"Calem, how did you even manage to catch that Scatterbug so fast?" Lexi said, amazed at the catch "I mean seriously it was like bang and you caught the it."
Calem chuckled, "It's quite easy once you know what you're doing. I can show you if you want?" Lexi nodded. No matter how many times she had read about catching pokémon, she couldn't seem to get the hang of it. At the start of their journey through Santalune Forest, she had tried to catch a Pansage, which had been swing in a tree near the Southern Exit. Needless to say, she had ended up on her butt and the pokémon had escaped. Then there had been the Weedle and the Fletchling and the Caterpie. So hopefully with Calem's advice she would be able to add another pokémon to her team.
They carried on their journey through the forest, only stopping once or twice for Calem to point out some rare berry. "I thought he loved pokémon not berries," Lexi said to Kat, while Calem was in the process of explaining the uses of a Mago Berry.
"No he loves berries too," Kat replied, "it's just..."
"Guys...shh...be quiet, look."
Calem was pointing to a tree a few feet away. Standing at the bottom of it was, "Pikachu," Lexi said quietly.
"It's an electric type, you've got two fire types so you should be okay," Calem muttered quickly.
"Come on Litleo, let's do this," Lexi moved forward quietly, the Pikachu looked up, but didn't move. "Litleo use Headbutt!" The lion cub rocketed forward its opponent. The Pikachu jumped upwards, avoiding the attack and responding with a Thunder Shock.
"Litleo you okay? The small pokémon growled softly in response.
"Lexi," Calem called, "Pikachu will just keep dodging every time you attack. Use that to your advantage."
Lexi nodded and called to her pokémon, "Litleo use Ember!" Again Pikachu dodged the attack by jumping, only this time she was ready. As soon as the mouse was in the air, she yelled "Litleo grab hold of Pikachu's tail and use Ember again!" Litleo grabbed the mouse's tail and let off a small burst of flames, burning said pokémon.
"Now Lexi, throw a pokéball!"
She grabbed a pokéball and threw it. It hit the Pikachu and bounced off, absorbing the mouse into its confines. The ball twitched twice, eventually going still, the battle of wills won. "I worked!" She exclaimed, "Thanks Calem."
"It was no problem."
Lexi retrieved her new pokémon, "come on out Pikachu!" The mouse appeared out of its ball, landing on a rock nearby. She reached out let the pokémon sniff her hand.
It seemed to be going well, at least until Litleo decided to sniff at Pikachu's tail, causing the mouse to start crackling with electricity.
Lexi grabbed the lion cub and moved back instinctively, far enough away to avoid the thunderbolt promptly shot straight into the sky above.
"Uh guys, I don't like the look of those clouds," Kat said, warily moving backwards, eyes fixed on the ominous clouds that had gathered above.
"Yeah maybe we should..." Calem trailed off, gesturing back towards the exit. A loud bang echoed somewhere in the distance, only for a bright flash and a second bang to sound much closer.
"I'm with you guys, let's get out of here. Pikachu return." Lexi broke into a run, headed towards the nearest tree, followed swiftly by Calem and Kat.
"Wait guys!" Kat yelled above the sound of the storm, she had stopped just shy of another tree. "I don't think we should hide under that tree, it looks big an..." Kat was interrupted suddenly by another loud bang and a sudden crash. A bolt of lightening had hit one of the trees, causing the majority of it to fall towards the ground.
"GUYS LOOK OUT!" Someone yelled as the world went dark.
Lexi pushed herself up into a sitting position, rubbing her head slightly. She glanced around the clearing, Litleo was nearby sniffing at the remains of the tree and Calem was lying on the ground a few feet away. She moved over and shoved him. He sat up having just woken, "Calem, where's Kat?" Calem looked around, Kat was gone.
"Hey guys!" Kat yelled, "Can you hear me?" How could she have gotten herself into this mess. She'd thrown herself to the side to avoid getting hit by the tree and had fallen down a steep bank instead.
Large drops started to from the sky, peppering the earth floor with indentations. She pulled the collar up on her jacket. She was alone, lost and to make things worse it had started raining.
