CHAPTER 2:
Finally leaving the new town I just knew today, (literally) I marched down a short path and stopped, looking at a sign that had "Aquacorde Town" written in bold letters and a fat black arrow pointing right ahead of me.
Huh. And here I thought I had to go through tons of grass and be attacked by pokémon. If that happened….I'd be running around the place with angry pokémon chasing after me.
With a sigh, I continued down the brick path, finding Kalos quite the nice place.
It was actually very modern and had a really welcome aura to it so my previous nervousness was just blown away by the fresh breeze.
My eyes then floated upwards, looking up at the clear sky over my head and seeing a flock of Altaria floating gracefully through the blue space above me.
After a few minutes, I walked under a red stone arch and was greeted by two giant buildings, probably condominiums judging by the many windows and curtains inside. As I looked around, I kept taking in the fact that I'm not in Sinnoh anymore.
I sure am gonna miss the air back there. And the cafes that sold the best hazelnut filled waffles.
While thinking about food, I came down the stairs and jumped when a guy with a camera popped from the side of the road.
This guy looked about in his mid-thirties with graying hair at the temples underneath his green hat and wore brown loose pants paired with a matching mocha turtle neck sweater that made him look a little too barrel shaped.
"Hello!" he greeted with a faint Irish accent as he gleefully waved his hand at me.
"Would you like to take a picture?" he asked, pulling up his impressive camera with a wide smile on his face. I blinked at him, slightly shocked at the sudden greeting.
"Well, at least they're not kidnappers." I thought.
"Ah, thank you but, I'm good." I replied with a gentle smile.
The guy stared at me with sudden awe, his cheeks giving a faint blush as a thoughtful look grew on his face.
"You look familiar." He hummed, tilting his head at me a bit. Right when I was about to ask how, he made an 'ah-hah!' gesture and pointed his finger triumphantly at me.
"Is your surname perhaps Eden?" he asked excitedly, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets.
I blinked at him and tilted my head a bit. "Ah…yeah. How'd you guess?" I asked. This guy's not perhaps a cop or something equally nerve-wrecking is he?
The camera guy nodded his head vigorously and took my hand, shaking it in greeting and almost making me fall at his force.
"It's an honor to meet Analise's daughter in person!" he exclaimed, his blush obvious now. "She was a great pokémon trainer!"
I blinked at him, surprised he knew mom. And now, many more questions popped in my head. Are you her old friend? A rival? Her old mentor? A cop? But I chose to ask the first question.
The camera man nodded at me with a wide smile and chuckled. "My name is Bruce. And Analise and I used to talk a lot before and take photographs of pokémon before she moved to Sinnoh. It's great that you have returned!" he smiled happily.
Oh, so mom already got here before? Damn she knows her way around places.
Right when Mr. Bruce was about to interrogate me with questions on how, when and why I'm here, a high, girl's voice yelled my name with such loudness, my head popped up as I sweat dropped.
I looked up to see a girl about my age running towards me with a wide grin on her face.
She had brown hair that was tied up in four directions and light brown skin that made her light green eyes look bigger than they already are and a small pink, white and black sling bag over her shoulder.
She was also wearing short blue shorts paired with a pink top with black ribbons on them. As an accessory, she had a matching black flowy bracelet on her slight wrist.
I blinked at the new comer, wondering how she knew my name.
"Are you Sarah Eden perhaps?" she called, her soprano voice making me shudder at the highness.
"Ah yeah." I replied with a sheepish smile.
At my answer, her eyes grew bigger and she gave me a bright smile, squealing in her place as she jumped up and down excitedly. If I'm gonna be travelling with her, she might get disappointed with my personality. I don't usually talk when I travel.
She giggled loudly and took my thin wrist in her hand.
"I'm Shauna." She smiled. "I was supposed to come get you in your house you're your mom told me you were already on your way."
I flinched, hiding the sour look on my face. My annoyance with mom was still present. Ah, she really never tells me anything.
"We've been waiting for you to get here! The others are waiting in front of the café and we have some pokémon with us." she said, already dragging me away from Mr. Bruce.
Before we left, we bid our goodbyes and I let Shauna drag me away.
"Hey, guys! This is Sarah!" she yelled, waving at three guys waiting on a table and eating some sweets that looked way too good for me to keep staring at.
