Whatever his weird empathy thing did, it was obviously working. Pachirisu must have felt his rising ire and need to ‘talk’, as the little squirrel was nowhere to be found. As Ethan stomped back to his home to drop off the new Pichu egg in his room, many of the nearby pokemon, some wild and some his own, shied away from him like he was on a warpath.
He wasn’t angry, but he was most definitely frustrated. It felt like as soon as one thing resolved in his chaotic life, another got thrown his way. Already, he was getting the feeling that he had too many pokemon. In an ideal world, Ethan would raise this Pichu and then find it a home… The issue was that this Pichu was Pachirisu’s, and he wouldn’t separate them. There would be no way that one of his pokemon was going to be an absentee father. Not on his watch.
After making sure the egg was comfortable, Ethan made his way to the training field and campground to meet up with Tobias and Pyroar. Hopefully, starting up on some tutoring and work would turn out relaxing. He could only hope so, as if the rest of the day stayed the same as his morning, then he was in for a world of hurt.
Seeing that Tobias wasn’t at the training field, Ethan made his way over to the campground and found Tobias making a meal over a freshly stoked campfire. He was sizzling some type of meat on a cast-iron skillet as Pyroar lounged next to him, patiently waiting for a snack.
After taking a deep breath, Ethan raised a hand in greeting and spoke out as he approached. “Good Morning, Tobias. You and Pyroar ready to get things started?”
Pyroar stretched, shoving her paws forward and arching her back, revealing razor sharp claws that raked the dirt as she pushed herself up to stand. Tobias flicked one of the bacon-looking strips in her direction, which she snapped out of the air with practiced ease. “I think we are.”
“Perfect.” Ethan sat down on a nearby log as both Tobias and Pyroar finished their meal. “To make things easier for the both of us, I would like to ask some questions about Pyroar’s capabilities and current moves. Does she by chance know the move Overheat?”
Tobias picked off a bit of freshly sizzled meat as he answered. “She does. Why?”
“Well, Overheat is a move that uses a pokemon’s maximum effort into unleashing a devastating wave of fire. Heatwave, as a fire move, doesn’t actually use any fire in its attack. Heatwave is a blast of superheated air, hot enough to leave burns. Knowing the difference between heat and flame will most likely be a big point of contention.” Ethan explained, earning curious looks from both Tobias and Pyroar.
Seeing as they didn’t seem to understand, Ethan tried to show an example. He scooted closer to the fire and held out a hand, feeling its warmth. Both trainer and pokemon watched him as they munched. “Fire is a reaction—a chemical, visible manifestation of intense heat stemming from combustion. Fire is always hot, creating heat, but heat is not caused only by fire.”
Ethan raised his now warm sweaty hand and pointed to the sun. “The sun is also fire, which creates heat—Heat that warms the planet. When sunlight reaches the planet, it warms the surface, air, and water. Some places get more direct sunlight, which makes them hotter, like the equator.”
Ethan continued his rambling. “Seasons happen because the planet is tilted on its axis as it orbits the sun. During part of the year, one side of the Earth tilts toward the sun, getting more sunlight and making it summer. The other side tilts away, getting less sunlight, which makes it winter. The tilt causes spring and fall when the sunlight is more balanced. Sinnoh is experiencing fall, or autumn, right now because of this…”
With but a glance towards Tobias and Pyroar, Ethan realized that he was severely straying from the original topic. “Err, anyways… The heat from the sun is the sunlight that bathes the world in its warm glow. But, you can create heat by friction, like rubbing your hands together quickly, or even vibration. I have the theory that Pyroar will use a mix of her inner fire energy and vibration from sound waves to use the move Heat Wave. Think of it as a large roar powered by her inner flame. She’ll breath air so hot that it will scorch or sear her enemies.”
Seeing as they both stared at him with wide and mildly shocked eyes, he didn’t bother saying a single word. Ethan just shrugged. “Figured understanding is step one.”
Tobias slowly placed his skillet down next to him, then turned to face Ethan squarely. He stared at him with a tilted head and suitably impressed look. “To be honest, I expected you to be some sort of hack. Maybe some publicity stunt for Cynthia.”
