A/N: Chapter 3, enjoy. Chapter 4 may be up later next weekend. Possibly the weekend after.
Chapter 3: Battlin' a Pokemon Professor
I was just about to enter Lumiose City. Just a few more metres and I'd be in the Kalos Region's largest city! Oh, I couldn't wait!
"Hey, wait!" I sighed and turned around. A blond-haired man and a purple-haired woman walked up to me, the man being the one talking. "You're Taylor, right? Professor Sycamore sent us out to tell you about Fairy-types. Can I see your Pokedex?" I quickly gave him my dex, wanting to get this conversation over with. "Oh! You've caught a Flabebe? That's a Fairy-type! Just what I'd expect from one of the Professor's hand-picked trainers." I blinked. Flabebe? Wasn't that what Fleur was?
"You mean Fleur?"
"If that's what you called her. The Fairy-type subclass was just recently discovered. It threw the whole battle system on it's head!" The woman said. The man elbowed her and nodded.
"Anyways, how are you and Pidgey? You know that the more you walk around with your Pokemon, the stronger your friendship becomes." He smiled. "Ah, I'm Dexio by the way. This is Sina. We're Professor Sycamore's assistants. Here! This is the TM for Return. This is a move that gets more powerful the more your friendship with your Pokemon grows." Dexio handed me a small gray disk.
"Uh, thanks. I'll teach it to Carla." Sina walked past me into Lumiose City.
"Now, follow Sina to the Professor's Lab." Dexio said, shooing me into the City. I nodded and followed the purple-haired woman into Lumiose. Why was I listening to this weirdo? I had to jog to keep up with Sina, since she was taller than I was. She slowed down a little after seeing my struggle. As we got closer to the lab, I hooked up the TM for Return to Carla's Pokeball, via my Pokedex.
"Try to keep up, okay? Do you want to stop to wait for that to finish?" Sina asked, gesturing to the TM.
"It's fine. See? It's already done!" I held my Pokedex up, the words 'Carla learned how to use Return!' on the screen. She nodded, and I shoved my dex into my bag.
"Say, your Pokemon aren't very hurt and have full stamina. You just walked through an entire route, how did you do it?"
"Oh, uh, my Pokemon asked to join my team. The wild Pokemon seem to keep away most of the time."
"Ask?"
"Um, well, Pokemon speak you know."
"Yes, they do, but what did you mean by 'they asked to join'?"
"They asked me in plain English... oh, hey, is that the Professor's Lab there?" I said, quickly pointing to a fancy building a few metres from us.
"That's it! But what you said-"
"C'mon, let's hurry! I want to ask the Professor something about my Pokedex!" I said, the lie simply rolling off my tongue. I sped up and easily put distance between us.
I stared at the black-haired Professor. He seemed rather young, and hot, to be a Pokemon Professor...
"You must be Taylor. It's nice to finally meet you!"
"Um, yeah, nice to meet you as well."
"As you should know by now, I am the Kalos Region's very own Pokemon Professor, Augustine Sycamore!" He smiled widely. "Now, where is everyone else? They should have been here by now..." He looked towards the elevator before returning his attention to me. "How about we have a quick battle while we wait? I'd like to know how strong the trainers I chose should be." So instead of waiting quietly so I could ogle him, he wants to battle? I see how it is.
"Why not?" I shrugged, unhooking Carla's Pokeball.
"Alright, but be warned, I'm not that strong!" He reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out a Pokeball. "Go, Bulbasaur!"
"Carla, come on out!" Our Pokemon jumped out at the same time, his Bulbasaur bouncing slightly and Carla raising her wings to take off.
"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" The Bulbasaur leaned forward and sent several vines speeding towards Carla.
"Dodge Carla! Use Gust!" Carla flew into the air and rolled to dodge the vines. Once the vines stopped, she sent blast after blast of air at her opponent. Each blast hit dead-on, making the Bulbasaur teeter and fall over.
"Ah, Bulbasaur! Return for now! Go, Squirtle!"
"Carla, come back! Go, Michelle!" Michelle popped out with a happy mewl and immediately scurried up my legs. "No, no! Michelle, you gotta battle!" I grabbed her and attempted to throw her into the battle. She clung to my arms tightly.
"But I don't wanna!" Of all the times!
"What?! But... but, uh, if you don't I won't give you any orange Pokepuffs!" Michelle gasped in horror.
"You wouldn't!"
"Yes, I would! Now get out there, or I'll even tell Carla you wouldn't protect me!" Hook, line, and sinker. I've got her with that one. Her eyes widened.
"Okay, okay! Just don't tell Carla!" Michelle hopped into the battlefield and rubbed her electricity sacs.
"That was rather interesting. Can we continue our battle now?" I blushed a little at Sycamore's sudden intrusion.
"Y-Yes! Michelle, Thundershock!" Michelle shook her head and lowered herself to the ground. After a second, electricity danced across the field towards Squirtle.
"Squirtle, try to dodge and get close!"
"Michelle, don't let him get close! Keep your distance!" Michelle nodded and dashed to the side. The Squirtle just changed course and headed straight for her. Michelle tripped after a quick dodge, leading to the Squirtle getting real close. However, that just factored right into my plan.
