Chapter One
Beginning of a Journey
“Xander! Xander!”
Xander ignored the call and turned his body over in annoyance, not wanting to be disturbed so early in the morning. His content feelings were then muddled by a flash of irritation mixed with impatience. Xander sighed with a feeling of submission. He lifted his covers from himself, then switched his legs to over the side of his bed. With eyes still a bit crusty from the sleep still left in it, he lifted himself from the bed then trudged out his bedroom door and down the stairs. He rubbed his eyes with a slouchy fist, then yawned widely. Eyes properly cleared, but still notoriously heavy lidded, he entered the kitchen.
Immediately visible was his shorter mothers form at the forefront of the stove, briskly cooking eggs and bacon over the burners. Xander blinked blearily at her for a couple of moments before finally yawning again and then walking over to the cabinet and getting a plate for which to pile a steaming breakfast upon. He then proceeded to meander over to the stove and hold up his plate for food. His mother turned to him with a smile and spoke gently as she shoveled food onto his plate.
“Good morning sleepyhead. Glad to see you joining us.” Xander blinked again before glancing at the table at the far end of the kitchen with an irritated glare.
“You can thank Kirihime for that.” He said.
Another flash of mixed satisfaction and amusement bloomed in his mind.
“Yeah yeah yeah.” He drawled. He then proceeded to the table, which housed his taller father in one chair, and in the chair next to him sat a tall pokemon who looked like she was dressed for a ball. Xanders blue-haired Gardevoir smiled nicely at him for a moment before turning her attention back to her psychic warm-up of the morning. Before her sat several spoons that were floating in midair, bending and contorting into all sorts of shapes, being bent by her will. Xander turned his head to greet his father.
“Good morning dad. Where are Osamu and the others?” He inquired. His father responded by putting down his paper to reveal his face.
“They are all outside waiting for you to go and take them their breakfast. You had better hurry up with yours before they come up and destroy the garden.” Xander sighed again. He quickly shuffled down his delicious food before standing back up and trudged to the backdoor. He slid the backdoor open to admit the glaring morning sun. After the initial blindness he finally stepped out and walked out over the back yard, where numerous bushes sufficed to cover a large oak tree. Xander raised an eyebrow for a moment at the sight of the oak tree. It had not been there last night. Xander smiled before calling out.
“Osamu, get out of there, you know mom hates it when you sleep in the garden.” He said playfully. The giant oak shook suddenly, then began to rise, along with three gigantic gray spikes covered with moss. Then finally the whole tree began to move backward and out from behind the large bushes. A large shell covered in hard packed earth and then layered over with deep green moss and grass. Under the shell could only be described as a green and brown snapping turtle with spikes in both sides of his head. His oak tree was almost as big as the shell that it rested on. He raised his head lazily before letting out a bored yawn.
“Tooorrrteeerrraaa....” It exclaimed. It then meandered over to Xander and knelt down, knowing that they were headed into the trees behind the house. Xander clambered onto the Torterras back and then he began to amble back toward the trees. Suddenly, a pinkish blur shot out of grass and streaked toward Torterra!
“Fuuuurret!” The blur skidded short of Xanders sight. A bright pink Furret with maroon stripes. Its eyes shimmered with anticipation as it knew that Xander being out this early could only mean one thing...FOOD!
Xander stared at the Furret for a moment before picking him up and setting him next to himself before petting him briskly on the head.
“I told you Haio, if you want your breakfast, you need to wait just like everyone else.” Haio sniffed in impatience. As far as it was concerned, waiting was a waste of time when food was at hand. Osamu continued to move through the trees as the morning light drifted through the trees. Then a shimmering, dancing light flashed through the trees, coming closer to them all the while. Xander tried to focus on the moving light, but every time a beam of sunlight struck the shifting object, it would flash brightly, distorting the sight.
“Looks like Hikari knows whats happening,” Xander observed, for the beautiful Beautify did eventually reach them and become visible. Her huge wings reflected amble amounts of sunlight, almost like a mirror. On her side rested a large leather pouch, almost like a small purse. She fluttered over to Xander and gracefully settled on top of his head. She let out a pleasant cry of delight at the idea of breakfast.
