The next morning….
To Kevin's surprise, sleep had crept up on him almost immediately after letting Loneliness into his bed. Soon, morning had come, the early rays of the sun shining down on the two sleeping Pokemon. Kevin was having a nice dream in particular where he was challenging Leon for the title of Pokemon Champion. He had taken out his Pokeball and was about to throw it when his brain popped up with an unfriendly reminder in the form of his mother going out to the middle of the pitch and shouting at him for (somehow) bringing strangers into the stadium.
Shoot! His mother!
Eyes shooting open, Kevin bust out of bed and looked around for any signs of his mothers
To Kevin's relief, there was no sign of her.
One thing was clear, however. He had a lot of explaining to do.
He quickly hovered over to the desk, on top of which he had put his cards when he had gone to bed for the night. He pulled out several blanks from his folder, designed for any situation not usually covered by his cards, then started doodling for his life. Soon, he had drawn several pictures which he considered to be important for this situation. They were crude drawings in the sense that they looked like the doodles of a 2-year-old – but they were recognizable, and that was all that mattered.
Leaving Loneliness to his sleep, Kevin went into his mother's room and started to rouse her from her sleep.
"Phantump…Phantummmmp…" he said in his attempt to wake his mother.
But she just groaned, trying to pull her duvet up around her body.
"Not now, Kevin…" she mumbled sleepily.
Kevin sighed. He didn't want to do this, but he had been forced to show his hands.
Quite violently, Kevin pulled the duvet away from her.
Catherine's eyes remained shut as her hands tried to seek out the duvet, only opening when she failed in this regard.
"Kevin…" she said groggily, eyes squinting as she turned to look at the alarm. "But it's only…"
Kevin dumped several cards onto his mother's bed. Then, he left the room for a second. When he came back, what Catherine saw was…an unpleasant sight to say the least.
There, rubbing its eyes in front of her, was a Drifloon. It looked harmless, but she had heard the old folk tales of them taking children into the afterlife. And after what had happened to Kevin, she was inclined to believe them.
"GAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" she screamed, jumping out of the bed she was sleeping in. Cursing herself internally for not checking the security system last night, she took the opportunity to glare at the Drifloon.
"Kevin, what is this Pokemon doing here?! It could have taken you in the night! Or worse!"
Kevin just pointed to the cards on the bed again. The one he was pointing at in particular was a picture of the Pokemon with a "Thumbs Up" card. Then, Kevin pointed to one which showed the Pokemon with a sad look on its face. Finally, he pointed to a third card, which seemed to be a picture of the Pokemon looking sad whilst a flock of them were in the distance.
Despite the crude art of the pictures, Catherine realized what was happening. This Pokemon wasn't seeking trouble. It was only looking for its friends.
"….very well, but if it tries to kill you, you do have your knife for safety."
Kevin nodded in relief. Well, that went surprisingly well.
Problem resolved, Catherine decided to get out of bed. "Well, I suppose now that I'm up, do you want breakfast?"
Kevin shook his head, hoping that his mother would understand.
She did, but she wouldn't have any of it.
"…I'm sorry Kevin, but you need to get some food in you! I don't want you starving on your first day as a Pokemon trainer after all. So please, let me make you your breakfast okay? Then you can go."
Kevin sighed and gave Loneliness a sympathetic look. Maybe they should have gone off in the dead of night. That would have been a lot quicker.
"Right, we need to get to the Pokemon Lab as fast as possible!" said Kevin, still trying to stuff down his food as he and Loneliness floated past Postwick and beyond Wedgehurst. The sight below them was pretty, but there was no time for gawking.
Loneliness looked visibly worried. "Do you think they've headed on without us?" Said the Drifloon, fidgeting with his limbs.
"Hopefully not! They can't have gone that far." Replied Kevin, internally pleased that he was able to avoid the tons of luggage that his mother tried to give him before he headed off, although he was aware that that meant he would have to go back for said luggage or there was no way he would be going on a Pokemon journey at all.
Thankfully, the trip was brisk, although Kevin was aware that it was because no trainers had come out yet to train.
Kevin as he floated down to the Professor's house. The house in question was a big blue coloured house, the sort of place that you would expect someone of decent enough wealth to have lived in. In front of it was a battlefield. Surprisingly, Hop was already there, pacing to and fro at the front of the house with a level of morning vitality that Kevin could only dream of as he floated down towards him.
"Hey, Hop!" said Kevin as he floated to the entrance.
Upon Kevin's presence, Hop brightened even more.
"Kevin! So you've come down to get officially endorsed, aren't you?"
