=Prologue=
A long-standing tradition for many over the world is the chance to prove yourself in the world by becoming a Pokémon trainer starting at the age of Eleven. Children around the world look forward to their Eleventh birthday with hope for what being a trainer could mean for them. Some wish to become the best trainer they can possibly be, to catch every new Pokémon they see and cement themselves as the best trainer in the world. While others use becoming a trainer as a stepping stone and hoping to learn about them first hand to eventually become professors or maybe breeders.
Regardless of which path these young trainers wish to take they usually all start out the same. Eagerly awaiting the day they can go to a professor after turning Eleven and asking for their first Pokémon to help them out on their journey along with a Pokédex carrying their trainer's license. All trying to compete in the Pokémon League a regional event held every two years to see which trainer and their Pokémon teams are the best out of all the others. The goal is simple: Collect Eight Gym badges from each associated Gym each one offering unique challenges and scaling in difficulty across the region until those that remain are battle-hardened trainers showing off all they learned from their time forging their bonds with their teams. Followed by a knockout tournament versus all the trainers and their teams that qualified until the winners are decided.
Hundreds of trainers would tackle the Pokémon League, many coming for other regions after their events concluded, but only one would win and become the region Champion. Despite this, many young trainers take this chance to explore the world and make a name for themselves.
One such child is named Justin Barret. Only child to a single doctor living in Vaniville town.
Justin had spent all morning with his Father going over all he knew before he could head out and go meet up with the professor to receive his Pokédex and his Starter Pokémon.
"Come on Dad we've been studying for hours, I don't want to be late in getting my first Pokémon." Justin whined, looking at his Father with a look of exhaustion from studying since he woke up at 7am, it was now almost Noon.
"I know Justin, but I just want to be sure you are as prepared as you can be before you head out." His Father replied to him. "Besides you know full well that Professor Sycamore said he wasn't arriving in Aquacorde Town until two o' clock anyways."
"I just wanted to get ready so I don't fall behind, I don't want Jessie to take the Pokémon I wanted." Justin cried, Jessie Miller was the only other Eleven-year-old in Vaniville town. He and her never really got along and he knew she wanted the Pokémon he had his eyes on. "If she gets there first, she might take him."
"If she takes him what's the big deal? Last I checked Professor Sycamore said he was bringing three different starts. So just pick a different one." His Father replied, starting to get annoyed with what Justin was telling him. "Listen to me Justin, even if Jessie takes the Pokémon you wanted never treat the one you pick like you didn't want them. Pokémon are like people, they have feelings and you should never make them feel bad. It's not their fault if you wanted a different one, you treat them well and accept them. If you don't then they won't trust you and won't want to be with you anymore and they might even run away."
"I'm sorry Dad that's not what I meant. I'll be happy with whoever I get I just had a plan on what I wanted my team to be like." Justin apologized and looked down at his text book in sorrow.
"Its fine if you think you know what you want your team to be like, but never forget that your Pokémon will always do their best for you if you treat them right. You need to be prepared for not getting the Pokémon you wanted, but if you treat them well then they'll be just as good." Justin's Father replied while rubbing his son's hair and making it messy.
"NYYAAA." Cried the family Skitty as she hopped on the table and stared at Justin.
"Huh, what's wrong Nancy?" Justin said as he picked her up and held her in his arms.
"NYAA NYAA." Nancy continued to cry as she began to point at the clock. Which now said One Thirty pm.
"OH NO I'M GONNA BE LATE" Justin cried as he realized how much time he had spent talking to his Father and going over Pokémon biology, so he could treat them if they got hurt. He ran around the living room collecting the things he needed for his journey.
His Father had saved up and got him a heavy hiking backpack as well as canned meats, vegetables, bags of berries and a large water bottle for him and his Pokémon to cook and eat. As well as a simple sleeping bag, pots and pans, flint and steel, and a soap for when his clothes would eventually get dirty. Along with a few other things to help him out. He even got him a journal so he could record the things he saw and happened to him so he could look back after the end of his journey and see how things had changed.
"Justin be careful you don't want to trip while carrying that backpack!" His Father yelled out while Justin rushed to get everything he needed. "and don't forget this!" He called as he tossed Justin his hat to match his outfit. Justin was wearing brown Cargo pants with dark brown hiking boots and a dark brown vest over a green long sleeve shirt. He caught his brown fishing hat before running out the door and smiled at his Dad one last time.
