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Chapter 104,994 words
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Chapter 139,563 words
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Chapter 155,052 words
Halloween Chapter (non canon)12,924 words
Chapter 164,039 words
Chapter 175,803 words
Cancelled 22 words

Chapter 11

One Year Ago

Tyler couldn’t believe it, he was finally going to be a trainer! He looked down to his new trainer belt, lightly caressing the shiny red orb attached to one of the clips. The flight to Oldale had only been an hour and a half, but the whole time he couldn’t stop thinking about the new life he would be living for the next few years.

He stepped out of the airport and breathed in the fresh air. Now that he was outside again he pulled the ball off his belt, expanded it, and released his new partner from within.

“Swab?” The golden bird gave him an expectant look.

The teenager offered out his arm for the Pokemon, but it instead ignored it, and jumped onto her trainer’s head, causing him to stumble in surprise. After a moment she settled down, and he relaxed.

Once Queen was settled he dug his hand into his pocket and began to dig around for the crumpled instructions he had been given by his uncle. He finally managed to retrieve it out from around his phone, and began to read it, doing his best not to move his head around for the sake of his Pokemon resting on top. . “Let’s see… the Journey Cafe. Sounds like a good place to start on my own!”

He strode down the street as fast as he could without creating too rough a ride for his fluffy hat. Eventually, after walking for about fifteen minutes he came upon the cafe. He looked around some but couldn’t see the renowned professor.

After a moment a young woman with a long white lab coat approached him. “Excuse me, but are you Tyler? I’m afraid Professor Birch wasn’t able to pick you up himself, he’s having trouble down at the lab. ”

The new trainer nodded, “Yep! That’s me! Don’t worry about Professor Birch, I know how it feels to miss out of stuff because of work.”

The lab assistant nodded in agreement. “Thank you. Would you like some lunch before we head over? This cafe has great sandwiches.”

“No way! I’m way too excited to eat now! I’ve been waiting five years for my trainer license, and I can’t stand to wait another minute!”

“Ok, ok. Calm down. Cmon, I’ll drive you over to Littleroot. By the way, my name is Emily.”

The two climbed into the aforementioned car, an old slightly worn truck, obviously used for field research, and drove off. Tyler could barely contain himself, he held his new Pokemon in his arms, which had recently dozed off. He stroked her head lightly. This was all he could have asked for and more. He had expected to start with one of the generic Hoenn starters, but getting not only a Swablu, one of his favorite Pokemon due to their evolutions beauty, but a shiny, and the daughter of a famous contest star! This seemed too good to be true, and he had to resist the urge to pinch himself.

Tyler jumped a little when he was broken from his thoughts by the assistant clearing her throat. “So, out of curiosity, how come are you starting your journey so late? I mean… I’ve heard of trainers starting at slightly later ages like eleven or twelve, but never fifteen. Sorry if it’s a sore subject.”

Tyler didn’t even blink at the question. “It’s okay, I get asked that a lot, although usually before it was why I hadn't started it yet. My dad had a serious gambling addiction when I was little, and one day, after adding a large amount of debt to the pile he just vanished. We’re not sure whether someone finally offed him over his debts, or if he decided to run away from them. Either way he was trash. So he left my mom with all that debt. I had to stay at home and help run the Pokemart she owned. Simple as that.”

“Wow… That’s too bad. Well at least you can go on your adventure now, huh!”

He nodded and smiled, then looked back out the window, observing the wild Pokemon that could be seen through the window. As he looked out the window he thought about his plans for his team. He had gone to many a match in the leagues, and had watched the best of the best of Hoenn battle it out for the crown. Through this he had made several decisions about Pokemon he wanted on his team, but he was open to flexibility. He didn’t think any could be easily found nearby though, besides Eevee, which he knew could be found around Rustboro. He knew Klefki and Scraggy had been showing up East of Fallarbor, so he would definitely spend some time there, and Trapinch were rather common along Route 11. “I’ll need to find some desert gear some time in the near future,” he mumbled to himself. There were numerous other Pokemon he would have loved to add to his team, but couldn’t be found in the Hoenn Region.

Ever since Team Magma and Team Aqua had caused a near apocalypse, Pokemon not believed to be indigenous had been migrating there, and that opened up significant new opportunities to him. But not all the ones he wanted.

He found himself thinking about what other regions he should visit after finishing up in Hoenn, but stopped himself when he remembered that he was already older than most trainers when they started their journey, and would as such not have as much time as most to enjoy himself on this commemorative journey. “I’ll just have to make the most of it,” he whispered with an optimistic smile.