The three guys turned to us and two of them smiled widely at me, while one of them just stared blankly at me.
As we made our way to them, I studied the new people.
One guy had his black hair shaved at the sides of his round head and spiky at the top. He wore orange shorts and a black shirt that had some kind of ice cream character on it. He also wore orange and black running shoes and an orange watch on his chubby wrist.
The next one was smaller and had orange, mushroom cut hair that almost hid wide light blue eyes. He wore green shoes, simple black pants and a green vest paired with a collared short sleeved, white shirt. He also had some kind of device hanging around his neck.
And the last guy was simply sitting on the table, staring at me with bored and blank eyes.
Talk about emo or anti-social. I was like that when I was in a bad mood but not to his extent. But I didn't pay anymore heed to it. Since I've met people like him before.
This guy had chin length black hair partially hidden under a red cap with sunglasses propped on them. He also wore a pair of black combat boots that tucked in his blue pants paired with a blue and grey jacket. He also had a black sling bag over his shoulder.
Looking at all their small packs, I'm starting to think this journey isn't one that has camping in a tent written on it.
At my arrival at the table, the biggest boy waved his hand at me.
"I'm Tierno! It's nice to meet ya!" he greeted giddily.
"And I'm Trevor." The smaller one greeted, raising his palm to shake hands with me. "By the way, that's Calem over there." He said, nodding towards the boy who suddenly gave a sigh as he stood up.
Shauna made a face next to me, puffing up her cheeks.
"Really Calem. Act more nicely. Just because you tripped and almost got drenched in the pond, it doesn't mean you need to act so high and mighty!" she said, sounding annoyed.
Calem gave Shauna a slight glare then walked towards me, raising his palm and asking for a hand shake.
"Calem." He said as we shook hands. "I wasn't trying to be rude. It's just you look a lot like your mom." He said with a still blank face.
I gave him a slightly shocked look. "You know my mom?" I asked. She sure is popular. Calem nodded at me with a slight smile.
"Your mom and mine knew each other from back when they were kids. Or so mom tells me." he explained, his dark aura seeming to get nicer and more welcoming. At the new names I've heard, I gave them all my best smile.
"My name's Sarah. It's a pleasure to meet you all." I greeted.
At the introductions, we all took our seat and Trevor suddenly took out three familiar red and white colored orbs-pokeballs from his small back pack.
"Here are the pokémon Professor Sycamore gave." He said. "Since Lumiose is still a little too far, he my mom these so we can have a partner pokémon to battle with."
Shauna nudged me with the usual big smile on her face.
"Go on Sarah. You pick first." she said. Wow, how kind. Usually kids would kill to get first pick at a pokémon or so I've heard.
I took a look at the three orbs, wondering what pokémon were in them.
If you're thinking I have no clue what the pokémon types are and what pokémon can do, think again.
I do know my stuff since I've read books about pokémon even though I never thought of getting one myself. The problem was, I haven't read any books about the Kalos region or its pokémon.
I pursed my lips and hesitantly pulled my hand out, staring at the pokeball rolling on the left side. Without thinking anymore, I grasped the pokeball, feeling the weird warmth on its hard exterior.
For some reason, I was just drawn to this one. Instantly, thinking about the little thing inside this orb, excitement grew in me and I couldn't help but see my hand shake at the feeling.
"Are you sure of it?" Calem asked, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared with at me with a slightly shocked expression, confused at the fact I haven't even seen the pokémon yet and was already choosing.
I blinked and looking down at the pokémon, I gave him a hard nod.
"I just….have a good feeling about this one." I confessed.
Suddenly I blushed, hearing Shauna and the others chuckle at my reaction.
"Well, go on!" Tierno urged. "Bring out the pokémon! I wanna see which one you chose!"
Feeling the excitement get the best of me, I let loose a wide smile and threw the pokeball in the air and saw the black edges of the ball shine as it opened and a jet of light sped down in front of me. After a second, a familiar little fox like pokémon sat in front of me.
It was the same pokémon I saw playing with mom's Butterfree!
"Fennekin!" it squeaked, grinning widely at me and wagging its thick, bushy tail in glee.
