Chương 80: Chapter 77

For the past few weeks, Ethan had been doing his best to connect to each of his pokemon to make sure that they had things to do, were living a fulfilled life, and otherwise generally happy with him as their trainer. As much as he'd like to think that all of his pokemon would never leave him to find someone willing to facilitate their wants, it was always a possibility. Chatot, his first pokemon, was one of his priorities.

When he captured Chatot, it wasn't out of some fateful meeting, nor a slowly growing connection. It was Ethan needing a pokemon to return to the forest, and Chatot was willing. That's not to say that Ethan didn't want her, as that couldn't be farther than the truth. He loved her as much as any of the others, but he felt that he owed her something more. That is why, he'd been taking his evenings learning and improving. Not as a pokemon trainer, but as a singer.

Just like on Earth, if you wanted to learn something, information was available on the internet. Ethan and Chatot were sitting at the kitchen table, each listening carefully to the instructions from one Julianne Harper, a retired coordinator who'd taken to the internet to help those following in her footsteps." Now, you try!" The video finished with the red-haired, spectacled Julianne gesturing towards the camera with a winning smile.

Ethan nudged Chatot with his elbow, signalling for her to give the singing exercise a try. Chatot settled herself on the table and started wagging her tail in sync with the tempo for the upcoming vocal exercise.

"♫ Do-Re-Me-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do! ♫ Ti-Do ♫ ♫ ♫!" Chatot sang, or copied Julianne, her voice and all. She then looked at Ethan, waiting for him to take his turn with expectation. With only a single readying breath, Ethan followed suit.

"♫ Do-Re-Me-Fa-So-La-Ti-Do! ♫ Ti-Do! ♫ ♫ ♫!"" ♫ Chaa-tooot!!! ♫" Ethan's colorful singer cheered at his success, causing him to blush slightly from the praise. He'd been getting better at singing lately. While he still wasn't great, he could confidently say he wasn't bad anymore. The difference from his time singing the National Anthem to Chatot along travels from Eterna City and now was worlds apart. His voice wasn't suited to the majority of the music on his phone, but he definitely had his niches.

Chatot didn't have that issue. She was a cheater. During the pre-recorded video lessons, there were some tests for what genre suited you, describing your vocal tones and qualities. Chatot, by virtue of cheating, suited them all. These tests weren't the wacky, lame, and questionable tests like some of those he'd seen from Earth—The 'What Power-Ranger are you!?' kind—No, these were well thought out and had valid explanations and reasonings from an expert. From his results, it was a mixed bag.

He had a very controlled and melodic voice, with a bit of rasp. He threw his voice, leaning into a more powerful shouting type of singing with noticeable grit and rawness. It was also labeled as intense, and emotional. While he'd never be singing any Frank Sinatra or Maroon 5, he could scream with the best of them. He didn't need a singer to tell him that. To him, these were good things. He just didn't fit into this world's music. The music here was very different in some aspects, while the same in others.

There were pop bands here, idols, and more relaxed acoustic-type-songs he'd bet John Mayer would have a swell time with, but there weren't any pop-rock, grunge, metal, or any other genres relatively close to them. Chatot didn't seem to mind this world's music, even choosing to sing along to one of the songs she must have heard in the past, but she very much liked the songs on his phone. If he was a judge, he'd say Earth: 1. Poke-Earth: 0.

After getting the vocal exercise out of the way, they both went with their evening ritual. Chatot picked a song that Ethan had to sing, and then he would pick a song for her to sing. Once in a while, one of his other pokemon wanted a turn, but their singing was akin to them saying their name to the tempo of the chosen song. Munchlax liked to sing, but he was often trying to snack and sing at the same time, which never ended well. Speaking of the muncher, he was always around and just hanging out.

While he liked food, he was a little interested in everything all of his pokemon liked. He occasionally painted with Smeargle, even if it was him slapping his hands on a canvas like a child, sang with Chatot, collected and taste tested berries with Shuckle, and played tag and hide and go seek with Pachirisu and both Teddiursa. He hasn't had much interaction with Emolga, Tinkatink, nor Skiddo yet. Maybe once they were awake for more than half the day? Anyways, Chattot was a cheater.

And, of course, Chatot knew what songs were his strong suit when it was her turn to pick a song. So, like any caring friend, she never picked any of them. Although, to her credit, she did pick some absolute BANGERS." Oh, I'll be comin' for your love, okay… Take, on, meeee!"

"Take on me!" She always had to join in. Ethan chuckled but ignored her antics." Take, me, oooonnn!" You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author." Take on me!"

"I'll, beeee, goneee… In a day or, TWOOOOOOOO!!!" Instantly, Chatot cringed and pretended to gag. Ethan playfully swatted her upside the head as she laughed at his completely failed attempt at the classic 'Take On Me' highnote. Nights like these were the real joy of his life. He liked working as a tutor, interacting with pokemon that weren't his own and learning about them. If only more people signed up for his services… At least life was… good. He'd do anything it took to keep things just the way they are.

Having already lost one family, he couldn't bear to lose another. —-------------------------------------------------- The next morning was thankfully not nearly as bad as the day before. Breakfast went off with only some minor hitches. The main one being Pachirisu and his egg being at the table. While some congratulated Pachirisu on his soon to be child, others picked on him and teased him. And you can bet that it was Chatot. Their rivalry wasn't only for battles.

