"Okay, Chespie, use Tackle!" Shauna immediately shouted and Chespin immediately started running towards Felix. The latter quickly looked at Adele and said, "Quick Adele, say a move!"
"Oh, yeah," said Adele, realizing that she was supposed to be instructing Felix and quickly remembered what moves Felix knew at that moment. She remembered that the Pokedex had shown three different moves, Scratch, Tail Whip and Ember and Adele wondered which one would be the best. Even though she couldn't remember all the type advantages and disadvantages, she knew that Fire was really effective against Grass, so she said, "Felix, use Ember!"
"Yeah!" Felix barked and blew a small fireball towards Chespin. It hit Chespin in the face and made her fall to the ground. "Oh no, Chespie!" Shauna exclaimed in alarm, but then took a determined stance. "Chespie, let's not be distracted by a little fire! Use the Tackle again!"
"O-okay," Adele heard Chespie mutter and felt a little sorry for the little Pokemon. Especially when she said again, "Felix, use Ember again!" Felix nodded and blew another small fireball towards Chespin. It hit her in the face again and made her fall to the ground. And this time she didn't get up again, but lay on the ground.
"Chespin is unable to battle, so the winner is Adele!" Calem announced and Adele looked surprised. "I... won?" she said slowly and Felix jumped excitedly. "Yay, we won! We were really good, right, Adele?! Right?!" he exclaimed, wagging his fluffy tail excitedly. Adele looked at him with a smile. "I guess we were," she said, nuzzling Felix's warm fur.
Chespin, who had recovered and sat up, looked a little disappointed. Shauna noticed it and crouched down next to her Pokemon. "Don't worry, Chespie. I'm sure you'll win your next match," she told her and Chespie looked at her hopefully.
"Ches?" (Really?) she said and although Shauna didn't understand her the way Adele did, she got the gist. "Indeed. Because together we're going to be really strong!" Chespie smiled happily after hearing that.
"Great match, although I would have added a little more dancing!" Tierno suddenly exclaimed and Trevor nodded too. "Yep. And it's easy for you guys to head on over to the first Gym now. Which reminds me, you should register as soon as you get to the Pokemon Center."
"Thanks, but I don't think the Gyms are for us," Shauna said happily with Chespie now in her arms, but Adele looked confused. "Register?" she said, and Felix also looked questioning.
"Yeah, if you're going to challenge Gyms, you need to register as an official Gym Challenger," explained Calem and Shiro in his arms nodded. "You can do that at any Pokemon Center. I think the closest one is in Santalune City."
"Oh, I see," Adele said thoughtfully. A Gym challenge, huh? She wondered if she should register for that? She hadn't thought about the Gym Challenge or becoming a Champion, but it might be fun to try it. "I'll try to remember that then."
"Great!" Shauna said and Calem nodded. Then it was time for everyone to disperse in different directions. Calem and Shauna decided to head towards Route 2, while Tierno and Trevor decided to stay a while longer in Aquacorde Town. Adele, on the other hand, decided to go home to deliver the brown envelope to her mother and say goodbye. She didn't know how, but for some reason she was suddenly more tempted to go.
"Hey Adele?" Felix said as they walked along Route 1 towards Adele's home. Adele, who had been browsing her new Pokedex, lifted her gaze from the device and turned her eyes toward a small fox Pokémon. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure," Adele replied, wondering what Felix was wondering. "You can ask me anything."
"Well then," Felix said and took a breath. Then he said quickly, "How do you understand what I'm saying? No other human has understood my speech, but you do. Are you a magician?"
"Heh, no," Adele said, smiling slightly at Felix's confused expression. "But the truth is, I don't really know how I can understand Pokémon all of a sudden myself. I just woke up this morning and realised that I understood what my mother's Fletchling said to me. I don't know, understanding Pokemon speech must be a bit of a superpower."
"Wow, okay," said Felix, eyes round and wagging his fluffy tail. "I wonder if I'll wake up tomorrow and realize I have some kind of superpower, too. I've always wanted to be able to fly, so wings would be nice!" He leapt into the air, apparently imagining he could fly, and Adele giggled.
"But you already have superpowers!" she laughed and Felix looked at her in amazement. "You can breath fire! And I've heard that if you ever evolve into a Delphox, you'll be able to control all sorts of psychic powers too. Think about it."
"Yeah, but it's not the same thing," Felix grumbled. "I've been able to breathe fire almost since I was born, so I don't think it's all that amazing. And superpowers are amazing, not the usual boring stuff!"
