The disclaimer can be found on the first chapter.
"Santalune Forest is home to a surprising variety of Pokémon. In addition to the four of the seven found on Route 2, two evolutions, that of Caterpie and Weedle, Metapod and Kakuna respectively, and four other Pokémon can be found prancing around the forest. These four others include the three elemental monkeys, made popular by the Striaton Triplets out west in Unova; and adorable Pikachu, who has been hailed as the mascot of all Pokémon, although its place is being challenged by a number of its expies.
Keep a lookout all around the forest for items that are either dropped by careless trainers, or stolen by Pokémon who were aiming for the berries instead. You never know what you'll find.
Some of the younger trainers from both Santalune and Aquacorde frequently come here and train. If you come across any of them, remember to stay out of their line-of-sight, unless you're going to battle them. In which case, go easy on them. Please?"
'The Official Kalos Companion Guide' (2020), by Maison Prince Calem.
The sun had already completed half its journey across the sky. The forest was thus bathed in green-yellow light, reflecting the peaceful serenity of the forest Pokémon life.
And the occasional Pidgey picking up a Caterpie for lunch.
Having left the poor Youngster with the spare Potion he had acquired a while ago, Calem strolled among the trees. The serenity of the forest gave him ample time to think, and he decided to spend the time thinking about-
"Yoo hoo! C-Sharp!"
Never mind.
"That was fast."
"Would you like to take a walk with me? Siri's acting really distant for some reason."
He thought about it a while. While it was true he enjoyed Shauna's company, he wasn't entirely sure-
"I'll heal your Pokémon whenever you want me to!"
Correction – he was entirely sure he could bear with her for the duration of the forest.
"Sure, why not?"
"Ouai!" Shauna cheered, before prancing off into the forest, completely missing the point of actually taking a walk together.
Some form of divine intervention must have told her that she was going off-track, both figuratively and literally, because she appeared back at Calem's side the next second.
That's *pant* one *pant* favour.
I'll make Calem get you the pudding as soon as we get to Santalune.
This *wheeze* is why *cough* I don't teleport other *pant* beings… without incentive.
As the two strolled through the left path, Shauna started to hum.
"Cause I'd get a thousand hugs, from ten thousand Scatterbugs, as they try to teach me how to dance…"
It was a song he recognized; she had been humming the same thing when they'd met.
"Hey… C-Sharp."
He looked down to see Shauna pulling on his jacket collar, with, oh Lord Arceus no, a puppy-dog expression all over her face.
While Serena was beautiful, Shauna was downright moe.
"W-What is it this time?"
"Calem. Do you still blame me for what happened yesterday?"
"…Nana, I completely forgive you for everything, and I hope you'll do the same."
Her pleading look instantly changed to a mischievous one. "Great! Then you're capturing that Pansage over there for me!"
Similarly, his expression went from understanding to shell-shocked, as if a Thundershock had just hit him.
Well, actually, it had instead fried a poor Weedle some two hundred metres away, courtesy of Sparks, Trevor's newly-acquired Pikachu, but that was beside the point.
"I-I-I, but don't you have Fontaine to- oh."
For those of you unfamiliar with Pokémon type matchups, Pansage, as a Grass-type, has a natural advantage over Froakie, a Water-type. Thus, it wouldn't quite make sense to fight a battle you were bound to lose.
"Fine… Have it your way. Almond, come on out!"
A wild Pansage appeared!
*yawn* "I might as well exercise, since I've got nothing better to do today."
"It's noon. Are you sure you want to sleep that late?"
"True. How about we just Play Nice?"
Already, Almond was losing the will to fight. "Sure. My name's Almond. What's yours?"
"Leif. What say we," he held out a hand, "go and get some berries to eat?"
"Almond, use Tackle!"
"Sorry, but I have an obligation to Calem first."
The Pansage lowered his hand, and shifted into a fighting stance. "No problem. Bring it-"
He was interrupted when Almond sent him reeling backwards with a Tackle. Shrugging it off, Leif countered with a Tackle of his own, before following up with a Leer. He continued to press the advantage, and started to jab at Almond.
This time, Almond grabbed two of his quills. He stayed on the defensive, countering each jab with his small gauntlets. On and on they traded blows, until one missed attack gave Almond the opening he needed.
"Vine whip!" He swung both quills in an arc, catching Leif in the chest and knocking him down
He struggled to stand up after the hit. "Dude, that's not a vine at all!"
"I know! But the name just comes naturally with the move!"
"Nana, throw your ball!"
"Right!"
The Pokéball soared through the air.
And promptly flew right over Leif's head.
"I've never seen anyone fail so epically at that."
Almond facepalmed. "Ditto."
All of a sudden, a light purple blob appeared from the undergrowth. "Someone called for me?"
