"We'll wait for you in the next town over! And you know what?! We're going to get… a Pokémon!"
Shauna and Selena ran off after the girl's bizarre statement. They'd appointed themselves his official guides to Vaniville, the tiny community his family had just moved to. Calem couldn't help but miss the endless city's expansion, even faced with this… natural… beauty. Yes, there were trees and shrubbery and probably all kinds of critters living in the nearby forestry, but it felt like a step down somehow.
Patting his mother's old Rhyhorn in passing, he headed out the town's exit doors. A shock of green and brown filled his vision, alders and pine and other plants he never learnt the names of teemed up to the sides of the trimmed trail. It was a short walk to the next town, but Calem hadn't seen the scenic route when they came in the moving truck.
Aquacorde Town lay ahead. Shauna and Selena must've meant to meet him there. Calem had heard that it was a historic place, with monuments and statues and that sort of thing all over. He didn't care about the 'vast' history of the war with its heroes and villains and subplots and…
In person it was a different story. Just on approach, the fantastic brickwork, a rainbow of red and brown and limestone, was a colourful construction that fascinated Calem. The building and makeup of society always caught his fascination. His old friends would snicker when he commented on these things, so he usually appreciated them silently.
Two prominent buildings towered over the rest of the town from the entrance. They must've been built together, since they matched each other so much. One was for municipal functions and the other fronted a café.
In Kalos, the café was a ubiquitous mainstay. It could hardly be a town if a settlement didn't have a few. One to be civilized, two for competition, three for variety… there were streets in Lumiose of nothing but cafés. Calem didn't pay much attention to his parent's hushed discussions, but he knew a part of the reason why they'd moved so far from home had been to get away from 'commercialization'. Wasn't that just TV ads?
"Hey Calem! This way! Over here!"
He nearly jumped hearing the shouts. Craning his neck he could see a group of people, including the conspicuous girls he'd met before, sitting at a table further down the side streets of the town's second level. With nervousness fluttering in his stomach he walked over to the group.
"We were just talking about you! C'mon, have a seat." Shauna leaned forward over the glass table they'd sat around, sipping on ice water.
Feeling somewhat out-of-place Calem sit down in the open chair beside Selena. A slight breeze blew through the courtyard and Calem caught the faintest scent of peaches from the trainer's long blond hair. Up close he could see how blue her eyes were. Selena spoke up. "People don't usually move to this part of Kalos you know. We were all just about to leave on an adventure, things are so boring around here." A moment of realization crossed her face then. "Oh, let me introduce you. Everyone, this is Calem," she said.
Across the table the large boy with a foreign haircut spoke first. "Wow Shauna, I guess you were right. He dresses just like a pretty-boy!" He laughed and bumped the shoulder of the smaller boy beside him. A giggle found its way around the table. Even Calem smiled, though he felt self-conscious. "I'm Tierno, nice to meet you. Trev and I are here on the prof's orders," he said. When they shook hands Calem felt smooth calluses along the boy's large palms.
"I'm Trevor, I want to study Pokémon!" The boy with the shaggy red hair had fire in his eyes, but a limp handshake with cold fingers.
The others laughed again. "Trevor, you're so old-fashioned!" Shauna said.
Selena directed the conversation again. "Hey, does anyone want to order something to eat while we're here?"
Nobody else said anything, so Calem refrained as well. He hadn't forgotten; they were getting Pokémon.
"So I guess you all want to see these…" Tierno bent over to his side and retrieved a mysterious white bag. "Here they are!" With baited breath they watched him slowly bring out from the bag… two wrapped cheeseburgers. "Delicious!"
"Tierno!" Shauna squealed.
"Oh, I guess you wanted these too," he said, feigning indifference. Holding the burgers in one hand he swung a plastic bag up to the middle of the table. The hollow thud of the Poké balls on the table stole all the attention.
