Author's Note:
If you are a new reader, then thank you so much for taking a look at my story! You might want to read the fanfic that came before this though, called Lola: An Underdog Story, since this will reference some events that happened there, not to mention spoil the ending of that fic. If you don't care about spoilers or have already read Lola, then enjoy! And don't worry, I didn't always start my chapters with a note, and I won't start now.
"Attention Passengers, we will be arriving at our destination shortly. Please gather your things and be ready to disembark."
"You hear that Aldith? We're almost there! You excited to be going home?" Vixen asked, turning away from the loudspeaker and beaming at me. I smiled at her and gave her a curt nod, trying to look cheerful when inside, it felt like I had a swarm of Butterfree in my stomach.
It's been over 4 years since I ran away from home, almost 5. I haven't seen or heard from my mother, or anyone in Kalos for that matter, since I boarded the boat to Castelia City. Little did I know that when I left, I'd get caught up in a terrorist organization that threatened the entire Unova region, and challenged everything I thought I knew about pokemon.
After Vixen put down Ghetsis and destroyed Team Plasma once and for all, I felt empty. What was I going to do now? Despite Vixen's pleas to get me to challenge the league, I wasn't entirely sure of myself.
"Come on Aldith, what's stopping you from taking Romeo around Unova and doing gym battles?" Vixen asked as she laid on Lola, looking at me from over the Hydreigon's head.
"Do you really want me to answer that? I can think of three good reasons right now why taking on the Unova League is a bad idea for me." I replied, petting Romeo and letting my gaze drift to the TV in her room. I heard her sigh, and felt the bed dip behind me.
"I'm just trying to help, you know. You can try to deny it all you want, but we all can tell you are confused and lost and miserable. If you don't want to do it here, then why not go to another region? I'm telling you, a journey to collect badges will help you a lot." She told me. I smiled and shifted on the bed, laying down and looking up at her beside me.
"I'm not disagreeing, I do have one place in mind but…." I started, letting my sentence hang in the air.
"But?" Vixen asked, prodding me to finish. I frowned and turned my gaze to the chandelier on the purple ceiling, counting the crystals that hung down from it.
"Well, it's just that, I…..I'm sorry Vixen but I would have to do something before I tried to take on the Kalos league." I responded. Vixen rested her hand on my belly while Romeo curled up beside me, purring softly.
"Worried about what your mom would think?" She asked. I nodded at the ceiling, a lump in my throat preventing me from saying anything else.
"Yeah, I know that feeling. I felt that when I went to challenge Grimsley. Aldith?" She said as the sound of the TV stopped.
"Yes?" I replied, looking at her warm smile.
"What if I went with you? You were a great source of support for me when we went through Victory Road and through each of the Elite Four, I'd consider it a favor if you let me do the same for you." She offered, making me blink at her. I sat up and folded my legs, resting my hands in my lap as I looked at her in surprise.
"But, what about your training? Even if we borrowed Reshiram and Zekrom, you'd be gone for at least a week, if not more." I said, making her snort.
"My dad is still in his prime, and so are the rest of the Unova Elite Four. They're not going to retire in the week or so I'll be gone, and I can pick up my training on the way. This is more important. Come on, let me come with you." She replied to me. I sighed in defeat and reached out to pull her into my lap, hugging her tightly.
"Alright, you win Vixy. We'll both go to Kalos." I relented, making her chuckle.
"Good. Lola's already looking forward to it."
After that conversation, we began making preparations for the trip to Kalos. We opted to sail, rather than fly over, since a cruise would help relax me more than flying on a dragon would. Colress offered to sail us over himself with the Frigate, until we pointed out the sail and how Team Plasma's emblem would freak everyone out.
A week later, Vixen and I boarded a cruise ship, the Sea Florges, and waved at everyone as we left Castelia Port. It was just me and Vixen again, just like when she first asked me to go to the pokemon league with her. Grimsley and Shauntal wanted to come with us, but it would take us a week just to get to Coumarine City, and then there was the matter of getting back to Aquacorde town from there. Even Iris couldn't suspend the challenge that long.
But that was just fine, Vixen and I were happy enough on our own. She and I relaxed the whole trip while our pokemon wandered the ship, though her Typhlosion, Sorrel, mostly preferred the comforts of his pokeball. Vixen told me that even as a Quilava he hated the open ocean, and boats made him nervous.