"She has to be around here somewhere, Cal! Lexi exclaimed loudly. The pair had retreated under cover after the rain had started. "We can't just stand here doing nothing."
"Look, Lexi, these sort of storms are dangerous. Besides it may not last much longer anyway."
Lexi turned back to face her friend, eyes narrowed in an icy glare. "If you want to be the one to explain to Grace why her daughter got hurt, then fine. But I'm going to go find her. Come on Litleo." The lion cub stop licking its fur dry and followed her master.
Calem looked at the sky and then at the girl's retreating form. He sighed, frustrated at how easy he had been swayed. "Wait for me!" He called, running to catch up.
"Calem you're smart, what are the chances of us finding Kat by the time it gets dark." Lexi almost if she knew he would follow.
"Okay, well," he said slowly, "if we keep moving and she stays still then quite good I'd say. But if we go by the very real possibility that she will try to find us then the chances deminish quite substantially."
"Was there anyway that you could've said that, but with less words."
"Chespin, use Vine Whip!" Long vines shot from the spiny nut pokémon and hit the tree, bringing a shower of leaves down to aid their escape from the horde of angry Weedle.
Kat bent over to catch her breath once she was sure they were far enough away. She generally liked pokémon, but drew the line at angry bug types. "Nice work, Chespin. Chespin?" She looked around, the spiny nut had disappeared. "Chespin!"
"Che che!" She followed the sound further into the woods, the odd bramble snagging at her jeans. "Che che!" Chespin's calls were getting closer, "che che!"
Chespin was stood by a rock, staring at the pokémon sat there. Kat moved forward, "hello," she said softly, holding a hand out, but he Eevee flinched away from her touch.
"Cal, let me get this straight, you always carry a compass on you and the one day that we actually need it you don't have it." The pair had searched the nearby area and had found nothing. However instead of going back the way they had come, they had taking a wrong turning and were now lost.
"I didn't think we'd need it," Lexi threw her hands up in exasperation. "Hang on," Calem paused, "we wouldn't have gotten into this situation if your Pikachu hadn't shot electricity into the clouds."
"Don't blame Pikachu! You were the one who encouraged me to catch it in the first pl..."
" EEVEE!" A voice yelled suddenly. Lexi looked at Calem, who just shrugged in response, all thoughts of their argument forgotten. "EEVEE!" The voice called again, the two young teens pushed through the wall of foliage. A girl was searching frantically, her blonde hair tangled with mud smeared up one side of her shorts.
"Are you okay?" Lexi asked the girl. She looked up and nodded, "What happened?"
"I was looking for my Eevee when this storm started. I tried to look for its tracks but I slipped down there and know I'm lost."
"Mmm, join the club," Lexi muttered to Calem
"What was that?" The girl said
"Nothing," Lexi replied quickly, her eyes flicking to Calem."We'll help you, right Calem? Calem?" Calem was just staring at Marie.
"Is something wrong with him?" She asked
"No he just thinks you're pretty," Calem blushed profusely
"Thank you, that's so sweet" the girl said, "I'm Marie, by the way."
"Good to meet you Marie, I'm Lexi and this is Calem."
As the three set off in search of Kat and the missing Eevee, Calem grabbed Lexi's arm. "Why did you have to say that."
Lexi looked directly at him, "say what?"
"That I thought Marie was pretty."
Lexi grinned mischievously, "so it is true."
Kat dug around in her bag looking for a potion, Calem had insisted that they all carry some on them. "Where are they," Kat muttered frustrated, of all the times she needed to find something in a hurry, now was probably the most urgent.
Once her hand finally enclosed on a potion, she returned to the injured pokemon. Kneeling down quietly, she reached out and started to apply the spray, the Eevee flinched backwards. "It's alright, I won't hurt you." Her gentle coaxing seemed to work, as after several minutes the Eevee let her continue applying the potion.
As time wore on, the storm had only seemed to get worse. Knowing that it would probably be best to sit and wait it out now, she burrowed herself into a small hollow in the bushes, Chespin and Eevee nestled in beside her. Seconds, minutes, for all she knew it could have hours that passed while she was sitting there.
