Out of this whole experience, being the Champion and stuff, Serena has found that things could get completely, totally, and irritatingly boring. On such a day when things were around that boring, she wants to know one thing. That's it. The thing was, why is her life so weird? There are so many things wrong-
What the hell was that?
Her rival and next-door neighbor was sitting just inside her room, and she had just now noticed him.
She reacted accordingly.
"Calem, what the hell are you doing in my room?" Serena sounds confused, yet pissed off at the same time.
"I was, uh..." idiot-boy, also known as Calem, scours his mind for an answer to the mood-swingy crazy lady. "Sleepwalking?" She pauses, absorbing his answer like she was under Ingrain.
"Through the window?" she asks suspiciously.
"Uh... Yes...?" he tries, knowing damn well he'll fail miserably, then sit in the corner and create what he thinks is meaningful and beautiful poetry, but is actually a bunch of gibberish that makes him seem drunk.
She looks at him.
He looks back.
She isn't buying it.
He gets flying kick.
"Ow! Dammit!" he swears, rubbing his side. "Serena!" He stands awkwardly, taking in her general appearance. He never thought anyone could look so hot at three in the morning.
"What?" Serena asks innocently. He looks past her for a moment, and sees that her PC is about to fall off her bed, and still has a video paused on its screen.
'Welp, time to find the brain bleach,' he thinks. It takes him a moment to snap back into normal thought, but he is understandably pissed at her.
"You just flying kicked me across the room!" Calem cries out angrily. She brushes him off with a flick of her finger. Which finger it was, he didn't want to mention.
"You deserved it," she shrugs She doesn't feel like mentioning that she didn't quite mind him 'sleepwalking' in to her room at 3:00 AM, so she flips her hair without using her hand. "So, about that Glaceon."
"Uh..." Calem looks out through the window, hoping the ice bridge that he begged Glaceon to make for half an hour wasn't visible.
"And about that ice bridge."
Well, crap.
This sucks.
"What ice bridge?" He silently wills his Flareon, who is still sitting on his bed in a Poké Ball, to go out and melt the bridge. He was just, uh... watering the flowers.
Yeah, the flowers. He would give her that excuse.
"I was going to have Flareon melt it. I was just watering the flowers!"
"The flowers that Flareon burnt down last week? Nice try." Damn, nothing gets past her.
"No, my mom planted more. Just this evening, actually. Of course you didn't see it, you were too busy watching that-"
"We'll discuss that later. Maybe you could show me the new flowers tonight?"
She had him.
He was screwed over, and he knew it. Still, he still had the webpage he saw her on as blackmail.
"That site was a pop-up ad, okay?" Serena seemed to practically be able to read his mind. Maybe it was from how much she hung out with Delphox.
"Sure it was," Calem grinned.
He took her hand, much to her objection, and led her outside like she was three, much to her dislike. Dislike was actually putting it mildly. She moved her hand back to slap him, but he wouldn't let her. So, when she couldn't, she kicked him. Really hard.
"Gyah!" he yells. She slams her fist to his jaw to shut him up.
"Dumbass!"
They're standing in the garden. There are no flowers, just as Serena expected.
"Calem. Explain."
"Well, uh..." There's no way he was getting out of this one. "You see..."
"Talk faster."
She's pissed.
"I have no excuse," he admits. "I just... wanted to make out with you at 3:00 AM?"
He waits for her reaction, likely a punch to the face twice. That's how she always reacts to romantic comments. Violence is Serena's favorite answer.
"Are you stupid?" she asks, rolling her eyes. "Jolteon, help me out." The Electric type went out of his Poké Ball, and Calem tries not to get zapped as he repeatedly tries to thunderbolt the idiot in the face. Under her breath, she murmurs something. She would kill Calem if he heard her comment on it.
"Next time, tell me you'll be bugging me at 3:00... maybe I'll listen sometime. Stupid." She leisurely takes long strides to the house, but is sure to conceal her voice so the idiot couldn't hear her.
She walks back in to her room, making sure to tiptoe up the stairs. The PC is instantly turned off in favor of sleep.
Sleep was a rare-in-real-life, annoying-as-crap status condition in her mind. The thing that made it rare was idiot-boy.
She had stayed up all night calling him an idiot before. Plus, he had that thing for pissing her off at 3:00 AM.
But sometimes, frustration and kept-in feelings overwhelm her, and she wants to go up to Calem at like three in the morning. Three in the morning, of course, because 3 is just a generally awesome number. At three, she would tell him everything.
While calling him an idiot, of course, because he was. Just an idiot. Baka, baka, baka. Of course, she didn't like him or anything stupid like that! She was just bored and all, when she had imagined how it would play out before.
"I-I love you, idiot!" She said, only missing the inevitable tsundere blush.
"I know." He acts just as stupid and arrogant as usual.
"You're not as stupid as I thought... that isn't saying a lot, but whatever, idiot." Her face still isn't bright red, fron what she can tell. It's almost surpising. Actually, scratch that. It's the most surprising thing that's ever happened to her.
"Oh, really?" He smirks, like a stupid cocky bastard.
"I don't really care about you anyway, stupid!" She calls him what he is.
"Serena, je t'aime." He admits it, only in her dream. Her response? All the blushes!
"What? Y-you do, too? Not like I c-care!" Damn stuttering. She stutters at times, but not often as all the tsunderes and shy girls out there. Combined, of course.
She was hopelessly enamored with that dumbass, but watch her never tell him. She never would. Not unless he confessed first!
The stupid oblivious idiot.
~ 3 ~
The next day, Serena is bored.
Utterly, mind-blowingly, crazily bored.
For some odd reason, she decides to go visit idiot-boy. Probably, of course, because she was having a lazy day. She didn't exactly feel like walking halfway across the damn region. She didn't want to challenge Diantha. Hell, she didn't even feel like petting her Yveltal, Fluffy-buns. Yeah, she had gotten it from a Wonder Trade.
At least it wasn't named Belieber4Ever.
She sighs, and opens her window. The ice bridge from yesterday is still there, which greatly pleases her. Slowly, she steps on. She's being far too careful. The silvery bridge is slippery and fragile beneath her feet, and she knows she had better get to Calem's house before-
"DAMMIT!"
Too late.
Her loud yell could have been heard throughout all of the Kalos region. Her anger was near always measured in decibels, and this one is loud.
Really loud.
Basically, that means that everyone around her is going to die. Twice.
Calem comes in to her view, and looks her over. She is awkwardly laying there, with her face barely lifted from the muddy ground. Her legs are both up, and her arms are sprawled out.
Taking a faceplant is not fun.
He continues to stare, causing her to get far more irritated than she normally is at him.
That's saying something.
"Stop it, dumbass," she scoffs, before getting up. She dusts herself off, and Calem can't help but keep looking. "I said, stop! Bakayaröu!"
"What the hell does that even mean?"
"It means you're a stupid idiot!" He teasingly smiles at her, causing her face to go shiny-Ampharos on him. "You know I'm from Kanto! Stop!"
"You're blushing."
"So what if I am?"
She's standing, now. Despite how she tries to clean herself off when she stands, she still has a good amount of mud on her. Calem didn't exactly care. She was still freaking beautiful. Well, the fact that she had just accidentally splashed him with mud changed his opinion a bit, but whatever.
Seeing that he hasn't stopped looking, Serena splashes mud on him again. When that fails to make him rage, she punches him. Violence is her favorite answer.
"What the hell?" he asks. She tries to ignore him, but fails. Her blush Mega Evolves.
Pressure builds up inside her, and she releases it in the only way she can think of. It probably wasn't the best way, but she was stressed and wanted to hide it. The whole thing with her being secretly in love with the idiot was her deepest, darkest secret. Not even Shauna, her only female friend in the whole Kalos region knew. Even Teresa and Sachi, her best friends back in Kanto, hadn't heard a thing from her.
She slaps him again.
"Aagh!"
