A New Journey In Kalos! (HD Update Incoming)

by jmWarrior13583

With Spring already arriving, and Winter finally coming to an end. A fourteen year old boy named Alex has a dream of becoming a Pokemon Trainer! Follow Alex as he journeys throughout the Kalos Region! Meeting new friends, rivals, enemies, exploring the evil secrets of teams and organizations, and even meeting a new evil brought into the world... The Story of a young hero begins!

11. Ch 10, The Sweetest Things in Life!

Ch. 10, The Sweetest Things in Life!

Translation: (Normal)

After recalling from the events that have happened to Melanie in the beginning of the day, she has finally got out of the Aether's labs. Happy to be back with her friends back at the campsite they were at last night. She was carrying Eevee in her arms, as she made her way over to Alex and James.

"Alex! James!" Melanie shouted from across the distance.

She ran towards the two boys and when she eventually made it to them, she smiled brightly at both of them.

"Where've you've been? We were worried sick about you!" James asked, giving her a worried expression on his face.

Melanie remembered about her promise to Lillie, and she decided to keep it well hidden from them both. She looked over to Alex and he had a concerned look too.

"Is Eevee alright? And are you alright?" Alex asked, just to be sure.

"Y-Yeah! Yeah! Eevee and I just went to go pick some berries nearby, nothing really too big!" Melanie laughed, hoping that she would convince them into believing her.

"Oh! Well okay. You should've told us though. I was worried because I thought someone kidnapped you or something because Eevee was gone too." Alex believed her, convinced by Melanie's lie.

"Eevee!" Eevee jumped out of Melanie's arms and he tackled Alex.

He started licking Alex's face and he hugged him very tight. Glad to be back with his Trainer again. The other Pokémon who were still searching, eventually came back, and they were relieved to see Melanie too.

"Don't worry about me then! Eevee is perfectly fine, but I also found a cutie out there alone." Melanie smiled, taking out a Pokéball.

"Ooo? A cutie huh? A New Pokémon? Did you catch another one?" James asked, excited to see what she caught.

"Mhm! Come on out Vul-" Melanie shouted out, getting carried away.

She was about to throw the Pokéball into the air, but she suddenly remembered about the Aether Foundation. They were still looking for her, and if they spotted that Vulpix, then she would be in big trouble again!

"I um..." Melanie stuttered, slowly putting the Pokéball back into her bag.

She was suddenly stopped by James' disappointed face. He wanted to know what she caught really bad.

"Why can't you show it to us? You said Vul right?" James asked again, wondering what she was going to say.

Alex payed close attention to Melanie's actions and saw her shaking a bit, looking a little afraid.

"Melanie? Are you al-" Alex stared to talk to her, but Melanie suddenly shouted,

"RUN! Follow me quickly!"

She started running the other way and she was pretty sure she saw an Aether Employee far away in sight. Soon enough, she was right when she turned back around to get a quick look. The employee was faraway from them, and she wanted to leave the area. Alex and James were both suddenly confused about what Melanie was running from, but they saw the employee as well from across the plains.

"Return you guys!" Alex shouted, along with James.

Both of the boys returned their Pokémon back to them, and they quickly put them back into their bags. They ran up to her, catching up eventually, still wondering why she wanted them to follow her.

"Melanie? Why're we running again?" James asked, almost out of breathe already.

"I'll tell later! Let's just hide in that bush over there!" Melanie pointed, quickly speaking and looking terrified.

When they reached the large bush, Melanie climbed in and started to hide, along with Alex and James following soon after. They were all out of breathe, while Alex took a quick peek out of the bushes to see where that strange person went. He saw the Aether worker again and he ducked down really quick, still confused about what was going on with his friend.

"Alright, well... I think we're safe now. *sigh*" Melanie started calming down, glad to be hidden.

"Um... Can you explain to me what that was all about!" James whispered quietly.

"It's a loooong story... Unless you guys want to hear it?" Melanie asked both of them, trusting them with her secret.

"Yeah, we'll keep it hidden and play it safe with you if you're in trouble. You can count on us!" Alex promised her, smiling at her happily.

She smiled at Alex and blushed lightly in front of him. She pushed the hair on her face on the side over her ear, then she straightened herself up before getting a little comfortable.

"Well... U-Um..." Melanie continued to blush, for some reason she found Alex cute when he smiled like that.

She calmed herself down again so that she wouldn't embarrass herself, then she finally told the story, explaining everything that's happened to her since the moment she left their battle.

"It all started when I left to go explore the forest. Pancham must've seen someone, so he wanted to go take a look, but I had a worried feeling about it... Eevee wanted to come with us too, so we went into the forest nearby and explored there for a bit looking for that person we saw." Melanie explained.

Alex and James listened to the story very carefully, getting a little less confused then they already were.

"We eventually found this girl that I met. She was a bit strange at first, but she's actually a really nice person. Her name is Lillie, and she asked me if I could help her with a little problem she was going through." Melanie continued on.

"What was the problem?" James suddenly questioned her.

"Dude, let her speak." Alex told him, trying to make him be patient.

"Okay fine! Continue on Melanie." James replied back, motioning Melanie with his hands to continue.

"She wanted me to help her rescue a small Pokémon that was being treated poorly by these terrible people. They're called the Aether Foubdation, and they aren't what they seem to be. Lillie brought me with her into one of their lab buildings, and we went inside to rescue the Pokémon... We eventually did after we went further down into the building, but we were caught by one of the guards." Melanie spoke.

She had a blank expression on her face now, and then it turned into a small frown. She looked a little upset about it.

"You don't have to carry on if you don't want to." Alex mumbled.

He sat a little bit closer to her, trying to make her feel better about assumed that the rest of her story was pretty bad, but Melanie still wanted to carry on with it,

"No it's fine... It's better you two know the truth, we met one of their workers who looked almost like a leader. He kind of held us hostage almost, we were surrounded by dozens of them. There was no way of escaping... Soon after that, the leader tried to take Eevee away so that they could research on him. And trust me, what I saw... Sickened me to my stomach. They fed Pokémon mushy disgusting gray colored food, and they had shock collars around their necks."

Alex and James started feeling bad for what she had to go through. Alex looked down at his Eevee that he was holding, and he started petting him carefully.

"They really did that to you? Wow..." Alex sighed heavily.

"Yep, but I escaped... They're looking for me because I have their Vulpix. So I'm a little worried about what they'll do if they see her with me!" Melanie finished the story.

Now, the two boys fully understood Melanie and they took quick glances at each other before Alex said,

"Well, like I said... Don't worry about it! We got powerful Pokémon already, so we should be able to hold out against one or two guards right? For now, let's get back to our journey okay? We're all in this together!"

"Yeah! Through to the end!" James smiled in agreement.

"T-Thank you guys! I just... I wish I could've went back to save her though. She, along with her Pokémon are still back at one of their lab buildings." Melanie sighed sadly.

"We'll have to come back then, but I'm sure she'll be okay... Hey! Let's see that Vulpix, maybe seeing her will cheer you up!" Alex swore.

Melanie started grinning again and took out Vulpix's Pokéball. Upon taking it out, she opened the device and a bright blue whitish light appeared from it, eventually forming into an Alolan Vulpix!

"Vulll!" Vulpix yawned cutely, opening her eyes slowly.

"Awwh!" Melanie couldn't help but squeal at the sight of Vulpix.

"Woah! You weren't kidding! You really did save that Vulpix after all!" James started laughing.

Alex lightly elbowed him in the chest causing him to lose his breathe for a quick second!

"*Oof!* H-Hey! What was that for?" James asked angrily, crossing his arms.

"You thought her story was a joke? I believed it!" Alex replied.

"Well yeah! I thought she was kidding about it or if she was trying to scare us at first!" James mumbled.

"Well it's real!" Melanie shouted at him pretty loud.

She quickly realized her mistake and she prayed to Arceus, hoping she wasn't too loud.

"Pi-? Pixxx! Vull?" Vulpix giggled, walking up to Alex.

She lightly nuzzled his arm, trying to urge him into petting her. By then, Alex couldn't help but resist her command. He started petting the top of her head, and he instantly felt a little bit of a chilly wind coming from her fur.

"Woah, my hand feels a little cold!" Alex chuckled in surprise.

"Piiiiiiix!" Vulpix purred just like a Litten.

"Awwh! She likes you!" Melanie whispered in joy, petting Vulpix as well.

"Yeah... I don't know how someone could hurt this little one, and I think Vulpix are rare Pokémon too!" Alex smiled happily.

His Eevee jumped from his arms, and landed perfectly next to Vulpix. Wagging his tail, Eevee greeted Vulpix again,

"Vee Bwee!"

"Vul!" Vulpix greeted back, tackling Eevee playfully.

They started wrestling and played with each other, having a lot of fun already!

"Awwh! They're so cute together!" Melanie couldn't control herself anymore.

The two small Pokémon simply blushed lightly, staring at her for a couple of seconds.

"They are cu-" Alex started to speak, but he was lightly tapped on the shoulder from one of his Pokémon.

It was Braixen, and she was giving Alex a killer look. He quickly turned around and tried to figure out what she wanted. That's when she opened his bag, and started going through it carefully. When she finally found what she wanted, she took out a brush and lended it out towards her Trainer.

"Brai Brai!" Braixen giggled, showing her tail in the process.

Her large tail was a bit dirty from the battle earlier, and Alex immediately knew what she wanted now...

"Girl, can we wait just a-" Alex spoke out again, but she put her hand on his lips, stopping him immediately.

"Brrrraaiix... En!" Braixen growled at him, reaching to pull out the stick in her tail.

Alex started getting a little frustrated with her, so an idea popped out of his head.

"Braixen, you of all Pokémon should know I don't like to be rushed... Maybe I should throw that brush out or get Staravia to hide it faraway from here." Alex played along, raising his eyebrow at her.

