Chapter 1: New Beginnings
Just a little bit closer… The young sandy blonde haired boy thought as he reached out to touch the pokemon.
He loved pokemon, and wanted to play with everyone he came across. While in the park that day, he had found a little rattata and of course just had to go over and make friends with it.
There was something about this rattata that seemed to draw the boy to it. The boy didn't really question it though, as he followed it into a small group of trees next to the park. It was a small rat looking pokemon with a purple body with a white under belly and its two front teeth stuck out like beaver teeth.
He had followed it to a large bush and was so close to petting it. Just when he was about to touch it another sound was heard, a rustling in the bush, and a large orange rat like pokemon came barreling out of the bush ready to defend its young from whatever was intruding on its home. It was a Raticate.
The young boy gave a startled Yelp and jumped back. Every pokemon he'd encountered before this one was friendly, but not this one.
He tried to reach out to pet it once again. He just had to show the Pokemon he just wanted to pet it. But the agitated Raticate swiped at the boy scratching him in the arm. The boy wailed in pain as he now looked at the pokemon in fear.
The Raticate began to advance on the boy when it was struck by something… Another pokemon. This pokemon's round body had no arms or legs, floated in the air, and seemed to be surrounded by some kind of purple gas. It had big eyes and visible fangs that seemed to grin.
The two pokemon stared at each other with the floating pokemon in front of the boy as if it was protecting him. The boy sat back against a tree holding his arm, wondering what he could've done to cause a pokemon to react like this.
The Raticate lunged at the opposing pokemon, its teeth seemed to glow as it bit down on the pokemon, giving it a cut over its left eye. The gassy pokemon winced in pain but shook off the attack and proceeded to shoot purple waves of energy at the angry Raticate.
Whatever it was doing it did not like. It reeled back in what looked to be a state of confusion. It then looked at the floating pokemon, then the boy, and decided that this boy wasn't worth any more trouble, and scooped up the young Rattata and ran off into the woods.
The floating pokemon then turned to look at the young boy that had a shocked and worried look on his face, was this pokemon going to turn on him too?
He had seen plenty of Rattata and Raticate before, but had never seen this pokemon. The boy looked at the round shaped pokemon nervously wondering what it was going to do.
The floating pokemon then stuck out a large tongue and its eyes seemed to turn upside down and shouted "GHASTLY!" and gave out a big laugh. The boy's expression turned from worry to a small smile then burst out laughing too.
But it was cut short by another voice. "Kenji are you out here?" The boy looked out to see his dad, Norman coming towards him. The boy then looked back to say goodbye to the floating pokemon, but when he turned back, it was gone.
The father came up to the boy and knelt beside him. "Kenji, what have I told you about running off like that you had me and your mother worried sick," the father began to scold but stopped when he noticed Kenji's scratched arm.
"How did that happen son" he asked kindly "did you fall"?
"No," the young boy shook his head, "a pokemon did this," he said in a saddened tone. The boy recounted the events of what had happened to his father who listened intentively.
"Why would that raticate attack me like that?" the boy asked looking up at his dad.
"Well, I'd think it was just defending its baby," the dad said smiling.
"But I wasn't gonna hurt it or anything" the young boy said sadly.
"Well, the mother didn't know that, now did she". The boy paused to think.
"Not every pokemon out there is going to like you, but if you do your best to help them understand your feelings, I think you'll be just fine," said the dad standing up.
"Now, how about we get back to your mother, you don't want her to eat all your birthday cake do you?" the dad said giving a mischievous grin.
The boy gasped, he had completely forgotten that it was his birthday. The boy stood up and went off with his dad back to the park where there was a small group of people there gathered around a park table with some presents and a birthday cake with seven candles on it
After a wonderful off-key round of happy birthday, the boy looked down at his cake which read happy birthday Kenji, it had several pokeballs in frosting all over the top of the cake with seven lit candles.
"Remember to make a wish Kenji" his mom said.
The young boy paused for a second, giving it some thought. After a moment he took a deep breath and shouting "I WISH TO BE FRIENDS WITH A BUNCH OF POKEMON!" Everybody sweat dropped before giggling at the young energetic boy. And with a mighty blow he blew out his candles.
Kenji had often thought about this memory, it was a good one. He never saw any of those friends again, he and his family had since moved to Lumios city in the kalos region. His dad was a pokemon research scientist who got asked to work with Professor Sycamore, almost out of the blue it seemed. But it was a well-paying job, so there were no complaints from Autumn, kenji's mother, so they made the move from the Fontera Region shortly after his seventh birthday. His dad got to work with the esteemed pokemon professor, who specialized in Pokemon evolution.
