Chapter 1: The Birth of a Legend

Ethan stood in front of the professor impatiently, waiting for the man to speak as he tapped his foot rapidly, unable to contain the excitement that had been building up for three years. He was standing in a line with the other teenagers from his town wh0 had turned fifteen in the ending month, December. It was a cold harsh day in New Bark Town, every one of the children shivering as they had ducked into the heated lab to get their Pokémon.

"Now all of you took a test in your applications to see which type would most likely suit you since we have equal amounts of each starter Pokémon. This is why we have prepared the test. Your results came to you while you were waiting, so stand in the type area of your result, but if you wish to actually choose, feeling that you don't want the type your result came back as, wait until everybody else is done." The professor explained, gesturing towards three large carpets with the type symbols for fire, water and grass on them.

Professor Elm was a skinny man, average height, and very forgetful. This was the first time he hadn't forgotten about the starter day. All the kids, around twelve, sorted themselves out onto the mats. Ethan sprinted over to the fire mat, his result just as he had expected and wanted as well. His family had been training Typhlosion for years. There was one in his house, belonging to his mother.

There were three other kids on the fire carpet, with around six on the water carpet, and two on the grass carpet. Nobody felt their choices were bad.

"Now you have to let the young Pokémon choose their own trainers for better compatibility. For those whose families donated eggs to their types, the Pokémon will be in a basket with your last name on it. I advise you meet those ones first since hereditarily they are likely to prefer you. But they might not. So just be patient, they're plenty. Have fun!" he explained, pressing a button as the doors behind them into the nurseries opened and they entered quietly, not wanting to disturb the Pokémon.

Ethan walked into a room with two Typhlosion tending to six young Cyndaquils. He looked around the plain, well lit, and ludicrously warm room, noting a basket with a Cyndaquil in it, the tag reading Photon at the bottom. Ethan Photon grinned, walking over to the basket and sitting down next to it, waiting for the little Pokémon to notice him.

The fire type stared up at him, taking in the pale face, thick strands of jet black hair obscuring part of his left eye, the iridescent gold standing out. He pulled down the black cloth mask covering his neck, mouth and nose, letting it fall onto his plain white V-neck, having picked this one mainly for warmth. The Pokémon hopped onto his shoulder, nuzzling his neck as he rose, smiling. He moved his shoulder and the fire type scampered down his arm into his waiting arms. It was really warm.

"Hey buddy. You want to go with me? At least you'll get to see your mother when we're home." He spoke softly, smiling slightly as the warmth spread from his chest and into his body.

The Pokémon nodded, staring at him as he pulled the mask back up, slowly understanding that it kept his face warm and allowed him the ability to continue speaking. Ethan smiled beneath the mask, putting the Pokémon back in the basket and taking his bag off his shoulder.

He put the bag on the floor, digging through it as Cyndaquil stuck it's snout in, taking out a packet of cola flavored candy. He pulled his camera out, putting them down and emptying the bag into the basket.

He sighed, realizing that he didn't have any poke balls except the two Ultra Balls his older cousin had given him in case he needed to run from an attack. He picked one up, lightly touching Cyndaquil's snout with it as the Pokémon disappeared in a flash of light and the ball clicked.

He clipped the now occupied ball onto the diagonal belt extension running from the right side of his chest to the belt around his waist. He repacked his bag, checking his jeans pocket to make sure his phone was still there. He pulled the Slate out, checking the time and his messages as he flipped the phone over, examining the symbol in the glass back, the Company Slate Electronics the new big shots in Hoenn. His father had brought it back for him on his birthday.

Ethan smiled, standing up and checking the symbol underneath his last name on the basket next to Cyndaquil. The fire type was a male. He walked out of the room, to find half the kids standing in front of Professor Elm, who looked like he had bad news.

Ethan waited as the rest of the kids returned, standing with them as the professor opened his mouth twice, unable to say anything. The third time he succeeded.

"Um… how do I put this? Guys, the new laws in Johto strictly say that you have to spend roughly six months with your Pokémon getting to know it and training it a bit before you can leave New Bark as official trainers to make sure you're good enough to take care of yourselves ever since the population decreases and the increasing dangers in the wild. And the risks of war. Sorry. You're not even allowed to leave New Bark anyways for six months. Have a good time. And don't try anything. You're still allowed in the forests at the edges of New Bark since they're relatively safe. Don't try leaving. The guards have a roster of everyone here. They'll stop you until the nineteenth of June. Please don't kill me." He stuttered the last words out as he received death stares from the kids.

