Tyler Kimball - Lessgently
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New Beginnings - Chapter 66
🕑 Added 2024-12-10 02:50:28 +0000 UTCAfter Cynthia and Elm left Berry Falls, the days were busy and filled with work. The day after Cynthia left, the very same construction crew Looker contracted to build his home, fences, and pond, arrived to begin construction on three new buildings. If Ethan had his say, he was also going to ask for a bit more, on the League’s budget of course.
Alba, the dark-skinned, lean, leader of the construction crew met with him to talk about the locations and looks of the buildings. Her crew’s pokemon, Conkeldurr and Timburr mostly, were already making concrete and chopping some of the surrounding forest for materials. Also, Alba’s construction crew was nowhere near as small as it had been previously. Instead of the five helping hands she had last time, she now had dozens.
The first building would be a pseudo Pokemon Center for the incoming Nurse Joy. Overseeing the construction, was a bright pink-haired man in a business suit—A representative from the Joy Clan, Bill Joy. The man was all business, not dithering in his conversation and quite blunt, to the point, and unenjoyable to speak too. Ethan only shared a few words with the man, and that was enough to tell that they would never be friends.
The Pokemon Center wouldn’t have many of the resources a real Pokemon Center would, but it would have a room for the eventually arriving Nurse Joy and a spare for any of their guests. Of course, it would also have the functions to heal pokemon, as well as the capability to act as a staging ground for any Pokemon Rangers doing their job. If they found someone that needed help, his ranch would now be closer and well-equipped to deal with any unforeseen emergency. Ethan decided it would be best if it was placed near the entrance to the ranch, across the cobblestone path from the Training Field and Camp Grounds.
Along with the Pokemon Center, a small cottage for Jessie, James, and Meowth would be built. It was simple and a little small—Even smaller than his own home, but it would be functional. It didn’t have a dining room or a guest room, which meant that Jessie and James would need to bunk together, but Ethan was sure that was nothing new. After all, they traveled for years and years in the wild with one another. It made up for its smaller size by having a garden, front yard, backyard, and a small cobblestone fence.
Their small cottage would be situated near the Pokemon Center. Just a little down the cobblestone path leading toward his house.
The third building, which would be one of Ethan’s, would be a barn with a loft. He’d argued for it, because in his mind, he was already going above and beyond for housing the Team Rocket trio. Getting the means to protect himself and his pokemon wasn’t payment, it was a necessity.
Plus, he was poor, and a free building was a free building.
The barn was very simple. It wouldn’t have the stereotypical large barn doors. Instead, it would have two sliding double doors which hang from a roller up high. Unlike a normal barn, it would be more akin to a large horse stable. In each of the divided rooms, he was planning on building miniature environments for hatching eggs and having resting places for the many different types of pokemon he was sure to come across during his tutoring and breeding services. The rooms wouldn’t be massive, but they would comfortably house one or two medium-sized pokemon in their preferred habitats.
What was a bummer was that he’d have to build the environments of the rooms himself. The construction crew built buildings, not pokemon breeder enclosures. Nonetheless, it was a massive win for him, and he’d make use of it.
Besides the different environmental rooms, there would be a large open space near the back where he could store items and set-up workstations. In the future, he was planning to supplement his income with pokemon items: wool, honey, berry juice, etc. He’d use this spot to bottle, shear, milk… whatever he needed.
The loft up above would be used for pretty much anything. He didn’t have any plans at the moment, but it was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Surprisingly, his barn was the cheapest of the bunch, even though it was the largest. Turns out, when you don’t need all the facilities a normal home required, building costs were drastically lowered. Gathering wood from the surrounding forest cut down on costs even more, and the process even expanded the meadows a bit.
The large barn would be built along the edge of the meadow, closer to his house and still out of the way. The Oddish weren’t very happy with that decision, as the loud noises of construction could be heard from his home, but they understood that this was important.
He’d have to reward them later.
Two days after construction began, Ethan finally got a small break from overseeing construction and helping out around the ranch. People came to ask for his input, permission… and to make complaints.
As he sat on the edge of this patio, releasing a sigh of exhaustion, the sound of footsteps coming up the patio stairs caused him to let out an audible groan. Ethan rubbed his face in frustration as a voice spoke up from behind him. “Mr. Reed…”
“Yes?” Ethan responded, despondent.
