Chapter 1

"Diane and I earned our Fog badges yesterday."

The girl on the screen smiled brightly at Lela as her newly evolved Feraligatr growled with pride behind her. She leaned back, her shoulder length brown hair scrunching up against her partner's scales as she stared at her longtime childhood friend. The blond watched with sad blue eyes at the girl on the screen of her laptop. "You should see Diane and Meganium. They've been strutting around endlessly ever since their match."

"Well they deserve it for how well they've been doing. You deserve it too from what I hear. Last time I talked to her she said you've never lost any of your battles."

"I'm just well synced with my team. I'm not even the one taking on Team Rocket. Diane ran into them before and ended the plans they had going on a little early."

"Still, you're doing great Kathleen. I wish I could be there with you guys."

"I do too. I would feel much better if you were the one with the fire starter instead of that red haired punk that stole him from the professor's lab."

"D seems pretty fond of him. What was his name, Silver?"

"Yeah, I met him on the way back from getting that egg from the professor's friend. He straight up told me that if a Pokemon can't win a battle then they're useless. But for whatever reason D finds him attractive."

"She's always been strange."

At that moment a Fletchling, Lela had no idea how it kept getting into the house since the windows were always shut tight and he refuses to tell her, decided to nestle itself on top of her head, keeping itself warm in the thick mane of hair that was free from its loose ponytail at the moment. At the sight of the small, red and blue bird sitting on her friends head, Kathleen gave Lela a stunned look as she was trying to process what she was seeing in front of her.

"Your mom is letting you keep a Pokemon?"

"No. He's not mine. He just likes hanging around the house, says he likes my room, and he keeps getting in somehow." She reached her hand up and started stroking the little bird's head with one finger. "I'm still not allowed to become a trainer, I'm still not allowed to cut my hair, I'm still not allowed to wear anything but a dress."

"I think it's dumb that your mother won't let you be a trainer. I'm not saying I would be on your team, I don't want to be a battling Pokemon, but you seem like you would be kind to any pokemon that followed you."

"Yeah. Most people start their journeys when they're like, ten. I waited until I was fourteen because that's when Diane's parents said she could start, but a parent shouldn't keep their child from going completely." Feraligatr growled his affirmative as his trainer spoke, giving the blond a look as she smiled at the both of them. You know, I could send you a Pokemon from here. I know it won't be the same as getting one of the starters, but it'll be better than nothing."

"I don't want you to get in trouble if my mom finds out that you sent it to me."

Kat gave her a sad smile at her response, since she knew Lelas nature it didn't surprise her when she put her before her own interests. "Well, she doesn't need her mother's permission tomorrow."

A black haired girl, their friend Diane, approached the video chatting girls with her Meganium faithfully by her side as Kat turned around to look at her and Lela tilted her head curiously, jostling Fletchling who grumbled in discontent.

"Sup, D?"

"When I heard that you were moving to Kalos I started doing some research. You know how each region has its own laws for how they handle things?"

"Yeah. So?

"Well, after I found what I was looking for I asked my parents to make some calls and you're going to be in for a big surprise soon."

"By the way, , I want to wish you a very happy fifteenth birthday since we won't be able to speak with you tomorrow." Meganiums lovely voice rang out over the speaker in close succession with her trainers, excitement clear in her voice.

She was closely followed by Feraligatrs gravely growl. "Kathleen would be upset with me if I didn't do the same, so happy birthday.."

The difference between the grass and water types that followed her friends around showed dramatically once again. The grass type with Diane was considerate to everyone she knew, always happy to interact with anyone she met. The alligator on the other hand was only happy if the person in front of him was kind to his trainer. The water type had told her on several occasions before that he didn't have any problem with her since Kathleen was so attached to her, he just didn't care about anyone besides his trainer.

Diane was smiling brightly at her as the brunette gave her a curious look, obviously out of the loop on whatever the black haired girl was going on about as she reached up to stroke the petals around her starters neck.

"Lela! It's time for bed, you need your beauty sleep!"

"Your mom seriously still enforces curfew? She needs to grow up and realize that just because her parents didn't give her any choices doesn't mean she has to do the same thing with you." Her friends looked downright annoyed as she gave them an apologetic look. She slowly started to log off, saying goodbye to her friends, as Fletchling hid under her bed as the sound of her mother coming upstairs met her ears.

'I wonder what this surprise Diane seemed so proud of is.'

Her mother made sure that she was in her pajamas and in bed before she left the room. Lela was vaguely aware of Fletchling nestling into her hair as she fell asleep, with a strangely good feeling about what tomorrow would bring.

The blond woke up to the sound of a pecking sound on her window. The sound was persistently tapping her window. She knew it wasn't Fletchling since that little guy had his ways of getting in and out of the house without anyone knowing, so that left her guessing until she lifted herself up, still groggy with sleep, and she turned to see what was going on.

She was instantly awake when she saw the Staraptor next to the window, tapping it with its beak, a letter secured to its leg.

Sitting up quickly, she opened the window wide so the flying Pokemon could rest on the sill. He didn't speak to her at all while he stood there, he just stood there as she quickly untied the letter from his leg and gave his black feathers a ruffle. Then he wordlessly took flight, soaring away from the girl he had just woken up.

Looking down at the letter in her hands so broke the seal on the envelope, pulling out the single page that was folded neatly inside of it. Her brows furrowed in her confusion as she read it, but she followed the instructions on the paper regardless.

'Get dressed. Pack some extra clothes and grab some money from your mother's purse. Then come meet us at the path to Aquacorde town. All will be explained.'

