Chương 132: Chapter 129

An hour after finishing his meal, someone came to inform Ethan about his tutoring field being ready. After quickly cleaning up his spot around the fire and collecting his supplies, he hurried off to get to work. Speeding off to 'work' wasn't really going to save the pokemon within Wayward Cave any faster, but he'd come to realize something during his time waiting. Tutoring pokemon was fun. Most people could claim that they loved pokemon. It wasn't a very wild thing to say in a world full of them.

He loved his pokemon just as much as someone else loved theirs, after all. But, every time he got to tutor, he got to meet pokemon that weren't his own. From Absol, who was a very rare and often frowned upon pokemon, all the way to the large purple Drapion who was just a big armored loveable monstrosity. Each of them were different in their own special way, and Ethan found that experiencing pokemon from the lens of teaching was a fulfilling way to make your means of life.

The pride and joy of seeing their hard work pay off and knowing that you helped them achieve their goal is something he could probably never get tired of. It also helped that the pokemon could also feel his positive emotions, doubling their enthusiasm when they did something right or made progress. So, arriving at the field as soon as it was up and waiting for the trainers to wrangle their pokemon for their tutoring didn't feel like much of a wait at all.

Soon enough, the trainers and their pokemon began trickling in. By now, all of his own pokemon, sans Snorlax, had arrived to help where they could. As expected, they didn't get very far in the tutoring session the day before, with only the little Houndour making any meaningful progress. Being a fire type, that wasn't very surprising. The first to arrive was the young man and his Shieldon.

The small pokemon was already out and about by his trainer's side, swaying its large head back and forth to 'beat-up' the snow in its path. Ethan gave the young man a smile and a wave as he went to stand off to the side to watch and rest. The guy had probably been helping set-up the new camp just like he'd been. Shieldon sauntered up with the swagger of a pokemon thrice its size and then stopped and sat on its hind legs before Ethan. Ethan gestured to the ground beside them.

"Start where we left off. Remember, use your unique head as a shovel. Swivel your neck back and forth as you press into the earth." Shieldon looked at the spot Ethan was pointing to, then narrowed its eyes in distaste. Ethan waited patiently, waiting to see if the overly proud pokemon would listen to him after a day had passed. Thankfully, Shieldon got up and started pummeling the ground with its snout-like mouth, shaking its head like it was a dog with a chew-toy. Baby steps.

As Ethan reminded Shieldon to use its proper form, as it had seemingly (or willingly) forgotten, Absol arrived like a ghost with nary a sound. Ethan nearly jumped out of his skin from the shock as Absol rubbed its scythe against his arm in greeting. He ignored Shieldon's tiny laugh at his expense as he scanned the surroundings for Absol's trainer, not finding her around.

"Is your trainer busy?" He asked, earning a nod in return.

"Alright then, show me what you remember." Absol strutted a few paces away then struck a confident battle-ready pose. With a rear back of the head, Absol thrust forth with a powerful shout." Absol!"

"Good!" Ethan praised.

"Now, have you gotten any closer with feeling your fire-type energies?" Absol shook its head, but Ethan wasn't worried.

"No problem. Just watch Smeargle use his Flamethrower—" Ethan unhooked and lobbed Smeargle's pokeball mid sentence, releasing his painter onto the makeshift and much smaller field.

"---and try to sense the energy. I know you can use fire type moves. They're just not common for your species. You're usually using your unique-horn." Smeargle, having heard Ethan from within his ball, said his greetings to Absol as he stood by its side then began twirling his tail like a magician casting a spell. When finished, Smeargle pointed his tail forward like a magical-wand, causing a gout of flame to billow forward into the air.

Ethan smiled at how Absol watched Smeargle with a look of pure focus, and he saw the moment where Smeargle fidgeted by feeling his pride. He gently laughed at the scene as yet another pokemon entered the small field he was using for tutoring. This pokemon wasn't one he was tutoring and either wandered off from its trainer or was just curious on what was happening… but Ethan was thankful for it, because it was the first time he'd ever seen one of its kind.

The pokemon had four long legs and looked like a miniature giraffe with a shorter neck, with two heads on opposite ends of its body. Its fur was a bright yellow and dark black, with a line of bright pink spikes trailing down its back from the base of its neck to… Well, he supposed the base of its other neck… or tail… It was fairly confusing. Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

Ethan watched it for a moment, seeing if it would run away or go back to its trainer, but it galloped onto the field and looked at Ethan and the pokemon around him with unbridled curiosity radiating from its intelligent eyes. Its 'tail' grinned and gazed about, watching its back at all times for surprises. He took the moment of inspection to fish out his new christmas gift and pointed the camera at the pokemon. Girafarig!!!!! Da double-fweind Pokemons!!!! Girafarig is TWO fwends in ONE body!!!

