Note: I've re-written this chapter and changed the dynamic between Serena and Grace because I think this fits the story better.

Enjoy.


Chapter One

~ In Which Sycamore Surprises Serena ~

I gasped.

The air had been squeezed out of me when something canoed into my stomach. I bolted upright in bed, hands flailing while my chest heaved, trying to draw more air into my body.

My eyes were bleary from sleep but my heart rate was too high for me to feel tired. It could be a bomb – in which case I would have seconds to find it. Or it could be a message inside a hollow tennis ball, thrown through my window – in which case urgency was less important.

The latter had happened before, and was more likely to be the case this time, but the former was one of my greatest fears. Not necessarily that a bomb would be thrown through my window, but that my spy work would bring down my enemies on the house I lived in with my mother, and thus dragging her unwittingly into danger.

A chirrup from above my head stilled my desperate hands.

"Avi," I said slowly, in a voice full of morning croakiness. "If that's you…"

I waited with heartbeats that resounded throughout my body until my mother's Fletchling flitted down, landing on the end of my bed.

"Fletch, fletch," it chirped perkily.

I took a deep breath. At last able to regulate my breathing and heart rate, I spared a moment to glare at the bright-eyed pest. "You better not still be in here once I've counted down from three," I warned.

"Fletch?" It tilted its little head in a way my mother would have found endearing.

"Three," I ground out. Now that I was over my shock and the possibility of danger, irritation at being woken up so early had taken over. "Two," I continued when the Fletchling didn't move. The fist-sized Pokémon didn't seem to realise the danger it was in. As if it wasn't enough that I hated being woken up early, and especially by the Fletchling's Tackle attack, it was now standing there with an amused gleam in its beady eyes, watching my every move.

I wasn't going to have it.

"One," I finished.

I lunged before the word had completely left my tongue. But the blighter was fast. Avi skipped backwards, out of reach, and swooped off the bed with a backwards loop-the-loop. It hovered in the air for a moment, chirping in an annoyingly high-pitched tone, and was gone before I could attempt a second swipe.

I scowled after it. Avi, christened 'Aviation' by my mother, was supposedly our family pet. But I had never really liked Pokémon and Avi had been able to sense that from day one. It liked to do everything it could to get on my nerves, and whenever my mother wanted me to get up early she would send Avi to dive-bomb me, which the little upstart would do with glee.

Since I was now fully awake I did get up, throwing on yesterday's clothes and running a brush through my hair. My Dad gave me the honey-blonde colour, but I grew it to my waist myself. My mother gave me my bright blue eyes, but I gladly wore green contacts whenever I had the chance.

My mother was in the kitchen, humming to herself as she flipped a pancake, when I got downstairs.

"You're in a good mood," I commented upon entering. I had learned from experience that airing my opinions about her precious pokémon would only result in an argument, so I pushed that morning's event to the back of my mind and let the smell of pancakes entice a smile to my face.

"Sit down, darling, there are a couple of pancakes on the table for you to start with," my mother said breezily without looking around.

I scraped my chair over the floor both when pulling it out and when dragging it in. My mother didn't comment. She never did when my aggression was passive. That way, I was able to show my annoyance while avoid a confrontation. It was a system that worked.

"I suppose you plan to unpack today," I said while squeezing a freshly-cut lemon onto my pancake.

"Mm-hmm," my mother responded lightly. "And yourself?"

"I thought I might take a look around outside, see what kind of a place this is – maybe discover why you felt the need to move hundreds of miles to a village barely even on the map."

My mother inhaled noisily. "It wasn't that far, darling. You'll uncover many charming features about this village in no time. And don't worry, I'm sure your old friends will keep in touch."

I bit into my pancake fiercely, and lemon juice sprayed everywhere. The sharp tang stung my tongue and I gagged. I had forgotten to add the sugar. "Old friends," I muttered, putting the pancake back onto the plate and unrolling it, "I didn't have any friends." I began sprinkling on sugar, nearly jumping out of my skin when my mother's voice replied from directly above my head:

"Then there's no reason to miss your old home. I've no doubt you'll make many new friends here, sweetie." My mother's voice was as optimistic and forced as my response was sarcastic:

"Nope, no reason at all, it's not like I left behind all my happy childhood memories, or all my memories of Dad."

