Chapter Text
Have you ever wanted to know exactly what your Pokemon is trying to tell you?
Well now you can!
Introducing the PokeCom:
Using patented psychic technology, the PokeCom detects what your Pokemon is about to say and automatically translates it into your set language.
All for just ¥20,000!
So what are you waiting for? Get the PokeCom today!
Available in Unovan, Kalosian, Galarian, Paldean, and Kantonese.
Jason can’t believe what he’s seeing. How has he not heard of this before? He was studying Pokemon communication, for Cobalion’s sake. He should have heard rumors about this before it had even entered development, much less before it hit store shelves, but there hasn’t been so much as a peep from any of his usual sources. Yet there it is, the most important invention since the Pokeball, staring him in the face.
He tries to dismiss it as a fraud, but nothing about it screams fake. The device looks quite similar to a primitive speaker. The design is clunky enough to be a clear “first draft”, as it were, but usable enough to be accessible, with no obviously tacked on parts on the display models. The price is expensive, as is to be expected for such an item, but not so expensive as to be obviously overinflated. Jason turns to the cashier of the small store for any sort of hint, but they’re too preoccupied with their phone to notice his awkward glances. Sighing, Jason picks up the machine and brings it over to the counter, clearing his throat as he does so.
“Excuse me, but I have some questions about this device.”
The cashier sighs a bit louder than they probably intended and looks up from their phone. “Shoot,” they say with an upbeat inflection that is equal parts real and faked.
“Do you know how… legitimate this is?” Jason asks, unsure of how much he trusts the underpaid employee’s honesty.
“Well, we haven’t had any returns if that’s what you're asking, but it’s only been on the shelves for a few days. Haven’t been able to afford it myself though, so I couldn’t say for certain.”
Jason is still slightly skeptical, but the less logical, more optimistic part of his brain wants to scream in excitement. If this is real, it could be downright life changing; besides, if it does end up being a fake, the worst that would happen is disappointment accompanied by a return. Nothing to lose, everything to gain.
“I’ll take it.”
Jason takes care to control his breathing so as to prevent his partner from picking up on his excitement as he approaches the apartment he was able to convince his mom to let him move into. At nineteen, he’s a bit younger than most living on their own during the summer, but after getting a taste of relatively greater freedom in his freshman college dorm, he didn’t want to go back to having to sneak around with his partner.
“I’m home!” he calls out as he enters, hearing a voice call out from the bedroom and the soft patting of paws approach him as Hazel, his beloved Umbreon, enters into view. He smiles warmly at his Pokemon before bending over to give her a chaste kiss on the lips, with her rising to meet him halfway. Straightening up, Jason walks into the kitchenette to put everything away, looking down at his partner.
“Didja miss me?” he asks teasingly. She simply snorts, not dignifying the question with a reply. An hour at the grocery store isn’t exactly long enough for heartache to set in. Jason quietly chuckles at his own cheesy joke and her response.
“Do you want me to get you anything?” he asks as he begins to put the groceries away, hiding the bag with the communicator behind a cabinet in the process.
“Umbre!” she calls, grabbing a loaf of bread and bringing it to the counter.
“A sandwich it is,” he replies as he opens the fridge, putting his perishables away before sliding open the deli drawer.
Even a simple sandwich becomes a bit of a game thanks to the language barrier. Hazel jumps up and leans her front legs on the bottom shelf of the fridge, one by one pointing at the ingredients she wants with an “Um”. Despite this form of communication being practically second nature to them at this point, Jason does still make the occasional mistake, pulling out the wrong type of cheese, resulting in Hazel shaking her head with a gruff. He immediately corrects his error, a jolt of irrational guilt briefly passing through him and just as quickly fading as she doesn’t even react to it; instances like this are inevitable, but so long as he’s willing to listen to and accept her corrections, it’s no harm, no foul.
“Enjoy~,” Jason says as he finishes putting the snack together and gives it to his Umbreon. She takes a massive bite and begins wolfing it down, resulting in her partner taking the sandwich back and jokingly scolding her.
“Is that how you show appreciation for someone else’s cooking?” he asks, sticking his tongue out with a faux-serious tone.
“Bree~” Hazel whines as she looks down at her feet, embarrassed.