They finally made it to the Professors lab, and he quickly got out of the truck and rushed inside, accidentally jostling the sleeping Pokemon in his arms. The automatic doors slid open and he began to step inside. “WAIT! DON’T LET HER ESCAPE!”

A yellow and orange blur dashed between Tylers legs, disappearing into nearby woods. The teen looked back into the building, only to have a large body collide with him, toppling him over, and to get crushed under the strange man’s weight. The man quickly got up and looked around, “Oh no, oh no… ohnoohnoohonoohno! Now how are we supposed to find her?”

Tyler got up and got a better look at accidental intruder of his space. He found it to be a large, overweight bearded man with a formerly white lab coat, now sporting numerous burn and singe marks, whom he recognized as the famous professor.

He felt a light weight land on his head, and saw a small amount of fluffy white around the edges of his vision. He reached up a hand to pet the bird Pokemon, and outstretched his other to the professor. “Hello professor, my names Tyler. My uncle sent me here to get my trainer’s license.”

The older man focused on the boy for the first time, and broke out into a smile. “Ah yes! You’re Gordons nephew! It’s nice to meet you. One of my assistants got the test booted up on one of the computers in the back. Emily, could you lead him back there and get him started? I need to go help find Fennekin.”

“What’s going on?” Inquired Tyler.

The Professor sighed. “A few days ago Professor Sycamore from the Kalos Region sent us a few Pokemon that we were planning on introducing to the local environment to see how they interacted with the locals and vice versa. But the Fennekin he sent us keeps throwing tantrums almost every time we try to tag it!” He gestured to his burned lab coat. “She’s the only one we haven’t introduced to the environment here yet. At least not until now,” he looked out into the trees again.

“I can help look if you want!” the near trainer offered.

Professor Birch rubbed the back of his head. “Alright, just don’t go too far, and try to stay out of battles since you’re not technically allowed in them yet.”

Tyler nodded, “You got it. Cmon Queen!” He then dashed off into the woods in search of the Fennekin.

“We’re never gonna find her at this rate are we.”

“Swab”

The two had been searching now for hours. These were thick woods, and it seemed the little Fennekin didn’t want to be found. The sun was already starting to set out on the horizon, and Tyler was considering heading back to the lab before night fell.

He got out his DexNav, and went to the AreaNav app. “Ok I guess we should start heading back now. We don’t want to be here after dark.”

The two began to trek back through the forest, still keeping an eye out for the runaway. After some time they came to a large clearing around a small rocky lake. To the pairs surprise, far on the other side of the lake, was a Fennekin. It was leaning over the water on a precarious edge, lapping at the stagnant liquid. Tyler immediately crouched down as to avoid being seen, and it seemed to work, until he lost his balance in the crouch and stumbled forward, thudding onto the ground and startling the Fennekin, who lost it’s balance and fell forward and fell into the Lake.

Tyler could tell immediately that something was wrong when the Fennekin simply sank instead of making it to a shore. “Oh shit!” He dashed to the left, quickly covering the distance from his shore to the shore where the Fennekin had fallen in. He practically ripped off his backpack and coat and dived into the water, and in record time for him reached the bottom, and grabbed the now close to drowning Fire-Type. Once he had it securely in his arms he turned around underwater and pushed off from the bottom, reaching the surface and carefully placing the Pokemon on the rocky ledge.

Once he was sure it was okay he swam over to the nearest shore and came back over to the soggy starter. After once again checking the condition of the Pokemon he got a towel out of his bag and wrapped the fox Pokemon up in a bundle. He made sure it was comfortable and scratched it behind it’s ear. “Well that was a close one wasn’t it little guy.”

The Fennekin gave his hand a happy lick, and nodded it’s head happily, before wriggling out of the towel and curling up alongside the boy, who stroked it’s head some more.

They just sat there for a few minutes while the two dried off. Queen didn’t seem to mind and still jumped up atop her trainers head, and disgusted at the state of his hair, began to preen it with her claws and beak. During this time Tyler just stared out at the water, before finally breaking the silence. “Well I guess I should change, then get you two lovely ladies back to the lab.”

As soon as the words left his mouth the Fire-Type resting against his leg jumped up and used an Ember attack on him.

“Gah! What the hell was that for? That stung!”

He heard a sort of mixture of chirping and chuckling from atop his head, “Ah come on! Aren’t you supposed to side with me?”

The chuckling turned more to chortles, and he just slumped forward in defeat. After a few moments he straightened up again, “I’m sorry cutie, but I’ve gotta take you back to the lab whether you like it or not.”

Instead of the expected fight or flight response it just nodded, and let out an agreeing “Fenne.”

