A/N: Written for the

Pokemon Big Bang
Diversity Writing Challenge, L2 - a multichapter with chapters between 2000-6000

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Her Pink Crusted Crown
Chapter 1

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The assistant had her back to Serena. At least that meant she couldn't see her expression. It was mostly relief but she felt a little like she'd failed as well. Like Fennekin had been a test and she hadn't been able to convince her: show her how great battling really was. But then again, not every human was made to battle and every pokemon probably wasn't either. They were just a bad match. That was all there was to it.

And it was slightly uncomfortable not knowing where Fennekin would wind up.

No wonder Trevor had been reluctant to suggest it.

But her journey was at a standstill. She needed a pokemon that could battle and Fennekin was dead weight on her team. And no-one near Aquacorde or Vaniville town would trade for a Fennekin whose skills and interests lay in looking pretty and only that. Maybe once she made it to Lumiose City, there'd be people looking for a model pokemon: for pokestudios, or performing, or to be an advert behind store glass. But getting to Lumiose was an impossibility with her current team and – she was too proud, really.

She could have gone with Calem. He'd offered. She'd refused. She'd rebelled. She could go with Shauna too but she had her doubts the two of them would have even made it through. She'd rather a pokemon that could actually fight before she left the outskirts of Vaniville and she couldn't go home and borrow Ride – her mother's ryhorn – either. It felt too much like turning tail and fleeing, like showing her face back home when she had no fruits at all to show for it. And she didn't have any fruits to show.

There were all unpalatable outcomes and all she wanted was a starter that she could work with, that could work with her. Fennekin obviously wasn't it but Professor Sycamore had only three starters and he'd given them her, Shauna and Calem.

She'd dreamed of a fennekin by her side but she'd picked the wrong one.

And now she had to pay for that by relying on fate to give her a better hand this time around.

Goodbye, she said silently to the poke ball as it was swallowed up by the transporter. I hope you find a trainer better suited for you – and I find a pokemon better suited for me.

And then a new poke ball dropped out of the machine and the assistant turned back. 'Here you go,' she said chirpily. 'Say hello to your new pokemon.'

Serena didn't open the poke ball until she was in her room at the Pokemon Centre and the door was closed.

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It turned out her dreams were too big.

They were supposed to have been the perfect match: Serena with her red top and Fennekin with the red fur on the tips of her ears and tails and her red flames, and they'd catch a fletchling with far more spunk than her mother's and it'd eventually evolve into a talonflame and she'd find a litleo some day as well – even if those weren't nearly as easy to find – and probably some pretty but strong non-fire types as well otherwise her team would be far too skewered to make it all the way to the champion.

And she'd get a digimon that could mega-evolve too, of course. Have the strongest, coolest team and one day defeat the champion and take the throne. She could do it. Even if her mother was a ryhorn racer and not a world class battler. Even if she was a girl (and she didn't even grow up in one of those families were girls were dainty little things that shouldn't be spoiled). And Diantha was a girl. Half the Elite Four was a girl. As far as Kalos went, there was gender equality on the surface but the people who lived in Kalos knew better. Not everyone was pleased with Diantha as a champion – and she was a movie star on the sidelines: a person whose face was plastered on posters instead of her skill. And then there were the masterclasses, and all the hype about a Kalos queen. No boys allowed in a masterclass except for the MC. That's not equality. That's inequality disguised as giving females more opportunities… Rather, they're saying: "this is what's acceptable for women and nothing else."

And the smaller towns had it the worst. The moment she'd moved to Vaniville town, she had to get out of there. And Professor Sycamore's message had come at the perfect time. Her mother might be content to live her retirement out at home and do the gardening and groom her pokemon but Serena knew very well she wouldn't get stronger like that. That she wouldn't reach those dreams. And she'd do things her way. Not become a movie star or a model or anything else that would drop her credibility. She'd show the world she was a champion of her own merit and nothing else, and whatever she did on the sidelines wouldn't undermine that image of her. And she'd sacrifice nothing for it. She could have a pretty team that was still strong and she could look pretty and still be strong – but the statement she'd make wasn't about the fleeting looks of a fresh team at the beginning of a battle, but them reigning victorious at the end.

And, of course, her pokemon would understand and support her every step of the way because that was what a team of trainer and pokemon did.

But Fennekin who she'd received from Professor Sycamore turned her head at the command to battle. She growled as though that was the only attack she knew when on the battlefield, or else trotted off as trainer and opponent alike stared at her retreating tail. She nibbled daintily at macaroons and ignored the store-brought pokemon food and that was exactly the kind of thing expected of a young girl's companion – and Serena hated it.

And it was impossible to do anything. Fennekin refused to fight unless she couldn't escape a fight and that was a shame because her paws proved strong. She just didn't bother with them.

What a waste of talent… But beyond that, Serena couldn't depend on her at all. Though she tried. She tried. And the others saw. Calem gave her that pitying look that made her blood boil because she knew exactly what she meant by that and she despised it. And Shauna only wished her well and skipped off because her dreams weren't so big and, quite honestly, she could probably handle Fennekin better than Serena could between that and her bubbly personality. But she handled her own chespin just fine as well. Even dubbed it Chester and Serena was sure if she tried to give her own partner a nickname, the haughty fox would ignore her calling out of spite.

Then there was Trevor who had plenty of theories but none of them were things Serena could do anything about. 'I guess the two of you are just incompatible,' he sighed, winding down from another spiel and staring at the scratches on Serena's face.