She releases her thoughts without thinking, and her stupid daydream she had earlier became a reality.
"I like you, dummy!"
What the hell did she just say...
Her face changes from shiny Ampharos to shiny Gyarados, and slowly but surely heading towards shiny Genesect. She's that embarrassed at what she just told him. No matter how true it was, it is awkward.
Really awkward.
She is awkward.
Everything is awkward!
Stahp.
Meanwhile Mawile, Calem's mind is having a similarly strange thought process.
Calem is processing...
Wait, what.
What.
WHAAAAT.
Calem is processing...
She likes him?
Calem is processing...
This is too good to be true.
Calem is processing...
Maybe she would finally make out with him.
Load complete.
Calem begins fanboying inside his head for no good reason. The huge smile that appears on his face makes Serena slap him. Then, with a flip of her hair, she begins to walk away.
At least she didn't flip him off.
"Wait, Serena! Do you want to-"
"If you say the words 'make out' or 'build a snowman', I HM01 you. Got that?"
Dammit.
He was originally going to go for the first one in that list, but the second was his backup. Damn Frozen fanboys. Now he had no backup, and was standing there.
"I knew it."
She kicks him, and he goes quite unconscious. Her last words before he falls are simple, yet somehow hilarious.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GROUND!"
~ 3 ~
"Calem?"
Her voice is way more angelic and delicate than he's ever heard it before.
He doesn't like it.
It doesn't sound like Serena, it sounds like an Arceus-damned try-hard.
"That thing you said, earlier. I wasn't having a good dream, was I?"
"Uh-wha?" Serena says, trying to talk her way out of explaining how she had a huge damn crush on the boy who she called an idiot every second of the day.
Her gaze rests upon his knee, which now has a large purple spot. He had been out for about 5 minutes, before she shook him awake. This was the damage her kick did
"Do you actually like me? I mean, like me. Like I like you."
It was obvious that he did like her, but her heart couldn't not thump-thump at that.
"Yeah..." her voice is barely audible, but somehow, he hears it. She supposes that even idiots can have good hearing, and his happened to just be good enough.
"I'll never forget you said that!" Calem says confidently.
He'll forget within the week.
"Whatever, I don't care," Serena coldly informs him. "I'll be headed home now. Go and play with your Gardevoir."
She knows damn well that he has never seen even a Ralts in person.
She steps back inside, flops on to her bed, and thinks about what she's done.
~ 3 ~
It is damned freezing that day. The ice bridge has been restored to normal, though it will be a while until Serena steps on that again. Still, she knows Calem will walk across it for her. He has a tendency to do things like that. Of course, since he's a stupid idiot, she doesn't mind. Much, at least.
Right on cue, he makes a graceful entrance by falling on his face through her window.
"Graceful, idiot-boy. Very graceful."
"Oh, shut up."
Their conversation is way too awkward. They both liked each other, so it's good, right? Right?
Whatever, it's fricking right.
"Oh, and by the way, I read your man-journal. So, about that..."
Crapcrapcrapcrappitycrapcrap-
"How much did you read?"
She ignores him to say something.
"You've liked me for a damn year?" she asked, unsure. Calem nods nervously, hoping she hadn't gotten too much further.
"Calem, that's adorable..." She sat down on her bed, next to him. He begins to get nervous, wondering why the hell she's moving so close. She then takes his shoulders, and tilts her head to the right. This video he had seen once told him that's what a person does when they're about to kiss.
Yes.
She moves closer, closer, ever closer. Calem closes his eyes, preparing for contact. Their lips are merely centimeters apart. He's ready, totally ready. He's never even kissed, and she was probably good, even though (to his knowledge) she never has either. She is good at near everything, though, so it made sense.
She is also good at playing with his heart and mind.
She punches him.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"
Dammit. She never made out with him.
"It's called nerves! You don't have them!"
"Ugh, I don't care! Koshinuke yarou!" She had just called him a cowardly git, which he liked to think he was not.
He totally was.
"Stop talking in whatever-the-frick, it's annoying!"
"Make me, idiot!"
The two glare at each other, looking strangely similar to her Hydregion and his Sylveon. That is, he is, about to get his ass kicked by Flash Cannon. Serena 'hmph's and looks the other way. Calem stares at her again.
He knows it's stupid, but he can't help it.
He once again gets flying kick.
"IMA FIRING MY PEWPEWLAZOR!" he yells as he practically flies across her room.
She sighs deeply at him quoting an anime, which she's never even heard of in her life. Still, it is deservingly fabulous, so she doesn't punch him again.
"I really love you, you know that?"
Both of them mutter this at the same time, and stare at each other. Damned happiness was getting in to Serena's closed mind, and gray shiny Rapidash dancing on rainbows were prancing around in Calem's head.
"I said nothing!"
Translation: She wants him to ask what she had just said. That's the only time she uses her verbal big neon sign.
How the hell does her mind work?
"I know that means you said something."
Her face turns red, as it has so many times recently.
"It was nothing!" Then, so softly she figures he couldn't possibly hear her, she adds, "Just that I love you."
"What was that last part?"
He says that only to piss her off, he heard her loud and clear. He feels the exact same, though neither had felt like admitting it ever. But, in a sense, they had before they even said the words, though this is not Serena's first time telling him that. They both had made it obvious in their own way.
"I said I like you, dumbass!" Serena yells.
"And I heard you the first time," he adds, running before she can score a hit on him.
"Bastard!" she calls after him.
She is seriously lucky that Grace had a meeting in Lumiose that day, or else she would have been called out, big time, for using the human version of Curse.
"Oh, Serena! Where's Grace?" He walks back upstairs as he asks.
Did he read her damn mind?
"At a meeting in Lumiose City. Probably something about her career," Serena shrugs.
"I see," he says with a grin.
For once, she's slightly tempted towards that dumbass. After all, Grace wasn't there, and she does like him, and he does know.
She stands perfectly still, not even allowing her right arm (which was in major pain from all the times she had punched him) to move a single aching muscle. He moves up close to her, and keeps that infectious grin as he puts his stupid face by hers.
"Like last time, but without you yelling in my face," he suggests. "How about that?"
How about him going and playing with the Gardevoir he doesn't even have?
"Fine," she hears herself agreeing.
What the hell, mouth? It should listen to her brain once in a while!
"Okay, then."
She still doesn't move, so he moves closer to her.
She feels fricking uncomfortable right now. Actually, it's less uncomfortable than it is awkward. There was no denying that anyone in this situation would be awkward or extremely fangirly, and Serena felt both. And, as much as she does like that dumbass, she isn't quite ready to kiss him or anything.
It makes things too easy for her to accept. She was definitely a fighter, shown by how she constantly punches and kicks him.
Serena, being Serena, thought an easy path would only aggravate her.
So, in this mindset, she punches him again.
"Ow! Stop doing that!" Then, after a long pause, he takes a moment to irritate her even more. "Don't punch me, princess."
She hates that name, and he knows it.
In her mind, she complains to herself about his general stupidity.
Boys are stupid.
Well, Trevor isn't. He is the only one besides her with any sanity at all, though he thinks that Tierno is sane. The two are best friends, after all. Though, Serena has no agreement whatsoever. In fact, she believes Tierno is one of the ones with no sanity.
Still, the idiot is a close second.
While she thinks over how stupid Calem is, he takes her hand.
She's too busy not giving a Golduck to comment. He does, though, and says something crazy.
"Close your eyes, Serena. I want to show you something." She narrows her eyes suspiciously, but eventually gives in and closes them.
"What did you want to show me?" He leans towards her. She feels his warm breath, but ignores it for whatever reason.
She definitely didn't like him or anything like that.
Never. Never ever.
Finally, their lips meet, and her face turns firey red.
"Your lips taste like rasberries, you know that?" he says, either not aware or not caring that she'll probably beat him up at some point.
He gets flying kick a third time.
"Shut up!"