That was enough to make Braixen's face turn into a depressed one instead. Now it was her turn to make him feel bad.

"B-Bra!" Braixen started to stutter, feeling tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh no... " Alex thought.

Now he made her cry, and it was all his fault!

"Braiix! Xeen! Braaiii!" Braixen started crying all of sudden out of nowhere.

Alex didn't buy it though, he thought that she was just trying to fake it. Boy was he proved wrong though when he went to have a quick look at her face. There were a lot of tears in her eyes now, streaming their way down... It made Alex regret what he said, then he started to sit closer to her.

"U-Uh wait! I didn't mean it like that girl!" Alex started to talk to her again, trying to comfort her by patting her on the back.

That didn't help at all, it actually made it a whole lot worse... She started to sob, and the tears fell down onto the grass.

"Good going..." James whispered to Alex.

"I-Be quiet! I'll fix it!" Alex whispered back.

"Br-Bra-Xe!" Braixen sobbed, refusing to look at Alex.

"Okay! Okay! How about this! I'll feed you a special treat tonight! A-And I'll brush your tail for a whole hour too!" Alex offered.

"BRAIXEN!" Braixen screamed all of a sudden, wrapping her arms around Alex's neck.

She felt happy again and she hugged Alex. Making him feel stupid for falling for her trick.

"Gah, you..." Alex mumbled.

He sighed really quick before returning the hug, looking back at James and Melanie. They just shrugged their shoulders, confused about what they should say to him next...

"So erm! We should probably check and see really quick before heading onto the next town." Alex suggested.

Melanie decided to take a quick peek over the bush, and she started looking around their location. Not seeing anyone or hearing anything nearby, the coast was clear!

"Looks good to me, what's the next town anyways?" Melanie asked, with a light blush on her face when she returned to look at Alex.

"Um... Lets see." Alex replied back.

He stopped hugging his partner, and she went ahead and started digging around his bag for the map.

"Braixen!" Braixen cheered, pulling out the regional map.

She handed it to Alex and smiled widely at him, sitting down cross-legged next to him.

"Thank you girl." Alex thanked her, grinning back and rubbing her chin.

He opened up the map and took a look at where they were at, searching for a bit...

"Well, I guess my third Gym Badge won't be for a while, but I guess we can check out... Hm, let's see..." Alex spoke once again.

"Were on Route 10 right now, so there should be some town around here right?" James reminded his friend.

"Yeah I know... Ahah! Found one! Says here that if we keep on following back on that trail we were following Melanie, there's two paths that lead to three different towns! Calanthe Town, Brackish Town, and Geosenge Town. Says here that Calanthe Town is just a Town known for taking care of humans at some huge hospital building. Brackish Town is known for its famous chocolate cakes!" Alex suddenly stopped explaining his words.

He looked at Braixen and saw her tail starting to wag. She gave him puppy Rockruff eyes, trying to tell him something. He instantly knew what she was thinking, so he suddenly announced,

"Alright guys! Next stop Brackish Town!"

Alex and Melanie took out their Pokémon's Pokéballs and that suddenly caused Eevee and Vulpix to change moods pretty quickly.

"Eev?" Eevee stopped playing with Vulpix and had a disappointed look on his face now.

"Vull?" Vulpix tilted her head, looking as if she were about to cry.

"You guys have to stay in your Pokéballs, I know you wanna play with each other... But it's just too dangerous if we have those Aether people looking for you both..." Alex explained to the two small Pokémon.

James quickly noticed the two Pokémon looking upset, so he wanted to back them up.

"Hey, how about this? If those Aether people are looking for them, then I'm pretty sure we'll be able to handle them easily. Plus, Eevee is YOUR Pokémon, not theirs... So they don't have the right to take him away from you. The only one we have to worry about is Vulpix." James reminded the two.

"You're right, they don't want to go into their Pokéballs though, so I guess they can stay out here with us." Alex answered back.

He scooped up Eevee, along with Melanie doing the same to Vulpix. They carried both of them in their arms and they finally stood back up. It was best for them to just go through the bushes, rather than staying out in the open to avoid the Aether.

"Alright, everyone ready? Got your stuff?" Alex asked, just to be safe about this.

"Mhm." Melanie nodded.

James did the same thing and he started leading the way out of the bushes they were hiding in. Much to Braixen's comfort... She wasn't looking forward to getting leaves and small sticks getting caught in her tail. She sighed, soon after following Alex and his friends back onto the main Route road.

A couple of minutes of pushing through large bushes later...

"Ugh! This is annoying, how long until we actually get back onto the main road!" Melanie started complaining.

"Oh relax! We're almost there! I think..." Alex laughed silently.

"You think? I'm starting to get tired just making my way past this!" Melanie continued on.

"Well, on the map it looked like Brackish Town was close to us, so we should be there soon... I hope!" Alex replied back, trying to calm her down.

"Okay good, as long as we don't run into any Aether Foundation, I'll be fine... If only Hoopa was here, then it could transport us instantly." Melanie mumbled to herself on that last part.

"What was that you were saying?" James examined her mumbled voice.

"N-Nothing! Ignore that, I'll tell you at another time." Melanie confessed almost instantly.

"So you're keeping another secret from us? How much did you go through today?" Alex started to laugh even more out loud.

Loud enough to scare other Pokémon around them away.

"You have no idea! Anyways... What kind of Pokémon can we find along this Route?" Melanie wondered curiously.

Alex took the chance to check his map again on the route, he red more information on it and he sounded pretty surprised about the info.

"Looks like Pichu, Eevee, Caterpie, Fletchling, gee... All kinds of Pokémon here." Alex read out loud.

"Woah, you can find a Pichu and an Eevee on this route?" James asked with a hoping voice.

"I remember Grant telling me that Eevee were rare along here, so the chances of you finding an Eevee are very slim. Probably the same thing goes for Pichu. Isn't that right buddy?" Alex answered him, ruining his hope for finding one...

"Vee-Eee!" Eevee nodded his head furiously.

He stopped nodding when he heard Vulpix's voice calling him. He looked over and saw the cute small smile on her face, it suddenly made him blush out of nowhere, but he quickly looked away before she could see it in his face. Ever since James had seen Vulpix for the first time, he was very curious to read about its stats in the Pokédex.

"Alex do you mind if you can scan Vulpix for a quick minute? I want to see info on her! If she's a really rare Pokémon, there HAS to be something cool about her for sure!" James asked, eager to hear the data.

Alex nodded his head for just a second, before taking out his Pokédex. With the tool, he pointed it towards Vulpix and scanned her.

"No data found." The Pokédex replied.

That was enough to shock Alex when he heard the voice play over. He tried scanning Vulpix again, and it still said the same message.

"Huh?" Alex was still confused on the thing.

"Why isn't it working?" James asked his friend.

Melanie looked at them for a brief moment before replying,

"You guys do know it's an Alolan Vulpix right? I don't know much about what that means... But she's from a different region. So I don't think a Kalos Pokédex will work on her."

"Aw... Well that sucks!" Alex sighed in defeat.

"Well, it's a girl, and it's an Ice Type too. I've never knew Ice Type Vulpix existed." Melanie started to laugh shortly after that.

They eventually finished going through the bushes and finally made it out. The group of Trainers found a large pathway that led to somewhere else.

"Great, now which way is the city?" James wondered.

"Brai!" Braixen joined in, annoying her Trainer.

"Um..." Alex started, taking out his map again in the process.

He took a quick look at it, and then pointed his finger towards their right, indicating which direction they were suppose to travel next.

"We're actually really close, I can see the city just down the road... So not much left to go!" Alex finally finished, petting his Braixen.

"Awesome! I wanna try their 'famous' chocolate cake, don't you Braixen?" James asked the fox.

"Braixen! Braixen nodded furiously, nudging at her Trainer's arm to hurry up their walking speed.

"Braixen, you'll get your chocolate cake. Just be patient please." Alex chuckled.

"Xen!" Braixen crossed her arms and turned away from her Trainer.

She gave him an attitude and looked a little annoyed by him. This made Alex sigh yet again,

"I'll tell you what... I'll give you a big slice of the best chocolate cake we can find in that city. Deal? Then I'll brush your tail afterwards." Alex offered.

Saying that instantly made Braixen happy again, she hugged her Trainer really quick before saying,

"Braix!"

"Awwh, that is so cute!" Melanie looked at the two, bonding together.

She made Braixen blush a bit in front of Alex, but she didn't care about that. She just continued to hug Alex, refusing to let go of him. Soon after that, Alex eventually let go of Braixen, and she did the same, still smiling at her close Trainer. Seeing this made Melanie frown a little bit, she began to think heavily on one topic that's been bothering her for a while now...

"They have a dream, becoming champion of Kalos... James, I'm not so sure about him, but... What about me?" She started thinking more about it.

She looked down at her Vulpix and saw a very adorable happy look on her face. Then she turned her head back to Alex's, blushing a bit.

"He sure is an amazing Trainer though... Maybe I should start searching for a dream to chase after too, just like him!" Melanie continued on.

The blush on her face started to darken a little, she didn't know she was blushing, but she felt her heart starting to pound just walking next to him. There was something about Alex that she liked for some reason, she admired him, and she's been with him pretty much from the start of his journey so far. She thought about it a little more until a sudden image popped up in her mind. It was a picture of Lillie, and how they were both surrounded by Aether.

"I'll be back for you..." Melanie mumbled to herself.

She held Vulpix a little tighter, before trying to move onto a different topic to think about. Then she remembered Hoopa again, the way the legendary smiled at her.

"Hoopa! I wish I could see you again. It hasn't even been an hour yet, you seem like a very nice and friendly Pokémon to be around with. Hope I get to see you again sometime soon!"

She started to think about Hoopa next.

"Alright we're here! The town is just up ahead! Let's go!" Alex shouted all of a sudden, interrupting her thoughts.

He started running towards the large town up ahead, followed by his Braixen immediately.