This got a laugh out of him. “Hah! Hold your judgement until I actually tutor the move. While I would love to say I am an extraordinary tutor of unparalleled standing, that would be a lie. To be frank, I am still very new. But! I wouldn’t be teaching your pokemon if I didn’t think I could do it. I’ve tutored many moves and haven’t failed yet!”
With a loud clap that startled both Tobias and the mighty empress Pyroar, Ethan ended the conversation and stood up. He gestured toward the training field, eyes focused on Pyroar. “Let's see what you’re capable of!”
After making their way to the training field, Ethan had Pyroar showcase some of her moves. He was mostly looking at how she naturally used her fire moves. Since he himself didn’t have any fire pokemon, with the only pokemon on his ranch capable of a fire move being Smeargle, this was a novel experience.
Pyroar was a very well behaved and trained pokemon, willing to listen to his orders obediently and without question. As they worked their way up from the weakest fire moves she knew, Ethan took in her stance, breaths, the build-up time, and common locations from whence the flames came.
Like most fire type pokemon, Ember was the weakest move Pyroar knew. As she went about showcasing it, Tobias himself gave some commentary. As he stoically watched on from beside Ethan, explaining which moves she gravitated towards, had outgrown, and which he believed she excelled at, Ethan took notes about his observations. It was a shame he didn’t have a proper pen and paper, but his trusty note app on his phone worked well enough.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
After Ember came a physical move, Fire Fang. With powerful vicious charges, Pyroar surged forward and snapped her jaws into thin air. Wispy, near physical flame coated the entirety of her maw as she charged, leading towards a menacing show.
Flamethrower, the staple fire move of many pokemon from back on Earth, was absolutely, positively, devastating. The blast of heated air slammed into him with physical force, causing a coat of sweat to form from only a few seconds of being near the outskirts of the powerful attack. Seeing the move in a real life scenario was frightening. A human being stood no chance within those flames for even a few seconds. It reminded him of those old war videos of a proper itemized flamethrower in action. Yet, unlike the videos from the past, this ray of flame didn’t spread far and wide. It was a twirling and swirling beam of pure fire.
Could one of his pokemon tank that hit? His immediate thoughts were ‘Absolutely not.’, but he’d underestimated his friends quite a bit. They had… a resilience to them; all pokemon did.
The next move up for review was Overheat. Before Ethan could ask for a demonstration, Tobias grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back near the field of berry trees.
After flicking the man a questioning raised brow, Tobias explained. “You don’t want to be anywhere near that move. Better to be safe than sorry.”
As Ethan watched Pyroar get the signal from Tobias to go ahead, Pyroar took in a monstrous breath.
Then, for the next few seconds, all Ethan could see was fire.
The move Overheat unleashed a cataclysmic surge of fire, engulfing the battlefield in a sea of searing flames. The heat was overwhelming, warping the air as waves of fire rippled outward, seeking to consume everything in their path. The ground was instantly scorched black, cracks spread as molten embers danced through the air like furious fireflies. The sky above became painted in fiery hues of orange and red, with thick smoke curling upward in twisting columns. Each flame licked higher and higher, a chaotic mix of destruction and raw energy, as the intense brightness forced everything else into shadow. The roar of the fire mixed with the resonating roar of Pyroar, echoing in an unstoppable force of flame. One unleashed in a single, devastating burst of uncontrolled destruction.
Unconsciously, Ethan took a step backwards as sticky beads of sudden sweat caused his long brown hair to stick to his face. For nearly a minute, Ethan took in the absolute hellscape before him with wide, disbelieving eyes. A firm shake was the only thing to knock him out of his stupified state. He tore his wide eyes away from the now panting Pyroar, creator of this destructive force, and looked into Tobias resolute and understanding eyes. “She’ll need a few minutes to recover.”
Now, Ethan wasn’t one for curses. Yet, a few slipped out. “No fucking shit. If she didn’t, I wouldn’t know how to cope.”
That actually made Tobias chuckle. He started to take off his red coat to spare himself from the heat as he spoke. “You haven't seen many strong pokemon before, have you?”
