Chapter 1 - Welcome to the Pokemon Ranch!

Nate woke up to the sound of his alarm clock, as he always did every day.

With a sigh, he sat up in bed and stretched, smiling with the slight creaking sound he heard, and got up to get ready, Heading to the bathroom where he spent the next few minutes.

He was already leaving when he heard the sound of a knock on his door, making him smile and turn towards the exit of his room while throwing his wet towel on a nearby chair.

"Coming!"

The knocking only stopped when he opened the door, revealing a creature with blue, pink and white fur and its right leg missing, a small smile on the creature's face, its bright, but tired, pink eyes looking at him with expectation, while its strange ribbon-like tendons moved around it.

"It's late" He heard a soft masculine voice speak when the creature opened its mouth.

"No, it's not" He said while laughing "It's still early, and I even woke up earlier than usual"

And he was right, the world was still dark outside, and no bird could be heard.

"But today is the big day!" Said the creature "We can't expect the laze around so much!"

"Ok! Ok Sylv!" Nate said, leaving the room "We should start finding Faith, Umbra, Mune and Solana?"

"They're in the Orchard" Disse a criatura "They really happy to start today!"

"And Fergus?"

"In the Kindgardem"

He hummed a response while walking through the corridors of the gigantic property he owned.

Well, not quite, it was given to him by the System.

Nate was a transmigrator, he died by being hit by a truck while playing pokemon with his friends, and was brought to a strange big place.

The System has made itself know right after he woke up, and told him that his mission in this world was to spread the Pokemon, but he had to prepare himself first, so it gives him two years to get used to the environment of the given place, and also access to files over de second year so he could learn about this new world without the need to leave the safety of the place since, while closed, could not be invaded or sensed.

That's how he knew that this world was one of magic and swords, where humans enter gates to fight monsters or hunt in the wilderness.

During these two years, he got used to a lot of things, one of these being the rescues, pokemons that needed especial treatment in various ways, be it emotional or fiscal, and there he meet his partners, a shiny Sylveon without a leg he named Sylvester, two Espurrs that soon evolved into Meowstics, both blind of one eye, one male e one Female, who he named Mune and Solana, an Umbreon with social anxiety, who he named Umbra, an mute Audino, who's name is Faith, and an Mudsdale that love children, called Fergus.

The System was really generous, and gave him the ability to understand Pokemon once he got his partners, and then stopped chatting since.

Arriving at the entrance of the Orchard, Sylvester and Nate soon saw the others.

"Finally!" He heard Mune say.

"We thought you were still sleeping!" Solana completed.

"Morning" Umbra said, still half asleep.

(Good Morning!) Faith showed off her notebook with a big smile.

Two years have finally passed, and today was the opening day, everyone was excited for this and wanted to be sure that everything was perfect.

So, with a big smile, Nate opens the door to the Orchard, ready to prepare the best meal for the Pokemon.

***

Aiden Wayland enjoyed his job, but, sometimes, he would love it if people learned to make their own weapons.

"Better weapons! I'll show them 'better weapons'!"

Aiden Wayland, heir of the Wayland, a family of blacksmiths, and the best in the area since his grandfather's time.

But since the guild master of Soaring Sky, the second best guild of the Golden Empire of the North, changed, his life has been full of nothing but nagging complaints.

After one… colorful argument with the guild master, he decided he had enough, turned his back with a middle finger and didn't look back.

Now he was looking at his personal phone, browsing through the internet looking at videos and photos of animals while ignoring the ringing of his work phone.

He's been doing this for a few hours now, and he was planning to continue with this untill an interesting post appeared.

[Pokemon Ranch - Opening Day!

Today is the first day of our Pokemon Ranch, come and meet your future partner for life!]

"Pokemon?"

Aiden found the use of words interesting and clicked, curious about these 'Pokemon'.

He was surprised with what he saw and sat down quickly.

"Demonic Beasts?!"

He saw pictures of strange creatures roaming in an open field, some flying, some running and some swimming.

In some of the pictures, a young boy, 19 at most, with long braided green hair thrown over his shoulder, interacting with these creatures, the so-called Pokemon.

He read the brief summary of what Pokemon were and frowed.

[Pokemon, wonderful creatures capable of wonderful feats, are great companions, be it for battles or for company, they took you to new heights!]

Ainden saw a picture of a large building with a welcoming appearance, in front of the building, the boy was standing with a big smile, and, under da photo, was a line of text:

[If you ever come, we welcome you to the Pokemon Ranch!]