It was going to be Kenji's thirteenth birthday tomorrow, and his dad had asked him to come by the lab in the morning. Kenji was racking his brain on what he could possibly want, it's not like he hadn't been to the lab before. Several days out of the week he had helped take care of the pokemon after school was out. Kenji had even taken a particular liking to his dad's tyranitar, who worked as his dad's lab assistant. Tyranitar are normally very aggressive and short tempered, but for some reason this one was very tame, patient, and loved people. Kenji pondered over these thoughts late into the night then fell asleep where he dreamed of playing and battling with all kinds of pokemon.
The next morning was Kenji's birthday. His mom had made him a big stack of pancakes before he set off to the lab. Kenji then got on a bus and was off to the city. Lumios City was very a very big and busy city in the center of the Kalos region.
It was filled with all kinds of shops and things to do, and at the center was Prism Tower, it was designed by a young inventor who helped design some of the major parts of the city. Things like phone booth looking capsules, where electric type Pokemon could release excess stored up electricity, and it was used to power the entire city. It was quite a feat to say the least. Prism Tower was also home to the city's pokemon gym.
Kenji was lost in thought about what kind of pokemon that gym leader used and what it would be like to one day battle with his own pokemon. School was over for the summer and Kenji was hoping to at least attempt to try and catch his own pokemon.
He would often ask his dad if he could borrow a pokemon from the lab to help him catch one of his own, but he always said no. Kids even at the age of ten could get their own pokemon, and some kids through a special program could even get their own pokedex if they got good enough grades in school. His thoughts were cut short upon hearing a sneering voice as he got off the bus.
"Oh, look it's Kenji, gonna go play with your pokemon friends? oh I forgot you don't have any," the kid also getting off the bus. Kenji turned to see who he really had no desire to see on of all days today…Ritchie.
Ritchie was fourteen and stood a few inches above Kenji, he had on a red shirt and brown cargo shorts and a black hat turned backwards.
"Lay off Ritchie, I don't have time for your nonsense," Kenji said rolling his eyes. Trying to ignore him he went on foot towards the lab, but Ritchie followed.
"You're on your way to the lab aren't you," he questioned. "So what if I am," Kenji said shoving his hands in his pockets. It's not like he hated Ritchie, he just found him annoying.
"Well, I'm on my way to get my first pokemon and pokedex from Professor Sycamore," Ritchie jeered at Kenji. "Yea, I got good enough grades that got me entered into the program," he said grinning.
"Oh, really?" Kenji said reluctantly. Kenji's grades weren't as good as Ritchie's. He didn't do well in class, he'd rather be out in the real world experiencing and interacting with pokemon rather than reading about them in a book.
Ritchie went on and on about how he's gonna get the best pokemon and he's going to conquer the gyms and then the pokemon league. Kenji secretly envied Ritchie, to be able to go out on his own and meet all kinds of pokemon.
Kenji sighed as they got to the lab and walked through the doors where they were greeted by Professor Sycamore's assistant Sophie. "Hey Kenji, your dad's in the back, I'll buzz you in," a buzzer rang, and a door unlocked letting Kenji in.
"What? no fair!" whined Ritchie. "I wanna see what's going on back there!" he pouted as he had to wait in the lobby. Kenji made a face at Ritchie through the window as the door closed. That was something he could do that Ritchie couldn't, so he enjoyed the moment while it lasted.
Kenji entered the lab a saw a large armored pale green pokemon standing upright that had spikes on its back. "Hey tyranitar!" Kenji greeted as he ran over to the large pokemon. It turned to face Kenji and leaned down and gave out a happy grunt and greeted the boy as he reached up and gave it a scratch on the chin. Another lab assistant was on a computer typing something up and noticed him.
"Oh, hey Kenji your dad is in his office."
"Thanks Reggie," Kenji smiled as he headed down a hallway. Kenji knew his way around the lab well enough to where he wouldn't get lost.
He came to a door labeled Professor Norman Donovan R&D. Kenji opened the door to find his dad wearing a lab coat typing away on his computer, under his lab coat he wore light brown pants and a blue button up shirt tucked in. His dad had slightly darker hair than Kenji's but not as messy and wore glasses.
"Oh, hey there Kenji, you're just in time," he said standing up.