When Coumarine City pulled into view, I gulped audibly and gripped my backpack strap tightly. It was almost like I was retracing my steps. The last time I had been here, I had come in a rage. I was so angry at my mother for all the fighting and all the training she forced on me, I couldn't wait to leave. I winced and gritted my teeth as the memories of my arguments with her came flooding back after all these years.
Suddenly, I felt a pressure on my other hand, and turned to see Vixen had grabbed it and squeezed tightly, giving me a sad, though reassuring smile while her Key Stone shined in the sunlight. The boat docked, and I smiled back at her and adjusted my backpack, keeping a solid grip on her hand as I led her off the ship.
"It'll be okay Aldith, I'll be right here with you." She said as we walked through the crowd.
Upon making it out of the port, Vixen looked around her in wonder, amazed by the sights and sounds around us. I couldn't help but chuckle at her childlike spirit, though it was nice to know she retained some of her innocence despite the harshness of what she went through last year.
"What's that Aldith?" She asked, pointing at a dark blue cat pokemon that had some white on it.
"That's a male Meowstic." I replied.
"And that one?" She asked, pointing at a gray and white, orange-headed bird in a tree.
"A Fletchling." I answered again, a smile making its way onto my face.
"What about that one?" She asked, pointing at a small pokemon that held a flower. I furrowed my brow at it and tilted my head.
"That's a Floette, but it's an odd looking one. I've never seen a blue bodied one before, and the flower it's carrying is different too." I said. The Floette turned to me and smiled, nodding before it floated away.
"Maybe it was a shiny one?" Vixen suggested as we started walking again.
"No, I don't think so, I've heard that shiny Floette have purple bodies, and besides, they normally only perch on a very specific kind of flower." I replied, turning my head to look at the tree where the Floette once was.
"Well, it was still kind of pretty, I can't help but think it looked a little sad though." Vixen said.
"Yeah…." I agreed. When we got to the monorail station, I stopped us so that we could plan our next move.
"So, do we ride the monorail back to your hometown or should we fly?" Vixen asked.
"Aquacorde is quite a ways away from Coumarine, I doubt even Sarah could fly that far in one go. I think our best bet to to just fly to Lumiose City and catch a train there. Let me think on it." I said, closing my eyes to try and remember which direction Lumiose was.
'East.'
I opened my eyes and looked around briefly, but I couldn't see anything. Vixen made a curious sound, but I decided against telling her about the strange sensation I felt. She was excited for this trip, and I didn't want to ruin it by telling her I may or may not have heard a voice.
"I'm trying to get our bearings, we need to go East to get to Lumiose." I told her instead.
"Oh in that case, let me look it up. I've got a compass app on my X-Transceiver." Vixen said, holding up her wrist with the device on it. She tapped a few times on the touchscreen, studying it closely before nodding and putting her arm down.
"Alrighty, then shall we get going?" She asked, tossing up a pokeball. Her Salamence, Sarah, appeared in front of us with an excited screech, her Salamencite glinting on the collar I had made for her.
"She can carry both of us? Are you sure?" I asked her in return. She laughed at me as she leapt on Sarah, her legs dangling over the sides of her neck.
"She flies around comfortably with Sorrel on her back, and he's arguably heavier than both of us. Get on and let's go." She barked. I chuckled and obliged, climbing up behind her and wrapping my arms around her chest.
"Ready to go. Are you going to Mega Evolve her?" I asked. Vixen leaned down to rub Sarah's neck as the dragon turned.
"Sarah, go this way, we're looking for a big city." She commanded.
"It'll be bigger than Castelia and it has a large white tower in the middle of it." I added. Sarah nodded and leapt into the air, her wings pumping hard to pick up speed. Vixen leaned back and gestured for me to lean down, and her mouth moved to my ear.
"No, it wouldn't be a good idea to ride her while she's Mega Evolved. She's too fast to be ridden safely, if we didn't get pulled off of her, our necks or some other bones would snap from it." She said, speaking over the wind force. I nodded and closed my eyes, holding onto her tightly as Sarah continued to climb.
When I felt we had stopped ascending, I took a chance and carefully opened my eyes, sighing in relief when I found that I could see well enough. I looked around and smiled as the Kalos region presented itself below us. I nudged Vixen's head with my chin and chuckled.
