Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I'm just using characters, games, materials, etc for the purpose of this story.

Pokémon Z – The Kalos Chronicles

Chapter One

"Unbelievable!"

The commentators voiced echoed throughout the stadium as Calem leaped at his Larvitar, holding his partner tightly in a warm embrace. The audience finally realised what they had just witnessed. This small boy with black hair and bright blue eyes had just one the Friendship Cup. A six-year-old who was barely big enough to fit into his blue jacket with white stripes was the winner. After a moment, they burst into applause. The yellow interior of the stadium started to shake with the noise.

"Simply incredible!" The commentator yelled. "This boy has all the talent in the world, no doubt about it. It's not a question of whether he'll go far; it's simply a matter of how far he will be able to. He could make a fine Gym Leader….. No, even better. An Elite Four Member! And now, the host, Lysandre, is making his way over to present the boy with his trophy."

Calem let go of Larvitar long enough to see the tall man approaching. He had orange hair and kind eyes. His face looked like it would split in half, he was grinning so much. He shook Calem's hand as he made a speech about the youth leading us towards a better world, a more beautiful world. Calem couldn't have cared less about what he was saying. He was scanning the crowd, looking for them.

His eyes lit up as he caught sight of them. Tierno twirling around in celebration, nearly knocking poor, little Trevor over. Shauna was crying her eyes out, only being topped in the tears department by a young blonde boy beside her, waving a Calem sign. And there, at the front of the group was Serena. The young blonde had her hair tied up and was wearing the dress her mother normally reserved for her Rhyhorn race celebrations. The bright blue eyes shone brightly as she looked down at her friend, bursting with pride.

All Calem wanted was to race up the steps and be with his friends. He started to move towards them when suddenly he felt himself being lifted up. He turned around to see his beaming father lifting him onto his shoulders. Calem's mother was wiping away tears from her eyes as she beamed at the cameras. Suddenly, Calem became all too aware of the focus of the media. They quickly swarmed around him, snapping pictures of him and Larvitar.

Calem started to feel his tummy churning. He never liked this kind of thing at small tournaments, but this was far worse. There were so many people. He felt like he couldn't breathe. He glanced up at Serena, who gave him a reassuring smile, but the worry was still evident in her eyes. She gripped the end of her dress as her knuckles turned white. 'Please,' she thought, 'please, just leave him alone.'

"Xavier, Avril!" A purple haired reporter called out. "Malva of the Lumiose City Press. How do you feel about your son following in your footsteps? You've never beaten the Elite Four despite being in various regions; can Calem succeed where you didn't?"

"No doubt!" Xavier bellowed out, as Calem held onto his father's long black hair. There was a fire in his brown eyes as he spoke. "I've no doubt my boy will be Champion one day!"

"We're so proud of him!" Avril spoke, twirling her mousy-colored hair around her finger. "He'll go so far!"

"Yes!" Lysandre agreed, his eyes lighting up. "No doubt this boy has been chosen for great things."

"Calem! Calem! Calem!" The media swarmed around him. The flashing lights of the cameras. He couldn't see where his friends were anymore. His father let him down so he could talk to the media. Suddenly the large stadium felt so small. The entire building felt like it was trapping him in there with the reporters. 'Where are they? Where's Larvy? I can't see anyone! Help! Help me!'

(Ten Years Later)

"Calem. Calem. Please come out."

Serena sat on the roof outside her neighbour's window. The boy had become a shut-in in recent years, not wanting to expose himself to the outside world. Serena always climbed across from her window to his, every day to try reach her friend. She knocked gently on the window again to no avail. Serena sat down as she hugged her knees with her high black socks on close to her.

"Come on, Cal. Don't shut me out." She softly whispered as she tugged at the end of her red skirt.

Trevor looked on from below as he saw his friend's attempts once again. 'Say what you want about her', Trevor thought to himself, 'but she doesn't give up. She's like clockwork. She's always making time to go see Calem, even when others gave up a long time ago.'

"Serena at it again?" Shauna asked as she casually strolled up, Tierno trailing along after. "Why doesn't she just accept he's not coming out again?"

"You say that Shauna," Tierno interjected with a grin on his face, "but you still tag along every day. Plus, we all know you still bake cookies for him all the time."

Shauna went bright red as she lost her previous nonchalant, composure. "What?! No, I don't! How did you know?"