Ethan sighed, walking out quietly into the snowed in city and trudging through the path he had cut on his way there, snow already filling it up again. He was pushed forward slightly, so he turned around to find the snowstorm starting up again as they wind started blowing.

His eyes widened as he ran like hell, making for his house and scraping away enough snow to open the door, slipping in and slamming it shut as the snowstorm broke out at full strength again. His mother was standing in the kitchenette, the door to her room closed as she stirred what looked like mac and cheese, the delicious smell wafting throughout the house. He ran up to his room, ditching his bag and making a note to himself to buy poke balls. He examined himself in the mirror. He was thin, lean, built more for running, tallish, around 5' 11", and confident. He was shivering, he realized, probably because he was only wearing his V-neck, jeans, socks and shoes, at about –3 degrees Celsius.

He closed his door, flipping the frosted glass panels inside it to say 'Not here', running down the stairs and letting Cyndaquil out.

"Is he Phloe's kid?" his mother asked, wiping her hands on her apron and looking over as Ethan nodded, standing next to the radiator. She turned back to the ovens.

"Phloe!" his mother called out and the Typhlosion sprinted in from the other side of the house, seeing her child and running up to it.

Ethan sat at the counter as the Pokémon did whatever they were doing, staring at his mother.

"What's for lunch?" he asked, staring out the window as the storm died down again, snow sliding off their roof, most into the dumpster he had dragged there the day before.

"Mac and Cheese, and some cookies later." She replied, staring at him as he tried to sneak out the door.

"ETHAN PHOTON YOU ARE NOT GOING INTO THE FOREST TO PHOTOGRAPH POKEMON TODAY!" she ordered as he froze, walking back to the counter sullenly.

"You are going to eat, go outside, set up the garden cover, convince Phloe to melt the snow, and fix the garden radiator until I can get more Magmortar embers, and then you're going to set up the fireworks, clean the shed, your room, and possibly if you want to, find a nickname for you new friend. And then you can shower. We're having people over for New Year's dinner! You can go to the forest tomorrow." She instructed him as he nodded, his little sister running into the room.

"Pokémon! Have you name it yet?" she asked, struggling to get to the high up bar seat as Ethan picked her up, placing her on it as she turned it.

"Not yet Lily. Still working on that. I need something that suits him. He's a Photon though. Born and bred." He replied as the nine year old shifted in her chair, turning towards him.

Ethan turned around and his sister fell of the chair as an Alakazam and his other sister appeared out of nowhere.

"Bloody Arceus!" Ethan shouted, covering Lily's ears as he spoke, letting go and picking her up. "You really have to start telling us or one of these days Lily will have a concussion! But apart from that, how was work?"

The eighteen year old model laughed, pushing a strand of thick black hair behind her ear before she replied.

"Oh work was good. I've got a new girl under my wing. Pretty, smart, and she's going to go places. I can tell you that. Nearly everybody in the studio envies her."

"Really Lucy?" his mother asked, picking up the dish and ladling it into two bowls, filling two more with a fresh salad, sliding the first two across the counter to Lily and Ethan. "What's her name?"

"Elesa. She's really good company as well, even though she's as old as Ethan." She replied as Ethan removed a bottle of coke from the fridge, opening it with a pocket knife and catching the cap.

Lucy Photon eighteen, 5' 10", Ethan's older sister, the smartest person in New Bark, and the most popular, from her graduating batch of trainers. She was working in Unova as a model. She had taken a magnetic levitation train for around a thousand miles for two and a half hours to the Indigo Teleportation Border. And then she had come with her Alakazam. She came home every week and on special occasions, or for vacations.

Ethan gulped down his lunch, hugging his sister quickly and walking out to get his chores done with. He grabbed Phloe around the waist and dragged the thoroughly annoyed Typhlosion outside, Cyndaquil following. Phloe didn't care much for snow.

"Melt this please so you can go inside." He asked her, going into the shed and staring around it. It was already clean. After all, it was his workshop. His mother forgot that too often. He pulled a box of fiberglass panels and two large wooden poles out, dragging them out to the yard. He emptied the panels onto the floor, fetching the ladder and propping it up against the house. He bored the two poles into the ground at the ends of the garden, fixing them at even heights and clipping the fiberglass panels together. He climbed up onto the roof, clipping the joint panels to the edge, moving the ladder and adding more panels until it covered the entire garden and driveway as Phloe stood up, flames erupting from her back as she melted the snow, Cyndaquil observing his mother and trying to copy her.

