1. Ash's Story (Part 7: Kalos)

Chapter 20

We continue our journey to Geosenge Town, and we find some Pokemon gathering some berries. Just then, they are ambushed by an Ursaring, who tries to take the berries from them and they're too scared to fight back.

"That Ursaring's trying to take away all the berries that the three of them just gathered!" Elline says.

"What an awful thing to do." Clemont adds.

Eevee quickly hides behind Pikachu, and I say, "You're scared as well, Eevee..."

We try to stop the Ursaring, and that's when a Hawlucha appears. The head looks different from the normal Hawlucha that we've seen before... wait, that's its mask, and he just takes it off.

"It's a leaf mask! What an awesome Pokemon!" Serena says.

"Yeah, that's awesome. I wonder if Hawlucha is trying to stop Ursaring and get the berries back to Patrat and the others?" Clemont asks.

Hawlucha then dives into Ursaring, slamming it to the ground. Ursaring becomes enraged, but is easily defeated in battle by Hawlucha's Karate Chop and High Jump Kick.

"An amazing Karate Chop with an equally amazing High Jump Kick!" David says.

"And those moves are with style... I wonder how it will do in Contests..." I say.

Just then, Hawlucha then jumps to the top of a nearby tree, and shows off its victory pose. Serena asks, "What's going on?"

"That's Hawlucha's victory pose." We turn to find a man looking at us, he explains, "Hawlucha always does that before launching into its finishing move."

"But if it poses like that..." Elline frowns.

Hawlucha then begins to use its final move, Flying Press. However, Ursaring dodges it at the last minute, causing Hawlucha to crash into the ground.

"Hawlucha!" I gasp.

"Opponent always dodge its final move at the last second." The man says.

"Maybe its because it shows off like that." Serena wonders.

"Hawlucha has to pose even if its opponent runs away. That's just how it battles." The man adds. "Hawlucha's committed to the artistry of battling."

Ursaring then begins to approach Hawlucha, still dazed on the ground, with a large boulder, before it tries to slam Hawlucha, I yell, "Pikachu! Iron Tail!" Pikachu destroys the rock, and the shattered boulder then hits Ursaring, causing Ursaring to collapse and run away.

We rush to help Hawlucha get up, and I say, "You know, I like your awesome attitude about battling."

Then Hawlucha just leaves, and I can't help but be amazed. Hawlucha is so cool.

"So you like Hawlucha, eh?" The man says, and we want to learn more about Hawlucha.

"I've been caretaker of this forest for a long time, so I know Hawlucha quite well." The man says.

"It would be so great if you'd tell us everything about it." Serena says.

At the man's log cabin, he introduces himself as Keaton, and we also do the same. Keaton says, "You want to know about Hawlucha. One day, it simply wandered into the forest. There are lots of proud fighting types living here so I'm pretty sure Hawlucha wanted to see how it stacked up against them in battle. One after another, Hawlucha defeated the strongest Pokemon in the forest, earning the nickname, Forest Champion. Hawlucha defends the gentler Pokemon against the more aggressive ones which ends up being a big help to me."

"But today Hawlucha lost..." Bonnie frowns.

"Its attack takes a bit too much time." Serena says.

"Hawlucha would've beaten Ursaring if only it hadn't posed." Clemont says.