“Everyone out!”

  Gray’s release of one pokeball in the air was followed by multiple pops emanating from his inner jacket. It never failed to amuse Gray that trainers never truly needed to manually throw pokeballs in the air, as pokemon were more than capable of releasing themselves from their own pokeballs.

  While pokeballs could be adjusted to prevent self-release, it was considered poor form on the trainer’s part to do so indefinitely. Trainers were meant to develop relationships with their pokemon, thereby instilling in them the discipline to determine appropriate times of releasing themselves. Only new additions who had yet to develop a bond with their trainers were typically not given leeway.

  Roars of exhilaration filled the air, attracting attention from some of the pokemon meandering around the ranch.

  “Mimikyu!”

  Anticipating the show of affection, Gray crouched down to make it easier for the little ghost-fairy to scramble up his trainer. Tucking the small pokemon in a familiar hold, Gray turned around to address his captive audience.

  “These are my pokemon. I’ll let em’ introduce themselves. No worries, none of them will hurt you,”

  Receiving the go ahead, Altaria, Azumarill and Clefable surged ahead and invaded Grandpa Sammy’s personal space. Altaria and Azumarill’s exuberance were tamed by the chiding Clefable as he warned them sternly, pointing at the cane the human held.

  “Hohoho, look at you three! Looking strong. Been keeping Gray safe?”

  Azumarill and Clefable flexed their arms with vicious grins, much to the human’s amusement. Altaria had started preening, before he stopped with a jolt. He turned around and flew towards Gray, chittering as he circled his trainer in excitement.

  Gray chuckled at his narcissistic dragon. “You sure? You’re basically giving out strategic advantages here,”

  Altaria considered that for a moment before dismissing it. It mattered not if people knew about him, it meant nothing in the face of strength.

  “Alright then, suit yourself,”

  Gray tapped on his earring, letting his affection for Alatria surge through him. On top of the happiness he felt as he watched his first few pokemon interact once again with Grandpa Sammy, his joy was more than enough for this.

  A multi-colour light show soon engulfed the ranch, effectively stopping all activity within the vicinity. Everyone watched in fascination as the dome of crystal surrounding the pokemon shattered, revealing Mega Altaria who announced his presence with a powerful wing beat and a musical cry.

  The mega evolved pokemon twirled in the air a few times, showing off his impressive flumage and lithe body. He flew gracefully through the air, and made his way towards Grandpa Sammy who was frozen in shock.

  Before he could approach the stunned old man further, a spout of water smacked his face, causing him to sputter in indignance. Gray’s pokemon snickered at the familiar sight, Azumarill in particular hollering loudly, mouth still wet from a Water Gun.

  Glaring furiously at the water mouse, Altaria launched himself higher up into the air, releasing a powerful but controlled Heat Wave to dry himself off. He flew towards Grandpa Sammy again. The sequence of actions had been enough to snap the awe that came with his mega evolution.

  “Me- mega Altaria? That’s the first of his kind!”

  Gray didn’t bother to correct Professor Oak as he approached the Altaria who had begun to enjoy the attention from a recovering Grandpa Sammy. He generously allowed the pokemon professor to examine him too, basking in the spotlight.

  “So cool! Can he carry us and fly?”

  Ash and Gary were still reeling in shock at Altaria. They had also made a move towards the dragon, but the enthusiastic Professor flittering around him made the approach difficult.

  “Next time. For now, why not say hi to the others?”

  Gray gestured towards the rest of his team who were milling about the area and inspecting the ranch. His friendlier pokemon like Mawile, Whimsicott and Carbink were already making friends with the local pokemon, taking advantage of their smaller, less threatening appearance.

  Both boys looked around in awe, though after a while their attention was drawn to Gray’s more regal pokemon, specifically Ninetales and Hatterene. While friendlier than most of their species, both pokemon still held an air about them that made their power obvious.

  “They look strong! What are they?”

  “This is Ninetales and this is Hatterene,”

  “That’s a Ninetales? She doesn’t look like a Fire type,”

  Ninetales rolled her eyes and blew a sliver of cold air towards both boys, causing them to shiver briefly.

  Gray laughed and deemed correcting them futile.

  Hatterene, growing tired of the hesitance the two children exhibited, used her psychic powers to lift them up and throw them towards Ninetales. The fox pokemon used her own powers to slow their momentum, allowing both boys close enough to nuzzle.

  Gary and Ash, in complete disbelief, leaned closer. They had just been given unprecedented allowance to interact with a rare, powerful pokemon, so they elected to take advantage as much as possible.

  As Kantonians boys, they were attracted to strong pokemon. Unfortunately, powerful pokemon had a lower tolerance for human interactions excepting their partners. When Blue’s elite pokemon were out and about, they had to keep a weary distance away, keeping their admiration close to their chest lest they cause an accident.

