big-expectations

[big-expectations]

Ethan would be embarrassed to admit it, but... He hasn't had the chance to battle with anyone that weren't family in some way. His family is large, with uncles, aunts, and numerous cousins. "Practice battles" are a frequent activity the family engage in. Most of the time, these "practice battles" are patient, gentle, and used entirely as teaching moments.

Once a true competitive feeling is awoken within the family though, Ethan almost always loses. Especially after losing his starter Pokemon and raising a new baby Pokemon instead. The sad truth is that he is simply not very quick or confident in his decision making, making Ethan a poor beginner battler. Initially, he'd been assured that his skills would improve, "Keep practicing and researching, you will get the hang of it!"

So far though, he never did get better, and the fear of putting his young Pokemon through a losing battle has resulted in Ethan refusing to battle again in the recent months.

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"Mom 'n I are goin' to the Safari this weekend! A whole cruise and everything- hope everyone has a good mom's day weekend!"

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"Blue? Oh...Ok, cool." Ethan was relieved she offered up her name despite that he hadn't quite known how to ask for it. Relaxing as he leaned to one side while she remarks to his questions. "Yeah... My family says that too." He'd just neglect to mention if this was a good or bad thing.

He hummed in intrigue. "I guess that makes sense. I wonder how long it'd take for whole new evolutions to show up...?" There was an air of self-centered excitement; he'd love to see all of the potential evolutions that may blossom over time. "...And maybe no evolutions ever show up, not until some kinda predator or environment change makes things tougher."

"Wow, I didn't think about Metapods like that... I kinda feel bad for the wild ones." The boy's eyes were wide as saucers, "They gotta go through all of that to be Butterfrees... Is it even worth it for them? Do you think there are Caterpie who never wanna evolve and are just happy being lil worms?"

"Hi, Ethan." She offers him a kind smile. Children always seem so nervous around her ; she's starting to believe she must look very intimidating... or maybe it's just the fact that she's an adult. "My name's Blue. It's nice to meet you. You're full of questions, aren't you?"

It's good, though. An inquisitive mind is always an asset.

"I wouldn't worry too much. Pokémon will always find a way. If unevolved pokémon ever find themselves at a disadvantage in their environment, even if the means by which its species would normally evolve are unavailable—like, say, a particular stone arch is destroyed—then it's likely the species will still naturally evolve to have better survival traits overtime. It's a different type of evolution than what we're used to but it'll do the trick." The beauty of biology and natural selection, truly.

"Also, most pokémon are able to lead perfectly healthy lives while in unevolved forms. Some are even better off without evolving, honestly. Think of Caterpie, for example. When it evolves into Metapod, it loses all of its mobility and means to attack, which makes it increasingly more vulnerable to predators like Pidgeotto. While it has naturally higher defenses, it can more easily fall pray to a persistent enemy."

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If there is one hobby that Ethan is most embarrassed about, it would be gardening.

Tending to flowers, vegetables, fruit trees, and tons of berry's in his family's large backyard is a chore assigned by his parents. Though with his mother being too eager to help him, the 'chore' turned into a bonding activity. Ethan loves the time spent with his mother, the edible foods that he gets to eat and share with his family, and the berry's that he helps grow for their Pokemon. Even the simple joy of playing in soft dirt had never escaped him, even as he began to enter his teenage years.

Every day Ethan is happy to do some gardening alongside his mother, yet rarely would he admit to having the skill of cultivating crops and berry's.

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"Weekend~ Oh sweet weekend~ We love to have you~"

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"Big brother Ethan is teasing his sister again... I don't understand why he does this. We both know our parents will force him to play tea party with her because of this..."

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"Did you guys know that Roost actually removes the flying type from the user while they're using it?! I didn't know that! That'd be an amazing way to dodge a super effective hit!"

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The feeling of being watched...

Ethan felt this every time he left his house. Whether sitting in the backyard, or visiting an entirely new city. Something was watching him, yet he couldn't tell if this feeling was borne from nonsense or indicating any danger.

Sometimes, when looking into the tree line, a pair of eyes are watching him. But after blinking, the eyes disappear, and Ethan always doubts what he'd seen.

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(( Hello my beauty... ))

[big-expectations]

who are you most afraid of disappointing, ethan? do you think you’ve already let them down?

"..Umm... I..." The thought was jarring, and left his mind reeling and scrambling a bit, cheeks tinting pink with hints of shame. Then he shook it off, regathering himself.