Serena realizes that she should get a new kick. Someday, she'll be in a position where she's, Arceus forbid, nutshotting someone besides Calem. The flying kick never works unless it was him. Plus, it's kind of like their song.
Except, well, it's a kick. Not a song.
Close enough.
But, since they have a kick instead of a song, good things will happen. All the losers will be dancing to some crappy-crap love song, while she'll be beating up her definitely-not-boyfriend. Suckers.
Her Delphox randomly pops out of his Poké Ball. He has a tendency to do that at the crappiest times, and today was no exception.
He made that noise thing that nobody actually knows how to describe, and poked Serena. She playfully slaps it, and it replies by setting her hair on fire.
Serena, as it turns out, hates having her hair catch on fire.
Deciding he would prefer to kick a friend than face his Trainer's wrath, Delphox kicks Calem in the shin.
"Hey, don't kick me!" Calem complained.
"That's my job!" Serena scolded, calling back Delphox.
Well, she was right. Calem couldn't even count how many times she had kicked him, punched him, threw him out her window, et cetera.
"So, that was awkward..." Calem murmurs, scratching the back of his head like he thinks he is the protagonist of a anime.
"Oh, really! No, I thought it was Arceus-damned Diglett!" Serena yells at him.
He gives her the sheepish look of 'I'm sorry...', but that's not even the worst part. The worst is the adorable-Jirachi-eyes.
Oh Arceus, the adorable-Jirachi-eyes.
"S-stop making that face!" she stammers, quite adorably in Calem's mind. "I mean... it's not like I care. It's just... Idiot!" She starts to blush, which makes her even cuter than she was.
Warning: Tsundere levels have reached their maximum. Please exit before you get flying kick.
"Okay, then..." he says uncomfortably, hoping his thoughts were incorrect. His voice has a tone of trying-not-to-laugh-at-the-thoughts-he-was-having. "I'll see you around!"
With this, he walks away from her house, and back in to his own. He doesn't even use the window!
Huh, weird.
'That's how Calem is,' Serena supposes. Guessing she'll see him next morning, but not caring if she doesn't, she promptly does the flop on her bed.
~ 3 ~
She's almost as bored as yesterday.
That is seriously saying something, especially since she had just woken up and it only gets worse from there.
It's four o'clock in the Arceus-damned morning.
"Damn… why am I up this early?" she moans, rolling over.
"Hi!" a voice says derpily. He thinks he's being smooth, but he sounds like a five year old. That's actually an insult to five year olds.
"Who the hell is it?" she says, rather pissed off at the world. She gets the feeling she knows.
"It's me. I couldn't sleep," Calem informs her.
"What kind of reason is that?!" Serena says. Her voice would be yelling if it was louder, but for now she is just majorly pissed and hissing.
"Well, I figured we could hang out, or walk around Kalos, or just, y'know…"
"I don't care. It's 4:00 AM." She rolls the other way, and falls off the bed. "Damn it."
She's certainly awake now, at least. That's what he's going for. He figures that if he could get her out of the house, she would be active, social, and maybe not punch him for once. That last one is just wishful thinking on his part, he supposes, but it could be possible. Maybe if she just admits how damn obvious it is that she likes him, that would be a step towards it.
"So? Now will you go?" he asks hopefully.
"Ugh, fine. Whatever, I don't care." She's lying about not caring, he can tell. He doesn't really mind, though, as long as they're out together.
He realizes his mind is full of extremely cheesy thoughts.
Ooh, maybe it's parmesan. It's his favorite type, and for good reason. Thoughts surrounded by gooey, delicious parmesan-
Calem.
Stahp.
She gets up, off the floor, and walks towards the door. However, Calem decides to stop her. He touches her shoulder, and steers her towards the window.
"Come on, the bridge is still there," he murmurs, making her both intrigued, nervous, and angry at the same time.
"Calem... the hell?"
He takes her hand, and she growls at him. He pays her no mind as he leads her up to the bridge, but does note that she doesn't struggle even half as much as usual.
"Hey! S-stop! Idiot!"
"Why should I?"
As he says this, karma decides to screw them over, and they fall off. They land in a very awkward position, and Serena frowns at Calem.
"I blame you," she pouts.
"Why would you blame me, princess?"
"Stop c-calling me that, y-you dumbass!" She turns 50 shades of red, and he pushes himself off of her. "Anyway, are we going to go or not?"
"We're going." He walks alongside his reluctant rival, both of them silent for a moment, before he adds, "And this is a date. You know that, oui?"
"I know that I'm not Arceus-damned trilingual."
They both happily stride through Vaniville Path, though Serena struggles to keep a look of cynical boredom on her face. Calem pokes her teasingly, and she looks away, still red-faced from their earlier encounter. He leads her off to Aquacorde, and sits down on a bench when they get there. She sits beside him, and touches his hand. Finally, she accepts the truth. He can't do all the work.
"Calem?" Serena says nervously. "Can I ask you two questions?"
"Counting that one?"
"No..."
"Go ahead."
She couldn't be more nervous. It was 4:10 AM. They were alone, together, in Aquacorde Town, sitting on a bench, holding hands.
Even she, the queen of tsundere, couldn't deny that both of them were head-over-heels.
"Why did you like me, anyway?" she asks. Surprisingly, her nervousness barely shows.
Serena wouldn't ask that. She would ask for a Pokémon match, or about his team. Serena wasn't romantic, she was serious. That was his reason for liking her. He could pursue her, and her general aloof adorablness pulled him in.
"I don't know... but I do."
She held her head beside his, and held them tightly together. Calem would never move away from his crush, but she seemed to except him to. Her hand grazed his shoulder, and she was so close that a Stunfisk could barely fit between them. The moment quickly turned awkward, which was Serena's goal.
"What do you expect me to do, right now?"
"Uh..." Calem said awkwardly. "Maybe-"
Serena cut him off by punching him in the stomach.
"What'd you expect?" she asked, a warm, teasing smile on her face.
"That..." he managed to choke out, before flopping on to her lap. He was unconscious.
He wouldn't find out...
She leaned over to him, and quickly laid her lips on his. Inside, she was scolding herself for letting her hormones get the best of her. That idea, to put it lightly, was damn terrible.
"Serena?"
Oh, crap! He regained consciousness really fast! Was he even unconscious in the first place? This is illogical!
"What?"
"What were you just doing? This?" And then, before she could answer nor protest, he kissed her once again. She punched him in the stomach once again.
"Serena, you were the one who-"
"Shh."
"But-"
"Shh, damn it."
Even Calem, king of the straight face, grew a shade of red after what had just happened. That was actually his first kiss that couldn't be counted as battery on his part, so that was nice. The fact that it was with her was just a bonus.
"Stop grinning! D-dumbass!" she says. Her stutter is adorable. She doesn't have a stutter. Why the hell did she stutter?
The time passes rather quickly throughout all this, but it's still only about 4:30. Meanwhile Mawile, because Mawile is awesome and Wynaut, something else is going on. Something big.
'Agh, damn it,' Grace thinks, racing through Santalune Forest. 'If only I had a Flying Pokémon with me. But, sadly, my only 2 Pokémon are back home. It's 4:35. I told my daughter that I'd be back today.'
She passes through Route 2, and into Aquacorde town. Imagine her surprise when she sees Serena and Calem together, not forgetting that it's 4:40 AM, on a bench, and (surprisingly) not arguing. In fact, they're far from arguing.
"Crap, I forgot she was supposed to be back today. I blame you," Serena says pointedly to the boy sitting by her. He has his arms snaked around her, and she still manages to keep a straight face. Well, barring the lingering, rosy tint on her cheeks.
"Serena. Explain."
His rival takes a deep breath. She was not getting out of this one.
"Well, Calem woke me up at 4:00 AM and made me go out with him. Of course I denied him, but I realized I couldn't sleep. So, I went full YOLO mode. Like a Life Orb Talonflame with Brave Bird and Flare Blitz. YOLO birdy."
That made Absol-lutely no sense whatsoever.
