As Chatot fred out her wings and prepared for battle, Ethan readied himself mentally for his first fight with a wild pokemon. Chatot, being a normal and flying type pokemon, had the advantage going in versus the fighting type Machop, and his bird was stronger than he gave her credit for.

  This battle shouldn’t be too—

  With a brash shoulder tackle, a pink blur punted Chatot off to the side and screeched her name in excitement as she held her new gleaming metal hammer at the ready. “Tiiiiink!”

  Ethan blinked. Chatot blinked. Machop Blinked… Everyone blinked, stilled, and stared at Tinkatink who had rudely taken Chatot’s pce. Even the Machoke, who was still goading Graveler into a fight, paused and turned to stare.

  Before Ethan could say anything, Chatot fluttered over and took her spot on his right shoulder. She was pouty as she sat her rump down, frustrated over losing her chance to battle. Ethan whispered to his bird. “Uhh, can Tinkatink battle? She’s younger than Emolga.”

  Chatot shrugged as if saying, ‘I don’t care.’

  “Okay, Tinkatink! Remember to listen to my—”

  Bonk

  Tinkatink sprinted forward, leapt with might bellying her size, and did a twirling front-flip as she brought her new hammer down from up high right onto the still puzzled and unready Machop. It didn’t appear to be a proper move, but getting bonked on the head with a hammer did some damage, judging by Machop’s sudden wavering.

  Without waiting for Ethan to give her any orders, Tinkatink continued her savage assault with her new hammer, battering her foe with an unrelenting barrage of hammer strikes—a brutal and savage Fury Attack. Each blow nded with weight, and the Machop flinched and squinched its face in pain upon blocking each blow.

  Then, experience made its appearance. Tinkatink charged up a heavy swing, let loose… and Machop dodged with practiced ease, like that of a martial artist.

  The following whiff punish would put many Super Smash Bros pyers to shame.

  The sweeping Low Kick spun toppled his pink gremlin, and the following Brick Break to her now horizontal mid air form sent her straight into the rocky ground, creating a divot from the weight of the blow.

  Ethan’s heart jumped up into his throat as he saw his young pokemon battered on the hard, rocky brown ground. The quiet sniffles that followed from the quaking and shivering pink form of Tinkatink even caused the Machop to feel bad, as its combat stance faltered and concern flooded onto its face. The Machop took a hesitant step forward and leaned down to make sure Tinkatink was okay… when a loud and startling, “Kah!” erupted from Tinkatink. A surge of dark purple flowered outward like sound waves, smashing into the Astonished Machop and causing it to flinch. Without missing her opportunity, Tinkatink tackled the Machop, pinning it down and mounting the fighting pokemon, so that she could do what she did best.

  Bonk.

  The rest of the battle (which Ethan took literally no part in) was quite one sided. While Ethan wasn’t quite sure how old this Machop was, it was probably quite young, just like Tinkatink. Otherwise, Ethan had growing concerns over how strong baby pokemon could be. It wasn’t like Tinkatink had any training. She probably shouldn’t be winning this fight.

  The fight ended with a bst of pink wind—Fairy Wind—bsting the downed Machop and causing super effective damage. The tiny fighter’s eyes rolled up into the back of its head as Tinkatink stood and held her heathen hammer high. “Tiiiiiiiink!”

  “Okay, Tinkatink! That’s enough!” Ethan practically shouted, not wanting to see if Tinkatink would go the extra distance. He quickly sprinted forward and scooped her up into his arms, checking her over. There was a miniscule bruise on her belly from where she’d gotten hit by Brick Break, but her diamond shaped metal pte seemed to have taken the blow well.

  Tinkatink squirmed and babbled in utter joy at winning her battle. Her eyes crinkled with pride and a wide, snaggletoothed smile was spread across her face. She repeatedly kissed her new hammer like it was a gift from Arceus himself, utterly ignoring Ethan as he checked her over.

  Ethan sighed, ran a hand down his face, then recalled her into her pokeball once he determined that she was okay. “I think you’ve had enough fun for one day.”

  The Machoke had broken off from his goading and had made its way toward the downed Machop, disappointment radiating off it like a visible aura. With little grace, the Machoke grabbed the smaller Machop by the ankle and heaved it over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes while muttering beneath its breath.