“She’s doing it again…”
Turning around, Ethan looked tiredly at one of Alba’s crew members, then nodded. “I’ll deal with it.”
Ethan dropped down off his patio from his sitting position, landing on his feet. As he walked past the Oddish who waved their small leaves his way, he heard the all too familiar sound of glee.
“Tinka-tinka-tinka-tinka-tinka-tiiiiink….”
Awkwardly running to him from further up the path, arms full, was Tinkatink. A giant mischievous grin spread across her face as she ran away from the Pokemon Center construction site with her ill-gotten gains. Her arms were wrapped around several different metallic items; Hammers, Saws, Nails, Screws, what appeared to be a doorknob…
Ethan stepped in front of Shuckle’s den, causing Tinkatink to look up at who was blocking her path—to the person who dared block her way…
“Tiiinnnkk….” She instantly groaned and looked at the ground, dejected.
Ethan held out a hand, gesturing the world renowned ‘gimme’, causing Tinkatink to begrudgingly hand over her raid spoils. He handed off the stolen goods to the crew member following behind him, then knelt to get on Tinkatink’s level. “You need to stop that. Those don’t belong to you.”
He sighed, then looked to the sky, as if Arceus would come down to free him from this situation. “I will buy you metal later.”
With an overly dramatic quivering lip, tears pooling in the corner of her eyes, Tinkatink sniffled. She slowly, sadly, and with hunched shoulders, walked past him to enter Shuckle’s Den…
When Tinkatink was about to enter, her formerly sad visage melted away into smug assurance, putting Ethan on high-shenanigan-alert. She baby-sprinted the last few feet as she screamed her victory cry, holding high a singular pack of nails she had somehow hidden away as she entered the safety of the hole in the ground—The one spot where he couldn’t follow.
Both Ethan and the now fidgeting crew member watched as she made her escape.
The man spoke first, breaking their dumbfounded silence. “We have spares…”
Ethan just nodded along, staring into the hole with narrowed eyes.
Tinkatink was a very active pokemon, very much unlike how Emolga was when she was first hatched. She was so full of energy and always on a mission, and since the construction crew arrived, she’d been trying to steal all their metal all day, every day.
As Ethan rose to his feet and turned around to go back to rest, another crew member came up to him. This time it was one of the women who was working on the barn. “Mr. Reed… I think something happened to your Skiddo…” She dry-washed her hands in a nervous fidget, causing Ethan to pray for the strength to carry on.
“Let me guess, she’s lying flat on her back, legs up in the air? Not moving?” He asked, earning rapid worried nods. He looked her dead in the eyes, voice monotone. “She’s sleeping. I have no clue why she started doing that, but she’s sleeping.”
The woman looked unsure. “But she’s right next to all the construction—”
“She’s a deep sleeper…” Ethan continued. “You’re the fourth person to be worried. I’ve checked, she’s fine.” He flashed her a smile, and she slowly and unsurely turned, going off back down the path to continue her work.
“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”
Chatot sang out from high in the sky, then landed on his right shoulder. She looked him up and down, seeing his stress and exhaustion. “Ethan, okay?”
He reached up and ran his hand down her side. “I’m alright. Just have my hands full.” He turned to look at his colorful bird, a smile creeping onto his face. “Pachirisu still demanding rematches?”
Chato’s smug eyes let him know the answer to that. Ever since he released them from their pokeballs after the battle, Pachirisu had been adamant about a rematch. At first, he was afraid that he’d need to cheer up his little squirrel from the loss, but it seemed losing only fueled his motivation. Chatot had declined every single attempt at a rematch, holding her position with a smug air of superiority, and it has been quite funny to watch their interactions these past few days.
Looking at his phone as he trudged back to his patio, Ethan checked on the arrival of Tobias. Tobias was due to show up right as all of the construction was predicted to be completed. The man with two legendaries, and perhaps even more, would be staying as Ethan taught his pokemon, and he was curious about the man's backstory.
In the anime, Tobias just… showed up one day, stomped ash into the ground, then moved on never to be seen again. He wasn’t sure about how challenging the champion of elite four worked here, but in the anime, Cynthia was still champion even after Tobias won the conference. Either he didn’t choose to challenge, or he lost.
