Izumi was thoughtful that hoofing it all the way from Shalour City to Lumiose was not the only option. After all, the girl wanted to make sure that she arrived on time with all the others who may have accepted Professor Sycamore's offer. There would be no possible way of making a bad first impression than by showing up late. This should hopefully not be a problem however, not with a bus being there to provide comfortable transportation between the cities. Normally, the teenager would not have minded the extra exercise. However with what little sleep the girl managed to get overnight, Izumi did not exactly rush to decline this bus ride.
Her chin propped up on her hand, Izumi's blue eyes gazed out the window as the bus roared down the road. Her mind was absolutely racing with thoughts, all questioning and wondering just what sort of experiences this journey would bring... and if by chance, it would allow her to finally find him.
She glanced over at the seat beside her, a small smile gracing her lips as she noticed her Elekid dozing rather peacefully. With as much energy as the little Pokémon managed to show earlier, Izumi was starting to wonder if the little guy had some sort of on/off switch that would need to be flipped at some point or another to give her a small break. Thankfully, this little issue seemed to resolve itself. The duo had barely been aboard the bus for ten minutes when Elekid finally seemed to tire out and catch a nap. Perhaps it had been the rather smooth driving of the bus, mixed with the dull and purr-like roar of the engine that finally caused it to happen. Regardless, Izumi was not one to want to change this turn of events.
The girl calmly and quietly took hold of her backpack. Her movements were slow, as to not risk waking up the Elekid beside her. The girl opened her backpack, starting to rummage through the contents inside until she finally came across a small photograph inside. It was somewhat worn with age, and a bit faded to boot. The image on it displayed a rather young, yet familiar brown-haired and blue-eyed girl. She was smiling brightly, her hand clasping on tightly to that of a man's who appeared to be in early-to-mid thirties. He had somewhat shaggy, medium-length brown hair with the light, scruffy appearance of a five-o'clock shadow resting on his face. A pair of deep, chocolate-brown eyes rested behind a pair of thick, black glasses and a shy, yet honest smile graced the man's lips. The man in the picture was none other than Izumi's father. It was also the photograph she had of the man to remember him by for all these years.
"It really has been a long time, hasn't it old man?" Izumi thought, her fingertips gently running over the man in the photograph.
"You dropped me off at Grandma and Grandpa's, promising that I was only paying them a small visit while you took care of quick business to help get us back on our feet. Now, you're just gone... and no one that knew you has seen hide nor hair of you since then. Where the hell did you go?"
The girl sighed, leaning back in her seat as she closed her eyes. Izumi would have been lying if she said that seeing all that Kalos had to offer and going on a grand adventure with Pokémon was the core purpose of her taking up Sycamore's offer. The one thing the girl wanted more than anything else in this journey was to finally track down her father and get some answers. Of course, it was a bit more complicated than that. Izumi knew that it was going to be one hell of a long shot of finding the man. Kalos was not exactly a small region. There was also the problem of her father not even being in Kalos anymore. Going on a world-wide search, while possible, was not a task that the girl looked forward to.
Suddenly, the screeching of the tires caused Izumi's eyes to snap open. The sound seemed to be more than enough to stir her Elekid from his nap as well. In fact, no sooner had the electric Pokémon woken up, he seemed rather pumped and excited once more. Izumi glanced out the window and noticed that the bus was stopped in a rather small, quaint looking town with a rather worn castle sitting in the back, most likely used as some sort of tourist attraction in the small town. Placing the photograph back in her bag, Izumi stowed it away back overhead before rising from her seat and leading her Elekid towards the front of the bus where the driver was still seated.
"Excuse me sir, but this isn't Lumiose, right?" the girl inquired.
The bus driver shook his head. "Nah, kid. We still have a little bit to go. We're just making a small pitstop to refuel up and stretch our legs." He paused, glancing down at the Elekid who was standing by Izumi. The little Pokémon looked almost restless, as if he was about to go flying off the handle at any moment. "Say, why don't ya take this time to take your pal out for some exercise, yeah? We have a bit before we're leaving once more."
Izumi glanced down at Elekid. The man had a point. Her Elekid seemed to have quite a bit of energy to burn.
"Sounds like a good idea, actually," Izumi eventually replied. "I'll go take him out around the route we just came off of."
The driver nodded. "Just don't be late, kid."
Taking Elekid, Izumi stepped off the bus and stretched in the early afternoon sun. After riding on the bus for so long, it felt rather nice to be able stretch her legs and walk around. Taking notice of a nearby sign, Izumi and Elekid made their way to the sign, where the girl knelt down to read it.
"Camphrier Town, huh?" Izumi mused aloud. She glanced down at Elekid. "This is a pretty cozy little town, a bit of a tourist attraction, really. People come by to see the old castle here and the more fancier one up ahead." Elekid gave Izumi a rather clueless look as she spoke. It did not take a great deal of time for the girl to determine that her Pokémon did not have the slightest clue exactly what she was saying. "Um... Forget it. Let's just see what's going on back on that other route..."
Izumi and Elekid made their way from the town, soon coming to a fork in the road not far from the town's exit. Izumi did not think too much of heading continuously to the west along Route 7. It lead pretty far away from Camphrire Town, and walking along the route worried the trainer that she would miss the bus ride to Lumiose. Rather, Izumi decided to take the northwest path along Route 6, which was also known as Palais Lane. It was a rather grassy path, with tall trees lining both sides of the main path. There were also some little slopes on each side which led to rather expansive patches of very tall grass.