Calem wasn't sure how to feel about the atmosphere of it. Sure, he was getting his first Pokémon - he'd always wanted one, who hadn't? - but with new people around, in a place he'd never been in…
Maybe it wasn't so bad. Tierno was nice, and Trevor was smart and friendly. Shauna and Serena must've been good friends but they were willing to accept Calem, so he should try too.
"Can I pick first?" Calem's voice was scratchy at first from disuse.
"Of course!" And with flourish Selena released all three Pokémon from their balls to the ground. Once the light cleared, they all saw the three choices they had.
A blue frog crouched in place, slowly spitting a smokescreen of bubbles to cover it. Beside it stood a chipper-looking hedgehog with some kind of grass shoot coming from its head. The last was a delicate fox that curled its tail completely around itself.
Calem found it tough to decide. The hedgehog wasn't much appealing but the fox was adorable and the frog's bubbles were cute. He tried to leave survival tactics behind him; picking Pokémon just for their attributes was too cold.
"Hurryyy up! I want one too!" Shauna whined from beside Calem.
Setting his mind, Calem grabbed one of the Poké balls from Selena and returned his choice. "I'll take Fennekin," he said.
While Shauna and Selena were picking between the others, Trevor waved for Calem's attention. "You'll probably find this useful too," he said. "It's a Pokédex. I got one too. We'll probably be comparing, so you've got your work cut out for you."
"We're heading back to the lab now," Tierno said around a mouthful of burger. "See you when you catch up!"
The short redhead and the tall boy walked down to head across the famed bridge. Shauna, Selena and Calem didn't notice though; they were too busy looking at their Pokémon.
Fennekin loved the attention. Running his fingers through its mane gave it shivers, and it mewled adorably when he stopped. "Calem!" Shauna yelled suddenly. "You're going to be my first Pokémon battle opponent! Let's do this~!"
Apprehensive, Calem backed up on the brick road to make some space. "We can do this, right?"
"Sure, why not!"
The young woman's attitude was infectious enough. Taking a stance, Calem threw out his arm in a motion to his new Pokémon. "Fennekin, let's get ready to fight!"
Of course, the Pokémon wasn't aware of the gravity of the situation at hand. Fennekin yawned adorably and just swished its tail, staring at Calem.
"My turn!" Shauna shouted. "Froakie, tackle!"
For some reason her Pokemon was much more adept at listening. The web-footed frog charged forward, trailing bubbles, and crashed shoulder-first into the inattentive fox. Without instruction, it turned around, hissed, and began fighting with earnest.
The ensuing brawl was something Calem had never seen before. Usually trainer battles were brutal displays of discipline and practise. This was more like a slap fight; Fennekin's swiping claws were punishing the frog's lack of defense with rapid back-and-forth, but the bubbles the Froakie spewed must have been unpleasant for the fire-type to face. Soon enough, the frog fell back under the onslaught.
Meanwhile Calem was fairly certain he couldn't control the fox even if he wanted to, so he refrained from trying to give it advice. So this is what being a trainer is like, he thought.
"Froakie! You can do it! Use bubbles!" Immediately the scratched-up frog started spitting grossly, and a frothing stream of bubbles shot weakly through the air.
Even Calem, a first-time trainer, knew about general element principles in battles. But it was a trainer's discretion in applying those principles that made the difference. "Ember!" Desperately he hoped he wouldn't be ignored.
His fox's ears perked up. A long moment passed where nasty bubbles floated to his Pokémon, and it stood still with tail pointing straight up. Calem couldn't see exactly how - he was directly behind his Pokémon - but when he heard the fox's cry, he knew Fennekin had shot a mouthful of fire straight at the frog. It burned through the bubbles like tissue and smacked it right between its big yellow eyes, knocking Froakie completely over. "Froakie!" And the battle was over.
"You're so strong!" Shauna said after she'd returned her unconscious Pokémon.
"Well it was mostly Fennekin…" Calem said, looking down. The fox had a few scratches, but nothing a few minutes at a Pokémon Center wouldn't fix.
Another voice spoke up. "That was pretty good!" Calem's eyes widened and he spun around. A few feet away was a sharply-dressed young man wearing an all-red suit. His midriff was bared over a glinting belt buckle with some kind of plume design on it. Even his hair and glasses were red.
