A/N: It's weird to think that this is the first fanfic I've ever posted on this website! Truthfully, I've been writing fanfiction (along with one series that I've created myself) for about 6 years now but never got the courage to post it. I hope you all enjoy this fanfic! I certainly had a lot of fun writing for it!
Special thanks to my pals, Wander, Almond and Matt, for helping me to get the courage to post this fanfic! Thanks for helping me edit this fanfic, Wander!
The Santalune City Boutique was well known in the Kalos region for its impressive hats. Calem knew that buying a hat from that boutique will lead him to his goal to get stylish. When he saw Shauna walking around Vaniville after he visited his mom, he asked her for her help on his goal. They biked over to Santalune; Shauna was unusually quiet the entire time, possibly mulling over what he had asked her. When they reached the boutique, the attendant of the boutique greeted them and Calem walked over to the hats while Shauna stood back, observing the newfound interest he had for fashion.
"What's with the sudden need to get stylish, Calem?" Shauna asked.
Calem was looking all of the hats on display in the Santalune City Boutique, turning them around and comparing them to each other.
"The red hat looks pretty!" Shauna said excitedly. "I'm sure Sere will like it!"
He had tensed his shoulders and stopped turning around the black hat. He was quiet for a few seconds, but that silence was enough to tell her that her guess was right. Calem then shook his head and turned around to look at her.
He was slightly red, embarrassed at having his true motives discovered. "How did you figure it out?"
Shauna shrugged. "It was a guess! I kind of had a feeling you had a crush on our new bestie-slash-rival! So you're changing up your look?"
Calem nodded and turned back to the display. "I just don't have a lot of money so I can only buy one hat." He sighed. "Do you want to come to Cyllage City with me? All of the outfits are over there."
"Why don't you go to the boutique in Lumiose? It's closer!"
"I tried," he said in an aggrieved tone. "They kicked me out because I wasn't 'stylish' enough. Whatever that means…"
While biking his way home, he thought he should pay a visit to the boutique since he had never bothered visiting it before. It turned out to be in vain since he was quickly shooed away from the boutique like he was an annoying zubat.
"I'll go with you mainly because I'm afraid of what you'll get without my guidance. We can bike there together!" Shauna clapped her hands in excitement. "Ooh, try them all on instead of spinning them!"
He was about to put on the red hat when he stopped. "Please don't tell her about this…"
"I'm pretty sure she likes you back! Save yourself from this dance and tell her." Shauna advised.
The only answer she received was him putting on the red hat and a look of uncertainty. She sighed and knew this was going to be a long dance.
"Try on the black one! The other one looked nicer when you were spinning it."
Eventually they settled for the black cap since it would match any of the clothing Calem would get in Cyllage. Once they were out of the boutique, they began biking to Cyllage, only stopping for the hair salon. Shauna had suggested a haircut if he really wanted to change things up but he had refused because he wasn't even sure if he did have enough money for a new outfit if he did get a trim. The other reason being that he liked the way his hair looked now and changing it made him rather nervous. After that, they continued biking, taking a shortcut through the Connecting Cave.
"Arceus, I can't wait until I have the Fly Hidden Machine so I don't have to keep doing this." He folded his bicycle back into his bag. He took out a Fresh Water and downed the entire bottle.
"Why did you go down to Santalune anyways?" Shauna waited for Calem to catch his breath so they could head into the boutique together.
"I wanted to visit my mom, even if it meant biking back and forth." He held the door open for Shauna and entered the boutique after her.
"Thanks!" She ran up to a red t-shirt with orange rays. She peered at the price tag for the name. "The King T-Shirt looks awesome!"
The green jacket that was next to the bright red t-shirt had caught his eye instead. "How about this one?"
Shauna gave him a dry look. "It looks exactly the same as the jacket you're wearing. Except it's green." She pointed at the shirt she had picked out. "This one is better!"
"What kind of pants would I be wearing with that?" He had to admit that he liked the t-shirt, it was just so much more attention grabbing than what he's used to. But, then again, wasn't he doing this so Serena would notice him?
He thought back to when he had handed Serena the Surf HM and how she had smiled at him gratefully and-
"Hello?" Shauna rapidly waved her hand back and forth in front of his face. He recoiled in shock. "Earth to Calem? Man, I was calling your name for like two minutes!" She suddenly grinned mischievously. "You were thinking about Sere, weren't you? Calem, you got it bad."
