Fanfiction Pokémon With Actual Logic - Kalos

So, I'm not exactly the best writer, but I've been working on this story for a while, and figured I'd put it on this site, since I already have it on FF.net and Wattpad.
Summary: This is basically my Pokémon Y play through with some major changes and actual logic. Crossover between games and anime. Contains eventual BrightTomorrowShipping and Amourshipping. Eventual character death (emphasis on the eventual). Smart(er)!Ash

Chapter I: A Journey Begins​

Vaniville Town in southeastern Kalos was always a quiet area. The small town of barely five thousand residents never got too much tourist traffic, something the population appreciated. On one of the many sunny morning the town gets, a small red and white bird sat on a tree branch outside the first house on Flower Street. It chirped once before gliding down through the house’s open window and perching on the shoulder of a tall brown-haired woman who appeared to be in her forties.

“Fletchling, could you wake up the twins?” She asked the bird.

If birds could smile, Fletchling would have smirked. The bird fluttered up the stairs to where the stairway split. Taking the left stair, it darted into the boy’s room and quickly zeroed in on the sleeping boy. Fletchling dive-bombed him in the head, which got him up nearly instantly.

“OW!” Shouted the now wide-awake boy. “I’m going to get brain damage if you keep waking me up like this!”

The orange bird just giggled.

The boy let out a low growling sound before lunging at the bird, which, in his groggy state, was easily dodged, causing the boy to fall out of bed and land on his left arm. He held back a hiss of pain. “Yep, that’s going to bruise,” he looked up at the fletchling. “One day, Fletchling, I won’t miss.”

Fletchling took this as an empty threat and darted off to wake up the boy’s twin sister. The boy grumbled and went downstairs, still in his pajamas.

“Calem!” The boy’s mother yelled when he reached the first floor. “You look completely disheveled. Go back to your room and clean yourself up.”

Calem, sighed and went back upstairs. When he came back down, the grey-eyed boy was in jeans and a T-shirt, and his brown hair was no longer a complete mess, or at least it was hidden by the red cap he was wearing. “So, what’s for breakfast?” He asked.

“Bacon and eggs,” Calem’s mother responded with a smile. Calem smiled and walked over to the table, taking a seat.

Calem’s sister slowly descended the stairwell while yawning. “Nice to see you up and about this early, Serena,” Calem said sarcastically once she was off the stairwell.

Serena, a girl with grey eyes and wearing a red skirt with a black T-shirt just responded by sticking her tongue out at him. “Eggs?” She asked her mother, pushing her shoulder-length honey blonde hair out of her face as she spoke.

“Yes,” she replied happily. Serena happily walked over and helped herself to a fried egg.

“Mom, these are great!” Calem exclaimed, shovelling eggs into his mouth.

Serena scrunched up her nose. “Could you at least not talk with your mouth full?”

Calem rolled his eyes, but swallowed what was in his mouth before taking another bite.

“Thank you Calem.” She smiled. “Now, this is our third full day in Vaniville, and you two haven’t made any new friends yet. I want you two to introduce yourselves to our neighbors after breakfast.”

“Sure thing, mom,” Serena replied.

“All right, I’m finished,” Calem said, pushing his chair out and standing up.

Both mother and daughter looked at him surprised. “H-how?!?” Exclaimed Serena in slight awe. “That was only a minute and a half!”

“I’m sixteen and excited to meet people,” Calem deadpanned before dropping his dishes in the sink and rushing upstairs to grab his shoulder bag.

Serena looked down at her half-finished eggs. “The eggs were great mom, but-”

Her mother interrupted. “I know, you have to go to keep your brother in check.”

“Thanks, mom!” She said before quickly excusing herself and rushing to her room to get her things.

Less than a minute later, both Serena and Calem arrived downstairs at about the same time. “Bye you two,” called the mother as the two teens rushed out the door.

“Bye, mom!” They called back in unison.

Outside on the house’s cobble driveway, the teens were greeted almost immediately by a green eyed, girl with brown hair done up in pigtails about their age wearing short shorts and a pink T-shirt, who was practically bouncing up and down with the excitement of meeting new people. “Hi!” She exclaimed enthusiastically. “My name is Shauna! I’m your new neighbor! What are your names?”

Calem blinked a few times before responding. “My name is Calem,” he said. “And my twin sister over here is Serena.”

“Hello,” Serena said warmly.

“It’s nice to meet you!” Shauna exclaimed, ever enthusiastically. “I have an idea! Why don’t you come over to Aquacorde Town with me and you can meet my other friends!” She then ran off towards Route One.

Calem again blinked a few times and Serena lightly punched him in the arm. “She might just have more energy than you, Calem!”

Calem winced slightly at the contact with his bruised arm, but then smirked. “Challenge accepted.”

Serena rolled her eyes at her brother’s childish behavior. “Anyway,” she said, “We should probably head for Aquacorde Town.”

**

Coming off of route one five minutes later, Calem asked, “Why is that even labeled as a route? It’s even paved!”

While Calem did bring up a good point, Serena’s thoughts were interrupted by Shauna yelling, “Calem, Serena, over here!” As she waved to them from a table at a café with two other people.

Calem and Serena walked over to the table and sat down in two of the empty chairs. Shauna began introductions. “Calem, Serena, this is Tierno and Trevor. Tierno, Trevor, this is Calem and Serena.”

Tierno was a portly boy with short black hair done up in small spikes in jeans and a black vanillish T-shirt. He was carrying a yellow backpack. Trevor, in contrast, was a lanky, younger boy with orange, almost spherical hair around his head, and was considerably better dressed than Tierno, wearing black jeans and a short-sleeve dress shirt. He also was carrying a green backpack and had a camera hanging around his neck.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you two,” said Trevor.

“Hi!” Tierno exclaimed. “It’s nice to see that Shauna has made some friends outside of our little group, even if she probably has the full intention of bringing you into our little group.”

“Hey!” Shauna shouted, “I have friends outside this group!”

“Name one!” Tierno countered.

“Um, er, okay, yeah, you’re right. You four are pretty much my only friends,” Shauna conceded. “Anyway, Professor Sycamore wanted us to give you two your starter pokémon.”

Calem and Serena gave each other a shocked look.. The professor knew about them? And he wanted to give them starter pokémon?

Trevor was rummaging around in his bag for the pokéballs. “Found them!” He exclaimed. He cleared his throat and continued on. “There’s Chespin, the grass type starter,” he threw a pokéball up in the air and the spiky nut pokémon popped out onto the table, striking a pose. “Fennekin, the fire type starter,” he repeated the process with another pokéball and the fox pokémon entered the scene, yawning as if she had just woke. “And Froakie, the water type starter,” Another pokéball was thrown and the bubble frog pokémon was on the table, puffing out his chest in pride. “Also, Shauna, since you don’t have a pokémon yet, the professor said that you could pick one as well.”

“Really?” Shauna asked, surprised.

“Yep,” Tierno said, popping the ‘P’. “Now, who’s going to pick first?”

“I think I’ll choose last, seeing as Calem and Serena are new here,” Shauna explained.

Calem and Serena looked at each other. “You’re younger,” Calem said. “So I’ll let you go first.”

After a few moments of thinking, Serena nodded, “I’ll pick Froakie.”

The frog seemed elated to have a trainer. “Fro Froakie!” He exclaimed.

Calem nearly let out an audible sigh of relief. “All right then,” He said. “I choose Fennekin.”

“Fenn,” she purred quietly, a smile on her face.

“I guess that leaves me with Chespin then!” Shauna exclaimed happily.

“Chespin ches!” He exclaimed in an equally enthusiastic way.

“Also,” Trevor began. “Professor Sycamore asked me to give you three this.” He handed them a square device with two glowing blue lines that met in the middle where there was a blue, glowing circle containing a pokéball design.

“What’s this?” Calem asked.

“This is a pokédex, now updated to have information on all seven hundred twenty-one pokémon, excluding legendaries and mythicals; no one really encountered them enough.” Trevor explained.

Calem and Serena gaped at this for different reasons. Serena because she was not expecting this, and Calem because the device in his hand had information on nearly seven hundred pokémon. Shauna just smiled at having one.

“Trevor,” Serena started. “We can’t accept this.”

“Take it. The professor insists. We all insist,” Trevor countered.

Tierno and Shauna nodded in agreement.

Serena sighed, feigning annoyance. “Fine.”