"I hate it when he does that!" James complained, not in the mood to run at the moment.

"Oh relax, you know how he is! He's energetic about being in new towns." Melanie played along with him, laughing to herself.

"Is that why you like him?" James suddenly asked, giving her a smirk.

Him saying that, made another tomato colored blush appear on her face again, causing her to suddenly feel embarrassed.

"N-No!" She shouted back as quick as possible.

"Suuuure you don't... I see you blush all the time around him, admit it!" James tried to get her to confess.

"J-James! No, that's not true and you have no evidence of that." Melanie looked away from him, giving him a small attitude.

James examined her actions for a little bit before thinking,

"She likes him! I know she does, just gotta give it time and I'll find out eventually!"

He started to chuckle silently, until he was interrupted by Alex ahead.

"You guys are slow! Hurry up!" Alex yelled at the two.

"Fine! We're coming!" James exclaimed back, shouting at him.

He started running towards Alex, while Melanie still stayed behind. She didn't feel like running yet...

A couple minutes later, passing by...

"We're finally here!" Alex announced, stopping for a few to catch his breathe from the running.

"Ughh... Finally! I could use a break right now..." James thought, hoping that they would stop somewhere to rest.

"Let's go explore this town huh?" Alex asked his two traveling companions.

"Yeah sure!" Melanie smiled at his response, walking up next to him.

"Oh Arceus... Help me!" James sighed in defeat, he jinxed himself big time!

After they finally entered the small town, there were only a few buildings. Roughly six or seven with large spaces around them. One in general looked like a large hotel to stay at, while several other buildings were either restaurants or shops. There were a couple of people along with their own Pokémon casually walking around on the streets.

"Awesome! This town looks like the perfect place to stay at tonight, you guys fine with that?" Alex asked again.

"Yeah, I could use a good break... Please!" James whined.

"Right after we explore for a bit, there's all kinds of stuff in this town... Can't you wait for just a little bit longer?" Melanie replied to him.

"Um... Well er..." James stuttered, he was trying to come up with an excuse.

"What if those Aether guys come looking for us in this town?" James spoke out suddenly.

"Don't worry about them, we can handle them. I think..." Alex said.

"I don't know... One of them had a very large Pokémon, probably half the size of a two-story house." Melanie exaggerated, laughing a bit from her comment.

"There's no way they'd find you here, were kind of far from that building right?" Alex asked again, trying his best to keep them all safe.

"Yeah, I guess so... I just hope Vulpix will be okay. There's no way I'm giving them her, she doesn't deserve to go back there in those labs." Melanie held on tight to Vulpix.

Refusing to let her go, Melanie made a promise to keep Vulpix safe and to keep her out of harms way, especially from the Aether Foundation.

"Bwee!" Eevee cried happily, he jumped from Alex's arms and landed on the ground perfectly.

He started walking next to Alex, looking up at Vulpix, he wanted her to join him.

"Vul?" Vulpix tilted her head,

Melanie understood what Eevee was trying to do, so she let Vulpix go and let her roam around next to him!

"Vulpi!" Vulpix greeted Eevee again, blushing lightly and feeling happy to walk along with him.

"Vee-ee!" Eevee did the same thing back, glad to enjoy her company again.

Translation: (Poké-Language!)

"So! What should we get for lunch? I'm starving already!" Alex asked everyone.

"Maybe you can get me a spicy meal like you promised a while ago..." Braixen sighed, knowing that Alex didn't understand what she was saying.

"What's up Braixen?" Alex wondered.

"Ugh! Excactly!" Braixen crossed her arms and looked away from Alex, giving him a small attitude.

"Hey! It's not my fault I can't understand you..." Alex mumbled, just enough for her to hear him.

"You're lucky I forgive easily." Braixen sighed.

She stopped for a quick second to look around the town for something she could eat, but she was interrupted when she felt something tugging on her waist from below. She looked down at whatever was tapping her, and she discovered that it was a short little boy, he looked like a preschooler almost.

"Woaaahh!" The kid gazed up at her with curiosity in his eyes.

"Oh boy..." Braixen sighed yet again, having a bad feeling about seeing the little kid.

She wasn't really around children as much, so she had no idea how to deal with preschoolers when it came to them seeing Pokémon. This was going to be a train wreck for her... Her Trainer along with his friends looked down at the preschooler, giving the kid a very happy look.

"Awwh! He's so cute! Hi there little guy!" Melanie greeted him joyfully, kneeling down to his level so she could talk to him.

"Hi!" The little kid greeted back, looking at Melanie with innocence all over his face.

Melanie examined the boy for a while longer until she asked him,

"What's your name sweetie?"

"Jamie!" The boy introduced himself and presented himself to her, holding out a Pokéball in his hand.

He was wearing a Pikachu shirt, and his backpack was colored mostly yellow and black, he was also wearing dark cherry red colored shorts, mixed with a hint of yellow on them, which matched very well with his shirt and backpack.

"Where's your parents?" James cut-in on the conversation the two were having, wondering where Jamie came from.

"My mom said I could explore our home!" Jamie replied back, still looking as happy as ever!

"ah! Looks like he's the adventurous one huh James? He's even got a Pokéball and everything." Alex whispered to his friend.

"Yeah, I wonder what Pokémon he's got in there. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a Pichu or a Pikachu even." James mumbled back.

Jamie heard what both of them were saying and he shook his head, saying no to their question. He threw the Pokéball up at the sky, looking enthusiastic about it, he grinned happily and caught the ball when it came back down to him. He pressed the button on the middle of the ball, and it opened, the same old bright light flew right out of the device, and it started forming into a Pokémon! When the light stopped flashing out, it revealed a Raichu! Looking powerful and proud as ever!

"Wow! You have a Raichu?" James asked in amazement, surprised that Jamie had a Pokémon at such a young age.

"Yeah! He was a Pichu when I first met him!" Jamie started giggling adorably, hugging Raichu very tightly.

"Awwh! That's so cute!" Melanie awed at both of them together.

Raichu hugged Jamie back and looked very happy from the affection! You could easily tell that the two had a bond together, just like siblings would share. Braixen took a moment to stare at the two, she looked back to Alex and started blushing a little.

"J-Just like us almost..." Braixen mumbled to herself, as she kept staring at Alex.

"Your Pokémon's cool!" Jamie complimented Alex, looking up to Braixen again.

"Oh, um thanks! I just recently met her! She's... She's an amazing partner to have." Alex mumbled on that last part.

It was enough for Braixen to hear him, which made her heart beat rapidly. She felt embarrassed from him and looked away quickly, saying,

"I hate it when you do that, why can't you bother Eevee and embarrass him instead huh?"

She looked down at Eevee and Vulpix together, they were both playing with each other by tackling one another. It almost made her remember Pancham...

"I really want to hangout with him, he's such a cool Pokémon." Braixen started daydreaming about one of her best friends.

"You'll get the chance later on, I'm bored anyways." A familiar voice appeared out of nowhere.

Apparently she was the only one that heard it, and she could've sworn it was Pancham's voice, but he wasn't out of his Pokéball though...

She shrugged it off and continued to look down at the boy.

"Anyways! It was nice saying hi to you all! My mom'll get worried about me if I'm not back in time!" Jamie pointed his finger towards the sky.

Everyone looked up to see what he was pointing at, and sure enough... There were storm clouds, approaching them at a rapid speed. Jamie immediately started running the other direction, and he headed straight for a random building that appeared to be his house.

"Well... That was something!" Alex started laughing slightly.

"Yeah, but I didn't get the chance to see that Raichu though! They left almost instantly!" James whined like a little baby.

"Oh relax! We got our whole lives to learn about Pokémon, chill out." Alex tried calming him down.

"Um guys, you think we should go over to that hotel just for shelter?" Melanie interrupted their conversation, looking up at the storm clouds.

"Yeah, let's go really quick" Alex told them.

Melanie nodded her head in agreement, picked up Vulpix and Eevee, and she led them all the way to the hotel. The only thing Melanie was hoping, was that they wouldn't have to run into Aether anytime soon. Just thinking about them made her sick to her stomach... Especially Lillie.

Meanwhile, Eevee was too busy staring at Vulpix. He refused to look at something else, he only focused on her, and he only thought about her too.

"Wow, she's a cool Pokémon!" Eevee thought in his head.

Eventually after staring at her for a long period of time, she eventually noticed him and she smiled at him, wagging her tail in the process.

"H-Hi." Vulpix greeted, waving a paw towards him.

"H-H-Hey!" Eevee grinned back, he was a little embarrassed sitting next to her in Melanie's arms.

"About what you said earlier, about um... s-saving me and all that." Vulpix started the conversation.

"Yeah, that... You didn't know what was going on huh?" Eevee got right into it.

"W-Was it true about all of that stuff? A...About those scary white figures I saw everywhere?" Vulpix asked him shyly.

"Yeah, but... Just ignore it though, were with our friends, they'll keep you safe from them I promise!" Eevee answered back, trying to make her worry-free.

"There a-aren't really many of us though..." Vulpix mumbled, looking at the ground next with a frown this time.

"Yeah there are, they have more Pokémon, it's not just us 3, and besides... Braixen here is strong! So she'll protect us, right Braixen?" Eevee replied, looking up at Braixen next.

"Yeah, of course! Why wouldn't I protect you from those evil people?" Braixen asked back in surprise.

"Well er... Um... Well I just thought you wouldn't be okay with, like... Babysitting us? I can't fight! Neither can she!" Eevee answered, panicking a little bit.

"Don't worry about them, were all here as a group, and you'll have to fight eventually... I'll teach you if you want, it's easy." Braixen offered, happy to be his fighting mentor.

"W-W-Well if I have to t-then okay!" Eevee finally made up his mind, now he was Braixen's student.

"Good, I'll leave you with your 'friend' here alone." Braixen giggled, quoting friend, with her fingers.

