Bird safely caught, the remaining guests were able to return to their meal in peace. They were even joined by a new Pokemon, a Blitzle, who was a considerably more peaceful addition to their group, digging into the Pokefood they were passing around.

Just in time, too; it sounded like Ki released a Pokemon this time. He didn’t know what it was, and Ki didn’t seem to introduce it or anything. He’d whispered something, but was too far away for Hideo to tell what he said. It only seemed to walk away from the group, for whatever reason.

Hideo shrugged it off; he doubted Ki was up to something dubious, but if there was anything funny going on here, there were plenty of Pokemon in the way. He didn’t have any reason to suspect Ki, but it never hurt to be careful.

Hideo’s mouth opened in awe, impressed that Ki had managed to see one of the Legendary Birds - completely disregarding Ki’s disquiet. “That’s amazing! Some people never see any Legendary Pokemon their whole lives! That’s some luck you got!”

He laid his bowl down, emptied, and took the chance to lay back a little, propping himself up with his arms. “Can’t say my family’s as religious as it sounds like yours was. We’re taught about stuff like the Creation Trio and the Legendary Birds, and we accept that they exist, but we just kinda...don’t really do much about it. We respect their power, but they’re otherwise just like any other Pokemon to us. Same thing goes for mythical ones like Celebi. I’m sure it’d be happy with a nice, clean, new shrine!”

He chuckled at his own statement.

“Just hope if I ever get to meet one myself, it’s a nice one, like Jirachi. I’ve heard that some of them can be really scary, and they can be really destructive too.”

Chu-e Choi

Pokeballs remaining: 3
Attempt to capture the Blitzle

Yes, thankfully Chu-e didn't have any dubious planned. In fact, he had pretty much come to the conclusion that if anyone tried to hurt this kid he would personally end them. Violently. With all the previous gravitas someone from his position had had. Kids were a precious bunch and even when he was at his most fucked up he never saw the point or had the desire to hurt any. Someone had to have some morals somewhere, he guessed.

He was happy, though, to let the talk of his own encounter be passed over. It wasn't a particularly fun experience at the time and still wasn't now. He could faintly remember being drunk and angry and jealous because the guy he had a crush on was dancing with someone else. Then everything had went to hell when the bird crashed the place and stared into all their souls in the most invasive way possible.

"Eh, my family was in like... a weird spot. We weren't, like, super religious but we still observed a lot of traditions and holidays. My parents were immigrants and not as familiar with how people from Sinnoh celebrated, and they didn't want me or my siblings to get bullied because we didn't do it or didn't know. I think they just saw it more as fun bonding stuff for us all to do than anything really... sacred?" It was one of those concepts harder to explain. "But, it's cool, and I agree. Like, if I was a legendary, I would be mad is people threw trash all over a shrine made to worship me or something. It would feel like they wouldn't respect me! But, like, if the place caught fire or got destroyed by a storm, it would seem mean to just smite the people for that when it probably couldn't be help. That would just make me an asshole." He did laugh some at that.

"Yeah... You know, one I always liked was that dream goddess pokemon. She was like... pink and blue and yellow? And my mom would buy us 'healing feathers' to sleep with if we had nightmares. They weren't the real thing but it always made us feel better to think she was looking over us. If I ever met one again, I would want to meet her, I think."

Pink, blue, and yellow, with feathers. Associated with good dreams. Hideo put a hand to his chin, trying to think which legendary or mythical pokemon that could apply to.

...

He drew a blank. No idea what that one was. Then again, colors weren’t the best descriptor for him to narrow down with. Only special birds he really knew about where the three Legendary Birds, and none of them were associated with dreams.

Ah well. Not like it was important.

“Hard to imagine what Celebi smiting people would be like. Maybe it’d use its time powers to throw you into a different time, or make stuff age until it turns to dust. Or unage stuff ‘till they don’t exist anymore.” Even got him thinking about getting sent to a different time - how would he ever know something happened until he asked someone?

“But yeah, I can get that family stuff; my family isn’t religious, but we still celebrate holidays and stuff, and they’d take me out to all the festivals when they happened. And they’d tell me what they were all about and try to get me into it, but it was easy to tell we just did it to be together.” Easy to know when his brother would just tell him that was the reason behind it.

“Been hearing a lot of people are coming here from other regions.  My family’s been in Hoenn long before I was born. Dunno how far back we go - Mom and Dad say our family’s been here for as long as they can remember - but I know we go at least as far back as my great grandparents.”

