A Long Journey Ahead!

## Rebellious Froakie

"WHHHA?!" Elijah shouted as he landed on his rear on a jagged path, which was otherwise known as Route 1. Around Elijah's vicinity were multiple Pokémon, each different from the one next to itself. Quickly the new trainer reached to his waist to pull out a pokéball. Lobbing the spherical shaped object into the air, a illuminating light released from the opening pokéball. In the next instance a blue colored toad appeared. This Pokémon was his oddly colored Froakie he received from Professor Sycamore.

With it's eyes closed, the Froakie raised its hand up at Elijah. "Frooooooooakie!" It shouted, stating its presence. Opening its eyes to see Elijah in his immediate vicinity, caused him to turn his head.

"Aw, come on Froakie. We gotta get add someone to our team if we wish to defeat the first gym." Holding his hands in a crossed formation, Elijah demanded Froakie lend him a hand. However just as before, the pokemon turned his head yet again. At the moment of turning his head, he was smacked by an incoming pokemon launching him a distance back.

"Fllletchling!" The opposing pokemon shouted flapping its wings rapidly with it's eyes locked onto Froakie.

Froakie's eyes changed, with a look as though he had been ready to fight at this point. "Yeah, about time Froakie!" Elijah shouted rushing to stand behind his pokemon. "Put what is this." He continued, pulling his pokedex out and pointing it to the flying pokemon. *"Fletchling, the Tiny Robin Pokémon. Although Fletchling's chirp is quite beautiful to hear, it is relentlessly tough with those who enter its territory."*

"Guess we're in his territory, huh? Alrighty then! Froakie, smokescreen to obscure Fletchling's vision. Turning to face Elijah, Froakie gave off a slight smirk. Instead, opening it's mouth, Froakie released a barrage of bubbles at Fletchling causing the bird to fly backwards from taking damage.

Holding his fist out, Elijah shouted at Froakie in anger. "Smokescreen, Froakie!" He shouted, trying to correct the Froakie from it's mistake. Froakie ignored Elijah's orders yet again, and shot out a stream of bubbles once more. Doing the exact same damage to the Fletchling as before. Leaping into the air, Froakie pounded the Fletchling forcing it to crash against the ground knocking it out.

"Froakie!" Elijah shouted rushing over the the beaten down Fletchling. Reaching to lift the injured pokemon from the ground, Elijah held it firmly in his hands. "That was uncalled for, Froakie! I didn't tell you to do any of that. I think this way is north." Dashing off through the route, Elijah headed north.

Standing in the woods, a lone trainer walked through the trees. As he walked, he saw a Fletchinder flying with an egg grasped in its sharp talons. The egg's appearance was far different from the bird, indicating the bird was trying to either destroy it or consume it. Either way, Stephen reached to his belt and pressed the button on the two orbs on his waist known as Poké Balls. Two flashes of light came from them.

In moments, the fire bird was struck in the face by a powerful fist, from a fighting Pokémon known as Blaziken The egg fell from the bird's claws and a blue flash grabbed it from the air safely. The Pokémon landed with the egg undamaged in its arms, revealing itself to be a Greninja.

"Good work Phoenix and Jiraiya." the trainer said with a smile to his two partners. "We saved the egg, and the Pokémon in it, from an untimely end. Check the area for a mother, if none is found I guess we will hold on to it for a bit." The Blaziken, Phoenix, and the Greninja, Jiraiya, nodded and used their great speed to comb the area.

Some time had passed and the two returned with a sad shake of their heads. "It's alright, we can take the egg to town with us and hopefully find a willing trainer. Walk with me there." Stephen smiled as he turned towards the city near the distant mouth of the forest. The two Pokémon nodded with grins and followed their beloved trainer.

Still running along the northern path, Elijah finally reached a sign that read "Aquacorde Town" on it. Sighing in relief, Elijah kept on running heading straight into the town with the injured Fletchling tight in his hands. Next to him leaped his Froakie.

Entering the boudaries of the town Elijah approached the first bystander he saw. "Excuse me, sir! Where's the Pokémon Center, located? This is urgent!"

The man stood wordless for a moment. "Sorry, there's no Pokémon Center here, young man. But if you head in a eastern like direction, to the shop over there, that lady'll patch you up just like Nurse Joy." Nodding, Elijah took off the the building that man had just pointed at with Froakie running alongside him.

With the power of a working man the young trainer burst through the doors of the shop demanding care for the Pokémon. "Excuse me ma'am! Can you please help me out?!"

"I'm sorry young man, but tell me what's wrong?" Elijah extended his arms out and showed her the injured Fletchling. "Oh my, what happened?"

"I was trying to catch the Fletchling, so I challenged it to a battle with my Froakie here." Elijah pointed at Froakie. "However, he ignored my orders and got carried away."

The woman nodded her head as well reaching for the Fletchling and laying it across the table. She reached behind her and grabbed a purple spray bottle thing. Pushing against the trigger of the bottle a shower of water-like particles poured over Fletchling. Within the next few minutes, Fletchling was up on it's feet again. "Fleeetch!" Stopping abruptly through it's chant, the bird used it's left wing to grab hold of its right one.