He tried to hide his blush by turning away from her but knew that he had failed when he heard Shauna's chortle.
"I was asking if you wanted to try on the Short Cargo Pants! The options are between olive and purple." She said, looking at them intently.
"So… the purple?"
"No, the olive."
It almost seemed like Shauna was waiting for him to choose so that she could choose the other option. He sighed and wondered just how bad his fashion taste is that Shauna would do something like that.
"There's only one option for the sneakers by the way, the Sneakers Red. It goes with your shirt which is fabulous!" There was a pause as she thought over something. "You should get the Two-Tone Bag Red! Oh my gosh, we forgot a hat accessory in Santalune!"
Calem walked over to the hat on display and looked at the tag of the accessory. "What about this one?"
"The pink will look great! That's the only option we have… Go get changed!" She pushed him into the dressing room and waited outside.
He hurriedly changed into his new outfit, realizing that he'll have to beat Ramos in Coumarine City before challenging Serena to a battle. He looked at the mirror, feeling rather satisfied. The outfit they had picked together was rather stylish, at least in their opinion. He hoped that Serena would think so as well. Calem stepped out of the dressing room and Shauna gave him a thumbs up.
"That will be twenty-two thousand three hundred pokédollars, sir." The attendant said when he stepped out of the room.
He could hear his wallet crying but pulled out the money regardless. He was only left with five thousand pokédollars but he could earn his money back in the gym with a Luck Incense.
The attendant counted the money he had handed her and smiled at him. "Thank you and have a nice day!"
They stepped out of the boutique and Shauna looked ecstatic.
"Sere's definitely gonna notice your outfit change! I wanna be there to see! But… I can't." She pouted, pulling out bicycle from her purse and unfolding it. "I have to go to Lumiose to talk to my new friends, Clemont and Bonnie! Just between you and me, Clemont is pretty cute!" She set up her bicycle in front of her, ensuring that she had unfolded it correctly. "Holo-cast me to tell me how it goes! I wish Serena had moved over here earlier so that you could've gotten stylish sooner!" She teased.
"Shauna…"
She laughed. "Until both of you wise up, don't expect this to stop!" There was pause as she suddenly thought of something. "Can I bribe you to tell her?"
By now, he had already unfolded his bicycle and was about to ride into route 10. "Uh, no money is worth embarrassing myself in front of Serena."
"We'll see! Bye!" She biked off in the direction to the Connecting Cave while waving one of her hands in farewell.
This shouldn't take so long. He thought. I already fought all of the trainers on route 12 and on Azure Bay. We're ready to take on Ramos. He patted the pokéballs on his belt and began his trip to Coumarine City.
Calem looked at his new Plant Badge and grinned. Mega-evolution or not, we still did it! The badge looked similar to a leaf and was giving off a slight shine, he suspected that it would shine more if he went outside. He had earned back all of the money he had used up for his new outfit thankfully. He even earned more than what he had spent, so he had gotten profit from battling everybody in the gym. Next up was Clemont, but he wasn't sure how he would accomplish that if more than half of Lumiose City was closed because of the large scale power outage. According to Shauna, he was working extensively to find a solution but hasn't found any leads so far. Clemont's younger sister was worried about him so she had become friends with Shauna so that they could get Clemont to relax, at least for a little bit.
Calem had already sent a Holo-cast to Serena, challenging her to a battle in front of the Gym. He had briefly changed back to his old outfit to send her the message, so she would see his new outfit when they met up. He looked around the Pokémon Center, unsure about what to do now. Should he wait for her in front of the gym or be slightly late? He stood up and stretched, he'll wait for her nearby and go over to her once she's standing in front of the Gym.
Serena smiled at him once he ran over to see her. Her expression quickly turned into one of confusion until she went back to smiling. "Nice new outfit, neighbor!"
Calem blushed and rubbed the back of his neck with one hand in sheepishness. "Thanks, Serena…"
"I went to a great café back in Shalour City, do you want to go there after we battle?" She asked. "Oh right, here's the Fly Hidden Machine for you! The Professor gave me two back on the monorail station on the seaside, he told me to give you the other one!" She handed him the HM and he took it, thanking her.
He smiled at her, glad that she had quickly noticed his new outfit. "Sure, I'd love to go to the café."
A/N: Serena would've asked Calem to go to the café even if he did change his outfit or not, but she did think that looked really stylish. This was a blast to write even if I got hit by the writing bug right on finals week… Thank you for reading my fanfic and I hope you have a great day (or night)!