"Well, I think this is adorable, so I won't go too hard on your punishment," Grace says. She's cool, for a mom. The fact that there was a Ryhorn in the front yard gives her awesome points. "Go for broke." She winks, and walks back to the house.
Calem moves far too close to Serena. Even though she did like him, enough awkward is enough awkward! Still, for whatever reason, she doesn't move away.
"Go for broke, huh? Risk everything for a chance of reward," he says. "We should try that." Serena rolls her eyes, but moves a bit closer.
"W-well, I guess if you really want to... b-but I'm n-not doing this for you!" Slowly, he moves closer and closer, until there's no space between them. He then grabs her hand, which he hasn't done much.
"Calem? The hell?" Serena murmurs, but he ignores her. Damn it, she wants to flying kick him so fricking much right now. The only problem is that he would yell, and it was 4:50 in the morning. Shauna and her family, the rest of Calem's family, and all of Aquacorde wouldn't exactly be pleased.
The rest of the scene passes in such a blur that neither remembers. They only remember the confessions of love, which get completely and totally screwed over by the technical language barrier.
"Aishite imasu..." Serena says. "Shikashi, sukoshi dake!"
"Je t'aime," Calem says. "De tout mon coeur."
Neither one knows what the hell the other just said, so they both wonder. Serena had brilliantly worked in, "But only a little!", while Calem took the cheesy route and added, "With all my heart."
"So, are we going back, or what?" Serena asks.
"You want to?"
In an attempt to communicate, since she finally learned what the fluffer-butter it meant, she responds with "Oui." He allows her to walk off without dragging her everywhere to stop her from running for once, so she follows pleasantly. When the pair passes her house, she nods goodbye, and walks in. She is instantly greeted by Grace.
"Now, about that punishment..."
Arceus damn it.
~ 3 ~
'Not very harsh, my ass,' Serena thought. She was being forced to learn to race, which her mother had learned from experience that Serena hated.
"Hey girl," she heard the ever-so-common voice of her neighbor and rival say. "What'cha doin', girl?"
"Call me 'girl' again and I'll slit your throat," she threatens, though it quite obviously was just a joke. Well, not as obvious as certain other things, but obvious enough. "And I'm riding this Rhyhorn. What does it look like I'm doing, dumbass?" He giggles, and she slaps him.
"Can I try?" he asks for some odd reason. It was boring, stupid, and to make matters worse, the weather was insanely hot. Hell, even Snowbelle City was facing a heat wave. Her Cherrim, which she had gotten from a Wonder Trade, fared well. So did her Delphox. If she had ever used her Ninetales, he would do well, too.
But, Serena wasn't Cherrim, Delphox, or Ninetales. She was a bored 14-year-old girl, forced to learn about this racing bullcrap.
"Sure, but you have to catch your own Rhyhorn. I'm not made of Pokémon, y'know."
"No prob. Trevor traded me one for my Froakie." He sends out Rhyhorn, and looks at her for instruction. She shifts uncomfortably, and her Rhyhorn nudges her with his horn to see what's wrong. She gets off of Rhyhorn.
"So, you have to kind of straddle Rhyhorn-"
"His name is Belieber4Ever!" Calem snaps.
"Uh, rival? Does Trevor Wonder Trade, by any chance?" Her neighbor nods. "Yeah, that explains a lot."
"So, now what?" Calem says, effectively changing the subject.
"You take Rhyhorn by the horn things on its sides."
"Belieber4Ever!" Calem loudly corrects, causing Serena to facepalm, let go of Rhyhorn, and get thrown on the ground. She then hits her head on Belieber4Ever's horn, making her loudly groan in pain.
"Ow! My fricking head!"
Calem goes close to her and touches her forehead, figuring he can get away with contact if it looks like he's helping her out.
"Calem?" Serena asks. For some reason, she seemed slightly timid.
"Yes?" he responds, so excited sounding that it seemed like energy beams were nearly spraying from his head. That is, if they got through his thick skull.
"Will you please... well, y'know..."
"Yes?" he says, dragging the word out like Grace's first Rhyhorn dragged her to the last-place mark. He sounds like he expects something.
"Get me some strawberry cake?"
He freezes. Why the hell would she want cake now?
"Wait, what."
"Strawberry cake, dammit! It isn't that hard!"
"Uh... okay, then," Calem says, walking inside the house. "Um, Mrs. Dubois? Serena says she needs strawberry cake, and will HM01 me if she doesn't get strawberry cake." Grace smiles at him, and chuckles softly before responding.
"She always says that. Don't worry!"
"She is brandishing an Aegislash and threatening to wear armor made of Heatran skin and stab me with it..."
"Relax! Remember, she's doing this because she likes you. You two should go to the Battle Maison! Or, as 'Rena always calls it, the Hax Maison." That's a completely unnecessary subject change, but who cares? He's going, with Serena, to the Hax Maison. He would use his Greninja and his super-strong Mega Absol. She would probably use Delphox and Mega Mawile.
"Hey, Serena! Want to go to Kiloude? We can Multi Battle in the Hax Maison!" Calem yells to her through the window.
"Sure! I'll get Fluffy-buns to fly me there! My partners will be my best buddies, Mawile and Delphox!"
He knew it.
She never shows posession over them, and Calem thought it was ridiculous. Pokémon were tools. That's why they exist. That's how Trainers use them. Trainers own the Pokémon. Calem had never met someone who treated their Pokémon like that.
Like her.
But the way Serena treats her Pokémon is, well... refreshing. She always played with them, developing a strong friendship, and showing their shared friendship in battle.
Even with that girly attitude, she still kicked his ass every time, so maybe he should start playing with his Pokémon, too.
Serena reaches in to her bag and pulls out a Great Ball, which holds Fluffy-buns the Yveltal.
"Poké Ball of the Destruction Pokémon, I open thee!" she yells overdramatically. "Fluffy-buns! Use Fly to take me to Kiloude City. Think you can handle it?" In answer, Fluffy-buns bends down to allow Serena to go on its back, and she jumps on smiling.
Fluffy-buns flies off, and Calem wonders why the hell nobody is gawking or panicking at the fact that the Pokémon of destruction is flying above their heads, and may or may not crap on someone's head.
Still slightly confused, but not feeling like punching himself in the face, Calem sends out his Altaria. He then decides to imitate Serena in the Poké Ball opening thing.
"Poké Ball of the Humming Pokémon, I open thee- Wait, this is stupid. Uh, Altaria? You in there?" The dragon that should really be a fairy comes out of the ball to fly Calem to Lumiose. Since there was a huge size difference between Altaria, who was only 45.4 pounds, and Yveltal, who was 447.5, poor Altaria really would need a break. The train was still an option, though. Serena would be pissed, but she did understand Altaria running low on energy.
When Calem reaches Lumiose, he instantly calls back the very tired Altaria, and skates to North Boulevard. The station is soon near him, and he puts the TMV card in the sensor so he can go on the train. He sits there, trying hard to look out the window. However, the train goes too fast. So, instead, he daydreams about how wonderful it will be when he owns Multi Battles, and Serena finally makes out with him.
Okay, that's all just wishful thinking, but still.
He gets off the train, and is met by a glaring, pouting, damned adorable face.
"What the hell took you so long?" she snapped.
~ 3 ~
"Congrats, dumbass. We finally made it to the Hax Maison."
"Hey, excuse me, princess!"
"Hah! As if."
The two walk inside the Maison, and instantly go up to the lady in the front. Serena recognizes her as Teresa, a beauty from Kanto that she used to know.
"Oh! Hello Serena, other Trainer. Want to try a Multi Battle?" Teresa says, giving Serena a lopsided grin.
"Yep! We'll take on anyone!" Calem says, more confidently than he feels. He also pumps his fist and returns the beauty's grin.
"Right then, guy! Pick your Pokémon!"
Serena takes out a Poké Ball and Great Ball from her bag, and shows them off by sending out the Pokémon inside. Predictably, they're Mawile and Delphox. Calem takes out two normal Poké Balls, and sends out the Pokémon he chose to use: Absol and Greninja.