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Tierno said suddenly. “The professor sent a letter for your mother.” He handed Calem an envelope.

“All right,” Calem took the envelope, putting it in his shoulder bag, “we’ll give this to our mom, and then come back here.”

“Froakie, return,” Serena commanded, returning Froakie to its pokéball.

Calem was about to do the same, but when he held up the pokéball, Fennekin shook her head.

“You want to stay outside?” He asked.

Fennekin nodded. “Fenne.”

“Okay then,” Calem said. He held out his right arm for Fennekin to climb onto his shoulder.

As Calem and Serena were about to leave, Shauna stopped them. “Calem,” she began. “Can we have a pokémon battle?”

Calem shrugged, or as much as he could with 92.214 newtons on his shoulder. “Sure.”

A minute later, they were on the battlefield behind Aquacorde Town’s local pokémon center. Shauna sent out Chespin, as Fennekin leaped off Calem’s shoulder and did a somersault in midair.

“Wait a second,” Calem said. “I just realized that neither of us know what moves our pokémon have.”

Both trainers quickly scanned their pokémon with their pokédexes.

Fennekin, the fox pokémon. As it walks, it chews on twigs to gain energy. It intimidates opponents by puffing air of 390°F out of its ears. This fennekin is female. Active Ability: Blaze. Hidden Ability: Magician (locked). Known Moves: Tail Whip, Scratch, Ember. Egg Move: Hypnosis (locked).

Calem’s pokédex read.

Calem considered this and the somersault, and then said, “Shauna, you can have the first move.”

“Why thank you Calem,” Shauna replied before yelling, “Tackle!”

Chespin charged. Deciding to take advantage of Fennekin’s agility and natural speed, Calem simply waited. “Wait for it…”

Chespin got closer.

“Wait for it…”

Chespin was seconds away from impact.

“Somersault over him and use ember, now!”

Fennekin did just that. Calem had timed the jump so that when Fennekin had turned ninety degrees forward, Chespin would be directly in the line of fire. Fennekin shot the tight bundle of flames out of her mouth, and they impacted Chespin right on the head, causing him to tumble and fall face-first into the dirt. Meanwhile, Fennekin landed perfectly on her feet.

“Nice work, Fennekin!” Calem exclaimed.

“Fenne!” Fennekin replied happily.

But Chespin wasn’t down yet, and Shauna knew that. “Use vine whip to tie Fennekin’s legs together!” She yelled.

Fennekin suddenly not being able to move her legs was certainly a surprise to her. “Fen!?!” She squeaked.

“Now, slam her into the ground!” Shauna yelled. Chespin swung Fennekin over his head to get the most momentum before hurling her into the ground.

Fennekin sprang back to her feet, now facing her opponent, angrier than ever at ruining her fur. Chespin was giggling at his opponent’s misfortune, which only served to supplement Fennekin’s growing anger, evident in the eye twitching. Before anyone else could do anything, Calem yelled, “Ember attack!”

Fennekin used ember. It was super effective, and Chespin fainted.

“Piiiiiin,” he moaned.

Shauna sighed. “Chespin, return.”

Fennekin jumped back onto Calem’s shoulder and began cleaning herself.

Shauna walked over to Calem, smiled, and extended a hand. “Nice battle.” She congratulated.

Calem accepted the handshake, “Same to you,” he said. “All right, see you guys in a few minutes!” Calem said to Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna, before he and Serena ran back to Vaniville, while Shauna went to heal Chespin.

**

As Serena and Calem were walking back to their house, Calem came to a realization. “How’s mom going to react to our pokémon?” He asked suddenly.

Serena pondered this for a second before replying. “It’s either going to go really well, or really, really bad.”

Fennekin’s eyes widened at the thought of Calem’s mother not liking her and Froakie. “Fennn…” She squealed quietly, as a few thoughts ran through her head. What if Calem’s mother threw them out? What if Calem’s mother forced them into indentured servitude? What if…

She began hyperventilating, causing the air around her to steadily warm up.

This caught Calem’s attention, as he didn’t want to catch on fire and have half his face burnt off. “Fennekin,” he said, “calm down. The chances of mom not liking you and Froakie are very, very small. She loves pokémon.”

This calmed the fox pup down enough for her heart rate and breathing to return to normal, along with the air temperature. “Fenn,” she apologized.

Serena smiled. “It’s fine, Fennekin,” she said. “You were just a bit paranoid about meeting our mom.”

Distracted by the conversation, Calem walked right into the door of his house. He quickly took a couple steps back and waited for the door to open as Serena and Fennekin giggled.

After what seemed like an eternity for Fennekin, but it was actually only five seconds, the door finally opened. Their mother’s reaction was not the one that Fennekin was expecting.

“Oh, Calem, Serena, you’re back already?” Then she saw Fennekin on Calem’s shoulder. Her smile and eyes widened. “You got a pokémon!”

Serena smiled. “I got one too, and if we can come in, I’ll show you him.”

Calem and Serena’s mom, realizing that they were still in the doorway, simply said “Oh,” and let them inside.

Once inside, Serena let Froakie out of its pokéball and onto the couch. It looked around at the new area curiously. “Froakie,” Serena said, “I’d like to introduce you to my mother.”

Froakie looked at Serena and Calem’s mother, hopped up to her and, in greeting, said, “Fro, Fro Froakie!”

The twins’ mother smiled and said, “Hello.”

Fennekin, not liking being left out of the introductions, shouted “Fenne!” and leapt off Calem’s shoulder, onto the couch.

Their mom chuckled at this. “And of course I can’t forget to say hello to you either, Fennekin.” Then she looked at her children. “I doubt you only came here to show me your pokémon. What else is there?”

Calem snapped his fingers. “Oh! I nearly forgot! Professor Sycamore sent a letter for you.” He took the letter out of his shoulder bag and gave it to his mother.

She looked at the envelope. In large letters in the middle of the envelope, it read:

Grace Proulx

101 Flower Ln,

Vaniville Town, Kalos Region 71140​

The return address read:

Professor Augustine Sycamore

Pokémon Laboratory, Southern Boulevard,

Lumiose City, Kalos Region 75116​

Opening the envelope, Grace continued on to the actual letter.


Dear Grace,

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Due to your recent move to Vaniville Town, I’ve decided to help your children feel more acquainted with other people in the town by giving them starter pokémon. I have sent three of my part-time assistants to give Serena and Calem their pokémon, and they should be arriving Monday around at 9:00 AM. From Friday, August 9th to Monday, August 12th, I will be in Santalune City to conduct research, and would like to meet your children in person. I hope to see them there!


Sincerely,

Prof. Augustine Sycamore, PhD.


Grace re-read the letter a couple of times before making her decision.

“So, what does it say?” Calem asked, getting impatient.

Serena rolled her eyes, but Grace just smiled. “The professor wants to meet you two in person,” she explained. “He’ll be in Santalune on Friday conducting research, so you should probably start packing.”

Calem was about to run up to his room when Grace suddenly stated, “Also, I’ve come to a decision.”

This stopped Calem in his tracks. “What?” He asked.

“Due to you getting your starter pokémon, and the fact that you two have wanted to go on a journey for a while now, I’ve decided to let you go on a journey if you want to,” Grace explained.

“Seriously?” Serena asked disbelievingly. Grace nodded. While Serena was calm on the outside, she was cheering on the inside. Yes! It’s about time!

Calem, on the other hand, was doing nothing to contain his excitement. “Yes! Finally! Thank you!”

Froakie smiled. He was finally going on a journey! He had wanted to ever since he could understand English and learned what the word ‘journey’ meant.

However, despite the positive reactions of her friends, Fennekin was thinking of a bunch of worst-case scenarios. What if they were attacked in the woods by a powerful pokémon? What if one of them broke a bone and they couldn’t go on? What if…

She quickly stopped herself from thinking about the negatives and forced herself to think about the positives so she did not wind up burning the house down. She would get to explore the region. That is a plus. Thankfully, nobody noticed the slight increase in temperature except for Froakie.

“I’ll start packing,” Calem quickly muttered, seemingly still in disbelief, before running upstairs, soon followed by Serena.

Packing. The word reminded Fennekin of something, but she couldn’t recall what. All she could remember was that Shauna had told her that they had forgotten something while packing, and that Fennekin had started hyperventilating, eventually passing out. The thought was enough for her to begin replicating the event. This time, it didn’t go unnoticed by the only human in the room.

