After searching around the area for another minute with Darkrai hovering behind him like some sort of Stand from that weird anime he saw once, Ethan called it quits. Latios was nowhere to be seen. Ethan didn’t even know Latios could even turn invisible in the first place, and he doubted the legendary pokemon would slip up. If it didn’t want to be found, then it wouldn’t.


    A slightly warm breath rolled down his neck, causing Ethan to turn his head to look into the sharp blue eyes of Darkrai. Since they’d first seen each other, Darkrai had latched onto him like he was some sort of magnet. Weird? Yes. Bothersome? Not really. “Can I help you with something?”


    Darkrai slowly shook his head no, but made no attempts to separate himself from Ethan. Without breaking away from the sudden staring contest he found himself in, he spoke aloud to Tobias, who simply stood with crossed arms observing the interaction. “Does he or she normally do this?”


    As Ethan questioned Darkai’s gender, the pokemon in question blinked, causing him to win. He had a slight smile as Tobias answered. “He doesn’t get to meet many people. I have no clue.”


    “Well, you should have him meet others more. Mythical pokemon or not, he’s still a pokemon.” Ethan gave one final glance around looking for Latios, but still couldn’t find a single shade of blue anywhere. “I think it’s best to start tutoring again tomorrow. Pyroar was pretty tired and there’s no rush. She can rest up. Do you need anything before I go about my ranch business?”


    “I think we’ll explore a little bit. We can take some of the berries, right?” Tobias didn’t seem too bothered about the end of today''s tutoring, which was a good sign in Ethan’s mind.


    “Feel free. You can have all your pokemon wander if you’d like. See you later.” Ethan gave Tobias and Darkrai a wave as he left to go check on the rockets. He also needed to get Ursaring and ask her to fix up the training field with some of her ground moves.


    As he traveled across the blackened, cracked, and superheated dirt, the ground gave way as his feet disintegrated what was left beneath them. It felt like walking through snow… if you ignored the warm heat and focused only on the soft crunch and subtle depressions he left in his wake.


    While he knew all along that pokemon were strong, today was the day he finally saw some of that in action. Yes, Tobias was probably one of the strongest trainers in the region, but even a pokemon half as powerful as Pyroar using Overheat would decimate anyone within its area of effect. Ursaring was the former alpha of this region of the forest… Is she a match for Pyroar? If so, he still had a lot to learn.


    Maybe he’d go see a high level battle in person…


    As Ethan walked up to the rocket’s cottage, the door suddenly flung open with immense force and clanged against the cobblestone walls, revealing James being held by Jessie in a headlock as he struggled to escape outside. In his hands, he held a loose and empty burlap sack that Meowth pulled on in a futile attempt to help pull the man forward.


    “Let me go! I’m trying to get my bag, Jessie!” James garbled out as he threw a nasty elbow back to slam into Jessie’s ribs.


    Jessie grunted, but the sudden assault only made her more angry, causing her to squeeze harder. “The only bag you’ll be getting is that one in your hands! You’re the one who said to give this a shot you idiot! Don’t go scooping up berries all willy-nilly!”


    “I’m using this bag to get my bag! Think of the money!”


    “Yeah! Think of all the money!” Meowth helpfully jumped in, still tugging and not making any headway into saving James from his predicament.


    “Woooob-buffet!” The cry of Wobbuffet came from behind Jessie, just out of sight.


    It was at this time that James noticed Ethan standing at the gate to their small cottage’s garden. James stilled, which caused Jessie to confusingly loosen up. As soon as her eyes found Ethan, she reddened up like a ripe tomato, mouth parting in shock. Probably from embarrassment and not from the strain of choking out her partner… probably…


    Meowth still didn’t notice him, but his sudden success at tugging James forward caused the feline to flash a wild grin and redouble his efforts.


    For a solid five seconds, Ethan stood there with a blank face… then he felt a warm breath run down his neck again and turned to see Darkrai watching the commotion from right over his shoulder.


    He might have made a girly scream.


    Ethan foolishly assumed that Darkrai stayed back with Tobias, but the eerily silent pokemon had apparently been right on his heels the entire time. Now, he was in front of Team Rocket with a Darkrai attached to his hip.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    With nothing to spare them of this awkward encounter, Ethan hastily made his escape plans. “Feel free to collect some berries. I’d like to sell some of them later. Good initiative James! Uh, just checking in! Bye!”


    With an about face that would make the US military proud, Ethan turned. Darkrai, smoothly and eerily slid in accordance to Ethan’s movements, still behind him, out of sight, right beyond the corners of his peripheral vision. With hasty steps, Ethan fled the awkward encounter and went off to find Ursaring, and if he could, Pachirisu. They needed to talk.


    —-----------------------------------------------------------------


    Finding Ursaring and asking for her help in patching up the training field was easy, but finding Pachirisu took the better half of an hour. He only found out where he was because of his little spies.


    “Odd!” One of the Oddish helpfully pointed one of its leaves toward his newly built barn and wiggled it, a sleepy smile adorning its face.


    “Thank you very much, Oddish!” Ethan knelt and patted the living weed’s head, earning a puff of Sweet Scent in return.


