Chapter I: A Journey Begins
Vaniville Town, located 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 bright and sunny mornings 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 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." his mother 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 about their age with brown hair done up in pigtails 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 somewhat childish behavior. "Anyway," she said, "We should probably head north to Aquacorde Town."
Aquacorde Town, much like its southern neighbor, was a small town, with barely more residents than Vaniville. In fact, the two towns were so close together, many even considered them to simply be a single place, despite the slight distance between the two.
Exiting route one only five minutes after the two siblings entered it, 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 in jeans and a black vanillish T-shirt, with short black hair done up in small spikes. 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 it."
"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, recently updated to have information on all seven hundred twenty-one pokémon, excluding legendaries and mythicals; no one really encounters them enough to actually gather data." 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. These have to be at least a hundred poké."
"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 about ninety-two 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 somersaulted 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(s): Hypnosis (locked).
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. 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 sudden realization. "How's mom going to react to our pokémon?" He asked.
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 as the family rhyhorn by the front door cracked an eye open, and waited for the door to open as Serena and Fennekin giggled slightly.
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 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 mother 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 Proulx,
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, Ph.D.
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 started, "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 Common 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?"
Noticing Grace, Fennekin's breathing 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 entirely. 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 you 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 for a bit, 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 wearing a red and white hat, blue hoodie, and grey-black cargo pants 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, it's 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!"
Author's Notes: Firstly, for anyone that has actually been following anything I do (which is probably right about no one), I'd like to apologize. As perhaps a few people (but probably not many) who read this will recognize, this is a rewrite of a story I had a while ago, and I decided that, since I've been writing consistently now for about a week, I'd rewrite this and post it.
I have the first five chapters written and proofread, and I'll be posting them weekly as I write chapter six (which is almost completed-including proofreading) and beyond.