-Forrest-

I felt the cool earth beneath my feet. Soft grass tickled my feet as I bathed in the soft glow of the sun gleaming through a crack in the foliage. The forest around me played the soft melody of life, and I thought, this is true beauty. I wish beauty like this could truly last, but...BRIIIINNNNNG.

I opened my eyes to see a faint bit of moonlight filtering through the window. I slapped the off button of the alarm clock and saw the bright red numbers 5:30. Most people make fun of me for waking up so early, on a weekend none the less, but I didn't mind. I was already different from the other kids anyway. They had dreams of being famous or a hero that saves the world, but all I wanted to do was run through the forest with no restrictions. Maybe that thought came from a life of moving and big expectations from the daughter of the amazing rhyhorn racer aka my over achieving mom. She expected so many great things from me that I never wanted to do, but life could have been worse.

I dragged myself out of bed. The early morning was so peaceful and silent with only the occasional chirp of the few fletchling that decided to wake up at this hour. I walked over to the mirror in my room with my pink pajamas making the softest of shuffling sounds and did my best neaten my messy hair. Sigh, my hair, just one more thing that set me apart from the other kids. My fairly long hair had the odd coloring of the purest white with a fringe of midnight black along the ends. My mom had tried to dye my completely black once, so I could at least fit in with the other kids a little bit. For some reason my hair refused to be dyed. The next day the dye had already worn off, and my mom decided she wouldn't waste the money for the dye.

Once I had made my hair presentable, I stretched and started towards the bathroom connected to my room. I brushed my teeth and washed my face infront of the mirror. At least my face was fairly average with two sky blue eyes, a simple nose, and slightly pale skin. I dried my face and decided now was a good a time as any to get dressed. I changed into a simple white tank top and some dark blue shorts. Riding rhyhorns and running all day made me quite in shape if a bit short for my age, so my small cloths barely took up a third of the large closet I was given. Because of this, the other two thirds hid some of my Pokemon posters. I put my favorite necklace on that had a charm of my favorite Pokemon, absol.

Now that I was ready for the day, I picked up my sketch book and opened up my window. I hopped onto the roof and pull out the pencil I kept in my sketch book. This was one of my favorite things to do in the morning, just watching the dawning sun and drawing. The roof gave me a perfect view as the sun creeped up from the horizon, and the moon fell to the earth, saying good-bye till next night.

I opened up my sketch book and most of its pictures were of absols, but there was other Pokemon drawn too. Today I started a drawing of a mother charizard sleeping with her baby charmander on a sheltered mountian platue. Once the sun was fully in the sky, I was about to add the final detail to the picture when-

"Forrest! It's time for breakfast, and you know how I feel about you sitting on the roof like that," my mom called. Forrest. Yep, that's my name. It's somewhat ironic considering my one dream, but it was either that or Anastasia. Honestly I'd much rather be Forrest.

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" I shouted back. I jumped back inside and set my sketch book on the dresser before heading downstairs. I went down the stairs as silently as possible. It was a little game I like to play to see how softly I could step, and I found out if you step on the sides of the stairs there will be less of that creaking sound. I also started to have a habit of stepping toe to heel instead of the normal heel to toe method of walking. Just another thing kids made fun of me for.

I sat down at the table and ate a breakfast of strawberry toast and MooMoo milk. Once I finished breakfast my mom finally decided to finish in the shower. I took showers at night since I always ended up coming home caked in mud from rhyhorn racing.

"Hi sweety, was your breakfast good?" my mom questioned.

"It was great. So where are we racing today?" I replied doing my best to sound excited for the day, and if I do say so myself, I had become quite the actor over the years.

"Actually, there is no rhyhorn training for today," my mom stated in somewhat dissapointment.

"There isn't?" I stated incrediously. The only time I didn't have rhyhorn training was when we were preparing to move, and my mom would always tell me the day before we moved after rhyhorn practice. This had to be something big, and I was almost worried she was taking me on a shopping spree again. It happened when my mom decided that I needed more clothes, and it never ended well.

"Yes, instead of rhyhorn training, Professor Sycamore has asked me to let you help him with his reasearch, and I decided you should go," my mom stated. I was a little cautious about this research, but anything was better than rhyhorn racing.

"Alright, I'm all for it. Where do I go?" I replied.

"The Professor said to go to Aquacorde Town," my mom stated as she started to eat her breakfast. I picked up my bag and tossed my sketch book in it. I left the house and breathed in the pleasant smells of the outdoors. It was a beautiful fall day with the sun shining bright above the trees with their color changing leaves. The cloudless sky was such a nice light blue that I couldn't help but stare. Soon I heard a door opening with an obnoxious creak from the house next door to me.