Trevor couldn't help but smile at his friend's antics. Despite everything that had changed over the years, he was glad that this was one thing that hadn't. He quickly turned his attention back to Serena.

"We really miss you, Cal." She spoke softly, leaning up against the window. "Please, just say something already."

"…..Something already."

A vein nearly popped in Serena's forehead as she proceeded to pound the window frame. "That's not what I meant, you smartass!"

Calem pulled back the curtain to look at his friend, staring directly into her eyes. The happy go, lucky boy, he had been was long gone. His eyes had turned a dull grey now. His face was rather gaunt and his skin was pale. He had grown taller but was very narrow. Uninterested, he lazily asked, "What is it you want, Serena?"

Serena was momentarily stunned that he pulled back his curtain. This was more than he had done in months. Quickly, she recovered, "I want you to come outside. Please, Calem, we miss having you around."

Calem looked down at the trio on the ground before averting his gaze. "I…..I can't go outside. It'd be bad for you guys…."

Serena's face softened as she saw how much her friend was hurting. "Please, Calem. We're just going to have coffee in Aquacorde Town. It's nothing major. No one will recognise you."

Calem looked to be struggling to find the right words to say. "…..I'd like to….but if the paparazzi found me…..it'd be bad for all of you….."

Serena smiled as she pulled out a red hat and a pair of sunglasses. "That's what these are for. No one will recognise you. I promise."

Calem locked eyes with her. Serena's thousand watt smile and the sincerity in her eyes were too much. "F-Fine….. I'll be down in five minutes…."

Calem quickly opened the window, grabbed the hat and sunglasses before disappearing behind his curtain again. Serena smiled as she made her way back to her friends. As much of a recluse as he could be, she knew that he wouldn't lie, not to her. He would be down in a few. She would just have to hope that no one would recognise him.

"W-Wow!" Tierno said, his jaw slack, "I can't believe you got him to come outside…. If only Larvy was here to see it….."

"Oi!" Serena barked, suddenly aggressive again. "Don't mention that. Or anything related to that. We don't need him disappearing again."

"S-Sorry, Siri! I promise I won't."

A few moments later, the door to Calem's house opened as he walked out. He was wearing a similar jacket to what he wore before, with black jeans and boots. The look was capped off by the hat and sunglasses Serena had given him. Even with his eyes concealed, Trevor could feel his eyes dart around the place, looking for people hiding in the shadows. Satisfied, he slowly walked towards them.

"Hey, guys." He weakly muttered.

Immediately, the group jumped on top of him, embracing him in a group hug. "Cal! You're finally out!"

Calem looked like he regretted his decision to leave his room. Eventually, when everyone let go of him, Serena wrapped her arms around his right arm. "What?" She said as he looked on at her confused, "I'm not giving you the chance to run off without us again."

Trevor watched Calem carefully as Serena led him in front of the group. The energy and enthusiasm he once had were gone. As much as they might all try ignoring it, Calem now was a shell of what he once was. He wasn't the same trainer that they had grown up idolising. He was much more reserved and low energy now. Luckily, Serena had become more bubbly since Calem retreated.

Calem awkwardly listened to Serena tell him all about Shauna, Tierno and Trevor's plans as he nodded along lazily. "What about you? Have you decided what to do? You've stopped training for being a Rhyhorn racer, right?"

Serena fell silent at that. "Yeah," she weakly muttered, "I've some plans…. But that's not important right now! How stylish do you look with those sunglasses and hat?"

Calem decided against picking up on the obvious change of subject. If Serena didn't want to tell him something, he wouldn't pry. That would be her business. The group made the short walk down Route 2 as they made their way to the local café in Aquacorde. Shauna and Tierno ordered their drinks for them, as the other three made their way to their usual spot. Trevor felt uncomfortable being face to face with Calem for so long. It had been a while since they had spoken with a door or window between them.

"Hey, Trevs…." Trevor looked up to see Calem sat across the table from him, looking uncomfortable. "I've never really said this before, so….uh…. Thanks for always bringing me some books to read. They were really interesting. I appreciated that….."

"You mean, you actually read them?" Trevor had always thought that Calem merely took them to be polite.

"Yeah, they were cool. I liked reading about type effectiveness and the Mythology of Kalos. They were a lot of fun."