"I don't understand why you don't just have me put up barriers." A mental voice sounded in Ethan's head as he fell of the ladder, startled, stopping in midair and going down gently to see Alakazam standing next to him.

"I don't either. But who cares. What's done is done. Any ideas from Cyndaquil for a name?" he asked, turning towards the golden psychic as it bent its spoons repeatedly.

"Quiver might work. He seems to do that for a fraction of a second before he does anything." The psychic replied. "I have decided I do not like the cold. I am going inside."

Ethan sighed, walking out to the street and checking the garden cover. He walked back in, staring at the city for a moment. Dull rays of light pierced the cloud cover, lightning the city up enough to show that it was day, the trees around the edges of the city swaying in the slight breeze, snow falling off them. He walked into the shed again, replacing the now empty box and picking up his tool box to fix the radiator.

"Say Cyndaquil?" he remarked, attracting the young Pokémon's attention as he opened the radiator up.

"Do you want a nickname?" he asked, turning towards it.

The fire type nodded, contemplating the thought.

"How about Quiver? You do that a bit." He suggested, chuckling as the radiator creaked.

The fire type nodded again, jumping onto his shoulder.

"Say, Quiver, could you fuse this?" he asked, ducking as the he pointed towards a broken rivet.

"Quil. Cyn, Quil!" he replied, blowing fire out of his mouth towards the rivet and fusing it as Ethan held it together, his melding gloves protecting him.

"Good boy." He remarked, scratching the Quiver behind his ear.

…

Early the next morning…

Ethan stepped over the pile of snow, his DSLR camera, its tripods, stands and slings in a thick padded bag in case they fell from a tree, his phone in a brick like waterproof, nigh indestructible, battery case.

He could see the sun making its way towards the sky from behind the mountains to the east, running silently to the forest, Quiver running beside him for exercise. He took a path he knew well by now, finding the familiar clearing and climbing up a tree. He unzipped the bag, taking the DSLR out and fixing it to a branch, setting it to record with the option of taking pictures in the middle. He focused it on the clearing, shivering with anticipation.

Every New Year, at sunrise, the Beedrill colony of New Bark's forest, and the Scyther Colony, the top predators in most of Johto, fought for the forests of Johto. In every forest, the Scyther generally won. It tended to be a more even fight in New Bark considering hey were closer to Kanto and the Beedrill population was much, much higher than the Scyther population. Around a dozen times larger to be exact.

Ethan was planning on catching the fight on camera. Most of it at least. He needed to be home before his mother figured out that he left without telling her.

He sat quietly in the tree, patient for once, as he started to see glowing red eyes in the left side of the clearing. Slowly hundreds of Beedrill gathered there, around five hundred. Ethan had witnessed the battle the previous year, but he hadn't had anything on him to record it with. It was too fast to draw. So he had come again. He wondered momentarily where the Scyther were before remembering where they were.

The sun rose slightly, rays of light piercing the clearing as Ethan hit record, his finger on the capture button and his eyes on the clearing. The Beedrill entered the clearing tentatively, thinking they had won. They never learnt that they were walking into a slaughter. Forty one Scyther appeared out of the shadows on the right side, massacring the opposition as their leader, a Scizor, appeared, taking on fifty Beedrill at once, nothing more than a blur. It weaved in and out of the enemy lines, striking them in every weak spot, moving too fast for them to see even with their hive vision. Ethan stared in awe at a Scyther in the back as it took on its opponent, knocking it out and sending the body flying. He kept clicking the capture button, a hoard of pictures to stare at stored within the SD card in his camera.

Ethan saw the battle coming to an end, keeping an eye on the camera as he hit the capture switch the moment the Scizor raised a discolored Beedrill, the leader of the hive, on its claw, showing it to the world. Ethan's mind was numb with awe as he zipped away the camera and stands, shoving them into his bag and lowering himself down as the Scizor spoke to its subordinates. Ethan turned around, climbing down as Quiver leaped onto his shoulder, preparing itself to run away with Ethan in case they were spotted.

Ethan lowered himself carefully, still twenty feet above the ground when the branch he had been holding snapped, causing him to fall through the air right onto a Scyther. Sadly the bug reacted to fast.

