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

The first thing that Ethan noticed was a building pressure in his skull, but the wizened voice of Alakazam gave him reassurance. “Let it happen. Do not fight back.” 

Ethan tried to ignore the building pressure, and soon, it faded into an ever present… Well, presence. Then, almost as if watching a movie, Ethan began to see his life play out before him, just in reverse. 

Ethan saw through his own eyes, heard his own thoughts, and felt his own actions. From picking berries, to playing with the Teddiursa cubs, to teaching Pachirisu moves. He felt his impatience at waiting for help, the loneliness that blanketed him when it was just him, the Oddishes, and Hoppip, and the darker thoughts of having it all end to save him from the suffering. 

He could watch, feel, and remember in fast forwarded time, his mental state throughout the year. As he was watching in reverse, it started off… bad. He knew he wasn’t in a good place, but having it all laid out before him was a punch in the gut. As the months passed by, he could see his emotional state fluctuate back towards ‘normal.’

He watched as the Garevior family came by and talked to him, how when they left, his heart hurt of loneliness. When the time came to when he first played with the Teddiursa, Ethan could see and feel the happiness, fear, and acceptance of the situation playing out before him. When Pachirisu helped him with digging holes for his trees, he could feel the excitement of being around a friendly Pokemon. He watched the Geodude roll by and help with making his water bowl, the relief of the Pokemon not hurting him and the hard rocky texture of the Pokemon against his hand. 

When it was near the beginning, he could feel the worry, fear, and confusion all over again. Being lost, having an Ursaring bellow at him, trying his best to scrounge berries by his lonesome. Trying and failing to get shelter made…

Then, suddenly he was on the train, content on the ride home, catching Pokemon on his phone. 

The scenes skipped rapidly at this point, almost as if Alakazam was looking for information about Pokemon, and not his own life. He watched snippets of his own life, over and over. When he passed a store and saw advertisements. When he googled on how to beat the elite four. His emotiontion’s flaring when seeing his favorite Pokemon. His disappointment when he lost. 

Everytime he had ever seen, heard, mentioned, or thought about Pokemon zoomed past him in but mere fleeting moments. 

The times of when he found his first shiny, watching as he waited in line for a game, watching the anime as a child, hearing about pokemon for the first time… then it stopped. 

Ethan felt the pressure on his mind evaporate into nothingness. He opened his eyes and saw Alakazam standing there, shuddering with conflicting emotions. Everyone in the room looked pale, trying to imagine such a world where Pokemon didn’t exist. 

Ethan sat there, thinking about all of the things he was shown that he had forgotten. All the times that he googled what Egg groups were, the movesets of random pokemon, who had what pokemon from the games and the anime, everything. 

Then, a silly thought. 

Ahh! That was a Tympole… the first pokemon I ever saw was a Tympole…

Looker was the first to break the oppressive silence in the meeting room. “Needless to say, I don’t think any of us think you’re insane, Mr Reed. I—I need to go make some calls. Please, excuse me.” 

Looker stood and speed walked out of the waiting room, leaving Ethan alone with a sullen Alakazam, worried Nurse Joy, and mock aggravated Gardenia. 

“You beat me and went to go catch Pokemon… Didn’t even bother to learn anything about me. Yeah, you’ll fit right in.” 

Ethan couldn’t help but laugh a little at that comment, and as soon as he did, the oppressive atmosphere of the room lessened. Nurse Joy clapped her cheeks and stood with renewed vigor. “Let’s get you that checkup Mr Reed. We might as well do something productive while we’re waiting for news from Agent Looker. Gym Leader Gardenia, what will you do?” 

Gardenia stared up at the ceiling in thought, before quickly standing up and shaking her head. “This is above my paygrade. I have to get back to the gym, I probably have a line of challengers waiting for me… Ethan, I’m glad you’re safe, but I'd rather not see you again to have my worldview crumble beneath my feet. Take care of yourself, and catch that Pachirisu. You’ll do good together. Nurse Joy, sign me up for some therapy. I’m going to need it.” 