He’d done a little research about the other regions after his meeting with Doug - someone who'd come from another region. Made him appreciate his life in Hoenn a lot more, even with everything going on lately.

And it made him a little curious about a few other things he’d yet to look into. “Do they got the same festivals and stuff over in Kalos like we got here? Even if you were just in a hospital the whole time, you had to take part in some stuff, even if just a little.”

Chu-e Choi

"Even if it's just to spend time with you, I guess that's alright in the end, right? Like, growing up, one of my brother's friends would always come with us to stuff. His parents fed him and took basic care of him, but they didn't really care about him. So if my family hadn't have taken him out, or he didn't stuff on his own, he wouldn't have gotten to do that stuff at all. He's a good guy, though. I was kind of mean to him as a kid. Was jealous he was 'hogging' my brother." He laughed some at that. Adults were weird when he was a kid and being one now... well, he was just glad his parents at least cared about him.

"I think my family was from... Johto? I'm not sure. I guess my brother and sister set up roots in Sinnoh but I don't know what that makes me since I moved here." What would it have been like if he had generations of Choi back in Sinnoh? Would have have ended up in Hoenn at all? Hell, he didn't even know what his parents had left Johto to start. It had been years before he was born, after all.

"They did! Kalos was kind of crazy about celebrations, at least in Lusamine. I didn't get to leave the hospital too much, but sometimes we could go and watch these big parades. It was always loud and made me really tired so I couldn't enjoy them as much. They also did this thing with... oranges? I think? I never understood it, but during the new year the hospital staff would give us all a half dozen of them. Five of them were always really sour and one really sweet, and you were supposed to eat them to see when you got the sweet one to know how good your year would be. It was cute and a lot of the other patients and staff got really into it."

Hideo couldn’t resist chuckling. “Man, I wish I had that kind of freedom. My parents are kinda like the opposite of them; they feed and take care of me and everything, but they’re pretty much in control of everything I do. It’s hard for me to do anything without their say-so. Which isn’t to say they don’t let me do anything - they actually got me signed up for a lot of stuff - just that if I want to do something, I gotta really convince them.” Or just sneak out and do it anyways.

Not realizing that saying he was still with his parents contradicted what he told Ki earlier.

“It’s kinda why I wanted to become a trainer: so I can get out and do stuff! Trainers are able to go around and travel through regions on their own. Just being in Slateport my whole life gets kinda boring when I know there’s so many other places to go to.”

That’s how it was supposed to be. Reality was he still was under his parents’ thumbs. Couldn’t even leave Slateport without being accompanied. And he was still trying to convince them to let him go on his trainer journey, with little progress.

“Sounds like a really fun new years they got there!” he said, smiling, “Maybe if I get a chance to go to Kalos, I can try that out. Sounds better than having to clean my room every New Years Eve, though I also get a lot of money from my parents and grandparents, so it’s not that bad.” The only two parts that really stuck out to him. “Guess you’ll get to celebrate New Years here this year, right? With someone you love~”

Maybe a little mean to tease him about that, but hey, it probably wouldn’t take too long for the two to reunite; they should be able to celebrate New Years together.

Chu-e Choi

Chu-e listed, nodding along and humming as the kid spoke. He poked at his fire a little, started to clean up the mess from the various pokemon and meal, too. "I think," He finally answered. "My only advice is don't run away from home. It's hard, but, like... I did that, and I was even a little older than you when I did it, and it was hard in a way you wouldn't expect. I fell in with some bad people just to get by. Having a place you can go back to is boring but it's real nice." It was not something that he admitted with pride. Hideo was one of less than a dozen people who knew that particular piece of his background. Those times weren't the happiest in his life, he had been going through a lot of shit at the time, and it had really messed him up in the long run. The only reason he even spilled it was as some vague type of warning. "Nothing wrong with wanting more freedom... just don't jump headfirst into it, I guess. But, like, I'm just some random guy who fed you cheap oatmeal, so you're really obligated to take me with a grain of salt." Trying to lighten the mood, he chuckled.

"I guess so... My own parents made me used to eat these really gross beans for good luck on New Year's Day. For good luck, I think? Maybe I'll do that this year for old time's sake." Humming, Chu-e leaned back and stared up at the sky. The bushes rustled and Beepin came back out, the Zoroark wandering over to Hideo and not hesitating in giving him a good going over with her nose. "H-hey! Beepin!" Chu-e huffed lightly as the much larger fox pokemon tried to force herself into Hideo's lap. "Sorry about that. She normally doesn't like people she doesn't know." Beepin only chattered lightly and thumped her tail as she wagged it, trying to force her muzzle into Hideo's hand next. At least it served as a distraction from him having to answer about dwell more on his missing husband.