It raised one bladed arm, cutting Ethan across the chest and knocking him to the side, thinking it was a Beedrill ambush, when it realized that it was a human. Quiver stared at the bug, as did its companions.

…

Two Days later…

Ethan opened his eyes, staring at a plain white ceiling with a fan rotating on it. Everything was slightly blurry. He tried to sit up but his head was bursting, as though the Scyther-Beedrill war was happening inside his skull.

He closed his eyes for a while, opening them again to see a clearer image of the same room, the pain in his head reduced to a dull throbbing in the background. He sat up slowly, examining the room around him. It was plain, with a simple décor. A few simple chairs, one bench, a TV, a fridge and a table. He looked to his left to see a drip connected to his left hand, and another to his chest. He examined the ruby contents of the second one, taking a while to realize it was blood. He looked down as he felt a pressure on his chest, noticing that Quiver had climbed up onto it.

He started as the door opened, Lucy and his mother walking in.

"Oh my god Ethan what happened!? What did you do!?" his mother cried, hugging him to death as he pointed to the drip which she was bending and stopping from providing blood.

"I don't know. Maybe the nurse knows. I remember falling from a tree in a forest. Is my bag here? I can show you what I was doing. You may disapprove, but I can show you." He replied, reaching out with one hand as Lucy picked up the thick backpack, handing it to him as he opened it, digging through it for his leather camera case, withdrawing it.

He opened the camera, checking the memory and flipping through it before taking out a long cable with an HDMI port at one end.

"Plug this in." he said slowly, handing Lucy the cable as she attached it to the TV, turning it on as Ethan plugged the other end into the camera. He pressed the switch, not going to the correct files for a moment and looking at his mother.

"Um… I found where the Scyther-Beedrill territory wars occurs here while I was camping last year. I was camping if you remember, around New Year, and I was searching for something and I chanced upon them at sunrise. I climbed into a tree and watched. The Scyther won. I managed to slip down and away, and they didn't notice me. If I had waited until they left, I would have been in the tree for two days." He began, slowly making his way to the correct photos.

"So I recorded it this year." He finished, flipping through the photos of the massacre, opening the video as Lucy and his mother stared at the screen, watching the Scyther slaughter the Beedrill.

"Enough… I did say you could go into the forest today… it's partially my fault. You take after your father too much. And I can't actually forbid you from going into the forest again because then you'll just go. And I can't stop your journey because that's your own right." His mother sighed.

"What happened was that a Scyther carried you here with a patch on your chest, made of leaves and sap. You were bleeding out. You nearly died. We gave you blood from the blood bank because you had lost too much for someone to donate, and besides, nobody in your family has your blood type; B negative; except your deceased father." A woman in a long coat explained, walking into the room as she picked up his file and read it.

"We had our resident Alakazam read the Scyther's mind. Or at least try. The fragments it got were that something fell and it attacked, thinking it was a Beedrill. And a tiny frenzy of searching for the hospital cross sign in the city." She continued, putting the file down and staring at him.

"You'll be good to go in another day or two. You lost more than a lot of blood. Be happy you're alive. You also have a broken rib by the way. Scyther's blades are very sharp." She finished staring at him. "Well. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"That I'm not stopping my journey. And that I may get a lot of money soon." He grinned, staring at the doctor who sighed exasperatedly, walking out.

…

Four days later…

Ethan walked along the river side path, staring at the mountain down the river. Quiver was next to him, heating up and melting the snow in his path as they walked. Ethan turned towards the city, watching smoke rise out of the chimneys as the midday sun rose to its peak. He could hear the waves getting stronger, and turning, he saw the whole tide of the river changing, his eyes wide as a Gyarados rose out of the water. Not a big one. Newly evolved, and around fifteen feet long, most of which was in the water. He stared at its open maw as its fang started to glow blue, the cold air weakening it drastically as it prepared to strike.

Out of nowhere, a green blur appeared, stabbing the Gyarados inside its mouth and out repeatedly, fending it off until it decided to leave, leaving Ethan's mouth agog. He focused as the green blur settled down to a Scyther, staring at him remorsefully.

"Are you the same one?" he asked, carefully, Quiver by his side with his hair standing up.

The bug nodded, tracing random things in the snow with one blade.

"Why are you here? Why aren't you marking your own territory within the forest?" Ethan asked cautiously, taking Quiver up in his arms.