"Bye Dad, I won't forget what you said about my Pokémon, I'll treat them well now matter who I get. I'll write when I get to Lumiose City."
Returning his smile, he watched as Justin ran out and closed the door behind him. It was going be a lot lonelier without his son. "All I have left here is you Nancy." He said as he bent down and pet his Skitty causing her to silently purr at him. "I just hope he stays safe."
Justin spent a lot longer than he wanted at home studying with his Father. He knew he would ask him to go over how to care for his Pokémon. Going over what made them happy or sad, how to feed them, what they liked to eat, that sort of thing. He knew who he wanted so he couldn't help but not pay as much attention when it came about talking about the other types Professor Sycamore was bringing with him.
He just had to run through Route 1 and get to Aquacorde Town to meet up with him. It was a straight shot to get there as Route 1 served as a straight path to the next town. After a few minutes of running Justin was exhausted. He wasn't used to traveling with a heavy backpack and he was so excited he broke off into a sprint as soon as he left the house. Something he was really regretting now.
He was almost into town as he felt his legs wanting to give out. He kept going against the pleas of his legs as he saw the water fountain at the center of town and standing next to it was Professor Sycamore along with someone he dreaded seeing with him as he had a feeling she took the Starter he wanted.
Jessie was the first to see him as he crossed the arches over the path from Route 1 leading into town. "Well well well, look who finally showed up. What did you sleep in? I started thinking you weren't even gonna show up since you already knew I'd be the Kalos Champion." Jessie snided, while watching him slowly make his way over to them as he looked like he was on the verge of collapse.
"Très bien!, you finally made it. I was worried that you "DID" sleep in my young friend." Professor Sycamore chuckled as he walked over to the clearly tired Justin and patted his back and motioned him to sit down next to the water fountain. The professor kindly waited for Justin to catch his breath before he continued.
While Justin caught his breath, he got a good look at the Professor and Jessie Miller. Professor Sycamore wore a stylish looking white lab coat over a blue long sleeve shirt and dark pants with comfy shoes. Jessie was the same age as him and was just a bit shorter than him. He stood around Four feet and Nine inches, she was just about two inches shorter than him. She wore short cut shorts over black tights and a pink and white horizontal stripped sweater. She wore a pink ribbon tying together her long black hair into a ponytail that came down to just above her waist. She like Justin had Blue eyes.
"Sorry Professor, I was studying Pokémon with my Dad and we lost track of the time. He wanted to make sure I was ready to take care of my Starter." Justin said as he felt his strength returning as he sat on the stone surrounding the fountain.
"Yea sure you were, I bet you can barely even feed yourself let alone feed your Starter." Jessie taunted as she glanced at him. "Just hurry up and pick your Pokémon already so we can fight already so I can show you how much better of a Trainer I am."
"Fine! I'll show you that I can take care of my Starter and we'll be the ones to win the Kalos League." Justin yelled at her surprising her and the Professor, but he just smiled as he saw how competitive Justin became at Jessie's taunts.
"Excellent! I love watching the passions of youth as two young rivals set off on their adventures to try to outshine the other." Professor Sycamore cried "Now then young Justin, Jessie already picked her Starter, so I am afraid that Froakie has already been picked if you wanted him."
Justin knew this would happen as soon as he saw Jessie had beat him here. They both heard Professor Sycamore tell them that he had a Froakie as a water Starter they both wanted it as their Starter. He was a bit upset but he still wanted to try to take on the Eight Gyms and become the Kalos Champion. While he really wanted the Froakie as his Starter, he was more than willing to pick someone else.
"Um, who else did you have left Professor?" Justin asked as he watched the professor take out two Pokéballs from a nearby suitcase.
"I still have the Fire Starter Fennekin as well as they Grass Starter Chespin." He said happily, while letting Justin look at the two Pokéballs.
"Okay, I wanted to get a Fire Pokémon eventually, so I might as well get one now." He said more to himself than to the Professor as he reached for the Pokéball that had a picture of a "Fennekin" taped to the ball. Wanting to meet his new Starter he tapped the release button on the side and tossed the ball onto the space near him by the waterfall.
In a flash of light, he saw his new friend. Fennekin was a Pokémon that stood on four legs and had short yellow hair as it got a bit longer as it got to the back of its rear legs. It had tufts of dark orange hair coming out of its ears as well as the tips of its tail. The muzzle was white in color and the fur got longer along its cheeks. With a small black pointy nose, it also had large orange eyes that looked around in excitement wondering who its new Trainer was.
