The Greatest Summer of My Life

Nature, Battles, and Bets

As opposed to last week, the weather this week was perfect. It was in the mid-eighties and all the shade from the trees just made it perfect for all those on the nature hike. Pretty much everyone was enjoying it but some were a little too preoccupied with other things to pay attention to what Professor Oak was saying along the way. Those being mainly Ethan and Lyra; Brian, Lyra's dad, had given them his blessing but while they were walking they could sense that he wasn't that comfortable seeing them together. As a result, the two remained in awkward silence until he moved to catch up with Ethan's grandparents. "I knew this would happen," Lyra whispered.

"Yeah, knowing your dad I guess this was to be expected," Ethan replied.

"I know. I just wish he would look at me as an adult."

"He does look at you that way, he just has trouble coming to terms with it."

"Well, I hope he does soon. I don't want it to be like this around him forever."

"He'll come around eventually. We just have to give it time."

Lyra smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder as they continued to walk. Ethan looked back at her smiling before glancing over at Brian. He was eyeing them with the same unreadable expression as before and it made Ethan nervous. "Yeah, eventually," he thought.

A group of Tailow flew through the trees. "Ooh looks like we have some Tailow with us today," said Professor Oak, "I'm sure you young trainers know a thing or two about pokemon from other regions. Would anyone care to elaborate?"

"I can do that," Blue said proudly, "Tailow is the bird pokemon native to the Hoenn Region and they-"

Red and Leaf stopped listening to what he was saying. It was clear to them that he was trying to show off. Leaf briefly left her parents and walked over to Red; "Does he do this a lot in your experience?" she asked.

"He did it a lot with me back when we first became trainers. He always had to show me how much an 'incredible genius' he was," said Red.

"Of all the times for him to be acting like this, he chooses to do so while my parents are here."

Red looked over at her parents who are looking at Blue fondly, he even heard Rebecca comment about how smart he was. He inwardly sighed knowing that they were approving of Blue and so far blind to his arrogant nature. It made him wonder if they would be as approving of him if he ever got the chance to be with Leaf. "I'll bet that's the whole reason he's doing it knowing him," Red said softly.

Leaf was quick to notice his change in tone, "Yeah maybe, something wrong?" Leaf asked.

"Oh, nothing," he replied.

After walking a little bit, the group eventually came to a large, level, cleared out area that overlooked. the entire lake. The site was absolutely breath-taking, the water above was beautiful and blue, the near-overhead view of the forest was amazing, and to top it all off they had a full view of Professor Oak's camp. "Man I would kill to live with a view like this," said Red.

"Yeah me too," said Leaf.

Professor Oak spoke up again, "quite the view, isn't it? In all my years of running this camp, this has always been one of my favorite places to visit. But the view isn't the only thing to enjoy about this place. I'm sure you've all noticed how flat and pristine this area is. That is because this a battlefield visiting trainers often come to test each other at."

Many of the people's faces lit up at the mention of a pokemon battle. Red and Ethan especially were really hoping to get some action. "Since we're here, how does a good old fashioned pokemon battle sound to you all?" asked Professor Oak.