Grace looked at the hyperventilating fox pup, walked over to the couch, and sat down next to her. “What’s wrong, Fennekin?”

Grace, noticing Fennekin’s breathing had calmed down. The fox pup looked at the floor. “Fenn, Fennekin…”

“You don’t want to talk about it?” Grace asked warmly.

Fennekin nodded.

“That’s fine then. Just don’t bottle it up. Okay?”

Fennekin nodded again. Once Grace left, Froakie decide to strike up a conversation with the fox pup.

“Fro, Fro Froakie?”

Fennekin started to fidget with her paws. “Kiiiin,” she mumbled.

Froakie sighed. “Kie Froakie.”

When Calem and Serena came back downstairs, each carrying a hiking backpack, containing a tent, enough food and water to last until Santalune and other general journeying materials. Their shoulder bags would store their cash, pokédexes, and pokéballs.

Calem walked up to the two pokémon. “All right guys, time to go!” He held out his right arm for Fennekin to climb up onto his shoulder.

Froakie hopped over to Serena, and she returned him to his pokéball. “So,” she clarified, “we’re going to Aquacorde first to buy more supplies, and then it’s off to Santalune?”

“Yep,” verified Calem. “So, if we want to get to Santalune Forest by nightfall, we’ll have to get going now.”

Grace smiled and walked over to her children. “It seems like you two have your journey all planned out.”

“We have a plan until we get to Santalune,” Serena explained. “but after that, we’ve got nothing.”

“Besides, things rarely work out as planned,” Calem stated.

Grace smiled again. “Well, what are you waiting for? Like Calem said, if you want to get to the forest by nightfall, you’ll have to get going now.” She embraced both of her children and opened the door for them.

“Bye mom!” Calem yelled, rushing out the door.

Serena sighed. “We’ll call once we get to Santalune.” Then she ran after her brother. “Calem, wait up!”

Grace sighed, then smiled. Some things never change.

**

When the twins arrived in Aquacorde, they were immediately greeted by the trio of part-time researchers. “Hey guys!” Shauna shouted, waving at them.

Calem and Serena smiled and strolled over to them.

“So, what’s with all the gear?” Tierno asked.

“The professor’s going to be in Santalune on Friday, and wants to meet us.” Serena explained.

Shauna jumped up. “Oh! So you’re here to get supplies, right?”

She had said it so quickly that Calem had to take a few seconds to react. “Err, yeah.”

Somehow, Shauna’s smile grew even wider. “Then I know the perfect place to shop for some!” Shauna grabbed his wrist and took off.

Calem’s eyes went wide and he visibly paled. Not only was he losing the challenge, but he was being forced to go shopping…with an extremely hyper girl. Fennekin hopped off of his shoulder and walked back to the group. Calem looked at Serena, mouthed the word ‘help,’ and disappeared from view.

Serena was laughing her head off, but soon stopped. “They better be back within the next hour, or we won’t be able to get to Santalune Forest by nightfall.”

“Oh, Shauna’s gone on some shopping sprees before,” Trevor said. “And this isn’t one of them. They’ll be back within the next half-hour.”

Meanwhile, Calem was terrified. Being forced to go shopping with a hyperactive teenage girl was not on his to-do list for today. Of course, neither was getting a starter pokémon, nor going on a journey, although it was him who said that things rarely work out as planned. But the point was, he was not in the mood to overspend. He only had a couple thousand pokédollars on him, after all. So when they entered a regular pokémart, he was understandably surprised. “You know,” he said, “I was half-expecting you to drag me into a mall.”

Shauna looked at him. “I figured that you wouldn’t want to overspend.”

“Well, you’re correct.” Calem said, relieved. “I’ll buy the pokéballs. Do you, Trevor, and Tierno have some?”

“Yep. We also have some potions. I’ll buy some for you and Serena.”

With that, they split up. Calem had bought three pokéballs each for him and Serena, while Shauna bought three potions each for Calem and Serena.

They regrouped outside the store and made it back to their friends fifteen minutes after they had left. “You guys ready to go?” Calem asked, handing Serena her pokéballs and potions as Fennekin hopped back onto his shoulder.

Tierno shouldered his backpack. “Ready as we’ll ever be.”

Serena smiled. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

With that, the group walked off towards the bridge that would lead them to route two, and a journey began.

**

Far off in the Kanto region, the sun was just beginning to set as a teenager walked away from a train station after saying farewell to his friend and companion on his Unova journey. The young man was conversing with a pikachu on his shoulder.

“You know, Pikachu,” he said, “I just can’t help but feel like something special is going to happen on our next journey.”

“Pika, pikachu.”

Suddenly, an old man in a car pulled up in front of him. “Ash, great to see you again!” He said in greeting.

The boy, now identified as Ash, smiled. “It’s good to see you too, Professor.”

“Any idea of where you want to go next?”

“I heard about the Kalos region from a reporter while I was in the Decalore Islands. I think I might go there.”

“Ah, Kalos! One of my former students works there!”

“I suppose I’ll meet him, then!”

 

Chapter II: Starting Out​

The sun had fully set and twilight had begun when the old man, Ash, and Pikachu arrived in Pallet Town. The car dropped Ash and his pokémon off at a house. “See you tomorrow, Professor Oak!”

Oak smiled. “I look forward to it. Now, you should probably get some rest. Jet lag will kick in soon.”

Ash smiled before turning around and entering his house. Greeting his mother, he went upstairs. As he did, he noticed a picture of himself, Gary, a boy and a girl, who all looked to be around eight. He sighed at the memories it brought back. The picture was taken at the end of Professor Oak’s pokémon summer camp, back before he and Gary had become such fierce rivals, and before Serena and Calem had moved to Kalos. What he had told the professor wasn’t a complete lie. Him hearing about Kalos did spur his memory, but he did not just want to go there because he had remembered it. He really just wanted to see his friends again.

A voice in his subconscious was telling him that there was another motive for wanting to go to Kalos. Serena especially. Since you still have a crush on her.

Ash’s eyes widened at the thought. Shut up.

Oh come on, you have to cut the dense act eventually.

I said shut up. Ash responded, this time a bit more fiercely.

Your aura is spiking again. You haven’t used it since, what, Hoenn?

Who?

I’m you, but also not you, if that makes any sense. I’m your other side. If you get really mad, and I meant like REALLY vehement, at someone, I come out and mess ‘em up. You should start practicing your aura.

But-

No buts! It’s not good for you to deny your aura! I don’t care if you want to be like everyone else! If you don’t learn to control it, it will get out of hand!

I’m arguing with myself…

Go to bed. You should be able to make sense of it in the morning.

Ash didn’t respond, rather he just continued his journey up the stairs. Once there, he quickly changed into his pajamas and crashed on the bed. Pikachu just looked confused.

**

Back in Kalos, the quintet of trainers were making their way along route two, all of whom were itching for a battle. Well, all except for Trevor, who was just taking pictures.

“Come on!” Tierno whined. “I just want a battle so I can dance!”

“Ugh! Tierno, your yelling is just scaring all the wild pokémon away!” Trevor complained. “I can’t get any good shots!”

Suddenly, a wild fletchling appeared! Trevor snapped a quick photo of it before Tierno yelled, “I’m going to catch it! Corphish go!” as he threw a pokéball, causing Corphish to materialize and stand on the field.

“Cooorrrrr phish!” It yelled.

Fletchling charged in with a tackle attack. “Fletch!”

“To the left, Corphish!” Tierno shouted, while also dancing his way to the left with his pokémon. Fletchling missed entirely.

It quickly turned around, however, and assaulted Corphish with a quick attack.

“Corphish, use harden and then catch it in a vice grip!”

Fletchling slammed into Corphish, who grunted at the bit of damage he had taken. It did not do as much damage as it could have though, and Corphish followed through with the plan, grabbing Fletchling’s legs in one of his claws.

“Fletch!”

“Now, close range bubble!” Tierno shouted.

Using his other claw, Corphish produced a slow stream of bubbles that Fletchling could not avoid.

“Fletch…” She tweeted quietly, before slipping into the realm of unconsciousness.

Tierno beamed, “Pokéball, go!” He threw the red and white sphere at the bird. It absorbed the red and white bird and shook a few times before going still and sparkling, signifying that Fletchling was caught.

