Chapter 1 (Off to a Bad Start)

(Continued from Espieseries 2.1 MLP)

*Narration*

From the last time we left off, the Spirit Duo travelled through a dimensional portal, in search of more adventure and new friends.

While passing through the dimensional space, Espie and Ethos held their paws tightly together, hoping to appear somewhere, after they passed the dimension rift, safe and sound. They had high hopes that where they were going held a series of exhilarating journeys, thinking that everything would be alright on their way to another dimension.

Unfortunately, things went absolutely wrong. The dimensional rift was almost in reach for both of them when a Pokémon, purple and white in colour, noticed them attempting to enter the realm of Pokémon and assumed that they were invasive. Being defensive, it approached them and prepared to engage in its assault.

Its orb on its body started to radiate with a glaring magenta light before it used its glowing claw to slash them, causing both of them separate and go into the different spatial plains of the Pokémon world.

"Aah!" Espie screamed while flailing her arms, not knowing what to do, swiped away into one part of the dimension apart from Ethos who was propelled the other way into another rift, separated and entering the different spaces of the dimension they were going to.

She panicked as she appeared mid-air through a rift and fell from a height, landing on the ground hard before she blacked-out.

When she awoke, she was nestled in the arms of a female trainer."Oh, it's awake! Delphox, pass me my bag!" She said.

The female trainer took out and gave Espie a yellow pear-like fruit. "Hey you little guy, eat this, it'll do you good."

"Thank you. I'm not a guy ya know..." She crunched into the hard fruit, oblivious to the jaw-dropped, blatantly flabbergasted trainer.

"Urgh! What kind of fruit is this?" She cringed as she tasted several mix of tangy flavours, nothing she has tried before, but it made her feel better.

"You're a talking Pokémon! By the way, that yellow fruit is a Sitrus Berry. It's supposed to revitalise you. Just give me a moment to check something." She onto took out her Pokédex and scanned her. 'No data found' it sounded out.

"A talking what? And what are you trying to accomplish?" Espie was intrigued about what the trainer did.

"I'm just checking whether you are a Pokémon, the mysterious creatures of this world. But if no data is found, that means… Hmm... Lemme try another thing, stand there," the trainer pointed out the area she wanted her to stand.

Espie stood on the position, rubbernecking and wondering why she asked her to do so.

"This is a Pokéball, just stay still." she said before flinging it, hitting Espie on her forehead, ricocheting to the side with no reaction to her at all.

"Oww! What's that for? Seriously?"

After being hit by the Pokéball, she was in a fit of pique, crossing her paws.

"Nope, you aren't Pokémon. Sorry about that, just testing whether you are a Pokémon or not. What are you anyway?"

"I'm Espie, a Light Spirit from another dimension. I lost my friend due to a purple and white Pokémon. It attacked us in the dimensional space, slashing my friend and me, separating us into two different parts of this Pokémon world. Now I'm quite worried about him…"

"Interesting… Another dimension… That Pokémon you encountered was Palkia, the guardian of space. Cheer up fluffball. I will help you find your friend. I'm Callie and this is my Pokémon companion, Delphox. Welcome to Kalos, you little adorable spirit." she felt that Espie would make a great friend who would follow her around Kalos.

"C'mon! Please don't call me that… I'm not a youngling, you know? It's so embarrassing!" she blushed, being abashed by her, also feeling slightly irritated by it.

"Anyway, Delphox and I are heading towards Fleurrh City for our Pokémon performance. I aspire to be a Kalos Queen that's why I'm competing in cities like Fleurrh. We will be stopping by the Pokémon Center for a moment to rehearse. Wanna see our rehersal?"

"A Pokémon performance? Sure…" Espie was irresolute about the term or what it was. Being curious, she was excited to see and observe her go about it.

"Oh! I almost forgot! Did you have my bag, Callie? It's a brownish knitted bag with fruits, scrolls and a metallic staff."

"It's with Delphox. We found these with you in the bushes next to where you were. Unfortunately, all the fruits in the bag we found were bitten and we had to clear them out."

After retrieving the items, she stated, "Callie, it's okay. Those items are trivial to me. Thank you both for taking care of my items. Shall we get going?"

"Sure!" She paused for a while before she ordered "Delphox return!"

Espie watched in horror as Delphox was zapped into a similar red and white ball that was flung at her, gasping slightly. "Will Delphox be comfortable in there? It looks like it's kind of a tight squeeze…"

"Well, she's fine. It's not a torture inside. Anyway, are you a wizard of some kind? I assume you are since you've gotta…"

"I am, but shouldn't we get going? It's searing here directly under the sun..."

"Oh, right! We should. The showcase is in a few days, so we only have these few days for prepare for it. We'd better hurry…"

They paced quickly, reaching the Pokémon Center by the late afternoon.

Upon reaching the Pokémon Center, they started their rehearsal at a Pokémon battling area just beside it.

"Delphox, Glaceon, and Heliolisk, come on out!" Callie shouted, zapping the three Pokémon out of the Pokéballs.

"Espie, you can sit there and watch us while we practice!" Callie suggested to her before she started their rehearsal with the three Pokémon.

She started commanding her stalwart trio and they jump and zipped around, unleashing all their powers and sprinkling glitters, performing a beautiful show which impressed Espie greatly.

Repeating their performance a few more times, she corrected each of the trio using her purviews on them.

After they finished their performance rehearsals for the day, they were panting and were worn out.

"That was great, and all the three of you really put in a lot of effort," Espie commented on them being sedulous, phrasing them.

The three of the Pokémon exclaimed, thanking her for the compliments, which was what she understood while Callie didn't.

"Can I ask you something about Pokémon?"

