Yo, Steve-O here. This is my very first fanfic that I've made and posted so far.

So I wrote this story that takes place three years after the main protagonist of Pokémon X and Y thwarted Lysandre's plot of world destruction and rebirth and Team Flare went down in flames. During this time, a certain individual goes through a life changing journey alongside his pokémon, one of which had become his closest friend and over time, his ideal love interest. The pokémon of which I speak of is his lovely pink gardevoir who goes by the name Sakura. Yeah, I know, it's another friggin gardevoir romance fanfic. Whatcha gonna do about it? For the record, I am aware that none of these events actually took place other than the events of Pokémon X & Y which were or will be described in the story. This is only my story, after all, so please do take this with a grain of salt.

Oh... let's not forget about that disclaimer. Pokémon is owned by the Pokémon Company, not myself. I only own my OCs.

This story is dedicated to the humble connections people share with their pokémon and the way it had impacted the course of history since the franchise has existed, or something like that. Ah, who am I kidding? I just wrote this story so I could project my twisted imagination and some of my life experiences into other people's brains, so… if you don't absolutely hate that sort of thing then, by all means, enjoy my story.

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In a region not known to many, there resided a forest of great size and great beauty. In that forest were trees that grew tall and lush as far as the eye could see. A river ran through it from one side to the other which led to a boundless lake. It was a quiet forest since it was a place of tranquility and sanctuary where mainly the soft sounds of wind and nature were the only things to be heard. The weather was consistent, seemingly never too hot nor too cold, and would only ever experience rain and an occasional strong breeze. The daytime brought sunlight that would shine through the leaves and bring a comfortable warmth along the ground and in the air. The night time brought light from the stars and the moon that would never undervalue the vibrant colors and beauty of the forest. The inhabitants of this forest were peaceful pokémon that lived harmoniously with one another, some of which never knew suffering. This forest was a haven where all living beings could come and let their worries and cares disappear.

The peace and purity of this forest were preserved flawlessly for ages… then disaster struck. One night, the forest faced an unexpected catastrophe as many people with their own pokémon came and laid siege. In this siege, there were explosions and destruction of various parts of the landscape and trees. The pokémon of the forest fought back at them in retaliation and the once peaceful forest had become a war zone. The battle was fierce and lasting and made the night time seem like it stood still, a sight that was truly unforgettable.

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Homecoming

(Champhrier Town)

In the Kalos region, there was a young man named Damien. He was an average sized young man coming at 5' 10" with green eyes, olive skin, short black hair and typically wore a green jacket over a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. He was a bright individual, very dedicated to his high school classes and had the privilege of being a straight-A student. Although he was always fairly shy and timid as well, he was curious and always had a passion for current events and dreamed to be a journalist when he grew up. Damien was born and raised in Champhrier Town and moved to Lumiose City to study journalism when he was eighteen.

Damien was nineteen and had just finished his first year at the university. Damien decided to visit home for the first week of his three-month long summer break. He was going to stay with his parents for a little while. He came home on a bus and got off at a station close to his house and was greeted by his mother Rose, and his father Jerome.

Damien's mother Rose, had blue eyes, light skin and long black hair that nearly reached her waist. Rose was in her mid-forties but her appearance was akin to a woman in her late twenties. She stood at 5' 6" and typically wears a black coat on and high heels wherever she goes, giving her about an extra two inches in height.

Damien's father Jerome, had green eyes, olive skin and brown thinning hair that was shorter than Damien's. He, like Rose, was also middle aged, a little older even, and unlike her, actually had the look to accommodate it. He stood at 5' 11" and wore a brown leather jacket over a white t-shirt, jeans and boots.

Damien figured that Champhrier seems like such a small town when he has been living in such a big city like Lumiose for about a year. He was happy to see his family after having been away for so long. He missed them a lot, and he knew they missed him just as much.

(Champhrier Restaurant)

Damien spent the first three days at home recovering from finals syndrome, barely leaving the house at all. He and his family had dinner at an Italian restaurant for the fourth night he was in town. While they were seated, they discussed his year at school and what happened while he was away. He had been thinking of being a pokémon trainer for some time after he left, except that would just get in the way of his education. Other than that, he had tried to become a pokémon trainer a long time ago, dating back over ten years ago when it happened. He was just sitting still silent, staring at his cavatelli and remembering that particular day.

(Damien's flashback)

I woke up and remembered it was the day my friend Steve and I would receive our first pokémon and start our journey as pokémon trainers. I was more excited than I've ever been in my entire life. We had scheduled an appointment with Professor Sycamore to pick which pokémon we'd take for the journey. Steve had picked a bulbasaur and I had received a charmander from him that day. This particular charmander was not very friendly with me, yet I dismissed it, knowing that not every pokémon is entirely optimistic about being a human's partner to start out with. Professor Sycamore handed each of us our own pokédex to catalog each of the pokémon we would encounter.

