Steven Ellis

Steven Ellis is a Pokemon Watcher and a trainer from Pallet Town, a small rural town in southwest Kanto. Steven is an observant, caring guy with a love of photography and a broad knowledge of outdoor survival, especially Berries. Steven is the first traveling companion of Ruby Fischer.

Before the RPG
Steven was born the second and youngest son of Hiram and Martha Ellis, farmers in Pallet Town, Kanto. Steven had a happy childhood on the farm, playing with his brother in the Pallet countryside, occasionally sneaking to the edge of Oak's land and watching the Trainer's Pokemon play.

From a young age, Steven liked to be with the farm's Pokemon, which were mostly Tauros, Doduo and Rapidash. He watched his father and uncle wrestle down a rampaging Tauros when he was six and he helped birth a Ponyta foal when he was seven. He has grown up taking care of the farm Pokemon and a result, hold no fear for Pokemon of any variety or temperament.

When he was eight, his brother left to go on his Pokemon journey, taking a Ponyta as his first Pokemon. Luke's departure was hard on Steven and over the years, Steven and Luke are not nearly as close as they once were.

The summer his brother left, he participated in Little League Baseball at the behest of his father. He hated it and even today remembers it as a miserable experience, and as a result he hates baseball in general; he considers watching baseball to be an agonizing experience.

Steven took over many of Luke's old duties when he turned ten; Steven was in charge of feeding and grooming the farm Pokemon. He still spent much of his free time in the countryside, watching wild Pokemon through the lens of his grandmother's old camera.

He always did well in school, though not exceptionally so. He made friends, but wasn't popular by any definition.

When he was twelve, his grandfather began to take him on camping trips and taught him about berries and outdoor survival skills, something Steven excelled at.

When he was thirteen, he befriended a Bellsprout he found at the edge of his property. It was hurt and scared, and he nursed it back to health. He let it live on the property, a choice his parents only agreed to reluctantly. The two grew very close and Steven caught him the day he got his license.

Because his family had very little money, Steven did not get to begin his journey the year he got his license, instead working a variety of odd jobs, saving up every penny he earned in order to fund his journey. He finally saved up around $1200 by June of 2016 and set out from Pallet Town late that month, not long after the Starters for that year left town. Before he left, he caught a Staryu at Pallet Beach.

He made his way north through Viridian City and Viridian Forest to Pewter City. It took him thirteen days to make it through the Viridian Forest. During this time, he caught a Vulpix on the southern portion of route 2 and a Pikachu in the Viridian Forest itself.

Character
In general, Steven is a kind and caring person and has a hard time saying no to anyone, especially to girls. He's got something of a doting personality, doing his best to make sure Ruby takes care of herself on their journey. Steven is a Pokemon Watcher, with a deep passion for observing Pokemon in their natural habitat and especially for taking photographs.

Steven is shown to have a broad knowledge of nature and plants, something that has helped him and Ruby in their travels. He has a self-made Berry Pot, in which he grows his own Berries and from those he makes his own custom Berry Juices. He has been shown to posses several different varieties of berries, even those which are very rare to find in the wild. He's got a green thumb and is very skilled at growing and cultivating plants. He is also a good cook, though not like Ruby; he does not know how to make his own PokeChow, but is very good at conserving human food and making tasty meals from very little. His most noticeable talent is his photography. Steven has a very good camera and is very proficient in its use. He is fearless in the field and because of this, he has a knack for capturing the perfect moment and the perfect pose at just the right time, though he prefers naturalistic photos than portraits (though he has taken portraits for friends, like Ruby and her team). He is not afraid to get dangerously close to the action to get the right shot. While he always considered photography a hobby, he has started to grow more confident in his photography and has even started to consider trying to sell or display his work.

Steven is generally an easy-going, laid-back sort of guy who is rarely seen losing his temper. He's level headed and grounded, owing to his upbringing on the farm in Pallet Town and rarely has his head in the clouds. He's a hard worker but always makes sure to leave room for some downtime; you can only work a Tauros so hard before it collapses from exhaustion, you know? Steven likes to be prepared, making sure to overly stock up on food and supplies before a long journey, figuring out their route and approximate travel time way in advance. He's very good at reading maps, so he tends to be the one who knows where they are and where they're going most of the time.

