Rex couldn't believe his eyes. Home... it's gone, he thought. The entire population of Vaniville Town had evacuated to Aquacorde. While some were injured, every person and Pokemon had gotten out alive. Smoke and sparks rose up into the sky.

The morning had started out like usual. He'd called his friends to hang out, and discovered that his uncle was giving them gifts. But after that everything changed.

First, the wild Pokemon fled the area; after that, all of the Trainers' Pokemon began acting strangely. After that the sky had darkened, and two massive Pokemon appeared. One was a giant, red and black Flying-type, and the other had been a deer-like Fairy type; Rex had never seen them before.

And the two fought. Their power had been amazing, and even though their attacks weren't aimed at any people, Pokemon, or buildings, even the resulting impacts caused houses to crumble and be blown away. The two Pokemon had disappeared as abruptly as they had appeared.

The news had spread like wildfire; even the journalist Alexa had come to interview witnesses. Rex took a breath. "Well, what now," he asked himself.

"Well, I suppose giving these to you would kinda be in bad taste." Rex turned to see two of his friends, Tierno and Trevor. Rex gave a sad, half-smile.

"Well, at least you two were out of town. Everyone made it out. Where's Shauna?"

The day that Vaniville Town was leveled was the day Sam could say she knew true heartache. Everything she had come to call home was gone. Her and her mother's little house, the yard with an even littler house for Rhyhorn, the house with the annoying window that was placed just so the sun would shine in her eyes in morning, was gone.

What she wouldn't give right now to be back in her room and to have her mother's annoying Fletchling fly through that equally annoying window to peck on the head to wake her up. But that was all gone now, and she would do as she did before when she first moved to Kalos. She would conquer the unknown and would eventually be okay. She still had her friends and mother and that, that was the most important thing.

Sam found herself with one of these friends now at Aquacorde town. Her friend, Shauna. Happy go lucky Shauna. Before she might have found the over abundant joy to be rather pesky, but now she was quite thankful for it. Having sucha peppy friend certainly made things better.

"C'mon, Sam!" Said friend grabbed her blouse's sleeve and urged her to follow. "We have to meet with the others!" Sam just silently nodded before following.

Tierno and and Trevor led Rex to a table. Despite the refugees, Aquacorde's shops were still open, including the cafe. The semblance of normalcy helped get his mind off of things. Rex ordered an iced mint mocha as Shauna and Serena came into sight. Tierno waved them over.

"So, we've had a lot happen," said Rex as the girls sat down. "Our homes..." He shook his head. "Anyways, what was it that the Prof gave you guys?"

"Oh, yeah!" said Trevor. He dug a package from his bag, and Tierno took three Pokeballs from his belt. "Here." Trevor opened up the package, revealing a number of Pokedexes. "They're the latest models." Rex took one. It was black, with blue and orange trim.

"And there's three Starters!" added Tierno. "Fire, Water, and Grass! The question is, how do we split them up?"

Shauna dragged Sam to a little café she had seen near the entrance of town closet to the path that led to the ruins of Vaniville Town. It was a quaint little café with the smell of pastries and coffee surrounding it. Sam's stomach rumbled at the smells. "Here's where we're supposed to meet with the others," Shauna said. She put her hand to her forehead as she looked for the guys they were supposed to be meeting.

"Ah ha!" she exclaimed when she finally spotted them. Sam thought she was being a little dramatic, but what could you do about it? She followed Shauna and took a seat next to her. Dutifully Sam listened when Rex began to speak. Her gaze shifted to Trevor afterwards.

A little bit of excitement broke through the haze of anguish that she was feeling upon the sight of the pokedexes. The excitement grew even larger when she came to look upon the three Pokeballs. As soon as the types came out of Tierno's mouth she knew exactly which one she wanted.

"Oh! Our very own Pokémon!" Sam spoke, one of few times after evacuating. "Perhaps we can draw straws to see who picks first?" she suggested.

"Alright," said Trevor. He took a small bundle of toothpicks, and broke all but three. He shuffled them in his hand so he wouldn't know which was which. Tierno drew the first; he got a short one, and frowned. Trevor drew a short one as well. However Rex drew one of the long toothpicks.

He felt a small surge of happiness. So he would be getting a Starter and his Dex! However, the scent of smoke dampening his positive emotions.

Sam and Shauna eagerly awaited their turn to draw from one of the toothpicks. When Tierno drew the first one and it was short, Sam had some hope, when Trevor drew next and also got a short one, her hope that she would be one of the lucky ones grew even more. Their choices were pretty short, so surely that meant there couldn't be an even shorter one?

So now that she figured she at least had the chance to receive one of the three Pokémon she was hoping that she would get even luckier and draw the longest. That way the choice she had first wanted would be hers.