“Wait, I thought you didn’t wanna go back to the lab. Why are you so agreeable now?”

This reply earned an eye roll from the little fox, who just shook it’s head and gestured to it’s nether areas. Still oblivious, he blinked, “I don’t get it.” The Fire-Type face pawed, and pointed to Queen, shook it’s head, then pointed to his crotch, nodded, then pointed to it’s own groin and nodded again.

Tyler’s eyes widened as he finally began to understand. “Wait… Are you saying that you’re actually a guy?”

He nodded his head ecstatically, and let out a series of excited yips.

“Oh jeez, sorry. I thought you were female because the Professor… Oh. That’s why you kept burning him isn’t it.”

The Fennekin rolled his eyes again and nodded.

“Well then. I suppose I should escort this lovely little lady,” he pointed to his new hat, “and this handsome young gentlemen,” he gestured to Fire-Type “back to the lab before it gets dark.”

He quickly changed out of his soaked clothes and got out a fresh pair, stuffed the wet set into sealed plastic bag and was off, leading them back to the lab with his thankfully waterproof AreaNav.

Once they got back they found Professor Birch apologizing profusely to an unknown young man, also in a lab coat, over a video chat projected up onto a large screen..

“Hey professor! I found HIM.”

For a man of his size, the scientist whipped around startlingly fast, and for a man of his intelligence, completely missed the pronoun and it’s emphasis.. “Thank you! I don’t know if I would’ve been able to find her on my own! Please, take this.” He pulled out a card from his pocket, then held it out to him.

Tyler took it, and widened his eyes when he saw what it was. “I thought I had to take the test before I could get it!”

The man chuckled, “Technically the test is just a standardized format used to determine whether you’re ready when I don’t know you too well. But I think that considering the fact that you managed to contain this little cutie,” he gestured to the Fennekin, “back here without it kicking, screaming, and burning you to a crisp, you must have potential.”

Tyler nodded in agreement. “Well he wasn’t that much of a problem. I think I figured out what the problem was though. You see-”

“The Fennekin is male and sensitive about being called a girl,” the man on the monitor spoke up. “Sorry to interrupt. I was about to explain that to the dear Professor. My name is Professor Sycamore, I’m the main professor in Kalos.”

Tyler approached the screen with Birch. “Um, hi professor. My name is Tyler.”

“Hello Tyler. It’s always nice to meet new trainers. I see you already have a Pokemon too,” He glanced at Queen, now resting atop Tyler’s head again.

Tyler gave the Swablu a light stroke, causing her to shiver. “Yeah, this is Queen. She was a gift from Elisa to my uncle, and from him to me.”

The professor smiled. “Well it’s nice to meet you Queen. Perhaps we can get together in person one day.”

“Swab!” was the happy reply.

“So, anyway. On to business. I see that you and my Fennekin have already bonded some,” the Kalosian looked down at Tyler’s legs, where the Fennekin was standing close by, almost hugging the boy’s legs.

“Hmm, oh yeah. I guess me being the first to recognize that he was male probably earned my some serious bro points.”

The professor chuckled. “Yes, we had a similar problem here too at first. I must apologize Birch, I forgot to tell you about that. This particular Fennekin has a… more feminine body than most males of the species.”

Even over the videochat he flinched as the fire fox growled angrily at him.

“Heh, well I see you still haven’t quite tamed his temper. But, as I was saying. I think that if you were able to find, bond with, and identify the issue of a Pokemon so easily, you have some promise as a trainer. How would you like, if Professor Birch doesn’t mind, to take this Fennekin on your journey with you? As a sort of secondary starter”

Tyler broke out into a wide grin. “That would be amazing!”

Professor Birch just shrugged. “I don’t see a problem. As long as you can send me another Fennekin soon so I can finish my planned research.”

The foreign professor nodded. “Of course. It was probably a bad idea to send that one in the first place. I’ll go find another more docile one.” He then exited the screen and could be heard conversing with an assistent about finding a more suitable Fennekin for Professor Birch.

The Hoenn professor turned back to Tyler, “So, you think you're gonna give her- I mean him a nickname?”

Tyler knelt down, and cupped the Fennekin’s head in his hands. “I think I’m gonna name you… Kenny.”

The male Fennekin yipped happily, and licked the boys hands.

“Together, you Queen and I, we’re gonna make the ultimate team!”

Author's Note:

Just a little backstory chapter I wanted to make. The next chapter of actual plot should be out soon, and it'll be the biggest one yet.

Also I'm gonna start assigning characters theme songs. Here's Kenny's: