A Trainer's New Adventure
Chapter One
Five months have passed by since Calem had become the Kalos League Champion; leaving his friends behind him. Shauna, Trevor and Tierno all believed that the power of being the Champion had gone to Calem's head as they hadn't heard from him since the day of the parade in Lumiose City. They tried to talk to him a few days ago, catch up with their friend and find out why he's chosen to distance himself from them. But alas, their attempts fell on deaf ears as he banished them from ever entering the Champion's chambers ever again.
"Serena! We need to do something about your boyfriend! He's refusing to see us, and he's even banished us! I mean, come on! Who banishes people nowadays?" Shauna said frantically as she looked to her only female friend for help.
Serena took a long sip from her tea cup, while the rest of her friends waited with baited breath to hear from her. As they all sat outside on the patio belonging to Café Soleil in Lumiose City, Serena and her friends' Pokemon all enjoyed the fresh, warm summer air and the occasionally fascinated petting from a random little girl.
Serena looked to her Pokemon team fondly for a moment, thinking back to when she first started her journey, and the day she first met Calem. When she first saw him she thought he was the cutest looking boy she had ever met, and decided to become his rival in order to garner attention from him. Every chance she had to battle him while he traveled around Kalos, battling the region's gym leaders and the like, she'd challenge him. She even went to the trouble to style her hair to a ponytail at the side of her head to make him notice her. It was the day after he had defeated Team Flare did he actually acknowledge her completely, as he finally confessed to her that he'd found her to be irresistible. That was also when she shared her first kiss with him in the ruin that was Geosenge Town.
For the first little while in their relationship, after each battle Calem would win against her, he'd kiss her sweetly and lovingly. She enjoyed it when he'd take the time to make her feel loved and respected, always tending to her lips as if they were frail little rose petals. He even made sure to treat her body with the same softness as his kisses. His hands would caress her shoulders lightly leaving goosebumps in their wake, as she began to crave more of his touch. His body craved hers too, nearly to a boiling point to which he managed to fulfill both of their desires while they were on a date in Anistar City. He's the first person to make love to her and she thought at the time that he'd be the only one to do so. But, after that night his personality changed.
"Serena? You still here with us?" asked Tierno, as Trevor waved a hand in front of Serena's face to gauge a reaction from the newly turned eighteen year old girl.
"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm here," she said as she looked away from her Pokemon. She picked up her tea cup, drained the last of her tea in one quick sip then said, "If Calem said he doesn't want to be bothered right now, then I say let him be."
Shauna looked confusedly to her friend for a moment before asking, "Why would you say that? You're his girlfriend right? Aren't you just as worried about him as we are?"
Serena looked to her watch suddenly, and upon noticing the time, she responded with, "We're running late! We told Professor Sycamore that we'd be at his lab for one o'clock! We've got about five minutes to get there now!" She returned her Pokemon back to their Pokeballs before standing from her seat.
Tierno and Trevor looked to each other for a moment, shrugged their shoulders in unison as they turned to their Pokemon; returning them to their Pokeballs. The three of them felt as though they were lost for words as they watched their friend coolly walk over to the waitress whom had served their drinks and pay for each of them without consulting her friends first. Serena looked over at her friends, smiled warmly to them as Shauna continued to stare at her. 'She's hiding something from us. I just know it! I can feel it!' Shauna thought to herself as Tierno and Trevor ran passed her to walk with Serena. "HEY! WAIT FOR ME YOU GUYS!" Shauna exclaimed as she noticed that her friends had already left the café and were already half way down the road. She frantically returned her Pokemon to their Pokeballs, she ran off to catch up to her friends.
After a few minutes of chasing each other down the road to the Sycamore Pokemon Lab, Serena and her friends found themselves outside the very same building that made them who they are. Each one of them stood in a unified and revered silence as they looked upon the Pokemon Lab admiringly.
"I can't believe that its been almost a year since we've all set foot inside this very building, met Professor Sycamore and started our journey together," Serena said, smiling warmly to the building in front of her before turning to her friends. "Trevor, Tierno, Shauna…I love you guys like you're my family. I'm glad that we met and I can't wait to be friends with you guys for the rest of my life," she said while continuing to wear her warm smile.
