Serena I

Laverre City, especially in this season, was beautiful.

The old buildings and rocky roads were framed in the red of the autumn leaves, giving the city an even more mysterious flair.

Among all the people going after their businesses wandering about the town, there was one particular girl, blending in with the rest.

Her hair was of a colour somewhere between blonde and brunette topped with a short, red hat with a pair of sunglasses standing on the brim with the temples holding onto the sides.

She wore a grey top, with something resembling a black collar attached to it, accompanied by a red, flaring skirt and black thigh-highs. A curiously watching Fletchling was sitting on her shoulder, observing the city.

The goal of her journey slowly revealed itself at the end of the big street in the form of a giant tree in which somebody had built something that looked like an oversized puppet house. Only the sign of the official Pokémon-League of Kalos revealed the true nature of it as it identified the puppet house as one of the official Gyms with the Fairy-Type trainer Valerie as its leader.

The girl named Serena smiled happily as she slowly walked towards the gym. It had been some time since her last visit. Once upon a time she'd been here for a fight and a badge. Today she was here for a friend.

A few minutes later she arrived in front of the doors of the dollhouse. Her Fletchling, which had already flown ahead and seated itself on top of the main door, called out and jumped in a high arc before landing on her shoulder again.

Serena retracted the Pokémon into its ball and opened the door.

The room inside was mainly coloured white, with the exception of a purple-ish carpet which covered most of the floor and some plants, scattered across the room. It only took a few seconds after she entered the gym until another girl appeared through one of the teleporters. She was wearing a black and red Kimono which ended at the length of a skirt, alongside black knee socks and traditional shoes made out of wood. Her black hair was tied into twin tails, with the colour complementing her pale skin.

"Welcome, trainer!", she started her usual speech, until she remembered that she had seen that person before. "Wait… I know you, don't I?", she added. "You're one of Valerie's friends, right?". "Yeah.", the girl with the honey-colorer hair answered, "My name's Serena. Valerie and I wanted to meet today." "Ah, I see. Yeah, I think she mentioned something like that.", the girl in the kimono said while crossing her arms and tilting her head a bit. "Well, she'll still be taking challengers for a few minutes but I can get you to her backstage room if you want to.".

Serena agreed. The black-haired girl turned towards the back wall and pressed a hidden button. A door opened, revealing a short corridor which was decorated like the main room before it; white walls and a purple carpet. There was a staircase visible at the end and Serena thought that she could hear some music playing somewhere in the background.

"Just up the stairs and then search for the door with her name on it.", the girl said and pointed at the corridor with her left hand, "Got some work to do now, sorry."

"Thank you very much!", Serna answered smiling as she started to walk down the corridor. The door closed quietly behind her.

It didn't take long for Serena to find Valerie's room. There were a couple of rooms upstairs, some of them belonging to the Furisode girls who worked in the gym, but also a kitchen, toilets, an exit to the outside and other stairs and corridors, probably leading to other rooms.

"So this is what the backstage looks like...", Serena said to herself while looking around. She took a look at her watch. "The gym normally closes in about 10 minutes... Maybe she'll still have to fight a last challenger... Then she'll probably be here in 15 mins... I could have a look around Valerie's room!", Serena thought and opened the door.

It looked a bit like you would expect a backstage room to look, but still had some personal touches that made it obvious it belonged to Valerie. Most of it was kept in purple, black, and a pale yellow. Many mirrors were put onto the wall to the right, a few of them had lights sticked to them and a variety of make-up products and utensils spread out in front of them, some of them Serena recognised, as she used them herself but there were also some brands that she had never even heard of and that looked very expensive. There were also some full-body-mirrors, aligned in a way that a person could inspect all their sides. As Serena stood in front of the mirrors, she noticed a red feather that had gotten caught up in the back of her hair and flicked it away.

The other side of the room was mainly covered by a wardrobe, a sewing machine, and a rich assortment of different fabrics. One of the corners was covered by a curtain, probably a dressing room, Serena figured. The wardrobe contained many different kind of clothes; kimonos, dresses, tops, jackets, and skirts. There were also a box containing some rolled-up tights and leggings and some pairs of shoes standing next to it. "I need to ask her if I can borrow some of these", Serena said to herself.

Against the back wall stood a bed and although it was obvious that it was more meant for a nap between work than for actual daily use it still looked kind of fancy, following the common aesthetic of the room.

Serena sat down in one of the many armchairs that were put up across the room, crossed her legs, leaned back and got her Holo-Log out of her bag, in order to pass some time.

A couple of minutes later she heard the iconic click-clack of high-heeled shoes outside the room.