New Beginnings – A Pokemon Slice of Life. [OC/Isekai/Move Tutor/Breeder]

“... It’s sitting there, ominously,” Ethan said nervously, his phone held up to his ear as he paced back and forth in between the vibrant green leaves and colorful berries of his trees.

Agent Looker didn’t seem to take any of his concerns seriously, even when he knew the tales from having been there during the memory link. “Ethan, it’s just a Shuckle. They’re rare, but not all powerful. What are the odds of a wild Shuckle having the niche combination of moves you’re worried about, and knowing exactly how to use them in combination with one another? While I understand your concern, you’re not in any danger. Can we talk about more important matters? Have you asked Ursaring for permission yet?” 

Ethan slowed in his pacing. His worry was finally beginning to fade away, and his rapidly beating heart slowly calmed down to a more normal rhythm… Then, a bright yellow tendril ever so slowly exited one Shuckle’s holes, feeling its way blindly around the ground. 

“Oh, dear god. It’s moving, Looker!” Ethan muttered in hushed tones. 

*Click*

“Looker? Hello?” Ethan looked at his phone, saw the ‘Call Ended.’ screen flicker back to the home screen, then gingerly put his phone into his pocket. 

“♫ Chaa-tooot? ♫” Chatot hopped back over toward the Shuckle, causing Ethan’s hand to reach out to try to pull her back to safety. She dipped beneath his hand, easily evading his attempt, and then pecked at the Shuckle’s shell once again. 

“Shuuuuckle.” The nasally, drawn out voice of Shuckle echoed out from within its hardened shell, causing Chatot to stop with her investigation.  

She went over toward some ripe, fallen berries and nudged them over toward one of Shuckle’s many holes. After she was done, she hopped back a few feet and began chatting with the new, unfamiliar pokemon. 

“♫ Chaa-tooot? ♫ tot-tot? ♫”
“Shuckle-ckle?”
“♫ Tot! ♫”

Out of Shuckle’s holes, thin yellow worm-like appendages slowly revealed themselves. The thicker one sprouting out near the top was its head. Its eyes were just two thin strips of brown, and its mouth was similar. It was a near invisible slit that parted slightly when he talked. 

“Shuck?”

Shuckle gazed around carefully and suspiciously to get his bearings, then spotted the berry that had been rolled over toward him, courtesy of Chatot. His thin yellow arm stretched outward and wrapped around the small, apple-like Leppa berry and withdrew it into his shell. 

“♫ Chaa-tooot! Chatot's cheerful chirping and twinkling gaze made Shuckle's small mouth curl into a slight smile, and his eyes narrowed happily. 

By now, Ethan had realized that perhaps he had been overreacting. Shuckle didn’t look very threatening, and its movements were fairly slow—about twice as fast as a turtle. He knew of Shuckle because of how they had the potential to be the highest damage dealing Pokemon in existence. He also knew that they liked berries and stored them in their shell. They turned the berries into a juice, but he wasn’t too familiar with the specifics of said juice. 

Shuckle retreated into his shell, then a moment later, came out of several different holes that had been hidden from Ethan’s sight, given his angle. It had effectively turned itself around, and once happy with its position, used its thin wormy arms to lift itself up and crawl toward more berries. 

Now, with a much better look, Ethan could see that Shuckle had eight different holes in his shell. Ethan took out his phone and used the PocketDex to scan the pokemon as he continued to gather berries. Chatot had hopped on top of Shuckle, effectively riding him, so it took a few attempts to have the app scan Shuckle instead of Chatot.

“Shuckle — The Mold Pokemon: Shuckle keeps its soft body protected within its hard shell. It loves berries and stores them inside its shell, where they slowly ferment and turn into a delicious juice which it sips when hungry. This fermenting process can take weeks, and the resulting juice is highly nutritious. Despite its slow and docile nature, Shuckle's shell is remarkably strong, providing unparalleled defense against predators. The color of Shuckle’s ridge rings, which form over its many different outlet holes, are an indicator of its age. They’re yellow when young, and beige when mature."

