I Sting (Pokemon Poison Type Specialist)

"Where does the nearest Ursaring live, I wonder?" Whitney asked out loud much to the sigh of her friends.

Virah turned to the pinkette and shook her head, "Whitney, it's better if you hope to see a Munchlax instead of a Teddiursa since at least those guys aren't protected by an aggressively territorial mother."

"What Virah said," Grene chorused in agreement "I'm not that confident in fighting against them even when I'm a fighting specialist, so you should be careful too."

"Eh, we'll be fine!" Whitney replied confidently, "we beat a Raticate after all! We just need to work together and I'm sure that we can keep that Ursaring at bay!"

"... Let's say that we do, somehow, manage to successfully capture a Teddiursa, what do we say to the Rangers who will definitely come to us asking about its rampaging mother?" Virah asked hypothetically.

Her question made Whitney frown, but the pinkette quickly shrugged it off, saying, "well, if the rangers come to us asking about the Ursaring then we tell them the truth!"

"You know that'll get us in trouble right?" Virah said.

"Pffft? No?" Whitney retorted dismissively, "one of father's gym trainers managed to capture a Teddiursa during his exam and he was fine!"

"Did the Teddiursa have an Ursaring protecting it?" Grene asked.

"Yep! But the Rangers took care of it!" Whitney replied excitedly, "I don't really know what happened but he said that the Teddiursa wanted to go with him anyways and that's why he was able to run away with it."

"I... see." Virah dumbly responded, she wondered if the Teddiursa somehow felt scared of its parents and that was why it was willing to go with a trainer.

Does that even happen with the Ursaring line?

She was sure that nothing of that sort actually happens since most Normal Types are known to be great parents, it's why Kangaskhans are the poster mons for family related products and Chanseys are commonly known as "caring".

So how did that guy get a Teddiursa?

The only reason that Virah could come up with was either because he managed to convince an Ursaring to part with its kid- which is a possibility, albeit a rare one, - or that the Ursaring had somehow been killed.

That last one was how trainers commonly got wild Teddiursas without outright stealing them and causing a mess. Normally however, it's recommended for a trainer that wants their own Teddiursas to just simply buy them.

And Whitney could probably do that but since the pinkette was hell-bent catching a Teddiursa now, Virah didn't think she had any hope of convincing her friend to back down.

So she went along while hoping that they don't find anything or if they did, then it's only a Munchlax and not an Ursaring.

And so far, nothing had come up to them, sure, the occasional Oddish popped up here and there, even packs of Aipoms, but nothing that grabbed Whitney's attention.

"Whitney?" Virah met the pinkette's eyes, "why not just an Aipoms? Those guys are pretty good right?"

Virah followed after her friend's gaze and spotted a small group of the aforementioned Pokemon just lazing around on top of a branch.

The pinkette sighed, "they're too ugly,"

"Uhuh..." Virah hoped that the Aipoms who had clearly take offense to what her friend said wouldn't escalate. The poison specialist let out a sigh, "so, uh, you want a Teddiursa because they're cute?"

"Yeah?" Whitney said in a tone that conveyed the fact that she thought it was obvious from the start, "Teddiursas are one of the cutest Normal Types to be found around here so I want one of them,"

"I guess that's fair." Virah nodded while jogging her memory for the tiny tidbits of information she knew about Munchlax tracks which... were really just places where a lot of things had bite marks on them.

Looking around didn't get her anything that though and she turned back to Whitney in disappointment.

"A Munchlax can work too right?" Virah tilted her head, "maybe we should focus on searching for one of those instead?"

"Munchlax are rarer than Teddiursa though?" Whitney gave them a confused look, "why would we want to search for those if it'll take us even longer to do it?"

"I guess?" Virah conceded with a tilt of her head, "that's a fair point..."

She honestly didn't know what to say to that and she could only really ask herself if she wanted to spend the rest of her exam searching for a Pokemon that's commonly pushed out of areas by other Pokemon due to how voracious they were.

Searching for a Munchlax would definitely be time consuming and they'd have to dedicate entire days just for it...

So is it worth it?