Serena fought the urge to drag her hat over her face to hide them – but that would be vain, and hypocritical, and entirely defeating the purpose. Still, there was another reason she'd never be a model poster girl. She couldn't stand people staring so closely. Stare at her abilities, her achievements, her skills and make a passing comment that she looked pretty or whatever but don't drown inside her body. She didn't want to be a ryhorn race but she did want to be like her mother: a woman who sweated for her recognition and everyone could see the sweat matting down her hair and rolling down her neck.

'It's not working,' Trevor said, finally.

'No,' Serena agreed. 'It's not. But what other choice do I have?'

Trevor was silent for a moment. She could see the indecision on his scrunched-up face. He had an idea. He wasn't sure if it was a good one, though. 'Do you have any other pokemon?' he asked finally.

'A scatterbug,' she admitted. 'But all it knows is stringshot. I can't battle with him at this point either.'

'Can you trade either?'

She snorted at that. 'Who wants a fennekin who refuses to battle or a scatterbug that can be caught so easily in the wild?' she asked. 'Granted, I guess someone who likes performing might work out with Fennekin – but I'm not going to find someone like that in this tiny place.' They still hadn't gotten far from Aquacorde Town.

'I guess so…' He was still sitting on something and she was growing impatient. Maybe that showed on her face, or he decided to tell her on his own terms regardless of her own impatience. 'You could try a wondertrade.'

'Wondertrade?' she repeated. She'd never heard of that term before.

'It's a trade where you put your pokemon into a pool of pokemon people want to trade away, and get another pokemon from that pool. It's random, so you don't know what you'll get and you don't know who'll wind up with your pokemon, but at least there won't be the problem of people not wanting to trade with you.'

'The pokemon in there must be pretty hopeless, then.' She sighed. But Trevor was right. What other choice was there? 'As long as they're keen on battling and have at least one attack move, I can handle it.'

'Keep your scatterbug,' Trevor recommended. 'If it's keen on battling, you can have it battle alongside your other pokemon and level it up that way.'

'I know.' Her problem was that Fennekin refused to battle and poor Scatterbug wound up with a task it simply couldn't cope with. So she'd stopped sending them out together. Really, she'd stopped sending them out at all because, right now, they were both useless in battle. 'Well, cross your fingers for me.'

She really hoped something good came out of the pool.

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The pokemon was breathtaking – but nothing she'd ever seen before. And her pokedex didn't recognise it either. 'From a different region?' she wondered aloud.

That made things tricky. But if this pokemon was willing to work with her, then it made things challenging as well.

'I do not know.'

Serena started. There was no-one in the room aside from her and her pokemon.

'I remember a cavern. And then a dark place. But now I am free!' The pokemon spun around, the pink jewels on her body catching sunlight and sparkling – and with that, something clicked into place in Serena's mind.

'You're talking!'

'I am conversing with you, yes,' the pokemon agreed. 'Is that strange?'

'Yeah, it's strange.' And Serena wondered however in the world a pokemon like this wound up coming through a wondertrade. A pokemon the pokedex didn't recognise. A pokemon that could speak the human language and didn't just make sounds a good trainer with a good bond with their pokemon eventually came to understand.

But she hadn't been after a rarity like this. She'd wanted… Someone she could battle with, someone dependable, someone…

'Hey…' She said, after a break in which they only stared at each other. 'Do you like battling?'

'Battling?' the pokemon repeated. 'What is that?'

And Serena couldn't explain without showing her so they headed out onto the trail and found a quiet place where other trainers weren't. That was pretty easy, since it was lunch time and trainers were at the Pokemon Centre filling their bellies.

The pokemon, on the other hand, were hostile at being interrupted in their attempts to find lunch. They didn't even need to fight. A fletchling swooped down to snatch a bunnelby's morsel of food and the two were in a scuffle. 'Like that,' Serena explained. 'Except you have a trainer and trainers give commands to their pokemon. They work together in battle.'

'The bunnelby might have gotten its food back if a trainer had been helping it,' said the strange pokemon, sadly. 'Or the fletchling might have gotten more.'

'Not necessarily,' said Serena. 'Not all trainers are good enough to give their pokemon the edge in battle. Sometimes it's counter-productive. They learn together – that is, if a trainer and their pokemon can learn together.'

'I…see,' said the pokemon. 'And battling… is a natural instinct?'

'Of sorts.' Serena shrugged. 'To pokemon, probably. It's also a show of strength, a way to decide the pecking order and territory and resources… That's for wild pokemon. Trained pokemon fight for the pride of their trainers, or for strength. Sometimes, they do things to spite their trainers if they don't like them.' Fennekin hadn't been particularly bad, in that regard. She could've been the type that attacked her trainer. Thankfully she hadn't. 'Trainers do pokemon battles so their pokemon can get stronger, so they can travel farther, be acknowledged as strong and skilful, or so their pokemon can learn new moves for some or other purpose.'

'I…see,' said the pokemon again. 'Battling has a lot of meanings.' It thought a little more. 'I will battle. I want to travel, and be stronger too.'

Serena beamed. 'You will?' she asked excitedly. 'Alright! Thank you, thank you, thank you – oh, what's your name?' What bad manners, she thought to herself, to not ask for a name when the pokedex couldn't tell her and she knew her new partner could talk.

The pokemon hummed for a moment. 'Diance,' she said finally. 'I am called Diance.'

'And I'm Serena.' She extended a hand.

Instead, Diance bowed gracefully. 'It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Serena.'

Well, Diance certainly had good manners. And was keen on battling – for the time being anyway. Assuming they were on the same page. But it could work. It could definitely work.

Things were starting to look up – just so long as up wasn't off a hill and tumbling back down.