The harsh winds and slowly fleeting sleet buffeted Ursaring as she marched her way through the knee high snow alongside the ranger who’d check on her and her cubs every so often. Elise was her name, not that she’d known it before. Umbreon was by her side, keeping a wary eye on her movements.

  She snorted at the thought that the little dark type could stop her, as she seemed to think she could.

  About forty paces away on either side of them, two more rangers scoured this frostbitten land for any signs of tracks or survivors. Beside them, an Arcanine and a pokemon she wasn’t familiar with—one with large steel-clad hands fit to burrow with—scouted about.

  They hadn’t spoken—or well, she hadn’t spoken—to them. They’d tried to speak with her, but they didn't matter to her. There were only a few things that mattered in her life, and the top two were safely back home at Ethan’s ranch. She grunted and grinned at the thought, causing the little up-start Umbreon to raise her hackles and slow in her trot to stand between her and her trainer.

  Umbreon also didn’t matter.

  Life was good and getting better now that she’d stayed with Ethan. The human needed her help with many things, although it seemed that he didn’t know it. When she’d stumbled upon his little clearing—which was actually hers, he was just borrowing it—she truly had been surprised to once again feel someone… Just like back when Gadric was still alive.

  Back then, she simply visited to see if the strange man had been found yet. Every time she returned, she had expected him to be gone. But, contrary to her expectations, every time she came to check on him he’d built or expanded something new. Her children also found his presence exciting and thrilling. He’d play with them and give them treats—a familiar sense of joy she’d long forgotten.

  Though… Ethan was much too thin. Her new and stupid trainer needed to feed himself better things. Berries were nice every once in a while, and that honey he’d brought back from his travels recently was a delight, but he needed meat. He worked hard for all the pokemon at their home, yet didn’t work hard for himself. They all knew it. He was getting better, but he still needed help like a cub.

  Oftentimes, he followed the whims of others. Humans would come or call him and ask him to do things and he’d do it, even if he didn’t want to. It wasn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but he needed to make his own choices soon enough. Confidence was key, and he lacked it.

  A warning growl from the little black dot before her caused her gaze to sink. She dismissed Umbreon immediately. “Your stare is annoying me.” She kicked some snow towards Elise’s partner. “I don’t like being annoyed.”

  “I am watching you, mother of the forest.” Umbreon warned. It would have been cute if she was a little younger.

  “I am well aware. You make it hard not to.”

  Elise glanced over her shoulder as she heard them speak, a worrisome frown etched on her face. After spending so much time with Ethan, it was startling to remember how others felt. They were muted and hard to gauge. “Did you find anything?”

  Umbreon sped up her pace and ditched her staring contest. “No.”

  Ursaring sent some of her energy into the ground, sending it radiating outwards. Nothing felt different. She shook her head with a grunt.

  Elise nodded her understanding and picked up the pace. “Keep a close lookout from here on out. We’re approaching the boundary of where we’ve searched.”

  Another ten minutes of being stared at and watched like some threat passed before the steel-armed pokemon with the other trainer caused a commotion, grabbing everyone’s attention. The pokemon clapped his hands together, causing them to radiate with energy, then used his large clawed hands to dig into the ground with the ease of a Magikarp swimming through water, vanishing underneath. Everyone wade their way through the snow to reconvene around the hole it’d dug.

  Ursaring sent another burst of ground type energy through her feet and got a sense of what the other pokemon had seen. Far below, a very small, hollowed out sphere of air was suspiciously present. While not her speciality, she could also vaguely sense the collapse of a former tunnel.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  The rangers wasted no time in whipping out shovels to clear the area around the hole the pokemon had dug. The Arcanine helped by spewing flame from its maw, melting some of the snow…

  When the pokemon returned, she didn’t need to be told about what it’d found. It’s crumpled face of pain and sadness told her enough. She stepped forward and looked down the small hole. “How many?” She asked calmly.

  The smaller digger pokemon hiccuped through emotion as it tried to answer. “T—Tw—Two.”

  She nodded and nudged it aside, causing it to yelp. She used Stone Edge to shift the simple earth beneath them into a large shard of stone, tilted to become a ramp, and then heaved it upwards to pierce the ground. Everyone stumbled at the appearance of the boulder as it jutted through the ground and into the air, but Ursaring just waved at the dirt above her impromptu ramp. “Move the dirt.”

