Chapter 5: The Shining Blue Cushion of Hope
"W-was that, a Pokémon?"
I managed to get myself up and dust myself down, but the little fella was long gone. I thought about asking Trevor the next day if he knew what Pokémon I saw, but I wasn't sure he would be able to identify the mystery monster with the information I had.
That reminded me. If I was getting up at dawn for Trevor, I would need some sleep; and it was getting late.
I walked round the hedge and into my house.
"Goooooooood morning!" was the first thing I heard that morning. "Breakfast's ready."
As much as I didn't want to get out of my bed, I could feel my tummy rumble. I crawled out of the covers and stumbled down the stairs. As I walked into the kitchen, I saw my mother standing, apron and all, cooking bacon by the cooker.
"Bacons up."
"Wasn't Trevor supposed to-"
"I'm already here."
As shivers ran down my spine, I slowly turned my head to see my ginger friend sitting at my dining table, helping himself to some bacon. Beside him on the table, a zigzagoon was curled up. Though its fur it seemed to be gnawing on something.
"Oh, hi…"
"Trevor appeared only two minutes ago," my mom said, serving up some bacon onto a plate and placing down on the table. I took a seat across from Trevor.
"Came prepared," said Trevor, opening up his bag. Inside were at least seven books, encyclopaedia sized.
There was a long pause, before I filled it with a rather sarcastic "Yay!"
"I heard you boys are gonna do some studying!"
Trevor gave my mom a nod, "Xavier's a little undereducated when it comes to Kalos."
"Well he's gonna need that info if he's going on a journey. I posted your form's last night sweetie."
"Thanks mom!"
"Oh yeah I forgot about that," Trevor said, "Do you have a starter Pokémon sorted?"
I sighed, and shook my head. "I guess you've got your sorted with the professor," I mumbled, rather grumpy.
"Well I already have my zigzagoon," Trevor bragged "But our official starters should show up soon. There are being delivered to Shauna."
"What are the official starters for the Kalos region?" I asked, immediately regretting it.
Trevor gave a long sigh, massaging his temples. From his bag he brought a book and turned it to me. He flicked through the pages until he reached a page with three Pokémon pictures on them, each surrounded by a coloured bubble.
In the green bubble, on the pages far left, there was a picture of a two legged brown Pokémon, with a green chestnut helmet. A green shell, the same colour as the nut headgear, ran down the Pokémon's back.
"Chespin, the Spiny Nut Pokémon, stands at 0.4m and weighs 19.8 lbs. It has a tough shell which protects it from attacks."
On the pages centrefold was a blue bubble, with a crogunk-ish Pokémon. It was blue, and seemed to be foaming around the neck?
"Froakie, the Bubble Frog Pokémon, is our water starter. Rumour has it that a froakie can jump as high as a three meter high building."
The final starter was pictured in an orange bubble on the pages right side. It was a Kalos Pokémon I had seen before.
"Isn't that thing one of the Pokémon those orange guys tried to burn down the town with?" I asked, slightly surprised that the thing was also a starter.
Trevor sighed, "Yes. That's a Fennekin."
I had vague memories of that name being mentioned.
"It blows hot air from its ears, which can easily reach over 200 degrees."
"Scary."
After explained more about the starters, Trevor went on to talk about different Pokémon, their habitats and abilities. Half of the time, Trevor didn't ever need the book; and knew the info off of his head.
"Bunnelby's holes are famous for people getting stuck in them. The holes the Pokémon create are just big enough to fall into and just tight enough to get stuck in!"
Trevor turned the page on the digging Pokémon to the next one. The Pokémon pictured on that page was a cute critter. He was a little black, a little white and had a leaf sticking out his mouth.
Wait?! A leaf!?
"That's fuzzy furry!" I smiled, pointed at the picture of the Pokémon I saw last night. I was going to ask Trevor about him anyway, but here he was.
"Fuzzy furry?" questioned Trevor, "That's a pancham."
I guess it was nice to know his real name, but I kind of preferred fuzzy furry.
"Why do you call him fuzzy furry?" asked Trev.
"Cause one jumped out a bush and fly kicked me last night. It happened kind of fast, so I called him fuzzy furry."
"Really?" asked Trevor, a little doubtful. "You don't see a lot of pancham around these parts?"
"But I was sure it was him," I insisted, "I remembered his little leaf."
"All panchams carry a leaf in their mouth," said Trevor, finding an opportunity to point out the fact.
"Why?"
"Panchams like the taste, and can chew on a leaf for weeks."
Trevor then went on spewing more pointless information about the Pokémon pancham, and for the first time that day I found myself actually listening.
Pancham seemed like an awesome Pokémon. It was a little fighter, and was said never to give in. I couldn't help but kind of admire the Pokémon.
By noon, Trevor and I had blasted our way through two of the books. We were just at the end of 'The Kalos Pokedex, Volume 2' when the doorbell rang. Mom, who was sitting in the living room just beyond the kitchen, got up for the couch where she had been watching the cooking channel, and went to answer the door.