"No one! Nobody! Jeez... Dumb question..." The teen scoffed, until the silence fell and immediately he felt too suffocated with his swimming thoughts. "I mean... I know it probably looks bad if you think about what my whole family did..."

Ethan scoffed again, though the noise sounded far more forced. "Like- my whole family aren't famous or anything, but they did a LOT of stuff. All of 'em got badges. Some of 'em even managed to battle the Champion! A-and, my uncle..." His gaze felt to the side, "He's like- a genius researcher, making life better for Pokemon. So is my cousin. And- even my lazy brother! He sleeps all the time! Seriously, he sleeps more than his Slakoth, and he STILL got almost half way through the Elite Four...

"I don't even have one badge even though I'm 13- I don't even battle right, cuz I can't, I'm too slow and-" Ethan cut himself off, looking frustrated, "...I shouldn't worry about what people think. I... I should just focus on myself, so I don't care about disappointing anyone."

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- @evoblue continued from here-

"That's a nice one." Ethan stated his approval of her answer to fill the silence that fell while he thought about which evolution stone he'd personally pick, pondering deeply as the boy was evidently putting a lot of thought into the answer.

"I... I think I'd choose... the Moon stone." He decided with a final nod, "Cuz it's cool- Um, all the stones are cool, actually, but- I like the sky, and I like it when it's night the most." His gaze tilted skyward, light silver eyes squinting as the suns indirect rays easily pierced through his brighter colored eyes, "The stars are pretty... and the moon never hurts you for lookin' at it."

Her attempts to distract him from her answer had failed, however, as Ethan still wondered why she originally chose the ice stone... Though he didn't choose to ask the reason behind her answer directly, "It's cool to think about... specially if there's a special reason for it."

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O O C / /

I just wanna say that I love running around the school and watching the light shenanigans that the teachers get up to. I love them all and Ethan would be SO excited about going to this kind of school (even though he'd be a terrible student in the classroom setting).

[big-expectations]

Living in Blackthorn City can sometimes be quite isolating. Living high in the mountains makes the trek down to New Bark Town relatively manageable, but almost impossible from the opposite direction. Though attempts were made to construct a bridge across the river to the west, repeated destruction from wild Pokemon proved that the bridge would have to be large and firmly built to prevent easy destruction- all while having as minimal impact on the environment as possible (on top of the threat of trainers hosting battles atop the bridge). Eventually, the bridge had been given up on.

All of these factors help to isolate the city, along with most residents themselves. Although Blackthorn City is not a small mountain town by any means, many families have lived in the mountains for generations and grown accustomed to the isolation. Outsiders were not always welcome, depending on the interviewed resident.

Although the range of friendships were limited, and the neighboring wilderness were especially dangerous, Ethan does actually enjoy the isolation. The few friends he has are especially treasured, and the freedom to have some alone time whenever he wanted was a gift. The aforementioned danger associated with the wilderness would be his only complaint of his home town, and while he'd never want to move away from his home, visiting other regions is an occasional welcome change of pace when they bring more docile wild Pokemon.

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He often wonders what he would've accomplished if the accident had never happened. Wonders how far he would travel, how many Pokemon he'd see, how many badges he'd successfully collect. But these accomplishments weren't a dream of his, they were a mere checkbox to fill in an effort to match the accomplishments of the rest of his family. His friends. And even neighbors.

Had there been no accident, would he still have found a way to fail? Would he stumble upon his dream profession, something that still eluded his imagination? How many friends had he lost by simply not traveling the globe as a trainer?

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Mewtwo meets Pumpkin - Part 7

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"You think so...? I guess that makes sense..." The boy didn't seem too convinced yet. "But if nature never rehp... r-repeats it, then... if it wasn't for us, a lotta Pokemon probably wouldn't ever evolve! I dunno if that's a good or bad thing, though..." Ethan genuinely wondered what evolution must feel like for Pokemon...

"...Oh... I guess I never said my name yet..." He averted his eyes, hoping the unexpected feeling of nervousness wasn't obvious. "...Um. Do you think it's good for Pokemon to evolve, or is it actually bad for some of 'em? ...I-I'm Ethan, h-hi."

"I won't lie, the thought has occurred to me as well." Perhaps not in such alarming context but it's crossed her mind all the same. "However, most of the time pokémon react to the energy exuded from certain places or objects so I'm sure it could be replicated somehow..."

After all, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed.

She pauses, her eyes finally meeting the boy's. "I believe we've crossed paths twice now, and I don't even know your name." / @big-expectations