We didn't leave town often but now and then other trainers passed through Champhrier so we had a lot of opportunities to test our strength. As I battled alongside with Charmander, he would only become nastier with every passing day. He would isolate himself from me if he could and I had no idea what he would be thinking. He wouldn't listen to me and he started acting on his own, which cost us a lot of precious moments and potential victories. I was patient none the less and kept believing we could have a good connection, eventually.

One day, we lost against a trainer when we were visiting Coumarine. I wasn't too bothered myself about being defeated up until the opposing trainer started throwing insults our way about how pathetic we were as a team, as well as slurs towards me. Charmander was… well… not pleased. I tried to console him and return him to his pokéball, but what he did was something I didn't imagine even he would ever do. Right before I could send him back into his pokéball, he used ember at my hand, causing the pokéball to fly out and fall over a cliff, not to mention the physical pain those embers caused. He took off after the other trainer and didn't even look back.

I just sat on the ground trying to make sense of what happened and my eyes started to well with tears. Where did I go wrong? My first pokémon… I was trying so hard for him and that damned charmander destroyed my confidence as a pokémon trainer and as a friend. I decided there was no point in trying to make things better as a trainer anymore and I released the rest of my pokémon. That day I swore I'd never even pick up a pokéball again, or so that was the case…

(Champhrier Restaurant)

Rose noticed Damien had not said or done anything for a few minutes and she felt the need to consult him.

"Honey, is something bothering you?" Rose asked.

Damien had come back to reality at that call.

"Oh… Uh… I was just remembering something, Mom." Damien replied.

Jerome changed the subject and asked him about the girl he was dating for a few months in his school. Her name was Molly and she majored in nursing. She had dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and a smile that Damien could not help falling for. He told Jerome that they broke up not a month ago.

"Oh, sorry to hear about that. Do you want to talk about it, champ?" Jerome asked.

Damien turned his head to the upper left corner and thought about it.

"She just told me she wasn't into it anymore, basically." Damien said.

What he did not tell his father was that she has been fooling around with some loud-mouthed individual who majored in PE and told Damien their relationship was a mistake. He was crushed and the depression that followed caused Damien to nearly fail a few of his courses, but Damien had gotten over it soon after finding out that guy had not been playing safe and contracted a chronic illness from her. He was so pissed afterward that it caused him to drop out of college. Damien could only imagine what those two are doing now a day.

"I bet that girl would have made an excellent trainer for my charmander." Damien thought to himself.

"Well, that's too bad. I know it must have hurt, but let me tell you something, my boy. There's someone for everyone, and even though you think you've found the perfect one, it just might not go as you planned." Jerome said.

"Thanks, Dad." Damien said as he shrugged his shoulders and looked aside.

They finished their dinner, paid for the food and left the restaurant and as they were walking out Damien told his family what he was thinking about earlier.

"Mom, Dad… I've been thinking about giving pokémon training another shot". Damien said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a pokéball.

He pressed the button on the ball and a white beam of light shot out of it and into the air. The beam formed into a flying purple pokémon with large ears, yellow eyes, black fur over its body, hovered with two claw-tipped wings and had two stubby legs. It was a noibat that Damien brought out and showed to his parents.

"Meet Boomer. I got this noibat from Alexa when I was interning at Lumiose press. I told her about the charmander I had and she gave me Boomer as a gift for working especially hard under her supervision since she just had him around." Damien explained enthusiastically.

"Well, that was awfully nice of her. It seems like you two have become really close." Jerome said to Damien.

"Yeah, I guess we have. That reminds me, she called and I need to make a trip to Ambrette town tomorrow to investigate an incident that happened nearby." Damien said.

"I thought your internship with Alexa was over." Rose skeptically said.

"It is. She just asked me to lend her a hand and go to Ambrette for her since she's crammed for time this week. She's even paying me for it." Damien said.

"Okay, so you're thinking of bringing your pokémon with you too?" Rose asked nervously.

"Yeah, it'll be good to have someone to keep me company on the trip." Damien replied.

"Well, we'll both be wishing you luck on your trip, champ." Jerome said, holding Rose close to his side with one arm.

"Thanks, you two, I'll do my best." Damien replied confidently.

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I would like to make something clear for a sec. I wasn't planning to post this story until it was completed. That was before I recently came across another gardevoir fanfic entitled Saviour written by the author EliteDog. That is without a doubt the most fantastic piece of literary art I have seen on this site to date. Why am I saying that? Well, it has the essential aspects that make a story great. It has an exceptional opening scene, memorable characters that develop as the story progresses and suspense moments that had me at the edge of my seat. Best of all, it's loaded with details that allow you to actually envision what is going on in the story without needing to rely too heavily on your imagination. Even with the occasional grammatical errors and parts that seem to break the fourth wall, it's still pretty damn believable and suspension of disbelief makes those problems next to non-existent. To my great dismay, based on my observation that the author has not updated this story in about a year and a half, it seems to me as if it is not progressing any further, or at least not at the moment. So I'm posting what I have currently in an effort to show the author how inspirational that story is to me. So if you like what you're seeing then be sure to thank him. And EliteDog, if you're seeing this message, thank you. Please continue your work. So many people (myself included) want to see how Cosmo and Alex turn out.