"How are you feeling?"
Lyka was a bit stunned when they arrived.
Friedrich (what a fancy name to such a humble guy) had brought them to his massive fancy flower shop (ok, maybe not that humble).
There was some problem when they entered the city, since, well, the kids were all out, including Hawlucha.
And wow, Nature wasn't kidding when he said they could be mistaken by Demonic Beasts.
"Tamable beast are really rare" Said Nature "And even they attack first, so be sure to not attack unless is needed"
He now could understand the warning.
These guys were vicious!
But he couldn't blame, he saw one of the Demonic Beasts that followed Tapu Koko to the Ranch once, the thing was small, but Great Arceus! It was a fierce fighter!
Tapu Koko was satisfied for weeks.
After walking through the city and talking on the way (while Lyka was fighting with the sleep that started to haunt him as he got old), they finally arrived.
Friedrich had brought them to the part of the shop that led to his house and let them stay in the living room and left to fetch his wife, disappearing from a door, just like Nature did when he decided that he needed something from the other side of the Ranch.
He was still processing everything, and started to think about how long he would stay before he was returned, as he thought he would be out of place here because of his disability.
Then Hawlucha approached him, sitting by his side while the kids looked around curiously.
"'m fine" He said "Just…"
"Overwhelmed?"
He scoffed, but nodded.
"Yeah" He admitted with a smirk "I don't think I would ever leave the Ranch without your stubbornness"
"As if I would let you stay behind" The kid said with a mischievous smile.
Lyka just rolled his eyes playfully.
After a few minutes of waiting, the door from where Friedrich disappeared opened once again.
Lyka turned to see who came, only to be left with shock and a jaw on the flour.
Friedrich was there, but, in front of him, was an elderly pettit (if compared to him) woman with silver hair, she had a sweet smile on her face and a gentle warmth on her gray eyes.
But, more importantly.
She was on a wheelchair.
"I'd like to introduce you to my wife" Said the "Penelope Armstrong"
"It's a pleasure to meet you" She said in a tender tone.
Lyka was embarrassed to admit that he stared a lot.
Seems he won't be so out of place as he thought?
_______________________________________
"What 's that?"
Eli was a bit confused to why his sister, who just darted out of the guild a few hours ago to chase her fiance, come back with a bright smile on her face, what seemed to be a eagle on her head, standing proudly where it was, her fiance behind her with a red monkey with a short tail on his arms, sleeping soundly.
"This is Sky!" She said "He's our guild's new mascot!"
It chirped with pride while spreading its wings wide, making a few female hunters and workers to coo at him.
"And this is Fiama" Said Aiden "She's my new helper in the forges.
He stared at the eagle, then at his sister, then at the monkey, then at his brother-in-law.
"And where did you find them?"
They suddenly became serious.
"That I need to talk to you in private" His sister said "Call the other to the meeting room"
And then he followed them to the meeting room.
Helena set at her chair at the edge of the table while he and Aiden set at her tqo sides, the eagle-thing, Sky, was on her table, eating happily the food she took out of her spatial bag, and the monkey was grudgingly sitting in on Aiden's lap, it's tail was now burning with a big fire.
On the other seats of the table were the other representatives of the guild.
Barbara, the elf magician who could control many types of magic.
Deborah, the beast folk priestess.
Alex Volk, the Fae alchemist.
And Christopher Delray, the human paladin from a noble family.
Demi-humans weren't impossible to find, as many years ago, Gates that led to dieing worlds appeared, bringing from them new species that were suffering from the same thing as theirs, but they all prefered to stay in their now established territory in this world, or being part of World Tree, the officially known as the best guild, mainly composed by Demi-humans.
These in this room were a group of friends in the academy, now they were all the core members and, along with Aiden, him and Helena, were the leaders of Soaring Sky.
"You all remember the hill that used to be an attraction a few years ago?" Helena asked him.
They all nodded in affirmation, all with dark expressions.
A beast tide had broken on the place, the whole hill was taken by beasts and many had died at the time.
It was still a sore spot for many hunters.
"Someone took the place and built a ranch" She said.
Eli sat up straight, eyes wide in surprise.
"I found a strange post on the internet that talked about the place and I went there to investigate" Aiden said "I passed by two times, one by myself and the other with the Helena, my gramps, her gramps and uncle, we have met the owner, he's just a human boy, nineteen at best, no apparent guardian on site, just him"
"Why would such a young child be alone in that place?" Barbara said, worried in her voice.