The four teenagers walked inside the Pokemon Lab, greeted the receptionist at the main desk, whom smiled happily to them as they stepped inside the elevator. "Here we go," Tierno said as he pressed the button for the third floor and the elevator door closed in front of them. At Tierno's words, Serena suddenly felt very nervous about seeing Professor Sycamore.
The last time she had seen him was during the party after the parade for Calem. She spent her time during the party mingling and schmoosing with her friends, gym leaders and the Elite Four before finally making her way to Professor Sycamore. That night she thought for a moment that he looked so handsome, even though he was only wearing his typical everyday outfit. She spent the whole time she had with him, both alone and with her friends around her, trying to figure out what it was that made her suddenly want him. Finally after a while she resigned herself to think that she can't be in love with the Professor as he was too old for her and that she's Calem's girlfriend.
But as she stood in the elevator leading up to Professor Sycamore's office floor, her heart pounded inside her chest. 'I'm not in love with the Professor! He's my mentor and I am his student!' she thought frantically before the elevator door slid open, revealing the perfectly polished and cleaned office. Tierno stepped off the elevator first, quickly followed by Trevor and Shauna.
Professor Sycamore stepped out of his personal office at the sound of the three teenagers beyond the dividing wall separating his office from the rest of the room for his assistants. "Ahh hello there everyone! I was just about to wonder what was keeping you!" he said, smiling warmly to each of them. The expression on his face changed to confusion as he asked, "Where's Serena? I thought she was going to be with you three today?"
Shauna looked around the room just as confused as the Professor was at that moment, until she found her friend standing stalk still in the elevator, staring at the Professor with her eyes nearly bulging out of her head. "Serena? You ok?" she asked her bewildered looking friend while also waving her right hand out to gain Serena's attention.
Serena on the other hand, found herself transfixed to the spot as soon as she saw him. She clutched her chest in an attempt to keep her heart from leaping out as he noticed her, smiling warmly to her all the while. 'What is wrong with me?! He's my mentor! He's old enough to be my dad! Who knows anyway, he COULD be my dad! I never knew my real father, and we moved around a lot when I was little…but that's just stupid! He's not THAT old! Am I loosing it?! Yeah I've officially lost it! Damn it! Everyone is looking at me strangely. Time to say something to them before THEY think I'm out of my gourd!' she thought frantically before finally stepping off the elevator and joining her friends once more. "H-hello Professor Sycamore! Um-I-I'm sorry we're late. C-café Soleil's tea and baked goods can be really distracting, y-you know what I mean?" she managed to squeak out as the elevator door closed behind her while she played meekly with her long blonde hair.
Professor Sycamore smiled even warmer than before to Serena before saying, "Yes I do know what you mean. I've often been late for work because of that particular café."
Serena looked at him in confusion as she asked, "You don't live here? I thought you did, considering the building does look like a mansion?"
"Oh no, I don't live here. My loft is up in the Northern Avenue, just passed Café Soleil right near the gate to Route Thirteen," he said matter-of-factly to Serena, beaming another warm smile to her. "As for the fact that my lab looks like a mansion is because it was at one point. My parents bought it for me right after I graduated from the Hoenn Pokemon University. Mind you, it wasn't in the best shape when they bought it. They only paid two hundred fifty thousand Poke-dollars for it, and it took another three hundred seventy five thousand Poke-dollars to turn it into the lab you see today," he said, holding his arms up wide in the air while turning around on the spot.
"Wow! I didn't know that!" Trevor and Tierno said in unison, causing Serena to giggle at her friends' ability to sometimes act as if they were one person.
Shauna on the other hand had been watching Serena's reaction to the Professor's speech through slotted eyes. 'She's not cheating on Calem with the Professor is she? They were working together for a while to set up the parade and party for Calem. But of course that was months ago, and I had seen her afterward as well and she seemed like her usual self. Not like she is today though. There's definitely something going on here and I want to know what it is,' she thought as she stepped forward a bit.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to ask Serena about Calem, Serena spoke up which caused Shauna to stop dead in her tracks for a moment. "You studied in the Hoenn region? That's so cool! What was it like, Augustine?" Serena asked, letting his first name slip out of her mouth. No one seemed to notice the slip up except for Shauna, not even the Professor noticed it. 'How does she know his first name? And why did she use it so casually?' Shauna thought as she eyed her friend once more.