"Yea what did you want to see me for dad?" Kenji asked.
"Well, come follow me," he said leading Kenji out into the hall through a bunch of different doors. He stopped at the final door and turned to Kenji.
"Now Kenji, I know it hasn't been easy for you since we moved here. But I think now is the time and you're ready."
"Ready for what?" Kenji asked with a puzzled look on his face. He had never been to this part of the lab before, so he didn't know what was on the other side.
"Well, through this door, is your birthday present, I hope you like it," his dad said stepping away from the door. Kenji reached up nervously to the door handle, he thought he heard a familiar voice from the other side it sounded like… Ritchie? Sort of confused Kenji opened the door and found Ritchie and another girl next to him.
Kenji had seen her around school but never interacted with her at all. She appeared to be Kenji's age and was wearing blue shorts and a and a green top. Her brown hair was in a ponytail with a few strands of hair that hung in her face.
"What are you doing here?" Ritchie asked in a snotty tone.
"What am I?..." "what are you doing here?" Kenji retorted.
"Well, we are waiting to get our first pokemon, but the last kid is late," said Ritchie in an irritated tone. Kenji looked back at his dad confused, when another door opened, and Professor Sycamore walked through. He was a tall thin man with black curly hair. He wore black pants with a purple button up shirt tucked in and a white lab coat over top.
"Hello everyone," he said with a big smile. "Oh, good Kenji, you made it, come on over with the others." Kenji stepped forward slowly. "Well, I'm sure you all are all anxious to get started, so let's get right to it," the professor said taking out a container. Kenji peered inside, when the professor opened it up his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. There were 3 pokeballs in the container with name tags and a picture next to them.
Kenji slowly turned to his dad who was beaming from ear to ear.
"Do you mean that I..." Kenji finally stammered, "I can start a pokemon journey?" he finally said struggling to get the words out.
He was snapped back to reality when he got shoved by Ritchie.
"Hey, quit crowding I wanna see too!" said Ritchie poking his head in, the girl hung back and giggled. "Now kids, don't worry there will be plenty of time to see them, but first you all have a big decision to make. You three get to pick your very first pokemon partner."
Kenji was overfilled with excitement and joy. He gave a weird expression trying to hide how happy he was. Kenji's dad quietly laughed at him.
"Since it's Kenji's birthday today," the professor stated, "my gift to you is you get to pick first."
Kenji could barely hear him over the racing thoughts in his mind.
"First thing before you see them, here is an important tool you'll need on your journey, a Pokedex."
The professor handed each kid a small rectangular red device that had a touch screen.
"The Pokedex is a great tool, just point it at a pokemon, and it will tell you information about it, like what kinds of moves it knows, it's abilities, and a bunch of other information as well, you can try it out on your new partners when you meet them. It also functions as a map phone and all the other latest pokegear technology." Kenji looked over his shiny new pokedex examining it from top to bottom.
The professor then released the three pokemon, in a flash of light the three pokemon appeared before was a small blue frog looking pokemon with thick white bubbles around its neck. Kenji pointed his Pokedex at the little frog. "Froakie, the bubble pokemon, this pokemon secretes flexible frubbles from its chest and back. The frubbles reduce the damage it would have otherwise taken from the attack." The Pokedex chimed in a mechanical sounding voice. Kenji eyed the little frog, it seemed to be doing the same.
"Hmm, a water type might be nice." he said to himself.
The second pokemon was a green colored pokemon that sort of resembled a chipmunk. It stood upright with 3 spines on its head.
"Chespin, the spiky nut pokemon. The quills on its head are usually soft. When it flexes them, the points become so hard and sharp that they can pierce rocks."
"Hmmm, that one looks pretty strong," Kenji thought looking down at the little chespin who had a big smile on its face.
The third pokemon was a small yellow fox looking creature with red bits of fur coming out of its perked-up ears.
"Fennekin the fox pokemon. To intimidate its opponents, it puffs out hot air from its ears which can reach up to 400 degrees."
"Oh, wow neat," exclaimed Kenji. The little fox was sitting elegantly looking up at Kenji smiling. Kenji looked at the three of them. He had ruled out Fennekin, it looked to be a little too high maintenance for him. He looked over Chespin and Froakie again.
Froakie seemed to not look interested in him, while Chespin had a big smile seemingly just waiting for an adventure.
