Chapter 3: Saying Goodbye

The three of them continued down route 1 enjoying the vibrant colors of autumn that seemed to take over the road with all of its leaves.

"Oh! I wonder what will happen?! Isn't this so exciting?! Bianca said as she skipped down a path of to the side of the route almost tripping a few times.

"Yeah it is I'm glad I got to start my adventure with you guys" Aoi said laughing as he went to make sure Bianca doesn't get hurt.

"C'mon, the professor's waiting for us so quit dawdling or I'm going to leave you both behind." Cheren barked.

Aoi and Bianca looked at each other a let out a sigh. They both wished that Cheren wasn't so serious all of the time and that he will learn to enjoy himself. The two of them hurried back to him and they met up with Juniper who was waiting in front of some tall grass.

"Professor I'm sorry to have kept you waiting but these two were off fooling around on the way here" said Cheren pointing at Aoi and Bianca.

"Now now Cheren it's quite alright. Part of going on an adventure is to have fun and leave no stone unturned. Now that everyone's here I'll explain. The pokedex's pages update automatically whenever you meet a pokemon! Moreover, it's set up so that you obtain even more information when you catch a pokemon! To make this clear, I'm going to demonstrate how to catch a pokemon!" said the professor, she then walked into the tall grass and found a wild patrat. She sent out her minccino to fight it. The professor made quick work of the patrat and had no trouble dodging all of its attacks or stopping it from escaping.

"After lowering the Pokémon's HP you should throw a poke ball to catch it. It's as easy as that" she said as she picked up the poke ball. "And to wrap up this session I have another gift for you three. Some poke balls so you can start catching your own pokemon! I'm going on ahead, I'll be waiting for you in Accumula Town. After giving them their poke balls she waved goodbye and she continued down route 1.

"She forgot to say that pokemon jump out at you in the tall grass." Cheren said with a sigh

"Wait a minute! Hey listen! Aoi, Cheren I thought of something fun!" said Bianca who was bouncing around excitedly.

"But we need to get going! I'd imagine the professor's waiting, too." Cheren said as he started heading towards Accumula town."

"Would you just listen a sec? Seriously!" Bianca said as she grabbed onto Cheren's sleeve. "Why don't we see who can catch the most pokemon? The person carrying the most pokemon including the one received from the professor is the winner!" as she said this she let go of Cheren and backed up behind Aoi in fear that Cheren might yell at her idea.

"Huh? Actually that sounds interesting. It will fill up the Pokedex, so I'm sure it will please the professor too. OK, until we reach Accumula town take care of healing your pokemon on your own.

"Me and Tep will do the best for sure!" Bianca yelled as she ran down the road. Aoi looked at Cheren who actually looked like he was going to have some fun. He placed his hand on Cheren's shoulder and wished him good luck and took off after Bianca. Even though Aoi wanted to compete against Cheren and Bianca in this competition he knew that he should waste too much time trying to catch a bunch of wild pokemon. Every moment he spent catching pokemon was a moment he could've used to find Aya. So he decide that from this point on he'd only try catching one pokemon for each area he made it to. He knew he had plenty of time to finish the Pokedex later. The first pokemon he encountered was a lillipup. Even though it was his first time catching a wild pokemon he did it with ease.

He decide to name the lillipup Fang. She was very calm compared to the other lillipup he saw. With Fang and Blue by his side he quickly beat all of the pokemon that blocked his path and made it to the entrance of Accumula town where he decided to wait for Cheren and Bianca. The two of them arrived at the same time. Bianca was very giddy whereas Cheren looked confident that he was going to win their competition.

"Alright how many pokemon do you have Aoi? Cheren?" asked Bianca. They both answer at the same time saying that they had two pokemon. Bianca looked surprised" Really I have two as well! Well I guess it's a tie" she said giggling. As they started towards Accumula town their Xtransceivers started ringing. Aoi and the others picked up to find that it was professor Juniper calling them.

"Hello! How is everybody doing? You and your pokemon are getting along great now right? Right now I'm in front of Accumula tow's pokemon center! I'd like to show you around so hurry on over everyone!" Juniper said before she ended the call.

"Well we shouldn't keep her waiting any longer." Bianca said as she was tugging on Aoi and Cheren's sleeves. They made their way to the Pokemon center and found the professor their playing with her minccino. The professor noticed them and called her minccino back into its ball and walked towards them to greet them.

"Ah there you are! Traveling with your pokemon is truly one of the joys of being a pokemon trainer! Now please follow me" said the professor as she entered the center. Inside she explained to them about how they can get their pokemon healed here, store and withdraw their pokemon from the PC. How they can only travel with 6 pokemon in their team and that any they capture will be transported to the PC so they can swap out pokemon and that they can buy supplies like potions and poke balls for their journey.

"Oh one last thing before I go. When you get to Striaton City, go and meet and inventor named Fennel. She's a friend of mine from long ago, and I'm sure she'll help you on your way! Best of luck! I hope that your journeys prove to be the adventure of a lifetime!" The professor said goodbye for the last time and headed back to her lab in Nuvema town.

Aoi got his pokemon healed and while he waited he bought some potions and poke balls for the road ahead. After he was done preparing he left the pokemon center. While walking through the city he heard from multiple people that something was going on in the plaza. He was more than a little curious as to what was happening because everyone was talking about it. With some help from the locals he found his way to the plaze where he saw a bunch of people wearing outfits that kind of looked like a cross between a knight and a priest. All of their clothes had a big P on them and they were all carrying signs.

