemon center. Nurse Joy had informed him that he was free to use the standard Pokechow most trainers used if he wanted to give the Swinub an extra portion, but apparently Cici’s Pokemon had their own special blend they used for standard meals. Nurse Joy had some on hand and he had the sneaking suspicion that they knew each other rather well.

Once inside, Chatot tilted its head and gazed about the bustling lobby. It ruffled its feathers, and quickly shuffled closer against Ethan’s head, causing Ethan to have to tilt his head to the side awkwardly. It gazed around at the multitude of Pokemon for a few seconds, and ever so slowly unruffled its feathers as it calmed down. It didn’t move away, though. So Ethan was stuck tilting his head for now.

“Swiiiii”

“♫ Chaa-Chaa-tooot! ♫”

The two Pokemon started to chat with one another once again, and from the side, a random nearby trainer’s Maril waved jovially and joined in.

.

“Mari-Mar-Maril!”

Ethan stood there awkwardly as all of the Pokemon had a conversation. The Maril’s trainer looked around at the commotion, and saw this his Pokemon was chatting away, causing Ethan to be rooted on the spot. “Saby! You’re causing that guy some iss—GAH!”

Maril instantly turned around, put her nubby hands on her round hips, glared, then shot a stream of water directly at its trainer's face. As the trainer swept the water away, Maril pretended nothing happened and went back to jovially chatting up Chatot and Swinub.

After another minute, Ethan was starting to feel a crick in his neck, so he had to interrupt. “Okay, I think I gotta get going. Sorry, Mar—I mean Saby.”

The Maril glowered at Ethan for a bit, before reluctantly nodding and waving towards Swinub and Chatot, who waved back.

“Chatot… can you move over a bit?”

Chatot tilted its head, then hopped back over to sit properly on his shoulder. With a sigh of relief Ethan walked into the small kitchen area where trainers could eat their meals with their Pokemon, and got everyone set up.

Chatot gingerly picked at its standard brown Pokechow pellets, and Swinub basically swam in his little bowl piled of darker colored blocks, sending bits and pieces flying off into the nearby space. He had no chill.

“My oh my! What do we have here?” The voice of the approaching Nurse Joy rang out in a little sing-song tone. She had a tray of food for herself, and her Chansey waddled along with a tray of their own. “Chanse!”

“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫” Chatot fluttered its wings as it hopped a bit to turn toward the new voice.

Nurse Joy silently inspected the Chatot as she sat down next to Ethan. “You’re a beautiful one, aren’t you?”

“Hey Nurse Joy… I hope you didn’t mind me getting some food for Chatot.” Ethan started, but Joy waved away all of his worries.

“It’s no problem at all. We take care of all Pokemon here. This Chatot seems to have taken a liking to you.” Nurse Joy raised and lowered her eyebrows repeatedly, giving him a not so subtle hint.

After taking the hint and clearing his throat, Ethan hesitantly turned toward Chatot. “Say, Chatot… What are your thoughts on joining me as my first Pokemon?”

Chatot hopped around, tilted his head, then looked toward Swinub in question.

“Oh! No, Swinub isn’t mine. I’ve just been teaching him a move. That’s what I’d like to do. I want to teach moves to Pokemon, and hopefully breed them in the future. Run a day-care, and all of that. I have a nice plot of land in the Eterna Forest, the big forest south-west of here. It has a berry farm, and lots of wild Pokemon come by and eat their fill…”

Ethan sent nervous looks toward a reassuring and nodding Nurse joy. She kept waving at him to continue. “Chatot is one of my favorite species, and I’d really love it if you joined me as my first partner. You especially, are very nice and kind. Most wild Pokemon just ignored me. I can’t promise that you’ll be the strongest Pokemon in the world, but I can promise that I’d do my best to make you happy.”

Ethan reached into his pocket and took out his one and only Pokeball. He slid it across the table, and waited with bated breath.

Chatot listened carefully, and tilted its head back and forth. He hopped around to face Swinub, Nurse Joy, and Chansey.

“♫ Cha-Cha-toooooot? ♫” “Chansey-Chanse!” “Swiiiiiiiii”

Nurse Joy caressed the avian's head and smoothed back its feathers. She spoke with a serene voice and comforting smile. “I think Ethan would be a great friend, but the choice is yours.”

Chatot flapped its wings a few times, then looked back and forth between the Pokeball and Ethan. “♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫” With a slow peck, Chatot tapped the Pokeball on the table and was sucked in with a red light.

*Shake* *Ding*