Kenji knelt down in front of Chespin and was about to ask it to join him on his journey, but something stopped him. His hands started to feel tingly, his vision went a little fuzzy and got a little dizzy. He blinked a few times and found that his vision had returned to normal. He then looked and discovered that he had made his way over to the little froakie.
Kenji leaned down. "Froakie, I choose you, let's go see the world together," Kenji said smiling. The little frog seemed reluctant but then forced a small smile.
Kenji stepped back and froakie stood next to him. That was a little strange Kenji thought. Wasn't I about to choose Chespin? He then seemed to forget about the moment and thought nothing more of it. "Ok Liza, how about you next," the Professor said and motioned for the girl to go next. "Hmmm," she said thinking. After a bit she stepped up and knelt down in front of the little fox pokemon.
"How about it fennekin, do you want to come with me?"
"Fennekin!" the pokemon happily agreed and jumped into her arms and stepped back in line.
"Well, they were obviously saving best for last," touted Ritchie. "Come on chespin, let's go show the world what we're made of!" chespin jumped with it's paw in the air excitedly and stood in line with Ritchie.
"Wonderful choices everyone," the professor said. "Now that you have chosen your first partner, here is you pokemon trainer starter kit it's full of great items any new trainer will need."
The professor pointed to 3 backpacks over on a table. "Now before you three set out to start your journey, I'd like to say a few words." "A Pokemon journey isn't easy, it's a lot of hard work, but if you keep at it, never give up, and treat your pokemon partners with love and respect, then there's no telling how far you will go." The three kids…no… The three new trainers looked up at the professor grinning ear to ear, this was going to be the start of their journey.
Kenji still couldn't believe it, he had his very own pokemon. His mind was racing with thoughts of all the battles they'd have and other pokemon they'd meet. His thoughts were interrupted by Ritchie.
"Hey Kenji let's have a battle, me and chespin are ready to show we got what it takes."
Normally Kenji would roll his eyes at Ritchie, but now he had a pokemon, and he'd finally be able to one up him.
"Alright Ritchie, you're on!" Kenji said confidently.
"I think that's a great idea," chimed in professor Sycamore, "it will give you a chance to bond with your pokemon."
"No thanks I'm ok," piped up Liza, "I'm just gonna go home and get ready to leave," she said stepping away. "Thank you for everything professor," she said smiling and waving goodbye.
What's her deal? Kenji thought, but he scrubbed that from his mind he had to focus on his first pokemon battle.
The group headed out to a practice field behind the lab. The two new trainers stood at opposite ends facing each other.
"You ready to lose?" called out Ritchie.
"Not a chance," yelled Kenji. The professor stood at the sidelines in the middle of the field.
"I'll referee this match," he said. "This will be a one-on-one match, the trainer whose pokemon is unable to continue battling will lose."
Froakie and chespin stepped forward in front of their trainers.
"Ready?" "Battle begin!" shouted the professor.
"Alright froakie let's start off strong with quick attack!" shouted Kenji.
Froakie took off with such speed it was hard to keep track of at first.
"Quick chespin dodge it!" yelled Ritchie.
Chespin just barely managed to jump out of the way in time.
"Now hit em with tackle chespin!"
As soon as chespin landed it darted forward and hit the froakie hard knocking it back.
"Alright froakie, let's use pound!" yelled out Kenji.
The froakie glanced back at his trainer in hesitation but ran forward and attempted to throw punches at his opponent. Chespin was able to dodge them all. "Great work chespin, now use vine whip!"
Chespin jumped back and long green vines came out of its neck area and began to swat at froakie.
Oh no froakie's in trouble, thought Kenji, how can I get him out of this? But before he could come up with an idea he heard Ritchie shout,
"Great chespin, now slam it down!" And with that froakie was thrown down hard hitting the ground and rolling back towards Kenji.
"Oh no froakie! can you get up?" he called out. Froakie managed to get up slowly.
"Great froakie, now let's finish this" Kenji yelled but stopped. Froakie looked back at him and glared at him.
"FRO KI KI FRO!" shouted the froakie towards Kenji.
Kenji was shocked, he didn't really know what to say, was it mad at him? I mean sure they seemed to be losing but that's no reason to give up right?
Before Kenji could say anything back froakie took off on its own it charged forward and grabbed a handful of the frubbles from its chest and threw some around Chespin's feet, the chespin a little confused just stood there. Froakie then launched itself into a quick attack.
Chespin, in an attempt to dodge it, got stuck on one of the piles of the frubbles at its feet. Turns out they are very sticky and held chespin in place.