My mother slapped the next pancake onto the plate in the middle of the table. I raised an eyebrow at the blackish patches in the middle. "All right, Serena-" she began, but I pointed to the hob and she broke off to hurry over and turn it off. When she turned back to me, there was a stern look on her face. "Serena," she began again. I took a bite of my pancake, this time appreciating all of its sweet goodness. "Serena, stop eating for a moment. This village is our fresh start, and I don't want to begin on a bad note. I'm going to ignore what's happened so far this morning, and we are going to put this behind us. I am going to finish making pancakes now, and then I am going to go and unpack the boxes. You are going to finish eating and then you're going to go out and explore, meet some nice friends, and have a good time. When you get back this evening, we will sit down for a family meal and have a civil conversation. Is that clear?"

I swallowed the bite of pancake that was in my mouth. My mother was rarely so serious. Her tone brought me back to my younger days, when she would bring me to the race track and she would tell me exactly what to do and when to do it to help her prepare and look after her Rhyhorn. I shuddered. "It's clear."

"Good."

My mother turned back to the stove, and I took another bite of my pancake. I finished eating in silence, while my mother re-started her humming. As soon as my plate was clear, I was out of the door. I was less keen to see what Vaniville had to offer than I was to get away from her.

Once outside, I took my first look at the front garden in daylight. It wasn't wide but it was long, with a path leading up to the gate and bushes and a tree lining the walls either side. By the tree was a blanket my mother had laid out last night for her oldest and most favourite Rhyhorn partner, Helter-Skelter. HS was sleeping, with his eyes closed and his massive grey flank heaving rhythmically. I decided to walk extra quietly as I passed him.

Just as I reached the gate, I saw a boy and a girl walking along the village path. They hadn't noticed me; they were engaged in a lively conversation and weren't attempting to keep quiet.

The girl had brown hair in pigtails that looped round before curving down towards the ground and she was wearing a pink top with black bows on it accompanied by short shorts and pink high tops. Her eyes were a pretty green colour.

The boy was tall, with grey eyes, longish black hair that fell to his chin, and a handsome face. He was dressed plainly, in grey trousers and a dark blue jacket.

I couldn't avoid overhearing what I now realised was an argument.

"You should knock; she's a girl like you are," the boy was saying.

The girl shook her head. "So? I think you should knock because you're the man here – aren't you supposed to be all brave and manly now?"

I suppressed a chuckle.

"How is knocking on a door 'manly'? Besides, you've known me long enough to know I don't care about that stuff. Just go and knock, you might as well get it over with," the boy replied.

I deduced that it was my door that they were arguing over who should knock on, and I coughed to announce my presence.

Their eyes widened simultaneously upon seeing me.

"Hi, I'm Serena. Were you looking for me, or…?"

The girl recovered first. "Hi Serena," she chirped. "I guess you heard us arguing, huh?" I nodded and she smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry about that. Both of us are actually quite shy you see," she attempted to explain but the boy snorted.

"Shy my foot," he muttered. I glanced at him in amusement.

"That's okay," I shrugged. "Sorry, I didn't catch your names?" I prompted when she didn't introduce herself.

"Oh!" the girl gasped. "Sorry, I completely forgot! My name's Shauna, and I live in Aquacorde Town, which is literally right down the road from here," she explained. I nodded and looked past her to the sign post just outside my house which read Vaniville Town and had another sign pointing towards Aquacorde Town attached to it.

"The name's Calem," the boy introduced himself next. "I live next door to you," he added, nodding over the wall to the house next to mine.

So, he was the boy next door? I smiled in amusement at the thought.

There was a short pause. I decided to break it. "So, do you both visit every newcomer in Vaniville and Aquacorde?" I asked.