"Xavier! Shauna and some other guy are here," chimed my mom.
Shauna and Tierno walked through the living room and into my kitchen, where Trevor and I sat.
"Hey X," Shauna said, "Or should I say X-Mesiter!"
She burst out laughing, practically in love with herself and her amazing nicknames.
I gave her a small chuckle, so she didn't look completely insane.
When Shauna had recovered, and her tears of laughter had been dried, she proceeded to bring an incubator out of her large bag.
"Guess which arrived like five minutes ago," she sung, getting higher as the sentence went on.
Inside the glass top of the cylinder incubator were three pokeballs. As I had learned earlier, they contained the three Kalos starters; fennekin, froakie and chespin.
She rested the pokeball container on the table, as Trevor and I moved the books out of the way.
We all sat in awe as Shauna pushed the button of the container's side. As the steam erupted form the device, we all made an "Oh," sound.
"There was a note attached to the middle pokeball, which Shauna picked off and read.
"To Shauna Perfun, Trevor Bokel and Tierno Ballo. Inside these pokeballs are your starter Pokémon, as well as your adventure and your future. With Chespin, Froakie and Fennekin, may your dreams come true. Prof. Sycamore."
Shauna held the note to her chest. "He's so poetic."
"What's with her?" I whispered across the table to Trevor.
"She has got a 'thing' for our region's Professor; Augustine Sycamore. Apparently, he is something of a hunk."
"Could we get to the poke-picking!" Tierno said, bounced on his feet, "I can't wait to meet my partner."
"Well how do we decide which Pokémon each of us get?" asked Shauna.
"How about we all say which Pokémon we want on the count of three," suggested Trevor.
"One."
"Two."
"Three."
Thank Arceus each trainers said a different Pokémon.
"So I can have a froakie," smiled Tierno, resting his hand over the left most pokeball.
"As long as I get a fennekin," said Trevor, hand over the middle one.
Shauna instead squealed, "I'm getting a chespin!"
I have to say I was both happy and sad. Happy to see my friends with their Pokémon, but a little sad considering I had no poke-pal.
The three released the Pokémon from there containers, and out sprung the starters I had seen in the book moments ago.
Shauna's chespin immediately climbed up its trainer in a hasty fashion. It sat itself on Shauna's shoulder, smiling as he did. "Chesp-che!"
Tierno's froakie seemed quite happy to be out of its pokeball. It was jumping around within moments of being summoned. The little blue guys seemed to have an unlimited source of energy.
Trevor's fennekin was released onto the table. Swinging its head high, the fire Pokémon cat walked over to Trevor, who rubbed the Pokémon's ears. The fire fox purred before sitting down in the table in front of its owner.
"This is too cool," squealed, jumped up and down. Her chespin looked like it was having a hard time hanging on. "Let's get Spritzee out!" Shauna reached again into her bag, and brought out around pokeball.
Being the selfish teenager that I was, I couldn't help but think of how unfair it was. Trevor and Shauna now had two Pokémon, while I had zero.
The fairy Pokémon was seconds later sitting on Shauna's other shoulder. The fairy and the chespin both gave each other a smile. "I got to go show dad," she said, "See you guys."
Shauna sprinted out of my house, smiling as she did.
"I better go show my parents," said Trevor as well. He got up from his seat and gathered his books. "I'll see you later Xavier."
Before leaving, Trevor whistled. His zigzagoon trotted in through the door arch, and followed him as he left.
I sighed.
"You okay?" asked Tierno.
"I'm fine T," I smiled.
Tierno was about to speak again, when something out the window caught his attention.
"Froakie!" he shouted, running out my back door. The frog Pokémon was jumping along and it took some effort from his trainer to catch up. I laughed as Tierno ran around my house. I went to my front door, and out of it saw Tierno running down the street after his bouncing blue Pokémon.
'My friends have their starters," I thought to myself, sighing as I did. "If I was going to go on a journey, a Pokémon would be required."
I was about to walk back inside, when I had a look into the hedge that Pancham had been in. I didn't see the black and white Pokémon as I had hoped, but I did see something blue; and you usually don't see blue things in hedges. I walked down my path and kneeled down to the hedge. I separated the leaves to find a small hidey hole in the hedge. The leaves were growing around the small space that had clearly been occupied by something.
Inside the hidey hole was a blue cushion, and a few cans of empty soda. This blue cushion meant that this wasn't Pancham's one time hideout surely. That cushion must been that this was his den!
That cushion then became my cushion of hope. I needed a Pokémon, and there was a pancham hanging out in my hedge!
Hi guys. Sorry for the delay between this chapter and the last. Just couldn't get the writing juices flowing.
You may notice that I had totally side-lined Tierno, while the other two rivals are in the spotlight. I just don't like his design (I think it's the shoes) and the dancing idea doesn't appeal to me.
MEGA EVOLTUIONS! Which one is your favourite? I am really excited about Mawile!