  The much rger fighting type then flicked its eyes toward Ethan… What came next was a begrudging nod and a grimace. Ethan nodded back unsurely, not seeing what he deserved a nod for. It wasn’t like he’d given a single order during that battle.

  Without further ado, the Machoke grabbed the other, still conscious Machop by the hand and started stalking back off from whence they came. Graveler grunted and ignored them as they left, coming up with a roll to plop down by Ethan with crossed, frustrated arms.

  “They bully you a lot?” Ethan asked his rocky friend, earning another grunt as a response.

  He then whispered secretly to Chatot. “Was that a boy or a girl, Machoke?”

  “Girl. Feisty.”

  With narrowed eyes, Ethan watched the assumed mother stalk off with her children. “Maybe she likes you?”

  Graveler turned, his body scraping the ground with the motion, and stared up at Ethan like he was an idiot—completely dumbfounded.

  “What? It’s not only boys who pick on people that they like.” Ethan shrugged. “Maybe she just wants to be your friend and train with you? There has to be a reason she’s seeking you out in particur.”

  Graveler didn’t even dignify him with a response, simply grunting again and looking sullen. Ethan took a deep breath and waved Smeargle and Emolga over towards him to prepare to leave. “We got what we came for, but don’t forget what I said, Graveler. Come by that same clearing sometime and hang out. Okay? I think you’ll be surprised by how different it is now.”

  Realizing that this is where they part, Graveler pushed himself back up onto his short stubbly legs by his knuckles and waddled off down the pteau. Not saying a word and only giving a simple back-handed wave as he left.

  Ethan smiled as his first helper left, a soothing feeling of warmth coating him from inside out. “I’m gd we came here today.”

  All of his pokemon nodded with smiles themselves, picking up on his good mood. “Now then!” Ethan excimed, breaking the quiet silence. “Let us Teleport back home!”

  After several recalls into pokeballs, Ethan stood next to Smeargle and held his hand. “Hopefully ten miles won’t be too bad. It can’t be as bad as Teleporting to Eterna City… I hope.”

  With a blip, twist, and swirling vision, Ethan and Smeargle appeared right next to his wooden patio and the resting pce of the original Oddish. Speaking of Oddish, a few of the new babies were up and about—Three of them, to be exact—and each one stared with eyes full of shock and amazement upon their magical arrival. Plumes of sickly pink Sweet Scent bloomed, and Smeargle shrank under whatever praise they were throwing his way.

  “Okay, let’s go see how Shuck—AHHH!!!” Ethan screamed very much like a little girl as he came face to face—mere inches away—from Darkrai, who was hovering right behind him like a spectre of death. Darkrai’s shining blue eyes turned upwards into crescent moons of joy, relishing in his successful surprise.

  Ethan held a hand over his heart, feeling the thunderous pounding winding down. Next, he mockfully gred at the mythical pokemon of nightmares and unloaded with a jesting talk down. Not much could ruin his, currently, good mood. Today was a good day. “Oh? You think you’re funny, do you? Huh!? Just gonna pop out behind me like a budget horror movie jump scare and give me a heart attack?! Congratutions, you just took ten years off my life, and for what!? For the thrill?! Is this how you get your kicks?! Watching a fully grown adult nearly ascend to the afterlife over some dolr-store boogeyman shenanigans?!”

  Ethan paused and took deep breaths, overpying his shock. Smeargle, Darkrai, and even the Oddish all ughed at his over the top dispy. Ethan then pointed an overly shaky finger at Darkrai. “I hope you step on a Lego in the dark—You don’t know what that is, and I hope it scares you!---Because you, my friend, are a menace! A scourge of cardiovascur health! My blood pressure is on a rollercoaster, and it’s all your fault!”

  Darkrai couldn’t even keep himself up at this point. Having resorted to sending down his pointy legs to stand upon. “Next time you try that, I’m going to start swinging like a blind ninja in a dark room!”

  Ethan wiped his brow as he stalked off with a huff, leaving the pokemon behind in their fits of ughter. “I swear, you all think too highly of me. My pybook is to stroll in with some berries, a wish, and a prayer.”

