Just a story to get the feel for writing about the Pokémon X/Y characters. We don't know all about them or how they became friends quite yet, but the story here is that they've all been friends for a while now.
A nice, relaxing day having fun with his friends, partaking in simple pleasures, with no pressure – that was all that Calem wanted out of this Saturday.
Now whether things would play out according to his wishes… That was another matter entirely. Though the boy could say with no doubt at all that they were his favored and dearest companions, he simply had to accept the fact that in terms of personality he was, simply put, a bit different to them, and that had led to some unfortunate business on more than one occasion.
But Calem managed to avoid dwelling on such unpleasant thoughts, and instead focused on remaining optimistic as he walked into the café, the one they liked to meet at, where the four friends of his were already seated, enjoying their drinks.
"Well, look who finally showed up!" It wasn't like Calem's friends to berate him for tardiness… but then again it wasn't like Calem himself to be late.
"Oh, sorry, sorry…" he promptly apologized. At a table for five sat four others, leaving one empty chair for the boy to take and seat himself upon. Politely, he accepted the cup of coffee that he was handed, and quietly sipped at the piping-hot beverage, as the others spoke.
"We still missed you, though!" Across from Calem sat Shauna, a young girl whose face was lit by wide, inquisitive eyes, with a personality to match. As she drank from her can of lemonade, she absent-mindedly wound some of her nut-brown hair around one finger.
"Indeed. But fortunately you arrived just in time." To the left of Shauna was Trevor, the youngest of the five friends, but undeniably the most intelligent. He then produced a notepad from his pockets, taking care not to spill his glass of sparkling water on the pages as he examined their scrawls. "Our schedule has not been compromised just yet, in spite of your tardiness."
"It's gonna be sweet!" came a deep voice belonging to another boy, sitting to the right of Shauna. The most portly of the party of five was Tierno, who was wearing his favorite Vanillite shirt as he downed his tall chocolate milkshake, wiping the lingering froth from his lips with the back of his hand.
"O-okay…" Calem mumbled, as he put his cup of coffee down, not even half-finished. "But, um, I forgot what we were doing today…"
In response to the sunglasses-sporting boy, his friends all halted their drinking to stare at him in surprise, and Calem could almost feel the tension they radiated as they collectively fixated their shared gaze on him, making him blush fiercely as his eyes began to moisten.
Before his mood was completely soured however, the dark blond-haired girl sitting next to Calem put down her own cup of coffee, and then reassuringly laid her hand upon his shoulder. "C'mon, Cal," she enthused, "Don't you remember? The movie we all wanted to see? It came out today! We gotta get our tickets before it's too late!"
Trevor nodded, putting his notepad away. "Thank you, Serena. But more to the point, we don't have a lot of time to dilly-dally, so we must be on our way ASAP."
Without any further ado, the five friends quickly finished off the last of their beverages, leaving the empty containers at the table as they hurried to the door. On their way to the theater, Calem brought up an issue that woud have been better discussed at an earlier time. "Umm, guys… I didn't pay for my…"
From in front of the boy, Serena chuckled. "Your coffee? Ha ha, don't worry about that."
"But-"
"If you really want to make it up to us though… how about you buy us all some snacks for the movie?"
Calem groaned. He hadn't been making much money as of late, and he wasn't sure if his savings could handle the expenses. But, not wanting to disappoint, he replied, "Okay…"
Passing through the booth at the theater's entrance, Calem and company paid for their movie tickets, and began their wait in the lobby.
"Popcorn!"
"RageCandyBars!"
"And Casteliacones, too!"
Calem could barely remember the list of what snacks his friends wanted him to buy; he wished that he had followed Trevor's example of carrying notepads around wherever he went… that orange-haired kid was all about organization, it seemed. Sometimes he couldn't help but feel completely stupid around the younger boy.
Thankfully, the others were satisfied with what he had brought back, and each of them took their desired treats with haste, ultimately leaving Calem empty-handed without any snack of his own. He didn't particularly mind though; as long as he could please his friends, it was worth the price… a price that was actually cheaper than he had feared. Perhaps there was still enough for him to buy something nice for himself next time he went shopping? Calem smiled at that thought.
The time soon came for the movie to begin, and the friends made their way to the cinema room, where they seated themselves in the front row – as they always did – and prepared for the picture to begin rolling.