UwU Da fwont head goes "hi hi!: 3" and da back head goes ">: | no." Da tail-mouth is— Ethan immediately regretted his choice of dex and spammed the power button until this one turned off. With a face as straight as he could make it as the surrounding pokemon looked at him with laughs, Ethan whipped out his phone and used ol'faithful. Girafarig - The Long Neck Pokemon: Girafarig's nervous system is split between its two heads, allowing it to stay alert even while resting.

The small, dark head on its tail is highly reactive and will snap at threats on instinct, acting as a living shield for the calmer front head. Because of this unusual arrangement, Girafarig can sense danger from multiple directions at once and rarely panics when startled. In the wild, Girafarig prefers forest edges and open woodlands where it can see approaching predators.

Though generally gentle, it becomes unpredictable if its tail head is provoked, as that head feeds on fear and reacts aggressively without conscious thought. Researchers believe the two brains subtly influence each other, giving Girafarig its odd mix of skittish behavior and sudden boldness.

"Much better." Ethan mumbled as he tossed the Team Rocket PokeDex into his magic bag to be lost forever." Giraf! Girafarig-rig!" The Girafarig spoke with intrigue as it came forward to continue its inspection of the area and its current ongoings. Ethan gave it a wave and spoke back, "Are you lost?" The Girafarig shook its head a little as it came to stand right in front of him, invading his personal space and causing him to lean backwards as the front head peered at him closely.

"Uhh…" Seemingly happy with its inspection, Girafarig booped him on the chest with its bright pink nose—A familiar swirl of colors coupled with the nauseating pit in his stomach emerged. A split second later, Ethan found himself in a completely new area. In a panic at being Teleported against his will, Ethan's hand immediately went to his waist to grab a pokeball—any of them—when the shocked, disbelieving, and angry shout of Lucian entered his ears.

"YOU DIDN'T DO WHAT I THINK YOU JUST DID!!!"" Giraf!" His kidnapper preened happily in reply. Girafarig did a little happy dance, its long neck swinging back and forth in accomplishment. Ethan twisted his neck as his hand stilled by his waist to find Lucian storming forward with a mix of anger at Girafarig and immense apologeticness toward Ethan.

"Ethan, I am so very sorry for what she just did. She should not have done that." His sense of immediate danger faded as he got a look at his surroundings, finding himself in a tent still at the camp. With some effort, Ethan relaxed a bit.

"Indeed." Lucian's eyes brightened, a faint purple-pink luminescence shining within as he stared down what was apparently his pokemon. Girafarig's did the same, and a few seconds later, the gentle-giraffe pokemon looked disappointed. Her tail snickering at its other halves misfortune. Lucian turned to him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder as he led Ethan towards the exit.

"Again, I am so very sorry for what she did. You must hurry back. I am sure your Smeargle is very worried. I will come speak to you later to properly apologize and to repay you for your troubles." Knowing that Smeargle was probably having a heart attack at him suddenly disappearing, Ethan agreed that this could be dealt with later.

"Yes. Bring Cynthia along when you do." He added.

"I will." Lucian easily agreed as he opened the tent flap, revealing them to be near the center of their new camp. He hadn't been teleported very far at all, thankfully.

"Now, I must deal with my wayward pokemon. Please excuse me." Lucian snapped the tent closed, and Ethan heard the start of his yelling before all mysteriously went silent from within." Do you know what you just did! What do you think—" Deciding that he had more important places to be, Ethan hurried back to his tutoring field at a jog. A minute later, Ethan arrived and found Smeargle chatting very worriedly with Snorlax, who must have been brought to the scene of the crime. Snorlax… was pissed.

He'd never seen his big guy so mad before. Snorlax's cheeks were puffed out and his eyes had a tint of red within them. A mighty frown was plastered where his jovial and friendly smile was normally held.

Ethan shouted out before anything could further develop.

"I'm alright! I'm alright! No need to worry!" Smeargle, Snorlax, Absol, Shieldon, and Shieldon's trainer all swiftly turned at the sound of his voice, easing up with relief at his sight. Smeargle ran forward and barreled straight into his chest, giving him a right hug. Gently, Ethan rubbed his painters back as Snorlax sauntered forward." Snore." Snorlax still had a heaving frown on his face, obviously angry at what had happened." Snorelax!!!"

His big-eater bellowed, pointing off towards where Ethan had arrived from.

"It's alright. I don't know what the Girafarig wanted, but it was Lucian's pokemon. He is a member of the Elite 4. They're… friends with Cynthia." Ethan hastily explained to his pokemon. Smeargle nodded into his chest his understanding. Max must have told him about the Elite 4 at one point or another, because Ethan had not. Snorlax didn't understand at all. For all he knew, his trainer had just been kidnapped and he wanted retribution.

Snorlax began moving forward with sure steps, walking right past Ethan and off the field into the camp proper, out on a mission to find his new foe.