Tierno ran over to the pokéball after returning Corphish, picked it up, and grinned. “I caught a fletchling!”

Fennekin, who had been sleeping on Calem’s shoulder the whole time, was woken up by this and looked at Tierno annoyed before going back to sleep.

**

A few hours later, they finally came across the entrance to Santalune Forest. Looking up, the group noticed that the leaves were already turning various shades of red, orange, and yellow, and that it was already nearing evening.

They reached a small clearing, and Calem asked, “Should we split up to see if we can find any pokémon and meet back up here in,” he looked down at his phone, seeing that it said 7:00pm. “An hour?”

“Sounds like a good idea.” agreed Serena.

“Fenne!” Fennekin, who had since woken up from her nap, jumped off Calem’s shoulder, a smile on her face.

“I could get more pictures!” Trevor suggested to no one in particular.

“You guys go on ahead, I’ll stay here and make dinner.” Tierno said while he started grabbing cooking supplies.

“Okay!” Calem agreed, before they ran off in different directions.

**

Fifteen minutes later, Calem’s search was proving to be fruitless. He was looking to the right when he bumped into Shauna, literally.

Calem was the first to get up off the ground, and offered a hand to help Shauna up. She was more than glad to take it.

“Sorry about that, by the way.” Calem said, embarrassed.

Shauna, back on her feet, quickly brushed herself off. “It’s fine. It was partially my fault as well. Actually, come to think of it, we don’t really know that much about each other.”

“Hmm, no we don’t. Want to walk for a bit and talk?”

“Sure!”

Fennekin smirked. I ship it!

**

The next forty-five minutes were spent with Shauna and Calem just talking while Fennekin was busy thinking, OTPOTPOTPOTPOTP!!!

“So, where did you live before moving to Vaniville?” Shauna asked as they were nearing camp.

“Well,” Calem began, “I actually lived in Lumiose before moving out to Vaniville, but before I moved to Kalos, I lived in Pallet Town in the Kanto Region.”

“Really, Kanto?”

“Yeah, I had a friend there, Ash Ketchum.”

“Must have been hard to leave a friend behind.”

“Yeah, but it was harder for Serena.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t tell her I said this, she’ll murder me, find a way to resurrect me, and murder me again, but she had, and I think she still has, a HUGE crush on Ash.”

Fennekin, who was listening, changed her thoughts to: The OTPs have been doubled!

There was silence between the trio for the next minute or two before they entered camp, right into a heated argument between Trevor and Tierno.

“I still don’t understand why you need to take pictures of everything!” Tierno exclaimed.

“Well, I don’t have a photographic memory, so having photographs is the next best thing!” Trevor retorted.

Serena just looked at the newcomers with a look that read: ‘Please get me out of this mess as soon as possible or I’ll wind up gutting these two like fish.’

Shauna sighed and walked in between the two arguing friends. “Break it up, you two.”

They both immediately stopped arguing and looked at Shauna. “Oh hey Shauna, you’re back.” Trevor said, pushing his orange hair out of his face to speak.

“We thought you had gotten lost or something.” Tierno said. “We were about to go looking for you two.”

“Nope, Calem and I just got to talking and I guess we took a meandering route back to camp.” Shauna explained.

Meanwhile, Fennekin had hopped off Calem’s shoulder and was engrossed in conversation with the other pokémon of the group while the humans sat down for dinner.

*translation*

“Guys, we need a plan!” Fennekin exclaimed suddenly.

The rest looked confused. “A plan for what?” Froakie asked.

“A plan to get Calem and Shauna together.” The fox pup responded excitedly.

Chespin looked at her strangely. “Seriously?”

“Yep.” Fennekin simply said.

Fletchling sighed. “You can’t rush these things Fennekin. And that’s assuming that they like each other.”

“I agree with Fletchling on this one,” Flabébé, Trevor’s first pokémon, inputted.

Fennekin pouted and turned to her fellow starters. “What about you two?”

“I’ll observe how Shauna acts around Calem, and I would suggest that you do the same but vice versa, to determine whether or not they are good for each other,” Chespin explained.

“I know absolutely nothing about the subject matter and my trainer isn’t involved,” Froakie explained. “So, I’m indifferent.”

“Do Pikachu, Pansage, and Corphish have a say in this matter?” Fletchling asked.

The group of gathered pokémon looked at the aforementioned trio and sweat-dropped. Pikachu, who Trevor had captured in the forest, Pansage, who Serena had captured, and Corphish seemed to be engaged in an eating contest.

Pikachu looked up. “Wha?” He asked with his mouth full. “Dis stu- is good.”

The rest of the pokémon fell into fits of laughter, and grabbed food for themselves before those three got to it all.

*translation end*

Tierno had gotten dinner started by the time the pokémon were done conversing, and the fast eaters, Calem and Tierno, had already finished, and with the help of Pikachu, Pansage, and Corphish, began pitching the tents.

Soon enough, all of the trainers had finished and were falling asleep in their tents. Calem looked at Fennekin and spoke somewhat excitedly. “Well Fennekin, the first day of our journey has been completed.”

Fennekin, already half asleep, simply purred out, “Fen…” and slipped into the blissful world of sleep, unaware of the joys and dangers that lay ahead for the group.

**

As the first rays of sunlight entered Ash’s room, he awoke, changed, and sleepily meandered downstairs to where his mom was making breakfast. “Why hello, sleepyhead!” She greeted her only son.

“Hi mom,” Ash replied, yawning. “What time is it? I must have slept like a rock.”

“It’s actually only seven.”

“Seriously? I feel like I’ve slept for days.”

Delia giggled at her son’s response. “Anyway, these came for you in the mail.” She handed him two letters.

Now who could these be from? Ash thought. Cilan maybe? Possibly Brock? He thought back to his traveling companions over the past six or so years. Brock had stuck with him up until the end of his Sinnoh journey, when he left to train for being a pokémon doctor. There was the infrequent letter and occasional phone call between the two, but nothing much. Cilan was his traveling companion throughout his Unova journey, and they just recently parted ways for him to continue his pokémon connoisseur career in Johto. It was unlikely that one of the letters was from him.

He looked down at the first letter.

Ash Ketchum

303 Silver St,

Pallet Town, Kanto Region

He opened it.


Hey Ash!

I know it’s been a while since we last talked, but I’d like to tell you that I completed training as a traveling pokémon doctor and would like to join you on your next journey, if it’s not too much to ask.

You’re old friend,

Brock


“So, what does it say?” Delia asked.

“Brock wants to join me on my journey to Kalos!” Ash exclaimed.

“That’s great. Wait, you already decided where you’re going?”

“Wow, guess I must have been more tired than I thought last night. I actually have wanted to go to Kalos for a while now.”

“Really? Huh. Now open the second one, I’m curious to see what it says as well.”

Ash looked at the second letter. It didn’t have a return address. Huh, weird. Ash thought.

Ashton Ketchum

303 Silver St,

Pallet Town, Kanto Region


Okay, Ash thought, the fact that this guy used my full name is kinda freaking me out. He began to read.


Dear Ashton,


First, I’d like to apologize for not speaking to you in person, and, by extension, being a terrible father for you. I had to leave soon after you were born to keep you from danger. If Giovanni had found out that I had a son, then he would have used you and your mother as leverage for me to help him.

Secondly, I’d like to say a few things to you. First up, I’ve been following your progress as a trainer, and I must say that you have a knack for getting yourself in danger. But more importantly from that (okay, maybe not, but it was a nice transition into my next statement), I’ve noticed that you do much better in leagues when you use your older pokémon. You were in the top sixteen in Kanto, but you were a newbie trainer, so that was to be expected. Top eight in Johto, but that was your second league. Top four in Hoenn, if only for the fact that you were an experienced trainer, but if you had used your older pokémon, you could’ve and would’ve done better. Top four again in Sinnoh, but Tobias was an exceptional trainer, enough to win the league and make his way through two of Sinnoh’s Elite Four. But in Unova, you dropped to top eight. Why? Most likely because you’re pokémon other than Pikachu were all inexperienced and you underestimated the competition. I would suggest that, before you head off to Kalos, you train all of your pokémon for a week to a month and bring some of your older pokémon with you. I expect you to make it to at least the finals in the Kalos league.

Finally, you shouldn’t suppress your aura. It’s a part of who you are and it can be dangerous not only to you, but to those around you if you don’t learn to control it.

