AN: The dialogue of the first chapter I wrote pretty much word for word, but even though this is based on the games, it wouldn't be fanfiction if it were identical, right? So from here on out, it'll be mostly original, but will of course stay true to X & Y :) also, I am not Satoshi Tajiri.

CHAPTER 2

By the time I reached the route above Aquacorde Town, Shauna and Calem were eagerly awaiting me. Or, at least, Shauna was eager. Calem just kind of stood there with this adorable, faraway half-smile on his face.

"Oh, hi, Seesee! Come learn how to catch Pokémon with me! Calem's mom and dad are amazing Trainers! That's why he knows so much about catching Pokémon and battling."

"You can talk about my parents if you want, but it doesn't have anything to do with me," Calem replied casually, spinning a Pokeball around his finger like an old pro. "I'm going to catch one now, so watch carefully!"

Seriously? How hard can this process possibly be? I thought. Isn't it just battle, throw the ball, rinse, and repeat? Nevertheless, I released Victoria to observe.

As it turned out, that's exactly what it was, as Calem used his Fletching (which, may I point out, looked much less psychotic than Mom's) to battle and then catch a fairly weak looking rabbit Pokemon - Bunnelby, the Pokedex informed me.

"Wow!" Shauna exclaimed in amazement after the fascinating process was over. "The Pokemon went INSIDE the Pokeball?"

Victoria gave me a look that clearly suggested Shauna was not cut out to even leave her house, let alone train Pokemon. Meanwhile, I was now reconsidering my friendship with everyone entirely, and it looked like Calem was three steps away from doing the same. "Seriously, Shauna? Isn't your Chespin in a Pokeball? You forgot already? Anyway, I'll share some Pokeballs with you both." I thanked Calem gratefully as he gave me 10 Pokeballs to start out my journey of catching and befriending more Pokemon, as I had Victoria.

"The Pokemon around here are pretty weak," he continued, "so if you throw a ball at any of them, you'll probably capture them. It'll also help your Pokemon gain experience. Be seeing you, then," he added jauntily, and strolled into the Santalune Forest ahead of us.

I frowned at his tone. Aren't we all supposed to be traveling together? Clearly, both of us are the ones with the common sense and social skills, so why am I with her right now?

Not to be undone, I followed him straight inside after having my first Pokemon battle with a real trainer - I beat his Fletchling and Bunnelby combo handily. Unfortunately for me, Shauna appeared not a minute later.

"Wait up! Let's walk together, I feel like something exciting will happen if I stay by you! I'll heal your Pokemon whenever you need, as well." I groaned inwardly. The reason everyone else seems to be able to tolerate Shauna is by not acknowledging most things she says, so I suppose I'll have to try that.

And so it went, for a couple hours. I gave her a bit of the backstory on Rhyhorn racing, and we discussed what the Professor might be like, as well as the myriad of Pokemon species in the forest. Shauna really wanted to catch a Pikachu, but they were particularly rare, and seeing as there were many trainers around, I doubted we'd see one at all. However, I was wrong.

"Pikachu, use Thunder Wave and slow that Weedle down!" At the sound of Trevor's voice, Shauna and I rushed out of the bush we had just been searching through to see him and the always rhythmic Tierno. Trevor had his Pokedex out and was scanning the little bug for data.

"You caught a Pikachu, Trevs?" exclaimed Shauna in delight.

"Not exactly," Trevor replied modestly. "This was the first Pokemon I received from Professor Sycamore. He was waiting for the Vaniville Town kids - you two and Calem - to give out his starter Pokemon, so he caught this one for me."

Tierno followed suit and released an ornery-looking orange lobster. "This is my Corphish! The Professor caught him especially for me, because he knows Swords Dance. He's going to be the captain of my ultimate dance team!"

I couldn't help but giggle as I saw the two of them move from side to side together as he spoke. Tierno could be a little dorky, but he had a dream and it was clear that eventually he would achieve it. In a way, I admired him.

"Well now I can't catch a Pikachu," lamented Shauna. "I'd be copying a friend. Oh well, I can just admire his - in battle!"

It wasn't long before we reached the exit. Calem appeared behind us as we stood around, talking, laughing, and sharing Pokedex entries, which was a suggestion of Trevs'. If we were to complete the Pokedex for the Professor, we should all pool our information - a logical way to think.

"So, you got here first," Calem said. Though his face smiled at the group, his eyes were focused directly on me. "Seems like I'm neighbors with someone who has a lot of potential."

I shivered at his gaze. Calem was more than a little cute, and clearly quite intelligent, but his competitive nature could be at times off-putting. I wasn't sure why I was in this Pokemon journey yet - did he have to make it so intense?

"We're all here!" Shauna announced cheerfully. "Let's all go to Santalune City!" Following her out, I noticed that despite her many personal shortcomings, Shauna did seem to genuinely care about every one of us, and it was very important to her to keep us together. Maybe that was her goal, to make memories with her friends while growing as a trainer. Once again, my face flared with frustrated warmth. What will my goal be?