"Oh no chespin!" shouted Ritchie.
Froakie then jumped over chespin and unleashed a bubble attack at close range leaving a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, chespin was lying on the ground unconscious.
Woah, froakie, thought Kenji.
"This battle is over, and the winners are Kenji and froakie!" shouted the professor.
"Awe, no way they cheated, you can't use that sticky stuff!" whined Ritchie. "Actually, he can," said the professor, "it's a part of Froakie's body, therefore it's allowed."
"Oh whatever, we'll just have to get stronger," Ritchie said proudly picking up his chespin. "We won't lose to you again Kenji, watch yourself, you won't get so lucky next time." Ritchie said walking back into the lab.
"Wow froakie, you did it!" Kenji said running up to the little frog, but froakie did not return the compliment it didn't even look at Kenji.
"Hey what's wrong froakie?" asked Kenji. The little frog gave Kenji a quick glare then turned away from him.
"Well, you did great in that battle," Kenji said softly. "Take a good rest." He returned froakie to his pokeball. A red beam of light shot out and enveloped froakie in it and he disappeared. Kenji looked down at the ball, why was froakie so upset with him he wondered.
Kenji strolled back inside the lab feeling a little bummed. Sure, he had won the match but still felt like a loss somehow. Norman greeted him inside.
"Hey champ, I saw the match, great job!" he cheered.
"Thanks dad," Kenji said putting on a smile. "How did this even happen" Kenji asked him. His grades weren't good enough to qualify for the program, so he wondered how he got in.
"Well, it's a perk of me working here," said his dad proudly. "Since I work here, I was able to get you into the program no problem, and I figured it would be a great birthday surprise."
"Wow I had no idea, thanks dad," Kenji said sheepishly and giving him a hug. "Now, I want you to go home and pack so you can be ready to leave first thing in the morning." His dad said handing him his new backpack.
"Right, sure thing," Kenji said eagerly starting to feel a bit better after the battle. He passed through the lab the way he came in from and saw tyranitar.
"Hey, I'm officially a trainer!" Kenji shouted up to the towering pokemon who gave another happy grunt. "I even got a Pokedex check this out."
He took out his Pokedex and pointed it at the pokemon. "Tyranitar the armor pokemon, and the final evolution of larvitar. This pokemon has a heavily armored body that can withstand powerful attacks. It is very territorial and becomes easily aggressive if it feels threatened."
"Wow," Kenji said, "seems like you're pretty strong, but I can't see you hurting anyone," he said rubbing its face gently. The large pokemon seemed to make what could be a purring sound.
"Well, I gotta go pack for my journey," Kenji said excitedly, "I'll see you tomorrow," he said waving goodbye.
That night, Kenji spent his time going through his new trainer kit. It included a tent, some pokeballs, a pokemon med kit as well as one for humans, a basic collapsible stove and pot, and a few pamphlets that had a bunch of info for new trainers.
Kenji had let froakie out of its PokeBall, but it seemed to want to be on its own, still feeling bothered by the battle from earlier. Kenji laid in bed for a while thinking about the journey he was about to have.
"Chespin, want to come on a journey with me?"
"Chespin use vine whip!"
"You can do it Quilladin, I believe in you!"
"Go Chesnaught use hammer arm!"
These memories seemed to flood inside of Kenji's head all at once, but he had no memory of this. They didn't even seem to be his memories. It wasn't a dream, he was still awake. They felt like his own memories but not his at the same time.
It almost felt like when he was about to choose chespin as his first partner. Maybe he was coming down with something or just too excited to start his journey. He let those thoughts leave his head as he fell asleep.
The next morning, Kenji woke up bright and early ready for anything. He had got everything in his backpack ready to go and everything in it. He got dressed in his traveling attire which included dark blue jeans, a white graphic shirt, and his favorite hat. His dad had given it to him when he was younger. He said it was a limited edition and had to send in a bunch of mail tokens to get it. It was red with a white front and a green logo on the front representing the pokemon league from the Kanto region.
He had a belt that hung down at his side that could hold his pokeballs and a pair of white shoes with a black logo on the side.
Kenji went downstairs to find his parents waiting for him. Not really surprising, they knew how much he wanted this.
"Well, I'm off mom and dad," he said proudly.
"Well son, you know you can stop by anytime and don't forget to call occasionally, your Pokedex also can be used as a phone you know, or just use a video phone at the pokemon centers."