    Ethan fully opened the slightly ajar door to his new bar and wandered inside the darkened interior. The inside was dark and gloomy, as the wooden windows were all currently closed as the building wasn’t currently in use. Ethan worked his way through the large building, looking down the rows of the barn doors. He stopped when he found only one was slightly ajar just like the entrance.


    Quietly, Ethan snuck forward. Once his right hand was firmly on the door and his left was his phone light at the ready, he swung it open with force and blocked the doorway. As Ethan shined his light inside, his set, disappointed face eased into… confliction by what he saw. Inside, Pachirisu was lying down with his poofy and fluffy tail wrapped around himself and a bright ball of yellow. Said ball of yellow rested her head on his fluff like a pillow as they snoozed.


    Pikachu mumbled and yawned as she rolled and shoved herself deeper into his fluff, but Pachirisu blinked his bleary eyes toward the sudden source of light. Ethan saw in real time as realization dawned on his little squirrel''s face. His little hands came up in placation and horror was etched across his visage, but before he could utter a sound Ethan turned, took a few steps down the barn, and dialed a number on his phone.


    “Ethan! Did you get my prese—”


    “You forgot your Pikachu.” Ethan said bluntly and to the point.


    After a second of silence, Joyce responded. “No, no. That’s a Pichu egg! Not a Pikachu! It’s yours now!”


    Ethan let an audible sigh flow through to the other end of the line. “I am well aware of what the egg is. Jocelyn told me. I mean that your fully grown minx is still here at my ranch sleeping around. Literally.”


    Within five seconds Ethan peered around the corner and snapped a photo of Pikachu snoozing and frustratingly batting at Pachirisu who was in a full panic trying to wake her up. He sent the photo to Joyce, who was currently releasing all of her pokemon judging by the sounds he could hear.


    Once Joyce obviously realized she’d forgotten one of her pokemon here, she only had a single reply. “Oops!”


    “Yeah, ‘oops’.” Ethan sarcastically replied, his foot tapping the floor as he watched Pachirisu shake his ‘partner’ awake in a panic. “I can watch her for a bit, or have Jocelyn take care of her.”


    “I’ll send Cleffy over soon to bring her back—” A ding like some bell echoed through the speakers.”Sorry, Ethan! Gotta go!”


    *Click*


    Ethan shoved his phone in his pocket then looked down to Pachirisu who was slowly dragging a now awake, but still tired, Pikachu in front of him. With hands on his hips, Ethan spoke with authority. “Pachirisu… Are you ready to be a dad?”


    “Pachi!?” His little squirrel looked taken aback, swiveling his head from Ethan to Pikachu, who was looking off to the side and failing at whistling—She was kinda just blowing air and a little bit of spit.


    With a deft swiftness, Ethan scooped up Pachirisu and Pikachu and carried them out of the barn. Pachirisu was frozen, shocked from the sudden parenthood revelation, while Pikachu just accepted the free ride in his arms without a care in the world.


    As Ethan entered his home, stepping over the small mess Tinkatink made with the numerous pots and pans, he headed straight for his bedroom. Once inside, he closed the door with the heel of his foot and placed both pokemon down onto his pillow. Pikachu let out a squeal of happiness and snuggled in to continue her sleep, and Pachirisu watched with dread as Ethan grabbed the bright yellow and black bottomed egg and placed it before him.


    “You made this.”


    Pachirisu shook his head violently, hands waving radically as if saying “I absolutely did not!”


    With an unimpressed stare, Ethan continued to watch Pachirisu plead his case. “You will take care of this Pichu. I will help you, but you will take care of it.”


    Pachirisu continued pleading his case, adamant that he had no part to play in the creation of this sudden egg. So, Ethan decided to do his due diligence. He picked up Pachirisu and placed him in his lap, then started a story. “There was once a Combee and a beautiful bunch of flowers…” “... and then the Pidgey made an egg…” “... and the baby pokemon was born.”


    By this time, Pachirisu was wailing on his legs, pleading for storytime to stop. His yellow cheeks were bright red from embarrassment from not wanting to have this talk.


    Once Ethan ended his storytime, he held up Pachirisu and looked him in the eyes. With a blank tone, he asked. “So, are you going to continue to tell me that you had no part in this egg?”


    Pachirisu looked to the now sound asleep Pikachu, then to Ethan… then shook his head no.


    “That’s what I thought. You’ll be a good dad. I’ll make sure of it.” Ethan placed Pachirisu down onto his lap and ran his fingers across his fluff. “I’m not mad. I just want you to be responsible.”


    “Pa…” Pachirisu nodded sullenly.


    “It’ll be like having a little Emolga of your own….”


    Ethan continued talking, comforting, and reassuring Pachirisu that everything was okay until Smeargle knocked on the door, showcasing a bouncy Cleffy ready to pick up Pikachu. Cleffy gave Ethan a lazy wave, hopped up onto his bed, sat down on Pikachu, then blipped out of existence.


    …..


    Ethan turned his head, not finding any hint of Darkrai. “I wonder where he went?”