Shauna's high-pitched, lilting voice brought me out of my reverie as she asked the very question I'd been dreading. "What are you all going to do?"

"I'm going to create the ultimate dance team!" Tierno declared for the millionth time. But then he added, "Different Pokemon use different moves, and I'm really interested to see how that works." You basically just answered your own question. Like, hello?

"I'm going to complete the Pokedex for Professor Sycamore," Trevor replied, shyly but firmly. "Different Pokemon live in different areas, so there will be different ones to scan and catch here."

"What are you gonna do, Calem?" Shauna asked cheerfully.

"I'm going to go to Santalune City's Gym and take on the Gym Leader. So you know, Pokémon Trainers test their strength by battling with the Gym Leaders in each Pokémon Gym." I raised an eyebrow in interest. Even though Calem is the real competitive one here, I don't want to lose to any trainers in the future, and Victoria would probably enjoy getting stronger as well. That's it! I'll take the Gym challenge, too.

"Wow! You sure know a lot!" Shauna exclaimed.

"I learned a lot from others," Calem replied humbly. "I hope you'll all feel free to ask if you ever need advice on something related to Pokemon training. Anyway, I'm off to train for my Gym battle, so I'm sure I'll see you all soon." He took off running towards the town over the hill, his jacket flapping in the wind. It was all I could do to tear my eyes away and back to the lovably irritating Shauna.

"I'm going to spend some time getting to know my Li'l Chespin! What are you going to do, Seesee?"

"I'm going to take the Gym challenge, like Calem," I replied confidently. "I want to make sure I bond with Victoria and my other Pokemon while I get stronger, and challenging tough trainers is the best way to do that."

"That's a really cool goal!" exclaimed Shauna, and Tierno and Trevor nodded in agreement. We dispersed not long afterwards, and I was left sitting by the water with Victoria, relaxing. Although a Fire type, she enjoyed practicing her Ember attack on the flowers around us occasionally.

"Skreeee!" I heard her screech, landing at my feet in a crumpled wet heap. I sat bolt upright and turned around to see a smug looking blue mouse with a white belly and a long tail with a ball at the end. The Pokedex identified it as a Marill, a Water and Fairy type.

"Victoria, you make this little prankster pay for hurting you. Scratch!" Baring her teeth in rage, my fierce little fox lunged at the Marill and raked her claws across its stomach. Wailing in pain, the Marill retaliated with a Water Gun attack. Dripping wet and exhausted after two super effective attacks, Victoria nevertheless growled at the Marill proudly, refusing to give up.

I couldn't help but pity the sight of my poor, hurt starter, though. Picking her up, I cradled her in my arms soothingly. Victoria hissed angrily and I winced as she badly scratched my arms trying to go back to the battle, but held firm. "No," I whispered. "You're hurt. This battle is over. I'm going to take you to the Pokemon Center in Santalune City and get you healed."

Those words were all it took. Though her fierce look never wavered, especially in her foe's direction, I felt her body relax beneath me and the fire that constantly burned beneath her skin mellowed. I began the trek over the hill when I felt a blast of water hit me in the back of the head. I turned around angrily to see the Marill following us, and was just about to send poor old Victoria back to teach it a lesson once and for all when I noticed the tears in its eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sorry for hurting my friend?" The little blue mouse nodded slowly, looking at the ground in shame. "Apologize to her!" I snarled, protective instincts suddenly taking over. My mind flashed back to a time in which a Venonat that lived in the Viridian Forest wandered too close to Rhyhorn and injured it badly with a Psybeam attack. My mother borrowed a neighbor's Fire type in order to take revenge. Now I understood exactly why she had been so enraged.

The Marill gestured frantically towards Victoria, so I gingerly put her on the ground and knelt next to them. She immediately growled at the sight of her aggressor, but her anger faded as she saw the state he was in. After a couple minutes of conversing, my Fennekin grabbed one of the Pokeballs Calem had given me earlier in her teeth, and jerked her head towards Marill.

I gaped. "He wants to come with us?" Marill nodded shyly, eyes fixed firmly on the ground. "I see," I whispered. "You liked the way I took care of Victoria, didn't you?" He nodded. "You want friends like that for yourself." At this, he brightened, seeing I understood, and shook his entire body vigorously in excitement. Too bad Tierno didn't come upon this one first, I thought in amusement. "Then welcome to our family...Snowdrop." The Marill flashed his first huge smile as I bestowed his nickname, and obediently let himself be captured by the Pokeball. My first day out training, and I already made a new friend. Well done - even if I didn't capture it quite the way Calem taught us to.

That night in the Pokemon Center, I gave Snowdrop and Victoria the top bunk, then promptly collapsed on my bed without taking my clothes off and fell asleep.