"Yea I know dad," Kenji said rubbing the back of his head. His mom gave him a big deep hug. While on the verge of tears she was able to put together a few sentences. "Don't forget to eat healthy, don't talk to any scary people, or scary pokemon, and remember to shower and keep yourself clean."
"Mom, I will I promise," Kenji interrupted turning a bit red and smiling. He knew she was just worrying.
He gave one last look goodbye, and he was then off on his own.
Kenji had spent all of the previous night planning, he gave a bit of thought to what he wanted to do on his journey, there were plenty of options to choose from. Pokemon doctor, breeder, coordinator, researcher, scientist, there were so many to choose from.
But he quickly settled on taking the pokemon gym trainer challenge then the pokemon league. The goal was to get a total of 8 gym badges, gotten from beating various gyms scattered throughout the region. Then you could take on the pokemon league tournament, where only the best of the best trainers would end up.
Since there was a gym in Lumios City the choice was simple enough, so he got on a bus and headed into the city to challenge the gym. When he arrived, there was a small crowd of people at the entrance of the gym.
Kenji got behind the group and tried to get a look but couldn't really tell.
"Hey man, what's going on here?" asked a trainer standing next to him.
"Well, it seems like you need at least 4 badges to challenge the gym leader here."
"What, seriously?" said Kenji shocked. This was unusual since it didn't matter what order you did the gyms in. The gym leader would normally choose what Pokemon they would use based on how many badges you had.
Kenji walked off in a huff and pulled out his Pokedex, looking under the map function to see if there were any gyms close by.
To his surprise there was one just south of lumios city in Santalune city.
"Oh, perfect," Kenji said getting back on another bus that was headed in that direction. And just like that he was off again, nothing was going to stop him. While on the long bus ride Kenji stared out the window, they passed by rolling fields and a thick forest. They wouldn't arrive in Santalune City until the next morning, so Kenji decided to get some sleep.
He arrived in santalune city the next day in the late afternoon. The town was paved with cobble streets with fancy houses that seemed to have an artistic flair to their design. There were plenty of gardens filled with colorful flowers that filled the street, it had its fair share of shops but nothing like the big city. In the middle of the town square stood a large fountain with a pokemon in the center that looked like it had flowers for hands.
He made a dash for the gym. It was a green building with very tall windows almost making it look like a greenhouse.
Kenji walked through the doors and was surprised to find it looked more like an art museum than a pokemon gym. All over the walls hung photographs of different pokemon, but most of them seemed to be bug type pokemon.
He walked to the reception desk and was greeted by a friendly woman. She had a small yellow lizard perched on her shoulder that hopped off and seemed to hide under the desk.
"Hello, my name is Kenji, and I'd like to have a gym battle please."
"Hi Kenji, my name is Alexa," she said smiling.
"Umm, is that pokemon ok?" Kenji asked pointing to the cowering lizard under the desk peeking its head out.
"Sorry, don't mind my Helioptile, its very shy."
"Oh, I see Kenji said pointing his pokedex at it.
"Helioptile, the generator pokemon, this pokemon makes their home in deserts. They can generate their energy from basking in the sunlight, so eating food is not a requirement," informed the pokedex.
"How many badges do you have," she asked. "None yet," Kenji stated, this will be my first one.
"Ok, sounds good, if you'll follow me, I'll take you to the gym leader," she said getting up. She was tall, looked to be in her 20s and had short brown hair with a large strand of it hung down in her face.
"So, how strong is this gym leader?" Kenji asked nervously.
"Well, she's definitely no slouch, you're gonna have to give it everything you got." She said eyeing the young new trainer.
"Don't be too nervous, my sister isn't that bad."
"Wait, your sister is the gym leader?" Kenji questioned.
"Yup," she said smiling as they came to a set of doors.
"Now go out there and give it everything you got," she said giving him a confident smile.
"Thanks, I will," Kenji said smiling back he reached up and opened the doors.
Kenji stepped into a room filled with trees with a battlefield in the middle of the room and a glass ceiling making the room seem almost like it was outside.
A young woman stood on one side of the battlefield. She was a little bit shorter than Alexa and wore a white tank top, green pants, and sported a camera around her neck. She had short blonde hair with two sections parted from the middle hanging out on the sides.
"Well, do we have a new challenger?" she shouted. "I'm Viola, and I'm the santalune city gym leader." Kenji stepped onto the battlefield.
"That's right, my name is Kenji, and I'm here to earn a bug badge," he exclaimed. "Alright then Kenji, how many pokemon have you brought with you, and how many badges have you earned so far?"