"No," Calem responded. "We were sent here by Professor Sycamore. He wrote a letter to me, Shauna, and two of our other friends saying that he has some sort of a task for five kids – including you. But I'm surprised he knows who you are. You did just move here to Vaniville, after all," Calem explained.

I bit down on the chuckle raring at the back of my throat. How did the professor know about me, indeed?

When I didn't say anything Calem added, "You know who Professor Sycamore is, right?"

"Yeah, I've heard of him," I managed to say with a straight-face. Then a thought occurred to me – why hadn't the professor told me himself about this supposed task? He always told me everything. And why did he need five kids? I was sure that I would be able to complete any all by myself. Questions whirled around like a snowstorm in my brain, but I couldn't find an answer for any of them.

"Okay, come on then." Shauna grabbed my hand and began pulling me along. She tried to grab Calem's hand too, but he skilfully dodged and followed us at his own pace.

"Where are we going, exactly?" I asked as Shauna led the way to the Vaniville Town gate.

"We're meeting our friends at a café in Aquacorde Town," she replied. "So, how are you liking Vaniville Town?"

"Give the girl a break Shauna; she only arrived last night," Calem put in before I could answer.

I gave him a confused look. "How do you know that?"

Calem shrugged. "I saw you and your mother arrive from my bedroom window," he explained before realising how creepy that sounded. "Not that I was spying on you or anything, I was just in my room and I noticed you, that's all!" he added hurriedly.

I laughed and accepted his explanation with a wave of my hand.

During the short walk to Aquacorde Town I learned that Shauna and Calem had been best friends since they met when they were five, that Calem's parents were famous pokémon trainers, and that Shauna loved cute pokémon but she, like me, knew nothing about how to look after pokémon.

"What about you, Serena?" Shauna asked me as the Aquacorde gate appeared in sight.

I shrugged. "What about me?"

"We've told you lots about us, now it's your turn," she clarified.

"Um, okay, well…" I wondered what I could tell them that was interesting about me. "My mother is Grace, the famous Ryhorn racer," offered, watching curiously for their reactions.

Shauna squealed in excitement. "That's amazing!"

However, Calem almost choked, turning to stare at me. "No way, you have a famous parent too?" he exclaimed. I nodded, sighing. "That sucks," he sympathised, and I looked at him in surprise.

"Yeah, I know," I agreed. "I mean, it's bad enough that I have to go to all of her races because everyone always coos at me and calls me 'cute' or 'sweet' like I'm some two year old, but when I'm out in public I have to call her 'Grace' like we're not even related," I told him, hardly noticing as we entered Aquacorde Town. I was too caught up in talking to someone who, for once, actually understood what my life was like.

"I know how that feels," Calem nodded. "Looks like we have more in common than I thought we did, neighbour." He flashed me a smile and I felt a warm feeling in my chest. Was this what it felt like to have a real friend, to bond with a real person who had real things in common with you? I'd never experienced that before… and I liked it.

"Look, there's Tierno and Trevor," Shauna cut in, pointing over to where two boys were seated at a table belonging to one of the cafés just inside the entrance to Aquacorde Town. "Let's go and let them know we're here," she added, taking off enthusiastically to go and greet them.

Calem and I exchanged an amused look behind her back

"Is she always this… excitable?" I asked after searching for the right word.

Calem grinned. "You should see her when something that is actually exciting happens, like at her birthday last year," he commented as we followed Shauna but at a more leisurely pace. I wanted to ask him to elaborate on that, but we had reached the table and Shauna was already bouncing up and down in her seat to introduce me.

"Guys, this is Serena, Calem's new neighbour and the newest member to our friendship group!" Shauna announced. I hesitated before slipping into the only spare seat which was next to Calem.

"Hi." I smiled at the two boys opposite me.

"Serena, these are Trevor and Tierno – Tierno loves rocking out on the dance floor, and Trevor is a bit shy but he's an excellent scholar," Shauna finished the introductions. Trevor was a small, thin boy with ginger hair and grey eyes. Tierno was the opposite of Trevor in both looks and, at first glance, personality too. While Tierno greeted me with an enthusiastic 'Hi!' and lots of random hand gestures, Trevor simply said 'Nice to meet you' and raised his hand in a limp wave. It felt nice when Shauna introduced me as 'the newest member to our friendship group' too – I'd never had real friends before.