"Interesting choices, Serena and guy!" Teresa says. "Well, good luck on the battlefield!" She shoves them out, and they're standing next to each other. A small child in pink and a older boy with blue hair step down the stairs, and team up right before the Champion and her rival's eyes.
"Battle... start!" Serena grins at her old friend, and takes the Great Ball in her left hand, where her Mega Ring lies.
"You ready for this, buddy?" she asks. The Poké Ball shakes a few times in her hand. "All right! Poké Ball of the Deciever Pokémon, I open thee! Mawile!"
"Maw!" the Steel/Fairy type cries out, snapping her jaws.
The Fairy Tale girl is the next to act.
"Let's go, my little fairy..." she says, giggling like a maniac. "Good luck, Mr. Mime..."
The punk guy waits for Calem, who judges the Pokémon out already. Hm. Mawile counters Mr. Mime, and it's a Fairy. He shouldn't send a Dark type. That wouldn't end well, not at all.
Wait…
Well, crap.
"Absol. Fight for me, and you'd better be strong!" Finally, the punk guy acts. He opens an Ultra Ball, and out jumps a Muk. It eats a White Herb, to avoid Mawile's intimidate. The four Pokémon all glare to their opponents, and prepare to take each other on. Mr. Mime is apparently the fastest.
"Mr. Mime, use Light Screen!" A strange, pinkish, translucent wall covers Mr. Mime and Muk, reducing damage from special moves.
"Absol. Swords Dance." Calem snaps. The Distaster Pokémon obeys in fear, as swords close in above it. "Mega Evolve!" Absol once again obeys, and Serena sends Calem a disapproving glare. Muk moves second to last, and Serena realizes that Mawile has lost the speed race.
"Muk, get that annoyance out of the way! Kill the fairy with a Poison Jab!" He's stupid. It doesn't hit Mawile in any way, shape, or form, unless you count her trying to eat Muk's hand.
"Mawile, Mega Evolve! Come on, you've got this!" she shouts to her Pokémon, and her friend. "Now, use Iron Head on the Mr. Mime!" She didn't even Swords Dance, but she needed the setup-mon out of the game before it could set up Reflect, and weaken Mawile.
"You did well, tee-hee-hee..." the fairy tale girl says. Damn, she's creepy. "Now, try to face down my beautiful Girafarig..."
"Absol, Swords Dance again!" Calem commands. He's really getting in to the battle. Muk swallows something, and Serena realizes it's some Black Sludge.
"Hacks! Hacks I say!" she yells. "Did you see Muk eat that White Herb earlier? Hacks!" The room falls silent, and she is stared at by many spectators. "Hacks!"
Teresa cuts in. She still has the sickeningly happy grin on her childlike, soft face.
"The challengers have been eliminated for hacking!" she calls. "Would you like to go to the next battle, save your battle video, or exit the Maison?"
"I think we'll leave. It'll only be so long until the idiot-" Serena pauses to glare at Calem. "-will die instantly to a single fairy."
"Okay, then!" Teresa replies. "Oh yeah, why are you even here? I mean, last time one of my co-workers saw you here, you were bursting out and yelling 'HAX!' at the top of your lungs."
"Grace made me choose: here or Rhyhorn racing."
"Well, all right. See you around, maybe?"
"Right."
With that, she dragged Calem away by his right arm, to the TMV.
Arceus, would this ever be a long train ride.
~ 3 ~
"Come on, just get Mawile out to amuse us."
"I said, no!"
The TMV was supposed to be fast, but it was awfully slow that day. Maybe it was something going on at the Kalos power plant. To amuse themselves, Calem insisted that Mawile used Swords Dance. Most Mawile were boring using it, but Serena's had learned what Serena called the 'big gay dance' from Arceus-knows-where.
"Come on!"
"Shut up, dumbass!"
She did send out Mawile, who snapped her jaws as she exited the Poké Ball. Calem freaked out, understandably. After all, who wouldn't cry in a corner if they had an angry Mawile and a tsundere after them?
"Aagh!"
"What? I sent out Mawile, didn't I?"
"I didn't mean for her to eat me!"
"She's not going to eat you! She's my friend, and she knows that I-" she quickly quiets down, and whispers the last part in his ear. "Love you... S-slightly!"
"Ditto," he replies. "Who wouldn't, though?" He randomly kisses her, and she feels tempted to punch him in the face. Not quite as much as usual, though.
"Um, excuse me..." a timid sounding voice says. Serena punches Calem in the stomach instead of the face like she planned, and he falls against the window.
"Yeah?" she responds, way too casually.
"Are you, uh, Serena? Ms. Dubois?"
"Don't call me Ms. Dubois, it's weird. But yeah, I'm her. Why?" The little girl goes wide-eyed, and looks at the Mawile that's out.
"You're super-duper famous, that's why! Whoa, is that your Mawile?" She looks at the Deciever Pokémon, who snaps her jaws just for show. "Can you really make it look all tough during battle? When me and Ari watch your battle videos, I always thought it was just effects!"
"Yeah, I can. Want to see the stone?"
"Can I?" she asks excitedly. Serena lifts up Mawile's hand to show the girl the Mawilite. "Can you change its form? Please? Please? Pleasepleasepleaseplease?"
"All right, all right! Jeez! Mawile, Mega Evolve!" The girl stares at Mega Mawile in awe, then runs off. She returns with another girl, who looks around her age.
"This is Ari, I'm Melody!"
"Hey!"
Ari looks a lot more laid back than Melody. Still, the two seem pretty nice.
"Ms. Dubois- I mean Serena- can you show us the rest of your team while the train's stopped?" Melody asks. Serena send out Delphox, Chansey, Crobat, and Aeigislash. She doesn't send out her fifth, Fluffy-buns.
"What's your sixth?" Ari asks.
"Yveltal," Serena responds. "It may destroy everything, so I didn't call it." Delphox smiled playfully at the two girls. Chansey swayed around, Crobat flew around Serena's head. Aegislash guarded herself with her shield. Mawile was busy getting gawked at.
"Whoa, cool!" Ari says when Chansey comes up to her. "Where do you find a Chansey?"
"I traded one from someone I met briefly in Hoenn."
"Oh." The loudspeaker comes on, and Serena cranes her head to hear it.
"Attention, everyone. As you may have guessed, the TMV is stopped because of a failure at the Power Plant. Thank you for riding the TMV." Serena's reaction is expected: she repeatedly swears while her team tries desperately to calm her.
"Serena, calm down-" Melody tries.
"I will not calm down!"
"Mel-Mel, we should wake up her boyfriend. He would probably know how to stop her likely murder attempts," Ari says.
"He-is-not-my-boyfriend!" Serena chokes out. She's pissed. When Serena is angry, everyone dies by getting eaten by Mawile or burnt by Delphox. Since being eaten and/or burnt isn't fun, attempts must be made to calm her. Plus, punching happens as well, and Serena punches really hard.
"We should wake up her not-boyfriend, then," Melody replies. Ari then punches Calem in the arm.
"Serena? Don't hurt me!" he yells, making Melody giggle.
"It isn't Serena, it's just Ariana!" Melody says, punching him on the other arm for no good reason. "So, how do you stop one of her murderous rampages?"
He pauses for a moment to think.
"Well, I know her pretty well, and I've known her for a couple of years. I'd say the best way is..." Calem goes silent again.
"Is what?!" Ari demands.
"I have no clue!" he cries out. The announcement guy speaks again, in a message that Ari, Melody, and Calem were all thankful for.
"Attention, everyone. The Power Plant has just regained power. We apologize for any inconvenience."
The three look at each other, then to the slowly calming Serena.
"Thank Arceus!" they all say in unison.
~ 3 ~
"Do I look like I want people following me around? I don't need a damn posse."