I looked in the direction of the noise and saw my neighbor, Calem, coming out of his house with a determined look on his face. Calem isn't too bad if you take away the fact that his life is so much better than mine. His parents are veteran trainers, and he has so many Pokemon to play with in his house. For another thing, he actually knew both of his parent when I never had much of a connection with my mom, and my dad is who knows where. I wasn't jealous of him, but sometimes he made me think of what it was like to actually have a loving and caring family that loved you for you and not how well you did on the racetrack. This sometimes made me feel awkward around him, but he saw that I was uncomfortable and let me be. Out of all the new kids I had met at school Calem was probably the best one. He didn't flock to me as the new kid, and he didn't shy away from me as the dissapointment of the famous rhyhorn racer's daughter.

Today, Calem was wearing a blue jacket with some simple black pants. His hair was slightly more brushed that usual, and his leafy green eyes shimmered with that determined look. Calem looked over and noticed me staring.

Calem walked over and commented, "Nice day, right?"

I nodded and replied, "Yes, quite nice." I was prepared to leave this conversation as soon as possible, but Calem apparently wasn't.

"Your mom told me that you're also doing the request of Professor Sycamore," Calem stated. Curse my mom and her need for me to make friends. I quess I'm stuck with this situation now.

"I assume you're doing it too," I stated even though it was quite obvious that he was.

"Yeah, I am, and I'm pretty excited too," Calem replied.

"Well...that's nice," I stated. I was starting to become uncomfortable with the conversation, and I started to go into my habit of clutching my arm when I'm nervous.

Calem apparently noticed my stress and stated, "I'll see you at Aquacorde Town. Bye for now." With that he raced off towards the path leading to Aquacorde Town. I silently thanked him on the inside for leaving and instantly relaxed.

I looked back to the sky and thought, how am I ever going to deal with another person in the research study. At least it's only Calem. Little did I know that it was going to be much harder than only Calem.

-Calem-

I was already at route one by the time I stopped running and thought that Forrest wouldn't catch up to me. Forrest was quite the enigma. She was very brave considering how she practiced rhyhorn racing, a dangerous sport, but she never really talked to anyone. You might be able to have an awkward conversation every once and a while like I did earlier, but that was a rare occasion indeed. She also had a tendency to sneak up on people. I don't know how she did it or if it was on purpose or not, but her odd gait might explain it.

I shook my head, it was too good a day to think about those kinds of questions. The sun was shining, the fletchling were chirping, and I was going to help The Professor Sycamore with research. Maybe I could even sneak a pokeball and catch a Pokemon. Then I could finally go on a Pokemon adventure like my parents did.

These thoughts were swimming about my head as I entered Auqacorde Town.

"Hey! Calem, over here!"

I looked in the direction of noise and mentally sighed. There was Shauna, in her usual pink t-shirt and skinny jeans, waving eccentrically like there was no tomorrow. Her brown pig-tails that seemed to defy gravity bounced up and down as Tierno and Trevor, who were sitting behind her at the cafe, slapped thier foreheads.

Tierno and Trevor had to be the oddest duo of friends at the school. Tierno was a little round for his age and had a dream to be the greatest dancer ever. Today he was wearing a large black t-shirt and baggy beige shorts. Trevor, who probably was almost the exact opposite of Tierno, was stick thin, and he was even shorter than Forrest, who was quite short for her age. Trevor was always tinkering some sort of science project, and he had the dream of being a top notch scientist. He was wearing a gray vest and had a slightly lighter beige than Tierno's for his pants.

"Come on Calem, sit down," Shauna beckond enthusiastically. I sat down cautiously in the simple red chair on the right side of the table. Shauna made a big show of plopping into the chair, and started to twitch her foot anxiously in the silence.

Sadly, a peaceful quiet can't happen around Shauna. "So, does anyone know who the fifth helper is because my mother said that Professor Sycamore chose five kids to help out with the research and-" Shauna kept going on and on about whatever else happened to pop into her mind.

At one point my mind just wandered off, and it wasn't until I heard the unatural silence that had descended upon everyone, even Shauna, that I snapped out of my trance. I looked in the direction that everyone was looking in, and saw Forrest standing awkwardly in front of the group. She was clutching her arm which I knew ment she was nervous. For some reason no one else noticed this habit of hers, but I guess if you were afriad of her like Tierno and Trevor, who were just starting to recover from shock, you wouldn't really bother to notice something as simple as a habit.

I felt a little bad for Forrest, everybody either viewed her as the daughter of the famous rhyhorn racer or the oddball with the unatural looking hair color. At least she actually has a parent who actually talks to her, unlike mine who are always out battling other veterans for fun. If it wasn't for their Pokemon, who actually bother to play with me, I would have already ran away, never to return.