Tierno and Shauna returned carrying the drinks as the conversation died off. The group made some small talks for a few moments before Tierno asked, "Trevor, don't you think it's time you tell Calem the exciting news?"

Calem turned his attention away from his coffee to the ginger-haired boy. "What news?"

"Uuuuhh….well, you see," Trevor stumbled about his words, searching for the right way to phrase this, "in recent months I've been working as a Junior Assistant to Professor Sycamore, the Kalos Regions Pokémon Professor. And he was interested in our group of friends and wanted to know if we could help with his research….."

"You I can get being helpful, you've always been interested in Pokémon research," Calem calmly stated, "but how can anyone else help? Tierno wants to form a Pokémon dance group, Shauna a Furfrou groomer and Serena hasn't decided yet." Serena flinched a little as Calem said this. Again he chose to ignore this.

"Well," Trevor said knowing the critical moment had arrived, "you guys can help with these." Trevor pulled out three cases with a Pokéball and Pokédex in each one. "He gave us Pokémon to raise to help in his studies."

"Me and Trevs were talking about it," Tierno said, "And we both have Pokémon already, my Crawdaunt and Trev's Ralts. Plus Shauna has Furfrou and Skitty. There's no point in us three being greedy so we want you and Serena to take these little guys."

"….No, I can't…" Calem said, lowering his head, "It'd better for them if they didn't have anything to do with me…it'd only cause them unnecessary bother…."

"Cal," Serena said softly, "don't you think it might be fun to go on an adventure with these guys?"

Calem sat silently for a moment. He had always loved being a trainer. Facing strong opponents, who he didn't know if he could beat and coming up with strategies to win made his heart race like nothing else. But all the pressure and attention that it put on those close to him and the expectations they then placed on him….. He couldn't subject any Pokémon to that again,

"I'm sorry, guys…..I can't….." Calem started to stand up when one of the Pokéballs started to move. Suddenly a small blue frog appeared out of the ball. The cute little frog looked up at Calem and locked eyes with the former Junior Champion. The boy felt his heart start to increase in pace as a rush of adrenaline ran through him at the thought of all the battles he could have with the Pokémon popped into his head.

"Seems like Froakie has taken a liking to you," Serena said smiling at the frog, "why don't you take him along with you."

Calem shook his head. "No, I can't. It's for the best. I know it."

Froakie's eyes were bright and hopeful. Just like Larvy's. Calem wasn't able to protect him. His father had to take responsibility for him. He couldn't be trusted with another Pokémon. Despite the immediate bond he felt with the Frog starter, he couldn't do it. He had to grow up and accept that he could never be a trainer again, not when it would just see his Pokémon get hurt.

With this, he ran off, back down Route 2. Serena jumped up and prepared to chase after him, but Tierno grabbed her hand. He slowly shook his head. "Cal made a lot of progress today. He came outside. If we push him too much, he'll just revert back to normal."

"But we can't let him just run off on his own like this. What if he gets into trouble?" Serena asked her eyes wide with concern for her friend.

"Don't worry, Siri," Shauna said, rather relaxed. "Looks like Froakie really likes him."

Serena turned to see the small frog hopping down Route 1 after Calem. Serena couldn't help, but smile. That Froakie wasn't going to let Calem run off without a fight. "Guess I should pick mine then, right?" She carefully selected one of the two remaining Pokéballs.

A small, orange/yellow fox appeared in front of her. "Hey, Fennekin. Do you want to be my partner?" The fox happily jumped onto her lap and started licking her face.

Serena couldn't help steal a glance down Vanville Pathway. She knew Calem would eventually see sense thanks to Froakie. If there was one thing he hated more than the media and attention, it was seeing a Pokémon hurting.

Calem rushed passed a blonde girl on roller-skates as he made his way back home. He didn't notice the red suit wearing man hiding behind the trees, who was staring at the egg on the girl's bag. He needed that egg to complete his mission. In the name of Team Flare, he would not fail.

{A/N}

Hey. Thanks for reading. I haven't written anything in a few months, so I might be a bit rusty. This was just something that I wanted to do since I read the XY Manga. This is kind of a mix of the manga and the games. I really like the Gen 6 games, but there were some elements I wished were better explored. This is my first Pokémon story, so I'd appreciate any feedback. Feel free to tell me what ye guys would like to see, either in a review or a message. Hopefully, you'll enjoy the story. Thanks for reading again. Best wishes.