The missed Pokéball struck it on one of its 'arms', and with a flash, a normal Pokéball dropped to the ground. It shook once, twice, thrice, before it remained still.
Gotcha! Ditto was caught! Wait, what?!
"Cool! I got a Ditto!"
Shauna skipped away happily, leaving the four guys to stare at the spot where Ditto appeared.
"Did that really just happen?"
Calem put a hand to the side of his head. "Sometimes, I get the feeling that a Victini might be following her around. How did that Ditto even get here?"
A/N: She'll need that Ditto later. Trust me on this one.
Also, since Ditto can only be traded into the game, this saves me from having to write a trading sequence later on. Win-win.
03/11/13 update: Okay, jeez, I get it, there's a Pokemon Village; I didn't know until you guys told me; sue me.
She's still keeping it.
By the time they had said goodbye to Leif (he preferred to laze around in the forest instead of joining them), Shauna had already returned from the skip.
"Loud buzzing that-a way, and it doesn't sound friendly. I knew we should've taken a right!"
They continued the other way, and turned left to see Eugene, Tierno's Corphish, finish off his opponent with a Bubble.
"Okay, fine, you win. Here's 50 Pokédollars."
Receiving the money, Tierno twirled on the spot. "Sweet!"
Trevor, who was kneeling down and spraying a Potion on Sparks, looked up. "Oh, hey guys, what's new?"
"That." Calem pointed at the Pikachu. "When did you capture, er…"
"Him." Trevor finished. "Females have an arched end, like the top of a heart. Males, like Sparks here, have a normal straight end."
"How's it going, bro?"
"Pretty good." Oberon was the first to reply. "Are your injuries healing?"
Sparks let out a wince of pain as the cold liquid sprayed a rather painful bruise. "Close enough."
"Don't mind if I record his data?"
Trevor shook his head. "Go ahead."
"Awesome." Calem trained the miniature camera on the back of the Dex onto Sparks, who looked at it expectantly.
"Should I be doing something?"
The camera clicked. Seconds later, the information patched through.
"Guys, I think the Pokédex is broken. It's telling me that Pikachu is apparently another unidentified Pokémon from a different region with orange hair and unusually large eyes- wait."
Trevor's expression was priceless. Shauna probably thought that too, because with another click, his half-disbelieving, half-offended face was saved in her camera's memory for the amusement of all their friends back home.
"Merde! Do I look like a Pokémon to you?!"
Tierno held up a warning hand. "Trevs, take a deep breath and calm down. I'm sure you'll get your revenge later, but you need to keep your cool."
The nerve on Trevor's forehead slowly subsided, before it disappeared entirely. He inhaled deeply, and then returned to his normal self. "Alright. Let's get a move-"
"Not so fast!"
The Youngster ran up to Trevor and produced a Pokéball from his trousers. "I'm going to battle you! Come on, Scatterbug, let's powder this punk kid!"
Calem gulped. "Oh là là, he should not have said that."
"Calling someone a kid when they're bigger than you? Prepare to get curb-stomped, kid." Trevor concurred.
Serena turned a corner to see a Youngster trying to heal a scorched Scatterbug and a fried Fletchling.
Well, they weren't really cooked, per se, because judging by the fact that there were no visible burn marks, she guessed that it must have been an Electric-type that had done a huge number on the both of them.
"Did a boy named Trevor come by here just now?"
The Youngster looked up, his eyes traumatized. "H-H-He completely wiped out my team, all because I called him a kid."
Serena smiled, and patted him on the head gently. "Don't worry. Trevs is usually a very nice guy, but he just hates being called a kid. You're just lucky you didn't call him-"
A very loud voice reverberated around the entire forest.
"NOBODY CALLS ME SHORT AND GETS AWAY WITH IT, NOT EVEN A LASS!"
Serena turned, as two flashes, one black and yellow, the other orange and green, whooshed past her. Moments later, the same flashes passed her, this time going in the opposite direction.
"Yo, Siri!" Trevor called her over.
Calem, Shauna and Tierno were all sitting on foldable chairs, probably from Tierno's huge bag, and sharing a packet of Gummy Ekans.
"Do I even have to ask?"
Shauna shrugged. "We can't really stop him in this state, can we?"
"True."
Tierno checked his bag, and frowned. "Darn, we're all out of chairs. Maybe I can stand up and-"
"No need, Tio. I have a much better idea."
Serena strolled over to Calem, took the Gummy Ekans he offered her, bit into it…
And sat right on his lap.
That day, Calem made the entire male population of Aquacorde both envious and proud at the same time. Envious, because he just had experienced every teenage boy's equivalent of a wet dream in real life, and proud, because he managed to successfully divert all the blood away from the lower portions of his body to his head.
This had the unfortunate side effect of knocking him out near-instantly and giving him a massive nosebleed, but it was a much better fate than having to explain to Serena why something hard was poking her down there.