  Seeing her plan, the little steel-clawed pokemon gathered itself into something workable. With a sniff, it began shoveling a respectable amount of the earth away. She wasn’t suited for this type of work, but she helped the best she could. Umbreon dug through some of the larger blocks of earth, breaking it up for them to clear as the humans transitioned from shoveling snow to dirt as well.

  When the final bits of earth cleared down below, Elise peered into the much wider hole with a heavy sigh of acceptance. Ursaring figured the ranger knew what lay below. “I’ll get’em.” She muttered. The other pokemon weren't really suited to carrying things other than the diggy pokemon, but its large sharp hands and smaller stature probably meant it would struggle with what needed to be done.

  She worked her way down the ramp and crawled through the opening at the end, finding what the smaller pokemon had found before her. In the small enclosed space, a woman laid stock-still, curled around a small tan Sandshew.

  It also lay still. Frozen blood caked its clawed hands and… its lower half—which had been crushed. She placed a hand on the human, finding her as cold as the surroundings. By the human's waist, two pokeballs were placed on the ground next to a piece of paper. She grabbed the balls and the paper before making her way back up to the surface. Without fanfare, she dumped them into Elise’s arms and made her way back down to grab the bodies…

  ------------------------------------------------

  Six hours later, they all made their way back into the camp. Elise and the two other rangers had spent an hour storing the remains of the two they’d found in a bright orange bag. A large Skarmory had flown in after some talking with the speaker-thing on her shoulder to fly the bodies back, but nothing else of note had happened in their search.

  All in all, it was fairly uneventful. Elise had to stop by some of the tents to speak with people and fill out papers, so Ursaring just stood and waited. When the ranger was finally done with what she needed to do, she led them to the bright red tents of the healers—the Joys. As they approached, she felt the familiar sensation of being near Ethan. He was content at the moment, she knew.

  When she spotted him, calmly sitting on a log next to the entrance flaps with those earbuds in his ear, she made her way towards him, ignoring Elise and everything else. When he spotted her coming towards him, she felt his heart soar with the barest hints of relief… and a lot of happiness.

  It made her smile.

  She wrapped him in a hug as he came forward, taking his earbuds out. “Welcome back!”

  She knew he couldn’t understand what she said. Gadric couldn’t either. So, she simply grunted.

  He pulled back and gave her a once over, searching for any injuries or something or the other, she didn’t know. “Did you find anyone?”

  She nodded as she went to go sit where he’d previously been. She deserved the rest. He snorted at her as she took his previous spot, but didn’t do anything else. He needed to be more confident and not let people take his things. “You’re lucky you saved someone, or else I’d be taking my seat back.” He came and sat on her lap like a cub, much to her chagrin.

  Sure you would. She thought with a huff.

  “Did everything go well with Elise? Any problems?” He asked as he leaned back into her, using her as a chair.

  “No problems.” She spoke out of habit. He nodded anyway, even if he didn’t understand…

  “That’s good. I was afraid maybe you wouldn’t mesh too well. I didn’t mesh too well with one of the trainers I was meant to tutor today… The guy was rude as all hell.” Ethan explained, then continued to talk about how his day went, teaching pokemon how to learn some moves. She sat and listened, like how she listened to her cubs when they talked about the games they played or the pokemon around the ranch.

  When he eventually finished, the sun was just beginning to set. He hopped off her lap and patted her Ultraball, which Elise had given back to him while he was mid rant about his day. “Back into your ball?”

  She stared at him. His slight smile. The sun setting behind him. His outstretched hand. The hand which held the last piece of Gadric that she had left—her Ultraball.

  “Ursaring…?” His smile faded, brows furrowed. “You alright?”

  She nodded and stood, brushing off the last bits of snow from her shoulders. His smile returned and the next thing she knew, she was back inside her ball. As she closed her eyes to sleep, she heard his voice. “I’m proud of you. Good work today.”

  Ethan didn’t need to know the whole truth about the day. She did indeed find someone. It wasn’t like she lied. He just saw the good in things… Somehow.

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