And you can't have real friends now, I scolded myself. They'll just get in the way of your spy work. Besides, you don't need friends when you can experience the thrill of chasing bad guys every other night. I smiled inwardly at that thought. I loved the adrenaline rush I got when on a mission for Professor Sycamore.

"Hey," I greeted them. "So what are we here for anyway?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

A huge grin appeared on Tierno's face. "Oh, you guys are so gonna love this," he promised. "You all know - well I guess Serena won't know this, but… anyway, Trevs and I already got pokémon since we live in Lumiose City," he began. A bad feeling formed in my stomach as I wondered where this was going.

"I thought I told you not to call me 'Trevs'," Trevor muttered.

Shauna rolled her eyes. "But Trevs, you know we all have nicknames for each other," she pouted.

Trevor shook his head. "Serena doesn't have a nickname and she's our friend now," he pointed out.

Don't bring me into this, I thought with a small frown.

Shauna looked at me. It was too late. "You're right! Come on guys, we need a good nickname for Serena." Her eyes gleamed in excitement. "I know, what about Lil' S?"

"Nah, I think Lady S," Tierno disagreed. I tapped my fingers absentmindedly on the table top. I wanted to find out what the task was. "What do you think Trevs?"

Trevor recoiled. "You're asking me to nickname someone I only just met? Thanks for putting me on the spot… Um, I think something low-key, like S-kins?" he suggested. They all looked at me and I wrinkled my nose. None of those really appealed to me, but I didn't want to be rude and tell them I didn't like the names.

That's when Calem spoke up. "What about Seri?" he asked quietly. I looked at him, shocked. Seri… that was the name my father had called me before – well, it was what he had called me. I hated it when anyone else called me that name because it meant something special to me and when other people just threw it around casually, it made me squirm. However, when Calem suggested it, I realised I didn't mind so much. Maybe it was something about the quiet, serious voice with which he had said it or perhaps it was the way he genuinely wanted to call me that, but I wasn't sure. All I knew was that it might not be so bad if my new friends called me Seri, since Calem suggested it in the way that he did.

Seeing the look of approval on my face, Shauna cried out triumphantly without waiting for verbal approval. "Seri it is!"

I bit my lip automatically, but I supposed I could live with it. It was definitely better than the nicknames the others had come up with for me.

"Anyway, what were you saying before, Tierno?" I asked the big guy.

"Oh yeah, that's right. Professor Sycamore wants us to travel to his lab in Lumiose City where he'll tell us what our real task is but for now he said he wants us to all become Pokémon trainers and complete the pokédex," Tierno finished.

My heart almost stopped. "He said what?" I growled, gripping the table. Breathe, I told myself, just breathe.

Ignorant of my dark expression, Tierno repeated himself happily. "The professor wants us to all become pokémon trainers, so he's giving us all a pokémon! Or, actually he's giving you, Cale and Shaunster Pokémon, since Trevs and I already have our pokémon."

"He's doing what?" I muttered under my breath. No way would Sycamore do this. He knew I didn't get along with… those things. But, upon hearing Shauna's over-excited scream, I knew I had to face the facts. Professor Sycamore, the only person I had thought I could trust, was forcing me to take on a Pokémon. Thinking back to the conversation we had last night about it being too dangerous for me to get a closer look at Team Flare because I didn't have any Pokémon and they did, his decision made perfect sense. But that didn't mean I was going to accept it. Sycamore was going to regret this. When I reached Lumiose City, he would have a lot of explaining to do.

But I didn't say any of this aloud. Instead I said the only thing I could without sounding like I was about to explode: "Cale and Shaunster are your nicknames? So, what's Tierno's?"

"I'm the Big Guy, the boss of everything," Tierno informed me proudly.

"Oh. Cool," I said.