%%%
As the film began, they noticed that there were a lot less viewers present than they had imagined – in fact, a good way into the movie they seemed to be the only ones in the entire theater; the few others who came at the beginning had left. But that at least proved convenient; they could make a little more noise than expected and it would not be disturbing to fellow moviegoers.
"Hey, what kind of Pokémon is that?" Serena asked. In the film's climactic scene, the lead star had summoned a small, humanoid Pokémon to the battlefield. With a calm confidence, it levitated in mid-air, its vibrantly green, ribbon-like hair billowing in the winds.
"That would be a rare Pokémon known as Meloetta," Trevor explained. "It is most commonly sighted in the Unova region, which would be the same region in which this film was produced."
Shauna gasped in awe. "It's so pretty!" Her eyes widened even greater than usual when the man's Meloetta began to sing, creating a most enchanting melody in an attempt to calm its foe.
When it had finished, the small Pokémon had seemed to take on a new – yet similar – appearance; its hair was now furled atop its head and colored a bold shade of cinnamon red. In its new form, Meloetta moved quickly and gracefully, leaping and twirling about. Its dance-like moves easily captured Tierno's full attention. "Awesome! Look at it move, guys!"
But for Calem, his focus was devoted not to the dazzling dance of Meloetta, but instead to the one who trained it: a rather strong-looking man, his muscular frame highlighted by the sweat accumulated through the arduous trials of his journey – all an act of course, since this was a film they were watching, but the boy was quite willing to suspend his disbelief. Something about that actor just appealed to Calem; he was experiencing something quite unusual, in fact…
"…Are you blushing?"
The next and final scene of the movie was quite the treat for Calem; now that the protagonist's arch-nemesis was defeated at last, the rugged man was free to enjoy a well-deserved vacation with his faithful team of Pokémon on a very sunny beach. As appropriate for the setting, he was sunbathing and clad in only a small pair of black swimming briefs, ones that did well to show off his masculine physique… and, in terms of what they concealed, leave just enough to the imagination.
Imagination… Gazing upon the barely-clothed body displayed on the big screen, Calem's mind began to race with thoughts of-
"Hey, Cal… Cal? Calem!"
The boy's thoughts were quickly pushed back to reality when Serena had called him by his full name – it was just so, so embarrassing for him to hear, even coming from a longtime friend – and awkwardly he turned to the blond girl as the credits began to roll.
"Oh! Um, sorry. I… was distracted. The movie was very good…" he stammered.
%%%
"Wasn't it cool when he used… what was that Pokémon called? The one that danced!" Tierno enthused, as the group of five left the cinemas, headed for their next venue.
"Meloetta," Trevor answered. "And yes, that was an impressive scene. Expertly choreographed, indeed." Turning to Calem, he asked, "Would you agree?"
Calem nodded. "Yeah." Was Serena the only one who took notice of the way he was enamored with the appearance of that handsome movie star? Just one friend knowing was embarrassing enough, he didn't need all four of them talking about it.
Shauna turned her head, and pointed at something in the distance. "Wow! Are those street performers? I wanna have a look!"
As she ran off, Tierno followed. "I'm there! Come on, guys!"
Trevor and Serena both took off to catch up, but Calem just didn't feel much like running, and when the girl turned back to see the brown-haired boy lagging, she slowed her pace to allow him to catch up.
"Something wrong, Cal?"
Calem just shook his head. "No, no… Just please, don't call me Calem again. Please…"
Serena chuckled, used to her friend's insistence on the matter of his name. "I promise. But yeah, I kind of noticed you were feasting your eyes on that man when he had that swimsuit on."
Just as he had done when watching that same scene, Calem blushed again. "W-what?"
"Ohhhhh…" Serena's mouth curved into a knowing smile. "I see now! Why didn't you tell me before?"
"…tell you what?" The words were practically squeezed out of Calem's mouth in the form of a squeaky murmur.
The blond girl raised her finger, like a brilliant idea had come to her. "You want a swimsuit just like the one he was wearing! I can't blame you though… Tell you what, Cal. Next time, we can go shopping, just the two of us, and I'll buy you a pair. No need to thank me!"
"Uh, okay?" Calem didn't exactly know what to make of her generous offer, but it looked like she was willing to keep quiet about it all, and that was good enough for him.
"Great!" Serena chimed. "But the others are waiting for us. Let's hurry!"
As Calem caught up to the others watching the street performers – three oddballs dressed in costumes that made them look like tall human-sized Pikachus, his mind was put at ease. This Saturday had turned out okay after all.