"It was quite the experience I'll have you know. The region itself is quite beautiful, but not compared to my beautiful Kalos region. I missed it so much while studying over in Hoenn, and I was glad to be back once my studies were over," he said, placing his hands inside his lab coat.
"I know what you mean about the Hoenn region, Professor," Serena said, smiling affectionately to the floor for a moment before turning that smile up to the Professor. "I'm from the Hoenn region originally. Lived there until I was five years old. After that point, my mother and I traveled around to all of the other regions due to her profession of being a Rhyhorn racer," she said as the Trevor and Tierno looked to her thoughtfully.
"Do you miss the Hoenn region Serena?" Tierno asked before Trevor could, while the Professor returned Serena's affectionate smile with his own.
"Kind of, but I love it here more. Of all the people I met while traveling with my mom, you guys are the nicest and kindest people I've ever met," she said, holding her arms up to her friends and the Professor fondly.
Just then her Delphox released itself from it's Pokeball, and stood beside her with his arms folded across it's chest. "And, of course, the Pokemon here are the greatest treasure Kalos has to offer too," Serena said, turning to her Delphox, pulling it's Pokeball out of her green tassel purse, while it nodded happily to her. She walked over to her Pokemon, hugged it tightly for a moment, causing it to blush. "Phox!" it said, hugging Serena back. Serena and her Delphox looked at each other for a moment, smiling happily to each other as Serena held Delphox's Pokeball in her right hand. Delphox pulled away from Serena, bowed to her then returned itself to it's Pokeball happily.
"So how are you and Calem doing? Last time I heard anything about you two, you told me that you had a pretty sizable fight," said the Professor earnestly as he walked up next to her, clasping his right hand on her shoulder for a moment. She felt her face flare up at his touch as she nearly leaned her face to his hand for comfort.
"Serena? You and Calem had a fight? Why didn't you tell us?" said Shauna in a hurt tone.
Serena snapped herself back to reality as she took notice of her friend's hurt voice. She turned to face her friends, each of them looking to her worriedly. She took in a breath before replying, "I'm sorry I didn't go to you guys first. I was scared and I just wasn't thinking straight I guess. Please forgive me. Next time I have a problem, I promise I'll go to you guys first." She looked to her friends with remorse plaguing her face, her hands absentmindedly ringing around in her hair.
Shauna, Trevor and Tierno looked to each other for a moment, nodded and said in unison, "We forgive you!" They flashed her a happy, warm smile as she looked to them in relief and happiness.
"Thank you!" she said, running over to her friends, scooping them together in a hug. The Professor stood watching Serena and her friends happily as he thought, 'I'm glad they're ok with her coming to me first for advice. The air around here after I asked her about it was so heavy I thought there was an Absol in here exuding pressure on us all.' He took a moment to look at Serena, drinking in every curve of her body as another thought came to him, 'She's so beautiful. I know she's my student, but I can't help but notice her as more than just that. I've been with other women in the past, and each of them were just as beautiful. But Serena…she's different some how. Is it because she's my student? I never dreamed that I'd feel this way about a student before. I know I shouldn't say anything to her about how I feel but perhaps one day I just might do it.'
"So what were you and Calem fighting about anyway?" Tierno asked, bringing everyone back to the main topic at hand.
Serena looked downcast as she thought about Tierno's question, choosing her words carefully. "Our fight was just about who was stronger between us. He said he was stronger because he took out the Elite Four and Diantha while I ran away from them before even trying. I argued back that I CHOSE to return home after battling him on Victory Road because all I wanted to do was make sure he was ready to face off against them. That was when I came here to ask Professor Sycamore for advice," she replied, looking up to the Professor with a weak smile.
"What happened after you left here?" Trevor asked expectantly.