Next to me, Calem was shaking. Literally, shaking – his arm was knocking against mine and I wondered if he was having a fit until I actually looked at him and found a blazing look of excitement upon his face. "I can't believe I'm getting a pokémon," he whispered, so quietly I had to strain my ears to head him. Then he suddenly turned and met my gaze. "And it's all thanks to you."

I blinked. "It is?" I asked, confused.

Calem looked like he could barely contain himself. "If you hadn't arrived in Vaniville Town yesterday then who knows how long I would have to wait to become a trainer? So, thank you," he told me. He hesitated and looked for all the world as if he was going to hug me. I didn't think I would mind either, but at that moment one of Shauna's squeals ruined the moment and Calem turned abruptly back to face Tierno, whom he was sitting opposite.

"Isn't this just awesome! Come on Tierno, let's see the pokémon!" Shauna urged. I watched, mildly curious, as Tierno dug around in his bag before producing a case with three pokéballs inside it.

"Here they are – this one is Fennekin, this one is Chespin, and the last one is Froakie," Tierno told us.

Calem and Shauna both tuned to me. "Hey, you can pick first," Calem offered.

"Oh, er, are you sure? I mean, I really don't ca-mind which one I get," I said, hastily correcting myself. I might not want friends, but I didn't want to drive away friendly people either – and telling a group of Pokémon-lovers that I hated Pokémon would certainly do that.

"Of course," Shauna beamed. "It is thanks to you that we're getting pokémon after all – Professor Sycamore said in the letter that he chose us because you we removing to Vaniville Town."

Oh, he did, did he? I snarled inwardly. Screw waiting until Lumiose City for my explanation. As soon as I was alone, I was so using my Holo Caster to pay him a visit.

Looking back at Shauna's expectant face, I swallowed. "If you insist, then… I'll take this one." I picked a random pokéball. "Eh… which one is this again?"

"That's Fennekin, the fire type," Trevor told me. I smiled at him as thanks and then watched as Calem went on to choose Froakie and Shauna happily picked up Chespin.

"By the way Seri, the professor also sent a letter for your mother. You should give it to her before you leave," Tierno remembered, handing me a white envelope. Grace was written in the professor's messy handwriting on the front. I took a few calming gulps of air. So my mother was going to get an explanation but I wasn't. He'd never even met my mother! It wasn't fair… Urgh, I sounded like a child.

"That's… good," I said faintly, accepting the envelope and slipping it into my bag.

"Oh yes, and the professor also asked me to give you these," Trevor said, bringing out three square devices. "They're pokédex's – a pokédex records a pokémon's data once caught," he explained, giving us one each.

I accepted the pokédex and slipped that into my bad too. "I should probably go and see my mum – tell her where I'm going and give her this envelope." I stood up, about to leave.

"Hang on, I'll come with you," Calem called out. "I need to tell my parents where I'm going anyway," he added by way of explanation.

I just nodded. I wasn't in the mood for company but again, I didn't want to offend any of my new 'friends'.

"Okay, see you guys in Santalune Forest then," Shauna chirped as Calem and I headed towards the gate leading out of Aquacorde Town and towards Vaniville Town.

"So, I guess you know all about being a pokémon trainer from your parents?" I asked Calem as we left Aquacorde town. I didn't want to dwell on the fact that I now had a Pokémon but I couldn't think of anything else to say, and it would be an incredibly awkward walk back to Vaniville Town if neither of us said anything.

Calem looked at me. Excitement from receiving Froakie still lingered in his eyes but I saw amusement there as well. "Do you know all about Rhyhorn racing?"

I shrugged. "In theory, yes. In practise? Definitely not," I replied. My hand tightened around Fennekin's pokéball. The reason I was holding it instead of putting it into my bag like Calem had done was because I needed something to squeeze – squeezing things helped me calm down when I was angry. It also helped that the thing I was squeezing was the thing that had made me angry in the first place.

"Same here," Calem told me. "I know it all in theory, but in practise I'm as clueless as you are."

I squeezed Fennekin's pokéball once more. I needed something else to distract me, and fast. "So how come your nickname is Cale?" I blurted out without pausing to wonder if asking that was slightly rude. It might have been an embarrassing story that ne never wanted to tell anyone, ever.

