Pokemon One-Shots and Headcanons

The Right Trainer

AN: Set in an AU where Froakie is Ash's starter instead of Pikachu.

It was well known that Professor Sycamore cared about all the Pokemon at his research lab. However, there was a certain Froakie who had worn his patience quite thin. Why? Well, Froakie had just run away from his trainer....

AGAIN!

He wasn't sure what it was about Froakie, but for some reason he never seemed to be satisfied with any trainer who chose him. Froakie had been picked by eight different trainers, and he'd either run away from or been returned by every single one. The most memorable incident came when his fifth trainer had tried to take him home, when Froakie had been so adamant about not going that he had hid himself in Professor Sycamore's lab, prompting a three-hour search for him. Professor Sycamore was sure that Froakie would settle down if he found the right trainer-problem was, he had no idea why Froakie had been so dissatisfied with his other trainers, so finding the right one would be nearly impossible. Just as he was about to put Froakie back in his Pokeball for a bit, he received a call from his fellow professor in Kanto, Samuel Oak.
"Yes? What is it, Samuel?" Professor Sycamore asked.
"I have a favor to ask of you, Augustine," Professor Oak replied. AN: I don't really know what Professor Sycamore's first name is. "A new trainer here, Ash Ketchum, was a little held up this morning and couldn't make it to the lab in time to pick up his starter. All three of the Kanto starters have been chosen, unfortunately, and we won't be able to get any more until next month. Do you happen to have a Pokemon over at your lab that you could send to Ash?"
Professor Sycamore thought for a moment. "I do have a Froakie," he replied. "But I should warn you, this Froakie has been a bit troublesome in the past. He's had eight different trainers already, none of whom lasted more than a couple weeks at most."
"Well, if he's all you've got, then send him over. I'm sure Ash will be happy with anyone," Professor Oak said.
"If you're sure," Professor Sycamore checked. The other man nodded. "Froakie, come here! There's a new trainer who wants to meet you," he called over his shoulder at the same time as Professor Oak was calling Ash.

Froakie's POV, Third Person:

Froakie heard the professor call for him and sighed. Wonderful-another trainer, another experiment that was sure to be a failure. He didn't know why Professor Sycamore was so insistent on finding him a trainer. He could find his own, thank you very much. Unfortunately, it seemed that good trainers were hard to come by these days.

Well, perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate. His previous trainers had all been fairly decent, given their inexperience. But it wasn't their lack of battling tact that had caused him to run away. What no one knew about Froakie-and probably never would, given that humans couldn't understand Pokespeech-was that he had one and one objective only for the ideal trainer: to be shown genuine kindness and love. Unfortunately, everyone he had met so far was only interested in using him for battle.

Oh well, no sense getting into all that now. Reluctantly, Froakie hopped onto Professor Sycamore's shoulder, wondering who the new trainer was and why he or she didn't seem to be in the lab at the moment. Then he looked at the screen and saw a very young boy with black hair standing next to a man Froakie knew to be Professor Oak, the Kanto region professor.
Oh, he thought. So that boy must be the trainer Professor Sycamore was talking about.
"Well, Froakie, this is your new trainer, Ash," Professor Sycamore said cheerfully. "What do you think?"
"Fro," Froakie replied thoughtfully. "I don't know. I'll give him a chance if you insist."
"I hope Ash will take good care of Froakie," Professor Sycamore said to Oak, much to Froakie's annoyance. He hadn't agreed to go anywhere with that Ash boy yet. But just as Froakie decided he was not going anywhere with Ash, the boy spoke up for the first time.
"Um, hi Froakie," Ash said, smiling at him. Froakie felt some of his stubbornness melting away at the look on the young trainer's face. "I'm Ash-although I guess you already know that now."
Froakie couldn't help but let out a small laugh at that. Ash grinned, looking a little more confident now and plowed on.
"I hope you agree to be my Pokemon," he said. "I'm sure we'd be great friends."
Friends?
That was a new one to Froakie. No one had ever suggested to him that they be friends before. He'd almost started to believe that Pokemon and trainer couldn't be friends. But maybe Ash was different. Maybe....
Making up his mind in a split second, Froakie snatched his Pokeball from an extremely surprised Professor Sycamore and placed it on the transporter before pressing the button and allowing himself to be captured, ready to be sent over to Ash.
"Well, what do you know?" Professor Sycamore remarked in amazement. "I guess Froakie finally found the right trainer."
"Awesome!" Ash cheered. "I'm glad you're coming with me, Froakie."
Inside the Pokeball, Froakie smiled to himself. He had a feeling that his life with Ash was going to be very different from his life with any of his other trainers.