"Well, this will be my first badge, and I only have one pokemon with me so far," said Kenji shrinking back a little bit.
"You mean you challenged a gym leader with having only one pokemon?" said Viola, a bit stunned. "You're either very confident or you're not the brightest new trainer," she said rubbing the back of her head trying not to sound too mean.
"Well, I'll show you that me and my partner can handle anything you throw at us," proclaimed Kenji.
"Well, alright then," Viola said bringing out a single pokeball from her camera strap. Alexa stepped into the referee spot.
"This is an official gym match for a bug badge and will be a one-on-one match with no time limit, the battle will be over when a pokemon from either side is unable to battle or either trainer gives up," said Alexa looking over at Kenji. "Challenger are you ready?"
Kenji nodded. Then both trainers bring out your pokemon. Kenji threw out his pokeball, and froakie appeared in front of Kenji.
Viola threw out a pokeball and a little spider-like creature appeared.
It had a small blue colored body, four legs and didn't appear to have a mouth, with an orange antenna sticking up on top of its head.
"What's that pokemon?" Kenji asked himself as he pulled out his pokedex to scan it.
"Surskit the pond skater pokemon. This pokemon can walk on water as if it were skating. It attracts prey with the sweet aroma it produces."
"Let the battle begin!" shouted Alexa.
"Alright froakie lets do this!" shouted Kenji." Let's start off with a quick attack!" Froakie launched itself at the little skater pokemon.
"Quick Surskit use protect!" shouted Viola.
Surskit conjured up what looked to be a wall of light and Froakie bounced off of it doing no damage.
"Get back after it!" shouted Kenji, "use another quick attack!"
Once froakie landed it launched itself again but at a different angle and attempted to land a hit but the little surskit skated right out of the way. It was skating around the arena, with each attack froakie launched it seemed to just be able to effortlessly dodge it by skating around.
"Oh, come on are you just going to dodge the whole time?" Kenji said, getting visibly irritated.
"You have to play to your partner's strengths, right? well there's hardly anybody that can catch my surskit," Viola said confidently.
"Alright froakie, use your frubbles and cover the field!" That will slow them down Kenji thought.
Froakie jumped up and grabbed as many handfuls of its frubbles as possible and threw them everywhere. The Surskit did stop, only momentarily though.
"Not bad kid, but that won't be enough to stop us," Viola said grinning.
"Use ice beam on the field!" she shouted.
"Ice beam?" Kenji questioned.
The Surskit then jumped up in the air and shot a beam of light at the floor turning the gym floor into a sheet of ice.
"Yes, our ice battlefield is picture perfect!" said Viola, "what will you do now Kenji?" said Viola staring at him.
When froakie landed it fell multiple times trying to get its footing. Kenji looked on in awe, all of the frubbles that froakie had thrown down were now frozen under the ice, and now to make matters worse, the surskit was actually skating on the ice but even faster now. It danced around froakie essentially taunting it.
Kenji hesitated, trying to think of a way out of this, but it was too late Viola had called out her next attack.
"Use signal beam surskit!" The surskit jumped up and shot a beam of light that was colored a mix of purples and greens.
"Quick froakie dodge it!" Kenji yelled out in desperation.
But the little frog couldn't get its footing and was struck by the attack, sending it flying.
"No froakie," muttered Kenji.
"Well Kenji, have you had enough? There's no shame in calling a match, you can come back and have a rematch with me at any time." Viola said as surskit skated around in quick circles.
"Not a chance, we're just getting started," Kenji said.
"Froakie, get back out there and show them we won't give up!" "FROAKIEEEEE!" yelled the little frog pokemon at the top of its lungs with what little strength it had left.
"That's the spirit froakie!" said Kenji bursting with pride. But his look fell quickly when he saw that froakie was glaring at him.
"Froakie what's wrong?" Kenji asked.
"I think this battle is over," Viola said, giving her sister a nod.
"Wait no it's not, we can still win this," pleaded Kenji.
"ENOUGH!" shouted viola. Kenji looked in shock over at the gym leader who was now walking over to him.
"Clearly, you have a lot to learn about pokemon," she said in a stern tone. "Answer me this, how long have you had this Froakie?"
"Froakie is my first pokemon and I got it yesterday," Kenji said slowly not making eye contact.
"You clearly don't know what you are doing."
"But I..." stammered Kenji. "I really wanted to win a gym badge."