"Oh, a male Fennekin huh?" Shauna hummed. "That's a fire pokémon, right Trevor?" she asked, turning to my mushroom haired friend. He nodded with a smile.
"I don't really know much about it yet, but I do know it's known as the Fox pokémon."
Well, not much info. I just know it's called a fox and it's actually a boy. But thank you Trevor. I stared at the little fox with awe taking in every bit of detail in its tiny body.
Unlike the first Fennekin I saw, this one had shinier orange and red fur. And the fur on its white cheeks were longer and thicker too.
Just by staring in his orange eyes and cute button nose, I fell in love with the little thing and carefully crouched down, feeling the unusually wide smile on my face.
"Hi there." I greeted gently, not knowing how to act around this creature.
As I've said many times, some pokémon just plainly don't like me and Butterfree is possibly the only pokémon that I have a close bond with.
But this one just made a spark with me.
Unexpectedly, the pokémon boldly approached me making cute yelping noises. Shocked, my eyes widened and I carefully plopped to the brick floor, landing on my behind as the Fennekin drew closer, placing his plush paws on my lap and wagging his tail at me.
Before I could do anything or even squeal happily, he quickly jumped on my stomach, making me double over in shock and letting him lick me like I was its favorite piece of candy.
"Wa-wait…" I tried to say, but ended up giggling ad squealing as it reached a ticklish area under my chin.
My new friends laughed at the scene before them and I quickly carried my new Fennekin in my arms, sighing at the unusual warmth his fur poured into me.
"You guys have gotten close in such a short time." Calem said with a smile filled with awe on his face.
"Yeah." I muttered with my eyes closed since Fennekin just won't stop licking me.
After my friend's comments on how cute we look, Shauna, and Calem took the remaining pokeballs.
Shauna had a grass pokémon called Chespin and to me, it looked like some kind of brow otter wearing a spiky green hat. But nevertheless, it was still cute.
Calem chose a water pokémon-Froakie. A pokémon that, like its name, looked like a frog only it was blue and had giant yellow eyes and a necklace of thick white foam.
We asked about Tierno and Trevor's pokémon, but they said they were gonna get their own once we got to Lumiose.
"What does Lumiose look like?" I asked loudly, making everyone look at me. Tierno suddenly jumped out of his seat with exaggerated force and….started dancing. I sweat dropped. Not really the answer I was looking for.
After he was done making impressive flashy moves, he finally made a pose with his fit in the air.
"Ah! Lumiose is the heart of the Kalos region! Haven't you heard of it?" he asked.
"Even though you came from Sinnoh, you should've at least heard of Lumiose's great Prism tower and many shops and buildings! It's also where my previous dance crew performed at. They had great cafés there by the way." He added happily smirking as he rubbed the back of his neck.
I blinked at him, impressed at the way he described Lumiose to me. Just hearing it made you excited. Calem smiled from next to me.
"Well, as Tierno said, it's a really nice place. No offense but, it's way better than any city in Sinnoh. Well to me that is." Calem said, priding at the cities in his birthplace. I raised my brow at him.
"Oh, really?" I taunted. "You've been to Sinnoh?" I asked, pulling my chin up and trying to show the pride I still had left for my home region. Calem leaned closer to me with a confident smile.
"Really."
I knit my brows at him and decided to let it go.
After out introduction with the pokémon and Tierno's small dance performance, we then headed off to Santalune City which was right before the great Lumiose city.
"By the way," Tierno called, gaining our attention as Shauna and I talked about the flying Magikarp she once saw.
As majestic as it sounds, my story beat hers. I saw a Mr. Mime running around in panic with a bucket full of snapping Carvanha. The poor little guy couldn't run away from the Sharpedo snapping at its heels though and I ended up seeing a wrestling match between a shark and a mime.
After giggling fits, we turned to Tierno as we stopped in front of the entrance to a forest, the inside ominously dark.
"Me and Trevor are gonna head in first." Tierno said in a fast tone before hurriedly scurrying off into the forest with Trevor. At them leaving us, Calem, Shauna and I sweat dropped, wondering what that was about.
"Umm, anyway," Shauna started, turning to us. "I wanna start catching some of my own pokémon. You two go on ahead."
Before I could protest, Shauna was already speeding into the forest, leaving me and Calem alone.