"Partially."
"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion.
"Well, I'm looking for a flock of Drifloon!"
"You are! Well, I didn't see any on my way up, but if I do find them on my journey, I'll let you know."
"Oh Yeah…." Said Kevin. Behind him, Loneliness visibly deflated like a depressed balloon.
Hop finally noticed that Loneliness was behind Kevin.
"You must be a Drifloon. Cool! I heard about your species. Don't you take children…"
"Oh, no. That's just a folk tale." Said Loneliness, his voice not showing much enthusiasm in it. "We're too light to carry anyone. Although I have heard of some who've tried."
It was during this that the door finally opened and Professor Magnolia exited. Evidently, she had only just got up, as she was still wearing her pyjamas. Despite this, she already had an alert look on her face, as if this was a natural occurrence to her. I suppose that happens when you research Pokemon that are only active during the morning. Thought Kevin as she walked over to them.
"Hello there. I see that my mysterious guests have come to me to get endorsed and to get their starter Pokemon."
The duo nodded.
"….I suppose that you're both aware that you're very special cases. Indeed, you're probably the first of your kind to ever attempt this, especially in Galar. Be aware that it took a lot of effort on your parents' part to even allow you to try for this. As such, we expect you to at least make good headway on this journey."
Kevin again nodded. Quite frankly, this was causing some unwanted pressure on top of him, but he couldn't do anything about it. At least, not right now.
With that in mind, Magnolia took out three Pokeballs from her pocket. "I'm aware with Hop that he already has a partner Pokemon so I won't give him one. However, you don't, so I'll give you the choice. Come on out, everyone!"
Immediately, she launched the three Pokeballs in the air. What came out was a triad of starters. There was a small blue one who responded to the new surroundings by cowering in place, a small green one with a stick who immediately climbed up the nearest tree to tap on it with a stick, and a long-eared one which started energetically dashing around the place, leaving trails of ember as it did so. Kevin immediately recognized them as being that of a Scorbunny, Sobble, and Grookey, which were your typical starters for youngsters in Galar.
"Hi, I'm Scorcher." said the Scorbunny, running back to Magnolia.
"Bubbles" whimpered Sobble.
"And Rook," concluded Grookey, hopping from the tree back down onto the ground.
"And we're your potential new starters!" they said in unison (although Bubbles was a lot quieter saying it than the others).
Kevin stared at the starters for a little while. They looked adorable, but there was something he needed to ask before he could make a choice.
He beckoned the Drifloon to come closer to him, then gave a card to Magnolia. It was a picture of a flock of Drifloon, with a question mark placed over it.
Magnolia frowned, then stared at the Drifloon for long enough that Kevin swore that he could see the gears turning in her head. Then…
"If you're looking for Drifloon, I did see a small group of them earlier today, but they were already in the distance. It was a couple of hours beforehand though. If you wanted to catch some, it would probably take the entire day at least to catch up on them..."
From the corner of his eye, Kevin saw the Drifloon deflate even further. He knew he couldn't leave Drifloon like that. From his book, he had read that Drifloons shouldn't be left alone for long periods, being too weak to take on stronger Pokemon. If he left, it would be swept up by the wind and promptly preyed on by bigger Pokemon of the sky. There was a reason they stayed in packs after all.
It was then that he made his decision.
He pointed to the Drifloon, then himself, hoping that she would understand his gestures.
Luckily for him, she did, for she looked at him with alarm.
"Are you sure," she said. "You are aware that if you take that Drifloon on as a starter, then you forfeit the normal starter. We don't want to give a trainer an abnormal advantage over others, after all…"
This just made the Phantump more determined as he pointed harder at the Drifloon. The Professor sighed.
"Well, if that's what you want." Rummaging through her pockets, she pulled out another Pokeball. "Here's a spare Pokeball for you to capture him. Though I will admit, it is certainly an interesting starter choice…"
Kevin nodded happily as he took the Pokeball and aimed it at Loneliness.
"You ready, Loneliness."
Loneliness was visibly surprised at the gratitude that this person he only knew for a night was giving him, but he accepted nonetheless. "I suppose I'll be as ready as I'll ever be..."
Then, he pressed the button on the capturing device. Soon, he was converted into blue energy which entered the Pokeball. Twice, the Pokeball shook, before it clicked with a satisfying sound.
Picking up the Pokeball, Kevin let Loneliness out.
"Yes, I've got my first Pokemon!" exclaimed Kevin as he took in Loneliness.
Loneliness was less enthusiastic, however, which Kevin had expected due to his situation.