After the text was the location of the place, which was outside the walls of the city where Aiden was, at the foot of a hill that had not been visited for many years, despite having once been a major tourist attraction.

Aiden hesitated for a moment.

These things called Pokemon were obviously a kind of Demonic Beasts, but they seemed too tame to be, so maybe Beasts?

He considered it a montage, edited photos or something, but his instincts made him disagree.

He thought about calling the guild, but thinking about the still ringing phone at the other side of the room, he descartes the idea, gaze falling into your magic bag with his weapons.

.

.

.

"Mister Wayland? Are you going somewhere?" An assistant asked.

"Just checking something," Aiden answered.

"But Soaring Sky's guild master is in the way to-"

Ainden disappeared in a blink of an eye, already being too far away to hear.

"Hunters…" The assistant muttered with a shaking head.

___

Aiden soon arrived at the place, and honestly?

It was as big as it looked in the photo.

A sign attached to the fence in front of the property stated the name of the place.

[Pokemon Ranch]

Cartoonish versions of the creatures in the pictures from earlier could be seen in the sign, along with strange fruits and flowers.

He stared at the sign for a moment, then at the place.

He stared for some time until the door was opened and revealed one of the strange creatures.

It was pink and beige with a humanized expression, big bright blue eyes, a notebook under one arm, a spencil in one hand(?), a necklace with a strange stone and a whistle hanging around its neck.

It looked at him from its place at the entrance, looking confused.

They stared at each other for some time, untill it opened a big happy smile, before taking the notebook and started writing.

This thing could write!

This scared him for a moment, leaving him stunned.

But then it turned the notebook to him.

(Are you here to see Pokemon?)

It was asking him if he came to see the Pokemon.

Still startled, he just nodded, but that was enough, the creature beamed with the answer, its fan-like ears moved up and down happily while it smiled and wrote down something.

(Follow me!)

Then it turned, revealing its soft looking tail, and entered the building, Aiden hesitated a little before following, just to be assaulted by a delicious smell and the sound of pans.

The inside was as welcoming as the outside, tables and chairs here and there, bean bags, couches in a corner, along with an open kitchen behind a counter with a strange menu on the side, from where the sound and smell came.

[Meals and poke treats]

"Poke treats?"

With curiosity, he approached the kitchen, finally seeing the Chefs.

To his astonishment, the chefs were two lop-eared bunny like creatures standing on stools, one with a light gray fur and red and black clothes, and the other a dark gray fur and white and red clothes, the second one had a cute pink ribbon with white dots in one of the ears.

They both notice Aiden stare, looking stunned for a moment before the one with a ribbon turned off the stove it was using and got down from its stool, approaching Aiden on the counter with the stool.

Aiden couldn't help but find humor in the behavior, so he waited for the bunny-like creature to appear on the other side of the counter, still too short to look at his eyes.

But the proximity helped him see the badge hanging around its neck.

[Looking for a home]

Given a quick look to the other one and seen it wearing the same badge, he raised an eyebrow.

The creature he saw before didn't have that badge.

The bunny-like creature handed him the menu, its aloof looking eyes shining with a childish gleam.

Chuckling, he took the menu, taking a look.

And God, everything looked so cute and good!

But not the price!

[Piquant Pikachu Curry - A vegetable-loaded curry with a kick to it. Enjoy a big plate and fuel your energy with Pikachu's smile (8 low-grade monster core)]

[Lilligant Floral Tea - Original blended tea. The soothing scent has calming benefits, just like the flower on Lilligant's head (3 low-grade monster core)]

Monster core!

This place uses a monster core!

Monster cores are usually used to make weapons like staffs or magic swords, but also for research and for a more friendly form of energy.

But this place uses a monster core to pay for food…

Aiden's face was dark, confusing the bunny-like creature.

"Hello?"

Startled, Aiden turned to the direction the voice came, facing the boy he saw in the pictures, he was wearing the same kind of necklace the fan-like ears creature used, but with a smaller stone, farmer clothes and carried a basket of fruits and vegetables Ainden had never seen before, his hair was tied up in a high bun, a bright smile in his face, the fan-like eared creature at his side wore a big proud smile.

"Faith said there was a visitor" Said the boy, approaching with a gloved hand extended to Aiden.

Aiden hesitated, not used to being approached in such a casual way.

Like he was just someone and not the heir of Wayland.