“Alright, alright. No need to be so dramatic. Now, slowly this time,” the teenager laughs as he brings the sandwich back, smiling as she takes a tiny, delicate bite and chews it thoroughly, purring in happiness as the taste easily overcomes her hunger and embarrassment. He still can’t believe how much she likes his less than average cooking, but he supposes that a lifetime of Pokemon kibble would make even a cold deli sandwich seem amazing in comparison.
He scratches behind her ears when she finishes, resulting in her purring getting even louder. He leans in and whispers in her ear: “I’ve got a surprise for you.” She slowly opens her eyes and gives him a sensual look.
“Not that type of surprise,” he says, face growing slightly red.
“Umbreon?” she asks, tilting her head in visible confusion.
“Close your eyes, I’ll show you,” Jason says, feeling his heart rate rising.
His partner rolls her eyes slightly before humoring him, not taking this seriously at all. His hands are slightly trembling as he reaches down into his bag and grabs the PokeCom, having already carefully unboxed and charged it on the way home to make sure this moment would go as smoothly as possible.
“Keep ‘em closed,” he reminds his partner as he carefully attaches the device to her brilliant red collar, the same color as her eyes. The machine is white and somewhat bulky, looking frankly a bit ugly on its own, even more so when contrasted with his beautiful Umbreon, but its intended effect makes a bit of garishness more than worth it.
She grumbles as he fiddles with her one, permanent article of clothing, believing that he’s attaching a dumb accessory or something. When he finally backs off, she already finds the added weight to be annoying, but there's something more, a strange sensation lightly pressing at the back of her mind.
“Alright, you can open them,” Jason says.
Hazel opens up her eyes, a grumpy look on her face that she feels slightly guilty about when she sees her partner absolutely beaming at her. Deciding that whatever he put on her can’t be that bad, she looks down and is taken aback to see the garish box on her collar. She finally decides to question his decision making.
“Jason, wha- aaat the fuck— ”
She cuts herself off as instead of anything coming out of her mouth, she hears… a voice, nearly identical to her own, speaking in Unovan. It takes her a second to realize that the voice came from the box on her collar. She almost immediately puts two and two together and looks up at her lover, feeling a surge of emotions flow through her as her wildest dreams suddenly come true… only to be mortified when she sees that his hands are crossed over his mouth and tears are streaming down his face.
“Wait, I did not mean— eeb ” she fearfully starts before being once again cut off as Jason wraps her into the tightest hug of her life.
“It worked! It worked!” he shouts excitedly, standing up and spinning around with her in his arms. “You can talk!” he yells as he looks deep into her eyes. They’re both crying tears of joy. “Or, well, you can speak Unovan now,” he awkwardly corrects himself, his academic rigor cutting through even this emotional moment, wanting to be sure that he doesn’t accidentally insult both her native tongue and his field of study.
A beautiful, mirth filled laugh cuts through Hazel’s tears as she is simultaneously overcome by his thoughtfulness and greatly amused by his ridiculousness. Her laugh is infectious, and Jason can’t help but join in.
“I can not believe it,” she says softly after their laughs die down. The pronunciation comes out awkwardly as she’s trying to get used to this new way of speaking, but to her Human, it’s the most perfect voice he’s ever heard. “I am literally speaking Unovan right now and I still can not believe this is real. I would say pinch me, but if this is a dream, I never want to wake up.”
“If you’re dreaming, so am I.” The two look lovingly at each other before Hazel slowly leans up and begins a kiss far more passionate than the one shared in the entranceway. They wrap their arms around each other as they collapse to the floor. When they inevitably pull apart to gasp for air, she doesn’t immediately restart the embrace. Instead, she just sits there, panting heavily. Her lover frowns at her, slightly concerned.
“What’s on your mind?” he asks. Hazel instinctively looks away in embarrassment.
“There, uh, there is something I have been wanting to tell you for a lo-long time,” she stammers out.
“What is it?” the teen asks breathlessly, the Beautiflys in his stomach the worst they’ve been since he first confessed his feelings to her.
Hazel takes a long, deep breath before answering, wanting to make sure her words come out flawlessly. “I love you.”
Jason didn’t think it was possible to be more in love with his Pokemon than he already was.
He was wrong.