"Vixen, look." I urged. She opened her eyes and joined me in my sight-seeing, her mouth opening in awe.
Below us, fields of flowers and grasses sprawled out across the landscape. Trees dotted the land, sometimes coming together to make a small forest, while rivers ran elegantly through the land, feeding the trees and flowers that we saw. There were some other dots moving around, and I guessed that they were pokemon moving about. We turned our attention to a screech behind us, and we saw a flock of Fletchling and their evolved form Flechinder pull up behind us. Two of the Fletchling flew up to us and chirped questioningly, and when I held an arm out to them, they landed on my outstretched arm and beamed at me. I jerked my arm up and they flew off to rejoin their flock, which descended to the land below, likely returning home.
"This is beautiful, I wish Lola could see this." Vixen said after awhile.
"Why not call her out so she can?" I asked. Vixen shook her head and leaned into me.
"She can't quite keep up with Sarah's speed, if she were to try it would tire her out pretty quickly. She'll get a chance to see it when I make my way back to Coumarine to head home." She said, and I sighed as I hugged her. I didn't really enjoy hearing that after I had made my peace with my mother, Vixen would leave me. I didn't want her to, but I understood that she had to. Unova was her home, and the pokemon league was her family and her destiny. She had no reason to stay in Kalos when she had so much going for her in Unova. With a heavy heart, I leaned forward with Vixen and called out to Sarah.
"Sarah, can you go faster? I wanna get to Lumiose as quickly as possible." I yelled up at her. Sarah rumbled under us, and I held Vixen tighter while she held onto Sarah's neck. The Salamence roared as she beat her wings, and we picked up speed.
Within half an hour, Sarah slowed down enough to let us open our eyes, and Lumiose City was in our sight. Vixen's eyes widened in wonder as Prism Tower came into view. It stood tall and proud, maintaining vigil over the bustling city. As we got closer, I leaned down on Sarah again.
"Look for some train tracks and land in front of the building where they come from." I told her. Sarah's head began to swivel as she carried out my request while Vixen and I aided in her search.
"There's some! Over there, Sarah!" Vixen called out, pointing at something in the distance. We leaned down and closed our eyes again as Sarah dove down in the direction Vixen pointed, and within seconds we hit the ground. I heard heavy breathing and opened my eyes to see it was coming from the poor Salamence. Vixen and I dismounted from her and she collapsed where she stood. We walked over to her head and knelt down, petting her gently.
"Thanks so much for bringing us all this way Sarah, are you going to be alright?" I asked her. The dragon lifted her head and gave me a toothy smile as she continued to pant.
"She'll be alright, but I'm glad we didn't try to fly all the way to Aquacorde. This was about her limit I think." Vixen said, kissing the top of Sarah's head and then recalling her.
"Maybe we should have asked Carina and Ra ra to come with us after all…" I said quietly. I felt a hand on my back, and turned to see Vixen smiling at me.
"No, that wouldn't be a good idea. I DID bring Yuyu with me, but Kalos is not Unova. I doubt people would be as relaxed around a legendary pokemon here as they are back home." She said, and I rolled my eyes as I stood up.
"Vixen, even Unova wouldn't be overly relaxed at the sight of Yuyu. Remember, his legend says he's got a penchant for eating people." I pointed out. Vixen snorted and crossed her arms.
"They're learning though. They saw him when I challenged Iris, and other challengers have caught glimpses of him when they came to take on the league." She told me. I chuckled as I grabbed her hand, pulling us into the train station. The crowds inside the station were so intense, Vixen tightened her grip on my hand so we wouldn't get separated, and she growled low under her throat.
"What's the matter? Claustrophobic?" I asked, and she shook her head.
"No. I can't see. I hate being small." She said bitterly, and I had to resist the urge to laugh.
"Don't worry, I know where to go, just keep holding my hand." I told her. She said nothing as I led her through until we got to the counter. I approached the attendant with a smile, nodding my head at her.
"Hi, when's the next train to Aquacorde Town?" I asked. The attendant smiled as she pulled up the info on her computer.
"It'll leave in about 10 minutes, it'll board in 5." She replied.
"Alright then, may we have two tickets please?" I asked. The woman smiled and nodded as she began to type on her computer.
"Certainly, may I see your trainer cards?" She asked. I shook my head and pushed Vixen's hand down as she went to retrieve hers.