Forrest walked over to the table with that odd gait of hers, and I barely heard the soft whisper of her feet. Forrest slowly sat down and even Shauna was quiet.

To break the awkwardness of the moment, I questioned, "So, does any one know when the Professor's coming?" Trevor and Tierno shifted uncomfortably at this.

"Well, Professor Sycamore had an important meeting and he couldn't come to meet us," Trevor answered. That statement broke my dreams in half. Now I was never going to have a pokemon. My parents would never let me go out to Route 2 because it was soo dangerous without a pokemon, and I'd never be allowed to bring my parents Pokemon. Something about trainer's honor or along those lines.

I looked around at the others. Shauna was still her same jumpy self and probably wasn't even listening to what Trevor said. Forrest's expression showed that she was expecting something like this if a bit disappointed.

"Hey he didn't finish yet guys," Tierno stated. I picked my head up a bit at this, maybe their was still hope. Maybe he just rescheduled the research.

"Thanks Trevor. Now, as I was starting to say, Professor Sycamore couldn't come, but he told Tierno and me what to do. He wants us to fill out the pokedex and meet him in Lumiose City," Trevor stated.

"Wait, wouldn't we need Pokemon for that?" Shauna questioned. Trevor face palmed again, but I barely noticed the comment. I was about to explode with excitement. I was finally going to have my own pokemon, and start my very own journey to challenge the Pokemon League. I would do what my parents couldn't and beat the League. Even Forrest seemed a little more interested than before.

"Anyway, Professor Sycamore gave me this." Trevor pulled out a case and continued, "Tierno and I already received our Pokemon so you three can choose out of the three Pokemon in the case."

"OMG! We're getting pokemon!" Shauna exclaimed. Shauna could be a little dull sometimes.

"Yes, Shauna, that's what I just said. Now moving on, let's pick the Pokemon." Trevor opened the case and pick out three pokeballs. He threw the pokeballs into the air and out came a chespin, a fennekin, and a froakie. Upon seeing the Pokemon and truly realizing what this meant, I just couldn't help but smile.

-Forrest-

I looked at the three pokemon in front of me and thought about if I really wanted to be a trainer. I didn't really like the idea of keeping pokemon in pokeballs, but the pros heavily outweighed the cons.

Shauna instantly went for the chespin and exclaimed, "You are the most adorable thing ever!" The chespin, who was locked in a death grip hug, actually had a big smile on her face. Yes, I could tell between a boy and girl pokemon. It was that hard if you knew what to look for. For example, I could tell the other two pokemon were boys because the fennekin had longer ear tufts and the froakie had a shorter vat, the scarf like appendage on his neck.

Since Shauna obviously picked the chespin, I looked at the fennekin and froakie. The froakie was staring determinedly at the two of us as if he was saying that he would do the best for whomever decided to pick him. The fennekin was hiding behind the froakie, telling me that he was shy and didn't know if he wanted to go into the dangerous wilds of the Kalos region.

I kneeled down in front of the fennekin put my hand out. The fennekin cautiously looked at my hand and backed up a step.

"Hey, it's alright," I coaxed. "The world can be a scary place, but if you face it with your head held high, then you can do anything."

The fennekin seemed comforted by the soft voice and rubbed his soft head on my hand like a purrlion does. He started to make a sound similar to purring as I thought about a name for him. The fennekin was obviously born in captivity like all starters are, so he probably didn't have any other name.

Calem, seeing that I had chosen the fennekin, picked up the froakie and stated, "Are you ready the challenge the Pokemon League, Froakie?"

"Keh-kee," Froakie determinedly replied. Calem went over to Trevor and picked up Froakie's pokeball. Shauna, who had already picked up her pokeball, was already putting a bow on the excitable chespin, who was now named Chester.

I had finally thought of a name for the fennekin, and it was pretty good too. Well at least I thought so.

"How do you like the name LightHero?" I asked the shy fennekin.

"Feh!" the fennekin, now known as LightHero, happily replied. I smiled and walked over to Trevor with the fennekin following right next to me.

Trevor shakily handed me LightHero's pokeball and instantly relaxed once I left. I knew Trevor and his friend Tierno always tried to stay away from me. Most people did. For some reason, everywhere I go I bring disaster. Either the school football team starts to have a losing streak, or the weather starts to worsen. Perhaps that was why I liked absol so much. I guess I felt I could truly connect with something that was basically the pokemon version of me.

I looked at LightHero and suddenly realized, "You're my very first friend aren't you, LightHero?"

"Feh-keh!"