As the Oddish were just born not an hour ago, they didn’t seem to want to sleep through the day like their older brethren. Instead, they followed Ethan and the two Glooms as they went about their day in a giant herd of curiosity. No matter where they went on the ranch, a chorus of ‘Odd…?’ sang out when they spotted something that they’d never seen before.

  One such case was when they spotted the first pokemon not from their evolutionary line. If Ethan was a betting man, he might even say that this was the first time a group of baby pokemon saw a legendary/mythical during their first ever meeting of a new species.

  Darkrai hovered out the shade cast by his home and floated across the ground up to Ethan and the horde of Oddish. The Oddish chatted excitedly at seeing such a rge and different pokemon, thinking nothing other than that this was a unique experience. Darkrai looked Ethan up and down with his bright blue eyes, then trailed his vision down toward Ethan’s posse.

  Ethan jabbed a thumb over his shoulder and fshed the pokemon of darkness and nightmares a smile. “Welcome the horde! I’m showing them around the ranch before I finish up with Pyroar.”

  Darkrai slowly stuck out his pointy legs, then tapped his way around the horde of Oddish, who cheered and greeted the spooky pokemon. He studied them with a tilted head, before eventually speaking. “Darkrai…”

  While he wasn’t a hundred percent sure, this might have been the first time he’d ever heard Darkrai speak. Darkai’s voice was a low thrum, almost reverberating low, yet clear and powerful. One of the braver Oddish walked up to Darkrai and slowly and hesitatingly curled one of its leaves around Darkrai’s ankle, causing the mythical pokemon to freeze on the spot.

  Ethan ughed as he walked to Darkrai’s side. Watching the small Oddish gaze up at the much rger pokemon with amazement in its eyes. “Looks like this one likes you, Darkrai.”

  Without a word or cry, Darkrai sucked his legs back up to wherever they rested, slipping from the feeble grasp of the baby pokemon.

  He floated for the rest of the day.

  Before tutoring Pyroar, and wanting Darkrai to get a bit of a break from the now hounding horde of Oddish, he asked the friendly dark type for a favor. It felt weird talking to a mythical pokemon casually, but nothing was as weird as waking up in the world of pokemon. So, Ethan’s view on certain matters may be a little skewed. Thankfully, Darkrai agreed to his asked favor and went off to find his partner for the day.

  The tutoring of Pyroar was pretty hands off for this final day, as Pyroar knew what she needed to do with nearly zero additional input. While tutoring any pokemon, Ethan did his best to let the pokemon itself figure its way around the moves, as each species was different physiologically. For example, Pyroar might shoot a Heat Wave from its mouth like a roar, but a Torkoal would not.

  He did give input when the pokemon seemed to be lost, but the pokemon knew its body more than he ever could. He would never know what it feels like to use a move, and he wasn’t going to sit there and pretend that he knew better than they did. That was idiocy.

  Pyroar was a proud pokemon, and that had been the case since the very first time they met in the Eterna City park. And, now, with a crowd of babies cheering her on, she put on her very best regal queen facade and worked as hard as she could. Tobias even looked amused at the big cat’s actions, but didn’t comment on it.

  Speaking of Tobais, the man was still a big mystery. After the first day of tutoring, he apparently trusted Ethan enough to tutor Pyroar alone for the majority of their sessions. Ethan wasn’t sure about what the man got up to in the surrounding forests, but none of the wild pokemon seemed upset about his activities. Tobias had also taken the fact that he’d ordered Darkrai to knock out a police officer without a care. While relieving, it didn’t put Tobias in the greatest of moral lights, in his opinion.

  “Okay, Pyroar! This is it! You’re so close!” Ethan shouted through cupped hands as Pyroar flicked her tail back and forth with immense focus.

  “Odd! Odd! Odd!”“Odd! Oddish! Odd! Oddish!!”“Oooodd! Oooodd! Oooodd!”“Oddish! Odd! Odd!”

  With ears full of cheer and excitement, Pyroar rushed forward, slid across the ground, and roared! A visible orangish-red wave of energy poured out of her roaring maw into a scorching wave of heat, billowing across the dry dirt beneath their feet until petering out.

  It was without a doubt, a powerful dispy of Heat Wave.

  The shaking of leaves in what Ethan approximated as cps filled the silence after the attack finished. Pyroar breathed in through her nose, smirked, and then held her head high like everything was to be expected—that no other outcome was even considered.

  “That’s what I’m talking about!” Ethan yelled, cpping along with the Oddish who he was pretty sure didn’t even know what was actually happening—they were just here for a good time.

  “Great job, Pyroar. Take a well earned rest.” Tobias said after he approached to rub a hand lovingly across her head, before returning her to her pokeball.

  When Tobias made his way back to Ethan, he smiled. “And thank you, Ethan. I do believe I owe you the other half of the payment?” Tobias whipped out a phone much nicer than his, and tapped away for a few seconds, before putting it back in his pocket.

  Ethan’s phone then vibrated, and he checked and made sure the payment went through. Seeing that everything was A-Okay, he smiled and gave Tobias a nod. “So, what's your pns from here on out? You’re more than welcome to stay for a bit longer if you’d like. My next tutoring session kind of fell through.”