I hope that someday, I’ll be able to come out of hiding and see how you and Delia are doing in person.


- Your Father


Ash was tearing up by the end of the letter, so much that the snarky voice in his head didn’t even bother to show up with an I told you so.

Delia looked confused until Ash handed her the letter, at which point, she started tearing up as well.

Pikachu, who had come downstairs and jumped on Ash’s shoulder while he was reading the letter, sent a small thundershock at Ash to ‘shock’ him out of his trance, and pointed at the stove with an annoyed “Pika.”

Ash looked over at the stove and said, “Mom, breakfast is burning.”

This also shook Delia out of her trance, and she quickly jumped up to snatch the now burned food off the stovetop.

They ate their breakfast in silence before, after downing an entire bottle of ketchup, Pikachu decided to take a look at the first letter that Ash had opened. When he did, his eyes widened in surprise. “Chu Pika! Pikachu!” shouted the pokémon.

Ash looked over at his excited companion. “Yep! Brock’s coming with us on our Kalos journey. Though before that, I’m going to have to think up a training regimen for you guys.”

Pikachu’s expression seemed torn between elated and terrified.

I would recommend two weeks of training before leaving for Kalos, said the voice in Ash’s head. The regimen itself is up to you.

I’ll call Brock now and tell him that we’re going to Kalos in two weeks, but he can come to Pallet Town before then.

Good idea. Never thought I’d say that to you.

Still filled with snark?

Always filled with snark. Always, and you can’t change it.

“Alright,” Ash said suddenly, clapping his hands together, having finished his breakfast. “I’ll head over to Professor Oak’s and call Brock, along with thinking of a training regimen for my pokémon.”

You’re growing well, my young padawan, said the voice in Ash’s head.

You’re me.

Yes, but I’m not just going to pass up a chance to reference something.

What should I call you? I can’t just keep calling you ‘the voice in my head.’

Hmm… I would say your full name of Ashton, but that seems a bit cliché.

Seriously?

I know! How about ‘Counterpart?’

Simple, but it makes sense. I like it.

Now go. I’ll instruct you in your aura training later.

After saying goodbye to his mom, Ash and Pikachu left for the lab. When they arrived, it was just as they expected. Clean, organized, Gary typing away at one of the computers, etc.

“Hey Gary,” Ash greeted his old friend-turned-rival-turned-friend.

Gary turned to him. “Sup?”

“Trying to be cool does not work for you.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, what brings you here?”

“A couple things: checking on my pokémon, calling Brock, setting up a training regimen for my pokémon, stuff like that.”

“You’re having a training regimen for your pokémon? Who are you and what have you done with Ash?”

“Ha Ha, my dad sent a letter and suggested I set one up for my pokémon.”

“You’re dad’s still alive? Sorry, that probably sounded extremely insensitive.”

“Nah, it’s okay. But yes, he is alive, and yes, I do have a training regimen for my pokémon to think up. Also, Brock may be coming to Pallet at some point.”

“Really?”

“Yep, I just have to call him.”

“Then go on then. I still have to finish this e-mail to the pokémon scientific community.”

“See ya around, Gary.”

“Same to you.”

Ash proceeded to one of the Video Phones Professor Oak had in his lab, and he dialed Brock’s number. It rang for a few seconds before the traveling doctor picked up.

“Hi Ash!” Brock said excitedly. “We haven’t talked in forever!”

“It’s nice to see you too, Brock. I got your letter!” Ash enthused.

“So I’m assuming you have an answer for me?”

“Yep. It’d be great for you to join me on my next journey!”

“Glad to hear it,” Brock grinned.

“My next journey’s going to be in Kalos, and I’m leaving in two weeks, but you can come to Pallet before then.”

“Two weeks seems like a long gap between journeys for you, Ash.”

“My dad sent a letter suggesting I stay and train for a bit before heading to Kalos.”

“I’ll probably head to Pallet in a week or so.”

“See you then.”

“You as well.”

With that, the connection was cut as Brock hung up. Ash turned around and saw the Professor. “Hi Professor Oak!” He said jovially.

Oak smiled. “Hello, Ash. Here to see your pokémon, I presume?”

“Yep.”

“I’ll go get Bulbasaur to call them, then.”

When Ash got outside, he was greeted as he usually would be by his pokémon: a flamethrower to the face from Charizard, trampled by his herd of 30 tauros, and, when he got back up, tackled to the ground by Bayleef. At least the rest of my pokémon have civilized ways to greet me, he thought, getting up. “Yeah, I missed you guys too,” he said. “So, since I caught so many pokémon in Unova, I won’t need to do introductions, as all of you’ve already met all of them, correct?” There was a collective nod between all of his pokémon. He released his Unova pokémon that he had on him from their pokéballs. “Alright, I’ll be setting up a training regimen for the next two weeks before I head off to Kalos, and I’ll be sure to rotate my team so all of you can travel with me at some point.”

There was a lot of squealing following that statement, as Ash had never taken all of them on a journey from the beginning of one of them before. “Now, as for the training regimen…” Ash started, which shut all of his pokémon up.

He had sorted out three tiers of strength for his pokémon to spar and train with each other. Now, he loved all of his pokémon equally, but the tiers of strength were just so his pokémon were not injured while training. The top tier was for his strongest and most experienced pokémon, including Charizard, Sceptile, and, of course, Pikachu. The middle tier was for his pokémon who were still strong, but weren’t nearing legendary levels of strength, including Glalie, Gible, and Buizel. The bottom tier was for his pokémon who still had much room for improvement and were quite inexperienced, including Snivy, Pignite, and Oshowatt.

Ash relayed this information to his pokémon and got them started on training, then walked into the nearby woods to practice his own training.

Alright, said Counterpart. Aura is very similar to life force, so much so that they are actually quite intertwined, in a literal sense. In fact, your soul, life force, and aura are so connected that they can only be separated by a powerful Ghost-Type pokémon or someone with near complete control over one of the three.

I’m following so far, Ash replied.

Good. Now, because of these connections, controlling your aura depends on your health, both physical and mental. You got that?

Yep.

Okay. So, now we can get to training, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

Huh?

Drop and give me twenty while I constantly pester you about your crush on Serena.

I don’t have a crush on Serena.

Denial. I know everything about you because I am you. Now, DROP AND GIMME TWENTY!!!

And so, Ash’s aura training began.

**

Training had been going on for nearly four hours at this point, and Ash was panting and sweating, but, with the help of Counterpart, he had finally managed to create a small aura sphere between his palms. He checked his watch: 114.

Alright Counterpart, Ash began. Time for a lunch break?

Yep, and one for your pokémon too.

As Ash began to walk back to his house, he heard a loud squawk behind him. He turned around and saw…

“Pidgeot?” he asked.

The majestic beige bird nodded her head, her feathers rustling.

Ash smiled and embraced his old friend. “Long time no see, buddy.”

“Pidgeooo.”

“Sorry about not coming back for you. With the excitement of my Johto journey it must have slipped my mind. So, what’s the occasion?”

Pidgeot gestured behind her and Ash saw that several of the Pidgeotto and Pidgey from the flock had evolved. Pidgeot then wordlessly tapped an empty pokéball that Ash had on him and went inside, being captured. Then she popped back out.

“You want to come with me again?” Ash asked, stunned.

Pidgeot nodded.

Ash smiled. “Welcome back to the team, Pidgeot.”

**

Meanwhile, in Kalos, it was around midnight. A sound from outside jolted Fennekin awake. She slowly exited the tent and looked around. Nothing. She was about to walk back into the tent when she heard breathing behind her. She turned around to see an absolutely MASSIVE ursaring staring down at her. She did what any sane creature who was significantly weaker than their opponent would do: run as fast as possible and call for help while doing it.

Dodging trees and rocks, Fennekin ran as fast as she possibly could to get away from the monster chasing her. That was, until she reached a cliff. She turned around and started quivering at the sight of the ursaring bearing down on her. This is it, she thought, this is where I’m going to die.

Just as the ursaring was about to bring its claws down on the fox pup…

 

Chapter III: Things get Interesting​

The ursaring was bearing down on Fennekin, about to bring its claws down for the finishing blow when…

A flashlight swept across the area the fox pup was in. “Fennekin?” Calem called. “Where are you?”

“F-fenne!” Fennekin called back, sounding terrified.