Ari and Melody are tagging along with Serena and Calem, and Serena is beginning to get pissed off. They were nice, and not as stupid as Calem, but it's getting annoying.
"Be polite," Calem says. Serena knows from experience that he rarely gives a damn if either of them is polite, and is about to comment on it. Of course, since she's too focused on trying not to throw something, she doesn't speak up in the intended way.
"Go play in a damn blender."
Close enough.
"Can I do something else instead?"
"Hell no."
Ari takes this moment to sarcastically say, "Not her boyfriend, she says...". This earns her a punch which misses miserably.
"All right, Ari, what the frick? I challenge you!"
"Fine, then. Yay for champion opportunities!"
Ari sends out a Florges. Serena sends the Garbodor nobody knew she had. She did use him, of course, but he didn't serve her well unless she was beating down a fairy. Since that is what she is doing, the choice of Pokémon was simple.
"Garbodor, use Poison Jab!"
Garbodor used Poison Jab!
It's super effective!
The opposing Florges held on using its Focus Sash!
"Damn it," Serena mutters.
"Florges, use Psychic!" Ari calls.
Florges used Psychic!
It's super effective!
The opposing Garbodor fainted!
Serena smirks, and held a second Poké Ball.
"I went easy. Go, Mawile! Now, Mega Evolve, buddy!"
Mawile's Mawilite is reacting to Serena's Mega Ring!
"Now, try an Iron Head attack! Go for it!"
Mawile used Iron Head!
It's super effective!
The opposing Florges fainted!"
"What?!" Ari spat. "Fine, then. Go on, Typhlosion!" Typhlosion comes out of a Great Ball, and roared at Mawile.
"Mawile, return! Go, Lapras!"
"An Ice type? Hah!"
"Don't underestimate Lapras, Ari. Use Perish Song!" Lapras sings a song of fate, which seals her own and Typhlosion's.
Lapras used Perish Song!
"All right, Typhlosion. Use Inferno!"
Typhlosion used Inferno!
The opposing Lapras avoided the attack!
Lapras' perish count fell to 2!
Typhlosion's perish count fell to 2!
"Uh... should we just watch?" Melody asks Calem.
"Yeah, Seré does this all the time." he replied. "She's a good, well... partial girlfriend, but she's kind of weird." Melody smiles in recognition.
"Ari does that, too. She's a great girl, but violent like when you steal a Snorlax's cake." Calem laughs at the comparison. Meanwhile, a lot of the battle had quickly passed. Lapras had just barely avoided perishing, Typhlosion wasn't so lucky. Melody and Calem watch in amusement as Lapras and Mawile swept like crazy Pokémon, and Ari rages at every conceivable moment.
"I'll never be Champion..." Ari mutters in defeat.
"Good try, though," Serena says, even though it doesn't sound like she believes it. Nobody can blame her for not believing it, though, considering that Ari just got swept.
"Well, we'll be on our way," Calem says. "Melody, I'll give you a Holo Caster call sometime 'kay?"
" 'kay," she replies. And so ends another crazy-ass, yet still somehow normal day. To recap, Serena calls hax, meets fangirls, and wins a battle using Lapras, Garbodor, and Mawile. Calem meets said fangirls and befriends one, and fails miserably at getting some.
Yep, totally normal.
The sad thing is that for them, this is normal.
~ 3 ~
"Uh, C-Calem? What are you trying to do?"
"Wake you up."
"At 4:00 AM?"
"No."
"Good-"
"It's 2:00."
Serena gets up and slaps Calem into oblivion, for being stupid.
Stupid.
Stupid stupid stupid-
Stahp.
"Anyway, I was wondering if, uh... you wanted to Multi Battle Mel and Ari?"
"Go battle..." she says, preparing a flying kick. "In Hell!"
He had just gotten tsundere flying kick to the nuts, and it hurt like a mofo. Even worse, that wasn't even the hardest she could kick. She had held back. Instead of crying out because of the sheer pain, he smirked.
"I really love you, you know that?"
THWACK.
"Don't smirk at me," she scoffs, grabbing him by the collar of the jacket he never takes off for some odd reason. "Ever." She adds the last part with more hesitation than usual. He blushes like a Flaffy probably does, but nobody sees it.
Flaffy blush hax!
She slams him on the floor, and shoves his face in to the wall when she tries to help him up. It's almost, though not quite, completely and totally adorable. Then, when she finally manages to help, she calls him stupid.
Ah, tsunderes.
She is one of them, and he found her adorable. Flying kicks aside, it's cute.
"Well, do you want to go get some pie?"
"Ugh, fine. I'm not doing this for you, though. I just really like pie, o-okay?"
"Whatever, tsundere."
"Shut up."
~ 3 ~
At the café, when they're both sitting, there is pie. Both of them are digging their forks into it, and Serena is being not tsundere for once. She practically transforms when she eats pie. It was probably the intense deliciousness.
Suddenly, because he is stupid, Calem manages to spill pie all over his face. How? One of his Pokémon, his Greninja, had decided it would be frickin' hilarious to jump out of his Poké Ball and slap Calem, while a certain tounge scarf had swung the pie into his face. Serena would have made an intensely glorified sign that said 'I don't know this idiot' if she had brought paper. She doesn't have any, though, which is sad.
Calem, who doesn't realize that she's embarrassed and wants to get the hell out of there, decides to talk to her again.
"Hey, Seré. If you want the rest of the pie..." He points at his face, which is hardcore covered in pie. "You have to eat it off here."
She rolls her eyes, and says "Dream on". However, before she walks out, she slaps him. Some pie falls out onto her outstretched left hand, and she eats it. When she finally steps out, she does so while flipping him the Pidgey.
That backfired miserably, he thinks, realizing that he's sort of an idiot.
~ 3 ~
"Dammit! We've been planning this trip for a week!" Calem complains. He is having a Holo Caster conversation with Serena, who had just told him that she couldn't surf on her Lapras with him that weekend.
"Well, I can't go," Serena responds. "I have to practice for my next trip to the Hax Maison, so I'll be training Mawile."
"Since when did that fairy do better than me? Do you just prefer her to the amazing me?"
"She's certainly more modest. Well, actually, she's adamant, but still."
Calem flops onto the ground, and moves the Holo Caster in front of his head (though it's a bit too close) before looking up with a lopsided grin.
"We could always do both at once," he suggests. She looks at him carefully, and he speaks again. "If you're up for it, meet me in Santalune Forest, away from all the other Trainers." He winks at her, and she shifts a bit in her seat. Then, realizing what's going on, she tries to say something.
"Hey, wait-"
Click.
"Ugh. Damn you, rival-baka," she groans. Her team is cuddled next to her, but Mawile and Delphox were the closest. Mawile attempts to cheer her up by giving her a small piece of Poké Puff. Serena has no clue how old it is, plus she isn't a Pokémon, so she declined it. Mawile shrugged and ate it herself, giving a satisfied 'nom'. Yveltal nudges her with its wing, and she strokes its neck fur. Delphox holds his stick up to her, while Lapras cools her down. This leads to a very uncomfortable effect of her right side being too damn hot, and her left being too damn cold.
"Well, should I meet him? Or should I hang out with you?" she asks. Her selfless Garbodor moves over to the door, and Mawile opens it with her extra set of teeth.
"Maw!"
"Garbod!"
Serena grinned at both of them, and lifted Mawile in her arms. She would have lifted Garbodor as well, if he wasn't too big to fit. She also didn't particularly feel like cuddling a trash bag, no matter how kind, cute, and generally fabulous he was.
"Well, Mawile, want to come with Lapras and I?"
"Mawile!"
Good. With Mawile there, Calem won't be quite as... Calem-ish as usual. Or maybe he will, it's hard for Serena to tell. She strokes Mawile's head while she thinks, and Mawile smiles affectionately. Serena steps out the door, and starts skating to the forest. As soon as she reached the first path, a voice says something. It came from behind her.
"You brought Mawile? Damn, I guess we can't do what I was planning." Serena nutshots the source. "Ow! Damn, you're such a tsundere!"
