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Ethan had known about Johto since the day he was born, and even though he travelled to several regions during his teenage years, he never found a more beautiful region.
Johto had a lavish atmosphere that was accentuated with traditions, like the Johtonian dances that were passed down from generation to generation, or the magnificent towers with their centuries-old architecture, which he never saw again in other regions. He loved his region and would soon become its champion, he had succeeded in entering the pantheon 5 years ago, however Ethan liking too much to travel, he decided to wait a few years before becoming the official champion of Johto. From now on and for years he had been used to the idea of being the champion of a region… However, during his 5 years of travels, he had forgotten one little thing, we were not talking about being the champion of the Johto region...but we were talking about being the champion of TWO regions: Kanto and Johto! Just thinking about all the trainers and all the administrative paperwork of a region to manage made him sigh heavily, but then two? Better not to think about this....
It was fortunate for him that Kanto and Johto were not very populated regions, and if you asked him what he does to relax after just thinking about all that, he would have answered: exploring nature and camping.
To enter in communion with nature, to observe the life of pokemons in their homes, to watch the stars before going to bed and to wake up to the sound of the Pidgeys. Nature offers such a wonderful spectacle...Unfortunately or fortunately, only a few people could admire this spectacle. Over time, despite the pokemons, humans have begun to stay more and more in the cities, there is nothing wrong with that, the city offers wonderful things, but this nature as beautiful as it’s, is obviously not loved at its true value... Few people go camping anymore and the more Ethan grew up, the more he felt the lack of a human companion....
Sure, Ethan had friends, but none as big a fan of camping as he was. When he was a kid, he thought that on his journey to become a champion, would allow him to make friends with the same tastes as him.
Huh...if only his hopes could come true. Fate or perhaps Arceus, led him to meet a person with a troubling past, who would become his rival, that in addition to doing the arena challenge, he would dismantle an evil organization and finally, that he would catch Ho-Oh the famous legendary bird. Moreover, all of this happened in a very short period, and even 5 years after he managed to beat the "Indigo Plateau", he didn't have much time to make real friends who were as much into camping as he was.
This created an emptiness inside him, because even if the fame brought him the respect of several million people, it did not bring him many friends. Even worse, more and more people started to try to take advantage of him. It's been a long time since he stopped counting the number of traders and businessmen who wanted to use his image to promote their products.
Fortunately, Ethan was born under a lucky star, he still had his two best friends, those who had seen him grow up over the years and those who supported and motivated him in the worst and best of times.
The first one being Silver, his dear rival for several years already. Who when they met, Silver was a hateful, power obsessed, dark and even physically abusive person, continually pushing him. But over time, Silver has become a bit more tolerant, while still maintaining his serious and mysterious side. Moreover, he started to enjoy the moments he spent with Ethan or Lyra (even if he will never express it).
Ethan's second-best friend was Lyra, they had a brother/sister relationship, probably because they spent their childhood together and shared the same character.
Indeed, the same character but not the same tastes unfortunately.
Every time Ethan proposed to Silver or Lyra a trip to the mountains or the forest, they always had an excuse. But Ethan wasn't that naive, and more time passed, more he understood that his two friends invented excuses to refuse his invitations.
Nevertheless, he never blamed his friends, if they did not want to do his activities, he did not want to force them. Moreover, he already spent a lot of time with them, whether it was with Silver when they trained together or with Lyra when he helped her from time to time at her grandparents' pension, which is now Lyra's. But then, he had only 1 month left before he had to take the place of Champion of Johto and Kanto. Therefore, he would have liked to share some moments with his friends before being a little bit busier… Sometimes, he wonders if he shouldn't have found a new friend or a lover.
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A few days later…
Ethan had taken his entire afternoon to help Lyra who had lost a Magby and a Elekid in the Ilex Forest. Those two rascals had caused quite a bit of damage and had even destroyed some berry tree. But at least they had found them safe and sound.
Now in the evening, he had barely had time to rest and eat before he had to leave for New Bark Town to see Professor Elm. According to the call he received from him a few days ago, the professor wanted to give to Ethan an amulet that could mega evolve his pokemons. So, he was excited to go, because with the amulet he will not be overtaken by other trainers for a while. So, he decided to go to his home village as soon as possible
Nevertheless, Ethan is not tireless and after a stop in Azalea Town to go and rest in a hotel, (of course, he loves camping, but when you run and fall all day in a forest to catch 2 baby pokemons, and you end up sweaty and dirty...A hotel with a shower is always nice). A group of totally frightened campers come running to him. These campers are Ethan's acquaintances, they are young and resourceful, yet they all seem to be panicking.