Calem sighed next to me and walked ahead. When I didn't start walking, he turned to me, his brow raised.
"Well come on." he urged. "You need a good lesson about Kalos pokémon." He said with a smirk on his face.
Thinking about it, I don't know if I should take that as a kind invitation or a threat. With a purse of my lips, I started ahead of Calem, walking into the forest with a bored look on my face.
I've been to forests before. Yeah…..with my friends. Who had pokémon and protected me when one of the crazy bug types jumped out scaring me with goggle eyes. But honestly, I was nervous as hell.
In the middle of the walk to the exit, I sighed. Jeez I'm exhausted. I let loose a breath, leaning my hand on the nearby tree for support as Fennekin stared up at me with worry.
"Gaah." I sighed, hanging my head down in defeat.
After I set one foot in the unavoidable grass, a bug pokémon called Scatterbug jumped at me and didn't give me the chance to escape. So, I was force to fight with Fennekin whom I have no idea about his attacks.
But as I battled, Calem aided me by telling me to use Fennekin's pound attack. And after using it continuously, the pokémon fainted and we managed to get away.
After that, they just kept coming at us, making me wheeze in exhaustion since some of them just loved popping up in front of my face and giving me a shock.
Like the last one, an Espurr that was so playful and mischievous, it made me trip over nothing and fall head first into the grass. And with Calem's muffled laughter behind me, I just lost the cool image I was trying to put up.
Fenekin looked up at me, pawing at my jeans. "Fen, Fenn~" it cooed, a worried look on his face. He must be thinking;
"You're not even the one battling but you're the tired one."
With that, I ran my hand over my face and looked up, then froze at the boy in front of me.
Calem was presently running all over the place, looking for pokémon to battle and just plainly tiring out his pokémon. Him on the other hand looked as swell as the morning dew as his eyes gleamed with excitement.
Actually, he was also the reason, I'm getting exhausted. Every time a new pokémon pops up, he gets so excited he turns to me and starts yelling;
"Sarah! A pokémon!" or "Whoa! Look at that!" and "I'm gonna fight it!"
And because of all this, I'm starting to think we'll take forever to get to Lumiose with this excited kid with me.
This must've been the reason they all left me with him. How cunning.
But, I could see a peek of the exit anyway and Shauna had already left after giving me a happy smile.
With a final sigh, I pulled my head up, fixing my pack and continuing on the path.
"Hey, Sarah! Look! Another one!" I heard Calem yell.
With a blank look and sweat drop, I rolled my eyes and after Calem had finished his battle and made the poor pokémon faint, I grabbed him by the collar and finally, dragged him next to me, not caring of he was protesting under my grip.
"You crazy guy." I muttered under my breath as Calem yelled out: "Kill joy!" at me.
After a few yells and curses from Calem, we finally got out of the forest and the sun kissed my cheeks. I've never been so happy to see sun in my life.
I took a fresh breath and let go of Calem. He walked past me, glaring as he did.
I rolled my eyes at him. "I'm sure there are tons of pokémon in the next routes." I said assumingly. Calem didn't say a word and instead sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just go." He said. "Trevor and the others might be there already."
"They could've finished the pokémon league for all I care. It's taken us forever to get out of that forest with you yelling so noisily." I thought bitterly.
While we chatted and Calem gave me some tops about finding, catching and battling pokémon, we finally passed Santalune city and I caught a glimpse of the first pokémon gym I should think of taking on. The gym leader wasn't present at the time so, we just had to keep moving.
Soon, we arrived in Lumiose city. And I'll be frank. My jaw fell.
At my reaction, Calem chuckled and tauntingly said: "Told you." but I ignored him. Which I'm really good at doing.
Looking around, the streets at both sides of me just kept going on forever and some goat like pokémon freely ran around along with other pokémon I still needed to know about.
The only buildings I currently saw was the familiar pokémon center which had the trademark orange roof and pokeball at the front.
Apart from that, tall buildings surrounded us and to top it off, in the middle of the city stood a superbly tall tower that seemed wider at the bottom then thinned towards the spiked top.
Honestly, I thought I was in some kind of snow globe. Only it wasn't winter here.
I picked Fennekin up, warming myself with his fur again and scanned the place for Trevor and the others.