However, Calem merely smiled. "Shauna thought I had introduced myself as Cale when we first met because I spoke so quietly. The name just stuck. She nicknamed herself Shaunster because she thought it was cool at the time, in case you were wondering," he explained.

"Yeah, cool," I murmured. My right hand, the one holding Fennekin's pokéball, had suddenly begun to shake. At first, I thought it was because my arm was so tense - but then I realised it wasn't my hand that was shaking. It was the pokéball vibrating. "Huh?" I stopped walking and stared down at it. "Why's it doing that?"

Calem also looked surprised. "Maybe it wants to come out and meet you?" he suggested.

The thought alarmed me and I snapped, "No," before thinking. I didn't even want to look at the thing inside the pokéball. Calem flinched at the harshness of my tone, and I realised that my tone had been too harsh. "Sorry, I just…" not being able to come up with an excuse, I just held out Fennekin's pokéball. "I mean, I guess you might be right. How do I, you know, open it?"

Calem eyed me warily before reaching over and pointing to the white button in the middle of the device. "Press that," he said shortly.

Judging by his tone, I had offended him.

"Thanks," I said quietly. Before pressing it, I looked at the black-haired boy. "I'm sorry for shouting at you. I guess I'm just nervous that I'm going to do something wrong…" It sounded like a weak excuse to me, but Calem nodded slowly.

"That's okay."

I considered looking for another form of procrastination but Calem was looking at me expectantly, so I gave in and pressed the stupid button. There was a red flash and a weird creature with large ears, the tips of which reached my knee, appeared before me.

"So, that's a Fennekin," I said. It was pale cream in colour with some extra white and orange colouring in places, and these weird orange fluffy bits spilling out of its too-large ears.

"Yeah." Calem was observing it with interest, but I looked at it in disgust.

Its bright brown eyes were watching me curiously. I glared at it before turning away.

"What now? Do I return it or what?" I asked Calem, waving the now empty pokéball in the air.

Hearing my words, the Fennekin skittered backwards, letting out a sharp bark. "Fennekin!"

I glared at it suspiciously. It glared back in defiance. Calem laughed. We both glared at Calem.

"I think Fennekin doesn't like her pokéball much," Calem told me, his voice full of amusement.

I glanced down at the device in question, and then looked up at Fennekin. "So? And what do you mean, her? I thought all starter pokémon are male," I said, slightly disgruntled.

Calem took out his pokédex. "This tells you information about the pokémon you catch, like their moves, their ability and their gender. Not all starter pokémon are male, by the way. Most are, and female starter pokémon are rare, but they do exist. The proof is literally glaring you in the face," he informed me.

Ha. Ha. Ha.

"Okay, but what did you mean when you said Fennekin doesn't like its– her pokéball? Don't all caught pokémon live in pokéballs?"

Calem shook his head. "Again, it's rare but a few pokémon prefer to stay outside of their pokéballs."

Realisation dawned. "Oh, so you mean Fennekin wants to stay outside her pokéball." I frowned. "No way am I travelling to Lumiose City with that thing walking by my side the whole way," I said, crossing my arms. Fennekin narrowed her eyes at me.

Calem raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

I flushed. "Er, I meant that… um… it might be dangerous for… cute, darling little Fennekin…" I said weakly, but Calem wasn't stupid.

"Seri," he began, but I cut him off.

"Don't all me that!"

He looked surprised. "You said we could call you that," he pointed out.

I gritted my teeth. "Yes, but only because of the way that you said it," I admitted. "My dad used to call me Seri, so the name holds a special meaning for me. Then after- I mean, then random acquaintances of my mother would call me Seri in these sickening voices and it felt like they were taunting me. I grew to hate it when anyone called me Seri, even my own mother. But then you went and called me Seri like it actually meant something instead of just a casual nickname thought up on the spur of the moment and I realised I didn't mind so much." I spoke fast but while looking at him the whole time, and after I had finished I felt like kicking myself. I was an idiot to pour out one of my deepest secrets to someone I had only met about an hour ago, but looking into his eyes it felt like I could trust him. I tore my eyes away from his and stared at the grass by my feet.