"Um hello Fennekin, my name is Justin, Justin Barret. I'm going to be your Trainer." He said to the small Pokémon to get its attention getting it to look at him and getting excited.
"FEN FENNEKIN " it yipped as it ran at full speed towards Justin jumping onto him and knocking him backwards onto the floor. It quickly started madly licking at his face while yipping at him between several licks. Its tail wagging from side to side in its excitement.
"Hahahaha stop it that tickles Fennekin." Justin cried as he tried to get the small Fire Pokémon to calm down, so he could get up. After a bit of playing it calmed down enough for him to grab it and put it on the floor, so he could get up.
"Magnifique Justin, it looks like she likes you already." Professor Sycamore laughed as he helped Justin up onto his feet while the excited Fennekin kept yipping at him.
"She? It's a girl?" Justin asked as he got up fully and looked at the very excited Pokémon pawing at his leg.
"Yes, she is" Professor Sycamore laughed. As he looked at the Pokémon.
"FEN FENN" the small Fennekin yipped as if to say "I am."
"Well Justin you should give her a name, unless you want to just call her Fennekin, but if you want to form a strong bond with your Pokémon you should always give them a good name." He said as the Fennekin finally started to calm down again and looked at Justin expectantly.
"Hmm, well I didn't plan on getting a girl Pokémon, give me a second to think of a nice name for you." He said as he started to pet her head getting a soft coo from her. "Hmm what about Karen? Do you like that name?"
"FEN KIN KIN" the small Fennekin yipped excitedly at the suggestion of her new name.
"Good I think she likes it Justin." The Professor said happily while smacking Justin's back almost making him lose balance. "I trust that you two will make a good team and forge a strong bond between the two of you. They say the Starter always has the strongest bond with the Trainer."
"Well now that you finally picked your start then let's start our battle Justin, unless you are scared that is." Jessie piped up as Justin started to forget she was even there watching.
"I'm not scared, let's go Karen, we can't let Jessie talk down to us!" Justin yelled getting Karen to jump towards Jessie and baring her small white teeth at her.
"Then let's see what you two are made of!" Jessie yelled as she took out her Pokéball and threw it after backing up a bit away from them to give their Pokémon some space to fight. "Go Oliver!"
"FROOO!" Jessie's Froakie cried as it was called out. Before suddenly going stiff as it saw people starting to crowd around them not wanting to miss out on watching a Pokémon battle between two brand new trainers. "Oooaakkiieee." It silently cried as it started getting nervous around all the people near it.
Seeing this Jessie suddenly knelt next to Oliver and started giving him small words of encouragement that Justin couldn't hear with all the people near him talking about wanting to see a battle between two Starters. What ever they were Justin saw as Froakie gained new resolve and stared at him and Karen.
"Okay kids, get ready to start." Professor Sycamore yelled to signal their battle was about to start. "Ready? GO!"
[Pokémon X/Y - Vs Rival Music (HQ) 5-Minute version.]
"Froakie use Pound on that Fennekin!" Jessie cried being the first to react. "Let them get a taste of how strong you are."
"FROOO!" Oliver cried as he ran at Karen and right before it got to her he did a small hop and smacked into her with his front legs.
"FEENNN" Karen yelped as Oliver smacked her, she didn't look to hurt but she was definitely mad.
"Karen! Use Tail Whip and before he hits you again hit him first with Scratch!" Justin yelled, Karen nodded in understanding before running up to him and waving her tail in front of Oliver to get him to lower his guard. Right as he became distracted, she quickly hopped around to face him and gave him a nasty scratch on his face causing him to cry out in pain surprised at how much damage he took from her one attack.
"FROOoOoooOOooo!" Oliver cried as he hopped in place while covering his face with his sticky pads where Karen scratched him.
"I know it hurts Oliver, but we can't let them do that again! Use Growl before she hits you again!" Jessie yelled as she winced at the pain Oliver was in.
Suppressing his tears Oliver gave out the best growl he could while he was in pain. "FROOOOO!" he cried out, but it was enough to get Karen to back off a bit as it did manage to scare her a bit.
"Don't be scared Karen, he can't take another hit like that again! Use Scratch again!"