"Wanting it isn't enough," said viola giving Kenji a stern look.
"Did you seriously think you could waltz on in here and just get a gym badge and not put in any effort?"
"Did you even have a plan coming in here?" she said, crossing her arms.
Kenji said nothing and clenched his fists.
"So, you mean to tell me you got your starter pokemon and thought the best thing to do was to attempt a gym battle right away?"
"Gym leaders are not to be taken lightly and serve as a test for trainers," Viola said starting to get an angrier expression on her face.
Kenji kept trying to come up with something for his defense, but nothing came, her words stung worse because it was true.
"We don't give out gym badges to people that just want them, you need to earn them, and you clearly did not earn the bug badge today. Go be with your pokemon and learn something from today's defeat."
Kenji was holding tears back but before he could say anything, he just ran.
Alexa walked over to her sister, giving her a look.
"You think I was too hard on him don't you," Viola said letting out a sigh.
"I didn't say anything," Alexa responded standing next to her.
"I hate it when I get first time trainers like this, she said exhaling. "So eager to start their journey without giving anything a second thought." "I'm hoping I'll see him back here soon with a changed outlook on things."
"You think he will?" Alexa added.
"I sure hope so," said Viola walking away.
Kenji didn't know where he was running, he didn't really know why either, he just wanted to get out of there. He sat down on a bench a few blocks away from the gym next to a fountain and hung his head in defeat.
The worst part about all of this was she was right. He didn't have any plan, he didn't do any training, and he only brought froakie who he didn't even work with at all, what was he thinking.
All these thoughts stopped running through his head when he heard froakie come up to him.
"Oh, hey froakie," Kenji said softly.
Froakie then nudged his leg. "No froakie not now."
Froakie didn't listen and nudged him again but harder.
"Stop froakie enough."
Froakie had had it with this boy's attitude. Froakie started shouting at the boy over and over, but it fell on deaf ears. Kenji had no idea what to do, or how he would even overcome his first gym leader.
Maybe going on a journey was a mistake. Kenji just hung his head in defeat.
He was then hit with a jet of water. Kenji looked in shock to see that it was from froakie.
"What's your problem?!" yelled Kenji. The froakie yelled back, Kenji not really understanding it, but had a good feeling what it was saying.
"Well, it's your fault we lost, if you would've just gotten back out there, we would've won!" Kenji shouted, glaring at froakie.
Froakie in shock glared back and shot a bubble attack at Kenji hitting his belt and knocking its pokeball off. Froakie then went over a crushed the pokeball by slamming it onto the ground as hard as it could.
Kenji in shock couldn't move. Did his very own pokemon destroy its own pokeball?
"Froakie, what are you doing?!" yelled Kenji. froakie then started to hop away. "Froakie come back," Kenji said getting up after it.
Froakie ignored him. "Froakie wait!" Kenji pleaded with it.
The froakie turned and launched another bubble attack hitting the boy square in the chest knocking him back.
"FRO KI KI FRO!" the froakie shouted glaring at the boy.
Kenji was overcome with all kinds of emotions, confusion, shock, then anger. Why wasn't this stupid little frog listening to him. It all came exploding out with Kenji's next words.
"I hate you! I knew I should've picked Chespin!" shouted Kenji as he turned his back. With a single tear sliding down the little frog's face it hopped off down the road not looking back.
Kenji laid down in his bed looking up at the ceiling. Just a week ago he was dreaming about becoming a trainer and taking on the gym challenge and the pokemon league. It was bad enough that he lost a gym battle, it was even worse that he had to go back to his parents' house in defeat.
It was even worse that his first pokemon had abandoned him, finding him not worthy of being its trainer. Kenji truly had no idea what to do, he just laid there and just sighed.
Professor sycamore stirred his morning coffee gently.
"Anything new?" he asked looking up at Norman.
"No, he barely leaves his room, we have to practically beg him to eat. I've never seen him like this," Norman sighed. "Even tyranitar knows something is off, it's been a few months since its seen him." The professor let out a long sigh.
"I feel like this is my fault,"
"No, don't blame yourself," interrupted Norman. "Have you found a trainer for that froakie yet?"
"Sadly, no," said Professor Sycamore glumly staring into his coffee.
"That froakie seems to reject every trainer we pair it with, after a battle or two it just abandons them." "It's almost as if it doesn't feel they are worthy." He looked over and watched the froakie sitting alone in a tree in the outdoor habitat area.
"I honestly don't know what to do about it."