Elves had very strict rules for childs, so, for their long lived lives, nineteen was far from their standards of a capable adult.
"I actually don't know" He admitted.
"But that's not the main point" Helena intervened, as Aiden nodded.
"Yes, what is the problem here is not just the unsupervised boy in a territory of Demonic Beasts, but the unsurprised boy in a territory of Demonic Beast that have a group of deities and a cure all elixir in his ranch"
The room went silent, all eyes on the blacksmith.
He only gave them an apologetic smile.
"I saw it too" Helena said "A giant tree that produces a huge amount of pink water that never ends, the whole place radiated the same energy of World Tree and flying creatures with strange appearances"
And there was his sister's sixth sense, the vibe check, as Alex liked to call it.
She compared the tree with the World Tree, the guild, which definitely wasn't something she would say lightly, as this could mean a new and, most importantly, clamable place to any power house that good ears to hear first and take the elixir.
The World Tree Guild isn't only by the diversity of races that came from different worlds, but also for the fact it had a piece of the world there that the former guild master found in a gate.
It had grown a lot since it was first found, but the biggest feature was its ability to create a fruit capable of curing all kinds of illnesses.
But it only produces trees every year, so just the ones with big merits received them.
So if anyone ever got wind of the existence of a fountain of cure all elixir being maintained on the old hill, a war could break out.
And, if it wasn't enough to throw that bomb, he remembered another thing that was mentioned.
"Did you say deities?" He and Deborah said at the same time.
Just like many priests and priestesses, Deborah had a special connection with deities and gods, but, as the years went by, less and less divine beings had something to say much.
It was surprising to hear that deities would physically appear somewhere and stay there.
"And that's not all"
There 's more!?
Aiden pointed to the now more awake monkey in his lap and the eagle eating by Helena's side.
"The place rise and sell creatures called Pokemon" He said "Just like the deities, this guys are pokemon and they all have special abilities similar to skills"
All eyes fell on the creatures.
Chistopher was the first to react, taking advantage of his proximity take and a better look at the monkey.
"I know that it is a monkey with a burning tail" He said "But you're telling me that this little thing has skills?"
Then he started to poke the monkey, much to the thing's obvious displeasure.
"Chis" Aiden said with a continuous tone "You really shouldn't-"
Too late, the thing turned itself to Chistopher and opened its mouth, a fire collun going alt of it.
There was a bit of silence, the eagle started chirping happily, Aiden opened an apologetic smile, Helena just smiled a bit and the monkey puffed her chest, now completely awake and tail burning brightly.
"I tried to warn you" Said the blacksmith before petting the things head "That's Fiama, a Chinchar of Fire Type, she's a Pokemon"
"Chimchar!"
The little thing cried out with pride, huffing at Christopher as it climbed the table.
"And this is Sky" Helena pointed to the eagle "His a Rufflet, of Flying and Normal Type"
The eagle chirped while folding its wings, a fierce look on its eyes that didn't match its cute appearance.
Eli was still confused and stunned, looking back and forth from both creatures.
He could feel a headache forming.
_______________________________________
Lane picked up his phone, dialing the number he got on the post.
He had just put his older daughter on bed and his wife was putting their youngest daughter back on her crib, so he took the time to make the call.
No one responded for a few moments, but soon he heard someone.
{Hello, here is Nate from the Pokemon Ranch, what might I help you with?}
It was a young voice, probably the boy he saw on the pictures and videos.
"Hello, I saw the post and was a curious about these Beasts you have"
{Oh! They actually aren't Beasts, but Pokemon}
He raised a brown.
"Pokemon?"
{Yes, it's short for Pocket Monster, they are called that because of one of our products, the Poke Balls, that can seal them in a mini terrarium that you can put on your pocket}
Lane was a bit confused with the explanation, not capable of imagining what the boy meant by that.
And the boy seemed to understand.
{Would you like to make a video call so you can see the process?}
"Yes"
He changed the call to a video call and the first thing he saw was a boy with green hair with a soft smile.
{I make the demonstration with one of a Pokemon among my personal ones, Fergus}
The boy then showed him a really small white and red sphere with a button.
{This is a common Pokemon, it can change sizes depending on the situation, but this is the size they stay when not needed}
Lane watched as the boy pressed the button and the sphere grew in size, occupying a good portion of his hand.
Not really that surprising as he had already seen magic objects capable of the same.
