“Something about this does not seem right.” Ethan complained again. It had been two days since he had been down at the police station and talked with Protocol. With his help, they had decided on giving the Granbull some community service, rather than a harsh sentence based on what she was saying. That went very smoothly, but it had been what Protocol had told him when they met the day afterwards that was still bugging him. He had not given it too much thought at first, but the more and more he thought about it, what Protocol had told him just did not make any sense.
“What is it that does not seem right?” Brawly asked, stumping Ethan slightly. He had only mumbled it to himself as he was thinking and had not meant to say it out loud. The two of them were sitting outside their home, just enjoying the sun.
“Something Protocol told me…” Ethan admitted, he had no reason to hide it. “You know that Protocol sent word to the princesses to ask for help with the matter of, The Weavers, right?”
“Yeah, I think you mentioned something about that, why?” Brawly leaned back, one of his legs crossed over the other.
“Well, he got word back.”
“That was quick.” Ethan nodded, agreeing with Brawly's comment. “So, what’s happening?”
“Apparently… they have confidence that we can handle this.” He said we, but it was more directed at the Neighagra Falls police force. They were just there to provide some support if needed. “And that just does not seem right to me! Something like this seems too important for them to not send any kind of help at all, no matter how competent Protocol and his police ponies are…” There was more though. According to Protocol, they were to report their findings to the princess if something else came up, and that they would receive assistance if the case worsened. That was all well and good, but still…
“That does sound a little strange. But maybe that is just how they do things here in Equestria?” It was a possibility that Ethan had entertained, but it still seemed wrong to him. “I mean, there are a lot of things that are similar to Earth. But it's still a completely different place. Maybe something like this is normal here. I don't know, have you talked with Mary about this?” Mary had been the go-to pony for anything regarding Equestria. If there was something they did not know or needed to ask about, they usually went to her.
“No… not yet.” He had not wanted to bother her about it so soon.
“Well, there you have it. It won't hurt to ask, right?” Ethan nodded, he had a good point. “Besides, maybe they simply have too much on their hands.”
“Hooves.” Ethan corrected him with a small grin.
“You know what I meant.” Brawly rolled his eyes, though he couldn't hide his own smile. They had started correcting each other about the proper terms on almost every opportunity they got. Sort of as a playful game to annoy the other, and both of them enjoyed it. “But yeah, they must have a ton of shit to do with everything that has happened recently. Perhaps they simply don't have the ponies to spare?”
That was also another possibility. The more Ethan thought about it, the more it seemed at least plausible. When you added up the whole appearance of a new species, they could not be the only ones who had problems. And on top of that, there was that whole world gathering that he had read about in the paper; no, the fact that they just did not have enough ponies really did make sense. Perhaps he had just been overthinking things again.
“Yeah, wreck your brain on that.” Brawly shook his head and patted Ethan on the head, who barely noticed, he was that deep in thought. “I think I'll head out, need to move a bit.” Brawly stood up and stretched, arching his back as he reached for the heavens. That however, got Ethan's attention.
“Huh, um, what?” Brawly could not help but laugh slightly as Ethan shook his head and looked up to him with a confused expression. For as long as he could remember, Ethan became like that at times if he focused too much on something. But the way he looked up to him with that confused expression, his eyes searching for answers and his mouth slightly open, he just looked extra cute like that.
“I said I'm heading out, cutie.” He said, making Ethan blush furiously. That was another thing he had discovered recently, Ethan was not good at taking compliments, at least not when they were from him. Oh, how he loved to tease his boyfriend. “See ya later.” He had turned around and was just about to leave when a pair of furry arms wrapped around him from the back and squeezed him slightly. “You gonna let me go?”
“In a second.” Ethan hummed as he continued to hug him for a bit. Feeling his face just resting against Brawly's strong back. “Okay, now I'm done.” He said, reluctantly letting go just leaving up and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before he did so.
“Oh, no you don't!” Brawly quickly countered, and Ethan let out a surprised sound as he was easily picked up. He knew that Brawly was strong, and he was even a little smaller than the average Lopunny. But it still never ceased to amaze him how easy he made it look. It was like he did not weigh anything at all to him, like he was just lifting a couple of grapes. “You just gonna tease me like that before I head off? Oh, no I don’t think so.”