She dressed herself in her red and black dress with her black knee high socks and black boots, the extra clothes she packed were basically the same things in different colors, attached her holo caster to the bag, and raided her mother's purse for three hundred Poke. With that set she let Fletchling out the front door, he muttered a thanks to her as he passed and took off, before silently closing the door behind her. Her mother's Rhyhorn, the only Pokemon she was officially allowed contact with, was on its blanket on the side of the lawn. It gave her a sideways glance, obviously aware that she was going to do something her mother didn't know about, but he didn't make a sound to alert his rider. He had always been chill with Lela, much more understanding with her than her mother ever tried to be.

Peeking her head past the front gate she looked to her left just in time to see her mother walk through the entrance to one of their neighbors lawns. They were laughing, even though the neighbors laugh seems a little fake. A young girl with gravity defying, brown pigtails in a pink shirt with black bows, jean shorts with black frills, and pink shoes with tiny heels waved bye to her mother as she backed away with an impish grin.

The girl turned around when the sound of a door closing rang out, giving Lela a clear view of her tanned face and bright green eyes. Lela was immediately caught in the girl's gaze and her eyes became even brighter as she ran up to the blond, throwing her arms around her and filling her vision with brown hair.

"Hi! Happy birthday!"

...How did this girl know it was her birthday.

"I'm Shauna! Great to meet you!"

Her head was almost spinning already "I'm Lela."

"I know! You're the girl the others and I are helping!" Grabbing Lelas hand, Shauna started pulling her away from her house at an unnecessarily quick pace. "C'mon! We're meeting Calem near route 1. Then we'll meet Trevor and Tierno in Aquacorde town. You'll never guess what's going to happen!"

"Ok, what's going to happen?"

"It's a surprise!"

The two girls were practically running/being dragged by the time they reached the gate to the path. Shauna didn't even stop when they passed the boy leaning against the stone wall nearby, even though he was probably the Calem Shauna had mentioned. The boy, he wore a blue and white turtle neck jacket, blue jeans, black boots, he had black hair and grey eyes, just stood there with wide eyes, turning his head as they went by him. After a moment Lela heard him call, "Wait up! Shauna!"

Shauna wasn't phased at all by that, Lela doubted that she even heard it, and she just plowed right along as her hostage struggled to keep up. "It's right up here, Lil'L! As soon as we go through the gate we turn to the left and we're at the meeting spot!"

... Lil'L?

The brunette girl continued to pull the blonde until she pushed her down into a chair at a table built for six people. On the other side of the table sat two boys. The shorter boy had a strange haircut with a bright orange color. He wore a green and white t shirt and black pants and he looked a bit shy as he gazed up at the girl in front of him. The other boy was a bit hefty. His attire consisted of a strange black hat, a black t-shirt with a pokemon on the front- and a pair of orange knee length shorts. His expression was more confident than his friends, and he seemed more outgoing.

Lela realized there was a cake in the middle of the small group just as Calem caught up to them, out of breath.

"Shauna… please stop… doing that."

"I was just so excited to bring Lil'L to her to her birthday celebration! She's fifteen now!"

"Shauna's right Calem! She's getting her first Pokemon today too!"

...Come again.

"What?"

The bigger boy turned to her when she spoke for the first time and gave her a ginormous smile. "All right! Nice to meetcha! I see Shauna has already decided on your nickname."

"Yeah, she started calling me that on the way over here."

"Enough talk! Time for the birthday song!" Shauna was standing at the head of the table, very impatient to start celebrating her new found friends birthday. She had her cheeks puffed up, a very annoyed expression on her face, and she was bouncing up and down in her spot. "Lil'L needs to blow out her candles and then we can give her one of the Pokemon!"

… Once again, come again.

"Give me a Pokemon?"

"Yup. The Pokemon professor here in Kalos, Professor Sycamore, has decided to give each of us a Pokemon. He wants us to help him with his research."

It took Lela a moment to process what the teens around her were saying before she drooped a bit. "Guys, I can't get a Pokemon. My mother won't let me."

"You don't need her permission here in Kalos."

That was the first time the little orange haired boy, Trevor, had spoken since Lela had arrived with the energetic girl. He was gazing up at her with a shy smile. Everyone around her smiled as the girl looked at the young intellect with a confused face.

"The laws here in Kalos are slightly different from the laws in Johto. You only need to be fifteen to become a trainer without your parents consent."

"And you turn fifteen today." Turning to Calem, who took a seat to her right. "When Professor Sycamore heard about you from your friends parents, and the professor in Johto, he decided that you would be the final member of the group."

"...For real?"

"From what the Professor heard about you he thinks you would be a wonderful trainer. Shauna's and my parents are distracting your mom for the day. Once we're clear and on our journey they'll tell her where you went. But she won't be able to stop you."

Lela sat there, stunned for a moment. "...This was the surprise Diane was talking about last night."

"Yup. She found out the differences in the laws and had all this set up."

This is the point that things turned into a blur for Lela. The kids around her pulled her into a small celebration for her own birthday before Trevor presented her with a Pokedex and a trainer ID the Professor had made for her.

"Since Lil'L is the birthday girl, she should get first pick of the Pokemon Tierno brought!" Shauna smiled brightly at the blond sitting in front of her as Tierno pressed a button on the cylindrical case he was carrying. The glass lid opened up, revealing three Pokeballs, each had a sticker for the type of Pokemon it had inside of it.

Receiving a nod from Calem, Lela faced the case in front of her, thinking about which one she should choose.

It didn't take her long to decide. Reaching out and taking the sphere, she pressed the button and released the Pokemon inside.

"FEN!"

Well… Not sure how this will be received. Please review so I can see if this story is worth continuing. -WaterLilith