"What an enjoyable battle," Alex grinned, holding out her Mega Ring so it would catch the sunlight. "Even Combee and Flabebe evolved! I wonder who I could mega evolve..."

"Absol," Robert pointed out. "That is, if she decides to get along with you. She still doesn't seem that keen."

"Oh, yeah," Alex looked at Absol's pokeball, then let the Dark type out. "Alright girl, let's walk together. Deepen our friendship."

Absol huffed and began walking further ahead, causing Alex to groan.

I stopped, looking back at Shalour City. We were heading towards Route 12 now, a new day awaiting us. The only damage brought upon by the Cult of Chaos was done to the Tower of Mastery. Thanks to Diantha, the tsunami was stopped before it hit shore. Eyewitness accounts said she and her Gardevoir stood atop the tower, mega evolving her Gardevoir who then used her psychic powers to stop the wall of water.

Strangely, no one mentioned anything about the Cult, but that might be for the better. As far as we knew, Diantha hasn't brought them to the public eye yet, but she definitely wasn't just sitting around. Not after what happened here.

"C'mon Zeno," Robert called back to me. "Alex and Absol have gone ahead. That Dark type's being a pain and running ahead!"

"Heh," I focused my attention away from Shalour. "Yeah, I'm coming."

I hurried to catch up and saw Alex shouting at Absol, who was now laying down, refusing to get up from the shade of a tree.

"Ugh," I heard Alex groan. "How are we supposed to bond if you don't want to even try?"

Absol yawned and stared at the flowing river close by that fed into the ocean.

Robert decided that the best course of action was to sit on the opposite side of the tree. "How are we going to cross?"

"I dunno," I stared at the river, not shallow enough for us to cross on foot.

Alex gave up on trying to get Absol up and sat down next to her, stroking the Dark type's white fur. Absol closed her eyes, seeming to enjoy the feeling.

"I got it!" Robert announced after a few minutes, startling both Alex and Absol, the latter growling at Robert.

He stood and held up a pokeball. "I know how we're going to get across!"

"How?" Alex asked, brushing off her shorts.

He grinned. "Just watch."

He clicked his pokeball, aiming at the river. The water bubbled and his Snorlax bobbed to the surface, floating with his belly up. Robert hauled himself onto his Pokemon's large belly and waved us over.

"C'mon," he said. "There's plenty of room up here."

"The heck?" Alex looked like the world had turned upside down. "We're going to surf... on a Snorlax!?"

"Hah," I joined Robert, accepting his hand to pull me up. "Feels like Kanto now."

"This is so weird," Alex said once she and Absol were aboard.

"Yo, Snorlax," Robert tapped the Pokemon's head. "Do a backstroke. Nice and gentle does it."

Snorlax yawned and began moving his large arms lazily, moving us closer to the other side of the river. Once we were a foot away, we all leaped off. Robert was the last and once he was on solid footing, he returned Snorlax.

"Thanks man," Robert tapped the pokeball affectionately. "I knew that would work."

"My life is a lie," Alex sighed. "Let's just go."

...

After a while, when the sun had passed the middle of the sky, we had reached a port town. Many boats of various sizes were docked at several piers, sailors either working on them or carrying crates. On a pier where there were no boats were several fishermen, lines tossed in the water, metal buckets at each of their sides. People lounged on the beach while others were walking on the sidewalks, some having ice cream.

"This feels nice," I commented, watching the Wingulls fly in from the ocean as a cool breeze filtered by.

"Coumarine City," Robert said. "The Port side that is. The main city is only accessible by train."

"Where's the gym located?" Alex asked.

"The main city," Robert answered.

"Let's get going then," I said. "The sooner we can get the gym over with the sooner we can get to the Power Plant. It is right after Coumarine City, right?"

"That's right," Robert said, folding his map up.

"The station is over there," Alex pointed down a street. "Wanna race, Absol?"

Absol growled slightly, looked uninterested, then shot forwards.

"No fair!" Alex shouted, but smiled as she ran after her Pokemon.

"They're getting along better now," I remarked.

"Sure are," Robert agreed. "You know, I should be catching more Pokemon. Getting data down from seeing them is good and all, but Professor Juniper might want some actual Kalos Pokemon."

"Hey," I said. "Why exactly aren't you doing the League? Wouldn't battling be valuable data?"

He shrugged. "I don't know really. I loved Alola and it's Island Trials, and I was eager to do actual gym battles, but I guess I just grew out of it. It just didn't appeal to me anymore, y'know?"

"Yeah," I nodded. "I get you. You trying to become a Professor? Is that why you became Professor Juniper's assistant?"

"I don't know actually," Robert said, giving a small smile. "I've been trying different things over the past six months and I'm still unsure of what I really want to do. Maybe it is to become a Pokemon Professor, I don't really know yet."

I clasped his shoulder as we neared the station, where Alex and Absol were waiting. "Well, I'm rooting for you. Whatever awaits you in your future, I would love to be there to see it."

"Thanks," Robert grinned. "But, aren't you going to settle down with Jesse, James, and Meowth after the Kalos League is over?"

Alex looked curious as well, so I answered, "It may sound like I'm copying you, but I don't know either."

I unclipped Frogadier's pokeball and looked at it. "I started this journey for him. I may have other reasons for being here now, but he is still the main reason. When he's... gone, I don't know what I'll do."

I looked up at the both of them. "Though, so far, despite everything we have to deal with, this journeying with you both and our Pokemon has been fun. It reminds me so much of our time in Alola. After I beat the Kalos league, continuing journeying with you two is an option I'm considering."