…

Hideo only realized his mistake when Ki was lecturing him about not running away from home. No way would he get that if he really was a trainer going about on his own. At least Ki didn’t sound upset about it; his lecture seemed more like an honest attempt to relate.

“I’m not really trying to run away...I was planning to go back. I just needed some time away.” Hiding he hadn’t exactly run from home in this case. “I just heard so many stories about how people got their license once they hit ten, then left home and traveled the region. Some even went to other regions, like Galar and Kalos. It might have taken me a year longer than them to get mine, but I thought if I was a trainer too, Mom and Dad would let me go out on my own.”

“But I’m only really a trainer in title. I can’t even leave Slateport without someone supervising me. Like I still need it; my Pokemon know enough to help me with stuff I can’t do on my own.” A pat on the head for Elga, who remained motionless. “I can even read written stuff with Elga’s help. And I got a Lycanroc who can guide me around if I’m lost, and an Aipom who can grab stuff for me.”

He sighed, letting his hand fall back to his side. “I just want them to believe I can handle myself alone. Maybe they’ll let me go if I can prove it to them.”

Unfortunately, not much progress made so far. If any.

He sat forward - just in time for something to approach him. Hideo wasn’t sure what it was, but that rapid breathing sound near told him enough; whatever it was, it was sniffing him. None of the Pokemon around him seemed to react to it, not even Elga, so it probably wasn’t a threat. Maybe the one Ki let out?

The other trainer’s protests were enough to prove that right. Just as the Pokemon lied on his lap, putting her muzzle in his hand. “Friendly,” Hideo commented, not really able to resist her - she seemed much heavier than him; no chance of lifting her off without help.

Help that he had, though wouldn’t call on just yet.

With his free hand, he’d reach over to her head, and find her very long hair, which he’d try to find the end of - and fail to. “She’s a big one!” he said, “And she’s hairy too! Her hair goes further than my arm! Just what kind of Pokemon is she, Mr. Ki?”

Chu-e Choi

"Nothing wrong with that, kid. Like, you're not going to be a kid forever. Babying you too much will only lead to you being thirty and not able to cook more than pizza bites or something." A truly horrific ending to a life. But, moving on.

"Zoroark!" Chu-e was still skeptical of her sudden affections but would let it fly for now. As soon as Hideo started to return the affection, the large fox pokemon began to flood drool onto him. It wasn't intentional, she was just very excited. At this, Chu-e snorted. "She's a rescue pokemon. You ever heard of Evertree Adoptions? They're in Slateport. Good place. Good people!"

He smiled some at that. "I'm a- well, used to be a ranger, retired now, so they trust me with some of the more... hard to handle pokemon. The ones who can't normally go up for regular adoption." A small chuckle, sheepish. "Why I'm a little surprised shes warmed up to you. Usually she just bites people." And more than that, at times. Honestly, Beepin was quite savage normally. To see her so relaxed with someone other than himself was unusual... but nice. Maybe the place she had been rescued from had children?

Hideo nodded along. At least he’d been able to learn enough to be able to cook some food on his own; he was pretty confident in his flapjacks and curry in particular.

And then the drool happened.

Truth be told, he didn’t know anything about Zoroarks; he might have heard that name before, but that was it. He wasn’t even sure what type they were - but she sure was convincing him they were water-types.

“Guess I just have that effect on some Pokemon,” he said, shrugging, keeping his hand on the Zoroark’s muzzle (despite how wet it was getting). “People tell me I got a way of charming the really aggressive ones. And the unaggressive ones too! I think it has to do with the way I pet them; that always gets them happy.”

Ignoring it may have had to do with his soft, harmless appearance. Or that sometimes, it was out of pity.

The four wild Pokemon around him, though, had their interest piqued; the Arrokuda was the first to test his claim, waiting for the boy to reach as far as his arm could go before worming into his hand - only to confuse the boy. “...are you scared she might bite me?” he asked, “Mr Ki said if she was gonna bite me, she already would’ve.”

It took the Dewott lifting his hand up and down, brushing it across the fish to realize what it wanted. “Ooooooh, you want to see what it feels like? Guess it wouldn’t hurt.” He couldn’t see that the other 3 Pokemon had formed a line - in the order they had appeared; they wanted their pats too.