"KAT!" The voice was sudden and it made her jump in surprise. She strained her ears to hear the noise again but nothing came. She was just beginning to think that she had imagined it, when it came again but much closer. "KAT!"
She climbed out of the hole, disturbing the two pokémon as she moved. "I'M HERE!" She yelled back. As if on cue, Lexi, Calem and a third person, whom she didn't recognise, stumbled through some nearby bushes.
Lexi and Calem walked straight to her, both glad to see her again. "Kat what happened?" Lexi asked.
"So you found an Eevee and we found its trainer," Calem said once each side had told the other what had happened to them.
"Does anyone else smell a coincidence here? Kat? Hello Kat, anyone in there." Lexi waved a hand in front of Kat' face. Said person was watching Marie reunite with her pokémon.
"Come here Eevee," the pokémon didn't move. "Eevee come here," Marie repeated, anger growing ever more evident in her voice. The small fox still didn't move, "COME HERE YOU WORTHLESS RAT!"
Kat glared at Marie, "don't talk about your pokémon like that! You abandoned it in this forest alone! What sort of trainer are you!" Lexi was about to jump into the argument, when Calem grabbed her arm. Apparently it was best to leave Kat to argue herself.
Marie just laughed at Kat, "why d'you care", she said in a snide manner. "That pokémon is weak. What I do to make it stronger is my business."
"You left your pokémon in the forest because it was weak. Pokémon don't grow strong by abandoning them, you need to train them yourself and show them love and care."
"Oh yeah, what's the point of having a weak pokémon, it can't do anything."
Lexi managed to breakaway from Calem, she walked to stand beside Kat. "So you think that just because something seems weak, it has no use."
"Yes, exactly, just like that one over there," Marie said pointing to Litleo.
"That's it, no on insults my pokémon!" Lexi yelled, "I challenge you."
"Lex no, this is my fight," Kat said trying dissuade her friend.
"I'll take you both on," Marie threw a pokéball up in the air, a moment later a lizard like pokémon landed on the ground. "And what are you going to be fighting with then?"
"Chespin, let's do this!" The spiny nut hopped forward ready for battle.
"Fennekin, I choose you!" The fox growled at its opponent.
Marie just started laughing, "you think you can beat me with that, I could beat those two weaklings in my sleep."
"Maybe you should rethink that statement," Calem said from next to Lexi. "Froakie, come on out!"
"Are you too sure you want to do this?" Asked Kat.
"Kat, we're friends, plus I know more about pokémon than you do," said Calem.
"I just want revenge," Lexi said with a shrug.
"Are you three finished? I want to thrash you before I hit the boutiques in Lumoise City."
The battle went fairly well. It started off with Marie using all of the moves that she deemed strong and only ended when the three combined there attacks and tripped the opponent's Fraxure, using Vine Whip. It turned out that even though Fraxure, had strong attacks, it was unable to move as quickly and was therefore able to trip.
"Well that was fun," Kat said as they watched Marie storm off
"Yeah, she needed to be taught a lesson," Lexi agreed
"You know I've never met a girl like that before," Calem said staring after the blonde
"Calem," Kat said slowly, "we're the only two girls that you've ever actually spoken a word to beyond saying hello. Trust me when I say that Marie would not be good for you."
Lexi clapped him on the shoulder, "Kat's right, I've met that type before."
"Who your sister?" Kat interjected
Lexi playfully shoved her, "enough with the jokes about my sister Kat, if you don't mind."
"Alright, for now anyway."
"Good now come on I want to find a good place in Santalune Pokémon Centre to take a nap."
Kat grabbed her bag the floor and slung it on her shoulder, "Lex if you want to sleep, then I want to..." She stooped speaking abruptly and looked down. The Eevee was tugging on her jeans.
"Looks likes someone wants to come with you," said Calem
"Do you want to come with us?" Kat asked the pokémon, who chirruped in response. Kat reached into her bag and pulled out a pokéball, she threw it. It bounced off of the small fox admitting it into its confines, sealing the bond between pokémon and trainer.
As the sun began to set that day, three tired and very wet teenagers walked through the doors into the Pokémon Centre. All of them glad to be out of the dark forest and looking forward to the prospect of sleep that night.