"Maybe so," Adele said with a smile, but in her mind she was thinking of a dream she had had before she woke up. She remembered the voice, but wondered who had said it. The voice had been very beautiful, so Adele decided that on her future journey she would listen carefully to every singer or other beautiful-sounding person she heard. Perhaps it would help to unravel the mystery of the voice.
The journey from Aquacorde Town had passed very quickly and before Adele knew it, she had arrived in the courtyard of her home. Everything seemed to be as normal as it always was, but Adele noticed that Felix seemed to be watching everything with round eyes. He seemed particularly interested in Rhonda the Rhyhorn sleeping in the yard and Adele smiled at his interest. "Come on, let's go inside," she whispered and quietly, without disturbing Rhonda, and so they stepped to the door.
Adele opened the door and they stepped inside. Felix immediately went to sniff everything he could, and Adele was endeared by the innocent curiosity of the little fox about the world around him. With these thoughts in mind, she closed the door behind her and then took the brown envelope from her bag.
"Mom?" she called out, and strode into the kitchen to see if her mother was there. Felix followed, but Grace wasn't in the kitchen. "Mom, where are you?"
"Adele?" came then from her mother's bedroom and soon Grace appeared in the kitchen, Fletchling flying after her. She looked a little surprised to see Adele, but smiled nonetheless. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. I was looking for something, but that's not the point. I thought you had left, especially after the way I escorted you on your way."
"No, I was asked to bring this, so I had to come back," explained Adele, handing the brown envelope to her mother. She took it in her hand, a little surprised, and looked at it with interest. "I hear it's from Professor Sycamore. I don't know what's in it, but it's obviously something important."
"Oh, that's interesting," Grace said, tearing open the envelope. Inside was a white piece of paper with writing on it. Grace lifted the paper so that she could see to read it and Adele watched, somewhat impatiently, as her mother read through the paper. Eventually she managed to read it and Adele immediately asked, "Well, what did it say?"
"Nothing earth-shattering. The Professor was just informing me of certain things and so on," Grace explained in a roundabout way and Adele had to suppress an irritated huff. "But enough about me. Tell me what happened."
"Oh, right," Adele said, remembering. "Well, I got the Pokedex and the advice to register for the Gym Challenge and of course him." She whistled and Felix, who had been playing with Fletchling, lifted his head and ran to Adele. "Mom, this is Felix. Felix, this is my mother."
"Hi!" Felix said happily and Adele's mother clapped her hands together in delight. "Oh, what a sweet little Fennekin. And you thought of such a fun name for him too. He's your Starter, isn't he?"
"Yep," said Adele, lifting Felix into her arms. Felix sniffed Adele's mother's hands with interest as she scratched him behind the ear. But then Adele had to say something that had been bothering her ever since Trevor had told her about the Gyms. "But I'm not sure if I should join the Gym Challenge. What if I fail and then all of Kalos will be ashamed of me?"
"Oh honey, don't worry about those things," Grace said comfortingly. "Just do your best and that should be enough. I'm sure many others have failed and it hasn't made them any worse. I'm sure Champion Diantha wasn't the best either when she started out as a trainer."
"I guess so," said Adele, but she immediately felt a little better. "Maybe I'll register for it then. It's never a bad thing to try, anyway."
"That's my girl," said Grace proudly, suddenly seeming to remember something. "Oh, I almost forgot. I've got something for you, too." She quickly strode back to her own room and just as quickly returned carrying something with her. It looked like some kind of present. "Here, I got you these for your journey. I hope you like them."
She handed the gift to Adele and she accepted it with some confusion. Felix, of course, sniffed it immediately and then watched with interest as Adele opened the present. At first she didn't see anything, but then she did and gasped.
The gift revealed a beautiful belt with six Pokéball places. It also contained a pack of 10 Pokéballs and a beautiful case to which she could attach her Gym bagdes. "I didn't really know what you would like, so I went for a basic model. I hope you don't mind," Grace said, a little unsure, but Adele didn't reply. Instead, she hugged her mother tightly, hoping it would convey the message of how she felt about the gift.
After a while, Adele was standing in the hallway with a new belt on her hips, Felix's Pokéball attached to it and everything she needed in her bag. Felix himself stood beside her, looking a little impatient to leave. Adele's mother, on the other hand, looked a little wistful and said, "Well, now that you're actually going on the journey, this seems like a much bigger deal somehow. I wonder if you can manage all by yourself."