A little numb, he accepted the extended hand, making the boy chuckle and release Aiden's hand.

"I'm Nate" He said "And you?"

That surprised Aiden, the boy didn't know who he was?

… maybe that was a good thing…

"Aiden" He said with a professional smile "I came because of a post I saw, so your opening today?"

"Yes!" Said the boy approaching the counter "Welcome to Pokemon Ranch, I'm really happy that we got a visitor, the others are so excited!"

Aiden watched the Bunny-like creature take an excited look at the basket and take a pear-like fruit, opening its mouth, revealing its bunny-like tooth, and taking a good bite of the fruit.

"Boot!"

The creature made a strange sound, looking pleased with the fruit.

"Haboot!"

The other bunny-like creature called from the kitchen, making the ribbon one finish its food quickly, then taking the basket and running off to the kitchen, just coming back to take its stool.

"How about we order something and sit down to talk better?" The boy suggested "Since you are our first visitor, the first order is on the house!"

Not wanting to show disrespect to the boy, Aiden accepted, choosing the two products he had seen before, while the boy ordered a latte and pancakes, soon the two were sitting at one, the fan-like eared creature far gone to watch the food being done.

"What with the prices?" Aiden started "Why monster cores? Don't you think you'll be scaring future customers?"

"Not really?" The boy responded "Like everyone knows, monster cores are needed to make a source of energy, and this whole place need this cores to keep going, be it the Nursery, the Kindgardem, the Kitchen or the Orchard, and everything here is top notch, from food to medical treatment, I also have access to all things that a human would need, and since I sell products to humans and Pokemon, I'll be earning a source of energy to my Ranch, so yeah, money means little here, cores are more useful"

The honest answer surprised Aiden, making him see the boy in a new light.

In fact, even though he complained about the price, it's not like it's impossíble to pay, he was not just a remarkable blacksmith, but also an outstanding hunter, so getting monster cores wasn't something hard, especially a low-grade core.

And since the boy could obviously produce his own food, there was no need to buy anything, and he knew what more he already had at hand.

And everything at the cost of cores.

He had to agree with the boy, cores were more useful.

So he decided to move the subject.

"About Pokemon" He said pointing to the fan-like eared creature "Are these creatures the Pokemon you talked about in your post?"

That made the boy beam with joy.

"Yes! This is Faith, she's an Audino" He said "A kind Pokemon of the Normal Type! Audinos are usually used by doctors as assistants, they're hearing ability is amazing, not even a pebble rolling along over a mile away will escape Audino's ears, that's how she knew there was someone in the front door and met you"

Aiden raised a brow to the information, but didn't say anything.

"You said Faith is a healer" He said "She uses magic like mages or sacred power like the saints and priests?"

The boy hesitated, seeming to be looking for the right words.

"Yes and no" He answered "Its a power similar to magic and sacred power, but its not holly or requires mana to use, but will exhaust the pokemon if used to many times, and can't be canceled by arrays and barriers, as it doesn't need the mana the barriers and arrays block, just interrupted or intercepted, like most spells, but that goes to most pokemon moves, not just Audinos"

Aiden's interest escalated to another level the moment he heard this.

A being capable of using its skills even when there is an array or barrier? That's unheard of and thought to be impossible, as mana is needed for most skills.

He decided to ask more.

"What is this Type thing you mentioned?" Ainde asked.

"The Type define the category of the pokemon" The boy said "Just like the classes define the category of each hunter, or, simply saying, like the a mage would be differentiated by their elements, their way of fight will be different"

"How many types are there?" Aiden couldn't help but ask.

"Eighteen" The boy said "And more than a thousand of species"

Aiden nearly choked.

'More than a thousand!?'

He wanted to ask more questions, but then a floating tray approached them.

"Meow!"

Two voices sound somewhere below them, looking down, Aiden saw two feline-like creatures, um white and blue and one blue and white, both with a milky eye, the white one being the right and the blue one being the lefs, obviously blind, but both had blue glowing eyes, the same color that surrounded the tray with the orders.

"Oh! Mune, Solana!" The boy said "Thank you!"

"Meow"

With the strange crie, the plates and the orders floated out from the tray to the table, then the pair left the place with the floating tray.

"That's Mune and Solana!" The boy said cheerfully "They're both Meowstics, a Psychic type Pokemon, but of different genders, you can see thanks to the fur, the males are blue and the females are white"

Aiden, still stunned, started to think.

'Where the hell have I put myself!?'