A/N: A shorter chapter and a side/cutaway story at that. Hell it ain't even about Brendan. But anyway I hope you guys enjoy because after this is uploaded I will be taking a week off to cool down and collect my thoughts. Can't pump out a chapter week after week for two stories without getting burned out a bit.

"So Brendan." I heard May ask as we headed towards the Mauville gate, her underwear tucked snugly in my bag.

"Ja?" I asked, sliding my hands in my pockets.

"How's the friend of yours doing?" she asked. "The one from where you're from, I think you mentioned him?"

"Oh, Ethan. He's fine, I think. Last I checked at least." I shrugged. "He can handle himself."

"From what Brendan has told me, he's grown since they were kids." Thalia commented before she turned to me. "I mean, though, you've gotta wonder what he's doing at present."

"That is a good question." I looked up to the sky and thought about it. What was old Ethan doing right now? One had to wonder.

Johto, Ilex Forest.

"Son of a bitch!" Ethan yelled as he fell to the ground for the umpteenth time.

"Dude, come on there's tons of the things everywhere. Lyra and I are tripping over ourselves half the time." Krys said to comfort Ethan despite the snickers she was choking back. Lyra was slowly, ever so slowly, stepping over the roots of trees that had over grown the Ilex Forest. It was a confusing, arduous endeavour, this forest. In fact if it wasn't on the way to Goldenrod, right after Azalea Town, Ethan wouldn't have bothered. Instead he had to beat the little ass off of Silver, the righteous prick, and then heal his Pokemon and was now looking for a stupid Farfetch'd. No one even liked the bird! Why was he searching for it?

"I know." Ethan sighed, getting up. "It's just…" he sighed. "It's irritating, y'know?"

"Oh Ethan, don't be like that." Lyra said once she had reached them. "We just have to find it and we can be on our way. It won't be that hard." She spoke with a smile. Ethan was thankful for Lyra being on the team. Krys was more temperamental than him and Ethan himself was prone to getting bummed out or disappointed. Lyra was just upbeat. Happy. Optimistic. She helped keep a good mood on the team… if only she wasn't into Silver. Seriously she got flushed and nervous whenever he was around. That was what Ethan would call her only drawback.

"I know, Lyra. It's just…" Ethan waved an arm out to the entirety of the forest. "We have all this to cover."

"Not if you know what to look for!" Lyra responded cheerfully. She then walked forward and dipped down, looking at the grass and dirt.

"You gotta wonder" Krys said, sliding over to Ethan "how she keeps that optimism."

"It's a miracle in and of itself." Ethan sighed.

"I mean aside from Silver, she's as good as gold." Krys commented. That, too, bothered Krys. It may be the fact that they're dating, or just unrequited hatred, but Krys had no time for Silver. Every time he showed his smug face, Ethan had to trust Lyra not to let Krys at him. Last thing Ethan needed was a murder case on his hands.

"Yeah. But even then…" Ethan shrugged. Lyra's feelings towards Silver were irrelevant in the big picture.

"Even then her taste in men is terrible." Krys smirked and Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Found them!" Lyra exclaimed, some distance away. Ethan and Krys had to stop gossiping and go over to her, avoiding as many of the tree roots as they could. Once they reached her, Lyra was crouched over small tracks in the ground heading in a direction that Ethan would vaguely describe as "forward".

"What are those?" he asked.

"Farfetch'd tracks!" Lyra said, excitedly. "We just have to follow them and we should find the poor thing!"

"Good. The sooner we get this out of the way, the better." Krys added.

"Krys!" Ethan turned to her and she shrugged.

"Seriously, don't tell me you don't want to face Whitney." She argued and Ethan had to concede the point.

"Okay Lyra, you found the way, you lead it." Ethan said, making Lyra's face light up.

"Oh Ethan, thank you!" she said, slowly walking alongside the tracks. Ethan and Krys followed, at a distance as Krys wanted to talk.

"I'm a bit worried if we meet Silver again. What if he sweet talks her?" Krys offered her concern.

"Krys, Silver isn't a sweet talker. I doubt He'd even care much." Ethan rolled his eyes. "You're being paranoid."