"Well after the Professor and I had our talk about this incident, and he told me to just trust in my love for Calem, I flew back to the Pokemon League building. Malva and the other members of the Elite Four stopped me from entering Calem's chambers. I thought at first they wanted to battle me, which I wasn't prepared for, but then I heard something come out of his room. It was a voice. A female voice, giggling and…moaning," she said, while everyone looked to her in shock. Shauna clasped a hand to her mouth after letting out a loud gasp, while Tierno and Trevor looked to her as though their eyes would bulge out of their heads.
The Professor instantly felt a white hot anger build up from the pit of his stomach as he suddenly felt the want to give Calem a piece of his mind. 'He cheated on her?! How dare he! I really hope she didn't try and reconcile with that little bastard!' he thought angrily as he waited with the others to hear more of Serena's story.
"So…w-what did you do?" Tierno managed to ask, taking the lead on questioning his friend.
"Well, I didn't know what TO do really. I looked to the Elite Four, all of whom looked sadly at me. Drasna and Wikstrom placed a hand each on my shoulder empathically, while Malva and Siebold waited for me to act. My heart…it felt as though it were breaking into tiny little pieces of glass while I listened for a moment to the sound of him pounding himself inside whom ever he was with. The acoustics in that room were ridiculous. At that moment, something inside me instantly lit up a nasty fire in the pit of my stomach. I threw out my Delphox's Pokeball, told it to use Flame Charge to bust into his room and give him what for! After a long line of yelling, screaming and cursing, Calem declared our relationship to be over. That was when the last piece of my heart broke inside my chest. I told him that I had shared all of my first moments with him, and asked him if they meant anything to him. He told me that none of them did. I recalled my Delphox and ran away crying. I flew home and stayed there for a while until I managed to calm down," Serena said, as a myriad of emotions flew out of her suddenly.
Her eyes welled up with tears, as she felt herself ready to brake down again. She clutched at her side as she continued, "I…I never thought I'd feel this much pain before! I thought…I thought Calem and I would be together forever! But ever since that night we had our first time together, I knew he seemed to be changing in some way! But did I ever stop to think that he was ever dissatisfied with me?! NO I DIDN'T! I KEPT ON AS IF NOTHING WAS EVER GOING TO CHANGE! I TRIED TO LOVE HIM, BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THAT HE HAD FALLEN OUT OF LOVE FOR ME! I'M SO STUPID!"
While Serena lamented sadly, Professor Sycamore walked over to her and pulled her close to his body, hugging her tightly. She froze to the spot, unsure what she should do next while being held by her mentor with her friends watching them. She looked up to him for a moment, while he looked down to her, their eyes meeting for a moment. "I know what it feels like to have a broken heart. And the one thing I learned, ma cherie, is that you can't let these things get the best of you. You need to keep moving forward until you find the one that is truly meant for you," he said, cupping her face in his left hand while smiling warmly to her.
She chose that moment to melt into his touch, allowing him to caress her face gently as she looked away from his eyes and focused on his shirt for a moment. 'He's right. I shouldn't let something like this bother me anymore. I need to move on and focus on something else. Or, someone else,' she thought, as she felt her body warm up while she stared at his chest, making note of his open collar. She suddenly felt want to touch his chest, to run her fingers across it, down his middle and…elsewhere more satisfyingly fun to explore.
He noticed her eyes trailing down his chest, as he fought off all urges to let her do what ever it is she's envisioning in her mind. He let his hand slip down her neck, his fingers playing with the little bits of her hair that stuck out at the edge of her hair line behind her head before letting them rest on her shoulder. He felt her body shiver at his touch as he noticed her biting her lip in an attempt to hold herself back.
"Ahem! You know you're not alone in here, right?" said Shauna, as she cleared her throat to bring the pair back to reality.
"Uhh…oh yeah! Sorry about that you guys!" Serena said, quickly turning her back to the Professor while scratching the back of her head awkwardly.
"It's ok. A little bit uncomfortable, I won't lie about that. But still, ok," Shauna said, smiling to her friend happily.
"So after your break up with Calem, what did you do with your time?" Tierno asked earnestly.