Osamu continued to walk deeper and deeper into the woods, till they arrived at a huge lake in the valley. Despite the early morning times, the lake was teeming with early risers. All sorts of forest dwellers were crowding around the lakes edge to get the first good drink. Osamu walked right up to the lake shore. Xander let himself down to examine the water. He then waited a moment before a huge splash erupted from in front of him, sending water everywhere, including all over Osamu and Xander. Xander, crouching down from the shock of cold water, gasped. Before him stood what may have otherwise been an overlarge, yet exceedingly impressive penguin.
“Mamoru! Don't do that, you got us all wet! Now we have to eat breakfast being all cold!” His eyes filled with shocking tears. Mamoru swooped down upon Xander with apologetic pity in his eyes. He had only wanted to impress Xander with his best appearance. He knelt down to give him a big hug, so that he would at least stop crying. Xander sniffled at last, finally feeling a little warmer. Mamoru let him down and Haio climbed up his legs to settle around his neck, in a feeble attempt to warm him up a little. Xander smiled and then looked toward the sky with a wondering expression.
“Now all that we're missing is...” A beautiful singing voice interrupted his sentence. Xander looked behind him to see his Altaria flying towards them. Her voice carrying itself far and wide, making other pokemon look up to listen to its gorgeous song. Xander smiled again, for he loved to listen to his Altaria singing. She settled down gracefully beside him, closing up her song. Xander simply smiled happily, for he was always happiest when he was with his pokemon. However, Xander also had to turn his head once more, as their group was still not complete.
“Where is Kirihime with that food? I know I laid it all out last night so that it would be ready this morning.” He looked toward the direction of his house, hoping to see Kirihime there. A few minutes went by before something finally happened. Xander looked around and a flicker of light caught his eye in the air.
“Finally” he exclaimed. The flicker of light widened as he watched and then flashed slightly, then disappeared to reveal a shape. Kirihime stood not a couple feet away, and behind her sat several bowls, large and small, all filled to the brim with pokemon food. Xander ran to Kirihime and hugged her for a moment before straightening himself to look down at the food.
“What took so long?” He asked speculatively. Kirihime shrugged and winked in that mischievous way of hers. Another flash of emotion broke out within Xanders head, this time a mix of amusement and disappointment. Xander glared at her for a moment.
“Yes, I did everything right! I mixed it all and got all the formulas properly set. Are you saying I forgot something?” From behind her back Kirihime pulled out a large plate filled with what looked like small smooth cookies covered in sprinkles. Xander stared at them for a moment before clapping his hands to the back of his head in guilty surprise. He hung his head and tears welled up. He quickly wiped them away and stared up at Kirihime.
“I'm sorry Kirihime, I forgot to make them, can you forgive me? I promise to pay attention in the future.” Kirihime merely smiled at him before picking him up in her arms and hugging him tightly, and letting of strong feelings of happiness and forgiveness with it. She set him down gently before gesturing over to the food. Xander picked up the two of the smallest bowls and carried them to Haio and Hikari. He gave the next two to Maho, his Altaria, and he handed the other one Kirihime. The two biggest ones he had to give to Mamoru and Osamu one at a time. Once they were all down and stuffing their faces, Xander gazed over the lake, watching its small waves crash against the shore.
“You all know that today is the day right? The day we leave home to go on our journey?” All his pokemon looked up at him as he spoke, drawing their attention away from their food. Xander jumped and perched himself on a rock overlooking the lake. Tears welled up in his eyes again as he stared out over the beautiful majesty that he had spent the last five years sharing with his new friends. He did not want to leave it, but he had to. He had dreams to follow, even if they had been forced upon him. He wanted them now, and he would strive forth to complete them. He looked around at his friends and smiled, tears streaming down his face.
“Lets all go together!”
Unaware to Xander and his friends, they were being watched. Far above them a glowing form soared across the sky, its multicolor wings flashing in the sun. Ho-oh, Guardian of the skies, was smiling.
“Indeed, your Journey has just begun.”