Shauna drew after Rex and had a slightly smaller toothpick, but not by much. This left Sam last. She stared at the lone toothpick with bated breath as she reached out to pick it up. Holding it between thumb and forefinger she drew. Her toothpick was longer than Tierno and Trevor's but shorter than Shauna's and Rex's.

"Well, congratulations!" said Trevor. "Sam, Shauna, Rex, looks like you each get a Starter." Tierno gave a smile.

"We'll have to get our own Pokémon," he said. "But don't worry about us!"

Sam nodded apologetically to Tienro and Trevor. "If we're able to help you in getting a Pokémon in any way, we will," she promised. It was the very least that they could do, and besides what were friends for? Sam turned her attention back to Rex and wondered which one he would pick. She tried to picture herself with any of the other types besides the one she had her heart set on, and she just couldn't picture it. But since she was the third one to pick she would just have to deal with the last one.

In the end, no matter which Pokémon she received she would be happy to have the as her partner.

Rex thought for a moment, and decided on the Water-type. He released it from its Pokéball. It was a frog Pokémon. "Froakie?" the little Pokémon asked. Rex opened up his Dex.

"F_{ROAKIE, THE} B_UBBLE F_ROG P_{OKÉMON. IT PROTECTS ITS SKIN BY COVERING ITS BODY IN DELICATE BUBBLES. BENEATH ITS HAPPY-GO-LUCKY AIR, IT KEEPS A WATCHFUL EYE ON ITS SURROUNDINGS.}"

Rex smiled at the Froakie. "Hi there! My name's Rex." The Froakie seemed a bit shy. It was nervous about having a new Trainer. "I hope we can be good friends. I promise I'll do my best to take care of you."

Shauna was next in line after Rex picked his Froakie. She gushed about the Froakie for a moment, commenting and squealing on how cute it was, but she was more excited to pick her own Pokémon.

Sam wasn't sure if Shauna had even though about which one she wanted when the other girl blindly reached for one of the two remaining Pokeballs. She grabbed the one that had been in the middle and with another familiar flash of light appeared her Pokémon. Sam's frayed nerves got even worse those few seconds while the flash of light receded back into the Pokeball to reveal Shauna's partner.

There on the table stood a 2-toned brown Pokémon with a green shell that had some mean looking spikes. The oval eyes met Shauna's and it was love a first sight. Shauna hugged the Chespin close to her chest and gushed now about how cute hers was and how they were going to be best friends.

Sam after that never felt so relieved. Shakily she pick up and last Pokeball and the partner she hoped she would be getting appeared within the same flash of light. "Feeennekin!" it cried and small bursts of fire came from its ears.

The three standing together with their Pokémon caught people's attention. It seemed to give some hope. Even in the face of losing their homes, these children were setting out on an adventure. Rex's Froakie smiled back at her new Trainer. "It says you're a girl," said Rex, consulting his Pokédex. "Despite that... I'll call you Jiraiya. Does that sound okay?"

"Froakie!" the Pokémon said, nodding. Rex gave his new Pokémon a smile.

"Your uncle thought you might like her," said Tierno. Trevor seemed surprised.

"Wait, Professor Sycamore...?"

Rex said through a mouthful of cookie, "That's my uncle!" Jiraiya nodded. She could tell by the young man's scent.

Sam's newfound friend sit comfortably on her shoulder and nuzzled his new trainer. "Heh, looks like you and I are going to be getting along really well, doesn't it?" she asked the yellow and orange fox Pokémon. "Fen!" it barked back at her as if agreeing.

"I guess I should give you a name too," Sam said after Rex had named Jiraiya. She crossed her arms and put a finger to her chin in that typical fashion people might do when attempting to think really hard. She mulled over a few choice names while her Fennekin eagerly awaited the outcome. It was a tough choice, but only one really stood out.

"I'm going to call you, Vulcan," she decided. The Fennekin, now known as Vulcan, nodded his approval. It was a strong sounding that that he thought fit him rather well.

Shauna besides her was too busy hugging her new Chespin and calling him 'Cutie' to be too worried about the things going on around her. Sam shook her head and returned her attention to the rest of the group. Professor Sycamore? She heard of the name once on the news, but other than that since moving to Kalos she didn't have much knowledge on the subject.

"So, is Professor Sycamore the resident Pokémon genius and researcher in Kalos?" she inquired more curious about the man that was also apparently Rex's uncle.

"That's him," said Trevor. Rex nodded as well.

"He's my uncle on my dad's side," he said. "Uncle Sy studies Pokemon Evolution, and how Pokemon have changed over time. I spent a summer with him in Lumiose when I was younger. His Pokemon Lab was so cool!" He looked excited just thinking about it.

"You never told us that," Tierno noted. Rex came back down to earth.

"Well, it was the summer when..."