“Before I saw this, I would have said yes. I’m sure Cynthia’s Garchomp could unleash moves of this caliber, but I never saw any in action. My Ursaring is the strongest pokemon I’ve seen use moves. But, she was building her home, not using them for battle. I did see her charge a Hyper Beam once… It made my hair stand on end.”
Tobias whistled, looking mildly impressed. He flicked his own long, now sticky hair out of his own face as he spoke and tossed his jacket over his shoulder. “She’s a strong one then. Hyper Beam can’t be used by any old pokemon. You took her in?”
“That I did. She had a previous trainer that passed away. As you can probably tell, I am not much of a battler.” Ethan gestured around his very comfortable ranch. “But I can provide a good home.”
Just as Ethan finished speaking, an idea popped into his head. In the anime, Tobias was some random god-tier trainer and his pokemon were mostly unknown… “Speaking of, while you’re here, feel free to let all your pokemon out to enjoy themselves.”
Now, Tobias’ impressed look morphed into an unenthusiastic frown. “Tell me the names of the ones you think I have and we’ll see.”
It appeared that Tobias was trying to keep his secrets, but as Ethan had already told him he knew of some of his ‘secret’ pokemon, he was doing his due diligence to make sure he wasn’t lying. It was a fair play, as he very much could have been lying to spy on his team. Plus, he was actually trying to spy, even if it was for his own curiosity. “Pyroar, Darkrai, and Latios. Those are the three I am aware of.”
Tobias tsk’d, unhappy with the correct answers. Ethan then said once again his reasoning. “Saw you fly in. That little faster than sound trick worked on everyone else on the ranch, but I have seen a few things in my life. I saw. And, I live in the forest. There was quite a commotion with the ghosts when a very powerful pokemon was taken from The Old Chateau.”
The man sighed and slumped his shoulders. He looked disappointed at himself rather than at Ethan. With visible unease, Tobias reached for his pokeballs. The first one he unclipped was used to return the still panting and exhausted Pyroar. “Take a break.”
The two Ultra Balls he tossed out next, which were right next to three others on his belt, released the two aforementioned pokemon.
Darkrai appeared in mid air, its bright cyan colored eye snapping in their direction. It was obviously confused at his release—Tense, having expected a battle. When that bright eye landed on Ethan, it widened. Then, very slowly, two thin pointed legs lowered to the ground. It sauntered right up to Ethan, then stared down at him with curiosity.
“Hello.” Ethan greeted the pokemon who could make his normal nightmares a day in the park. “Mind if I take a picture?”
Tobias literally balked at the request, but Darkrai gave him the go ahead with a minute shrug. If he were to guess, Darkrai most likely read his intentions because of his thingy-majig. Without giving Tobias any time to protest, Ethan snapped a photo with his phone and opened up the PocketDex.
Darkrai - The Pitch-Black Pokemon: Darkrai is a shadowy Pokemon that lulls others into a deep sleep, where they are plagued by vivid and often frightening dreams. It is said to haunt moonlit nights, appearing silently to protect its territory. Despite its ominous reputation, Darkrai does not cause nightmares out of malice; its power to affect dreams is simply a defense mechanism. Some who encounter Darkrai report strange visions that linger even after waking, leaving them uncertain whether it was a warning or a glimpse of another world.
Trainer Alert: Darkrai is an exceptionally rare Pokémon, often considered a myth by many. A confirmed sighting would be a monumental discovery, as it is said to appear only under very specific conditions, such as during lunar phenomena or in areas with strong emotional energy. The Pokémon League advises reporting any Darkrai encounters to local authorities for further investigation and documentation.
“Yeah, I'm not going to report this.” Ethan murmured.
He tore his gaze away from the phone to find Darkrai hunched over with its face mere inches away from his own. Ethan decided to ignore the mythical pokemon that seemed a little too interested in him to find the Latios… which was nowhere to be seen.
Tobias helpfully said, “Invisible. Pictures were a bad idea.”
Ethan continued to look around, with Darkrai following him with but a foot in separation. His efforts were fruitless.
“Dang.”