Chapter 2: Enter the Trainer

Before this Chapter begins, I'd like to address a review I received long ago but never properly addressed. (I'm still uncertain how to respond to reviews on this site.) Anyway, the reviewer asked the question as to why I made Kyogre/Arceus a female? Naturally all the Legendary do not have a gender, but calling each individual an 'it' on a story that revolves around them is boring so they get genders.

Now as to why Kyogre is a female, well for one it has always looked feminine to me. Second, growing up as a kid playing Pokémon I was pronouncing the name wrong and by the way I was pronouncing its name sounded like a female's name. So it kind of solidified its gender for me and it's difficult for me to see it as a male. For the most part, these reasons would determine the other genders of the Legendary.

That was a solid question and I appreciate the review even though I don't understand the review interface on this site to properly reply. If you guys can help me out or want to send me more reviews to suffer trying to respond to, I'd much appreciate it! Anyways on to the story!

I don't own Pokémon

"I OVER SLEPT!" I shouted as I frantically tried to throw on some clothes for the day. My Pikachu and Vulpix both were shaking off the aftermath of sleep and grumbling about the rude awakening. "Quick! Which shirt looks better?" I asked holding up two shirts. My Pikachu made a sound that was probably close to a Pokémon groan as he flopped backwards onto his back. But Vulpix made a soft noise towards the red t-shirt with black sleeves. "Thanks!" I quickly said and she made another soft noise of a reply. I threw the shirt and some jeans on before rushing to the mirror to take a look at myself. My blue eyes scanned my face for anything unacceptable before I grabbed a comb to lay my brown hair over towards the left side. Satisfied, I grabbed my Pokémon belt and cap and fasten them to their rightful places. I then returned Pikachu and Vulpix to their respectable balls before heading outside.

"Come on out, Flamer." I announced as I threw a Pokéball into the air. It went up about ten feet before releasing a red energy and returned to me. The energy that was released materialized into my Charizard, who gracefully land onto the ground. I climbed onto his back and gave him a few pats,

"Alright buddy, we got to go to Hoenn as quick as you can. We're already late for our reunion with our friends." Flamer nodded before spreading his wings and taking off. I've always enjoyed flying with my Charizard. The air blowing across my face and the sound of the wind always soothed me. But I was too much in a rush to enjoy the flight. And it seemed to take forever to reach our destination. But after a couple hours and some guidance to my Charizard, we finally found the patch of land on an island where the others were waiting.

One of my friends with immediately rushed away from the others and came over where Flamer was landing. "Arceus, Derick! You think now being over seventeen years old, you would be able to make it to things on time." I scratched the back of my head shyly under her glare before daring to reply,

"Sorry Sarah, I forgot to set my alarm clock again…" She gave out a sigh, "Well at least you got here. Now c'mon, the others are waiting." She began to walk away but then stopped and turned to face me again. "Nice shirt by the way." She said with a smile then return to the others. I couldn't help but grin; Amber always knows which shirt fits which occasion. I thought to myself as I turned to Flamer. "You going to be okay with the other Pokémon?" He gave me a nod and walked over to where a group of Pokémon was playing. I then gave out a sigh before heading to the group of my friends. Where they instantly began giving me a hard time about my 'usual' tardiness.

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"Alright guys, see ya later!" I waved good-bye to some of my friends as I began cleaning up after our picnic. They went over and recalled their Pokémon before heading their separate ways. Because I was late again, the group (minus me) decided that I would be responsible for cleaning up afterwards. I of course tried to be a good sport about it, but considering this was the sixth time in a row, I getting a bit peeved about it. Sarah, as if reading my mind, came over with a playful smirk,

"You know, if you wouldn't be late all the time, you probably would not have to clean up all the time."

"I know, I know." I groaned. She just smiled softly and wished me luck before getting on her Fearow and taking off. Flamer waltzes over to me and gave me a nudge, "I'm fine buddy. How did you enjoy the picnic?"

He gave a soft grumble in responds before looking to the mess and then back at me. "No I don't need any help, you can just relax, don't worry about me." He shrugged and walked over to the picnic table and began cleaning up anyway. And by cleaning up, I mean eating what's left of the leftovers. I let out a small laugh at the site of my Charizard's head in a fruit bowl, before going back to work.

We were soon finished and got everything packed. But I was not quite ready to go. I wanted to explore this island a bit more. "Hey Flamer," he took his head out of another bowl to look at me and I resisted the urge to laugh at the potato salad mustache he had. "Would you like to go on a walk with me?"

He shrugged and began to follow me with his head returning to the bowl. We walk for a good forty minutes, enjoying the sites of the random Pokémon in the area and even managed to see a rare Castform. But by the time I got Flamer to put down his bowl and get into a battle stance, it flew away into the trees and out of site. Flamer felt real bad about losing the Castform and although I was disappointed I didn't catch it, I had to reassured him that it was ok.

He handed me the now empty bowl for me to pack and was alert and ready for the rest of the walk. After a while, I decided it was time head home so we can make back before sunset. We were in a dense part of the forest by then so we began to look for a clearing in the trees so Flamer could safely take off, but as we emerged from some bushes, we encountered something I never thought I would see. Flamer noticing my hesitation, glanced past me, and instantly assumed a battle stance in front of me when he saw what I found myself staring at. He put on a brave act, but I could see he was still shaking in fear. I don't blame him, for what was in front of us was the sleeping form of a giant red Pokémon.

Flamer waited patiently for my orders, as I stood dumbfounded at the site before me. I slowly pulled out my Pokédex and pointed at the legendary. "Groudon, Legendary Poké-" I covered the speaker and muted it quickly as I feared it might wake the mighty beast. I began to read the rest, Groudon is said to expand land by evaporating water with its raging heat. It is believed that it had been asleep in underground magma after fiercely battling with Kyogre a long time ago. I looked back at Groudon as I reached back and began fumbling my Pokéballs, especially this one in particular that I have been saving for a special occasion. I then released the rest of my team, who most of which paled at the site of the legendary. But this was a shot I couldn't pass up!

I called a group huddle and began discussing a plan with my Pokémon. After all, we are only going to get one chance at this. We've got to make it count. But right as I was wrapping up the plan and making sure my Pokémon were ok with it, we all heard a snorting noise and looked back at the Groudon just as he was sniffing the air. Suddenly its eyes flew open and it quickly rose up onto its feet. It searched around itself until its eyes caught site of our small group. It looked at each and every one of my Pokémon before staring into my eyes and sending chills down my spine. After a second, it took a battle stance and unleashed a roar causing some of my Pokémon to back up. I smirked at its challenge and tilted my hat to the side, felt the Pokéball once more before ordering my Pokémon to engage in combat.