Alone time for the two of them was practically impossible within their home with how many Pokémon that lived there, and their lack of walls and proper rooms. But they had their moments. And this was one of those moments. Goldenlocks, the teacher, had asked if they wanted to do a visit, to bring the Pokémon to them and spend some time with the foals. It was up to each individual whether or not they wanted to go, but they all had. So Ethan and Brawly was left with one of the few times they actually had their home all to themselves.
“I'd say it’s about an hour or so before Zoey and the others come back, right?” Brawly grinned, as Ethan nodded with a smile of his own, a faint blush already appearing on his cheeks. “Well, for that one hour, you are mine.” Brawly said as he carried the flushed Ethan inside, locking the doors behind them.
One hour and a quick shower later and Brawly was heading down towards the town with an extra little spring in his step. Zoey and the others had just gotten home as he had finished his shower, and he had hurried out of their home just as he had heard Chii ask why it smelled weird. Yeah, he would let Ethan deal with that.
The lack of privacy for the two of them was strange, but they found ways around the issue so he did not mind that much, or at least he pretended not to. Ethan really did not seem to mind. But then again, he had lived without privacy for so many years, sharing his home with everymon that needed it. But it would be nice if the two of them had a room to their own. Maybe he could ask Vernus to see if he could work something out: he had been the one that had built most of Ethan's previous secret bases.
Waking up with Ethan using him as a pillow was nice, he really thought that. But he always had to keep in mind that they were never alone. Ethan did not seem to mind, as he often expressed his affection openly. He was, for the lack of a better word… clingy. That was something he was not used to.
He did love Ethan, he really did. It had taken a little while for him to properly sort out his own feelings, but he knew that he deeply cared about him. He was just not completely sure how to handle the whole… relationship thing. It was so strange for him, to be in a situation like that where his action actually had consequences to them.
Back on Earth, he had basically only had one night stands and casual flings. He liked that freedom, it was just the sort of person he was. He always just did what he wanted, what he felt like, to a certain extent of course. He had to maintain a certain amount of his image since he was a Gym Leader after all. But that was it, he always did what he wanted, and now he wanted to be in this relationship with Ethan. He did not want to screw that up.
“You are thinking too much about this man…” Brawly told himself as he let out a sigh. “Don't create a problem where there are none.” Over thinking things was Ethan's deal, not his.
The road that led into town was fairly quiet. The sun shone down upon the road and the constant rumble of the waterfall could be heard in the background.
He stopped just outside of town and looked up to the enormous waterfall that could be seen in the distance. He missed the sea, oh how much he missed the sea. It was an itch that he had not been able to scratch in a while.
True, he had surfed down the waterfall on multiple occasions, and while it made for a few moments of thrilling fun, it was just not the same. He longed for that feeling, the majestic waves underneath him and his board. That raw, primal force that the sea provided, and the feeling as he conquered that force. It was a feeling that he could never truly explain to anyone.
He had thought about taking a trip to one of the places in Equestria that was near the sea, a vacation in other words. And he still had plans to do just that eventually. He could just not leave when he felt like it. No, with Jenny missing and him and Ethan having finally figured things out. No. He would go, he would see the sea again. But when, that he was not sure of.
Leaving those thoughts behind for another time, he continued into town. He had planned on just going for a jog, but figured that he would make a quick trip through the town to see what was going on. He had gotten to know quite the number of both ponies and Pokémon in the time he had been living there, and made it a habit to check in on a number of them, if only to say hello or to make some small talk.
“Morning, dude!” He raised and waved his paw as he came up to Mignon's restaurant. It was still fairly early in the day, so the restaurant was almost completely empty and Mignon was out for a break when he came on by.
“Bit early for, morning, ain’t it?” The earth pony chef answered with a grin.
“Guess it is. So, how's business?”
“Can’t complain, got a few visitors from Manehattan yesterday and they are still in town so.” Mignon was one of the ponies that Brawly had gotten to know a little better. “So, you here to pick up your next shipment?” They bought all their food directly from Mignon since he managed to give them a slightly better price than any of the other stores in town. Something which they were really thankful for. They had a lot of mouths to feed, so every bit that they spared helped out a little.
“Nah, just stopping by. Got some errands later today, so I’ll pick it up then if that's alright with you, man.”