But then the boy turned the phone to his side, revealing a giant horse.
He had to admit, he loved the creature, it was big and imposing, but it also had an almost humanized gentleness in its eyes.
{This is Fergus, his a Mudsdale, a pokemon of Ground Type, which means he can use earth related abilities, he help me with heavy work and keeping an eye in all the young Pokemon in the Ranch and is the most gentle soul you'll ever see}
The creature whinnied softly as it rubbed its snout on the boy's face.
Lane smiled, he could see the calmness of the creature, even with its imposing appearance and intimidating size, it was really just a gentle giant.
{I'll show you now how the Poke Ball works}
The boy then pointed the Poke Ball to the creature, a red light shot from it, involving the entire creature, and soon it disappeared, the light returning to the sphere.
His eyes went wild as he looked at the spot where the creature was.
In a moment it was there, and in the next it wasn't.
{The inside of a Poke Balls will change according to the Pokemon preferences, so they always will be in a environment they like, but it is more than just a seal, but a personal space for the pokemon to stay, like a room}
He showed the pokemon to the camera, and Lane saw the creature once again on the semi transparent surface of the Poke Ball, chewing in grass in an open space.
The boy even pressed the button once again, making the Poke Ball shrink, moving it a bot on his hand, then pressed again to make it grow and showed the creature again, unfazed by the actions.
{If kept for too long on the inside, the Poke Ball will force the Pokemon in a stasis to keep them from suffering from malnutrition and other things}
The boy pointed the Poke Ball to an empty space and gave a command, soon a light surged from the sphere and the creature was back, perfectly fine.
It neighed, hubbing its snout once again in the boy before leaving.
{Thank you and good night!}
It left with a last neigh as the boy turned his attention back to Lane
{These were Poke Balls and the reason Pokemon are called Pokemon, any other question?}
Oh so many questions.
He would stay the next hours or so questioning all the things to Pokemon, and at some point, his wife joined in, being highly interested.
It seems the trip with his brother would be more like a family trip.
_______________________________________
A fithteen year old boy stared at the house in front of him.
Rafflesia Arnoldii Auberon was his name, but he was now used to being called Raff.
Yes, Rafflesia Arnoldii likes the parasyte plant that smells like carrion.
That was the name his mother gave him at the naming ceremony when he was five.
It was an ugly name, unlike his younger twin's, Fleur de Lis, who many believed was a genius.
It was because of this blatant favoritism that he was taken from his family to live with his uncle and a few friends.
But now he was going to have his fifteenth birthday at his half brother's house, like he did every year.
He was kind of nervou actually, as always was when he is close to his half brother.
Not that he was bad! No, the guy was awesome!
He just didn't know how to react around him.
Well, he didn't know how to react around humans in general.
"Are you ok?"
He looked at the side, an elf was there, he had a pair of grasses, green eyes hidden behind them, his long blond hair was tied in a ponytail and he was wearing jeans and a white hoodie above a black t-shirt.
If anyone looked at him, they would think that he was twenty, not sixty.
Pure blood elves do live a lot more than many races and age slowly after reaching a certain age.
As a half-blood, he didn't envy that part of pure blood.
He already found it unnerving the idea of living doble of the time a human does.
"Yeah" Was all he said.
He really wasn't that well.
He sometimes had problems controlling his emotions and his half brother was a father of two little girls and had a wonderful wife, he was scared of ending up taking it out on them unintentionally.
And his uncle, Sunflower, also known as Sunny, knew that as well.
"Hey, look at me"
He turned at his uncle, who smiled at him.
"Everything will be ok" He said "Just like always, nothing will happen"
He hesitated, before nodding.
With a soft smile, Sunny turned and rang the bell.
Raff take a deep breath as he waited.
It would be fine.
He would be fine.
The door opened, Lane appeared with his big and radiant smile, hugging him the moment Raf was in sight.
"Look at the birthday boy!"
He was not fine!!
_______________________________________
Sunflower felt a bit of pity as he saw his nephew's reaction to the act of affection from his older brother.
The kid had never received much affection from his family and Sunflower himself was still trying to help the boy to adapt to a more healthy environment.
He held back the anger that started to form in his heart, as his mana would give him in if he didn't and he didn't make the boy nervous.
His beloved sister whom he once looked up to, proved to be a terrible mother, showing such blatant favoritism that he made him question why she slept with a human in the first place.
And such a good one at that.