The bug though for a moment, tracing what Ethan guessed were stick Pokémon into the snow, all except one on the left, one on the right, with a line between them.

"You were exiled?" he asked, feeling sympathy for the Pokémon as it nodded, staring at him.

"Why?" Ethan asked, moving closer to it as it became evident Scyther had no intention of doing anything. He was just wandering aimlessly, nowhere to go, nothing to do.

Scyther tried to trace it out in the snow, giving up and making rapid motions with its bladed arms as Ethan backed up to avoid another cut, unable to interpret them. Sighing, he tried to make up his own theory and see if he was right.

"You didn't want to hurt anyone, just claim your territory, so you were exiled because you caused collateral damage?" he asked unsurely, turning towards the forest.

Scyther contemplated his words for a moment before nodding as Ethan sympathized with it.

"Well it's not your fault." He remarked stoutly. "I was the one who fell. And I fell responsible for it. Besides, you're a cool dude."

Scyther smiled a bit, at least that's what Ethan thought it was.

"Hey listen. I'm going on a journey in six months. Through Johto, to become stronger and to take on the Indigo Conference at some point. I can use all the help I can get. Do you want to come with me?" he asked, hoping he wouldn't get killed in reply.

Scyther sat down on a rock, staring at him for a good quarter of an hour before nodding. Ethan grinned, reaching for the empty poke balls he had clipped next to Quiver's, only to find them missing, one empty Ultra Ball there with Quiver's.

'Shit. I forgot to buy poke balls. Well… a strong Pokémon does deserve an Ultra Ball. And this'll make it faster.' He thought, unclipping it and tossing at Scyther.

The bug just sat there, letting it suck him in and capture him. Ethan held his breath as it wobbled for a second, clicking.

"YES! I HAVE A FRICKIN SCYTHER!"

…

Six Months Later, outside the Photon House…

"Scyther! Quiver! Blink Burn!" he shouted as Scyther set forward in a blur, running circles, quite literally, around the opposition, breaking into the circle and striking them every two seconds, leaving them in a daze, the opposition being a strange looking Pokémon he had been told was a Scraggy and a Skitty, the former from Unova and the latter from Hoenn.

The Quilava by his side nodded, gathering momentum and curling into a wheel as flames from his back encircled his entire body, breaking into Enemy territory as Scyther took a break from attacking relentlessly, jumping up to allow Quiver to strike the dazed Pokémon dead center, knocking them out.

Ethan raised his arms to the sky, wearing his a tightish half sleeved black V-neck, his jeans, his mask in his room on his desk considering the heat.

"That was fun. Don't worry about losing to a rookie. I've been training a lot. I plan on engraving my name in Johto history as the youngest champion ever." He remarked, pulling out his metal trainer tag. It was the new method of identification for trainers, pokedexes being extremely rare.

The Indigo Crest, made out of metal had a flat metal strip extending from it, with his name engraved in the upper left corner like a heading, the rest blank. He knew from one of his friend's siblings that when you got a badge, it was engraved into the metal card, underneath your name in case you ever lost the badge, in two rows of four. The whole thing was about as wide as a section of his pinkie, the crest extending beyond that a tiny bit, and as long as his index finger. The Indigo crest was divided into five sections with extremely thin risen borderlines between them. The upper left, upper right, lower left, lower right, and the centrally imposed section. The left divisions containing two connected black chips would have indicated his being from Kanto, the central division indicating Sevii, and the right panels which did contain the chips, indicated Johto.

Ethan smiled, it was his first real battle as a trainer, and shook the model's hand. He didn't actually remember which one she was. All he knew was that she wasn't one of Lucy's older friends or he would know her name at risk of dying by stiletto. Lucy had a pair with eight inch heels. He didn't really know why.

He walked into the garden, blushing slightly and looking down as everyone started clapping for a moment. Everyone being all of Lucy's friends and some of his mother's and Lily's. He walked to the ice box, taking out a bottle of Cola and removing his pen knife from his pocket. He opened the bottle, raising his head and drinking as he noticed Lucy leading someone his way out of the corner of his eye.

He stopped, placing the bottle on the table behind him and swallowing as the cola nearly got stuck in his throat. Lucy was leading a young girl, around his age, towards him, around the five eight, blonde, slim with a curving figure and pale skin. She was wearing a pair of headphones with one side lit blue and the other red, and dangling wires coming down from them.