The ursaring had vanished into thin air, but Fennekin was still shaking. Calem walked up to Fennekin and hugged the shivering pokémon. “It’s okay Fennekin. Did you see something?”

Fennekin sighed, and the shivering lessened. She nodded. I really wish Shauna didn’t forget my meds, she thought.

“Come on, let’s get back to camp,” Calem said, standing up.

Fennekin nodded again and padded after her trainer.

**

*translation*

When the group woke up the next morning, Fennekin decided to tell the other pokémon about last night’s incident.

Froakie looked at Fennekin. “What’s up Fennekin? You look a bit shaken.”

Fennekin sighed. “Another one happened last night.”

Chespin cringed. “Let me guess. More vivid than the last?”

Fennekin nodded.

“What was it this time?” Corphish asked.

“An ursaring,” Fennekin responded, shuddering, “And the hallucination was, the way my mind saw it, nearly tangible.”

“You get hallucinations?” Pikachu asked bluntly. Flabébé’s eyes widened and she shook her head at Pikachu in a ‘stop talking now’ fashion.

The fox pup glared daggers at the mouse pokémon. “Well I can’t help it if I have schizophrenia and Shauna forgot my meds!” She shouted, the air around her steadily growing warmer.

“Fennekin, CALM DOWN!” Froakie said sternly.

Well, at least she isn’t glaring at me anymore, Pikachu thought when Fennekin switched her burning gaze to Froakie.

“WHY SHOULD I?” shouted the fox pup. “He INSULTED my condition!” The air around her was gaining temperature at a rapidly increasing pace at this point.

Chespin sighed. “I’ll go get Calem and Shauna. You guys just try to calm her down.”

“Would it help if I said that I’m sorry for asking such a blunt question?” Pikachu asked.

“NO!” Fennekin shouted, shooting an ember attack at Pikachu, only for it to be shot down with a bubble attack from Froakie.

Chespin had returned with Calem and Shauna in tow. “What is going on here?!?” Calem asked, finding a terrified Pikachu and a very ticked off Fennekin and Froakie.

“He INSULTED me!” Fennekin yelled, angrily pointing a paw at Pikachu. Of course all the humans could hear was a very angry “Fen fenne, fennekin kin fennekin!”

“You tried to attack him!” Froakie shouted.

Pikachu’s cheeks started to spark. “Yeah! And all I did was ask a question!”

Shauna, sensing a fight was about to break out, shouted “Everyone SHUT UP!”

All of the pokémon immediately stopped arguing and turned to the two humans.

“Thank you,” Shauna said. “Now, Pikachu, I want you to apologize to Fennekin for doing whatever you did to make her so angry.”

“Sorry Fennekin,” Pikachu apologized. “I didn’t realize that was such a sensitive subject for you.”

The fox pup huffed and turned her head, the temperature slowly dropping to normal late summer temperatures. “Fennekin…” Calem said sternly, diverting the attention of said pokémon towards him, “I want you to apologize to Pikachu for nearly attacking him.”

Fennekin glared at her trainer, who stared right back with an equally frightening look. Eventually, Calem won out and Fennekin apologized.

“I’m sorry Pikachu,” Fennekin said apologetically, turning to the mouse pokémon. “I don’t know what came over me.”

“Schizophrenia will do that to people and pokémon,” Froakie said.

*translation end*

While Calem had no idea what had come over Fennekin to attack Pikachu like that, Shauna had a pretty good one. “Calem,” she asked, “can I talk to you and Fennekin later?” I really wish I hadn’t forgotten her medication, she thought.

“Sure,” Calem agreed.

Fennekin’s eyes widened. Oh crap. I’m in BIG trouble, aren’t I? Of course, hyperventilation soon ensued, causing the temperature that had finally decreased back to normal to rise again.

Calem knelt down next to Fennekin. “It’s okay, Fennekin. She probably just wants to talk about why you overreacted.”

The temperature stopped increasing. “Fen…”

“It’s okay, Fennekin. Now come on, let’s get some breakfast.”

**

Meanwhile in Kanto, Ash was walking back from Professor Oak’s laboratory as the sun was setting after a long day of training. The teenaged trainer was reflecting on the day with Counterpart while Pikachu was passed out on his shoulder.

Let’s see, Ash began, I managed to create a small aura sphere.

Yep, Counterpart responded. With my help and teasing about your crush.

I don’t-

Stop denying it when you know it’s true!

You’re insufferable.

Wow, that’s a big word for you.

Shut up.

Fine, fine. Let’s see, Pidgeot came back.

Yup! Ash looked at one of the pokéballs on his belt. Pidgeot had fit right in with the top tier of pokémon, and was a little wary of Charizard at first, but when she learned that he obeyed Ash now, she was happy to reunite with him, Pikachu, and the rest of his Kanto team, and meet the Non-Kanto team. Also, since it was the first day, nothing truly momentous happened. I also decided on who I’m bringing to Kalos first.

Oh?

Yes. Pikachu obviously, along with Pidgeot, so she can adjust to the team easier, and Sceptile and Snivy, as they have struck up some sort of teacher/student relationship. It may change over the next two weeks, though.

What else has changed, oh, Brock’s coming back, Counterpart said.

That’ll be fun. Oh! There was also the bombshell that my dad’s still alive and has been watching me for the better part of fifteen years.

That’ll take a bit to adjust.

I just hope I can meet him eventually.

That’ll be interesting.

They had arrived at Ash’s house. He went inside to greet his mother and sit down to dinner, anticipating the next week.

**

Back in Kalos, the quintet had finished breakfast and they were trekking through the forest. “So,” Tierno began, talking to Calem. “Why did you and Shauna disappear earlier? Did anything happen between the two of you?”

Both Calem and Shauna flushed red at this comment, but Calem quickly said, “No, nothing happened. Our pokémon just got into an argument that had the capacity to, and nearly did, turn violent.”

Fennekin’s ears drooped at this. “Fenne…”

“What happened to start that?” Serena asked.

“From what I could gather,” Calem responded, “Pikachu said something to Fennekin that angered her into shooting an ember at him, which brought Froakie into things because he had to shoot it down.”

Trevor pondered this for a second. “What could have possibly caused that to happen?”

Everyone looked at Calem, who shrugged. Then everyone looked at Shauna. “Shauna,” Serena began. “You’ve been unusually quiet. Do you know something?”

Shauna nodded. “Calem,” she asked. “Did anything strange happen with Fennekin last night?”

“Yes, actually,” Calem said. “I woke up in the middle of the night and Fennekin wasn’t there, so I went looking for her-“

“And you didn’t wake us!?!” Serena all but shouted.

Calem cringed. “Not my brightest moment. Anyway, I found her shaking in fear of something near a cliff, managed to calm her down, and went back to sleep.”

Shauna nodded. “Makes sense.” She started fidgeting with her hands. “You, uh, you see, Fennekin is, um, well, Fennekin’s schizophrenic and I sort of, uh, forgot her meds.”

Trevor’s palm met his face, Tierno groaned, Serena looked confused, and Calem looked pensive.

“Schizophrenic?” Serena asked.

Before Shauna could speak, Calem answered for her. “Schizophrenia is a mental disease that causes vivid hallucinations, paranoia, random bouts of aggression, and slight memory loss, along with a myriad of other symptoms.”

Fennekin sighed. This is bad, this is bad, this is very, very not good. He’ll probably think much less of me. Or worse, abandon me!

“So, how bad is it?” Serena asked.

“If treated, it barely affects the schizophrenic, but if left untreated, it can drive the schizophrenic to suicide,” Shauna explained.

Calem quickly cut in. “But that won’t happen to Fennekin.” He picked up the fox pup and looked her straight in her eyes. “We’ll get you treatment before you can even think of that. And besides, you having schizophrenia doesn’t make me think any less of you.”

Fennekin was relieved. “Fenne! Fen kin Fennekin!”

Calem smiled, put Fennekin back on his shoulder, and started running. “Come on guys! We’re only halfway through the forest! If we want to get to Santalune by lunch, we have to pick up the pace!”

Shauna smiled and ran after him, Serena following soon after. Trevor shouted “Wait up!” before taking off.

Tierno started a fast jog. “How do you guys run so quickly?!?” He shouted ahead.

**

An hour or so later, Serena, Calem, and Fennekin arrived on Route 3. Calem looked around. “Where are the others?”