"Squirtle, Tackle, now!" As Squirtle rammed his head into Michelle I smiled. Time to initiate the plan!
"Grab him Michelle!" Michelle grabbed hold of Squirtle's shell. "Now, Thundershock!" Michelle smirked and fired her electricity into the Squirtle, effectively frying it.
"Return, Squirtle! You're rather good at this, Taylor!" I scratched my cheek in slight happiness at his compliment. "Come out, Charmander!"
"Come back Michelle!" I held up her Pokeball, but she was more content to crawl her way into my arms.
"Don't wanna go in there yet. Hey, send out Fleur! She's been excited for her chance to shine!" I smiled and patted her head before reaching for Fleur's Pokeball.
"Alright then! Fleur, you're up!" Fleur jumped out of her Pokeball and floated up and down in excitement.
"I won't disappoint Trainer Taylor!"
"Oh! A Fairy-type!" Sycamore said. "Well then, Charmander, Ember!"
"Fleur, use Fairy Wind!" The two attacks collided, and dissipated. "Again Fleur!" The pink-coloured attack roared across the room at the tiny red dinosaur.
"Charmander, dash forwards and use Scratch!" Charmander ran right through the attack at Fleur.
"Dodge Fleur!" I held my breath and watched as she floated upwards out of Charmander's reach at the last second. "Alright, use Lucky Chant! Then use Tackle!" Fleur turned her head to the sky and chanted out something, before she slammed into Charmander.
"Shake it off Charmander! Use Ember!" The dinosaur huffed out a ball of flame right into Fleur's flower. She was sent flying back by Charmander's attack.
"Are you alright Fleur? We're lucky that Lucky Chant prevents critical hits, else you'd be out..."
"I'm f-fine! I can still fight!"
"Use Scratch Charmander!"
"Dodge Fleur! Use Tackle!" Fleur just barely twisted out of the way of Charmander's attack. While Charmander had it's back turned, she mustered up all her power and slammed into him. Charmader teetered forwards before fainting. "A critical hit! I knew you could do it Fleur!" I grinned at her and returned her back to her ball. I glanced down at Michelle. "Time to go back Michelle."
"Oh alright then." I tapped Michelle's Pokeball against her head, returning her to it.
"What a battle! Did you see them go guys! Was that cool or what!" I nearly jumped out of my skin at Calem's voice. I turned to elevator and saw all four of my friends standing there in awe.
"That was quite a battle Taylor. Here, to celebrate your win, take one of my Pokemon here." Sycamore said, holding out the three Pokeballs from the battle.
"Can I really?" He nodded and I smiled. "Oh, but, um, what about my friends?" I honestly couldn't care less, but it wasn't right to just take one and not think about others. At least, that's what mum always said...
"Well, if they want to, they can have one of the Pokemon in the lab down below! We got a shipment of eggs in, and a few hatched into some really cool Pokemon!" The four standing near the exit cheered and I smiled a bit wider.
"Alright then, I choose Bulbasaur!" Sycamore placed Bulbasaur's Pokeball into my waiting hands and placed the remaining two into his pocket.
"New Pokedex entry! Bulbasaur; the Seed Pokemon. A strange seed was planted on its back at birth. The plant sprouts and grows with the Pokemon."
"Did you want to nickname her?"
"Her? This Bulbasaur's a girl?"
"Yes, she is."
"Well, I'd like to meet her first. Can I let her out?"
"Why not?"
"Alright then... come out, Bulbasaur!"
"Hello, are you my trainer now?"
"Yes, I am your trainer. Say, my Pokemon all have nicknames that they like to be called by. Can I give you a name? Or do you have one already?"
"I do not have a name yet... could you give me one, please?"
"Sure thing! Hmm... how's Salmon sound?"
"I... I like it, it's rather... unique." I grinned and returned Salmon to her Pokeball.
"Lady Taylor, what did she say?"
"She was just telling me that she thought her name was really unique and that she liked it."
"Excuse me, but are you saying that you understood Bulbasaur?" The Professor said. I shrugged.
"Yeah. Friar, my Fennekin, headbutted me down in Route 2. He had been channeling his soon-to-be Pyschic powers and almost completely unlocked the communication barriers in my mind."
"Really now... well, that's great! I knew you had a certain... je ne sais pas! But to the reason why I called you all here." He reached into his pocket once again. "I wanted to give you all this! HM01, Cut!" He held up five blue disks. "One for each of you." He handed everyone a copy.
"Thanks Professor!" Calem said.
"You're welcome. Make me and your parents proud!" He gave us a thumbs-up. "Bonne chance!"
"Oh, um, Professor, can we ask you something about our Pokedex?" Calem asked, getting out his Pokedex.
"Do all of you have a question for me?" I shook my head as he looked over at me.
"I don't, uh, can I go now? I wanna head over to a Pokemon Centre real quick before I go on to Route 5." I said, waving goodbye.
"Before you go! I forgot to tell you all something. We recently discovered a new form of Evolution; Mega-Evolution! Here Taylor, have this Venasaurite. Give it to Bulbasaur when it evolves." he threw an oddly coloured stone at me, and I fumbled to catch it.
"Thanks Professor. See you guys soon!"
"See you later Lady Taylor!" I entered the elevator and pushed the button for the ground floor.