"Big Bro Ethan!" a camper says as he runs up to it. "This is terrible! with the others we camped in the forest, and we got attacked by an angry Ursaring!". Ethan, confused, speaks up and tries to calm the camper down, "A Ursaring you say? Have you ever hurted a Teddiursas before?". The camper finally regained his composure and spoke up again, "No, but the biggest problem is that my Weedle stayed there!
Okay, time is running out, Ethan thought.
"Okay guys, stay here safely, I'll go get your Weedle". Ethan gave them a reassuring smile and takes out his Typhlosion to leave as quickly as possible in the forest.
If the Ursaring is still angry, it could hurt the Weedle, or even worse...
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Ilex Forest, 11:00 pm
Between fatigue and anxiety, Ethan continues to walk in the forest. He has a strange feeling inside him, the Ursarings of this forest are quite peaceful in normal time. The campers told him they didn't see any Teddiursas on their trip through the forest, so the assumption that a Ursaring is protecting his child by ransacking the camp can't be right.
Still thinking about what might have happened, Ethan had already arrived at the camp without realizing it. He notices with fright the damage. The tents have big claw marks, provisions are overturned on the ground and pieces of fabric, whether it is clothes or bags, are scattered. There he found the camper's frightened Weedle, having taken refuge under what remains to be a tent.
He walks towards the latter calmly and sends him back into his pokeball. Ethan is relieved, the Weedle is safe now.
As he examined the campfire to make sure all the embers were out, he heard a slight noise coming from a bush a few feet away.
Ethan began to slowly get up, then pulled out a poké ball, and quickly throws it near this bush "Feraligatr, use Hydro Pump!"
Just as Ethan had ordered his Feraligatr to attack, he noticed a human shadow emerging from the bush. The reaction of this person was going to be terrible....
"Kyaaah!" shouted a young girl propelled a few feet to the ground.
"I am sincerely sorry!" Ethan replied hurriedly, moving toward the girl to help her up.
Before he could give his hand, the girl lifted her head from the ground, "What's wrong with you?"
"Sorry, I thought maybe it was the Ursaring that ransacked the camp that had returned. I thought a good splash of fresh water might.... uhm.... calm him?". He took the girl's hand in his to help her up.
"I honestly don't think a splash of water like that would have calmed him down." She stood up and removed the dead leaves on them, then looked into his eyes. "But hey, you didn't know, and you acted on instinct, if you have a towel, I forgive you". She smiled at him, and Ethan swore he felt some soothing warmth inside him that was unexplainable.
Ethan being confused quickly removed his hand, "T-thank you, wait I must have one in my bag but who are you and what are you doing here, at such a late hour?"
"My name is Kris, I'm here to gather information about the berries in the forest for Professor Elm. That's why when I saw berries on this bush from a distance, I rushed over to collect them. In parallel, I study the life of pokemons in nature. Some pokemons have specific habits, they come to eat several times during the day and at specific times”.
While she was talking Ethan rummaged in her bag and found a towel, but unfortunately understood which person he was talking to...
“If you were picking berries for the professor, does that mean you are his new assistant?”
"Affirmative," she said happily, while drying herself with the towel. "I didn't know that the fact that the professor had a new assistant had caused a stir in Johto."
Ethan cursed himself inwardly…when he was with Lyra in the afternoon to help her. She had warned him with a big mischievous smile, that the professor had a new assistant, who had many of the same passions as Ethan. He was looking forward to meeting him and hoping that they would be good friends. But he didn't think it would be a pretty girl, damn Lyra, he'll get back at her later....
Seeing Ethan lose himself in his thoughts, Kris spoke again. "Anyway, I'm talking about me, but who are you and what are you doing here?"
"Oh? sorry…My name is Ethan and I'm a trainer. I came here because…you see the camp over there?"
Kris turned her head and looked toward where Ethan was pointing. Then a feeling of fear came over her, considering the poor state of the camp if she had come face to face with the Ursaring, who knows what would have happened.
Seeing her a little worried, Ethan spoke up again to reassure her.
"I think you understand, but a Ursaring ransacked this camp less than an hour ago. I'm here to investigate and to understand why a Ursaring did that, because in this forest they are usually quite peaceful. Besides, the campers present at the time of the attack told me that he was roaring loudly, didn't you hear him?"
"I arrived in this forest less than half an hour ago, I heard loud noises but...."
"Okay, where were the noises coming from?" said Ethan eagerly.
"They were coming from the west side of the forest, over there...but wait!". no sooner did Kris have time to say the direction the noises were coming from, than Ethan pulled his Typhlosion out of his pokéball and straddled it.