"Sorry, I don't have one, and my friend's is not certified for the Kalos league." I replied The woman nodded as she typed the info into her computer.
"Alright then, in that case, I'm afraid I'll have to take direct cash." She said as our total came up on the screen. I winced at the price, and let go of Vixen's hand to remove my backpack to fish out some money when a wad of bills appeared in my face. I blinked and looked to see Vixen offering me the money with a grin.
"Being the adopted daughter of an aristocrat has its perks, not to mention I have a ton of money in my own bank from my inheritance. Go on, take it." She urged. I smiled and took the money from her, and I heard a disgusted sound in front of me, turning to the attendant who was glaring at us.
"Is there a problem?" I asked. The woman glared furiously as I started to count out the money.
"Oh no, there's no problem. There's absolutely nothing wrong with letting a child pay for you because you're too lazy to work. Platform 5." I rolled my eyes and held the bills out to her, and she snatched them out of my hand and angrily gave me the two tickets. Vixen and I turned away and began to walk, but Vixen pulled me back and stopped, gesturing at the attendant with her eyes.
"You know what I liked about meeting new people, Aldith?" She asked loudly, and I smirked as I understood what she was about to do.
"What's that, Vixen?" I asked, playing along. She started grinning and crossed her arms smugly.
"I love hearing their stories. There is only so much you can gather about a person by looking at them, but to really get to know them, you should talk to them. You never know who they could be. They could be a gym leader or a police officer, or even a champion." She said, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the attendant glaring at us.
"Hey now, you're not the champion. You were really close, but the Unova champion just barely overtook your Hydreigon and your legendary pokemon. But that's okay, at least they're training you to be one of the Unova Elite Four one day." I replied, and I saw the attendant grow pale.
"Ha, at least I'm not a convicted felon. Come on, what's your body count, Aldith?" She retorted, and I had a hard time keeping myself from laughing as the attendant started to shift around uncomfortably.
"Hey now, I was never convicted! After all, I was perfectly justified in killing that guy. He was a judgmental bigot, and that's a big no no nowadays." I told her. At this point the attendant started sweating and looked in every direction except ours. Satisfied by her handiwork, Vixen started for the platforms. I turned around and winked at the attendant before following after Vixen, grabbing her hand.
"I love ruffling feathers." Vixen said. I started to laugh as we looked for our train, keeping a tight hold on her hand.
"I was just going to ignore her, but your idea was more fun." I told her. As we came up to the train, we saw people starting to board it. We tightened our grip on each other and made our way over to the train quickly, stepping on with a few minutes to spare. We took our seats and relaxed as the doors closed, and the train began to move.
While Vixen watched the landscape pass us through the windows, I sat in my seat and stared at the floor, my earlier nervousness returning. It wouldn't be long now until we reached Aquacorde Town, until we reached my mother. I wanted to be as excited as my companion, but the underlying fear of what my mother's reaction would be was overwhelming. Would she be happy to see me? Would she even want to? I cupped my face in my hands and tried to calm myself down, and I felt something lean into me and pull my arms away. Vixen had stopped her sight-seeing and opted to cuddle me instead, and I wrapped my arms gratefully around her as I understood her unspoken message.
No matter what happens, I would not be alone.
TBC
And here it is, the first chapter of LDR. I didn't want to wait any longer XD.
This is going to be kind of touch-and-go for the first few chapters as I get used to the transition from Vixen to Aldith. My Beta said I did well in keeping the two girls separate but there might be times when Aldith will resemble Vixen. On top of that, these opening chapters might seem a little slow because I'm setting up the story, I have a MASSIVE cast and quite a few threads to weave together, so don't be surprised if we end up not getting started on the journey until chapter 3 or 4. Bear with me though, this will be a fun story.
I also plan on trying to release new chapters weekly. I hope to have one new chapter out every Sunday for you guys. Yeah, my regulars are probably laughing their heads off at that, ye of (perfectly justified) little faith XD. We'll see how long it'll take before I completely screw that up.
So, with that in mind, this was a pretty good start. We made it to Kalos and we're on our way to Aldith's hometown (which is not Vaniville I know, I have a good reason for that though, Aquacorde is prettier and nicer). We had a few foreshadowing events, and we've got our first look into Aldith's mind. Not to mention some callbacks! With so much happening in just the first chapter, what is the rest of the story going to be like?
You'll have to find out in Chapter 2.