“Sure, I'm not going anywhere so just come when ya want.” Brawly nodded as he leaned back against the wall next to Mignon. He was a pretty laid back kind of pony; the only time his temper flared up was when he was in the kitchen. He had a passion for what he did and Brawly could respect that.
The two of them spent a few minutes just chatting, talking about some of the news that they had read about in the papers–there was more than enough of that going around those days. However, Brawly noticed a rather large crowd that suddenly appeared and was heading down past the street where he and Mignon was.
“Something going on?” Brawly asked Mignon as they watched the crowd of ponies continued past them.
“Not that I know of.” Mignon scratched his head as they watched. “Hey, Zephyr!” Mignon called out to the familiar pegasus who he had spotted within the group and waved him over.
Zephyr looked over to where the two of them were standing and, with a flap of his wings, he took off and flew over, landing just in front of them. “Hey there, what’s up?”
“There something happening?” Mignon gestured to the the ponies behind them who was now dispersing, going back to whatever it was they needed to do.
“Oh, you mean that you missed it?” Zephyr's excitement only made Brawly and Mignon more curious. “You should have seen it. There was this, huge Pokémon. It used what looked like a pillar for a cane, I mean, how sick is that?” He was really excited, Zephyr was what you would call a bit of a scatterbrain. He started just rambling about what the Pokémon looked like, and it was not too difficult for Brawly to realize that it was a Conkeldurr that had their pegasus friend so exited. But he had gotten off point so, Mignon waved a hoof in front of Zephyr's face to regain his attention.
“Hey, focus! What happened? A single Pokémon showing up, would not cause all that.”
“Oh, no totally not.” Zephyr shook his head. “No, he was spouting all kinds of weird stuff. Though he did have a very convincing voice, so he had that going for him. I mean, you guys had some weird laws back where you came from man. I feel sorry for you.” Brawly just got more and more confused as Zephyr continued to talk.
“What are you talking about, dude? What kind of laws?” And more importantly, why were they talking about them to a bunch of ponies.
“Something about interspecies relationships and how wrong it was. You should have seen him, he was very into it. And quite convincing too, I mean, if he hadn't been sprouting total nonsense, I might have listened closer to what he had to say.” And then it dawned for Brawly what kind of laws Zephyr had meant. Poképhilia.
He knew quite a bit about politics, it was required of him as a Gym Leader, whether he liked it or not. And the whole deal about Poképhilia was just such a pain. To him, it was just something that could have been solved so easily, but instead it had grown into such a major problem when it really did not need to be. It was an outdated law; he, like so many others, thought just that. But even so, he had avoided the subject whenever it came up, as it would just have been too much trouble to deal with the aftermath if he did anything regarding the matter. It was so much simpler to just say out of the whole thing.
“Did he say what his name was?” If he had come to the town and started to talk, or rather preach about such a subject then he should probably meet the person to see what they wanted.
“Yeah!” All of them, sort of just stood there was they waited for Zephyr to continue, but he did not. He just looked at Brawly with his trademark smile, like nothing was wrong.
“Okay, then what was his name?” Brawly asked Zephyr against, phrasing his words differently.
“Oh, I don't know. I wasn't really listening.” Now, Brawly was a guy with a fair amount of patience. But even so, he did feel a slightly urge to slap Zephyr right then and there.
“Zephyr!” But having Mignon shout at him was the next best thing.
“I’m sorry, was moving some clouds and really only caught the ending of it. But I was serious about how convincing he sounded, I think some of the ponies there actually bought into what he was selling.” Zephyr told them and Brawly was about to speak up again when Zephyr cut back in. “Oh, and I think he said something along the lines that he was a professor of some kind.”
“A professor…” Brawly mused to himself. He pondered what professor had found his way into their little town, but he did not think that finding him would be that much of a problem. A Conkeldurr would stand out in pretty much every kind of crowd. “Well, did you at least see where he was heading?” And apparently he did know that, by how fast he started nodding.
“Yeah, he is heading back to your place. Overheard him talking to some ponies after it was over and apparently he was looking for you. So, I cut in and told him where he could find you.” Brawly just stood there for a few moments, absorbing what Zephyr had just said.
“So, you sent him back to my place?” Brawly asked.