"It seems one of Fletchling's wings are hurt. Your Froakie must've really been rough." The woman placed her hand gently on Fletchling's wing, brushing it with elegance.

"Froakie and I, are sorry Fletchling. We didn't mean to be so aggressive." Elijah fixed his attention towards Froakie. "Froakie!" The toad-like Pokémon apologized for his previous actions.

"Fletchling can't be just let back into it's natural habitat. And this isn't a Pokémon Center, so we don't have a place for where it can recover naturally. It can stay here until the morning and we'll get it sent to the nearest Pokémon Center." Fletchling began to hop across the table to the side Elijah had been standing on. The robin Pokémon began to rub it's head against the young trainer's arm. "Fleetch..."

"Seems Fletchling wants to go with you. Even then, I still suggest you go and get it checked out." The man stepped away from the table and headed towards the bar.

"Really Fletchling, you want to come with me? That's great, but first things first. We gotta get you to a Pokémon Center. Santalune City isn't too far."

The woman approached the table with three of the purple bottles in her arms. "These are potions. They can be used to heal any small wound on your Pokémon. Make sure you be careful on your way to Santalune City. And Fletchling, try not to get into any battles."

Elijah took the gifts and began to head towards the door. "Thanks, ma'am! I'm off to Santalune City!" He shouted exiting the small shop.

## The Unknown Trainer

Walking to the mout of the forest took longer than expected. Wild Pokémon jumped around and occasionally decided to try and battle Stephen and his Pokémon. While he would try and retreat as to not hurt the younger, weaker creatures, some were persistant in following Stephen.

"Jiraiya, go ahead and use Extrasensory to fling them away." The large frog's eyes glowed blue as he used the psychic power to send several pokémon flying to clear the path. The hit creatures were not hurt as Jiraiya controlled his power, but certainly maintained distance. Stephen sprayed a repel as a last ditch effort just to cleanly clear the forest.

A few trainers passed along the way who got excited seeing the Blaziken and Greninja combo. While most knew to avoid eye contact and the challenge, a few hot headed trainers decided they wanted to battle even though winning was unrealistic. Phoenix made quick work of these "challenges" and soon they neared the mouth of the forest. "Alright you two, let's get this egg a proper owner and then see if the city has any one strong to have a double battle." Stephen said with excitement.

Stephen was a Hoenn native, however, his father was from Kalos. It was for this reason he carried starters from both regions, as they were gifts from his parents. He had not yet traveled in Kalos, and decided to do so with only his two most trusted companions. While he had nothing against capturing more Pokémon, he simply did not feel the desire to as of yet. It was for this reason he wanted to find someone else to take care of the egg, he did not want to be stuck with a Pokémon he did not truly want to train and thus make the Pokémon weaker than it could be with a proper trainer.

As he neared the mouth more so, Stephen saw in the distance a boy moving along.

Froakie had been put away in its pokéball, whilst Fletchling continued riding on Elijah's shoulder. He hadn't caught the Pokémon so it was only right that it wouldn't rest in a pokéball. "Alright Fletchling, I'm going to get you to Santalune City as fast as I can. Hang on buddy!" Elijah began to head north towards route two, where past it laid the city he sought out.

Within his view however, he could see a man standing alongside two Pokémon approaching where he was. Elijah stood in awe as his eyes widen at the glorious sight of the two Pokémon. Without having been told, and even from a bit of a distance, he could see the strength the two Pokémon held without having to be displayed in battle. "Woah, Fletchling. Who is that trainer?!"

Hearing the trainer say such a thing, Stephen stepped forward. "Well, my name is Stephen Yggdrasil, I'm from the Hoenn region. Who are you?" Stephen then glanced at the bird on the younger trainer's shoulder. "A Fletchling, your pokémon I presume?"

As they spoke, Phoenix and Jiraiya stepped a bit closer to their trainer in a defensive manner, but upon noticing the unevolved bird, the two let up as they thought the boy would not be a strong trainer at this point. The two focused on Elijah with the same intent as their trainer, in a casual, newly acquainted manner.

"No. See, I tried catching it. But my Froakie got a bit too carried away." Even while speaking to Stephen, Elijah remained in awe of the trainer. There was a unique aura emitted by the trainer and his Pokémon. From Elijah's hip a bright light flash and out came Elijah's Froakie. Unlike Elijah who eyed all three in his view, Froakie kept his eyes locked on one of Stephen's Pokémon. More specifically, the blue one, who in turn, looked like a frog as well.

"Huh, what's wrong Froakie." Elijah too began to stand at the large frog standing in front of Froakie, towering it. "Let's see." Elijah stated, holding his Pokédex out in front of himself aimed at the Pokémon. *"Greninja, the Ninja Pokémon, and the final evolved form of Froakie. Greninja can compress water into sharp-edged throwing stars. With the grace of a ninja, it slips in and out of sight to attack from the shadows."*

"So, this is what Froakie'll evolve into once I get stronger?" Elijah took a look at the image in the pokedex then looked back at the Greninja standing next to Stephen. *"Are these the same Pokemon? Either way, Froakie'll get stronger regardless!"* He thought to himself. "You see Froakie, if we can get stronger. We'll be able to get to this level." Froakie turned to look at Elijah. Holding it's hand at it's frubble, it spoke out. "FROAKIE!"