The rest of the time spent in the forest sped by. Fontaine learned to Quick Attack, which drastically sped him up in battle, while Sparks gained the art of Thunder Wave, which was basically stopping other Pokémon in their tracks with a weak jolt of electricity.
On the Dex side of things, eight new Pokémon were added to the Central Dex. Trevor had been unfortunate enough to chase the Lass into the same Beedrill hive Shauna had avoided earlier, but for his trouble, he had gained information about both of Weedle's evolutions.
On the other side of the forest, near the exit, Skye had been battling a stray Metapod, which was seriously starting to annoy her by spamming Harden over and over. Each attack she made hurt her beak, and fifteen attacks in, she got fed up and decided to pull a trump card.
"Peck!"
With a dive, she jammed her beak into a crack in Metapod's hard chrysalis. Needless to say, she was shocked when light burst forth from the crack, temporarily blinding her.
Serena was even more shocked to see a Butterfree emerge from the discarded shell.
"Oh Great Arceus high in the Hall Of Origins, thank you for finally bringing someone strong enough here!" The Butterfree chirped.
Skye was stunned. "What just happened?"
"Usually, as Metapods, we finish developing our Butterfree bodies at one month, but our outer shell can take months, maybe even years, to wear off! You just did me a huge favour by getting me out, so, merci bien!"
He proceeded to fly over to Skye, and plant a kiss (or something that resembled one) on her forehead, before flying off.
Serena, who had managed to record the Butterfree's data before he flew away, walked up to Skye and smiled. "Well, now, isn't he a cute one?"
It was at this point Skye was thankful her face and head were naturally red to begin with.
"C-Sharp? Wake up…"
Unlike Trevor, Calem was more responsive to waking-up calls. He opened his eyes to see his four friends looking down on him, and the red sunlight indicating it was very late in the afternoon. Shauna and Serena held out a hand, which he gracefully accepted, and they pulled him to a standing position.
"What did I miss?"
Trevor looked up from synchronizing all the information on their Pokédexes. "About two hours of training and battling." The two beeps from the five Pokédexes indicated all the data had been shared, upon which he gave back their respective Dexes.
Tierno did a little jaunty little dance. "The way those Pokémon moved back there, it's just incredible! I think I've got a new dance routine planned out!"
"Time's a-wasting! Allons-y! To Santalune!" Shauna cheered.
As Calem walked through the exit of the forest, he asked Trevor, "Wait, did Shauna actually get a Ditto?"
To that, Trevor nodded his head. "I don't really believe it either, but that Ditto is a hundred percent real."
Calem shrugged, as another question surfaced into his mind.
"Why do I have this strange craving for pudding all of a sudden?"
In his Ball, Oberon, who had just started reading 'The Hoppip', smirked.
A/N:
Ouai! – Yay!
moe – (Japanese term for) the ability of a character to instil an irrational desire to adore them, hug them, protect them, etc.
Merde! – Damn! (Or, as a reviewer has kindly pointed out, Shit!)
Oh là là – Oh dear
merci bien! – Thanks a lot!
Allons-y – Let's go!
Pokédex count:
Central Kalos – 20/150 seen.
(Coastal Kalos – 1/153 seen. – Rhyhorn – Unregistered)
(Mountain Kalos – 1/151 seen. – Ditto – Unregistered)
Deleted scene:
"There's a little kid there. Who's gonna go battle him?"
"Not me, Fia's not doing well after that Panpour encounter."
"I need to heal Sparks. How about you?"
Tierno shook his head. "Eugene's pooped from training."
Serena stamped her boots. "Well one of us is going to have to battle him, or we're not going anywhere."
Trevor snapped his fingers. "Why don't we flip a coin?"
Tierno shrugged. "Excellent idea. So, who's got a coin?"
"I do." The Youngster said, as he held out a 10P coin.
"Thank you, now let's-"
Tierno stopped talking. The three turned and faced the Youngster.
He held up his hands in surrender. "What? You were taking so long to decide, I decided myself to come over. And since you," he pointed at Tierno, "took the coin, you're my opponent!"
"Darn it!"
A/N:
Every day has to end, just as every month has to too. But what exactly happens at the end of this October?
It's time for an Event Chapter!
Halloween's arrived at Santalune City, but the five haven't even gotten any costumes!
"What do you mean, these are the only ones left in stock?!"
The night is still young, and the moon still full, so can they get into the spirit of the occasion? Or do they not stand… a ghost of a chance?
*ba dum tss*
But seriously, though, do you want a Halloween-themed chapter in Santalune City? Or a normal chapter where Calem and Serena battle Viola? Calem and Serena will battle Viola the morning after the night they arrive no matter what, so the presence of Halloween only affects that night and that one chapter. It is entirely optional, so you may choose to have it, or not.
The choice is up to you, dear viewers. The poll's on my profile, up there.