"Yeah, I suppose…"
Then, Magnolia spoke up.
"Well, now that you've made some new friends, I think it's time to get you endorsed, which means it's time for a Pokemon battle! That way, this will go a long way to prove that you're proper Pokemon trainers who have the skills needed."
Soon, the two trainers had taken their space in the field outside. Hop looked raring to go, moving his hand over his Pokeball in anticipation.
"Listen Kevin. I've read every book and magazine that my brother left at home. I've also watched every single match that which he's participated. When you mix that with my ability to speak with Pokemon, I'm well prepared to win."
Kevin retorted back. "Well, maybe, but I've read a lot more than you on the dealings of Pokemon and can also talk to Pokemon, so I'm just as prepared as you."
As Kevin spoke, Loneliness entered the field from his position beside Kevin, clearly looking for a fight.
"Let us fight." He said, spindly limbs positioned in a way that said "Bring It" to his opposition.
Hop threw his Pokeball. The creature which had come out was white and fluffy, with stout legs and small horns.
It was Billy, Hop's childhood Pokemon friend.
Immediately, Billy began pawing at the ground, his horns aimed at Loneliness.
"You're going down, Drifloon." He said in a braying sort of voice.
Then…
"Umm, Boss? I don't think I know any moves to knock down a Ghost-type Pokemon…"
It was at this point that Hop realized that there was nothing he could do to beat this Drifloon. Unless…
"No, you're wrong. I taught you Payback recently, remember?"
Billy dwelt on it for a minute. Then…
"Oh, yeah…" he replied as his horns glowed dark and energy rings began to form around them.
Internally, Kevin began to panic. This was bad! He knew what Dark-type moves did to Ghost-types! Unless….
"Loneliness! Use Gust!"
Loneliness began flapping his limbs, which generated strong breezes of wind. Wooloo's attack was disrupted as he was swept into the air by the wind. Then, he was slammed against the ground.
Kevin smirked as he saw Billy already struggle to get up. However, that soon changed upon seeing Billy's horns begin to glow black again.
"Loneliness, keep using Gust! Make sure he doesn't get up."
Immediately, Loneliness kept creating hurricanes with his hands, slamming them repeatedly down on the poor Pokemon. After several rounds of this, Billy just didn't get up, instead lying on the ground with spiral eyes.
"Wooloo is unable to battle!" announced Magnolia as Hop returned his Pokemon. "That means that Kevin wins."
"Wooooo!" said Kevin as he charged up and hugged Loneliness. "We did it! Yeah!"
Under him, Kevin felt Loneliness flinch a little before returning the hug.
"Yeah, I guess I did…."
"Well, that was excellent, you too." Said Magnolia, watching the two. "I say you have the skills needed to be Pokemon trainers."
Hop dug into his folder of cards, pulling a card with a Question mark on it before pointing to himself.
"Yes, even you, Hop. I must say, teaching your Pokemon a TR move is a good sign of a trainer covering for their weaknesses. I will give you both your recommendations and hurry you along. Please make us glad."
The two nodded, glad that they were about to become Pokemon trainers.
As they were about to leave, however, they were stopped by Magnolia.
"Wait! Before you go, I should tell you that you need a Pokedex to help you explore the world. They're currently with my granddaughter Sonia in Wedgehurst. Don't forget to grab them before you head off! Also…."
Magnolia handed out two bands. As Hop and Kevin clicked them onto their wrists, Magnolia provided an explanation.
"These bands are designed to let your Pokemon dynamax in battles. I figured that considering how little we know about Dynamaxing, you two would help gather information about it on your journeys. After all, you are certainly not your typical Pokemon trainers, right up to your starters…"
"Thanks," said Kevin, although he knew that Magnolia wouldn't understand him.
"Anyway, it was nice having you around. Have a nice journey!" said Magnolia as she waved goodbye to the newly minted trainers.
"So what are you going to do now Hop?" said Kevin as they went to Wedgehurst.
"Well, I will probably meet my brother at the train station. He's pretty bad with directions so I need to get him back home." Replied Hop. "Although you know I'm gonna start participating in the Gym Challenge afterwards."
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too. I'll catch you as soon as I see my mother," said Kevin as he floated on past Hop. In the corner of his eye, he could see Loneliness trail behind him.
He turned to face him.
"Loneliness, we're going to find your family soon. I just need to say goodbye to the mother and then we can head off to find your family."
This did not help lift the spirits of Loneliness as Kevin expected, so he held his hands.
"Loneliness, we will find your family. I promise you that."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