"Yeah, and how far along is your Pokedex anyway? Last time I saw you, your Pokedex for the Coastal Region was nearly full!" Trevor said, nearly in awe at remembering such a fact about his friend.
"Well, after my break up with Calem and calming down at my moms house, I decided to continue with filling up my Pokedexes," Serena said, as she began to fish around in her purse for her Pokedex. Once she found it, she started up the wonderful machine which holds entries for every Pokemon that can be discovered in the Kalos region. "Umm…to answer your question Trevor, I have hmmm. OH! It looks like I've completed my Coastal Region Pokedex!" she said, looking to the machine in her hand in surprise.
"Oh my! It appears you have finished the Coastal Region! May I have a look at your other Pokedex entries, ma cherie?" asked the Professor proudly, while holding out his hand to her.
Serena handed her Pokedex over to him, feeling his fingers ghost over the back of her hand as she pulled away, leaving the Pokedex with him. She shivered for a moment, wanting him to touch her again but quickly resigned herself to keep calm.
"This is quite the feat! You've not only completed the Coastal Region Pokedex, but you've also completed the Central Region Pokedex too!" said the Professor happily, as Trevor looked to her in awe.
"NO WAY! Serena! You're so lucky!" Trevor said, while the Professor showed off her Pokedex to Shauna and Tierno.
"That's awesome! I knew you're awesome from the day we met!" Shauna said ecstatically while Tierno smiled happily.
"Oh come on you guys! It's not that big of a deal!" Serena said to her friends and the Professor, while trying really hard not to blush.
"Calem is a fool to think that you're not strong enough," said the Professor as he handed back her Pokedex. She looked to him for a moment before he continued, "You're a strong enough trainer to find, and catch almost every Pokemon out there in the world. That is something I know that Calem can't ever dream to achieve, especially if he continues to break hearts where ever he goes. Never forget how amazing you truly are, ma cherie." After she took back her Pokedex from his outstretched hand, he took her hand inside his, pulling it up to his mouth. He planted a soft kiss upon it, their eyes meeting for a moment causing him to smile to her affectionately. Her face flared up instantly before Shauna broke the silence once more.
"Well…we should probably get going then, right Serena? Don't want to keep your prospective landlord waiting, eh?" Shauna asked Serena while raising an eyebrow to her friend.
"Landlord? You're moving?" asked the Professor incredulously, holding her shoulders in both of his hands.
"Yes, I'm looking for my own loft here. I think that it's high time I have my own place. So I thought that I'd try and find one here, in Lumiose City," Serena replied meekly, as she tried to avoid his gaze.
"Well then, don't let me keep you! But please, once you do have a loft, come see me so we can celebrate!" he said happily.
As Shauna, Tierno and Trevor made for the elevator, with Tierno pressing the call button, Serena found it hard to walk away from the Professor. The elevator doors opened up as soon as it stopped on the third floor, allowing for Serena's friends to step in, ready to head off to find a place for Serena. "Serena! Come on already or we'll be late!" Shauna called out from the elevator, as Tierno held the elevator door open button.
Serena turned to face her friends for a moment, looking squarely at Shauna who nodded thoughtfully back to her friend. "Serena? Is everything al-" the Professor began to ask before Serena turned back to him, pulling on the lapels of his shirt to kiss her deeply. For a split second he felt unsure of what to do, but then something primal inside him bubbled up causing him to grab hold of her waist to pull her closer to his body.
After a moment of frantic kissing and groping, they managed to pull away from each other to take in a breath. "Wow! Umm I mean…well just…wow!" Serena said, between breaths as she and the Professor began to laugh together.
"Have dinner with me tomorrow night, and I promise I can 'wow' you some more afterward," he said slyly, pulling her back in for another kissing session.
"Ahem! You can take her to dinner, AFTER we've found her somewhere to live first," said Shauna from the elevator, while the boys smiled meekly to the couple in front of them.
"Oh yes, right of course! Now I am really keeping you from your day aren't I?" he said, holding her away from him, smiling warmly to her as she smiled back to him.
She managed to peel herself away from the Professor to join her friends in the elevator as he said, "Good luck, ma cherie!"