“Mmh.” Zephyr nodded in confirmation.
“To find me?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, why didn't you mention this earlier, Zephyr!” Mignon cut in again. “If Brawly is here, then you sent that professor down there for nothing!” Realization lit up on Zephyr's face.
“Ooh, that… yeah, it kind of slipped my mind. But hey, now you know, so you can just go meet him, no harm no foul. But I need to fly, see ya later.” And before either of them had a chance to say anything else, Zephyr took to the air, leaving them standing there.
“I swear… sometimes, it’s like he had nothing between his ears at all.” Mignon sighed while shaking his head.
“He is right though, he couldn't have known that I’d be here, and that also means that I know where I will find that professor.” Brawly took a few steps away from the wall, before turning to face Mignon. “Thanks for the chat.”
“Always a pleasure.” Mignon nodded accordingly. “Now, go see what that guy wanted.”
“ Will do. Later, dude.” And with their goodbyes said, Brawly turned and started to head back home in a slightly hurried pace. He did not know how much of a head start that professor had on him. He knew a few Pokémon professors back on Earth and it would be nice to meet some of them again. Though, a few of them were a bit… strange, but fun to talk to nonetheless.
With that in mind, he continued on his way back home, to meet up with this professor and see if he were indeed one of those that he knew personally.
It did not take that long before Brawly caught up with the Pokémon in question. The hulking form of the Conkeldurr was easy to spot as it walked in a slow pace, using its stone pillar as a cane.
“Yo!” Brawly called out to him, getting his attention as the large form of the Conkeldurr turned around to look at him.
“Can I help you?” The Conkeldurr asked as it set its eyes upon Brawly.
“Heard that you were looking for me.” He said as he walked up to the guy. “Brawly.” He stopped in front of the Conkeldurr and held out his paw after he introduced himself.
“Ah, yes, I was looking for you.” He accepted the handshake, grabbing Brawly's paw with one his his huge hands while his concrete cane rested in the other.
“And, who are you, dude?” Brawly asked as they shook.
“Right, I am Professor Hastings.” Of course Brawly know who he was, but he was not one of the professors whom he knew personally. He only knew Hastings by his reputation. It was hard to not know who the former leader of the Pokémon Rangers was. But apart from that, he did not actually know too much about the guy.
“So, what brings you to our little town, Professor?” Brawly asked Hastings, who was stroking his beard.
“I was looking for some potential help, and found you. I have something important I need to talk to you about.” Well, he was straight to the point at least, Brawly could respect that.
“Why don't we head back to my home then, we can sit down and talk there.” Brawly offered. They were not that far away from their home anyway.
“Very well.” Hastings huffed, following after Brawly as he led him back to the warehouse.
Brawly had no idea what exactly Hastings had wanted to talk to him about that was so important, he just hoped that it had nothing to do with the subject Zephyr had overheard him talking about earlier.
The two of them had sat down in their own little part of the warehouse so that they could talk… unfortunately, things deteriorated quite quickly after that.
“It’s an absolute crime against the very nature itself!” Much to Brawly's annoyance, it had indeed turned out to be about Poképhilia. A subject that he quickly found out that Hastings took extremely serious, a tad bit too serious for his liking. “And that problem did not stop on Earth… no, those criminals are still here and has to be dealt with accordingly!”
Brawly let out a mental sigh. He had kept up his political mask as best as he could, but he found it harder and harder to pretend to be neutral as Hastings went on.
“I get that you think that, man.” Brawly leaned forward in the chair that he was using, he could see Ethan and some of the others glancing at them from the other end of the warehouse, sending him annoyed looks. Hastings was not exactly being quiet, no, he was sure that everyone there had heard what they were talking about and they were not exactly pleased about their, guest. “I just don't see what you expect me to do about it.”
“What I need is help with apprehending these criminals. You were a Gym Leader, so you have some amount of authority. I had hoped to make the Princesses see reason, but it seems that she has taken their side. We will use force if we have to.” So, he was already on the princesses’ bad side, just another reason why Brawly did not want to get involved in that whole matter.
“Dude, you are in way over your head.” Brawly urged. “You don't even have the law on your side anymore. Why continue to fight a losing battle?” He wondered if perhaps that has not been the right thing to say as he could easily see that he was just riling Hastings up more and more.