"Wow, this whole area looks completely different from Shalour City," Izumi said. "I guess Kalos is a pretty diverse place in terms of geography, huh?" The girl glanced down towards her Elekid as she spoke, her eyes quickly widening as she realized he was not standing beside her any longer. A panic quickly began to arise over the girl, looking all around her for any sign of the Elekid. "There!"
Izumi spotted her new Pokémon trotting down the slope to the left side of the route. She definitely did not want the little guy to wander off into the tall grass on his own. He was already small enoug and finding him in such tall grass was going to be hard enough. Izumi began to chase after him, moving as fast as her legs would carry her into the grass behind her Elekid. In an almost overly-dramatic fashion, Izumi dived for the Elekid into the grass. Her arms wrapped around the Pokémon, taking him for surprise as he let out a loud, grunt-like noise.
"What in the world are you doing, Elekid? You can't just wander off like that! What would have happened if you got lost or something?!" Izumi scolded. Elekid did not really seem to be paying too much attention, however. Instead, the Pokémon seemed to be focusing on trying to wriggle out of Izumi's grasp. The trainer's eyes narrowed at the Elekid in her grasp, clearly not amused as he was starting to act like a toddler not getting his way in some sort of toy store. "What in Kalos are you making such a big fuss about? I'm not gonna let you wander around on your own!"
Elekid began to grunt once more, the Pokémon flailing about before pointing in a rather animated fashion straight ahead of them. Izumi's eyes followed in the direction he was pointing, her blue eyes coming to meet the rather haunting gaze of a pair of wide, purple eyes. Standing before the girl and her Elekid was a gray, furry creature that stared at both of them silently. It almost looked to be some sort of cat.
"What in the world is that...?" Izumi whispered.
Reaching inside of her jacket, Izumi pulled out her Pokédex from a pocket inside and gave the creature a quick scan.
"Espurr, the Restraint Pokémon. Espurr's psychic energy can travel hundreds of feet, blasting everything around it."
"Wow, you mean that little fluff-ball is capable of that sort of power?" Izumi questioned. A small smile came to her lips as she glanced up from her Pokédex and looked at the Espurr in front of her and the Elekid. "There's no way I could pass up something like this... Alright, time to make our first catch. You ready, Elekid?!"
Elekid let out a small cheer in agreement. He pumped his little hands up in the air before turning to face the Espurr in front of him. Pokémon in question still stood there quietly, staring at both the trainer and her Electric-type with intense fascination. Truth be told, Izumi found it a bit creepy, but she still relished the thought of having a Psychic type on her team as one of her first catches.
"Alright, Elekid! Let's start this battle off! Attack Espurr with Quick Attack!" Izumi commanded.
Elekid grunted in agreement, running forward as fast as his little legs would carry him. The Espurr's eyes went wide at this development, if that was even possible, and turned to try and run, just in time for one of Elekid's fists to meet its stomach. The small Psychic-type fell back a bit, a rather annoyed look quickly taking over its once emotionless face. The Espurr quickly ran forward itself, taking a swipe at Izumi's Elekid with a set of small, yet rather sharp claws.
"That Espurr is pretty quick..." Izumi muttered, finding herself getting rather excited by the battle. "But we're not gonna give up yet! Another Quick Attack, Elekid!"
Elekid dashed forward once more, preparing his little fists to slam into the Espurr once more. However, the Espurr was ready for his attack this time. The Psychic-type managed to easily dodge Elekid's attack by jumping to the side, before taking another swipe at Elekid with its little claws. Elekid let out a small yelp in pain, rubbing his cheek where the Espurr's last attack landed.
"I got a feeling this little thing's a bit quicker than we are... I think we better go with a different approach, Elekid! Use Thunder Shock!" Izumi shouted.
Elekid jumped back, small sparks of electricity starting to form at the plug-like attachments at the top of his head. With a loud shout, a quick blast of electricity shot forward. It zapped the Espurr quickly, causing it to mew weakly in pain. The little Espurr stumbled forward, trying its best to stand on its feet, but the attack happened to be just enough to cause the Psychic-type to fall flat on its face.
"We did it, Elekid! Way to go!" Izumi cheered. Elekid seemed rather proud of himself too, though a bit tired at the same time. He placed his little hands on his hips, puffing his chest out proudly. "Now it's time for my part..."
A feeling of nervousness came over Izumi as she took one of the empty Pokéballs that were hanging from her belt. Pressing a small button in the center that caused the ball to expand to full size, Izumi took a deep breath before tossing it at the downed Espurr. The ball bounced against the Psychic-type Pokémon, before pulling it up inside the ball with a beam of light. The ball hit the ground, where it slowly started to rock on the ground. Izumi held her breath as she stared at the rocking ball, not daring to even blink. The ball shook once... twice... and then finally a third time before eventually coming to a stop. The Espurr had been caught.
"I did it... We did it..." Izumi whispered, looking down at her Elekid. A wide grin quickly made its way to her lips as the excitement of the whole situation began to finally sink in. "I caught a Pokémon!"
Izumi made her way to the Pokéball, carefully scooping it off the ground and looking at her catch proudly. Part of her wanted to think that this whole thing was just a dream, and she was still dozing on the bus... And it was at this point that her eyes went wide.
"Crap... The bus!"