"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?" Eevee shouted, feeling very embarrassed in front of Vulpix.

Braixen tuned him out and walked back to Alex, leaving him alone.

"So..." Vulpix started, feeling awkward now.

"So? What was it like in those labs?" Eevee wondered.

Vulpix sighed sadly, she was just new to the world, so she didn't really know much about anything.

"It... It was um... Well, They just... Treated me differently, I'm not used to being carried around and getting affection. I-I just don't know how to feel." Vulpix explained herself.

"Don't worry! I was the same way too, I'm still a little shy but I love it when Alex pets me or when Melanie feeds us Poké-Puffs!" Eevee laughed out loud, smiling happily at her again.

"A Puff? What are those things?" If it's edible, then I'm used to the gray mushy food that those white figures fed me." Vulpix wondered curiously.

"You're missing out on a lot! Trust me I'll show you as much fun as you can possibly imagine! Forget about your old lab life. This is the real world we're in!" Eevee confidently gave his speech, motivated to show Vulpix around.

Vulpix simply just nodded in agreement, playing along with him. She had no idea what to expect, but she was in for a treat!

Translation: (Normal)

Our group of friends finally quickly made their way to the Hotel, just before the rain started falling down. They got there just in time enough to get inside the building. It looked pretty dark out, so the clouds came in quick. Upon entering, it was exactly what a 5-Star hotel would normally look like. Nice lobby area, fancy chairs and couches to sit in, tons of other people around, as well as elevators, staircases, and even a kitchen behind the service desk.

"Doesn't remind me of Aether at all..." Melanie mumbled, saddened a bit.

"Alright guys, let's-" Alex spoke out, but he was quickly interrupted by a sudden shout next to him!

"Aleeex!" The voice called.

He turned to the voice and it was no one other than Korrina!

"Hey! It's you again!" Alex greeted her.

He remembered seeing her on Route 4, but this time she wasn't wearing any of her skating gear. She looked a bit different, almost tropical style even.

"Hi Korrina!" Melanie waved.

"Hey there." Korrina waved back, walking up to the group.

James greeted her as well, simply waving quickly.

"What brings you guys here? I didn't think you'd travel this far from Lumiose." Korrina asked, curious about them.

"It's a very long story, veeeery long... What about you? I thought you had to return to Shalour City or something like that?" Alex questioned her back.

She giggled a bit before shaking her head saying,

"No silly! It got dark out fast, I stayed at Cyllage City for the night, then I left for Brackish Town today in the morning, I just got here. So, I'm just staying here inside until the storm outside passes through!" Korrina laughed once again.

Alex smiled at her and remembered how she bumped into him back on Route 4. The thought of that made him grin at her all of a sudden.

"Remember when you knocked me down last time?" Alex reminded her again.

Saying that caused a frown to form on Korrina's face, making her feel bad about it now...

"O-Oh! About that... I'm sorry about that, I was just in a rush. I'll make it up to you right now!" Korrina replied back, a sudden serious tone in her voice.

She started walking up to the service desk and spoke to the lady there. They had no idea what she was doing, but James had a pretty good idea.

"Think she's renting a room?" James whispered to his two friends.

"Beats me, who knows?" Alex shrugged his shoulders.

"If she is, then that would be really really nice of her!" Melanie started smiling again.

They waited a little while, waiting patiently for Korrina. She eventually came back though, and she had a very happy face on.

"So?" Alex started.

"I rented you three a very nice room for the rest of the day, so please rest after all of that traveling you guys did!" Korrina happily announced.

"Thank you so much! That's so nice of you!" Melanie thanked her.

"No problem! You can order food for free with room service, they have very nice rooms here, so it'll be comfortable. And I'm sure your Pokémon will enjoy it too!" Korrina explained even further.

She stopped talking when she noticed the Vulpix in Melanie's arms, as well as Eevee.

"W-Woah! You have an Eevee? And a Vulpix?" Korrina curiously asked her.

She walked up to Melanie and she took a closer look at the two cute Pokémon. She petted both Vulpix and Eevee's necks, and that made their tails wag furiously.

"Vullpii!" Vulpix giggled adorably.

"Bweevee!" Eevee laughed, loving the affection.

"Awwh! They're adorable. You don't see a lot of Eevee or Vulpix around here." Korrina smiled at the two creatures.

"Well, we found an egg that fell off from a high cliff on Route 8, and it recently hatched, so Eevee's been looking like he's having a good time with us!" Alex explained the story.

"Yeah, we went through a lot today though..." James joined in.

"Well they're both very adorable! ...Come to think of it, I don't remember Vulpix having a white form? They're normally red." Korrina wondered about Vulpix's appearance.

"This Vulpix is from a different region, at least... That's what I've been told. I actually saved the Vulpix when I had to help someone out, some organization called the Aether Foundation." Melanie exclaimed.

Korrina's eyes widened in surprise, she didn't expect to hear Aether from them at all!

"The Aether? So you basically... Stole the Vulpix from them? Was it even theirs? I've heard a lot about the Aether, but they're just quiet and like to keep their things a huge secret." Korrina told them.

"N-No! I didn't steal her! She was kept locked in a cage, and they do these horrible experiments on them too! I managed to escape with a little help, but I'm not going to let any Aether get their hands on Vulpix." Melanie explained to stand her ground.

Korrina fully understood, and it was best for her to not get involved with their Aether problem, so she just moved onto a different topic. She handed Alex a set of keys for their room, then she started talking again.

"Well, I'm sure you guys are very excited to see your room, so I'll let you explore for a bit. Don't worry about Aether or anything! I might not see you tomorrow because I have to leave right away in the morning for Shalour, but enjoy the rest of your day here!" Korrina waved to them, just before walking off to an elevator nearby.

"Thank you again!" Alex thanked her.

"No problem! It's not much of a trouble anyways... Oh! And one last thing! Don't forget to order one of their chocolate cakes here for dessert! They're so good! Cya later!" Korrina shouted back.

She finally entered the elevator, and the doors closed soon after that, leaving the group alone in the lobby.

"Well, she sure was very nice." James mumbled.

"Yeah, that was really sweet of her to do for us. Let's go see our room!" Melanie grinned.

Alex nodded his head happily, then he started leading them to one of the elevators in the big fancy lobby. Once they located the elevator, they all entered, and then Alex pushed one of the buttons that matched the key number, "#14" What was cool about the building was that the elevator led them exactly to the room! The building was pretty tall, so the room numbers matched between 1-50! Everyone stayed quiet for a while, waiting for the elevator to reach their room.

Minutes later...

Nobody spoke a word, if you don't count Vulpix and Eevee talking that is. Melanie took the chance to check on how Vulpix was doing, and she looked like she was happy with Eevee.

"They look so cute together! Too adorable!" Melanie couldn't help but smile wide at the two together in her arms.

"Looks like they're already friends!" James pointed out.

"Yeah! Best friends even." Alex agreed.

"Brai!" Braixen poked at Alex to get his attention, she looked into his bag really quick and took out her favorite brush.

"What's up girl?" Alex asked, he looked at Braixen's fire red ruby colored eyes and noticed the brush she was holding in her hand.

"Xen! Aix!" Braixen did her best to give Alex the most innocent and most adorable face she could possibly make, hoping she wouldn't have to wait longer to get her tail brushed.

"U-Um!" Alex made a noise, trying to resist her cute face.

He tried looking away, but then Braixen took a step towards him so that she could be in his sight of view again. He repeated the same thing and tried again, but Braixen constantly kept on wagging her tail, and trying to convince him.

"Ugh... Alright you win, I'll brush your tail after I take a quick shower." Alex told his partner.

It made Braixen smile again, then she quickly hugged her Trainer's torso, causing her to blush once again...

"She must really like being brushed." James started to chuckle, along with Melanie looking at the two.

"You have no idea..." Alex sighed in defeat.

Melanie giggled at him, and then she suddenly remembered when Pancham was the same way when she first met him.

"You guys should've seen Pancham, he was the same way when he hatched out of his egg, constantly getting me to carry him like a baby. After a couple of days, he eventually let go of it and stopped asking as much. But you should've seen him!" Melanie started to laugh, thinking about Pancham now.

"Tell us the story!" James asked eagerly, very curious to hear her story.

"Please tell! I wanna know about Pancham too!" Alex started paying attention.

"Alright, well..." Melanie started off her story.

(Flashback!)

Play Song!: (Aquacorde Town - Pokémon X & Y Music Extended: watch?v=0uEHDAIKIbk)

It was a very beautiful day in the Kalos region, winter was finally coming to an end, and a very certain young Trainer couldn't wait for spring to come so soon! Melanie was fast asleep in her house, and today was the day where something very exciting was going to happen to her! The sun wasn't quite up yet, and it was a little dark out, but not too dark. There was barely enough sunlight to light the town she was in, Aquacorde Town!

"RIIIIIIIINNNG!" An alarm clock went off! Making a very loud annoying sound!

It made Melanie freak out and she jumped up from the loud noise. She rolled off her bed and fell right off of it, landing on the wooden floor in her room.

"Uuugh... Ow!" She moaned in pain.

She got up slowly and started rubbing her back, trying to forget about the pain from the fall. She looked over to the alarm clock next and groaned very angrily at it.

"Grr... I hate you!" Melanie screamed at it.

She picked up the alarm clock, turned it off, then she threw it away in her room. Upon throwing it, it actually nearly hit one of the most important objects close to her. A black and white Pokémon egg! Seeing the clock flying and missing caused Melanie's heart to drop!

"Oh Arceus! Nooo!" Melanie shouted towards the egg in fear.

She thought she hit it, so that made her freak out a bit. She crawled to the egg quickly to check on it, and luckily... There were no cracks on it either, nor was it damaged at all!

"Thank you Arceus!" Melanie prayed and looked up towards the ceiling of her room.