  “That safe?” Blue approached his younger brother, carefully keeping an eye at the two boys now interacting with both Ninetales and Hatterene. He was rather tense, one hand casually playing with a pokeball.

  Gray snorted. “Of course they are. All my pokemon are friendly enough to interact with children. Even if they get pissed off, they won’t attack,”

  “Hatter-Hatterene!”

  The silent pokemon’s unusually loud reprimand shocked both boys. Blue, acting quickly, released Blastoise, who crouched low, one water cannon aimed squarely at Hatterene.

  Hatrerene merely side-eyed the turtle before dismissing him completely with a scoff. She took her tentacle further away from Gary whose outstretched hand was still frozen in fear. She waved the appendage at both boys to draw attention before extending it far away and swiping at the ground.

  Dirt and grass flew through the air, Hatterene’s vicious claws leaving deep marks on the soil. A flick later, she dislodged the dirt stuck on her claws. She kept her claws extended towards herself while her tentacle neared the boys again slowly. The psychic fairy used her powers to gently maneuver Gary’s hand towards her tentacle. Keeping it further up and farther away from her dangerous claw.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Gary and Ash had a flash of understanding before their bright smiles returned. They both gently pet Hatterene’s tentacles, keeping clear of her sharp clawed end.

  “See? You’re too paranoid,”

  Blue was still slackjawed. He visibly composed himself and released a slow breath. Gray casually walked towards the boys, Mimikyu in hand, and explained.

  “Hatterene are typically solitary creatures. Wild ones have a tendency to cause headaches to make people stay away. Anger one and they’d use their claws on you, so be careful,”

  Both boys gulped nervously before being distracted once again by Hatterene’s and Ninetales’ soft coos.

  _____

  The group slowly traversed closer to the laboratory. Fortunately, Professor Oak and Blue seemed to take Gray’s super, very polite request to hold off on questions for a later time, allowing Gray some time to mull over his thoughts.

  The ranch, at least from the little he has observed so far, seemed largely unchanged. It still seemed to house an impressive number of pokemon. While some of them were wary of Gray’s approaching pokemon hoard, they seemed to relax when they noticed Gray’s human family accompanying them.

  Professor Oak’s ranch remained a haven for pokemon research and variety due to him offering stabling rights to his sponsored trainers. There were a few hired hands to assist in the day to day management, but most pokemon in the corral were largely independent. It came with the territory, Gray supposed, as each and everyone of Professor Oak’s sponsored trainers had to go through tests and vets to be even offered the position.

  Sponsorship guarantees financial stability to wandering trainers, and the subtle backing of the premier Pokemon Professor had an even bigger impact. Sponsored trainers were aware of the power of their privilege and it was in their best interest to maintain good relations with their sponsors. Beginner trainer or not, they would hesitate to send over unruly and undisciplined pokemon to the ranch lest they draw ire.

  It was a symbiotic relationship between sponsor and sponsee; its benefits to Professor Oak could not be understated. Professor Oak got a steady number of well-trained pokemon who were oftentimes a prime example of their species. This allowed him to conduct studies from a close proximity, boosting his prestige in scientific circles with every research paper released. As his fame rose, he would attract even more keen, talented trainers.

  It was another bitter point to Gray, who felt that Professor Samuel Oak had been perfectly poised to flourish whilst his Grandpa Sammy had to work for what he got.

  As a minor gym, Pallet Town gym had neither the respect nor prestige to attract its own challengers. Most trainers who challenged Grandpa Sammy were Professor Oak’s sponsored trainers passing by the ranch and looking for battles in preparation for the Indigo League. It also didn’t help that Grandpa Sammy would often test his challengers for qualities and performances beyond their current level. He loved to push trainers far, only bestowing them a hard-earned gym after blood, sweat and tears.

  Grandpa consequently developed a reputation for having a hard-to-earn gym badge that was not prestigious enough due to its minor status to be worth the effort

  Gray remembers begging Grandpa Sammy to hold back in order to not intimidate trainers, only to receive a loud guffaw and aggressive affection in return. It was only after the aunt and uncle Pallet Town veterans explained to Gray that he understood his grandpa — Grandpa Sammy was training his challengers to exceed themselves in order to better survive the harshness of the pokemon world.

  Gray stopped pestering him after that.

  Still, it was frustrating to have so little people challenge the Pallet Town gym. Gray would sit against Pallet Town beach and glare at the passing Johtoan ferries who skirted past Pallet Town on their way to Vermillion City.

  The rising cacophony of sound shook Gray of his musings as the group reached the laboratory.

  Here, Professor Oak’s employees and scientists were converging in excitement as they took in the array of fairy pokemon before them. The more daring ones approached the pokemon, and seeing that they were not rebuffed, examined them from a much closer range.

