Chapter Text
Ethan’s eyes shot open at 7:00 AM on the dot, exactly in tune with his alarm. Today was the day - the culmination of months, years, of anticipation, of build-up, of mounting expectations. Yes, today was finally the day that Ethan departed New Bark Town and took Johto by storm, formally announcing his intention to become Champion of the Indigo League.
The day had been circled on his calendar for weeks - the first day Professor Elm would be available after a weeks-long work trip, two weeks after Ethan’s sixteenth birthday. The professor’s lab was stocked with a few specimens of each of Johto’s traditional starter Pokémon, allowing Ethan to have his pick of the litter. Ethan, of course, had long known who he wanted his first partner to be - the fiery Cyndaquil, ideal for ripping through the early gyms in the Gym Challenge, with its emphasis on a balanced attack.
After all, Ethan had done his research - years and years of it, studying all kinds of battling strategies, developing an encyclopedic knowledge of type match-ups and move sets, developing a sharp, focused understanding for the psychology of Pokémon battles. In mock contests conducted between him and his peers, Ethan could wipe the floor with basically any team combination he was given, rising head and shoulders above the other kids his age in various Johto battle camps. Sure, he could be a little callous about it - no one had ever accused Ethan of being overly sentimental - but he’d had one goal in his mind since he was five years old, and nothing would stop him from achieving it.
Nothing.
With that goal fresh in his mind, Ethan hopped out of bed, stretched, and dashed off to the bathroom for a superficial freshening-up, the quicker the better. Brushing his teeth with lightning speed, Ethan returned to his room to put on the outfit he expected to wear for the majority of his Pokémon journey - black shorts, red hoodie, and, of course, his trusty Ultra Hat, a gift from his mother four birthdays prior. Combined with his messenger bag and the brand-new Pokégear he’d received this past birthday, he certainly looked the part of “Champ in the Making.” Now, all he had to do was walk the walk.
Rushing down the stairs two-by-two, Ethan slid into the kitchen to scarf down a light breakfast his mother had ready for him.
“Ethan, honey, slow down a little,” his mother chided, herself nursing a large cup of coffee. “Trust me, the professor’s not going anywhere.”
“I want to get there first,” Ethan replied, through a mouthful of toast. “So I can get started as soon as possible.”
Ethan’s mother shook her head, sighing. “I understand that you’re excited to get going, honey, but this…this is going to be a long journey, you know? It’s best to take it one step at a time, at a nice, measured pac-“
“Gotta go, see ya later Mom!”
His mother could do little but roll her eyes as Ethan abruptly finished his breakfast in the middle of her warning, leapt up from the table, and dashed out the door. Glancing down at her phone, she tapped out a quick message to Elm.
<Watch out, storm’s coming.>
+++
Professor Elm’s laboratory was just down the road - in New Bark Town, nearly everything was easily accessible on foot. When he was a child, Ethan felt like the town was simply enormous, like it stretched out in every direction forever. Now, as a 16-year-old ready to experience what the rest of Johto had to offer, his hometown felt more like a playpen, closing in on him more and more every day. The excitement he felt at being able to finally break free burned in his chest, and fueled his mad dash to Elm’s lab.
The laboratory was a converted two-story house - to non-residents, it likely looked no different from any other residential building in New Bark Town, save for the large windmill in its backyard that provided supplementary power to the laboratory. Ethan had been inside the lab several times before, but as he approached this time, the building seemed to glow and resonate in his vision. Here he was, finally, ready to make his mark on the world.
As Ethan approached from the east, however, something curious caught his eye on the building’s west side - a teenager, with a mop of vibrant crimson hair on his head, ducking around the corner of the building and disappearing out of sight. Confused, Ethan glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed the boy, but he seemed to be the only one in the immediate area. Much as he wanted to just get on with selecting his starter and leaving New Bark Town behind, something told him that he needed to at least see what was going on.
Walking past the front door of the lab, Ethan poked his head around the side of the building, and spotted the mysterious teenager crouching below the lab’s side window, peering through with an intense look on his face. Moreover, he seemed to be muttering something to himself.
“So this is the famed Elm Pokémon Laboratory…” the boy said. “Feh. Doesn’t seem so grand to me.”
Ethan briefly weighed his options. He could just go into the lab and pretend that he’d never seen this strange sight before him, and he could just get on with his journey. On the other hand, something about this boy unnerved him, and he decided that it would probably be better to at least make his presence known before getting on with things. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the narrow alley between Elm’s lab and the large border fence.
“Hey, bud, if you’re looking for the front door, you got the wrong wall,” Ethan called out, hands in his pockets, trying hard to affect a cool, unconcerned look. The redhead jumped, immediately turning to Ethan and shooting him a withering look.
“What the hell are you looking at?” the boy snapped. Straightening up, he began to advance on Ethan. Now realizing that he may have bit off far more than he could chew, Ethan took a step back, but stood his ground otherwise.
“Listen, I’m just trying to be a - a good samaritan here, alright,” he replied, forcing himself not to stammer. “I see some delinquent peering into the local Pokémon lab, I’m not just gonna turn tail and act like everything’s peachy. I mean, like, I’m not a cop or anything, but…”
The boy continued his advance on Ethan the entire time Ethan bumbled his way through his explanation, until they were just inches from each other. Reaching out, the redhead roughly grabbed a fistful of Ethan’s jacket and held him in place.
“A good samaritan, huh?” the boy spat. “You better grow out of that quick if you’re gonna last long in the real world. But based on where you’re headed and how you’re dressed, I bet the real world’s still a ways away for you.”
With significantly more force than Ethan was expecting, the boy shoved him backwards, entirely out of the narrow alleyway, then turned and returned to his post, his face significantly more severe than before. Glancing at Ethan, he narrowed his eyes.
“Now beat it.”
Rattled, Ethan obliged, smoothing out his jacket where the onerous redhead had crumpled the fabric and backing up further. Considering how poorly that had gone, it was certainly in Ethan’s best interests to just move on and head over to Elm’s to get back to why he was here in the first place, though he couldn’t help but feel that this was a less-than-stellar start to his Pokémon journey.
At least I’ll be first to the lab, Ethan thought, swinging open the front door to Elm’s lab. Rather than receiving a grand welcome from Johto’s resident Pokémon professor, however, Ethan was surprised - and more than a little irritated - to see that he had not, in fact, been the first one to arrive that day.