And if he lost, that meant that Cynthia, or one of the elite four, beat him.
That was a scary thought.
As Ethan sat down on his patio once again, legs dangling over the edge and petting Chatot who dropped down from his shoulder into his lap, he looked around for anyone going to interrupt his little break. Seeing that the coast was clear, he closed his eyes and let loose a deep breath…
“Hello, Kind One.”
“Space Lama take me…” He muttered, turning his head to see Gardevoir gently floating towards him from out of the forest.
The humanoid fairy looked much happier than she did in the past, nearly glowing with grace and a small smile at her lips. “The distorted have calmed, and the battle is won. I have come to collect my daughter.”
*Blip* “Ra-oof!”
Said daughter, Ralts, appeared in a blip of teleport right in front of her mother, falling to the ground in a very ungraceful flop. The little psychic dusted off her knees, then ran forward to jump up and hang onto Gardevoir’s hovering feet.
Ethan smiled at the sight. He spoke casually as the two talked to one other in their pokemon speak. “She’s been well behaved. If you ever need me to watch her again, don’t hesitate to ask.”
Ralts looked to be carrying the conversation, with Gardevoir just nodded and giving short responses with a serene smile. Once they finished their conversation, Gardevoir floated towards Ethan and held out what was in her hand. Ethan took the proffered object, holding it up into the light. It looked like a large chunk of vibrantly green emerald, the size of two fists. It was a beautiful stone, and it took Ethan a solid fifteen seconds of observing it to realize what it was.
In the center of the stone, was the very faint, thin, symbol of a leaf. He looked up from his inspection, finding himself looking at a pleased Gardevoir.
“A Leaf Stone. One of high energy and clarity. We have little to no use for it, but you do.” She waved towards the horde of Oddish. His companions for nearly an entire year. “When the time comes, use it on those that wish to become a Vileplume.”
Ethan looked back to the vibrant, magical stone. “I—Thank you very much.”
“Thank you for watching over my kin, and for the berries.” Gardevoir looked around at the construction happening in the meadow, a questioning look in her gaze.
“Building a barn to help pokemon adjust to the ranch. I’ll try to have different environments inside so that they feel comfortable. Up towards the entrance…” Ethan pointed over in the direction of the Pokemon Center. “... we’re building a small Pokemon Center. If you ever need help, come by and I’ll make sure you’re cared for.”
“A house of healing? The pink Joys?” She asked in his mind.
“Yes, exactly. A place to heal pokemon.” Ethan confirmed with a nod and a smile. His mood vastly improved with his payment for watching over Ralts.
Gardevoir held up a hand to her chin and appeared to be deep in thought. “We thank you for the offer. We shall come when times of need arise.”
Gardevoir looked down to Ralts, who was still hanging onto her feet, some a few words, then nodded. “Goodbye. Till we meet again, Kind One.”
And with another blip of a purple teleport, Gardevoir and Ralts were gone.
“♫ Chaa? ♫”
Ethan gave Chatot a final stroke, then held up the Leaf Stone. “She’s back home now. I’m sure she’ll come visit again. Now, let’s go store this so that nobody steals it.”
“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫” Chatot agreed, launching from his lap to nab the stone from his hands into her talons. Before Ethan could shout out in confusion, he watched as she placed it into her nest on the top of his house. Once secured in place, she did two spins then sat down on it like it was an egg.
“Well, then… That’s one way to keep it safe.”
Comments
Lucida
Such a lovely chapter, thanks! ^w^ <3
Tsume Eiranis
Thank you for the chapter. :)
Duke of Coffee
Oh noes Tobias..... I still hate that there is no background on how on the Pokeworld that he got Darkrai and Latios.....
Tyler Kimball
Yeah, my autocorrect makes it Tobais for some reason. -.-
JewBot9000
Gremlin strikes again
PlasmaticPi
You misspelled Tobias a few times. Also I hope you have a good plan for him cause there is just not enough info on him to do anything with. The only thing I can think of is that he is actually a Poacher and the king of the ghost pokemon Raltz mentioned is his Darkrai.
Daniel
Thank you for the chapter!! Ralts will be back. Especially after all that she has learned of Ethan
Andrew Nichols
Mmmmmm good vibes. Sad sassafras is gone but I'm thinking a return will be welcome.