"Where are they?" I asked, still looking around and thinking about where the pokémon lab was located. In this big city, I hope it was right next to us.
"Probably at the pokémon lab." Calem replied and started walking, making me follow as we walked through the wide streets.
Unusually, the streets weren't that filled with people. But this city is ginormous. They might all be at the other side.
As both Fennekin and my jaw fell at the awesome city, we stopped in front of a building that had two pokeball statues at the entrance with plaques saying: "Sycamore pokémon lab" despite its nice appearance, it seemed dwarfed by the taller buildings next to it.
And now, looking at the name on the plaque, I was hoping he wasn't like professor Rowan. Despite him being nice and all, he was really intimidating to me.
"Let's go." Calem smiled and we marched into the lab.
Once we got in, we were greeted by scientists wearing lab coats.
Some of them were leisurely taking a sip of coffee, maybe to relieve them of their tiredness after staring at screens or analyzing pokémon all day. And some were jogging through halls, some carrying pokeballs or simple clipboards and stack of important looking papers.
After walking around and asking where professor sycamore was, we were finally taken to a room that had very nice mahogany doors that were still shut.
"He's in here. Along with some other kids." our scientist guide said with a smile. "I assume you're friends of theirs?" she asked kindly.
Calem and I nodded at her in reply. "We came to meet the professor is all." He smiled.
The scientist nodded and with our bows, she left us, walking away in a fast pace. Well, I could understand that since she did have a busy job. And I'm glad that she actually took the time to help us find this room.
Before I could pull open the door, Calem and I both jumped when a little blonde girl burst out, her eyes wide with excitement as a little Seedot waddled behind her, seemingly the two of them were playing tag.
And all was well until the kid tripped over a huge Garchomp's clawed foot, making her wail in falling.
Quickly, I stumbled towards her, pulling her up her feet as the two shocked pokémon stared helplessly at her.
"I tripped!" she wailed, rubbing her tears as she sobbed like a water fall.
I gave her a tight smile as I sweat dropped. "Yeah, you did. Let me see if it hurts." I said and took a look at the bruise on her pale knee.
At seeing the small bruise, I smiled and looked up at her with a gentle smile. Seeing me, she stopped crying a bit, slowly rubbing her tears away.
"Ah, it's alright." I cooed, wiping her tears. "It's just a little bruise. It'll go away soon." I smiled as I straightened up, taking her small hand in mine.
"Look." I called, motioning to the Garchomp crouching down in front of us and giving a toothy but sweet smile.
"It's a Garchomp." I said and instantly, the little girl stopped crying, pulling her arms up to touch the shark-like pokémon. Garchomp obliged, pulling down his big head and letting her pet him.
"What a nice big sister you'd make." a gravelly voice said from behind me, making me whirl in surprise.
Behind me stood Calem and the others along with a tall, lanky man. He was wearing a lab coat over black pants and a purple largely collared shirt tucked into the pants. He also had black, slicked back hair that made his thick brows stand out.
He stared at me, smiling with admiration and approached, making me turn to him and bow formally in greeting.
"I'm professor Sycamore." He greeted, shaking my hand as I pulled up my head. "You must be Sarah Eden."
I nodded at him, giving him a good natured smile. "Yes. Mother told me about you."
"I believe so. Your mother wanted-No, she ordered me to give you a pokémon." He chuckled sheepishly at me, making me sweat drop at the mention of what mother did.
"This is your first time being with a pokémon correct?" he asked as he stared at Fennekin standing next to me.
"Although, you two seem rather close despite what your mom told me about you." he said, a thoughtful look on his face as I took Fennekin in my arms.
Obviously he was talking about my avoiding pokémon. Really mom, you had to tell him everything. But I just ignored that fact.
"He's rather…adorable." I simply said, hugging Fennekin in slight happiness and hearing him coo in delight.
Professor Sycamore chuckled at me. "Well, your friends were right. You and Fennekin make a great couple."
I chuckled back at him and we headed to the elevator leading to the upper floor, leaving the blonde girl to happily play with the Garchomp and Seedot.
Once we got to the third floor, professor Sycamor started his talk and told us the reason for giving us pokémon and letting us start our journey.
But before he began, he handed each of us a light, red tablet that had a transparent piece of similarly light glass in the middle.