'Probably not,' Virah thought with a small frown, 'it'll take too long and it's not even guaranteed to find a Munchlax...'

Other normal types would be good but the problem is- Whitney wants something "cute" and unfortunately for them, they aren't in the mountains so Clefairy and Wigglytuff aren't an option and that leaves them with either a Snubbull or...

'... A Teddiursa,' Virah let out a tired sigh, they really had no choice did they

Virah dismayed at the thought of going out and fighting an Ursaring with her friends but concluded that they could probably beat one if they worked together.

Most of their Pokemon either had good battlefield control or were talented at fighting. And even if Hollie was currently crippled, Virah knew that it wouldn't stop the Machop from tossing Rock Tombs from a good distance for support.

The more the scenery changed however, the more Virah felt worried about the upcoming fight- because what else was going to happen other than them fighting an Ursaring when they finally find one?

Each tree that they passed caused Virah's anxiety to spike up but at the same time, the emptiness that they found during their journey was also something that calmed her down. Her emotions went back and forth as they walked.

She sucked in a deep breath and internally yelled in panic when she saw the typical tracks created by Ursarings and when Virah witnessed Whitney run up to them in excitement before pointing at the large, obviously paw-based footprints on the ground, she groaned.

The pinkette tilted her head, "I thought you'd be more excited about this honestly," Whitney hummed, "is something wrong?"

"... well, I was hoping that we didn't find an Ursaring, or even their tracks." Virah answered.

"Why?" Whitney asked with a tilt of her head, "I thought you wanted to find an Ursaring?"

Virah reluctantly nodded, "I did... but after thinking about it, I realized that we're simply too unqualified for this kind of thing,"

"Eh, maybe," Whitney shrugged, "but we'll be fine!"

Virah met Grene's gaze and the martial artist shook her head in a silent gesture that conveyed they should just let Whitney do what she wants instead of going against it and possibly making things worse.

Or, at least that was what Virah got from it, but she's sure that her thoughts had some truth to them since Whitney wouldn't take being denied of what she wants all that well and knowing the pinkette, she would definitely throw a tantrum that will lead to them seeing her attempt to capture a Teddiursa all by herself.

"We'll be fine, yeah," Virah looked down, "Ursarings are only what? Known for being territorial?"

Grene lightly punted Virah's bicep, "we can talk to the Ursaring," the martial artist said, "and if we can't then... we'll fight her for her cub,"

Virah shook her head and Grene shrugged in response.

They followed after the tracks of the Ursaring which eventually led them near a stream. It wasn't a river quite yet, but Virah assumed that was because it was because of the dry season since there's a perfectly good river bank on either side of the body of water.

The Ursaring dug a home on that very same river bank, and right now, she was contently watching 2 of its cubs play around with her eyes closed.

And the Teddiursa didn't seem to mind the fact that they were most likely close enough to the stream to be grabbed by a waiting Kingler or Cloyster, mostly because they knew that they'll be protected.

Which, yeah, they were, and nothing dared to go near them other than Virah, Whitney, and Grene. The poison specialist thought this might as well be their death but Whitney was confident so she controlled herself and followed after the pinkette.

She palmed Nitro's Pokeball just in case.

When they got near enough, the Ursaring stirred and both her and Grene tensed up.

Not Whitney though.

"Uh, hi!" The pinkette stopped a few meters away from the now curious cubs, "uhm... I'm a Pokemon trainer and I was wondering if I could have one of your cubs?"

The Ursaring growled and in response, Whitney raised her hands, "I'm not here to fight,"

Virah raised an eyebrow when she saw the pinkette lower her stature, did Whitney know it was a sign of submission?

"I just want a new team member and- well, I can guarantee that your child will be safe with me," Whitney pointed at herself, "so uhm... what do you say?"

The Ursaring narrowed her eyes before turning to one of the Teddiursas, it growled and one of the tiny ursine pointed a sharp claw at itself, then it nodded and energetically ran towards Whitney who greeted it with a hug and a squeal.

"Thank you- thank you- thank you-" Whitney repeated quickly.

And all the while Virah just stood there with Grene, shocked.