"Ethan, this is Elesa, one of my closest friends and best models." She said, introducing the two. "Elesa, this is my younger brother Ethan, Indigo Legend in the making."

Ethan was blank for a moment, smiling as soon as he could think and extending his hand.

"Ethan Photon." He could see why Lucy said she would be going places.

"Nice to meet you, Elesa Alaric." She replied, shaking his hand.

"I'm going. You two, talk." She stated threateningly as she left to go and talk to her mother who was staring at her from a table of her friends.

"Did you really just try to set your brother up?" she asked, turning towards her daughter as Lucy watched Ethan and Elesa converse, laughing for a minute.

"Yes. And one day he's going to thank me for it." She replied, raising her glass of champagne and drinking.

"Time to cut the cake." Her mother remarked, standing up and handing Lucy the cake knife.

Lucy nodded, heading over to the triple layered frosted cake her mother had made. The bane of her profession. But it was one day. Everyone gathered around, Ethan standing on her left with Lily and their mother on her right as she cut the cake.

…

Early the next morning…

Ethan stepped out of his house, walking away and waving to his mother as streaks of crimson gold light cast a shadow of the trees onto the ground.

"Just one more time. Why are you making me bypass routes 29, 30, 31 and Cherrygrove city?" he asked as she called out her Alakazam for teleportation.

"The Pokémon and trainers there tend to be weak. You wouldn't get any better, just waste time. These six months you trained here are the equivalent of the two week journey to Violet City. You're ready to face Falkner easily. And besides, there's a Tauros herd settling outside Cherrygrove. So I'm going to drop you off in Violet city, then head off myself. It's just a waste of your time. This way you may have a chance of getting to Chuck before this year's conference." Lucy replied, nodding in Alakazam's direction as they dematerialized, re-appearing in an old fashioned city.

Ethan tried to avoid stumbling, and failed horribly as he rematerialized in Violet City, taking in the old architecture and the beauty of the city at sunrise as Lucy hugged him once and disappeared again, off to the Indigo Teleportation Borders to leave for Unova.

Ethan sighed, walking through the city and looking for the bright red roof of the Pokémon center, unable to find it. He walked up to a local man sitting on a bench watching the birds fly over the lake between the city and Sprout Tower, their wings glinting in the golden light of the rising sun.

"Excuse me sir. Could you point me in the direction of the Pokémon center?" he asked as the old man turned around, his veteran's robe a sign of experience.

"Of course my lad. Just look for a dark, dark red roof. The color of blood just before it turns brown when clotting. Here in Violet city, Falkner and the city agreed that bright red stuck out from our heritage too much." He replied, patting Ethan on the shoulder.

"Thank you sir." Ethan nodded, turning around and walking through the streets searching for the Pokémon center, eventually stumbling upon it as the sun climbed higher into the sky, his watch showing six in the morning.

He walked inside, examining the room and waiting as a nurse talked to a young trainer standing at the counter. Once he was done, Ethan walked up to the counter, blinking momentarily, bleary eyed from lack of sleep.

"How may I help you sir?" she asked, smiling as Ethan read her name tag.

"Um… when does the gym open?" he asked, staring at the wounded Totodile being wheeled away on a stretcher.

"Eight in the morning, but Falkner is extremely annoying to battle then. He would have just completed a Zen workout, stretching his mind and developing new strategies to crush his opponents." She replied, sighing as she looked at him. "I'm assuming you want to challenge him?"

"Yep. Um… you guys have a cafeteria, right? What should I avoid feeding a Scyther and a Quilava before a battle, and in general." He asked, turning and reading the signs all over the walls about safety.

"Scyther… haven't seen one of those in a while." She remarked, thinking. "Don't feed Scyther too much sugar in general, but if you feed them sugar an hour or two before a battle, it could turn them from a blur you can see, to an invisible blur. In general avoid feeding them protein, at least not too much. A little bit is fine. As for Quilava… let's see… don't feed them peaches ever. They naturally hate them. It'll turn it against you. For health and safety be careful to feed it enough protein, and an ample amount of fats. It helps them grow. And don't skimp on carbohydrates though. Forget about fiber. Don't ever feed it to a Quilava. It'll make their eruption system queasy and extremely active. Feed your Scyther some though." She explained, turning towards him.

"Do you want a room for the night?" she asked, "We have a few ready."

"Nah. Just going to eat, try and beat Falkner and leave. Unless I can't beat him in this day, I'm heading off for Azalea." He replied. "Thanks."