She picked up the egg gently and carried it in her arms. It felt really warm from the outside, and it also felt very fragile and delicate, like a leaf almost. Melanie stood up and walked back to her bed, she sat on it and looked outside her window. The sun was starting to rise even further, and several morning people were already outside preparing for the day.

"I wonder when this egg is going to hatch, it's been so long... Almost a month of just raising it." Melanie sighed.

She hasn't really been into becoming a Pokémon Trainer. Yeah, she's been outside and interacted with them before, but she never really went on a journey yet. Little did she know was that... That journey might be starting today!

Seconds later...

Melanie kept on hugging the egg, giving it as much warmth as she possibly could, it was given to her as a gift from her grandma. She remembered how special the egg was, based on its appearance as well. You rarely saw different colored eggs, they were usually a tan-ish sandy color, mixed with small green spots on them.

"You'll hatch one day, I can't wait to see what you look like." Melanie smiled at the small object.

She decided to walk back and put the egg back where it was, back into its small basket that it came from. It was a very cozy basket, it was made of a very soft white cloth, mixed with a small warm blanket wrapped around the inside. When she got to the basket, she placed the egg back into its nest, and wanted to leave it alone for a bit longer. Then, she looked back outside, and thought about what her future would be like.

"Wonder what I'll actually experience when I do start my journey... I wonder what friends I'll make, or how many adventures I'll go on, or even how many Pokémon I'll find and meet!" She thought more about the subject.

She enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere in her home town. The water from the river flowing gently made it beautiful, as well as the sunrise reflecting off of the water. Then she looked over to the Santalune Forest across from the river, and she saw several Beautifly flying around the sky, as well as several other Flying Type Pokémon!

"Melanie! Sweetie! It's time for breakfast!" A very gently voice came from below the house.

Upon hearing that, Melanie took a quick smell so that she could find out what was on the menu for breakfast. She could hear and smell the delicious scent of pancakes, syrup, scrambled eggs, and it made her immediately run straight for her door. As soon as she passed by the egg, she looked at it for a second, thinking that it moved from its position. It was tilted a bit to the side, and she didn't remember seeing it that way after she placed it back.

"Huh?" Melanie thought.

After a couple more seconds of staring at it, the egg moved a small bit again! It surprised Melanie! It made her heart start to pound, suddenly excited! The egg started glowing, and it was vibrating too, then a few cracks started to appear on the shell.

"Oh my Arceus! Is this really happening!?" Melanie freaked out even more.

The egg cracked itself some more, until eventually... The head of the shell broke open! Once there was an opening on the top, a small Pokémon popped its head from the egg, and it revealed a Pancham! By then, Melanie gasped at the small Pokémon, still surprised, shocked, and wanted to pick him up as soon as she could.

"Pwaaaaa!" The small panda-like Pokémon started to cry all of a sudden, which made Melanie feel bad instantly.

She took the opportunity to reach out for the Pancham, lifting him up from his arms slowly, and carefully. She held him close to her, and then she carried him in her arms, hugging him tightly.

"Sssh! There! There! No need to cry!" Melanie told the Fighting Type.

"Pwann?" Pancham looked up at her and blinked for a quick second.

He just stared her down and observed the large grin on her face. She looked like she was really happy to see him, but he wasn't scared at all. He felt comfortable sitting in her arms, and he started to smile back at her too. After a couple of seconds, he instantly started hugging her torso, and it felt nice to him.

"Awh! You're so adorable! It's about time you finally hatch!" Melanie whispered to the small little Pokémon.

"P-Pan-cha!" Pancham giggled, and hugged her even tighter.

Melanie almost forgot that her mother called her down, she didn't want her breakfast to get cold, so she ran out of her bedroom and headed straight towards the bathroom. As soon as she entered the room, she closed the door behind her and made her way to the sink. Upon reaching it, Melanie set Pancham down gently on the counter, but that was a huge mistake!

"Pw-Pwa-Pwaaaaaaancha!" Pancham started to cry again, he was raising his arms up at her, as if he wanted to touch her.

At this point, hearing him cry almost made Melanie's heart shatter into pieces. She certainly didn't like hearing Pokémon cry in general, not so much newborn ones...

"U-Um! Ssh! Wait! Let me ju-!" Melanie tried calming him down again, but she was cutoff from his loud crying.

"PAAAAAAAAAAA!" Pancham's cry was a lot louder, you could probably hear his crying from a different region!

Melanie had no idea what to do, she noticed his arms were up. Usually baby's did that if they wanted to be carried right? It was worth a shot anyway... She took the chance since she was out of options, and she quickly scooped him up back into her arms again. As soon as Pancham was in her arms, he stopped crying instantly, which made Melanie a bit surprised.

"So that's why you were crying huh?" Melanie thought to herself.

She kept rocking him in her arms, and then she tickled his small belly. When he felt the contact from her finger, he started giggling adorably! Melanie couldn't help but just smile at the baby Pokémon, he looked like he was happy again, which was a good sign at least!

"Pwan Pan!" Pancham hugged Melanie once again, which caused a small blush to smile on his face.

"Awwh! You're the cutest !" Melanie spoke with soft words.

She hugged him back and was glad that he finally hatched out of his egg, it was a great day for her! Getting the chance to meet her partner!

(Flashback End!)

"And that's basically how it went, whenever I put him down... He always begs or cries, trying to find a way to get me to carry him around all day. He's probably going to get a little jealous since we have Vulpix on the team now." Melanie started to chuckle to herself.

"Vwull Pwi!" Vulpix cried, giggling quietly with Eevee.

Alex and James both payed close attention to her story, they couldn't help but laugh with her after hearing that story!

"So how else was he like when you were taking care of him?" James asked even further.

"Well..." Melanie spoke again.

(Flashback Continued!)

"PANCHAM!" Melanie screamed at her Pokémon in annoyance.

She was trying to get him to eat his food, she was serving him brussel sprouts since he never really ate any vegetables, all he ever ate were Poké-Puffs and dessert foods, such as ice-cream and so on...

"Pan! Cham Pa!" Pancham looked away from her, crossing his arms and giving her an attitude back.

"Pancham please... You need to eat your vegetables! Otherwise you won't grow up healthy! Jeez... It's like I treat you as if I'm your mother." Melanie replied back.

"P-Pa!" Pancham nodded his head on that last part she said.

She noticed his nod and sighed in defeat... There was no way she was going to get him to eat the veggies.

"You really need to eat them!" Melanie told him once again.

"Chaaaaaam!" Pancham yelled at her, shaking his head so that she could understand him.

"They can't be that bad!" Melanie shouted in frustration.

Pancham rolled his eyes and went ahead and picked up a brussel sprout from the plate he was served. He opened his mouth and proceeded to put it inside, making Melanie hopeful about it. He decided to trick her instead, and he threw the green object at her! Melanie didn't see it coming, so it hit her straight on her face, surprising her!

"Ah! HEY!" Melanie screamed again.

"Pa-Paa Cha!" Pancham started laughing like a maniac, seeing the expression on her face.

She had a very serious one too, in fact... She just had enough of this already!

"Ugh... I'll make a deal with you, If you eat just one! then I'll give you a quarter piece of one of your favorite Poké-Puffs! For every one bruseel sprout you eat, you get a quarter... Deal?" Melanie offered, holding out her hand to shake with his small paw.

"P-P...An" Pancham thought about it a little bit before giving her an answer.

He started tapping his finger on his chin, still thinking... This made Melanie worried, she had to think of something else to offer.

"If you finish the whole plate... Then... Um, let's see..." Melanie started.

She looked around the kitchen for something to offer him, until she spotted her huge box of macrons next!

"Ah-hah! If you eat the whole plate, then you'll get to have some of those cream filled macrons in the jar!" Melanie smiled at her idea, she pointed towards the jar.

Pancham stared at the jar for a moment, then it didn't take very long until he finally made a decision. He went ahead and touched Melanie's hand, meaning that he would agree to the deal. After that, He took a brussel sprout and plucked it into his mouth. Melanie thought that he wouldn't be able to eat at least one! He started chewing on it slowly, and he had a smirk on his face.

"D-Did you just..." Melanie stuttered in anger.

She was tricked yet again, Pancham didn't mind the taste of the veggies... He was just doing it in order to get more sweets!

"Pa!" Pancham giggled again, plucking a few more brussels in his mouth.

He eventually took the whole plate and shoved all of them down his throat, and once he finished chewing on them all, he set the plate back down and put his paws behind his head, giving Melanie an evil smile.

"Uugghh, Well at least you ate them!" Melanie groaned.

She saw Pancham playing with the leaf in his mouth, and she could tell he was waiting for her to make her end of the deal. To be honest, she wasn't going to let him get away with the tricks anymore. She walked over to the jar of macrons, and picked it up quick. Pancham noticed her behind him, and he gave her a very happy cute face.

"Pan-chaaa!" Pancham reached for the jar she was holding, ready to eat the sweet macrons.

Melanie opened the jar very slowly, then she took out a pink colored macron, that had a jelly-cream inside the center. She opened her mouth and took a bite from the sweet snack, enjoying the taste of it!

"Mmm!" She licked her lips and finished the whole macron in an instant.

Pancham kept on reaching for the jar, he stood up and gave her a huge smile! But... Melanie looked at Pancham and gave him a face, as if she was very bored.

"What do you think you're doing mister? You can't have a macron." Melanie exclaimed.

"PANCHAAM?!" Pancham gasped in shock, he expected her to give him one.

He gave her a very ticked off face, and he was about to explode in anger. Melanie saw his facial expression, and without hesitating... She ran right out of the kitchen, leaving a very angry and confused Pancham behind!

"Catch me if you can!" Melanie screamed, laughing her head off.

She ran to the living room next room over, and jumped onto the couch. She landed on it with ease, lying down on the piece of furniture. She held the jar tighter and tighter when she heard little footsteps running towards her. She knew who it was obviously... So she looked down from the couch and saw her little Pokémon staring up at her.