"Those are your Kalos pokedexes." He started. "Now, I didn't just give you pokémon to have fun with. I also want you to go around Kalos and record all information about every pokémon. It also functions as a national pokedex." He said.
I looked down at the slab, impressed at how far technology has gotten. I then pulled it down to Fennekin and saw him through the transparent part.
Immediately, the device pulled the upper half up and the middle glowed, making me jump and almost break my first pokedex.
After that, a picture of Fennekin appeared at the side of the glass and beside that picture was a moving hexagon, a small map at the bottom and a short summary of the pokémon.
I thought that was just it, but it started talking with a high, computer voice.
"Fennekin-the Fox pokémon. Eating a twig fills it with energy, and its roomy ears give vent to air hotter than 390 degrees farenheit."
I blinked, just as impressed as my pokémon and lightly pushed the top down, shutting off the device.
"As you can see, it automatically informs you of the pokémon you aim it at." Professor said and clapped his hands together and rubbing them.
"Anyway, now that you all have pokémon, all I want to tell you now is to have a great journey and experience all sorts of pokémon in the region. But please do keep yourselves safe and try not to get hurt so much." he laughed nervously.
We all smiled at him.
"Oh c'mon professor, I'm sure we can all take it." Shauna smiled.
"I'll take your word for it." Professor agreed, leaning his back on the desk behind him and crossing his arms.
As we all said our thanks and good byes, once everyone else had left, the professor stopped me.
"Sarah." He called, making me look up at him as he approached with a thoughtful look in his eyes once again.
"You didn't want pokémon before?" he suddenly asked, making me flinch at his straight forwardness.
I blinked at him then looked down at Fennekin, suddenly conscious that he might get offended. But he just stared up at me with his large eyes.
Sighing, I nodded my head with a tight smile then told professor my trauma of losing mom's pokémon and how I ended up being thrown out of the house and start a long trip all over a region I've never seen or known about before.
At hearing my story, professor chuckled a bit.
"Well, I understand that feeling when pokémon run away from you. It is kind of hurtful." He said in agreement, making me scoff light heartedly.
"Do you really want to become a trainer though?" he asked as I leaned on the wall, pushing my hands into the pockets of my sweaters.
I smacked my lips then shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly. Professor stared blankly at me, his expression unreadable.
"I don't know." I admitted.
"But…when I left Vaniville….at the back of my mind I kept thinking, I really do want to become strong. Possibly even…champion. If I can do it that is. I'm not sure really. But, I don't want to go back home now." I said assuringly.
Staring into the professor's eyes with a feeling I've never had so strongly before. Determination. Thinking about it now, my anger for mom had disappeared. And this time, I started to feel guilty 'cause now I was finally going to leave her.
Professor sycamore stared back at me and after a second, he approached me then gave me a small but gentle smile as he titled his head a bit.
"I believe you're going the right way Sarah." He said. And my heart skipped a beat.
"Don't let the thought of your past pull you down. Your Fennekin loves you. I can see it in his eyes." he said, then stared at me with proud eyes.
"Do become strong Sarah. You won't regret your choice." He said with a close eyed smile as he patted my head.
I blinked at him then felt he light blush on my cheek as I smiled back at him, nodding once.
"Thank you again, professor!" I called as Fennekin and I walked away from the pokémon lab, waving good bye to professor who stood at the top of the stairs, waving back at us with that smile on his face.
Soon after bringing Fennekin to the pokémon center to heal and checking out my map, I took out the roller blades mom gave to me. Tapping my foot on the ground, the tiny wheels popped out and I sped through Lumiose, heading back to Santalune city to get my first gym badge.
As me and Fennekin walked quietly to Santalune city, we both stopped, hearing Shauna call my name.
I turned and saw them all coming towards us. As usual, Shauna was the first to stop in front of me, but she asked for something too unexpected and something I wasn't ready to do.
"Sarah!" she yelled, tossing her pokeball in the air and making the blood in my face drain away as my jaw fell. "I challenge you to a battle!"
Her Chespin appeared in front of me and Fennekin, chirping and giving us an excited look in its beady eyes. I started to panic, feeling my heart beating crazily.
"W-wait! I've never battled before!" I shouted, flailing my arms like my life depended on it. They all gave me shocked and confused looks.