"Don't worry, Mom. I'll be fine," Adele said confidently, her hand on the doorknob, ready to set off on her adventure. "Besides, I'm not alone. I have Felix with me. So, you don't have to worry."
"I suppose so, but I'm your mother. It's my job to worry," Grace said with a sigh, but then smiled. "But sometimes mothers have to let their children try their wings. And I hope your wings carry you far, Adele."
"I hope so too," Adele replied and then hugged her mother. Grace returned the hug and they stood there for a moment. Then Adele broke away from the hug, saying, "Bye, Mom! I'll call you when I'm Champion!" and then she opened the door, waved to her mother and stepped out into with Felix to the journey that awaited her.
And at that moment, she had no idea what kind of adventure it would have be.
"So, where do we go first, Adele?" Felix asked excitedly as the duo walked along Route 1 again. "Are we going somewhere exciting? I've always wanted to see a dragon. Hey, let's go somewhere with dragons! Please, Adele, please?" He looked at Adele with his eyes shining with excitement and his bushy tail wagging wildly.
"I'm sorry Felix, but I don't think there will be dragons just yet," Adele replied, smiling apologetically at Felix, and Felix's tail stopped. He looked so disappointed that Adele had to continue quickly, "But I'm sure we'll meet lots of dragons later. Trust me."
"Oh, well then," Felix said, still a little disappointed, but then put on a slightly happier expression on his face. "So, where are we going then?"
"Well, Calem said that if I want to challenge the Gyms, I have to register at the Pokemon Center," said Adele, digging out her Pokedex from her bag. She had noticed that it also had a handy map feature, which she now opened and enlarged a little larger with her fingers. "And the nearest Center is in Santalune City, so that's our first destination." She showed the location on the map to Felix and he nodded again enthusiastically.
"Okay! Let's go there then!" he exclaimed, jumping enthusiastically into the air. Adele giggled and said, "Yeah. Santalune City, get ready. You're about to have two guests!"
However, the duo discovered that Santalune City was not as short a journey as they had thought. In fact, it turned out that to get to that city, they would first have to walk Route 2 and go through Santalune Forest. Adele, who had heard the forest was crawling with Bug Pokémon, gulped a little when she heard it. She didn't really like bugs. But there wasn't much choice, so Adele decided to just bear with it. And so, they began they journey.
"Hey Adele, can I ask you something again?" Felix suddenly asked. They had been walking in silence along Route 2 and its grassy path. Finally, Adele had suggested a break and Felix had immediately agreed. They had sat down on a small hill and watched the river flowing lazily alongside Route 2. The day was beautiful and sunny and Adele, who had bought a bag of small pastries and a bottle of berry juice from Aquacorde Town, thought the weather was perfect for a picnic. They had spent the next 10 minutes eating pastries and drinking juice, until Felix had opened his mouth, frozen in thought.
"Sure. I told you you could ask me anything," Adele replied, taking a bite of her pastry. She was enjoying the warm rays of the sun on her skin and at that moment the voice she had heard in her dream was the last thing on her mind. "I don't want you to stay thinking about something all by yourself and it will only make you feel miserable."
"Okay," Felix said, munching on his bread. Then he said very quickly, "What if I'm completely useless on your journey? What if you find some cool Pokemon, like, like, some dragon, and then I'm no use to you because I'm just little Fennekin and you abandon me and..."
"Hey, where did that come from?" Adele interrupted Felix. Felix looked at her and Adele lifted him into her arms. "I don't want dragons. I want you. I chose you. You are my little Felix. Even though I haven't known you very long, I knew right away that you were the right Pokemon for me. So, I will never abandon you, I promise."
"Really?" Felix asked, staring at Adele and Adele nodded. "Really. Trainers who abandon their Pokemon are horrible people and shouldn't be trainers. So, don't worry. I'm not abandoning you."
"Thanks, Adele," Felix whispered and Adele hugged him tightly. They were there for a moment, until suddenly Adele heard a strange rustling behind her, causing her to turn around quickly.
There was no one behind her, but her bag seemed to move strangely. Adele quickly stood up, put her finger to her mouth to let Felix know to be quiet, and then quickly strode over to her bag. And then, in one swift movement, she lifted the bag off the ground and whatever was inside was trapped.
"Gotcha, you're caught!" Adele exclaimed, gripping her bag tightly in the air. The bag wobbled angrily as the creature inside tried to break free, and Adele decided to see what had sneak into her bag. She carefully opened the bag and peered inside.
A pair of eyes stared back at her, belonging to a Pokemon that resembled a small grey bunny. And it didn't look happy.