“Because it is the right thing to do! We can't just ignore the laws of Earth, they were criminals back there and they still need to be punished!” Hastings gripped his cane tightly as he spoke. “And those Pokémon… those poor Pokémon, I only hope that it is not too late to save them from whatever delusions that those criminals have instilled in their minds. Some of them actually do seem to think that they do… love their trainer.” He seemed to pause slightly before he spoke of love, and the very word seemed to disgust him. “Humans are only supposed to be with humans, that is just the way it is. The fact that we have changed bodies changes nothing! We are still human in our minds and we need to uphold those laws!”
Brawly was slightly baffled. He was sure that Hastings actually believed the things that he was spouting, in fact, he seemed completely convinced of the fact that he was doing the right thing. There was no reasoning with someone like him, Brawly had already realized that, and he felt sorry for whoever was on the receiving end of Hastings’s passion. For he was sure that, in the end, he would stop at nothing.
“So…” Hastings, shifted in his seat and leaned forward and stared at him with a large amount of determination in his eyes. “Are you going to help?” And just like that, it seemed that Brawly would not have any more time to dance around the issue.
“I’m sorry, but I have no intention of making a possible enemy of this country.” Brawly decided on his answer, he had been thinking of how decline Hastings for a while, hopefully in such a way that would create the least amount of trouble for him. But that had not been the answer that Hastings had wanted, and that was very obvious by the look on his face.
“Another one who lack the conviction to do what needs to be done.” Hastings grumbled in a low voice. “So, what do you intend to do then? Do you not see that this in something that we need to fight for? That we need to-” That was as far as he came before Brawly cut him off.
“I already heard what you had to say, and my answer remains the same.” He looked around, his glance going to Ethan and the others. “Besides, I already have things that I need to take care of here. No, you will not find any help here.” Brawly said as he stood up. “I think it is time for you to leave.” He said, his voice quite firm.
“So you are taking their side? Have you forgot what you used to be already, what it means to be human?” Hastings was not giving up that easily though, and continued as he too stood up.
“No, I remember quite perfectly what it means to be human.” Brawly countered. “And I did not say that I was taking their side either. You do whatever you want, but I do not want any part in it.” He hoped that their discussion was coming to an end soon, he was already growing tired of wearing his political mask and pretending.
“This is not something that you can avoid taking sides in, Brawly.” Hastings practically spat at him. “You are either with us, or against us!” And with that, He turned away from Brawly and began to walk to the door.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, old man!” Brawly turned around and saw that Chii had crawled out from under the chair he had been using and was now sticking her tongue out towards the Professor.
Hearing her voice, Hastings took one last look behind himself and just huffed in annoyance before he left their home, not looking back as the door closed behind him.
“Nice one.” Brawly commented on Chii's remark. He should have probably told her something along the lines of not being rude to guests or something like that… but nah. He totally agreed with her.
“Thanks, he was a meanie.” Chii huffed as she climbed up on one of the nearby chairs. “Why did you let him in?”
“Well, I did not know that he was a meanie before I let him in. And sometimes you have to deal with people, even if you don't like them that much.” Chii seemed content with that answer as she nodded accordingly.
“You handled that pretty well.” Brawly felt a paw on his shoulder and looked over it to see that Ethan had made his way over to them. “Though I think that he overstayed his welcome a little bit, I got sick of listening to him.”
“That dude seemed pretty caught up in his own world, yeah.” It was quite sad to think about, really. “Say, if you had the opportunity, would you have given a try to change him, or rather his view on things?” Brawly asked, looking up Ethan who seemed to mull on the question for a bit.
“No… I don't think I would.” He shook his head. “ But then again, I am a Pokémon psychologist. Humans are not my forte, even if they are just former ones.”
But his visit had given Brawly a lot to think about. Not only the things that he had said, but the fact that people like him had also been moved to Equus.
“Something on your mind?” Brawly looked up, seeing Ethan's eyes looking into his own.
“... No, not really.” Reassured his boyfriend with a smile. There had been quite a lot on his mind over the day and that visit certainly did not help with that. But he would not worry any of them with that. No, they certainly had enough to deal with, with their own little weird family. He was happy. And in the end, that was the only thing that mattered.