After putting away his phone, Ethan watched Chatot and Shuckle traverse around his berry farm. Gone was much of Shuckle’s careful and cautious behavior. Now, it was smiling warmly at Chatot as she chattered away. As she talked his ear-holes off, she probed nearby berries towards it. To Ethan, it looked like she was showing Shuckle all of her favorites. 

While he was still a little apprehensive about Shuckle, he was smart enough to know that it was purely illogical. The Shuckle seemed harmless and friendly, and became more excited as the two pokemon discussed berries. He wouldn’t mind Shuckle staying around. It could maybe even ferment some of his berries for him! If the information from PocketDex was correct, then the nutritional value would be a boon to him in the future. It’s not like he was going to run out of berries anytime soon, and he had more than enough to spare. 

As Shuckle’s outlet ridges were yellow, that meant that it was young. He remembered that Shuckle typically lived in caves or deep underground, causing him to wonder about how it found its way into the forest, but supposed that they must leave to find food like every other pokemon. 

Thinking about the environments pokemon lived in made Ethan think about the future of his ranch. If he was going to breed and foster pokemon to teach them moves, he was going to need separate areas with different faux climates and terrains. As it was, he couldn’t really teach a pokemon from the ocean anything, as he had no bodies of water. The same went for fire types, ice types, rock types… He had a lot of work ahead of him. 

“Hey, Shuckle,” Ethan said casually as he walked up and picked a large yellow berry from a nearby tree. “You’re free to hang around here and have as many berries as you want, and if you want to meet some more friendly pokemon, there’s a group of Oddish right up by my cabin. They won’t hurt you.”

He knelt down and offered the larger freshly picked berry with an outstretched hand. Shuckle looked a little unsure about him, but after some friendly chirps and songs from Chatot, it delicately outstretched its noodle arm and wrapped it around the offering. Like the other berries, it didn’t bother to eat it. Instead, it stored it inside its shell. 

“As long as you don’t harm any pokemon nearby, you’re free to stay as long as you like. I have to get going, but I'd be happy if you’re here when I return.” 

Ethan stood and patted his shoulder, causing Chatot to flutter up and join him. “Let’s go find Ursaring and do what we came here to do.” 

Chatot nodded and looked down toward Shuckle. 

“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”
“Shuck!”

Shuckle's noodly arm waved with hesitation and unfamiliarity. It almost looked as if it was questioning the reality of the situation, but it still had a small smile tugging at its mouth. 

Chatot fanned her wings in a weirdly energetic wave as Ethan headed off into the forest once more. He needed to find Ursaring.

In hindsight, it was probably wrong to assume that he’d be able to find Ursaring within a short amount of time. He didn’t know where she usually roamed or stayed, and finding a singular pokemon in miles upon miles of thick trees, rough underbrush, and filled with other wild pokemon was a task fit for a ranger. 

Thankfully, he had Chatot. 

Chatot soared overtop the thick canopy, singing a loud melodic tune as she twirled and danced through the sky. He had asked her to try and catch Ursaring's attention, and she was going above and beyond to produce results. Normal calls were not her forte. She preferred to sing for all to hear.  

Within thirty minutes of hatching their plan, a loud, thunderous, familiar roar erupted from up ahead of them. Chatot dived through the thick batches of leaves and branches that blocked the view from up above, causing a cascade of twirling leaves to rain down upon Ethan. With a casual landing, she righted herself onto his shoulder, and settled down to rest in her designated spot.

After feeding her a few berries as a reward, which she devoured with reckless abandon, the sounds of snapping branches, thudding paws, and cute growls grabbed his attention. 

When he looked over toward the direction the sounds emanated from, he nearly had a heart attack. Ursaring stared at him from around a tree, merely a scant few feet away. He hadn’t heard her move, or realized that she had gotten so close. From out behind her, two cutely growling Teddiursa stormed into the clearing with arms raised in battle cries. 