"Chamma!"

"You're not getting any of these macrons until you apologize young baby." Melanie stuck her tongue out at him, making him feel embarrassed.

Pancham sighed and blushed from what she called him. He kept staring at her with his red face, and he gave her a sad look.

"Pa.. Pancham Pan..." Pancham mumbled.

He reached his arms up for her to pick him up like he always did, and Melanie didn't mind it at all. She picked him up and sat him on top of her chest. Once he got comfortable, she opened up the jar again and gave him a few macrons to enjoy.

"There there, it was just a prank! You look funny and adorable when you blush though!" Melanie complimented.

"PAAAAN!" Pancham ignored what she said, and just focused his mind back into the macrons!

(Flashback End!)

"So all he basically eats are sweets?" Alex started cracking up!

"N-No! Well, I guess so... But I DO make sure he eats healthy though too." Melanie interrupted herself by laughing on that first part.

Alex then looked over to James, who couldn't help but chuckle himself.

"What about you bud? Any good stories? Or anything at all!?" Alex asked curiously.

James thought about that question for a while before finally replying,

"Well, there was that moment where I saved my Grovyle from a really creepy looking person. He was just a Treecko at first, but he wouldn't have gotten out of there alive if I hadn't have explored the forest route back in my home town!"

"Tell us!" Melanie demanded nicely, still giggling about her own story.

"Alright alright fine! Well then..." James started off.

(Flashback!)

Play Song!: (Littleroot Town - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=3sXqypTqUKY)

Another... Very... Peaceful... and hot summer day in Hoenn! The Region was filled with lots of different things to do and explore! Wether it was exploring towns, surfing the large ocean sea, catching Pokémon, or even battling to become the champion too! James was just outside in his backyard in Littleroot Town, hanging out by himself, and enjoying the sun beating down on him with the hot summer heat!

"I... Am, so BOOOOOOORED!" James complained.

He shouted out towards the sky with his hands behind his neck, lying down on the grass. He had nothing else to do, except planning on being lazy this summer. He just wanted to play video games inside of his house, in his room for one day, with no lights or anything... But his mother forced him to stay outside and do something different for a change!

"You know... You could explore the forest!" A voice next to him suggested.

It was his longtime preschooler friend, Kyle. He's known him for a couple of years, pretty much ever since he was just an infant!

"You know we're not allowed to leave the town, we don't have any Pokémon on us." James sighed, frustrated by that rule.

"Oh come on! We do it all the time, it'll be fun!" Kyle tried to motivate him into doing it.

"Well... Give me one good reason why I should go out there into the forest?" James asked.

"Um... Erm," Kyle stuttered, not ready to answer the question.

"Excactly..." James groaned.

"Let's just go to the gate and go on Route 101, then we can go into the forest, deal?" Kyle stuck his hand out.

James didn't want to be left here all day, so he just shook his friend's hand anyway.

"Let's go!" Kyle led the way.

He jumped the fence over James' backyard, and he made it outside. James followed him quickly, and jumped over it. He turned around to see if his mother was around, but thankfully she wasn't..,

"Alright let's go quick!" James whispered.

Both Kyle and James started speed walking to the gate of the town which led to Route 101! When they saw the gate, both of the kids started sprinting towards it! Once they got there, there was little kid that popped up out of the bushes.

"Hey! Stop!" The kid screamed at them.

She held out a Pokéball in her hand and crossed her arms, giving them both killer looks!

"Gah! What do you want Emily?" James asked the little girl.

"You're not allowed to pass this gate, especially you two..." Emily announced.

"Come on, let us through this one time!" Kyle tried getting through her head.

"Um... No!" Emily started giggling.

She regained her focus and was giving them a hard time.

"I'm just kidding! But seriously... Only James can go though, Kyle I'm so sorry!" Emily apologized.

Kyle looked heartbroken in defeat, he didn't expect her to say that to him. James noticed him looking a bit upset about it, so he walked up to him and patted him on the back.

"Don't worry about that, we'll go sneak out tonight alright?" He whispered into Kyle's ear.

Saying that instantly made Kyle happy again. Kyle just shrugged Emily off, and then started making his way in the other direction, walking to his house. James still felt bad for him... But he was also excited to go onto Route 101! Kids his age... Weren't allowed near the gate, because it's too dangerous. Battling without a Pokémon in the wild is very risky, so that's why it's not allowed.

"I trust you James, I know how much you love Pokémon and how much you wanna see and explore and study even, so go ahead my friend! Have fun!" Emily stepped aside, leaving the gate open for him.

James didn't feel nervous at all! He walked through the gate slowly, and eventually made it to the other side. He was finally... On Route 101!

Play Song!: (Route 101 - Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Music Extended: watch?v=gtjzrx5k0IY)

"Yes, finally! I've never been outside of the village in such a while." James smiled to himself.

He put his hands behind his head and strolled through the grassy Route, admiring the environment surrounding him. There were tons of Pokémon he's seen before, a lot of them caught his eye. Such as Poochyena, Zigzagoon, Wurmble, Lillipup, and even Sewaddle! He loved Pokémon a lot! Which made him want to explore places in the first place. The only thing he ever wanted to do was just study them and learn more about all of their species and behavior.

"Why can't my mom just take me to Slateport City... Then my uncle wouldn't mind me at all." James sighed again.

He walked through the grass and something popped up and jumped right out of the grass. It was a Lillipup, and it looked very friendly towards James, rather than angered.

"Lil! Lilli!" Lillipup cried.

James expected this to happen, and he caught Lillipup quick, smiling at the dog-like Pokémon!

"Hey there little guy!" James greeted the small creature.

He rubbed the creature's ears gently, and eventually worked his way to the back. James saw Lillipup wagging his tail pretty quickly, which put a large smile on his face! Soon after that, the Lillipup jumped from his arms and did a quick flip in the air. Once he did the flip, his body started glowing a bright purple void color, and the Lillipup transformed into a different Pokémon! The real form of the Lillipup was a Zorua!

"Zoorra! The mischievous Pokémon started to giggle at James.

"Woah! You changed appearances!" James gasped in amazement.

He found it really cool for a Pokémon to do that. The only one he knew that could do it, would have to be a Ditto.

"Wait... Are you a-" James stuttered next.

The Illusion creature giggled some more, before nodding his head at James.

"Z-Zzzooruaa" he started laughing out loud.

"Yeah! A Zorua! Wow... I've heard rumors of them being around here, but they're really rare too!" James told the Pokémon.

He picked him up slowly and he rested him in his arms. Once he did that, he started rubbing the little red fluff on his head. The Zorua's mouth was wide open, and he looked up at James. It seemed that the Pokémon was really enjoying the affection!

"Ruaaaa!" Zorua screamed in joy, wagging his tail rapidly again.

"You remind me a lot like an Eevee, heh... You're cute!" James mumbled to him.

Zorua's sky blue eyes widened, and he hugged James next, rubbing his head on his torso. As soon as James was about to ask the Zorua something, he heard a distant cry nearby. It sounded as if it came from a different part of the route, just next to them. James held onto Zorua and started exploring towards the voice. He ignored the route's path, pushing several bushes out of the way, as well as almost stepping on small Pokémon...

"I really hope I don't step on anyone!" He thought.

He carefully made his way through the bushes, confused about wether or not the grass was touching his legs, or small Pokémon. He ignored the thought of that, and he just continued pushing through. Once he made it across the trail of bushes in his path, he came upon a small opening in the forest he was in. The small opening was surrounded by lots of berry bushes, and it was well-lit from the sunlight above.

"Zoa?" Zorua noticed a small little green Pokémon lying on the ground. He pointed his paw towards the creature so that James could notice him as well.

"Huh?" James spoke softly.

He took a few steps towards the Pokémon and bent down beside it, trying his best to not startle it. The Pokémon didn't move at all, and James couldn't tell if it was asleep or injured. He turned it around so that it would face him instead, and it was covered in tons of leaves and vines. Without thinking, James took the leaves off of the creature's body, and he discovered that it was a Treecko! He lifted Zorua onto his shoulder, and he picked up the Treecko slowly.

"T-T-Tr..." The grass type groaned in pain.

James examined the gecko's body and noticed a small burn on it's backside. It looked like it was injured from the burn, so James didn't want to touch the mark on it's body.

"Oh no... You're burned! We gotta take you to Kyle, he knows exactly how to cure status conditions like these." James whispered silently.

He started running back the way he came and he immediately got the feeling as if someone were watching him!

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Where do you think you're goin'?" A voice yelled at him instantly.

He was startled from the sudden shout, and he took a couple of steps back, eventually returning to the opening again. There was a large bush rustling in front of him, so he backed away even further from it, not knowing what to expect. Once the bush stopped moving, an adult-like person jumped right out, scaring James again. The person looked as if she were an adult, she was a girl, and she was wearing a red uniform that looked like a sweater. The sweater was colored a dark cherry red, and it had a large 'M' symbol on the chest where the zipper was. She was also wearing a hood, which had yellow horns on the top of it, and it covered most of her face.

"W-Who're you?" James asked in fear, shaking a bit from the strange girl.

"Who am I? Let's just say... I'm a fiery magma grunt, looking for a Pokémon to take. That Pokémon you have there is mines, hand it over, or else I'll scorch you into ashes!" The girl demanded.

She started taking a few steps towards James, and she had a Pokéball in her hand, ready to throw at any moment!

"No way, he looks badly hurt, did you give him a burn?" James suddenly shouted back.

"Pfft... Who cares, the boss would probably promote me if I come to him with a Pokémon that can 'Special' Evolve, after it's third evolution! Give me the Treecko, or else I'll hurt you and your weak tea-" The girl started speaking again, but she stopped talking when she noticed Zorua sitting on his shoulders, giving her an angry look.

"A-A.. A Zorua!?" She sounded pretty surprised to see the dark purple rare creature right in front of her.