It would also be the first time he was feeling any of them; he still had no idea what any of them were, other than the one he’d already pet was a fish, and the one that he’d caught earlier was a bird. Chances were he still wouldn’t know what they were afterwards, but it’d give him an idea what they were.

Hopefully, Beepin wouldn’t mind.

Chu-e Choi

"That's a pretty unique talent. You thought about what you might wanna do when you're older? I know some people who would eat their own socks to be able to calm pokemon down easier." But he just smiled and mostly seemed content to watch as the Pet Train started. Beepin seemed less pleased, whining before starting a loud, squeaking chattering in protest; the sound was at odds with her large body and startled a huff of laughter out of the man.

With everything mostly cleaned up, Chu-e started calling pokemon from his side into balls, only leaving Beepin out for now. She could walk with him a while. "You know, I bet you would be good with rescue pokemon. You seem like you have your head screwed on better than even some adults I know, Hideo. You know, you want more freedom right? Wanna prove it?" He hummed and he thought.

"At that adoption center I mentioned, Evertree, they have like a training program for would-be rangers. Lots of volunteer work. So, your parents, they're being pushy and babying you, you wanna prove you can be on your own, right? What you're doing now isn't working, probably just pissing them off more... I don't mind calling and pulling a string or two for you to be in that program. It's hard work but you'll learn a lot. If you can keep your head above water with that, they wouldn't really have a choice but to admit you're competent if you're willing to work on it."

First one was fairly smooth and long, with plenty of soft fins over its body. It was obviously some kind of fish, but he couldn’t pin down which one it was; there were a lot of fish Pokemon out there.

Next up had soft, damp skin on its head. There was a tuft of hair on the back standing up, and slightly-tougher bumps on the side of its head. He still had no idea what Pokemon this one ones.

After that was considerably furrier than the last two. He felt like he could fit his whole hand in its head if he wanted to, but he was just patting it, not feeling it up. No clue there.

Last up was different from the others; it felt completely dry, and it had strangely-shaped hair, almost jagged. He found its ears pretty quickly - round-shaped. Shape of its head was pretty equine-like, so he was able to avoid touching its eyes. Still drawing a blank.

All four of the wild Pokemon got their headpats - and all four were satisfied, lying down on the ground. Of course, Hideo was quick to get back to patting Beepin’s head afterwards - those cries sounded fairly unhappy.

“Haven’t really thought ‘bout what I wanna do when I’m older,” he said, “I only got my license almost a month ago. I’ve just been thinking about what I wanna do next, and trying to get my parents to let me do it.”

He silently listened to Ki’s offer, noting the noise of Pokeballs drawing Pokemon in. He smiled, but he didn’t exactly nod along with it. It was a pretty nice offer, but not one he felt like he wanted to accept. Yet.

“I’m really grateful for the offer, Mr. Ki, but I think I’ll save something like that for later. I feel like I gotta learn a lot more about Pokemon before I can be a ranger, even for a training program. I don’t even know the ones I was just petting. And I think the best way for me to do that would be to go ‘round Hoenn as a trainer.”

How much later? Who knew.

A small smirk opened on his face. “Besides, it’d feel pretty awkward if I asked my parents to let me start learning to become a ranger, after I went through everything to let them let me become a trainer.”

Chu-e Choi

'Eh, that's fair." He did glance at the pokemon. "To be honest, though, I don't know what some of those guys are, either. One's a Bibarel, but that fish and bird look mad crazy." Chu-e shrugged it off. He was familiar with mostly fairy types, normal types, farm pokemon, and the ones from Sinnoh and Kanto since he had lived there the most. Maybe a few from Kalos, but he didn't count that since he hadn't properly 'lived' so much as 'confined to a bed' there. He wasn't a pokedex and didn't intend to be.

"If you ever change your mind, you can look me up in Mossadeep! Hell, if you're ever in the area just feel free to visit in general."

There was a pause as a thought struck him. "Oh, hey! Do they have, uh... the Cubchoo Scouts here in Hoenn? My sister used to be in that when she was your age. It's got that kind of healthy curriculum that parents like. Maybe you could start with something like that?" He wasn't sure if it was even established in the region but he was sure there had to have been something similar. Honestly, Chu-e was just trying to find helpful ideas at this point.

"You know, it's been fun, kid, but I think I need to start walking again if I want to make it to Fortree before dark." Chu-e did, at least, sound sort of apologetic about that.