"Well she's a tad… naïve." Krys admitted and Ethan shot her a look.

"Krys!" he hissed.

"Hey! It's a bit true at least!" Krys defended herself but Ethan kept glaring at her despite the fact that, in the back of his head, he was agreeing. Lyra could be naïve at times but she wasn't stupid.

"Hey, she's helping us." Ethan reprimanded his girlfriend before they caught up to Lyra who had stopped and was holding an arm out. Ethan looked over her shoulder and saw what had caused her to stop. A good distance away in this atrociously dark forest was a small, bright brown bird with a leek in its wing.

"Arceus." Krys whispered. "There it is."

"Sh!" Lyra hissed with a finger over her mouth before she turned back to the Farfetch'd, which was pecking around at the ground, its leek held high. Ethan ran his hand along the four Pokeballs on his belt. His Quilava, Pidgeotto, Onix, and his newly acquired Scyther. He wondered which one would be best for-

"We can't fight it." Krys whispered into his ear, forcing him to turn.

"What do you mean?" Ethan frowned and Krys rolled her eyes.

"You can't be serious, if we returned it all beat up then they won't accept it. At worst they'll sic the police on us and that's the last thing we need in this stupid forest." Krys's expression was adamant. Ethan had to concede she was right. He couldn't fight it without the owners getting all iffy about it. And if he tried, her Bayleef would constrict him in her vines and that wouldn't be a pleasant experience. It wasn't, really.

"Okay, fine." Ethan conceded as he turned to Lyra. "So what do we do?"

"Well… we should sneak up to it and surround it so it can't escape." Lyra planned as she looked around. "I'll need you two to split up and find different angles. Then I'll from the front and we'll get it in a grip."

"That's surprisingly devious, Lyra." Krys grinned as she complimented the girl. Lyra blushed a bit.

"Well my family owns a small farm so I spent a lot of time chasing the birds around." She the focused on the Farfetch'd in the distance. "Okay, Ethan you go right, Krys you go left. Circle around and stay in the bushes."

"Got it." Ethan affirmed as he headed right as quietly as possible. It was on this short little trip that he had to appreciate how dark and big this forest was. In fact it looked as if it were night time, it was that dark. The trees that took up the majority of the forest were so thick and had so many huge branches with large leaves that it was almost impossible to comprehend. Ethan adjusted his backpack as he adopted a crouch as he walked, hoping that it quieted his steps a bit more. It wasn't long before he turned and found himself staring across from his location at Lyra, who was hiding behind a tree while the Farfetch'd pecked around. However now it was looking around in a more anxious manner. Ethan had a sneaking suspicion that it was becoming acutely aware of what was going on around it.

Okay just make sure it doesn't get away at the very least. Ethan thought to himself. To his right he saw Krys hiding behind a tree, ready to pounce. Lyra held a finger to her lips as she took a very, very slow step forward. She stopped after one and watched the Farfetch'd intently. He wasn't looking at her, he was pecking around, but his awareness was becoming obvious. Lyra took another step forward and stopped, watching intently. Then she took another. And another. And another. Then another. Then another until she was within a couple feet of the Pokemon. She took another painstakingly slow step until she was within arms-reach of the Farfetch'd.

Ethan felt his heartbeat in his chest and neck. This was so intense, it was like what Brendan described when he stole Victoria's panties, this thick sense of tense anticipation that plagues the air around him. It was almost palpable. Ethan swallowed as Lyra reached out to grab the Farfetch'd, it was as if Ethan was unable to really breathe, the tension was so thick. Once her hands were within centimetres of the bird, it stopped pecking around and looked at her. Lyra stopped suddenly and went wide eyed. She'd been caught. Krys slowly stepped out from her hiding spot and Ethan took a step forward but Lyra, frozen in place, glared at them to stop. The Farfetch'd kept looking at her as if he had found an object he wanted. Everything was still but for the sounds of the forest and a slight breeze that rolled through.

That's when the Farfetch'd bolted.