While he is a proficient battler, Steven gets the most enjoyment and fulfillment from meeting new Pokemon and taking pictures of them, to better understand them. When meeting a new Pokemon, Steven will often observe and then take a picture of it. He is not intimidated by aggressive or dangerous Pokemon, since he grew up on a farm with Pokemon like Tauros and Rapidash. Additionally, this has all resulted in Steven having extremely good eyesight and a knack for noticing small details. He will sometimes be able to observe a foe battle and be able to give small bits of advice to Ruby, based only on a little observation; body language, eyeline, tone of voice, posture, et cetera.

In the field, Steven has some tricks of the trade when it comes to outdoor survival and Pokemon watching. To avoid being detected by the Pokemon he is observing, he always makes sure to approach from downwind to avoid his scent being picked up by the Pokemon. He also changes his breathing rhythms to match the Pokemon's so that he will not be heard. Steven also has the ability to sometimes recognize what move a Pokemon is likely to use by its body language.

Steven is a bit more wary of people than Ruby, but is still wants to see the best in people and his trust is easy to earn. An obvious example was when he met Ruby; he thought she was drowning, since she was splashing in the water fully dressed. He then took the time to make sure she didn't get sick and cooked her dinner, even sharing his tent with her during a storm, despite only having known her for a day or so at the time.

Steven is not a morning person, preferring to sleep in until 9 or 10 in the morning when he can. He can only function any earlier with coffee in his system.

Pokemon
Steven is a trainer but his focus is more on capture than battle. This is not to say he is not a proficient battler, quite the contrary, but it isn't as high on his priority list as it is on Ruby's. Steven loves all of his Pokemon, especially those that can help him in his fieldwork. His Pokemon tend to be photogenic and are an eclectic mix of personalities. They all tend to have strong bonds with him and are on par with Ruby's in terms of raw battling strength, despite the fact that Steven does not go out of his way to train with his Pokemon to the extent that Ruby does.

His battle style tends to focus on speed and maneuverability, inflicting status effects and outlasting his opponent through speed and guile. His Pokemon all tend to fall into the "glass cannon" school of battles; the hit hard but don't have much staying power. His perceptive abilities help him in battle, such as during his battle with Brock for the Boulder Badge, when he was able to guide Vulpix to victory against Brock's Onix.

Steven currently has ownership of 5 different Pokemon.

Achievements
The following is a listing of the various accomplishments Steven has achieved since his introduction:

Gym Badges

 * Boulder Badge (Episode 4)

Relationships
Steven is the younger of two that grew up on a farm in rural Pallet Town, Kanto. He loves his older brother Luke but has always lived in his shadow. Luke is a great trainer that made it to the Indigo Conference and has competed in other League conferences around the world. The pressure to be great like Luke is real, but Steven holds no ill will or resentment because of that. He loves his family and writes to them regularly.

Ruby Fischer
Ruby is a plucky and adventurous young trainer from Port Sapphire who is out to be a great Pokemon Trainer and compete in the Indigo League Conference. Like Steven, she comes from a relatively poor background; her father even works in a similar field to Steven's own family. The two formed a fast friendship and Steven has grown to really like Ruby and genuinely enjoys traveling with her. He does his best to make sure she takes care of herself and takes a day off every now and then. His laid-back, grounded sensibilities serve as a good foil to Ruby.

Hunter Beaumont
Steven had a brief encounter with Hunter on the outskirts of the Viridian Forest. The two had a battle and Hunter won handily. Steven does not hold a high opinion of Hunter and thinks he's a huge douche.

Trivia

 * All of Steven's on-hand Pokemon at the time he met Ruby can only reach their final form through the use of an evolution stone. As of the most recent episode, Diglett is the only Pokemon he owns that breaks this trend.
 * Steven is eight years younger than his brother Luke.
 * Notably, Steven is the same age as and attended school with both Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak, despite starting his journey an entire year after them both.
 * Dislikes being called Steve, preferring the use of his full name.