  Gray could see some of his pokemon getting rather annoyed at the prodding, and before a shameless scientist who was tugging at Primarina’s ponytail could get a Hydropump to the face he let out a huge whistle.

  ‘Peeeep!’

  All activity stopped as they turned towards the fairy trainer. Gray elected to get his point across as soon as possible to avoid further incident.

  “Now that I have everyone’s attention, let’s set out a few ground rules for interacting with my pokemon,” he said in a commanding tone.

  “First, my pokemon have a right to deny anyone access to their person. They will not be subject to your examinations or experiments without their consent. I don’t force any of them against their wishes, you want to work with them? Get them to agree,”

  Gray could see some furrowed brows at his statement. He ignored them and forged ahead.

  “Whilst most of my pokemon are rather safe, some have species characteristics that can be dangerous,”

  He gestured towards Mimikyu in his arms, who appeared rather docile.

  “Hey, your Pikachu looks weird! Is he sick?”

  Ash shouted out in excitement, only to falter when Gray gave him a stern glare.

  “He’s not a Pikachu. He’s much better than one, a Mimikyu,”

  Bringing the small pokemon closer to his face, he gave him a few seconds of undivided attention to soothe him from the callousness. Reassured that the fairy-ghost wasn’t overly affected, he went back to addressing the crowd.

  “Mimikyu as a species are rather solitary. They typically adopt a Pikachu disguise to try and make more friends. It’s nonsense, though. There’s no need to be another pokemon considering they’re perfect as they are,”

  Mimikyu cooed in pleasure at his trainer’s words. Gray only rolled his eyes fondly.

  “However, their disguises do play an important role in keeping others safe,” The shift in tone startled his audience.

  “Never, ever look below a Mimikyu’s disguise. Look below and you will die. Nobody alive knows a Mimikyu’s true appearance, because knowing is to know death.

  This isn’t an invitation for you to sate your curiosities. When it comes to fairy pokemon, some things are better off unknown. If you’re insistent, look beneath at your own peril. We will not be responsible for you throwing your life away.”

  Gray addressed the scientists in particular. Even in the Western regions, Mimikyu-induced fatalities mostly occurred in academic circles. Regular people knew better than to test their luck against the complicated intricacies of pokemon, knowing full well that the world of pokemon has its dangers.

  “Who exactly are you to tell us how to do our jobs? You barely qualified for the Indigo League, and now you’re an expert in pokemon?” A snide retort came from the ballsy scientist previously bothering Primarina.

  Gray stared him down, face void of expression. Mimikyu in his arms stopped squirming. The pair of them appeared frozen. Even the wind seemed to have died down, the ambient noises in the area turning mute.

  Unnerved, the scientist eyed his surroundings warily. His attention was drawn back to trainer and pokemon by eerie creaking.

  Mimikyu’s head slowly turned to face the scientist, forcing the scientist to swallow down his terror as he realized Mimikyu’s main body was unmoving. The head stopped at an unnatural angle for a few seconds.

  Before his brain could process what he was seeing, he blinked and suddenly Mimikyu’s pikachu head was a few centimetres from his own. He shrieked and fell backwards, crawling to increase the distance between them.

  Most people around them flinched back when Mimikyu Shadow Sneaked towards the scientist. The pokemon was perched on a ghostly pillar to keep himself ‘eye’ level with the scientist.

  “Would you like to test it out then?” Gray’s whisper seemed to carry in the wind.

  Mimikyu shuffled forwards slowly, the ghostly pillar below him moving forward and descending to once again be at face level. The bottom of his disguise swaying darkly, something menacing beneath stirring.

  “No, no! I get it!”

  As if his high pitched denial was the key to normalcy, the atmosphere rapidly shifted with his words. The breeze returned, the squawks of Pidgeys once again sounded in the distance.

  Though Mimikyu’s appearance retained its creepiness, his countenance did a 180.

  “Mimi-kyu!” he chirped happily, did an adorable leap off his pillar and raced towards Gray again in a zig zag pattern.

  The shift took some of their audience in surprise, though a few were openly smirking at the exchange. Blue’s savage grin was on full display, both hands on Ash and Gary’s shoulders as the two children excitedly whispered to one another.

  Gray picked Mimikyu up again, he smiled happily as soon as he stood back up.

  “Oh, right. If you see this guy around, just leave him alone. He won’t tolerate anyone,” he raised one hand to the side. Once it was parallel to the ground, Gray’s shadow bubbled and Fluttermane leaped out.

  The paradox pokemon floated up to rest his head cheerily against Gray’s palm, making wordless cries of excitement.

  Everyone else watched in fascination as the pokemon flitted quickly towards his fellow team members.

  Gray went on to explain some of the caring requirements his pokemon had, taking comfort in the wariness now shown towards him.