The breeze lifted sections of her long blonde hair and trailed them like gold woven ribbons behind her back as she rode circle after circle around the great tower in the center of the city. In and out she weaved through the crowd, her legs pumping furiously to propel her bicycle onwards. Inside the bag firmly strapped to her side nestled 3 pale green eggs. They would hatch soon enough if she just kept circling.

It had been almost a year since her grand adventure had ended. She had saved the world and now the rest of her life stretched on before her. It had been difficult to adjust back to the rhythms of daily life. The rush of the last year had faded and all that was left was the gentle ebb and flow of days and nights. Nights were especially hard. At night memories came to life and reenacted what was and perhaps what could have been.

Serena was interrupted from her thoughts and cycling by a flash of bright red in the corner of her eye. She swerved and nearly collided with a boy eating a Gallette. Brakes heavily applied saved her skin and his snack but not her dignity. With an absent minded apology, she frantically scanned the crowd for the red. "Surely it couldn't be?..."

It wasn't. A sigh of disappointment escaped into the warm spring air as the source of the red, a young Pyroar yawned and climbed back up to a nearby balcony. She had done this too many times before but she couldn't help herself. Whenever she caught a glimpse of red she hoped.

Stepping hard and leaning in she started off for another circle around Luminous Tower. She felt a jolt on her handle bars as her newly made progress was cut short. She hadn't been paying attention. She must have collided with someone again. Flinging her hair with a whip of her head she turned to apologize. The words never left her throat.

Red, bright red, familiar red peaked out from under the pulled hood of his sweatshirt. His hand shook in surprise on the handlebar as his blue eyes met hers in recognition.

He pulled away just as she reached out. He stiffened but didn't reject her hold on his arm. Success! She'd caught a wild...Lysandre

"I missed you"

...

...

The words had slipped out her mouth in an effortless honesty that heated her face the instant they left her mouth to float in the space between them. She rushed to sweep them away.

" I mean I'm glad you're not dead because I really liked battling you, not that battling you was a good thing because you were going to...but it was fun in a way and I..."

Serena let the attempt fail and trail off. She was making it worse.

" I missed you as well."

Serena blinked and glanced up catching the hint of sheepishness and crimson on Lysande's face before it faded back to cool calculated monotone.

" I should go" he motioned off into the crowd.

Her eyes searched his face in frustration, but he gave her no hint of an expression that she could work with to make him stay. It had been so long though...she and Lysandre had never been friends but she couldn't deny that there was some kind of unidentifiable something. Perhaps a rivalry although she already had plenty of contenders for that title. Never the less, the energy of it kept her hand clinging to the faded jersey of his unfamiliarly casual sweatshirt.

"No! I mean, please just let me... It's been so long and I have so many..please just stay."

She fumbled and stumbled for words, any words that might work. He was like a wild Moltres. Who knows when he might flee and if she would ever get another opportunity?

He gently lifted her hand and lightly removed it with a slight tug from his sleeve. He took the handlebars of her bike and steered it out and around to her side. " fine" he muttered "we can talk but not here. You're attracting too much attention" he motioned for her to follow him and started walking with her bike off into the crowd. She scrambled into step and followed him across the plaza.

It didn't take long for them to cross the crowded central plaza that circled the Tower and slip past one of the many obelisks into a side alley. His long strides covered ground quickly and by the time they arrived Serena was short of breath from the fast pace. She leaned against the cool stone walls of the alley way and willed herself to breathe deeply until the ache in her lungs subsided.

"So what do you want to know?" The question hung in the stale air until she was ready to answer it. That quality hadn't changed much about Lysandre. He had always treated her with a level of patience that forever managed to surprise her. She had long ago felt that it wasn't exactly a quality that matched well with ambitions for world annihilation.

Where to start? She wondered.

" well...I'm not sure" she finally conceded. " This is the first time since Geosege that I've seen you alive. I'm not sure exactly where to start or even how to."

He nodded in agreement. " yes I imagine you'd be curious." He leaned her bike up against the stone of the alley way and walked over until the distance, she hadn't even realized she'd been keeping was closed. He leaned against the stones next to her and slid until he was slumped and seated on the cobblestone ground. A quick pull to her hand sat her down next to him. After a small clearing of his throat the words spilled out for her.

Serena kept her eyes focused on the sprouting of a small blade of grass poking up through the cobblestone as he calmly explained everything. There wasn't as much as she had speculated. He and his Pokemon had survived, he was still the inventor and owner of several lucrative technological patents, a merger with a formidable Kanto company kept him comfortable and out of trouble but defeat at the hands of a young girl kept him from desiring the spotlight he had had before. That was it. No ultimate punishment, no certain death, life had gone on for the both of them.

He chuckled wryly " you seem disappointed" Serena plucked the blade of grass and twirled it between her fingers. "In a way, you could say that but not really. I guess it's just different from what I imagined." She snuck a peek out of the corner of her eye. His eyes trailed the lines of her face. She remembered that habit of his too. It gave her goosebumps. Like he was scanning her until he could find the truth of what she was. She focused back on her blade of grass.

"What about you?" He plucked the blade of grass from her fingers and blew it into the alleyway. A small cross breeze carried it off into the avenue beyond. Now there was nothing to look at but her shoes and Lysandre. Did he really want to know how boring her life had become? She glanced back at him. He seemed genuinely interested. The blue eyes that stared back at her glinted with that hint of warmth that she remembered. It had all seemed so long ago earlier but with him sitting next to her it seemed more like yesterday.

Serena wasn't sure why but she told him. She sat there in the shaded staleness of the alley and chattered about life after with her one time opponent. About her adventure with Looker, her progress on her plot of berry trees, her current time as a breeder. She showed him the Eevee eggs in her bag and lamented on her failure to raise an Espeon. She felt herself relax. Lysandre made it easy, he asked interesting questions, and soon her dull year suddenly seemed almost exciting.

Their conversation was cut short by a sudden breeze that blew dusty bit and pieces from the boulevard. Serena coughed and jumped up to brush off the dust. She then realized how dark it had gotten. A look up told her that sunset was soon approaching.

She turned to Lysandre who was still brushing dust out of his hair. "I apologize, you probably had somewhere you needed to be."

He reached out and brushed her cheek. Startled she stepped back and bumped against the stone walls. A crinkle of awkwardness flashed through his expression as he pulled back his hand.

" you had some dust"

" oh I see"

The comfort of the earlier conversation was gone and in its place was the unreadable energy that had run between them so many times before.

Serena shrugged half heartedly, " thanks for talking with me"

He ran his fingers through his hair in thought. He glanced up at her.

" we could again sometime.." He admitted.

Serena sucked in a quick breath of air. " you want to?" She asked.

Lysandre shook the remaining dust off his sleeve and stood straighter.

" Yes I want to"

His energy and decisiveness in his response sent her mind flashing to images of his time with Team Flare. She smiled to herself. Funny how he could still manage to seem imposing in a sweatshirt.

"Alright then. When?"

End of ch 1-