When their eyes landed on Ethan, their growls of intimidation quickly converted into cries of happiness. Their hands, which formerly raised for the oncoming mortal combat, were now making grabby gestures for him to pick them up as they sprinted towards him. 

The first launched themselves in an impressive leap, smacking into his torso and wrapping their arms around him in a bear hug. The second nearly caused his feet to fly out from under him, as they slammed into his legs, giving him a hug. 

“Teddiii!”
“Ted-ted!”
“Urs.” Ursaring gave him a nod and a grunt, then came out around the tree to stand next to him. Ursaring noticed Chatot, who was well aware of the threat standing before her, given by her quaking feathers, and dismissed her nearly immediately. 

Ethan ran his one free hand down her plumage and told her that everything was okay. It took over ten seconds for Chatot to calm down enough to tear her eyes away from Ursaring to look him in the eyes. 

“Ursa. Ursaring.” Ursaring commented, and apparently whatever said was enough for her to stop shaking. 

“Cha-tot-tot…” She sullenly chirped. 

Ursaring shrugged, then looked at Ethan, waving a paw to get him to speak. As if saying, ‘Out with it.’

After a slight cough to clear his throat, he lowered the Teddiursa to the ground and began his pitch. “So, I’m here to ask for your permission to make my small clearing a ranch. You’re all still welcome to come by, but there may be other humans who come and go. I want to set up a place where I can teach pokemon new moves, and a place for me to breed pokemon and keep them safe from the dangers of the wild. I know it’s your territory, so I came to ask for your blessing. If you agree, many people will come by to help build everything for a week or two. So, I’d keep these two rabble rousers away until they’re gone.”

While he had expected Ursaring to agree, he didn’t think she’d just… not care at all. After barely a second, she nodded and let out a gruff sounding. “Urs.”

“That’s it? I mean… Thanks?” 

Ursaring snorted at his shocked face, then rolled her eyes when she found one of the Teddiursa digging in the ground at a nearby tree. She stomped over and peered at what it was doing, and Ethan followed along. 

Ursaring didn’t seem surprised at this little situation, so he assumed this was a common occurrence. 

The Teddiursa grasped something from within the hole, then pulled back with all of its might. The item came loose, and she fell back onto her butt, but held up her prize with a squeal. To Ethan, it looked like a large piece of wild ginger, with tiny root-like offshoots jutting out to the sides. 

Teddiursa let out a cute little “Ted,” as it righted itself, almost like it was letting out a tiny grunt of exertion, then walked over and held the root towards Ethan with a big smile. 

Ethan returned the smile. “For me?” 

After a little nod, Ethan took the present and patted Teddiursa on the head. “Thank you.”  

Ursaring watched them both with a calculating gaze before barking out another. “Ursa.” 

Both of the Teddiursa gathered around and momma bear took them off back towards where they came. Ethan yelled out a “Thank you! Visit when you can!” as the two Teddiursa waved energetically as they skipped off back home. 

Chatot had been silent during the entire meeting, and Ethan felt bad for not properly explaining what and who they were looking for. While he’d told her he was looking for Ursaring, he didn’t realize that she didn’t know what an Ursaring was. She wasn’t prepared for the alpha of the area to show up—one she didn’t think she stood a chance against. 

“I’m sorry, Chatot. I thought you knew…” 

“♫ Chaa-tooot ♫'' She sang a mellow song and nuzzled into his head. Then she looked at the ground in shame. 

“No, no, no. Do not be ashamed. You have nothing to be ashamed about. That was my fault for not warning you… Let’s go back to the clearing, and you can hang out with Shuckle and Oddish. Maybe, another one of my friends will show up too. I think you’ll like them.” 

Ethan stood and tried his best to cheer up his feathered friend as they made their way back to the clearing.