Serena pointed behind them, where Shauna ran up, panting. “How…do you…have…so much…stamina?!?” She gasped, promptly collapsing.

Serena chuckled. “I guess Calem and I forgot that you three didn’t have the same childhood as us.”

Calem helped Shauna up, the latter of which had a slight, unnoticeable blush, unless you’re a Fennekin who is looking for any shred of evidence to support her ships. “What sort of childhood would involve you gaining that much stamina?” Shauna asked.

“Serena and I hiked a lot back in Pallet Town,” Calem explained.

Trevor ran in soon after, followed by Tierno, the former of which said he just needed to catch his breath, but the latter needed to rest for a good five minutes.

“You okay, Tierno?” Asked a concerned Calem. “Sorry about running.”

“I’m good,” Tierno gasped out, getting up. “But we’re walking the rest of the way.”

There was a collective nod of agreement.

“Ugh. Fine.” Calem said with faux annoyance.

They made it five steps in before a preschooler challenged Calem to a battle. It was a pichu vs Fennekin. The pichu was young and very inexperienced, and Fennekin, though still inexperienced, had a better capacity to dodge and took the pichu down with two ember attacks, while it wasn’t able to land a single hit. This, of course, reduced the kid to tears, who scooped up the pichu and ran off.

“Who even gives these kids pokémon!?!” Calem continued to rant fifteen minutes after the kid ran off. “I mean, they’re what? Five? FOUR?”

“Calem,” Shauna said after finishing a battle against a youngster, “Just drop the subject. At least Fennekin got some experience out of the battle.”

“Well, true,” Calem grumbled. “Actually, come to think of it, Fennekin’s my only pokémon. I’ll probably head out to Route 22 to see if I can catch anything after we heal our pokémon at the pokémon center in Santalune.”

“Mind if I join you?” Shauna asked.

“Nah, you can come along,” Calem agreed.

“So anyway,” Serena said. “We’re nearing Santalune, so we should start planning. Where do you guys want to go for lunch?”

“There was a coffee shop we went to when going to Aquacorde,” Trevor suggested.

“I second that,” Tierno supported. “That place was good.”

“Before we do anything,” Shauna began. “We should heal our pokémon and get to the center.”

And so, the quintet continued to the Santalune City Pokémon Center. They walked up to the counter. “We’d like you to heal our pokémon please,” Calem said to the Nurse behind the counter whose name tag revealed her to be called Joy.

Joy smiled. “I’ll just need to take your pokémon for a second.” Fennekin hopped off of Calem’s shoulder and Joy picked her up. “I’m guessing she doesn’t like her pokéball?”

Calem nodded. “This may take a bit longer than normal,” Joy explained. The rest of the quintet placed their pokéballs on the tray Nurse Joy brought out, who then took it to a room to heal the pokémon.

The group sat down at one of the tables in the pokémon center. “So,” Calem started. “Should we come up with some sort of plan for the near future?”

“Makes sense,” Shauna agreed.

“Alright. So, according to the letter he sent, Professor Sycamore will be in Santalune in three days,” Calem said. “Shauna and I’ll head out to Route 22 after lunch, see if we can catch anything. I’ll probably watch a gym battle to figure out the gym leader’s stratagems and a way to counter them. I’ll train tomorrow and have the gym battle later in the day.”

“I may take on the gym challenge as well,” Serena chipped in. “I’m not quite sure, though.”

“I’m not sure what I want to do,” Shauna explained. “So I’ll just follow Calem for now.”

“I’ll just continue photographing the around Santalune. Who knows, maybe I’ll find a rare pokémon!” Trevor said excitedly.

“I’m just going to practice dancing,” Tierno pitched in.

A wigglytuff walked up to the group carrying a tray with their pokéballs and Fennekin. The group retrieved their pokéballs and Fennekin jumped onto Calem’s shoulder.

“All right, let’s get some lunch!” Tierno exclaimed.

And so the five went out to get some lunch and split up. Trevor exploring Santalune, Serena going back into the forest to train, Tierno going…somewhere, and Calem, Shauna, and Fennekin heading out to route 22.

They group walked in silence for a while before Shauna decided to speak. “So…” she began. “Are we looking for anything in particular?”

“No,” Calem replied. “But I’ve heard that there are Riolu in the area. It would be interesting to find one.”

Little did the two of them know, however clichéd it sounds, they were being watched. By a riolu. In a tree. Don’t ask me why, I’m just the auth- ohhhh…

Anyway, as for what the riolu was thinking: This boy, he’s…interesting. His aura seems to extend a bit into the future, then…shift? And continue on indefinitely? And the girl’s too, but it shifts to something else. I’ll continue monitoring them to find out. The riolu then heard rustling below him, and somehow became even more hidden than he already was.

Back on the ground, in front of the two teens, a litleo, a shiny one at that, no matter how improbable that sounds, leapt out of the tall grass.

*translation*

“Rawr. RAWR! Fear me, insignificant mortals!” The litleo shouted.

Fennekin, who had been walking next to Calem, heard this, then promptly fell onto her back and started laughing. Calem just looked confused, and Shauna, well…

“Oh my Arceus, it’s so CUTE!” She shouted, running over and hugging it.

“Cute? CUTE?!? I am Horripilante! I am so terrifying I scared my own family off!” The newly-named Horripilante replied.

“You just keep telling yourself that,” Chespin, who had also been walking, said, to which he earned himself a slap from Fennekin.

“You could have at least a bit more tact than that,” The fox pup said in response.

And so, that is how Shauna wound up catching a shiny litleo. The lion cub attacked the tactless spiny nut pokémon, and Shauna took this as a challenge, as did Chespin. Here is how it went:

“Chespin, use tackle!” Shauna yelled. Chespin charged at his opponent, ramming into Horripilante full speed, dealing a great amount of damage. Horripilante, however, ignored it and shot an ember at Chespin.

“E-nope! Not happening,” Shauna said. “Chespin, use your vines to get above the ember!” This move, however, was a bit too advanced and, seeing as Chespin was inexperienced, he was unable to pull off the maneuver. Therefore, the ember burned through his vines and proceeded to impact Chespin himself, dealing nearly enough damage to make him faint.

“Hang in there, Chespin!” Shauna shouted to her starter. “We’ll have to work on your defense after this! Use vine whip!” Chespin then smacked Horripilante multiple times, causing the lion to become disoriented.

Shauna used this to her advantage. “Go pokéball!” She shouted, throwing the red and white sphere Horripilante’s way. The ball struck the pokémon, and it was sucked in. The pokéball shook una vez, dos veces, tres veces, then let out a pleasant ‘ding’ as the shiny litleo was captured.

“I caught a litleo!” Shauna exclaimed, then let the lion cub out of the pokéball. “Do you want a nickname?” She asked the shiny pokémon.

Horripilante nodded. “Alright,” Shauna said. “First, are you male or female?” Horripilante walked over to some loose dirt and traced the Venusian symbol on the ground. Shauna pulled out a list of possible nicknames for female pokémon she had thought of.

“This could take a while,” Fennekin said.

*translation end*

Fifteen minutes later, the self-named Horripilante and Shauna still hadn’t come up with a name for the litleo.

“Mary?” The cub shook her head. “Cleo?” Again, another no. Shauna thought for a moment, before snapping her fingers. “I think I have something you might like,” she said to the lion cub. “Toba.”

The shiny thought about it for a bit, then nodded, as if to say that it was an okay substitute for Horripilante.

“Isn’t that the name of a super-volcano?” asked Calem. “I mean, it fits, but the name of a volcano that caused a small extinction event?”

Toba nodded. “She likes it,” Shauna explained, and they began moving again.

The riolu, still in the tree, was observing them, and stealthily followed.

**

“You! I challenge you!” A rookie trainer shouted, pointing at Calem. “Rattata go!”

The purple rodent materialized on the impromptu battlefield. “Tat ratat!”

Fennekin jumped onto the battlefield. “Fen, Fennekin!”

“Rattata, use tackle!” The trainer shouted.

Fennekin used ember. It hurt the purple rodent, but didn’t cause it to stop running, and it tackled Fennekin.

“Fennekin, use scratch while it’s close!” Calem told his pokémon.

The fox pup scratched at her enemy, then threw in a point-blank ember for good measure. This blasted the two of them apart. Both were damaged, but Rattata seemed worse off, having been hit with two STAB embers and a scratch, while only managing to tackle his opponent.