"Fight me next please!" And suddenly the man released a Pokémon - a Houndour.
Houndours were the kind of animal you'd find roaming city limits at night. They didn't travel in packs like their grown evolutions; they were so small and wild that they couldn't even live in groups well. Any trainer who could raise one must have strict discipline to even be able to teach them anything.
Fennekin was almost fresh, and that was both good and bad. She could fight an average untrained Pokémon, Froakie wasn't a problem, but she had almost no experience in battles. "Ah, well…"
"Houndour, tackle!"
Before Calem could think of a response the dog was ramming into his fox. Unlike when Froakie did the same thing before, this tackle packed serious punch. A pitiful mewl came from the fluffy Fennekin as it slid across the bricks. As if she were far away, Calem could hear Shauna gasp.
The dog wasn't even fazed by such a dangerous attack. It walked over to the fallen fox, and a scary growling sound came from its throat. "Now bite its tail!"
Saliva-coated teeth closed around Calem's Pokémon. It shrieked immediately and flailed its legs uselessly. The Houndour picked it up unbidden.
In his mind's eye Calem saw what would happen next; the dog would shake as hard as it could, ripping in the way that all wild animals without hands did. He wouldn't let that happen. He raised his Pokémon's ball and returned Fennekin with the red laser. He was just in time to save it from trauma, and the dark mutt shot him an evil glance before padding back to its owner.
"Good boy!" The red man said before returning him and facing Calem again. "You're not too bad for a kid. When you get better you should look into joining us. We're an elite group of people. All the best trainers are members of Team Flare, and we're only getting bigger. It's our goal to make the world a better place."
Calem had a dark frown. "You didn't have to beat me so badly…"
The man laughed in his face. "That's what Pokémon battling is all about! Listen, you'll understand when you train more. I won't take any money from you, you're obviously just a kid, but that's a big part of why people compete. Money's power, so being strong pays well."
"Pokémon aren't just tools! They're supposed to be our friends too!" Shauna interrupted.
The man smiled at them. It wasn't condescending, but it was hard to be sure of his emotions with his eyes being hidden behind goggles. "Whatever floats your boat missy." And, to Calem: "Don't forget, Team Flare. We're around." After his parting remark he stuck his hands into his tailored pockets and turned to walk away, towards downtown.
Calem was looking down at his shoes, simmering. Shauna spoke first. "We don't need his advice Calem. Let's go see what Selena's doing!"
Together Calem and Shauna walked back to the city outskirts. Selena was practising with her Pokémon, some kind of target practise for her Chespin to get more accurate with. "I've got to work hard if I want to be the champion one day!" she boasted. The strength of it was lost by her only Pokémon failing half the time to even hit the target tree with its quills, but her ambition was uplifting.
"I don't know what I'm going to do yet with my Pokémon. Do you have any plans Calem?" asked Shauna as the trio stood in the forest.
Calem looked down at his Poké ball, thinking. "I want to be the best trainer," he finally murmured.
Selena met his eyes and smiled fiercely. "Then I guess we'll be fighting for it. Good luck!"
Suddenly Shauna snapped her hands together. "Calem! Have you told your mom you're going on an adventure with us?! She'll be worried if you don't."
"Oh, right. I should go do that. Why don't we all meet here tomorrow? I have to pack still, too," Calem said.
Selena nodded. "Bright and early! I'll be training again tomorrow morning, so I'll know if you sleep in!"
Calem said his farewells and headed back to Vaniville. As expected, his mother and father were nothing but encouraging when he said he'd be going. They were always so forthright about their acceptance of his wishes. Sometimes he wished they weren't.
Later that night, when he was brushing Fennekin's fur after her meal, a certain thought kept swirling in his mind. Trainers dressed all in red with menacing Pokémon, who wanted nothing more than to crush everyone who didn't agree with them. "The world shouldn't be cruel like that," he told his half-asleep fox.