It had transcended that mere slice of life to everyday actions. Who could eat faster? Who cleaned up faster? Who could carry the most? Etc etc. He'd let them be for now, but he'd keep an eye on them in case it got truly out of hand. As Ethan opened his door and hopped down the steps heading out for the day's tutoring session, a very curious sight was unfolding before him. Jessie was in front of his home, kneeling down and cooing at something in front of her.

From his position, he couldn't see what had her attention, but a few steps revealed the mystery. For the first time since it had arrived, Lotad was wandering about the ranch. It gurgled and hit Jessie's hands with its nubby feet in happiness as Jessie played with it.

"I see you've found a friend." Ethan remarked with a warm smile. With shock, Jessie stood and abandoned the poor Lotad to his own whims. She stuck her nose into the air and hastily sniffed, as if she wasn't just caught red handed playing with the silly pokemon.

"I was just curious about it. That's all."" Looo!" The Lotad clambered onto her feet as she crossed her arms in an attempt to appear… confident? Carefree? He wasn't sure. Ethan raised an eyebrow, then slowly looked down to the Lotad.

"You know it's okay to play with pokemon right? It's not like you need to keep up some sort of strong-woman front." Before Jessie could respond, the Lotad spotted Ethan. It gurgled and actually sent out a stream of tiny bubbles out of its mouth that floated up into the sky as it eagerly waddled towards him with glee. Ethan swooped up the rubber feeling lily-pad duck and spun him around.

"Oh hoh hoh! Look at you exploring!" He said with his baby-speaking voice on full blast. Ethan set the Lotad on his head, making him a temporary hat as he turned to Jessie and gestured in the direction of the pond.

"How about we take this little guy back home." She looked slightly uncomfortable, but nodded. Ethan took the lead back towards the pond as Jessie followed behind him.

"So, are you bored yet?" He asked as he peeked at her. She barked out a sharp laugh, probably from the sight of him wearing Lotad like a hat and the blunt, honest question. Ethan lived here alone with nothing for a year, he knew what boredom was like. His ranch was fun for a day or two for the average person, but quickly ran out of things to do.

"A little." She answered.

"Haven't talked to Jocelyn about helping out yet? I know there aren't any pokemon in need of aid, but you could still get familiar with the in's and out's of working in a Pokemon Center." Jessie once again looked uncomfortable, but was putting on a brave, confident front. It was easy to see through.

"I'll get around to it. James has been keeping me busy." Speaking of James, Jessie looked off and nodded towards the berry fields where a bright blue head of hair could be seen bobbing back and forth. Tiny yips of encouragement from Growlie right on his heels.

"He's picking berries."

"That's fine. I would like to sell them sometime soon. I'll be honest, I don't actually know how much they go for. I planted these trees for survival, not for money." Ethan paused, waiting to see Jessie's reaction. At first, she nodded in understanding, then the words finally registered and she did a double take.

"Survival?"

"Yup! Was lost for a year here in the forest. Made myself a little home as I waited for rescue. I didn't have any pokemon, so traveling and finding my way back to civilization was dangerous. This was two or three months ago I think." Changing topics, Ethan then prodded into Jessie's past.

"You would know about survival. The foster care system can be brutal." Ethan quickly found out that prodding into her past was a mistake. With heat and venom, Jessie flipped a one-eighty in mood.

"Shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you." Ethan stilled, slowly turning around to face Jessie as she pushed into his personal space, causing him to lean back. She looked him dead in the eyes, with hers showing anger and pain.

"You don't know me. You don't get to speak about my fucking life like that—like it's some little nugget of neat information to you. We aren't friends, you are a nobody who knows too much." With a hasty step back and hands raised, Ethan profusely apologized.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to—""To what? Dangle information you should have no way of knowing about in front of my face?" She took another step into his personal space, then jabbed a finger into his chest.

"Never speak of my past, James', or Meowths again."

"I apologize." burp-burp-burp-burp-burp-burp-burp! A stream of much larger bubbles launched forward in a non concentrated beam, slamming into Jessie's face and chest. She shrieked as each of the bubbles popped loudly, like a snap of fingers, causing Jessie to back up and swat the air at the incoming attack. Lotad wiggled on the top of his head, a fierce unhappy frown marred his usually dopey face. His parted, frowny beak slowly closed, ceasing the attack of Bubble.

Instantly, Ethan ran forward and knelt down toward Jessie, who had fallen on her ass in her hasty, surprised retreat. He tried to help her up and check her over, when she smacked his hand away.

"Stop! I'm fine, go away!" Ethan took a step back, but only when he saw that she wasn't injured. She had some red spots like she'd been pinched from where the bubbles popped, but nothing too serious.

"James! Come over here! Now!" He yelled, eyes never leaving her down and shaking form. Within moments, James came running, with Growlie was right on his heels. As James abandoned his sack of berries, kneeling down to check on Jessie, Ethan just stood there, not knowing what to do. After some hushed conversation, James helped Jessie stand and put an arm around her shoulder. James started to walk off back towards their cottage, completely ignoring him.

"I'm sorry!" Ethan said as they slowly walked off. Growlie whined, upset at the whole situation unfolding before him. Quickly, he snapped up the bag of berries into his maw and chased after them." Looo-Tad!" Lotad wiggled on his head, crooning out a cry of victory.

"I messed up."