Even with the difference in skin color, as Drake was black and Raff had the fair skin of elven folk, he could only see Drake, Raff's father, whenever he saw the boy.
His short curly black hair, his big timid eyes, even though Raff's were green, not brown, his short stature were so, so similar to Drake's.
And it hurts.
It hurts to look at the boy and see such a familiarity, but not quite the same.
But he loved this boy, and would kill God if it meant to keep him safe.
"Sunny!"
So he keeps it cool, successfully hiding his emotions and smiles at his nephew's brother.
The one who was the spitting image of his late father.
"Hey Lane! How's you going?"
Who cares that they saw each other yesterday at the guild, he would always ask this since had the crazy capability to have more of the wildests adventures imagenable in a single hour then he could get in a whole year.
Seriously, Sunflower wouldn't belive half of them it Lane didn't have the habit of walking with a bodycam with him.
And it didn't help that he had a mischievous smile on his face.
"Good thing your're asking" He said "Because you two are about to know!"
And that was how they ended up in the van of the Shane family, both seated on the two seats on the back.
Well, van was understatement, it was more of a family size armored car.
Yuko Shane, Lane's wife, was a white Bakeneko from the beast folk, she was sitting on the passenger seat.
On the roll in front of Sunflower and Raff was a tan eight year old girl with her mother yellow eyes, thin pupils and white hair, Lana Shane, the oldest daughter, she didn't have other beast folk characteristics other them her eyes, bit she was good in ilusion magic like her mother and had a good physical strength like her father, she was smiling and singing like her father.
On a baby comfort, a baby with white skin and hair was sleeping through the sounds around her, Tamayo Shane's, the youngest daughter, two cat ears were glued on her head, a natural reaction that many Bakeneko cubs had to noise, cat tail hidden for now, the color of her eyes were still unknown.
She may obviously have human blood on her body, but it didn't stop the beast folk blood from affecting her, as it would take some time before she can open her eyes.
"Are we there yet?" The oldest daughter asked once again.
"Not yet sweety" Was the father's answer.
They have been in the van for some time and Sunflower knew they were out of the city gates, as he saw them passing them.
He was curious, but also a bit worried.
It could be dangerous outside of the city, so why would he take them all out like this?
And by the way Yuko behaved, not showing an ounce of concern, she knew about it too.
Gracious World Tree, she was smiling!
He and Raff have been enchanting looks and chatting through mana links for a moment, questioning if the couple had gone crazy or something.
"Are we there yet?" Lana asked once again
"Yes sweety"
The car finally came to a stop.
"We are here!"
Lane happily got out of the car, along with Yuko, who soon came to take the children and clean the way for him and Raff pass.
They were in front a dense forest, the only thing ther was a large stone path.
"Hum… where is 'here'?" Raff asked, a bit too quietly.
Lane smiled before pointing to a stone path.
"What I wanted to show is just down this road" Was all he said before starting to walk.
Sunflower and Raff enchanted looks once again, but followed as Yuko walked behind her husband.
They followed the path, he and Raff were a bit nervous, as was Lana.
The forest stank of Demonic energy, the same energy that Demonic Beasts emanated.
But he also felt a lot of protection spells and arrays on the road.
What a mysterious place Lane had discovered.
They walked for a few minutes before a build could be seen in the distance.
Sunflower, with his good sight, saw a sigh.
[Pokemon Ranch]
It was cute, if he was honest, the drawings around the name were like a cartoonish versions of some creatures he new, and the mana flux around the place was calm and welcoming.
It made him wonder why anyone would build such a beautiful place in such an ugly forest.
He grimaces a little, still finding it strange to refer to a forest as ugly.
And, by Raff's face, he could tell the boy was thinking the same.
They were all looking around when a sound of footsteps came to Sunflower's ears.
"Mister Lane!"
He turned, eyes falling on a young boy at best nineteen years old, by human standards.
The boy ran in their direction, clothes covered in flour, if the smell gave something away, hair tied in a high bun, he was shooless, but not the bad kind, it felt like he and Raff would do back home or Yuko on her daily life, as it was more comfortable.
The boy stopped in front of them, a big bright smile on his face as he extended his hand
"It's good to finally meet you in person!" He said "Me and the other were doing the final adjusts"
But then the boy noticed his own hand was covered in flour and took it back, face bright red, making Lana giggle.
"Let's go in?" The boy asked.
"Of course!" Was Lane's response.
And so the group entered this strange, but welcoming place.