The Greninja known as Jiraiya leaned down with a smile to the Froakie, looking at the tiny pokémon that he had once been at the start of his journey with Stephen and Phoenix, who was a Torchic at this point. It made the large frog have a light croaking laugh, to which Phoenix smiled as well, likely understanding what as going on through the head of his friend and teammate under Stephen.

The large frog then opened his eyes to look at the smaller one a bit closer, and tilted his head. Jiraiya noticed that the Froakie, when it got out of its ball, let out a few sparkles. However, Greninja could now see that the pokémon was colored differently than how most of the species was. Jiraiya let out a croaky "Gre!" to Stephen, who eyed the frog. "A shiny? That's very rare, I think this is the first one I've seen in a while."

"Since they have a bit of focus, these are my Blaziken and Greninja. I call them Phoenix and Jiraiya respectively." Stephen said with a grin as he looked back at his long time companions. Looking at the Froakie and the Fletchling, Stephen looked down at the egg he held.

"So you are taking a pokémon you have not yet captured with you on your journey, I'm guessing to a Pokémon Center? That is fairly noble, helping a random creature and not taking it while it's weak, giving it a chance to decide what it wants to do."

"I feel like I owe it, in a sense." Elijah, took a step closer towards both Jiraiya and Phoenix. "I haven't seen a bond like this since Lucrio and Garchomp, with my mother." The young trainer balled his fists, clinching so tight that his nails began to dig into his skin. "As I stand now, I'll never become the Pokémon Master. If you don't mind me asking, where are you from, Stephen?"

"I'm from the Hoenn region, like my mom. However, my dad is from Kalos originally. That's why I came here, to see the region he grew up in. That's also why I have Jiraiya. He said it was born of some Greninja of a Kanto boy who traveled through the region before." Stephen said with a grin.

"Now, before you go doubting yourself, you have a Froakie as part of your team, that's it. You also have a Fletchling you are looking after. You have just started your journey, you have plenty of time to grow with you and your team, and maybe someday reach that sought after title of Pokémon Master." Stephen said with reassurance.

Looking down at the egg, Stephen turned his look to the young trainer once more. "This may seem strange, since we just met, but would you like this egg? I found it in the forest and saved it from being eaten and wanted to find it a good trainer. You may be new, but I see promise. From the shiny Froakie to seeking help for a pokémon that isn't yours, it's a good spark."

*"He's from the Hoenn region, which means he's an experienced Pokémon trainer."* Turning his head up at Stephen after receiving such motivating words, he pulled his hat side ways. "From here on out, I'll train my Pokémon to be the strongest they can be." He shouted. "My journey through Kalos will be a long one. I guess it's only right that I take my time." Fletchling let out a chirp of his own. "Haha, thanks Fletchling."

Tilting his head a bit, Elijah analyzed the egg. "It was gonna be eaten? Pokémon sure are cold-hearted." Nodding his head, "Yeah, I'll take it!"

Stephen handed the egg over to the boy. "I think an egg will do you good, good for an early trainer. I'll hold you to becoming a stronger trainer-- Sorry, I think I still haven't caught your named." Stephen said.

Reaching to receive the egg the young trainer held it in his arms. Even though he hadn't been addressed in quite some time, Froakie had it's eyes fixed on the Greninja standing before it. In his eyes was the look of envy. Elijah remember that he hadn't even given Stephen his name, and felt that now was the best time if ever. "Elijah Johnson from Celestic Town!"

"Celestic? Isn't that in the Sinnoh region? Why are you starting your journey in Kalos instead of Sinnoh?" Stephen asked with curious intent, as he took mental note of the name Elijah. Stephen saw the Froakie's body language towards Jiraiya, who snickered slightly at the Froakie's antics. "You could get to be big and strong like this one day too Froakie, you would just need the drive and cooperation with Elijah."

"Right now, I don't have the experience to take on my mother just yet. I need to travel other regions before I take her on." Elijah looked up to Stephen, proving that he meant every word he stated. "Thank you for having faith, Stephen. Next time when we meet again, I'll be sure to show you how far me and this egg has gotten. As for you Jiraiya, I'll show you how strong Froakie's gotten."

Jiraiya let out a croak, showing visually he was ready for the future challenge. "He seems pretty excited, both him and Phoenix enjoy a good battle. Hopefully by then you'll have a strong pokémon for Phoenix too." said Stephen in anctipation for that day. Phoenix nodded in agreement. "Maybe by then I'll have a full team too, who knows? See you around." Stephen said with a wave of the hand as he began to walk on to the city. Phoenix and Jiraiya began to follow as well.

"You bet!" Elijah roared to the vanishing Stephen. *"Alrighty then! My first major goal in the Kalos aside from collecting all eight gym badges, defeat Stephen!"* He thought to himself as he began to take the northern route towards Santalune City. He had no ideas the trials to come before him. What he did know though, was that he had a long journey ahead of himself.