Calem rolled his eyes at me though. "Just do it like in Santalune forest." he said with a bored look.
When I was going to protest, Fennekin jumped in front of me with lightning speed and growled at Shauna's Chespin. He then pulled his head up to me, an assuring look in his eyes.
Staring at him, the feeling of nervousness went away and was replaced by slow excitement.
With a breath, I smiled and pulled my head up confidently.
I can do this. I then pulled out my pokedex, taking a look at Chespin's profile. After seeing what I needed to see, a strategy mapped out in my head like a floor plan that was so detailed, it made me grin.
"Alright, let's do this." I said loudly. Shauna squealed and quickly yelled out
"Chespin, tackle!"
Her pokémon cried out and speedily lunged Fennekin. Fennekin got ready for his attack but I just waited.
When I saw Fennekin was wavering and giving me nervous glances as Chespin got closer, I smiled.
"Fennekin, jump now!" I shouted.
Fennekin gave me a shocked look like Calem and the others but did as I said anyway. Fennekin jumped up high, dodging the opponent just by a hair's width. Chespin gasped and before Shauna could react and give out an attack, I gave off my next attack.
Fennekin smiled at me with a satisfaction and cried out, spinning and pounding Chespin with his bushy tail again and again.
After a few loud slaps, Chespin stumbled over his feet and fell to the ground on his bottom. Shauna was about to yell a command but I beat her to it.
"Now, ember!" I shouted and instantly, balls of fire flew out form Fennekin's small jaw and hit Chespin with such force, dust exploded everywhere.
"AH! Chespin!" Shauna yelled with fear. Seeing that, I felt my eyes widen as my heart stopped. What did I just do? Don't tell me I killed him.
Fennekin on the other hand looked unfazed even by a bit. Shauna ran into the cloud of dust and I followed. Once the dust cleared, I flinched to see little Chespin was out cold.
At first I was honestly pumped that my pokémon won but I still felt guilty.
"Ah, Shauna…" I started, not knowing how to apologize.
But Shauna looked up at me and smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck and looking embarrassed.
"Aha, I guess I haven't trained hard enough." She chuckled, picking up Chespin and cradling him and her arms.
Instantly, I felt guilt hit me like a wave and I bowed down to Shauna, giving her a 90 degree bow and making her freeze up.
"I'm really sorry!" I apologized.
Yes, I have battled the pokémon in the forest, I've experienced what a battle was like, but fighting someone else's pokémon was so different. Seeing Shauna's face when that dust cloud erupted was by far the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen.
All of a sudden, I heard Shauna giggle at me, making me look up in surprise.
"Oh it's alright Sarah." She giggled happily, gently pulling me up.
"It was a pokémon battle. Right now we should be thanking each other for that battle instead of apologizing." She said.
I blinked at her and seeing everyone smirk at me and try to hide their chuckles, I blushed a bit, averting my eyes from them.
"O-oh." I simply replied. I then pulled my hand up a new smile rising in my face.
"Thank you so much for that battle." I said. "It was amazing."
Shauna gave me a blushing smile and vigorously shook my hand. Right then, Chespin woke up and we both started worrying about him.
Little Fennekin had a bit of a problem with that though. He butted my leg, looking up at me with a cross look before pulling his head up in defiance.
I giggled, picking him and up and instantly cheering him up by blowing air into his fur, making some kind of farting sound and making him cry out and smile.
As Shauna and I were all sweet with our pokémon, Calem cleared his throat, making us look up with puzzled looks in our eyes.
The three of them gave us bored looks while Calem approached.
"Well, although that was a good battle, you have a lot to go through Sarah." Calem said with a smirk on his face. I blinked at him and immediately felt my competitiveness rise.
"Should we battle next?" I asked, feeling annoyed at Calem too. Maybe it's just me but he's too smug for me. Calem chuckled, fixing his hat in a defiant manner.
"Nah, maybe when we both get stronger." He said as he walked past us, trying o look cool.
Shauna puffed up her face and started flailing her finger at the 'cool' Calem.
"Ahh, really this guy!" she growled. "Sarah's gonna kick your butt if you keep acting like that!"
But Calem didn't pay any heed and just raised his hand in the air, waving back at us in good bye.