"Don't you even think about it!" James yelled out, he took Zorua off of his shoulders and held onto him tight.

"Give me that Zorua!" The girl commanded him again, she threw the Pokéball in her hand into the air, and a Slugma came right out instantly.

James didn't have any Pokémon at all to counter it, so the only thing that went on in his mind was "Run!". He started taking off in the other direction, but the girl stopped him by having Numel shooting an Ember attack at him. James looked back and saw the projectile being launched at him, bracing himself from being hit by the move. He felt Zorua breaking free from his grip, and the dark Pokémon jumped out of the way to counter the move with Dark Pulse! As soon as the two projectiles hit each other, they caused a huge explosion to occur! Leaving a lot of black smoke everywhere! This gave James a chance to get away from the grunt! He took the chance and ran back to Zorua, picking him up in the process. Then, he started running the other direction towards the way he came from, holding on tight to the two Pokémon in his arms.

"D-Don't worry guys! We'll be safe in no time!" James told them both.

Treecko was breathing pretty heavily, which worried James a bit, and Zorua was also feeling pretty tired already... James just kept on running and running away, not looking back at all! He just concentrated on getting out of there fast, and getting back to his hometown.

A couple minutes later...

At this point James was starting to get tired himself, he eventually made it back to Littleroot Town, exhausted from all the running. He came back to the gate, and walked right through it. Once he finally made it back home, it was the same as he remembered... Nobody seemed to mind him at all, but Emily wasn't there at the gate like she usually was.

"She's probably on break or something..." James mumbled.

He didn't wanna think about that right now though, all he cared about was Treecko... He searched the town for Kyle, and eventually spotted him just sitting on the ground.

"KYLE!" James shouted.

Kyle noticed his friend when he looked up, and had a smile on his face once he saw James return. But that smile quickly faded away when he also noticed that James was carrying a Treecko and a Zorua.

"What happened?!" Kyle asked in worry, not taking his eyes off of the Treecko.

"It's... *Pant* It's a long story! *sigh* C-Can you take care of this Treecko? I found it really hurt. I also found a Zorua, but we were attacked by some girl who wanted to take the Treecko for herself! She seemed like a bad person, so I didn't trust her from the start!" James explained everything to him.

"S-Sure! Yeah! Give it here, I'll patch it up. What's wrong with it anyways?" Kyle wondered.

"He has a burn on his back, a pretty big one... He looks like he's in a lot of pain, so try not to hurt it alright?" James whispered into his ear.

"Right away!" Kyle nodded, he turned the other direction and ran straight for his house.

"*Phew* Good... Now we're actually safe! Huh Zorua?" James sighed in relief.

He looked down at Zorua and saw him wagging his tail happily, the illusion Pokémon simply hugged James in return. James immediately had an idea popping up in his mind, so he started grinning towards Zorua and asked him a quick question,

"D-Do you w-want to come with me? Or live with me even? It'll probably be safer for you if you transform into a different Pokémon."

Zorua didn't have to think twice about that question, he jumped into the air doing that same flip pose... And then he transformed himself into a Squirtle!

"Squi! Squirt!" Zorua gave James his response.

James understood what he was trying to tell him, so he picked up Zorua and they both made their way over to Kyle's house!

(Flashback End!)

"Wait a minute! Your Wartortle isn't real?" Ales asked, he was shocked about James' story.

"Mhm, I trust you guys, so I figured I'd have to tell you two eventually... Come on out bud!" James laughed from his comment.

He grabbed his bag and took out an Ultra Ball. It was a different type of Pokéball, and it looked pretty cool. James pressed the button on the middle of the black and yellow ball, and this time, a dark purple color light raced right out of it!

"Waar!" Wartortle shouted.

He came right out and stood in the middle of the elevator, wondering why James called him out.

"Buddy? Can you change back into your normal form? I think it's time they finally know the truth about you!" James smiled down at him, while petting his shell.

Wartortle looked a little afraid about doing it, but he trusted his Trainer. He jumped up into the air and did a flip, being covered by that same purple light again. Once he landed back on the elevator floor, he revealed his true form, as a Zorua!

"Zorua!" The Pokémon cried in happiness.

He shook his fur off, and jumped right onto James' shoulder, getting himself comfortable.

"Awwh! So that's what a Zorua looks like!" Melanie couldn't help but find it an adorable Pokémon.

Alex took his Dex out and scanned Zorua really quick!

"Zorua, the Dark Type Illusion Fox Pokémon, To protect themselves from danger, they hide their true identities by transforming into Pokémon!" The Pokédex explained.

"Wow! I gotta say... Zorua are very very rare, you're lucky you found one! But how did you get it to go from a Squirtle to a Wartortle? You made it look like a real Water type!" Alex asked in amazement.

"Easy, Zorua has the power to transform into any Pokémon, and it can use one of its moves as well." James answered back.

Both Alex and Melanie were surprised and shocked to see a Zorua. They were tricked this whole time and they had no idea!

"Well still, that was a really cool trick you played on us! He looks powerful too! Based on those battles we had." Alex chuckled at his friend, while petting Zorua lightly.

"Heh... Well, at least you know him now. The only reason I kept him as a Squirtle is because a lot of Pokémon Hunters might take him away from me, and sell him to make money!" James sighed heavily.

"That's okay, we'll keep him safe regardless! We're all looking for each others backs!" Alex smiled.

"Mhm!" Melanie nodded in agreement, watching Eevee and Vulpix together.

James grinned at Alex's comment, feeling pretty good that he met him!

A couple of seconds later...

"BEEP!" A loud noise came from the elevator control panel.

The doors from the elevator opened, and there was another door behind it, with a keyhole on it. Alex led his friends out of the elevator, and went ahead and unlocked the door. Once he did that, they entered their room and they gasped at what they saw! The hotel room looked really cozy inside! It had a fireplace, a balcony with a nice view outside, a large HD Flatscreen TV, one bedroom with three large king sized beds, two showers, two bathrooms, a medium sized dining table, three large comfy couches to sit on, and even a Kitchen with a fancy looking Oven, and a large Refrigerator.

"Woaaah! Look how amazing this place looks!" Melanie gasped, excited.

"Yeah it is! We're going to be sleeping good tonight!" Alex agreed with her.

He looked at the fridge first and opened the door, and inside of it... Was filled with lots of food, and cakes too!

"This was really nice of Korrina," James exclaimed.

Eevee, Vulpix, and Zorua jumped off of Melanie and James, and they explored the place some more too! Braixen soon followed them after admiring the look of the main room. She took a Pokéball that was attached to Melanie's bag, and she walked away with it.

Several hours later...

Translation: (Poké-Language!)

Play Song!: (Luxury Spa Bath Time: Massage Music, Relaxing Songs, Tranquility Music Therapy: watch?v=QkZio6yLAmU)

"Ahh! This is the life!" Pancham moaned in relaxation.

He had his hands behind his head, and he was just in the hot tub that was in one of the bathrooms. It was a really large tub, and pretty much every Pokémon in the group were all enjoying theirselves. The only ones who weren't in the tub were Grovyle, Fletchinder, Vulpix, and Staravia.

"You said it!" Braixen sighed in relief.

She was enjoying herself sitting in the tub.

"Hey why don't you heat this tub up some more? It's starting to get cold a bit." Pancham started to complain.

"Don't start Panchy..." Braixen told him.

She grabbed her stick that was right next to her, and she lit it up with her mouth. She had it floating just above the tub, so that it would warm up the water slowly. Meanwhile Eevee was enjoying himself in the tub, but Vulpix didn't stay in very long. Being an Ice Type meant that she didn't like very warm water all that much. She just sat there on the ledge of the tub, wagging her tail happily. Bagon was lying on his back in the warm water, minding his own business.

"How come you three don't wanna come in and join us?" Pancham asked his friends.

"I'm fine, I can still feel the heat coming from that water... So either way, I'll just rest here." Staravia replied.

"Yep, what she said." Grovyle joined in.

"Yup!" Fletchinder agreed with them.

"Well, as long as you're enjoying yourselves then I guess we're all good..." Pancham smiled, closing his eyes next.

"Hehe..." A voice started giggling from behind him.

"CANNON BAAAALLL!" Zorua shouted, he suddenly jumped from the ledge of the tub and landed smack down on the middle of the water.

Except... He didn't do a cannon ball, he didn't expect himself to fall down so fast, so he accidentally performed a belly flop instead! He sunk underneath the water and waited a couple of seconds before returning back to the surface.

"AHHH!" Zorua screamed in pain.

He floated back up and looked like he was in a lot of pain from what he just did.

"Hah! Backfired!" Bagon started laughing.

Everyone else laughed at Zorua and doing that, made him feel embarrassed.

"Shut up!" Zorua yelled at everyone.

Soon after that, everyone just took the time to rest, closing their eyes and relaxing for once. It was really nice, enjoying the heat and feeling well rested. Nobody spoke a word, and nobody made a move... It was just simply peaceful!

"So..." Eevee whispered to Vulpix.

"So what?" Vulpix smiled down at him.

"What do you think of them? They're not that bad right? You'll get used to everyone." Eevee mumbled.

"Y-Yeah they all seem really nice, this feels a whole lot better than the labs. I like the heat sometimes... But not all the time." Vulpix whispered back, lying down.

She was blushing when she saw him swimming closer to her.

"What did they do to you back in the labs?" Eevee wanted to know more.

"You don't wanna know..." Vulpix sighed, thinking that this would be a bad idea to tell him.

"Please tell me, I'll keep it between us. You can trust me." Eevee swore on his heart.

He got out of the water and sat down next to her, desperately wanting to hear more.

"Alright, I trust you Eevee! Here's what they did..." Vulpix started off.

(Yet Another Flashback!)