He walked down the hall to the left, finding himself facing plain white push doors with small windows in them towards the center of the hall. He pushed one open entering to find not what he had expected. The cafeteria was more like an airport lounge, a good one. He walked up to what would have been the check in counter, scanning his trainer ID, his information showing up on a small screen next to it as he walked further. He walked into an empty section, putting his bag down on a chair and scanning his card on the door, marking it as occupied, releasing Scyther and Quiver next.

"I'm getting food for all of us. Chill out here until then. And make sure nothing happens to my bag." Ethan instructed them, smiling as Quiver stood to attention next to the massive rucksack and the duffel bag he had tied to the side.

He left, finding the counter for breakfast and examining the spread. He walked up and took a tray, loading it with three plates, loading each with food and heading back to his booth, pushing the door open and setting the tray down on the table. He moved the plates towards Quiver and Scyther, watching them examine the food before eating.

"Ofie Hiez." Ethan began through a mouthful of sausages and pancakes as Quiver and Scyther stared at him quizzically.

"Okay guys, sorry about that. We've got to take Falkner down and get a move on. Which, Scyther, is why you're eating waffles and pancakes covered in maple syrup and jam. Sugar. You're fast, and flying types are fast. They have the advantage of being able to venture out of your reach. Which is why I want you to be fast enough to jump high enough to pluck their feathers of and cut them open in the sky." Ethan explained, twisting his fork so it was covered with strands of meat.

"Quiver. You'll be up first. I want you to roast them. He has as far as I know, a Noctowl and a Pidgey. I don't know what will come first. I'm counting on you two. I really don't want to have to catch any more Pokémon. Especially since I keep forgetting to buy poke balls."

Quiver nodded, digging into his plate, his snout covered with maple syrup as he tried to paw it off. Ethan laughed, taking out his phone and taking a picture to send to his mother before picking Quiver up.

"We'll be right back Scyther." He said as the bug looked up, nodding once and continuing to eat.

Ethan took Quiver to the restrooms, entering the men's room and walking over to the sink. He turned the tap on, taking a hot towel from a basket for cleaning faces and rubbing it against Quiver's snout under the water as the syrup came off slowly, blow drying his fur and taking him right back to Scyther.

"Let's get going, it should be around seven thirty, and I don't know where the gym is. I should ask the nurse that." He stated as he picked up his bags, calling Quiver and Scyther back and walking out to the nurse.

"Which way is the gym, Nurse… Ariel is it?" he asked, smiling slightly.

"Simple, go left, walk until you see sprout Tower. Then wait until you see a man jump from the roof. Just follow him." She replied, laughing at what he assumed was an inside joke. Never the less, he hefted his bags over his shoulder and walked out, turning to the left and walking to the Sprout Tower.

He sat down on the bench, letting Quiver and Scyther out as he waited. The minutes ticked by as he tapped his foot impatiently, staring at the tower. He heard the clock inside chime eight, the bells ringing as a man in a robe leaped out of the tower with a Noctowl, opening the robe to let it work as a glider, maneuvering to the west. Ethan rose and sprinted in his direction following him as far as he could see before he crashed into a wall because he was looking up.

He fell to the floor, sitting there for a minute before pushing himself back onto his feet and brushing the dust off as Quiver and Scyther came into his field of vision. The building in front of him was the violet city Pokémon gym, an old building which looked like it had undergone renovation.

Ethan pushed open the glass doors, calling Scyther and Quiver back again to at least try for surprise. He entered to nearly fall down, backing up immediately as he saw no floor beyond a point made of wood. He was standing in the reception, and at the other end, there was a young man in a robe with a Noctowl on his shoulder, brushing his robe off, standing on a glass platform. There was no floor between them.

"I take it you will be my first victim today?" the man called out from the other end of the room. "I am Falkner, Gym Leader of Violet City, and who might you be?"

"Ethan Photon of New Bark Town. And it's not likely." He replied, slightly confused as Falkner's expression changed briefly, turning to one of surprise and admiration before changing back to0 his previous snide smirk.

"Well, Ethan Photon of New Bark, let us see if you can humble me. Can you Pokémon fly, or should I raise the minimalistic floor?" he asked, a mock smile on his face.

Ethan considered the situation briefly. Quiver would definitely need the floor, and though Scyther could make huge bounds and glide on drafts, they couldn't fly as they could when they became Scizor, and he would need more than just the walls to push him up, and besides, that would mean constant motion, which could be tiring.

