United Destiny: The Hero and The Hybrid

Chapter 2

A crisp morning fog filled the air as a boat crossed the calm waters, its destinations over the horizon. At the front of the ship stood Serena, now fifteen years old, with her friends and traveling companions. Clemont, still a bit short for his age, kept having to rub the fog off his glasses. Each time he did, though they fogged up again, making the whole thing pointless.

"I told you to get contacts." Next to Clemont was his sister Bonnie, sporting Serena's old outfit, minus the hat. It had gotten a bit small and instead of throwing it away Bonnie wanted it and Serena was all too happy to give it to her.

"I told you they itch whenever I put them in," Clemont protested as Serena just giggled. The sibling's antics always seemed to lighten her mood. Serena went back into thought before pulling out a case from her shoulder bag. Opening it, she saw her eight Sinnoh gym badges, looking them over for a moment.

"You getting nervous?" A regal feminine voice asked. Serena turned to see that Braixen had walked on deck. The bipedal fox could read her partner like a glove, a benefit of being with her the longest out of all her Pokémon.

"A bit. I mean, I know I've done a lot of battling in these past few years, but never this." Serena thought back to the last few years, as they traveled across Kalos before they went to Unova. It was there she really started doing battles with the battle club and the tournaments that were hosted there. She winced for a moment, remembering when they got caught up with a group calling themselves Team Plasma.

It was where Serena almost came to question herself and the bond she shared with her Pokémon, which they themselves quickly shot down. They were more than a team, they were like a family. With her beliefs strengthened she meet their leader and surprised him with the fact that she could actually understand Pokémon, and then a bit later let it slip she could use Pokémon moves. She nearly destroyed his whole worldview. Then Reshiram and Zekrom happened and they along with him managed to stop the organization's true leader in the end.

Luckily their travels in Johto and Hoenn were not as crazy as that mess. She even got into contests, which she absolutely loved. Yet there was something missing that she couldn't quite fathom.

And then, just before her fifteenth birthday, like on the day she started her journey, and a few others at random times, a strange box and note were given to her with a badge case and a note telling her to join the Sinnoh league and wishing her luck and happiness.

"Don't worry, we're nervous as well." Serena raised an eyebrow at this, not buying it, well, not buying that they all were nervous. "Ok, Serperior thinks you'll blaze through the trainers with her, Lucario is calm as ever, and Popplio is so excited we had to spend the past half hour getting her to calm down."

"She does know she isn't trained for battling, right?" Serena had to suppress the urge to giggle at this. Her little water type was always easy to excite and it was one of the reasons she loved her.

Braixen rolled her eyes. "That was the first thing we tried. It took Sylveon rapping all her feelers around her to finally get her to calm down." Braixen turned to Clemont before returning her gaze to her friend and partner. "Also, Chespin ate the all Poképuffs again."

Serena facepalmed at this. Clemont looked at her, wondering what it was that Braixen had told her, only for Serena to turn to him. "Clemont, Chespin ate the Poképuffs again." Clemont groaned softly after hearing this. Serena turned to Braixen as the boat docked. "Go get the others, we have to sharpen ourselves before it starts."

Braixen nodded before smiling. "I take it we'll be doing it out of the way of the other trainers?"

"Yeah, I am going to join you all and we don't need people spying on us." Braixen caught her trainers meaning with a nod before racing off to get the others ready. Bonnie walked up to her with a curious look.