"Sure, as an experienced trainer, I'm quite knowledgeable! But, just to be clear, I don't know everything."

"Why can't Pokémon talk like we do and only call out their names? I'm able understand them somehow…"

"Oh Espie, most Pokémon cannot talk but vocalise their own names. Some can "talk" with the exception of communicating through telepathy or by learning how to talk by themselves. I can't understand them, but if you can, that's great!" She answered not entirely Pokémon savvy.

"Great job you three! Now chill and rest! We have a big showcase tomorrow." She made all the three Pokémon return before proceeding with Espie into the Pokémon Center.

"Welcome to the Pokémon Center, please place your Pokéballs here to allow us to heal them."

Placing the Pokéballs down onto a nursing tray on the main counter, Nurse Joy smiled and began to do her job of healing Callie's Pokémon, bringing the tray of Pokéballs into a room behind the counter.

"Espie, we will wait around here until my Pokémon are fully recovered. While we're at it, you can come to the computer with me to video-chat. I want to show you to Professor Sycamore, he would like to see something as unique as you!" Callie suggested, pointing at a nearby computer.

They walked towards the computer casually.

"I'm gonna getcha, lil' guy!" Out of nowhere and without an apparent reason, a male trainer threw a Pokéball, clobbering Espie's head with it, infuriating her.

"Ow! Why? I'm NOT A Pokémon!" She took out her staff and whisked the trainer away out of the Pokémon Center to a random place, vexed about being wrongly mistaken as a Pokémon. She was getting a deja vu notion about people trying to catch her although she's not catchable.

"Seriously? Nevermind…" Callie progressively calmed her down before proceeding to log in to the computer, linking the video chat to the professor.

"Hey, Professor Sycamore!"

"How have you been Callie? Any good news? Anything you want to tell me?"

"How about this? I found her while travelling, but she's no Pokémon." She carried Espie's body up to the screen, allowing Professor Sycamore to view her through the interface.

"Oh wow! What is that?"

"Me? I'm Espie, a Light Spirit from another dimension."

"Hello, little one. So, you travelled from another dimension huh? This means you are… out of this world?"

The professor, Espie and Callie burst out in laughter.

"Yup! But jokes aside. Do you happen to hear about another creature who is a non-Pokémon like me? He's a grey fox with a blue scarf."

"I don't think so, but in any case I get any information about it, I will inform you. Callie, before you end the video chat, I think I will come to Fleurrh City to meet you in three days to conduct some examination on Espie. Callie, tomorrow is your showcase, am I right? Good luck to you. I'll see you in three days!"

The professor ended the video chat, blanking off to the home page of the computer. "Espie, it seems that you might be an interesting creature for him to research on."

"Research? Hmm..." she replied, having a conjecture that the professor was kind, but was a little hesitant to the idea of testing on her.

"I guess it's alright…"

The Pokémon announcement bell sounded just as Callie turned off the computer. She went towards the front counter to retrieve her Pokémon.

"Your Pokémon are fully healed and rested. We hope to see you again!" Nurse Joy said before going back to resume her work.

"Espie, we would be sleeping in a nearby hotel for a few nights before we move out of the city. You can leave your things there until we leave the city. Follow me, I'll lead you!"

They meandered through many pathways before reaching the hotel in the evening.

"Here we are! Give me a moment. I'm gonna get a room for us."

When Callie was done with the customary check in, Espie was already sulking on the corner, seeming to be dying of boredom.

"Ok whitey! I'm done. I know… Sorry it took a while."

"Bout' time!"

Entering their allocated room, they burst through the door and placed their bag on the ground and started to unpack some items. Afterward, Espie jumped on the bed excitedly, eager to sleep in the cosy hotel beds.

However, her stomach grumbled while she was jumping, quickly hopping off.

"Can I get something to eat? I don't have any food left in my bag and I haven't eaten all day…" Espie requested, her stomach continuing to grouse due to the lack of food.

"I got some food, but some might not be suitable for you. Let me lay them out for you to sample and choose."

Callie took out a can of Pokéfood, a berry pouch and a plastic lunchbox containing a sundry of Pokémon puffs.

Espie sniffed the Pokéfood and winced to the smells of it, rejecting it almost immediately.

Next, she tried the berries. It was a little more than the Pokéfood but it still did not satisfy her.

Finally, she tried the Poképuffs. She took a bite and felt that it was sapid, enjoying the delectable tastes of puffs and smiling, graduallyscoffingdown the puffs.

"I think I like this. What are these anyway?"

"They are Poképuffs. I make them and my Pokémon also loves them too." Espie continued chumbling on the puffs, finishing almost half them.

With her stomach full, her paws were full of sugary powder and flakes.

"You should really clean up, sweet puff..."

She sighed, a little annoyed by the various nicknames she had been called.

"I shall, but can you stop nicknaming me? It's really humiliating and I'm like fifteen spirit years old already!"

"But you look so cute and it's floofy! I can't help it when I see cute things!"

She gazed at her sternly.

"Okay chill. Not need to be angry, I'm only joking. I shall stop giving you nicknames. But seriously, clean up yourself before bed."

After cleaning herself, Callie had one more request for her.

"Hey Espie, can I just hug or pet you? You look so cuddly…"

She sighed. "Okay, but don't ruffle up my fur."

Callie hugged her so tight that she started squirming in the arms wrapped around her.

"Okay! I think that's enough! Let's just sleep. I'm tired from travelling!" Espie screamed before the torment of hugging ceased.

*Narration*

Having prepared for the showcase, was ready to give her best shot in her performance.

How will Callie effectuate her rehearsals into the showcase? Stay tuned...