"S-Shut up, you dummy!" she says, turning her nose up at him. He touches her arm, and she turns bright red. "Idiot? The h-hell?" He moves his finger to her chin, and tilts her head up.
"Rival. How long have you, well, y'know... liked me and stuff...?" he asks. He's too nervous. Calem is too stupid for nervousness.
"E-eh?" she says, then makes her voice strangely quiet. "It was in Team Flare's lab... you don't know this, but Tierno once asked me if I liked you."
"You said yes, oui?"
"O-Oui," she murmurs. "You're the first guy, too. I-I've said too much... i-idiot."
"Non," was his simple response. "Am I really the first?"
"Not the first, but t-the first boy..." she whispers. "S-so don't get too cocky, got that!?"
"Maw! Mawile, mawmaw ile maw!" Seriously! Guys, just make out already! Serena sighs and facepalms. Calem is probably tempted to reply 'okay' with that infectious-as-hell grin.
"Way to ruin the moment, buddy," she sighs.
"Wile, mawile maw ile." You have no clue what I just said, do you. Serena double facepalms, because it's pretty damn obvious what Mawile says both times.
"I know exactly what, Mawile," Serena says. "Stahp shipping."
"Wile maw." Hell no. Serena rolls her gray eyes, and lightly hits Mawile. Mawile nips her arm a bit, and she yelps because she just got stabbed by cold iron teeth.
"Oi! What was that for?"
"Uh, Seré? How the hell do you understand Mawile so well?" Calem asks, releasing his finger from her chin. She cocks her head after moving it to it's normal position.
"Dunno. I guess it's just that Mawile's one of my bros. I love my entire team, of course, but I have a really special friendship with her." Serena leans her lips near Calem, and moves them to a whispering position by his ear. "Maybe you should try making friends with your team."
"Mawile!" I ship iiiit! Then, Mawile runs off, and a majority pissed-off Serena chases her.
"Mawile, you little-"
Somehow, Mawile manages to laugh at her without looking like a weirdo or dying. Serena makes an extremely hilarious face, though that face probably meant she wanted to stab something.
"Serena, calm down," Calem says. He grabs her arm. Sighing, she takes a seat next to him. Mawile flops down on to her lap.
"Fine," she scoffs. "So, how's your team going?"
"Good, good. Greninja's doing well."
"My entire team is doing well, bakayaröu. And for today's 'super exciting' news, I bred Garbodor and played Berry Picker with her and Trubbish. Mawile too." She notices his eyes move from hers, and glares at him for it. Not really an intense glare, per say, but more a 'dude-what-the-fudgesicles' kind of stare. "I notice, idiot. Every. Single. Time."
"Frick nuggets!" he groans. Mawile makes a giggly noise, but it's hard to tell if she understood or if she just took it from the exasperated tone of his voice.
"Damn it; at the very least, be discreet."
"Hey, it's not my fault!"
"Oh, bullcrap," she mutters under her breath. "I noticed when you were playing with my Delphox, too. And every other time."
Fricking hell. I'm so dead, he thinks.
THWACK.
I should have expected that.
THWACK AGAIN.
She rolls her eyes and picks up Mawile yet again, calling him stupid as she walks away.
"Yeah, I know. You pay too much attention to that Mawile." She turns back to him, an icy glare on her childlike face. He wouldn't want to mess with the girl posessing said face, that's for sure. Of course, he already has.
"Mawile is not a 'that', thank-you-very-much," she says angrily. "And who exactly should I pay attention to? You? As if." Her controlling nature slightly calm him and confuse him at the same time. He was lucky he wasn't a Pokémon, or else he would have punched himself in the face.
"That's what I assumed."
"You assumed wrong, rival." She puts so much bite in that last word that not even Mawile could match it.
"I love you," he comments for no good reason.
"I-Idiot!" she cries out, blushing like mad. "I… I do too, b-but only slightly…" she adds softly. He notices, though, just like she had noticed that his eyes were directed towards her-
"I heard you, 'Rena. Let's face it, though, it's real."
She remembers the first time they met, when she fell for him, and when they kissed. He was just so stupid, she couldn't help it. Because logic. In her mind, it makes perfect sense. Deciding way too quickly, she chooses to make one of her rare romantic gestures.
"Close your eyes, Calem. I want to show you something." His eyes flash with memory, and he responds in the same way she did that time.
"What do you want to show me?" he replies with a smirk. He closes his bright gray eyes. Finally, Serena leans in and kisses him.
"Never say a word about this..." she murmurs into his lips, though it comes out barely legible.
He probably will.
~ 3 ~
Surprisingly, it's Serena who tells someone first. It was her friend Sachi, back from the Kanto region. Since the technology there is nowhere near the technology in Kalos, she uses a phone in the Pokémon Center to call Sachi.
"H'lo?"
"Whaddup, Sachi?"
" 'Rena? Is that you?"
"You know it!" The two girls both laugh.
"Well, what's been going on lately?" Serena hears Sachi's breath make a crinkly-sounding noise. She was probably getting closer to the screen. "How's your rival, what's his name again?"
"Calem. And we kissed."
Serena grins as she imagines her ex's face. It was probably bright red or pure white. That's how Sachi always looked when Serena had even made an attempt at being romantic.
"You what, now."
"He kissed me. I kissed back. Questions?" Serena forgot that Sachi didn't exactly favor hetero relations. Really, 'not favor' is an understatement.
"Uh-huh..." She was obviously uncomfortable with the whole situation. "Maybe I'll call you back, m'kay?" Serena nods, not giving three Golducks that Sachi couldn't see her.
"Aye. But wait, I want to tell you about the-"
Click.
~ 3 ~
Well, Serena has pretty much all she wants. Mawile, Calem, and a chance to fight. But now, there is a challenge. She has to battle on a different side than Calem in an all-region, anything-goes match. It's the day before the match, and she's about to go to sleep. Not quite sleep... more like Internet for 8 hours. But, since that idiot always interrupts her, it's more like 5 hours of Internet and 3 of doing whatever he wants to.
It's not like she cares, though.
She does 'like' him, after all. She just didn't want him to make things so obvious. Heck, even Tierno the oblivious had probably figured the halfway-lovers out.
Trying to decide whether she wants people to know, she decides that she doesn't care, and slams her face into the covers.
After what seems like 1.333333373333 minutes, she hears a certain male voice.
"Seré… Seré, wake up!"
She sits up and looks at the clock.
5:34 AM.
Her honey hair is tangled, her eyes have insomnia circles under them, and she realizes that she had never changed out of her normal black and red dress, which makes her blush a light tint of a rosy shade.
"What the hell do you want," she says crossly.
"I just wanted to... try something?" he tries, which earns him a kick to the ribs. A small blush embodies her, and she shakes her head so her honey blonde hair covers her gray eyes.
"Try something? Like what?"
He attempts the most generic attempt at being romantic that Serena had ever seen, despite the fact that she tried the same thing earlier that week.
"Close your eyes, Serena. I want to show you something." She rolls her eyes again, and stares him down with a glare icier than Lapras' Sheer Cold.
"Like that'll work on me twice..." she says in a cold tone. "But what did you want to show me?"
"This." He attempts to kiss her, but she flying kicks him instead.
"Let me sleep, dammit!"
"Let me sleep, let me sleep! Can't stay awake anymore! Let me sleep, let me sleep! This parody is creative!" he sang horribly.
"What is it with you and Frozen?" she yells, flopping onto her bed again. He shrugs and walks out of her bedroom door as she finally manages to sleep.
For 10 minutes.
Arceus damn it!
~ 3 ~
The contest begins.
Serena looks at the matchups. She's fighting a 'Youngster Joey', Calem has to take down some 'Lass Alyssa'. She notices that Melody is on the list as an Ace Trainer, fighting 'Ace Trainer Josie', and Ari is fighting 'Hex Maniac Morana'.