Kris tried to yell at him, "Even though you're a trainer, do you think you have a chance of defeating or calming an angry Ursaring?!”, but Ethan was already too far away to hear...
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Ilex Forest, 11:20 pm
Ethan had arrived where Kris had indicated. There he found a Ursaring eating berries noisily. He decided to hide in a nearby bush to observe it. He had to be careful not to be spotted, the bear was near a ravine.
While observing the environment around him, he spotted all the berry trees that the baby pokemons had destroyed a few hours ago.
That's when he understood.
The berry trees destroyed by the baby pokemons, must have been the berry trees for the Ursaring's repast. Once the bear later saw his destroyed trees, he must have become furious and attacked the campers thinking that they were the ones who destroyed the trees.
Hell, it was his fault that this happened. If he had been faster, he could have found the baby pokemons faster, and they wouldn't have destroyed those berry trees.
"NO ETHAN!" he said aloud to himself as he pulled himself together.
I'm 50 meters from an angry Ursaring, and we're near a cliff. That's a lot of scenarios ending badly, he thought with a hint of fear.
He pulled himself together again and thought about strategies, "If I run away now on the back of one of my pokemons, I could leave easily. But perhaps the Ursaring might run into other campers or travelers, and if his anger still hasn't dissipated, what will happen to them? It wouldn't be worthy of a future Champion to let such a danger".
With no berries on him to lure the bear into a trap, Ethan had no choice but to confront it and then calm it down.
As he began to get up from his bush, someone quickly tackled him to the ground.
It was Kris. Their faces were inches apart. He felt her warm breath on his cheek, even out of breath, this girl was pretty.
Then Kris spoke up, "I-if I had any doubt about your stupidity earlier, now I'm sure of it!"
Ethan chuckled, "What are you talking about?"
Kris sighs, "There's an angry Ursaring a few meters away from you, and you want to try to calm him down?! Even Ace trainers couldn't do it!"
Ethan smiled at her, "It's nice of you to worry about me...but," he stood up and adjusted his cap to put it back on backwards.
"It wouldn't be worthy of a future Champion to leave a danger in his region." He winked at her and went to confront the Ursaring.
"Hey big guy, if you want to revenge on someone, I'm here!"
Upon hearing this, the bear turned around, stood up and then roared.
Ethan wasted no time and pulled out his Meganium, the Ursaring had done nothing wrong, it was Ethan who was at fault in the story. Capturing it seemed the most viable option, he thought. If the Ursaring becomes his pokemon, Ethan can make it up to him by giving him lots of food, and this could prevent other problems in the forest in the future.
"Meganium uses Toxic!", the pokemon obeys and then a thick purple mist descends on the bear.
Meganium is his best pokemon to allow him to slowly weaken pokemons, if he can make the Ursaring fall then he can catch it easily, he thought.
"Ok now use Giga Drain!", the Meganium started to drain the energy from the bear, but the bear didn't let it go and launched Slash.
Expecting this reaction, Ethan shouted to his pokemon, "Meganium dodge to your left, and use Dragon Tail on the ground!"
Meganium once again obeyed his trainer's commands, and a large cloud of dust and dirt blinded the bear.
The Ursaring couldn't get the dust out of its eyes, so Ethan took advantage of the situation. "Finally, use Giga Drain one last time!" the pokemon absorbed what little energy the bear had left, and the bear fell knocked out to the ground.
Ethan threw a pokeball at it, and the bear was finally caught.
He walked over to the pokeball and picked it up with a smile, "Sorry again, but don't worry I'll take care of you from now on!"
Kris, having watched the whole fight unfold before her eyes, was amazed. Professor Elm and Lyra, her new friend, had told her about a boy named Ethan, who had a heart of gold and would soon become the new Champion of Johto. She had no doubt, it was him.
She stammered to him, "W-wow, that was so short and simple, I didn't expect a hothead like you to be able to keep such cool, and such strength."
Ethan turned back to her, "Hey! Should I take that as a compliment or an insult?"
"Mhmmm...a compliment I'd say," she told him with a childish smile. "However," she resumed her serious look, "reassure me, it wasn't you who destroyed those trees?"
Ethan widened his eyes, how to calmly explain to her that because of his inability to retrieve two baby pokemons, they had caused all this?
He then started to run away...
"Sorry! I must go return this Weedle to his trainer, I hope we meet in the future Kris, Bye!"
She groaned in anger then sighed beginning to understand what kind of man he is. She yelled at him from a distance, "I hope we meet again too Ethan!"
Still running to get out of the forest, Ethan heard Kris and a slight blush followed by a big smile broke out on his face.
He would be going to Elm's lab more often.