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

Ethan stared at the now still Pokeball with a mixture of happiness, relief, and shock. Nurse Joy squealed and danced around in circles with her Chansey, who was more than willing to participate in the fun dance. 

When she eventually calmed down, she congratulated Ethan on catching his first Pokemon. “Oh, Ethan! Congratulations! Now, let’s not keep it waiting! Go on! Release it!” 

Ethan slowly grasped his Pokeball and lobbed it outwards, releasing his newfound friend. 

“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”

Chatot sang a rhythmic tune as it bobbed back and forth, dancing to its own tune. Swinub scooted across the floor and oinked in glee, seemingly congratulating Chatot on finding a trainer. 

Ethan knelt down, his food completely forgotten, as he ran a hand over Chatot’s feathered head. Chatot pushed himself into the touch, and Ethan then discovered that a Chatot was capable of a purr.. “We’re going to be best friends. I can already tell.” 

Nurse Joy clapped her hands, grabbing their attention. “Why don’t we get Chatot a checkup and see how they're doing? It’s important to always bring your new Pokemon to get a checkup once they’re caught or hatched. Life in the wilderness can be unforgiving, but from my expertise, Chatot seems healthy at a glance. You shouldn’t worry, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” 

The next thirty minutes was humbling, to say the least. Nurse Joy personally did the checkup on Chatot, and she was efficient and charismatic. Chatot easily and willingly followed her orders in return for some treats, and the tests were over within no time. 

Once finished, Nurse Joy wrote some notes onto her tiny clipboard she carries around in her nurse apron, and handed a paper to Ethan. “She’s very healthy. She’ll need some dietary supplements—mostly salt, as she’s far away from her natural habitat, but other than that! She’s as fit as a fiddle.” 

Ethan was surprised by what he read on the small note he was given. It listed her recommendations for what her diet plan should be, her relative age, and her moves. Chatot was around two years old, which wasn’t considered young, but she wasn’t quite an adult yet. Her moves, though, came as a surprise. 

Chatot currently knew Chatter, their species signature move, Growl, Taunt, Hyper Voice, Peck, Sing, Round, Mimic, Encore, and Boomburst. All of her moves, except Peck, were sound based moves, which made sense, but Boomburst was an enormous boon. 

If Ethan wasn’t mistaken, Boomburst was the strongest sound based moves known to exist. While his eardrums would probably explode if Chatot used it near him, it was still a very useful and powerful tool to have. Chatot was more than capable of protecting him if it came down to it from that move alone. 

Chatter, Chatot’s signature move, was extremely underrated. If it had a 100% chance to confuse like it did in some of the games, then it was potentially even more powerful than Boomburst, given the circumstances. He couldn’t be happier with what he read. 

Chatot flutter up and onto his shoulder and tweeted her song. “♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”

Ethan casually petted his new friend as he spoke to her. “You’re more impressive than I thought! I’m sure with some practice, you’ll be a powerhouse of your own. I want to ask… Do you want to be strong? I can promise you that I’ll do my best to make you as strong as you can be, but I know my best isn’t as good as some others…” 

Chatot lifted one of her wings and wrapped it around his head, giving him a hug. “Best. ♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”

Ethan smiled and felt a warm surge in his chest. This was the best thing that had happened to him in… well, forever. The emotions he currently felt washed away the stress and frustration he had about being alone in the forest.” 

“You wanna go back in your ball? Or do you wanna hang out while I train Swinub some more?”

Chatot tilted her head back and forth, thinking. “Ball. ♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”

Without further ado, Ethan returned Chatot into her ball and was left alone with Nurse Joy. She was giving him a bright smile, showing all of her pearly white teeth. “I’m so happy for you, Ethan. Don’t let me keep you, go and train… Cici’s Swinub. I’m sure she’ll be impressed by the results.” 

Before he left the room, he had a question that had been eating away at him. “By the way, do you happen to know what Pokemon feel like when they’re in their Pokeball? Can they hear what goes on outside of it?” 

Nurse Joy wiped down all of the instruments she’d used for Chatot’s test as she answered. “From what I've been told by various psychic types, it’s like having your own room. They can hear what goes on outside of their ball and can even willingly leave it, but it takes some serious effort to do so. If you’re worried about why Chatot wanted to go into her ball, it’s probably because it’s new to her. She wants to experience it to make sure its something she’s okay with. Good question, anything else?” 

“No, but thanks so much. If I ever become a famous tutor or breeder, I’ll be sure to return all of the help you’ve given me.” 

Nurse joy waved him off with a chuckle, and Ethan went back outside to continue Swinub’s Training. 

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

“Well, I’ll be damned…” Ethan mumbled softly as he watched Swinub successfully use the move Mud Shot for the first time. 

This little guy had some energy in him. Yeah, the little guy probably felt like this was all fun and game, playing around throwing mud, but he had quickly figured out something on his own, and made leaps and bounds with his progress. 

Instead of the mud wave getting an inch narrower, he’d seemed to figure out a trick on his own to do it more efficiently. He’d gotten it to narrow several inches after each attempt recently. It was nighttime, but the little guy didn’t want to take a break. He’d even wiggled out of Ethan’s grasp when he tried to make him take one! 

“Swiiiii” Swinub yelled out a little cry as it shot its thick hose of mud, splattering it all against their targeted tree. 

“Okay Swinub! Do that one more time! Then we’re done!” Ethan called out, receiving a determined nod from Swinub in return. 

“Swiiiiii” Swinub wiggled its behind, and let loose its final flourish. “NUB!” 

A picture perfect Mud Shot zoomed across the small training field, landing with a decent amount of force onto the faraway tree. Swinub cut off its move, and took a few deep breaths. Ethan walked forward and picked him up, cradling him like Cici had done the night prior. “Swinub, I got a secret to tell you.” 