Gardenia patted down her green poncho as she strolled out of the room with her eyes on her Pokeballs. Nurse Joy stood and patted Ethan on the back. “I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but this one takes the cake. Come, let's get you all freshened up and get you a proper meal.” 

As Nurse Joy led him out of the room, she leaned in and whispered softly, but concernedly in his ear. “While I know you refused to eat wild Pokemon… It is the cycle of life. You need proper nutrition… Will you be willing to eat what I give you? It's okay if you can’t handle that right now, but you will need to come to terms with it.” 

Oh… That’s right, they saw everything. 

“What Pokemon will it be..?” 

“Magikarp. It's what most people find to be a good first step.” Nurse Joy answered instantly. 

Ethan swallowed. He had seen some Magikarp in his little stream of water, but he could never bring himself to kill one. When he was bored, he usually just fed them some berries like an old lady feeding carp. Even if he could catch one, and could even deal damage to one with his bare hands, he wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to do it. Not that those were possibilities at the time. 

“Okay.” Was his only response. 

Nurse Joy grasped his hand and gave it a good squeeze. “You did good out there Mr Reed. Now, I think you deserve to take a break.” 

Nurse Joy led him to an empty room, which looked nearly identical to a room in a hospital. It had a hospital bed, a full bathroom with a shower, and a TV hung up in the corner. “Why don’t you freshen up while I find you some new clothes. I’ll bring you some food, then we can do some tests. Sounds good?”

Ethan absentmindedly nodded, but the thoughts of a warm shower overpowered his control to be polite. He rushed off to take his first hot shower in a year, and heard Nurse Joy’s rueful sigh as he left. 

The first thing he noticed once he entered, killed his enthusiasm. Inside the bathroom, up above the sink, hung a mirror. When he caught sight of himself, he paused. 

On Earth, he wasn’t overweight, but he was most definitely not in what people would call ‘good shape’. Now, he was lean. Much too lean to be healthy. His clothes were mere tatters from the wear are tear of the wilderness, with blotched stains of berries, dirt, and general grime.

For the first time since his teens, he had a fully fledged beard. It had knots, and was unkempt, causing him to look homeless. His formerly short cut and styled brown hair draped down the sides of his now narrow face down to his shoulders. Funnily enough, the first thought that came to his mind was Forrest Gump after running for months on end. Hopefully, Nurse Joy would bring him something to shave, and he could find some money to get a haircut. 

He took a long, long shower, and stood under the scorching, scalding heat for well over thirty minutes as he rubbed himself raw with floral scented soap. He only stopped when a knock on the door, and the voice of Nurse Joy asked if everything was alright, and that she was going to have Chansey enter with a fresh set of clothes. 

He hid behind the shower curtains when the large oval shape of Chansey entered and dropped off his new clothes, and only exited once the coast was clear. He was given a blank white shirt with the logo of a pokeball on the front, and a pair of tan cargo shorts. As he didn’t have shoes, he was given a pair of what looked to be used tennis shoes and a fresh pair of white socks. 

After putting everything on, he noticed a lone, old style razor beneath all of the items. He has never used one before, but he figured that if he could make a log cabin with no knowledge, he could learn to shave in a new way. 

Ten minutes later, Ethan exited the bathroom looking like a brand new man. There might have been a slight cut on his chin, but he’d take that over the unkempt beard any day of the week. Next to the bed, Chansey sat in a chair, reading a magazine upside down. Such a silly scene made him chuckle and that alerted Chansey in the process. She patted the hospital bed with one of its short stubbly arms and gestured toward a covered tray—most likely the promised food. 

It was some vegetables, apple slices, and fried fish—fried Magikarp. About halfway through the process of eating everything but the Magikarp, Nurse Joy arrived with a clipboard and Agent Looker. Nurse Joy flashed him a brilliant smile as Looker stood off to the side of the door. 