"Floor." He called out, watching as Falkner nodded and pulled a remote out of his pocket, pressing a button.

Minimalistic was understating it. The floor that came up was a simple, thin, glass S around as wide as his head.

"This battle will be one on one!" Falkner called out from the other end of the room, catching Ethan off guard as he examined the man. Thick blue hair covered most of his face, falling down over the icy blue eyes and the pale skin. "Challenger release first."

"Good by me." Ethan replied, gritting his teeth as he picked an Ultra Ball and tossed it into the air, Scyther appearing on the field.

Falkner smiled, tossing out a poke ball and cursing as he realized he picked the wrong one. His Pidgey was on the field. Ethan smiled at the stroke of luck, thinking and speaking.

"Scyther! Invisi-blur!" he shouted as Scyther nodded, running down the curving floor and gathering momentum as he moved onto the walls, careful not to fall out of the open roof as he leapt across the room repeatedly, soon too fast to see.

"Now that I have never seen before. Pidgey, begin Evasive Twister!" he shouted in reply as his Pidgey chirped, flapping its wings and engulfing itself in a small twister barely bigger than it.

"Scyther, use the walls and show them what a real twister looks like!" Ethan shouted, praying that Scyther heard him and was now lapping the walls.

Pidgey was struggling, trying to maintain the maneuver, obviously not very powerful at this stage in the evolution chain as Ethan started to feel the wind swirling faster and faster and a proper twister appeared around Pidgey, slightly yellow, barely noticeable as it tossed Pidgey in every direction, thrashing the unfortunate Pokémon.

Scyther, at least he hoped, followed Pidgey into the sky as the twister dissipated, tossing the palm sized bird into the open sky. Scyther fizzled into view as his momentum slowed down, cutting Pidgey across the chest to be thrown back to the ground in a flash of light.

Ethan stared at the miniscule bird as it was enveloped in glowing white light, its silhouette growing and changing all the while. The envelope of light expanded, nearly blinding Ethan as he raised an arm over his face to protect his eyes.

The light settled slowly as Ethan squinted, staring at something he had never seen before, only in pictures; a Pidgeotto. Ethan stared at the magnificent bird's lustrous plumage as Scyther crashed into the floor next to him, getting back up immediately and beginning another relentless attack as Pidgeotto managed to evade more and more.

Ethan sighed, his confidence taking a great blow until he noticed what was happening. Pidgeotto was moving less, stopping more, struggling to fly as it froze altogether mid chirp, crashing into the floor.

Ethan stared in shock as he realized why the twister was tinted slightly yellow. Scyther had released stun spores into it. And with so many swirling all around the bird, naturally it had breathed in more than a few.

"That's enough!" Falkner called out as a beam of red light de-materialized the bird, calling it back. "You fought well. Come here and claim your badge."

Ethan recalled Scyther, walking across the narrow platform nervously as he made it to the other side. Falkner took his hand, pressing the badge into it. It was a light mint color, shaped like a hexagon with a line cut out of it from one of the points, those two cut sides stylized as wings.

"The Zephyr Badge. Yours. Pass me your ID." Falkner said, taking the metal tag and removing the nylon cord, placing it in an old fashioned wood and metal press. The walked onto a raised panel next to a stair block, waiting as he pushed it down with his weight, stepping of when it was at floor level. The machine had pressed into the tag, opening up again as Falkner stepped off the panel and handed him his ID.

Ethan examined it, staring at the engraved symbol, a depiction of the Zephyr badge, as he put it back on its cord, wearing it around his neck and tucking it under his shirt.

"I get the feeling that if you continue towards your goal with the devotion you show here, and take care of your Pokémon, you may be a living legend at some point, you could even become the champion. But then again, there's Will, Koga, Bruno, Karen and Lance in your way. Not to mention Red if you can even find him."

"Thanks." Ethan replied, shaking his hand and walking out of the gym, heading for the city borders as the sun rose to its peak position in the sky. Ethan checked his watch, the dial reading 11:48. The time had really flown by. Had the battle been that long?

Ethan reached the archway in the trees that indicated Violet City's borders, standing underneath it and staring out at the route that would take him to Azalea city, home of Bugsy, one of Johto's gym leaders, his second gym battle, and hopefully, his second gym badge.

"One badge down, seven to go." Ethan grinned, setting off.