"EEEKKINNN!" She cried as she ran at Oliver again to hit him with another Scratch, but for some reason her paws didn't extend as much as they should have when they hit him seeming like more of a light slap.
"Now while she is in range hit her with Pound!" Jessie yelled again to Oliver.
"OOAAKIIEE!" Oliver yelled as he hit Karen full force in her face since she closed the distance on herself saving him the trouble causing her to yelp in pain and try to retreat.
"Quick before she can get away hit her with pound again!" Jessie ordered.
"Karen quick dodge it!" Justin cried but Karen didn't manage to react in time and just barely manage to look towards Oliver as he jumped into the air towards her and smacked her on the side of her head with his forearm.
"Fenne kiinnn…" she whined as she was knocked onto her back and was sprawled across the floor.
"Nooo Karen!" Justin yelled as he ran over to his defeated Starter bending down to check on her. "Karen are you okay say somethi…."
"Fenn Fenne" She yipped as she started licking his face when he went to check on her shaking her tail madly in her excitement.
"Haha Magnifique! She seems quite touched that you were worried about her after she lost" Professor Sycamore laughed. "Don't worry too much Justin, Pokémon usually know when to stop fighting in battles to avoid getting really injuries. Remember though eventually to try to make you happy or to avoid letting you down they might try to tuff it out, so make sure you can tell when they might be in real danger and call them back even if they really don't want to."
After the crowd saw that Oliver won and Karen wasn't really hurt, they started clapping and cheering, making Oliver go stiff again before cowering behind Jessie.
"You did your best Karen, I'm proud of you even if we lost." Justin said as he held the Fennekin close to his face and then started hugging her. "You are really cool, I'm glad I got you as my starter."
"Fennekin!" Karen yipped as she started licking his face again and wagging her tail.
"Alright Oliver we need to get going, say bye to Karen and Justin, we need to off and buy potion and then head out on Route 2."
"froakieee" Oliver said as it waved at them before getting recalled into Jessie's Pokéball.
"It was a good fight Justin, better than I expected but in the end we both knew I'd win." Jessie said with a grin as she walked over to him before extending out her hand for a handshake.
"It was close, but you only got lucky and you know it." He grinned back at her and shook her hand. "I'll see you in Santalune City for a rematch!"
"Hmph we'll see about that. Okay bye guys, I'll see you later Professor Sycamore, thank you so much for Oliver and my Pokédex."
"Bye Jessie!" He yelled and waved as she ran off towards a nearby Pokéshop and then off towards Route 2. "Oh, that reminds me I almost forgot." He said as he turned around and reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokédex for Justin. "Here you go. Go ahead and turn it on my boy." He said as he handed the Pokédex to him.
Justin took the small red device and flipped a switch on the side and pulled the side covers causing the Pokédex to come to life.
[THIS POKEDEX BELONGS TO TRAINER: JUSTIN BARRET FROM VANIVILLE TOWN.] It said. [THIS UNIT'S PURPOSE IS TO ASSIST IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF ENCOUNTERED POKEMON AND TO PROVIDE BASIC INFORMATION ON THEIR CARE. IN THE EVENT THAT THIS POKEDEX IS LOST OR STOLEN IT CAN NOT BE REPLACED. MY TRAINER'S ID NUMBER IS 58901-967-J2. PLEASE RETURN IF FOUND.]
With that he closed it and put it into one of his vest pockets.
"Thanks a lot Professor for giving me Karen and letting me use this Pokédex. I promise I'll keep them safe and learn as much as I can about Pokémon. Cmon Karen, lets put you back into the Pokéballs so we can get going."
"FENNEKIN!" Karen yipped happily before being beamed back into her ball and placed it on his belt.
"I know you and Jessie will make me proud my boy." Professor Sycamore said as he slacked Justin's back, again almost knocking him over, laughing as he did so. "Be sure to stay safe and take care. I'm heading back to Lumiose City to continue my research. That Pokédex has my number if you need to call me. Make sure you go and stock up on Pokéballs before you head out, never know what you might find out there." With that he turned to walk away and headed for Lumiose City.
Not wasting anytime, Justin ran towards the Pokéshop that Jessie was at before she left and bought three Pokéballs and two potions hoping he wouldn't need them.
With that he ran to the edge of town that lead to Route 2 and took a deep breath of fresh air and then took his first steps towards the start of his first adventure. Hopeful on what he would experience as he set out to become the Kalos Champion.