“Rattata,” the trainer ordered. “Use focus energy and quick attack!”

Fennekin had prepared to scratch at Rattata when he came close, but focus energy charged up faster than she was anticipating, and the fox pup was hit with a powered-up quick attack. She howled, and scratched at the rodent with a boosted attack. This made Rattata collapse, unable to battle, but Fennekin wasn’t much better off, and hit the ground moments later.

Walking over to the battlefield, Calem attended to his pokémon with a potion. He looked at the other trainer, who was walking over. “Do you have a potion?” Calem asked.

“Yeah,” said the other trainer. “I’m Jay, by the way.”

“Calem,” Calem responded. He stood up after helping Fennekin up, and offered Jay his hand. “Nice battle.”

Jay accepted the handshake, and the two went their separate ways.

So that’s what a battle is like, the riolu thought.

**

As Ash walked back into the living room, he saw his mother reading the newspaper. “Well, that’s interesting,” She said.

Ash, now curious, asked, “What is it?”

“Apparently, a chain of islands was recently discovered, and the indigenous peoples call it Alola.”

“Huh. I though every land area had already been discovered.”

“Apparently not. Something else, when people first went to the islands, they brought over some pokémon not found there, and they adapted to a different environment. They even changed their type!”

“Really?”

“Yes! There’s an Ice and Fairy-Type Vulpix and Ninetales living in the mountains, and a Dark and Normal-Type Rattata and Raticate that specialize in thievery!”

“Sounds like someplace Gary would want to go to someday.”

“Yes, yes it does. Now, what have you been up to today?”

“Training. Also, Pidgeot came back.”

“Wait, Pidgeot’s back? I’ll have to see her. Anyway, you should get to bed.”

**

Eventually, Calem, Shauna, Fennekin, Chespin, and Toba decided to head back.

“It’s a shame I wasn’t able to catch anything,” Calem said.

“Fe, Fenne.” Fennekin agreed.

“Fennekin did learn howl, though,” Shauna countered, looking at the bright side of things.

“True,” Calem began, but was interrupted by a rustling in the trees. “What was that?”

Suddenly, a riolu jumped down in front of the group.

*translation*

“I am Riolu,” Riolu said, “and I wish to challenge one of you trainers to a battle for the option of being captured.”

Both Calem and Shauna looked to their pokémon in confusion, and Fennekin walked onto the field. “Sure, I’ll battle you,” she said.

Riolu nodded, then bowed, and charged in with a quick attack. Fennekin, startled by the speed of which the attack was executed, was unable to dodge, and was hit in the side.

“Was that really a necessary way to start the battle?” Fennekin asked. She turned to him, and spat out an ember, which he dodged, though barely.

“It caught you by surprise, didn’t it?” Riolu asked, then used quick attack again, but this time, the shortest distance from point A to point B was right at Fennekin’s face.

“Fennekin, use ember, now!” Calem gave the first command all battle.

The fox pup shot an ember right out a Riolu’s face. It stung, a lot, but barely slowed him down, and he rammed into Fennekin and switched to bite, chomping down on Fennekin’s leg.

“OW!” Fennekin howled, and scratched at Riolu until he let go, and spat an ember out to keep him away. She massaged her bitten limb, glaring at Riolu so fiercely he shivered, but didn’t let it stop him.

Riolu used quick attack again, this time aiming for Fennekin’s side. She responded by howling again, and using scratch just as he reached her. Riolu had anticipated this, however, and switched to endure.

By the time Fennekin had figured out the flaw in her plan, it was too late, and she hit him with an attack.

Calem, realizing what happened, shouted, “Fennekin, get out of there!”

“Counter,” was all that Riolu said. The punch hard enough to send Fennekin flying for a meter or so demonstrated his point well enough. The energy expenditure was too much for Riolu, and he collapsed onto his knees.

Miraculously, Fennekin managed to get up on shaky legs, her bitten one nearly giving out. She shot her trainer a look that basically said, ‘What are you waiting for? Throw the pokéball already!’

“Oh, right,” Calem said, and grabbed an empty pokéball and threw it at Riolu. The ball shook thrice, and then dinged, signifying a successful capture.

Calem walked over to the ball and let the emanation pokémon out of it. Riolu looked a little woozy at first, but quickly steeled himself. “That was the strangest experience of my life,” he said to Fennekin.

She shrugged. “I opted to stay out of mine.”

“So,” Calem began. “Two questions. First, do you want a nickname?”

Riolu shook his head.

“Okay then that makes this easier. Second question: do you want to stay outside your pokéball?” Calem asked.

This time, Riolu nodded.

“Welcome to the team, Riolu,” Calem said, then applied a potion each to him and Fennekin.

Shauna walked over. “That was interesting,” she said.

“Yes, yes it was,” Calem agreed.

Riolu walked over to Fennekin. “Very nice battle,” he said.

“Yes,” Fennekin agreed. “But don’t think I’m not remembering the fact that you bit me. How do you even know bite?”

“My family tree’s a bit messed up,” Riolu explained.

“Huh,” Fennekin said. “By the way, Calem’s going to scan you with his pokédex. Don’t be startled.”

Riolu, the emanation pokémon. Riolu are generally hard workers, and can discern the emotional and physical shape of others and project their own via the use of Aura. Riolu also tend to have a strong moral code and sense of justice. This riolu is male. Active ability: Steadfast. Hidden ability: Prankster (locked). Known moves: Endure, Quick Attack, Foresight, Counter, and Bite (egg move). Egg moves: Bite (unlocked) and Bullet Punch (locked).

Riolu blinked. “I did not know that I had bullet punch,” he stated.

“I didn’t know that I had hypnosis until I was scanned, either,” Fennekin responded, then gestured toward the opening back to Santalune. “We need to get to a Pokémon Center.”

*translation end*

**

A quick trip to the Pokémon Center later, and Calem, Shauna, Fennekin, and Riolu were standing outside the Santalune Gym.

“Alright,” Calem said. “We spectate and plan today, then train and battle tomorrow. That sound good to you two?”

His two pokémon nodded. “Fenne.”

“Lu.”

The four of them walked into the gym. “Are you a challenger?” the receptionist asked. “If so, there’s already a match going on, so you’ll have to wait.”

“I’m just here to spectate,” Calem explained.

The receptionist led them to the seating area, then went back to her desk. The four took their seats, then looked out at the battle. The Gym Leader, Viola, had a surskit on her side, and the opposing trainer had a pidgey. The floor had also been iced up to the surskit’s advantage, as it is the pond skater pokémon.

“Pidgey, use gust!” the trainer shouted.

“Gey, pi-pidgey!” Pidgey exclaimed.

“Dodge it, Surskit!” Viola ordered the pond skater. “Then use ice beam!”

Surskit successfully dodged the gust of wind, then shot a beam of ice-type energy at Pidgey. It connected, causing the tiny bird pokémon to fall and faint.

The challenger returned his pokémon. “Good job, Pidgey,” he said. “Froakie, you’re up!”

The bubble frog entered the battlefield. “Use quick attack,” commanded the trainer. Froakie, having no trouble with the ice, attacked Surskit repeatedly. It appeared that Surskit had already taken some damage from Pidgey, and it fainted.

Viola returned Surskit. “Vivillon, go!”

“Froakie, use bubble!” Shouted the trainer.

“Use light screen, then sleep powder!” Viola responded.

Vivillon blocked the worst of the bubble with light screen then began to spread sleep powder towards Froakie.

“Use quick attack to get out of there!” The challenger shouted.

Viola responded by ordering Vivillon: “Use gust to spread the powder throughout the battlefield!”

Froakie attempted to hold his breath, but eventually succumbed to the powder and fell asleep. “Use struggle bug repeatedly!” Viola shouted. Vivillon did just that, and Froakie fainted.

The trainers returned their pokémon, and shook hands. “It was a good try,” Viola said.

“Thanks,” the other trainer replied. “I’ll be coming back for a rematch.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Viola replied.

Calem, Shauna, and their pokémon exited the building. “So, you’re going to train tomorrow?” Shauna asked.

“Yep, and hopefully have the battle as well,” Calem responded. “We’re planning tonight.”

*translation*

“This is so exciting!” Fennekin all but squealed.

“The battle is tomorrow,” Riolu reminded her.

“Yeah, but it’ll be my first official battle! I can be excited if I want.”

“Okay then.”

*translation end*