Swinub wiggled a bit to get in a more comfortable position as it let loose a barely audible. “Swinub?”

Ethan flashed Swinub a grin. “I lied earlier. Mud Shot isn’t a ball. It’s what you just did. You did it, buddy!” 

Ethan laughed as he saw a Pokemon stare with its mouth agape in shock for the first time. He didn’t gape for long, as he began wiggling excitedly and repeatedly called out its name. “Okay, back into your ball for now. Take a good rest! I’ll let you out to meet Cici here in a bit. You can show off your new move to her then.” 

Swinub gave a nod and Ethan returned him into his ball, then walked back to the Pokemon Center. He didn’t know when Cici would be back. She only told him that she’d check up on Swinub’s progress every day. But if he had to guess, he’d assumed she’d be here soon. She’d arrived at around the same time the previous nights, so it wasn’t a giant leap to come to that conclusion. 

While he waited, he used the computer in the lobby to do some research on notable egg moves and what being a breeder required. Ethan wasn’t a fool. He knew it wouldn’t be as simple as ‘Hey you two! Go make an egg!’ If he wanted to do this seriously, he needed to study. He was already so much further behind than everyone else. So, he had a lot of time to make up for. 

After clicking through what felt like several hundred hyperlinks, Ethan eventually found some of the information he was interested in—Breeding strong Pokemon. Lots of breeders bred rare pokemon for sale. As he suspected, they also bred overall ‘popular’ pokemon as well. At the very top of the list was Eevee. Unsurprisingly, after Eevee was basically every single region starter. 

After skipping past all of the starters, he blinked in surprise. If you counted all of the starter pokemon as a single spot on the list, Growlithe was in third place. After reading some of the attached information, it all made sense. 90% of law enforcement used Growlithe as their partners, and Arcanine was a solid competitive pokemon. Not to mention, boys loved the firedog. 

Ethan knew that he wasn’t going to be able to compete with the mass breeders for popular or rare Pokemon, but he could get himself into a niche of breeding strong pokemon. According to some research papers credited to a very familiar name, Professor Adrian Elm, selectively breeding elite level pokemon usually resulted in offspring that started at a higher skill floor. They were stronger and faster, but not to a significant degree. 

Those breeding Eevee, starters, and growlithe, did not breed elite level pokemon. They had breeding pairs, multiple of them, and sold their offspring to trainers. The Pokemon were willing participants in the selling of their offspring, as it ensured that their offspring would not have to struggle to survive out in the wilds and would be cared for and trained to a standard above that of what they could achieve in the wild by themselves.

All in all, it was a very interesting subject. One which he would need to do a lot more search on. He was about to search for the League mandated carrying capacity, when Cici strolled into the lobby. 

Ethan gave her a wave and his best smile as he tried to smother his pride. He was proud of himself, but more so proud of Swinub. Afterall, Ethan was more in the… managerial position. Swinub was the one who put in the work. 

Cici sauntered over towards him and cut to the chase. “How’s Swinub doing?” 

Ethan took Swinub’s pokeball out from his pocket and released him then and there. Swinub let loose a cute cry of his name as he surged forward and head-butted Cici’s leg with affection. Cici swept him up into her arms and smiled. 

Ethan stood from his seat and watched as they bonded with one another. “You should be proud of this little guy. He’s full of boundless energy and a very hard worker. Though, I don’t even think he realized what we were doing was work. To him, it was all fun and games.” 

Cici nodded and swept her hair back as she spoke. “I can’t wait to see his progress. I’m sure he’s learned a good deal.” 

Ethan suppressed his grin as he gestured toward the doors. “Let’s go see, shall we?” 

Once they were outside in the very same battle court they had trained in earlier in the day, Cici placed Swinub on the ground, then gestured for Ethan to showcase Swinub’s improvements. 

Ethan gave Swinub a thumbs up and did his best to give Swinub his first proper order. “Okay Swinub! Use Mud Shot!” 

“Swiiii–NUB!”

Swinub tilted his head back, then thrust forward, releasing a textbook Mud Shot straight from his snout. The long stream of mud lasted for a few seconds, before the small oinking pokemon cut the move short. 

Cici watched on silently with no change in her expression.

After a few seconds of awkward oink filled silence, Ethan was beginning to grow nervous. He shifted his eyes from the strutting Swinub to the calm and collected Cici. “So… What did you think?” 

Instead of answering his question, Cici changed topics. “I don’t think we ever agreed on payment.” 

Was she disappointed? Is she trying to get a discount? I wasn’t even expecting to get paid for this one…

“Uhh…” Ethan stammered. For all of his research, he never bothered to check to see how much Move Tutors got paid. He knew it fluctuated based on the move taught, time taken, and loads of other variables, but he didn’t even know the standard. 

Without any change in her emotion or tone, eyes still locked onto the faraway tree, Cici spoke again. “How about fifty thousand?”

As that was more than the zero he had been expecting, Ethan easily agreed. “That sounds good to me. So… What did you think? Swinub worked hard. I think he’s waiting for your approval.” 

Cici tore her gaze away from the mud coated tree and instantly smiled as she looked upon her partner. “I’m extremely proud of him. He’s shown why I chose him over all of his family.”

She knelt down. “Swinub, look at me.” 

Swinub stopped his little wiggle dance and stared up into Cici’s eyes. His eyes glimmered with hope and adoration. “I’m proud of you. I’ll get you your first real battle here soon. But don’t forget! You’ve still a long way to go if you want to catch up to the others.” 

With a giant squeal, Swinub clambered forward and buried his head into Cici’s knees. 

Ethan watched on exceptionally proud with what he and Swinub had achieved today. 

He could get used to this feeling.