  As he made his way to the new barn on his ranch, Ethan released his friends out of their pokeballs to wander about the ranch. There wasn’t much of a use to keep them in their balls when they were home. Each of them wandered off with a word of goodbye, other than Tinkatink who tched onto his leg like a child, staring with wide saucer-like eyes, waiting for her metal.

  He trudged along, now with an added limp from Tinkatink’s weight, and entered into one of the empty rooms in the barn. After taking off the Silph Co. bag, Ethan held up upside down, willed to release metal, and watched as crystalline shards of what he assumed to be iron fell into a monstrously sharp pile. “Tinkatink, for now, this will be your little workshop to work on stuff.”

  Tinkatink untched herself and flung herself onto the pile of metal with relish. “This is all your metal, but remember to keep your old or failed experiments. I would like to keep them.” Ethan finished, plucking Tinkatink’s old hammer out of the pile, holding it up to inspect.

  “Ti-Tiiink.” Tinkatink responded, nodding along without a care in the world.

  “Have fun. If you need me, I’ll be in the room across the way.” Ethan turned to leave his pink goblin to do her thing, but was stilled when she tched back onto his leg. This time, she wasn’t going along for a ride, but giving him a big hug. “Tinka-tink…”

  Ethan patted her head as he smiled warmly. “You’re welcome. Have fun.”

  Tinkatink hesitatingly let go, then hurriedly ran over to her shiny pile of metal to get to work as Ethan slipped out.

  The door to his next destination was already open ajar. Inside, Shuckle was surrounded by numerous piles of assorted berries. The smallest of the piles were those of the Enigma Berries, and Shuckle—preciously and gingerly—tucked them into his shell one by one, not stopping as he twisted his noodly neck around to stare at his new visitor. “Shuuu!” His berry bud squealed with delight, waving an arm around to showcase his work.

  Ethan scanned around with an impressed look. “Impressive! How’s testing going?”

  “Shu-Shuckle.” His noodly friend tilted his head back and forth in a ‘so-so’ manner.

  “How long do you think it will take to do your thing with the Enigmas? I’ve ordered some bottles, jars, and corks with the money I got from teaching Pyroar. So, we will have somewhere to store the first batch.” Ethan said as he sat down, back against the wall to rest with his berry bud.

  Ever since Shuckle had grown out of his baby stage, he had started to ferment berries within his shell at an unprecedented rate. In the past, he was only willing to share a drop or two of his precious liquid every day. Now, he’s having trouble bancing his love for fermenting berries with the actual need to do so.

  The solution, which had always been a pn in the back of Ethan’s mind, was to sell Shuckle’s berry juice. Whether that be in the simple juice form, alcohol, ice cream, jams, or jellies. With a near endless supply of berries, he was going to make non-Shuckle items nonetheless, but Shuckle’s products would be very high-brow.

  Shuckle products were expensive. As a species, Shuckle were fairly rare. Alongside their rarity, the amount of people both wanting to own one and having the Shuckle in question want to be with them, was even rarer. No average battling trainer would want a Shuckle, as they’re viewed as notoriously weak.

  A grossly ignorant assumption, might he had. Never fuckle with a Shuckle.

  With carrying capacities, reserving a slot for a money earner wasn’t uncommon, but being down a single pokemon in gym battles was a handicap in most cases. Especially when the pokemon in question is one of the slowest and weakest statted pokemon in the world. If you wanted to make it far, Shuckle wasn’t going to be on your team.

  Sad, wrong, and ignorant.

  “Shu?” Shuckle crooned, pausing in his work to stare at Ethan with a tilted head.

  Ethan huffed. “Just thinking Shuckle. So, you’re okay with selling your surplus? I know I've asked a million times, but this is an important decision.”

  Shuckle nodded happily, pointing at the berries and rambling on in his poke-speak. As he continued carefully sticking more Enigma berries into his shell, Ethan thought about the deal they’d made.

  The first batch would be gifts, and that was the reason they were starting with the rare Enigma berry. Shuckle, as the producer of these soon-to-be fine goods, of course had the first pick.

  And who did his berry buddy pick to give his priceless Enigma Berry Brew too?

  Well, That would be Garchomp—Cynthia’s Garchomp.