"Oh..." Tierno and Trevor seemed to know Rex didn't want to talk about something. "Anyways, Trevor and I will have to catch our own Pokemon. Luckily there's Santalune Forest nearby where we can catch Pokemon. We'll have to borrow someone's."

Sam looked between Tierno and Rex when all of a sudden they stopped talking. She was curious as to what they were about to say, but she knew better than to ask. Some things were just better left alone she knew. Maybe whatever it was, Rex would see fit to tell her one day. However, she thought it was pretty cool that Professor Sycamore was his uncle. Maybe one day she could meet him and thank him for Vulcan.

Absentmindedly she played with Vulcan's ear tufts while she watched the rest of the scene play out. "You guys are more than welcome to borrow Vulcan if you need to," she said after Tierno mentioned they would have to borrow someone's Pokémon to catch their own in the forest.

Shauna gladly offered the use of Chespin as well.

"We'll take you up on that offer," said Tierno. "However, first battles between a Pokémon and its Trainer are very important when it comes to their relationship. Winning or losing doesn't matter."

"It's all about a Pokémon and Trainer learning to trust one another," finished Rex. "Mom taught me that. She's originally from the Hoenn region, so she did her first Journey there." He flipped open his cell and showed them a picture.

The girl in the picture had Rex's basic features, but not his black hair; rather it was strawberry blond. She smiled, flashing a victory V. Jumping up into the picture was an off-colored Poochyena. "Grandpa took this the first day she went out on her Journey." He switched to another picture-- his mother, present day. She was beautiful, and though her face and hair had changed, her eyes and smile were still the same.

"I took that picture last week," he continued. "There's Bisca." By now she was a fully evolved Mightyena. "I'm gonna miss them, but I'm so excited!" He turned a bit red, putting his phone away. "Sorry."

Again the excitement crescendoed higher at the thought of a battle. Vulcan must have picked up on her excitement as well because she could feel him shaking from the force of it on her shoulder. She scratched his ear in an attempt to get Vulcan to calm down. Being excited was all fine and dandy, but she remembered hearing from somewhere that too much could be a distraction, or maybe she was just making things up. Either way, they would figure it out together.

What she could allow herself to get excited for and not have to worry about, was getting excited about showing pictures. Who didn't like to share or show off pictures from time to time? She eagerly looked at Rex's pictures of his mother. Her and her partner looked so happy together. That's what Sam wanted to look like one day too.

"That's great, Rex," she told him. "My mom wasn't a trainer, but she was a Rhyhorn racer."

"And that also requires trust," said Trevor.

"Anyways, we can stop at Route 3 and try and find Pokémon," said Rex. "It'll be easy to catch Pokémon there."

"Ooh! I want one that can learn Dance moves," said Tierno.

"Oh yeah, your dream is to have an all-Pokémon dance team," said Rex. "And what about you, Trevor?" Trevor tapped his lip before shrugging.

"I'm not picky," he said simply. Rex nodded.

"Alright, we'll split up," said Rex. "Tierno, Shauna, you'll team up; Sam, Trevor, you can search together. I'll help out between you guys as I'm needed."

"Yeah," Sam agreed. The trust between trainer and Pokemon was important in anything that they did. Even helping their friends catch their own Pokemon would require trust. She felt a little uncomfortable though about lending her new found friend to someone else so soon. As if picking up on her emotions Vulcan nuzzled her cheek. They grinned at each other after and nodded in agreement. They were ready.

"Alright," Sam said. "To route 3 we go!" She turned to Trevor with excited eyes. "You ready to go?" She asked.
Vulcan snorted and small bursts of fire came from his ears again. Sam laughed fondly. "Vulcan's ready."

"Me too!" Shauna exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"We don't all have your guys' energy," said Trevor. Rex laughed, nodding in agreement. The road to Route 3 was mostly bare of people, since most were interested in Vaniville Town. Tierno headed towards the water, while Trevor decided to search in the grass. Rex hung back a bit, giving each of his friends a Pokéball to use.

Tierno thought aloud for a moment: "I wonder if we can get any Water-types to come up...?" After thinking for a few more moments he snapped his fingers and dug a small speaker frim his bag. Meanwhile, Trevor waded through the tall grass.

Mavis followed Trevor whenever he decided he may want to tread. Vulcan still sat on her shoulder and waited till he could be of use. He was ready to battle a Pokémon for Trevor, but only at his trainer's command. Small puffs of fire also released from his ears. A small oddity that Sam discovered happened frequently when Vulcan was excited or eager. She wondered that the longer they stayed together if she would discover he had a calmer side as well.

"I'm not seeing anything," Sam sighed while talking to Trevor. Maybe they just weren't searching hard enough.

Shauna and Chespin were standing at the waters edge with Tierno staring rather hard at the water. "Maybe," Shauna finally said while watching Tierno pulling his items out of the bag. Just having become a trainer neither Shauna nor Sam really knew why they were doing.