"See you guys soon!" he yelled through the air and making me roll my eyes. What a cocky kid.
"Well, we'll get going too." Trevor said as both he and Tierno walked up from behind us already waving goodbye.
As they both started to get farther, Shauna and I waved goodbye before they disappeared with Tierno giving out random dance moves. Well, he's an enthusiastic guy.
Shauna sighed, turning to me this time.
"You'll be leaving too?" I asked with a small smile. She nodded her head, a sheepish smile on her face.
"Sorry, yeah." She sighed. "We'll see each other again soon. And at that time, I'll challenge you to a new battle when we've gotten stronger!"
I chuckled at her and smiled, waving a small good bye as Shauna jogged down the dirt road, waving her hand back at me with that giant of a smile.
Honestly, she reminds me of someone from back at Sinnoh. Dawn maybe? But that beanie loving girl was still crazier than Shauna.
With a sigh, I looked down at Fennekin. "Let's go then." I said and with excitement, my pokémon jumped up the air, crying out with jolliness I could never muster myself.
After a while of battling pokémon in the grass and catching two new pokémon- Fletchling and Budew, me and my new pokémon headed to the gym in Santalune city.
As we neared it, nervousness and excitement rose in me all too much, making me burst out in crazy giggling fits. Fennekin looked up at me, the cold sweat dripping down his furry cheek.
I sighed heavily and grinned, looking up at the building in front of us.
The pokémon gym was a long, green building that had big, gold pillars supporting its hexagonal roof. And as for the entrance, it was a simple two golden pillars which had two plaques reading "Santalune Pokemon gym: Gym Leader Viola"
With a rising ear to ear grin on my face, I took a step, boldly walking up the gym with Fennekin next to me, jumping excitedly.
BUMP!
I stumbled over my own feet, trying my best not to fall on my face again. That's been happening too much. The person who bumped me must've been in a hurry, just really physically strong or just plain mean since I almost did fall.
Looking up with a bit of annoyance, my eyes met with a guy.
He was really tall and had a slim but lithe build. He was wearing black fingerless dark blue jeans and a black shirt paired with a red and white button down polo. He also wore black fingerless gloves and under his red and white hat, his messy black hair grew slightly long bangs that almost covered his light red eyes.
He also had a pokémon on his shoulder. A bright yellow, mouse-like creature with dark, but cute beady eyes over red cheeks and a zigzag like tail twitching as it looked down at me with puzzled eyes.
But my attention drew back to the guy and we stared at each other, not a word leaving any of our mouths.
I blinked at him, feeling an aura of intimidation in him. Is he a trainer too? A gym leader? Surely he's not Viola
It's just that he was giving off a super aura that made me want to flinch and perhaps even run away. But right now, I couldn't move and was hypnotized by his glimmering red eyes.
"Ah…" I started. Great, let's try for sorry now. Wait a minute. Why should I apologize?
He bumped into me.
"Excuse you." he said with a low and annoyed voice.
A vein immediately popped in my head. This bastard's asking for it.
"Yeah, something you should be saying." I growled. Honestly. There are actually people like him in this place? These kinds of stubborn people annoy me the most.
He straightened himself, raising a brow at me in disbelief.
"What?" he asked, his voice starting sound a lot more annoyed. I clicked my tongue. What a temper.
"Shouldn't you be apologizing?" I asked, crossing my arm in defiance as both our pokémon glanced at us, worried looks in their faces.
Speechless, the guy scoffed heavily at me, shaking his head back and forth and looking as if he was ready to blow his top.
I thought he was gonna say something but he stared into my eyes and I flinched a bit, feeling the blush on my cheek as he kept staring.
"W-what?" I asked, slowly inching away from the weirdo.
Pulling his head up and letting me see his face with the better light, he knit his brows questioningly at me. After a while of his painful and embarrassing stares he sighed, hanging his head down, seemingly in defeat.
"I'm sorry." he sighed. I blinked at him and immediately, my annoyance melted. And quickly, a satisfied smile rose on my face.
"Good….bastard." I said before walking away from him, leaving him flinching and his pokémon giggling.
I still find him annoying, that's for sure. When he didn't make a move to catch and maybe beat me up, I grinned at myself as I entered the gym.
Well, he's not all bad. He withstood my bastard attack.