"Really?" Alex looked surprised, but a big smile spread across her face. "Well, we gotta make this one heck of a run through Kalos then if we want to keep you then."

Robert laughed. "True that, but you may have to count me out."

"Why?" Alex and I both asked.

"I've said it before," he said. "I don't know what I want to do. I will return to Unova to bring all my data to Professor Juniper, but after that I have no idea what I might be doing or thinking of doing."

"Then," Alex grinned confidently. "We'll just have to go to Unova with you. See what that region has to offer."

"Maybe," Robert said. "Hey, let's see when the train leaves."

We located a schedule for train departure times and found that one would be leaving in just twenty minutes.

"It's the soonest one," Alex rubbed her chin. "It'll also take longer than others since we'll be going the scenic route."

"What about the next soonest time?" I asked, studying the time board for myself.

Alex shook her head. "By then we'll likely be at the main city."

"Fine," I sighed. "The wait on the train is going to kill me."

I looked at Robert. "Do you have Clemont's number on there."

"Yeah," Robert said, pulling out his Holo Caster. "You want me to ask where he and the others are currently?"

I nodded. "Tell them that we'll be looking for them at the Power Plant. If something goes down before we get there, I'll feel better knowing Ash will handle it. At least until we can arrive."

"If not," Alex shrugged. "Ash and the others will get all the glory."

"I wouldn't mind that actually," Robert began typing furiously. "The less we have to deal with the better."

"Agreed," I scanned the area for the ticket booth. "Let's get our tickets before the train leaves without us shall we?"

...

Once the train got going, I let Frogadier out, who gazed at the ocean outside the window. Alex, who sat across from me, was playing with Floette, who floated around Alex's head playfully. Robert had joined in with Frogadier, except that he was looking for sea Pokemon.

I, too awake to even try to rest, glanced around our car. There were four other people in here with us, two of which sat only a few seats away. The guy looked to be in his twenties with his hair and clothes looking like they were straight out of an 80's rock band. His hair was long and big, white and black with spikes, a ponytail going behind him and his bangs going to his right. The girl, I assumed was his younger sister who looked 15ish, with a short pink dress with a black leather jacket over it. Her black bangs were cut on her left side and grew longer on her right, like her brother's. Both wore chokers and a Pikachu-like Pokemon sat in the girl's lap, eating from a packet of nuts.

The other two in the cabin consisted of an old man who appeared to be sleeping in the far corner, his cane resting on his lap, his head bald. Curled up on the seat next to him was a blue skinny framed Pokemon that I had never seen before.

The last person was a guy in his twenties with short black hair, wearing typical tourist clothes, who was staring right at me. He looked away, propping his elbow on the table to hide his face with his hand. I narrowed my eyes. He reeked of suspicion, but of what I did not know. In the mere second I could see his face, I thought I detected a hint of fear. I decided that if I ignored him, we wouldn't have to meet.

Not long later, I was lost in thought, staring at the window, when a bloodcurdling scream pierced through the train. I jerked back as Frogadier jumped awake from where he lay next to me. We all turned as the guy that had been watching me earlier opened the door that led to another car, then he stumbled backwards, falling on his butt.

"Body," I heard him say, then louder. "He's dead!"

I shot to my feet as the brother and sister near us turned around in their seats to look. From where I was, I stared over the guy and into the little hallway between cars. In that space, next to an open door which I assumed was the bathroom, was a man wearing a business suit. A briefcase lay next to him, sitting in a pool of blood.

"So much for a peaceful train ride," I heard Robert mutter as I got closer to the body. The man who had fallen on his butt was looked in shock as I passed, but I figured he would be fine. On the other side of the hallway, in the other car was a woman, being held by a man, probably her husband, as she stared, frightened at the dead man. She was the one who screamed then.

I knelt close to the dead body, recognizing him to be freshly dead. Having seen, no, killed a lot of people myself, I knew when a dead body was fresh. I didn't see a stab wound on his front, so I assumed the wound was on his back somewhere.

"That doesn't look good," Alex said from behind me.

I nodded. "It doesn't."

I looked up at the man holding his wife. "Do you know this man?"

He was middle-aged and was probably unaccustomed to being ordered by a teenager, but nonetheless said, "No, but he was in our car. I didn't even realize he had left to the bathroom."

"Did you see anyone else enter or leave the bathroom?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No."

"Dang," I stood, rubbing the back of my head. "Ask everyone else in your car. Make sure no one leaves. Don't let anyone in from other cars either."

He looked like he might argue, but nodded, helping his wife into a seat. I turned to face everyone in my car, all staring at me, except for the guy I was suspicious of earlier.

"Alright," I said. "This isn't a good situation. Someone's been murdered and the murderer could've been anyone."

"This is when you really need the police," the guy with the weird white and black hair groaned.

"Oho," the old man walked forwards, cane atop his shoulder. "I can help with that."

He grabbed at his skin and tore it away, revealing a dashing man beneath, wearing a brown trench coat. With dark brown hair and brown eyes, he adopted a grim smile.

"It is I," he announced, the Pokemon that had been sleeping next to him now standing at his side, one hand on his hip. "Looker of the International Police, with Inteleon as my trusty partner. Do not worry, this case will be solved quickly and no one else will come in harm's way."

I could've made this longer, I know, but I'm saving that for Part 2 of this. Dunno when I'll get that up, but here's to hoping it's soon. I hope you all are enjoying the story so far and aren't bored. I do try and keep you guys on your toes. That's it for now. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Toodles