Dark, cold, alone, afraid, and hungry... That was all she ever felt, locked up in her cage and wondering what was going on. Aether Labs... It was very dark down there, and all she heard were very loud noises coming from outside. The door was shut in her Icy cage, so it was pitch black. Next thing she knew was that the cage was suddenly shaking! Which terrified her a bit, the shaking didn't stop until after a while... But once it did, the door suddenly opened, and there was a bright flashing light that blinded her. She stayed in her cage, refusing to come out, but she felt herself being lifted out. She found herself outside of the cage, and there were bright flashing lights in the room.

"Ahh! My precious little Pokémon. The president would kill me if you're not alive to see her." Faba gave her a smirk.

"H-H-Huh?" Vulpix mumbled slightly.

She opened her eyes and got used to the lighting, and she saw Faba right in front of her. His hands were wrapped around her body, and he was holding her pretty tightly.

"Come now, we must feed and clean you up. You've been in your cage for the whole day already." Faba said.

He started walking to a different room and it was a kitchen, he set Vulpix down on the floor and started opening several cabinets, looking for food. Vulpix didn't know wether or not she should just run out and leave, but she felt a collar on her neck. Then she saw a remote device on his lab coat's belt, which made her shake a bit.

"W-What is this p-place?" Vulpix stuttered in fear.

After a couple of minutes of confusion, she looked up at Faba and saw him placing a food bowl in front of her. Vulpix examined the bowl for a quick second and was shocked by the way her food looked. It was mushy, and it was liquid-like too, the color on it was a whitish gray, and it resembled oatmeal a lot, but it smelled really bad.

"U-Ugh! T-That's food? I-Wanna go h-home." Vulpix started to cry.

She had no idea why she was here either... The last thing she remembered was being with her parents, brothers and sisters, back in Alola, on top of a mountain, in their icy home.

"EAT!" Faba shouted at the daydreaming Pokémon.

He was about to press the shock collar button on his belt, which made Vulpix shake even more in fear. It was enough to make her stuff her face into the food. It had a very sour taste, it was disgusting, and it didn't taste like any type of food at all. It almost made Vulpix vomit, but she knew that if she didn't eat it, then she would have to get shocked.

"Eww...!" Vulpix finished the food and stuck her tongue out, rubbing it spelt.

She figured that if she rubbed her tongue, than the taste would come off... But it didn't, it stayed there in her mouth, stinking up her breath. Vulpix didn't have a chance to look around or get herself to walk, she was just being carried by Faba.

Moments later...

The next thing she witnessed was herself being placed in an empty tub, in a bathroom.

"Now you stay there, and you'll stay in this tub, when I get back you better not be out of that tub... Cause if you are, I will shock you, understand me?" Faba yelled.

Vulpix nodded her head at him so he would go away already. He didn't leave without turning the faucet on, and he set the water to steaming hot.

"O-Oh no!" Vulpix groaned.

The hot water started filling the tub, and when it touched Vulpix's feet, she suddenly reacted to it. It didn't feel right to her at all, she enjoyed the cold... Not the warmth. It didn't hurt her, but she felt very uncomfortable sitting in hot water. Faba had already left, and Vulpix was ready to jump right out, and try and leave the room.

"No, I'm not doing this!" Vulpix screamed.

She jumped right out of the tub, and she started running outside of the bathroom. Once she exited, she saw the room's door, and her heart started pounding rapidly. All she did was just sprint to the door as fast as she could, hoping there would be an exit out of this room. She was just inches away from going past the door, but she felt the worst pain of all!

"BZZZZT!" The collar made a high pitched sound, shocking her for a couple of seconds.

"AAAAAAAUGHHH!" Vulpix screamed in pain from the electrical shock.

She couldn't stand up and she fell to the floor. Everything started blacking out and she was feeling fuzzy in her brain.

"Where do you think you're going? I haven't cleaned you up yet." Faba exclaimed.

"N-Nooooo!" Vulpix groaned in pain.

She tried to get back up to her feet, but it was no use. Her neck was hurting a lot, and she didn't feel herself. Her eyes started closing on their own, and everything went black slowly... She knew that this wouldn't be good for her...

(Flashback End!)

"They just fed me horrible disgusting mush, and gave me very hot baths... It was just, terrible..." Vulpix finished the flashback.

It made Eevee's heart hurt a bit hearing her story. He didn't speak a word at all, he just comforted her by giving her a quick hug.

"That all changed until you showed up, you and your friends saved me from those terrible people." Vulpix blushed again and smiled at him.

She hugged him back and licked him as a token of her gratitude.

"H-Huh!" Eevee blushed hard, after he felt her tongue licking his cheek.

"Thank you for that, I know I can trust you now." Vulpix mumbled to him.

Eevee smiled back at her, and they continued to embrace each other, not caring about anything else. They saw their friends falling asleep, and it was basically just the two of them awake. Eventually, they decided to join the rest, and they closed their eyes... Taking a restful nap!

(Poké-Language off!)

"That was a very good dinner Melanie, you sure know how to make the best tomato soup I've ever eaten." Alex complimented her cooking.

"T-Thank you Alex!" Melanie blushed from the compliment.

All three friends were sitting at the dining table, finishing up their food for dinner. They were eating a very delicious soup that Melanie made, and they didn't worry at all for Aether either. They stayed there all night, and the storm finally cleared away. Then, all three of them started cleaning up the table, taking their bowls and plates to the sink. After that, James felt like he was getting a little tired after the long day they had.

"Well, this was really nice!" James yawned.

They were sitting on the couch, watching random television channels, a little tired.

"Going to bed then?" Melanie asked him.

"Yeah, I'm tired... Where are the Pokémon at?" James wondered.

"They're all sleeping already, they're just in the hot tub." Alex answered his question.

"They're still in there? Did they eat already?" James asked again, a little worried.

"Yeah, I gave them their food pellets and bowls in the bathroom, they're fine... Just relax and go to bed." Alex told him.

"Alright fine!" James yawned again, as he started making his way towards the bedroom.

He left Melanie and Alex alone together on the couch, and they didn't speak a word to each other at all. A certain image popped up in Melanie's head, and she gave Alex a funny smile.

"W-What?" Alex asked curiously, thinking about what she was going to ask him.

"We never got to eat that chocolate cake, and I bet you Braixen will kill you for not brushing her tail tonight." Melanie giggled at him.

"We'll eat cake in the morning, and I'll do all that stuff in the morning too... What's for breakfast?" Alex asked back, laughing a bit.

"Oh shut up! I'm tired alright?" Melanie sighed.

She didn't wanna think about cooking breakfast now... She just shrugged it off and pretended that he never asked her that in the first place. Alex looked outside and saw the balcony door open, an idea popped up in his head and he asked Melanie,

"Hey, do you wanna go outside to the balcony and look outside?"

Melanie nodded her head pretty quickly to that question, they both got up from the couch and made their way over to the balcony door. Once they reached it, they went outside and admired the view that they had. They were pretty high up, and they saw several cities lit up in the night sky.

"Wow!" Both of them spoke at the same time.

They saw the lights coming from Lumiose City, as well as Shalour City too. It was quite a beautiful sight seeing the forests and cities lit up.

"I think that's Shalour town just down there, it's pretty far." Melanie pointed towards the city.

"Yeah, I think you're right! I can't wait to go there and see what I'm gonna see. I think that's where my third gym badge is located at." Alex smiled to himself.

They both sat down on the balcony's floor, and they rested for a bit. They sat close together, and they didn't say a word after that... Melanie was too busy thinking about other things that were currently going on, such as Aether for example.

"What's wrong?" Alex said to her, noticing her worried face.

She waited a while before replying back by saying,

"Oh nothing... Just thinking about Aether, and what I should dream of doing while I'm with you guys."

She sighed next after saying that, and she closed her eyes, and looked down.

"Don't worry about Aether, we'll be fine I promise. I won't let anything happen to us... I promise." Alex promised.

"Thank you Alex, I've never met anyone as nice as you." Melanie smiled back, and opened her eyes again.

She tucked back a piece of hair that was sticking out behind her ear, and she blushed lightly in front of him.

"N-No problem!" Alex stuttered, he blushed from seeing her do that.

There was something about it that made his heart race slowly, he didn't know the feeling, but he enjoyed it quite a bit.

"And I don't know what my dream should be..." Melanie started off.

Alex took the opportunity to take out his Kalos map again from his bag, and he opened it up. He looked at it for a while longer before finding the perfect thing for her to go after.

"Here it is! Why not be a Pokémon Performer?" Alex suggested.

"What's that?" Melanie wondered about it.

"Says here that Pokémon Performers compete for Princess Keys, using beautiful moves from their Pokémon, and they focus on making dance routines, and contests too. It's kind of like Pokémon Contests almost... Why not go and aim for being Kalos Queen?" Alex explained what they were.

"That actually... Does sound like fun! I'll think about it. Thanks for suggesting that." Melanie grinned at the idea.

She did have the Pokémon to do those kind of things, so she thought about it a little further.

"I-I think I'll try that! It sounds like fun!" Melanie answered back happily.

"Good, you should aim for it then! I think you can do it, I know you can! Just like me, I'm trying to become the Champion." Alex smirked at her.

"Good, then we'll both have a dream to follow." Melanie giggled next.

Soon after that, both of them yawned together at the same time, feeling pretty tired already.

"Well, wanna get to bed then?" Melanie asked.

"I think I'll stay out here for a bit longer, I just need to think about what I'm going to do for my third gym battle." Alex answered.

"Well, alright then... Suit yourself! I'm off to bed okay? Goodnight Alex." She replied, getting up and walking back inside slowly.

"Goodnight Melanie." Alex smiled again.

She went off to bed and that left Alex sitting alone outside.

"She's... She's... She's awesome..." Alex blushed, mumbling those words to himself.

He stayed out there for a good fifteen minutes or so, and he started thinking about his next gym. He couldn't wait for the day tomorrow, along with many more adventures to come their way!