"Allow the battles to begin!" Teresa announces with a beaming smile on her face. "First round: 2 vs 2 single battles! The matchups are: Champion Serena vs Youngster Joey! Trainer Calem vs Lass Alyssa! Ace Trainer Melody vs Ace Trainer Josie! Trainer Ariana vs Hex Maniac Morana! Finally, Sucessor Korrina vs Trainer Diantha!" She swings her arm into the air as Trainers locate their opponents. "Let the games begin!"
"Well, Joey, apologies for wrecking your team!" She sends Garbodor out, and readies Mawile in case she loses Garbodor.
"My Rattata is different from regular Rattata. It's like my Rattata is in the top percentage of all Rattata!" Joey says, before sending out his lead.
"Probably because it's a Raticate."
"Alyssa, you ready for a fight?" Calem asks, sending Absol.
"Hah! If you lose to your girlfriend, you're no match for me!" Alyssa boldly states.
"I-am-not-his-girlfriend-we-are-rivals-that-is-it!" Serena yells from the other side of the room. She's fighting a fricking Raticate, using her Garbodor. She's winning, too, though that's to be expected.
"Ariana," Morana greets. "I will catch you in my Poké Ball, and release you into Ho-Oh's sacred ash. I will take your friends and turn them into my ghostly slaves.
"I will erase you," she finishes. She sends a Charizard and readies her Greninja.
"If your team lives that long!" Ariana retorts, sending her Typhlosion.
"I'm not too good at this, so go a bit easy?" Melody asks the other Ace Trainer.
"No going easy! Just an all-out deathmatch!" Josie declares, showing off her male Meowstic. Melody nervously brings out her Delcatty.
"Garbodor, use Sludge Bomb!" Serena commands. The purple, poisonous ball goes charging at Raticate.
Garbodor used Sludge Bomb!
The opposing Raticate hung on using its Focus Sash!
"Ah, khrp," Serena says, expecting what comes next.
"Raticate, use Endeavor!"
"Garbodor, Protect!"
"Raticate, Quick Attack!"
Raticate used Quick Attack!
The opposing Garbodor protected itself!
"Garbodor, come back! Go, Mawile! Now, Mega Evolve!" Serena holds her left wrist out in front of her, and touches the front gem.
Mawile's Mawilite is reacting to Serena's Mega Ring!
Raticate used Quick Attack!
It's not very effective...
"Mawile, punch it!"
Mawile used Sucker Punch!
But it failed!
Raticate used Endeavor!
"Mawile, use Sucker Punch again!"
Mawile used Sucker Punch!
The opposing Raticate fainted!
"Nice one, Mawile!"
"You haven't won yet! Go, Scatterbug-"
"Mawile, Iron Head."
Mawile used Iron Head!
The opposing Scatterbug fainted!
Joey collapses onto the floor, and rears his head up in a loud scream.
"Nooooo! I was supposed to win that!"
"Too bad, Youngster Joey," Serena says, looking to see if anyone else has finished. Surprisingly for her, she's the last done.
Calem has won, Melody has lost, Ariana has won, Korrina has lost, and Teresa's still announcing stuff. 'Wait, Calem won?' Serena thinks. 'This doesn't make any sense!'
"Battle number two! Matchups: Trainer Diantha vs Trainer Calem! Ace Trainer Josie vs Champion Serena! Ace Trainer Ariana, you have the bide. This match will be 3v3 single battles. Battle... begin!"
"Well, Diantha. If Serena beat you, I shouldn't have too much trouble!" Calem comments. Diantha smiles at him.
"Serena is an exceptional Trainer. I hope you can match her skill! Come on out, Hawlucha!"
"Go, Meowstic! Use Fake Out!" The catlike Pokémon slaps Hawlucha across the face, making her flinch. "Now, use Psychic!"
Since Meowstic manages to outspeed Hawlucha, the super effective blast hits her. Still, Hawlucha lived, and hits back with an X-Scissor to the face. Luckily, Meowstic doesn't faint, and finishes Hawlucha with another Psychic.
"Not bad. Go, Aurorus!"
"Meowstic, use Psychic!" Diantha laughs at the repetition of that move, but ignores it aside from that.
"Aurorus, use Blizzard!"
Aurorus walls the Psychic, then hits Meowstic with Blizzard. Meowstic manages to take it, but then becomes encased in ice.
"It's frozen..." Calem growls, recalling Meowstic. He then seems to get an idea, and begins to sing, off-key. "Let it go, let it go! Can't- OW! Who threw the Toxic Orb?" He looks around, only to see his neighbor next to her opponent (who she had already beaten) with a content smirk. "You suck, Serena."
"I wouldn't throw it if you didn't sing like a damn Magikarp on helium! And why the hell do you like Frozen so much?" Calem decides to completely ignore her, and sends out his Clefairy. "Answer me, damn it!"
Of course, he doesn't.
"So, go on, Absol! Mega Evolve, and give it a Night Slash!" Aurorus faints to it, leaving Diantha with only one Pokémon: Mega Gardevoir.
"Gardevoir, Mega Evolve and use Moonblast!" Absol couldn't even hope to wall that. He fainted to the only decent Pokémon that anyone in the League (besides Serena) had.
"The competitors still in this are Ace Trainer Ariana, Trainer Diantha, and Champion Serena! Miss Serena, you have the bide. Ariana, Diantha... Battle!"
The battle is such a curb-stomp battle, it wasn't even funny. In fact, Ariana sweeps the former Champion's entire team with only an Aerodactyl. She has that along with a Mawile (in an attempt to be like the Champion), Ampharos, Blastoise, Froslass, and an Alakazam. However, her lack of the Blastoisinite, Ampharosite, Aerodactylite, Mawilite, or Alakazite makes her team a lot weaker.
"Well, that was fast," Serena comments. "Ariana, you ready?" The raven-haired girl looks at her role model, not quite nervous.
"You beat me before, and I have to grow stronger. Next time we meet, I'll kick your ass. For now, though, I forfeit." She bows in the respect that Serena is used to from her birth in Kanto, and looks at Teresa.
"The match is forfeited. Serena Dubois is the victor!" Teresa announces. Ariana smiles, and Calem high-fives Serena.
"Nice job, rival," he whispers into her ear. She turns away, with a barely noticeable grin.
"I ship it!" Ariana yells, earning a "Shut up!" from Serena.
"Now, kiss!" Teresa proclaims. Calem sighs and facepalms, and Serena chooses this course of action as well. "C'mon, please? You never dated anyone past Sachi!" She gets puppy-dog eyes, and Serena sighs once again.
"All right, fine."
She once again allows herself to kiss that idiot. There's a noticeably higher amount of force behind it, but it doesn't particularly change much from their other kisses. Melody writes in a notebook she brought. She's almost always writing, actually.
Calem pulls apart from his rival/crush, and she speaks.
"We'll be going now, thanks." She says that last word with an icy bite to it.
Later, when they're almost back to Vaniville and sitting on a patch of grass in Santalune Forest to take a break, Calem comments on something.
"Y'know, your lips really do taste like raspberries."
She turns away with a blush on her face, shaking her head so her hair covers her bright pink cheeks.
"I thought I told you to shut up." He smiles at her and pulls her close once again.
"Oh, did you?"
She pauses and stares back at him, with her lips curled into an adorable pout.
"Baka."
'Maybe I don't mind being in love with an idiot.'
It certainly made sense. It's no conclusion, far from it, but it's enough for her.
Calem's mostly just proud of finally making out with the girl he compared to a goddess. One having a bad day, but a goddess nonetheless.
Still, all's well that ends well, and this certainly does. At the very least, this adventure ends... well... interestingly. Interesting is good, right?
Well, the question is, what happens next?
(A/N: Holy khrp, guys! 12,000 fricking words! That's a huge milestone for me as a novice writer. Please review! I only accept praise and constructive criticism.
...
Feel happy for me, dangit!
Anyway, tell me what you liked and what you didn't! Thanks!)