  “Hmm.” Tobias paused to think. “You know what? I think I’ll take you up on that. I would also like for you to meet one of my other pokemon.” Tobias jerked his chin up with a nod, indicating for Ethan to turn around.

  Ethan, of course, did so. Behind him, silent as a mouse, was a hovering pokemon of white and blue. Sharp red eyes peered into his soul from not five feet away, wary but curious all the same. Its sleek, angur design was curious to see, and he had the feeling that this pokemon had been watching him these past few days from out of sight.

  With phone still in hand, Ethan smiled at the pokemon and wiggled it back and forth. “Picture?” He asked, tone as sweet as honey.

  Latios flicked its gaze to Tobias, who simply nodded, then swiveled its gaze back to Ethan to agree… with telepathic speech. “Okay.”

  Slowly, as to not spook the legendary pokemon, Ethan raised his phone and snapped what was probably one of the clearest pictures of Latios in existence.

  Latios – The Eon Pokemon: Latios is a highly intelligent pokemon capable of understanding human speech and emotions. It flies faster than a jet when threatened, folding its arms to streamline its body. Using telepathy, it can communicate without speaking, often projecting vivid images into the minds of trusted individuals. Its sleek feathers refract light, allowing it to blend into the sky and vanish from sight.

  Trainer Alert: If a Latios is sighted, the Pokemon League urges all trainers to exercise caution. Do not attempt to engage or capture it without proper clearance, as Latios is known to vanish instantly or defend itself if it senses danger. Trainers in the area are encouraged to document the sighting and report it to local authorities for tracking and preservation efforts.

  And just like with Darkrai, Ethan wasn’t going to report this sighting either. Ethan looked up to the jet-like pokemon and pocketed his phone. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” The voice of a male teen replied, before disappearing like a mirage in a desert.

  Tobias patted Ethan on the shoulder, chuckling at his dejected and slumped posture. “Not every single pokemon is going to like you right at the beginning, Ethan.”

  “Gotta be a first time for everything, I suppose.” Ethan sighed, and turned toward Tobias. “My house is pretty crowded, but you can stay in my guest room if you want.”

  “I’ll be fine with my tent. Thank you, though.” Tobias declined with grace. “You know, I saw something interesting earlier on my way here for our session.” His tone sounded mirthful, and Ethan immediately knew that he’d been caught red handed.

  “O–Oh, did you now?” He stammered, a bead of sweat pooling near his temple.

  “Indeed I did… From what I know of Smeargle, they’d need more than a day to Sketch a move. You decided a little too te and had to ask for me to stay, huh?” Tobias smirked, and it was then that Ethan knew that there was no escape.

  Ethan cleared his throat. “Well, you know… I was just trying to give him a break from the babies…”

  “It’s okay, Ethan.” Tobias eased up. “Darkrai can choose to do what he wants. Just… be careful using that move ter on down the road.”

  Releasing a breath he hadn’t even realized he was holding, Ethan felt the built up stress drain out of his body. Tobias gave him a final pat on the shoulder before walking off. “You better find something for these Oddish to do, they’re getting a little squirmy.”

  —------------------

  The rest of the day was packed with more exploration, and even more meetings. Each of his own pokemon came to greet the new horde of baby Oddish, and they even met Jessie, James, and Meowth as they worked on their garden.

  He hadn’t gotten a chance to talk and properly apologize to Jessie yet, and she didn’t seem to want to talk about their awkward event either, so he let it be for another time. James seemed quite happy on the ranch, and even happier when some of the Oddish took a liking towards him.

  In the anime, James had a way with grass type pokemon, and that seemed to stay true to his real life counterpart. A few of the Oddish circled him and begged for uppies with their leaves, and James was more than happy to man-handle the small ndmines without care. One Oddish in particur seemed especially attached, not wanting to let go of his pants leg.

  Ethan barely spared the duo a thought before deciding on a course of action. He looked to Gloom and without a word, got a nod with crossed arms as a response. “James, you wanna catch this little guy? He seems to like you.”

  The Oddish in question cheered and looked up at the now still James. The man looked at him, trying to see if he was joking or not. “I—Are you sure? This seems a bit fast, don’t you think?”

  Ethan shrugged, hands held outwards in a ‘can’t help it’ pose. “You don’t have to decide now, and you can say no. I just thought I’d make the offer. He seems to like you and it’s not like there’s not enough to go around.”

  “Just catch the damn thing, James. You know you want it. Stop pying hard to get.” Jessie chastised James, reading him like an open book.

  “Yeah, just catch the weed. You oughta do it before the little guy cries.” Meowth joined in, then looked at the Oddish in question. “Hey, Oddish, no pollen on me, ever, got it?”

  The Oddish nodded easily, and pulled on James’ pants leg with fervor. Ethan tossed an empty pokeball at him, and James hastily reached out to catch it. “You’ve done enough work to pay for that at least.” Ethan said.

  Without further ado, James bopped the leafy baby on the head with the pokeball and sucked it inside.

  Ding!

  “Take good care of him. He’s got fifty-six siblings that will beat you up if you don't.” Ethan joked, as a chorus of agreement cried out behind him.