"Get it!" Lyra screamed so loud, it shattered the tension and Ethan shot forward as the Farfetch'd was about to flutter in front of him. Krys was aiming to launch herself past Ethan should he fail to catch the bird. He did, only managing to get a few feathers in his hand as it also managed to avoid Krys's grip. Both of them landed with hard thuds on the forest floor as Lyra ran past them. "Come on!" she yelled, running into the forest. Ethan and Krys got up quickly and went after her, their legs pumping.

It was here that Krys took the lead in strides. Because of her time in sports in school along with her constant out door expeditions, she surpassed Lyra on their chase of the Farfetch'd that just wouldn't want to be captured. Krys gave the bird a run for its leek, chasing it around corners and through sections of forest, trying to lure it to Lyra and Ethan. Ethan kept calling to Krys as she ran, hoping to help her locate them as she chased the creature. However they failed on several occasions. The Farfetch'd seemed used to dodging people as it avoided every attempt to grab and subdue it.

"Ethan! Use your Pokemon!" Lyra yelled to Ethan.

"But Krys said we shouldn't!" Ethan tried to argue but Lyra shook her head.

"We need to subdue it!" she called. "We have to!"

"Okay, fine!" I said, grabbing Quilava's Pokeball, ready to tell him to light whatever he could when we passed a couple of trees and saw Krys stopped before a couple of people. Ethan and Lyra skidded to a stop behind Krys and doubled over from panting. Ethan's sides were in a lot of pain as he looked to who had stopped the Farfetch'd. It was the boy and his teacher, who were by the tree that held a path that Ethan could take out of this section of the Forest.

"Ah! Farfetch'd!" the older man sounded delighted as he held the bird, which tried protesting but found itself caught in the man's grip. The kid beside him looked sheepish as kid who was caught doing a naughty thing.

"Thankfully I managed to drive it over here." Krys explained, her breaths light and short. "It was quite the chase."

"Yeah, Farfetch'd likes to run off. I suppose I'll have to teach the boy how to keep him on the short leash. I forgot to give him the short leash!" the man laughed heartily though Ethan was still doubled over panting. Krys would have his hide probably, for succumbing to not doing more exercise.

"That's true." Krys said with a light chuckle. "Anyway we'll be on our way." She said, nodding her head to the direction behind the two.

"Well, wait. I've got something you trainers could use on your trip. Consider it my payment." The man pulled a CD sleeve from his pocket and handed it to Krys. "It's the HM Cut. Should be useful, no?"

"Oh... thank you so much." Krys said with a smile. The man nodded.

"No problem. Least I could do." The man then looked to the child and nodded his head towards the Azalea entrance. "Let's go." He started walking and the child followed, head low, pace slow. They waited for them to reach a good distance before Krys turned to Ethan.

"You seriously can't run as much now?" she asked and Ethan, having straightened himself, answered.

"I'm sorry I didn't spend your years running Krys." Ethan responded sarcastically. "I'm sure Brendan can't run all that much."

"Well he's in Hoenn and you're with me. Starting tomorrow the three of us are running more. Does your heart good." Krys said, hands on hips. Ethan and Lyra groaned.

"My heart doesn't need good it needs some rest." Ethan panted. Lyra nodded her head.

"How can you run so much?" she asked.

"Track team, outdoor hikes, running daily, etc." Krys waved her hand. "Years of training."

"We don't have years." Ethan protested.

"No time like the present." Krys smiled. As she began the trek towards Azalea. "Besides we have an HM to teach!"

"Oh Arceus…" Ethan muttered, slowly walking towards Krys, who waited for her two lazy compatriots to join her. When Ethan reached her she planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Well you were cute when you were running." She said with a smile. Ethan felt his face heat up. Maybe running wouldn't be so bad.

"Yeah, makes me wonder." I said was I walked over to the gate that headed into Mauville. I was interested to see what the city held for me.

"Well you'll figure it out when you call him." Thalia stated.

"True." I reached the gate and stopped, looking up. It was a decent sized building. "Ready to go in?" I asked.

"Yeah." Thalia shrugged.

"Been waiting." May admitted.

"Okay then." I opened the door. "Let's go.

A/N: Short chapter but I just decided to give you all because this week I will be off. Just need to relax. Anyway, hope you enjoyed.