“Agent Looker would like to be here to insure that no harmful, foreign virus’ or diseases’ have transferred over during the process of your… Relocation.” 

That was fine, Ethan hadn’t thought about it, but that was a very valid concern. 

“Also, we have to vaccinate you to the standard of a Pokemon Trainer. Which arm is your dominant?” 

A few minutes, and a terribly sore shoulder later, Ethan was now in the process of getting his medical history taken, weighed, pricked and prodded, and a full battery of tests. As he expected, he was malnourished, it didn’t take a genius to figure that one out, but he was generally healthy. They were very worried about his mental state, but Nurse Joy wasn’t an expert when it came down to mental health. She only had one piece of advice for him. “Get yourself a Pokemon.”

Looker watched on during all of his medical tests, and Ethan didn’t feel the need to make him leave. He didn’t know much about Looker before, but after having his memories basically re-opened, he knew that Looker was someone he could trust. 

As he laid in the hospital bed, staring at the half eaten remains of his fried Magikarp, Nurse Joy was in a private discussion with him outside the room. He could see her through the window, and given by the sneaky looks she gave him, she was well aware that she was in sight. 

Chansey was still sitting next to his bed, flipping through the pages of the magazine, after Ethan had flipped it rightside up for her. 

When Looker entered the room again, he walked up to the side of the hospital bed and sat down next to his feet. “Ethan, what do you want to do?” 

“What do you mean?” 

Looker looked off toward the door, where Nurse Joy was peeking through the small glass window, undeterred by being seen. “What do you want to do with your future? Would you like to go on a journey? Maybe people your age still compete. Would you like to settle down and just live a quiet life? What do you want to do? You have knowledge that others don’t, and while  InterPol and the League are reviewing what actionable information you’ve given us, we understand that you’re just a victim of circumstance. We will get your sorted with registration papers, help you get situated, and support you in whatever you want to do.” 

After having been here in Sinnoh for about a year, he’s had a lot of time to think about what he wanted to do. In the first few months, he had thought about what every kid dreamed of: Being a Pokemon Trainer and becoming champion. But he knew well enough that if his skills in the games translated here into real life, that wasn’t feasible. 

Then, he had thought about being like one of the NPC’d in the games, the Move Tutors. He could work with Pokemon and teach them new moves to use. It would be much safer than being a Pokemon Trainer, and he was sure that he could make a living doing that.

Being a Move Tutor was still an option, but he needed some more information regarding how this world actually worked. He’d already seen that knowing only four moves was complete and utterly false, so he’d need to study. 

And right now, being a breeder sounded pretty fun. With the recent Psychic delve, he’d remembered sorting through the lists of egg groups. It was a long time ago, and he wasn’t sure the information was accurate in the real world, but if it was? Then he could be very successful. 

“Do I have to pick now? I think ‘real life’” Ethan air quoted with his hands. “Is going to be different from the games I played. I need to know more to make an educated decision.” 

Looker accepted that, almost as if the response was natural. “Take your time, but on behalf of InterPol and the Pokemon League, some of the knowledge you had has already helped. First and foremost, you need a Pokemon.” 

Looker saw Ethan’s conflicted face and continued on. “Ninety-nine percent of people have a Pokemon. They are not only for battling. Some may just live with you and keep you company, some may help with your work… They’re a part of life.” 

After a moment of silence, Looker gave a good natured chuckle. “You know, I think I remember going through a list of your favorites in your memories. What about an Eevee? They’re very expensive, but we could make it happen.” 

Ethan waved him off. “No, no. Thanks for the offer. I’d like to meet them first before I made any decisions. I don’t think I want to be a trainer, so they’d have to be on board for not being the very best.” 

“Like no one ever was?” Looker asked, a grin on his face. 

Ethan scoffed. “You know what? That was such low hanging fruit that, frankly, I'm disappointed.”