In the crowd of people Aoi spotted Cheren. He made his way over to him to see if he knew what was going on. Before he could ask. A man wearing a very elegant robe walked up to the crowd and started speaking.

"My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma. Today, ladies and gentlemen I would like to talk to you about pokemon liberation." As he said this throughout the crowd you could hear people murmuring wondering what he meant by this. Ghetsis paced towards one end plaza and turned back towards the crowd. "I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and pokemon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However… Is that really that truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans… only assume that this is the truth? Pokemon are subject to the selfish commands of trainers… They get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work… Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?"

He paused for a moment waiting for someone to answer, but no one had the courage to say anything. They were all starting to question whether or not he was right.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, Pokemon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential. They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn. Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called pokemon?" From the crowd Ghetsis heard people question what it could be and a few saying liberation.

"That's right! We must liberate the Pokemon! Then and only then will humans and Pokemon truly be equals. Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokemon… and the correct way to proceed. We sincerely appreciate your attention." Ghetsis bowed thanking everyone for listening to his speech. He turned around and the other members of team plasma gathered all of their equipment they used for their rally and left the plaza.

Throughout the crowd Aoi could hear people asking each other what they thought about the speech and what they should do. Some were completely against it saying that liberating pokemon was impossible and other started releasing their pokemon because they believed it was the right thing to do. The plaza emptied rather quickly as people returned to their daily lives.

"Can you believe that nonsense Aoi? Do they really think I'm going to give up my pokemon like that?" Cheren questioned angrily

"I'm not sure what to think but I know I can't get rid of my pokemon. I may have not known them for very long but their my friends now and I bet they don't just want to be abandon like that." Aoi said as he clutched his two poke balls with Blue and Fang.

"Your pokemon… Just now, it was saying…" said a mysterious man to Aoi.

"Slow down your talking way to fast! And what's this about pokemon talking that's an odd thing to say." Cheren grumbled. Aoi knew that this man wasn't joking. He wouldn't have thought he was crazy but his mother could also understand what pokemon were saying. Aoi wasn't like his mother or this man who could understand them completely but on rare occasions he has heard a few words. "Yes, they're talking. Oh then you can't hear it either… how sad" he said as he looked at Cheren with disappointment. He was going to say the same to Aoi but he saw that he was completely serious and knew that the man wasn't lying.

"Well well this is very interesting indeed. It seems your friend here can hear them as well, although he can't hear them properly like I can." Said the man with a grin

"What the hell are you talking about man? Aoi isn't a freak like you! Screw this, I've had enough of this place. See you later Aoi I gotta get out of here. There are too many freaks in this town." Cheren retorted as he walked away."

"My name is N might I ask what your name is and your rude friend's name?" He said with a smile

"Well…M-mm-my name is Aoi…and that was Cheren" said Aoi sheepishly, he was in shock and was terrified that it would get out that he and his mother can understand pokemon. He was always deathly afraid of what would happen to them if it ever got out.

"Ahh Aoi…mmhm what a fitting name for someone like you. Now what is someone with your extraordinary talents doing on an adventure? Oh and don't worry your secret is safe with me" said N trying to reassure Aoi.

"Professor Juniper…she asked us to complete the Pokedex for her, but the real reason I'm doing this is so I can find my childhood friend, she's very important to me." Aoi stated as he started to regain his composure.

"The Pokedex, eh? So… you're going to confine many pokemon in poke balls for that then. I'm a trainer too, but I can't help wondering… are pokemon really happy that way? Well Aoi is it?" N questioned as he grabbed Aoi.

"I don't know!" Aoi screamed as he threw N's hands of him and back away. He wasn't sure whether or not he should trust him or fear him.

"Let me hear your Pokémon's voice again!" N said as he sent out his Purrloin. Aoi was scarred, he had never felt like this, he just wanted to run away but before he Blue popped out of its poke ball and stood in front of Aoi blocking his path. Blue stared directly into Aoi's eyes and started crying out to him. Aoi still couldn't understand what he was saying.

"It's a shame your keeping your heart closed to your pokemon. If you stay like that you'll never be able to understand them. Cast aside your fears and accept who you are. You can't run forever!" N said reaching his hand out to Aoi. Aoi got down so that he was eye level with Blue and reached out on of his hands toward him.

"I'm sorry Blue! You've been trying to talk to me this whole time huh, but I was too afraid of what others would think if they knew that I could understand what you said. I didn't want to be ostracized like I was when I was a kid. So I did everything I could to be normal…I'm not normal though! I'm anything but and I don't care anymore. This is goodbye to who I was pretending to be. So Blue are you ready to show this guy what were made of!" Aoi said grinning.

"Yes let's do this Aoi!" Screamed Blue who jumped towards Aoi with joy.

"Okay N I'm not going to hold back so you better be ready to lose! Blue use tail whip and follow it up with tackle!" Aoi commanded as he pointed towards N's purloin.

"Purrloin retaliate with scratch! Yes Aoi let me hear you're Pokémon's voice more! Now purrloin use growl and hit him with another scratch.

"Blue dodge it and finish this with water gun!"

"I never expected to hear such things from your pokemon! You're different from what she told me about you Aoi." N said as he recalled his purrloin.

"What do you mean by that?! Who is it? Was it Aya?! Tell me N!" Aoi pleaded

"As long as pokemon are confined in poke balls… pokemon will never become perfect beings. I have to change the world for pokemon, because they're my friends." After saying this N left leaving Aoi with so many questions.

-Chapter 3 End-