After a moment's pause, Calem spoke up in a soft voice. "I'm sorry. I'll call you Serena if you want," he offered.

I chanced a glace up at him. He wasn't laughing at me and he wasn't teasing me about it. "No, it's okay. You can call me Seri." I said. Again, I wanted to kick myself. Why did I just tell him that? "I'm sorry for blowing up at you, I'm just in a bad mood at the moment," I added. "Sorry."

Calem offered me a smile. "Don't worry about it. Shauna rants at me all the time; I'm used to it. I guess that's what comes of having a girl as a best friend," he shrugged.

"Hey," I protested. "I'm a girl too!" Calem just perked an eyebrow at me. Felling the tense atmosphere dissolve, and my anger away with it, I poked him. He just flashed me a grin and took my hand.

"Come on, Vaniville Town is just up ahead," he said, beginning to walk again and pulling me along with him. A warm feeling blossomed in my chest as I felt my hand in his. It felt… nice.

When we reached the entrance gate, Calem dropped my hand. Before we walked through it, I faced him with a grateful expression on my face.

"Thanks," I said.

Calem looked surprised. "What for?"

"For listening to me," I replied simply.

Calem just smiled again. "What are friends for?" he asked jokingly.

I felt that warm feeling in my chest again at his words. Friends… But then I pushed it away and my expression hardened. I didn't need friends. I couldn't have friends. I'm a lone girl, and sooner or later Calem will have to realise that too.

I left my mother's house with my bag packed full of things for my journey. Apparently he had known all about what Professor Sycamore had planned for me, and she couldn't have been more eager to get rid of me. (She might have used the word "support", but what kind of spy would I be if I didn't read between the lines?)

It aggravated me that she was taking his side in this. Apparently, I 'need to get out more'. Whatever that meant.

Now I was waiting for Calem at the entrance to Vaniville Town, looking absentmindedly at the honeysuckle growing near the old gateway. I didn't want to wait for him – the sooner I got to Lumiose City, the sooner I could sort this mess out with the professor - but we had arranged to meet up here and it would be rude if I just left without him.

"Fen, Fennekin," an unpleasantly familiar voice barked, startling me out of my thoughts. I groaned, turning to see my stupid Pokémon standing behind me.

"I thought I left you behind," I muttered in annoyance. "What do you want, trailing after me like a lost Lillipup?"

"Fennekin," the starter pokémon glowered at me, and then I heard her stomach rumble. Of course.

"You want food? Well you're not getting any," I told it – ahem, I meant her. "Not until I ask Calem what you even eat, anyway," I added under my breath. As much as I disliked Pokémon, I wasn't going to let her starve. I wasn't not cruel.

"Serena! Sorry I'm late, my mum fusses too much," Calem called, jogging up to me with his rucksack looking like it might burst at any moment.

"It's fine," I shrugged. "Let's just get going."

"Actually…" Calem hesitated, pulling out Froakie's pokéball, "I was wondering if you wanted to battle. Since we both have pokémon now it would be a good way to get to know both them and each other a little better."

I didn't know what to say to that. He made a good point, but I couldn't care less about getting to know Fennekin better. I also didn't have the faintest idea of how to battle. Spy training covered martial arts and self-defence, not Pokémon battles. However, if I declined then he would want to know why, so I sighed and reluctantly agreed to his suggestion.

Two minutes later we were stood opposite each other, with our pokémon out in front of us in the large green space which was the centre of Vaniville Town, and just in front of the Vaniville Town gate, Calem having briefed me on the basics of battling.

As I looked at Froakie and Calem, I couldn't help but observe how they both seemed a little uncertain with each other. Froakie kept glancing back at his trainer and Calem looked unsure of himself. However, they both seemed willing to work together and to get to know each other.

Next, I glanced at Fennekin. She stood tall – or as tall as she could get, anyway – in front of me with her ears pricked. She didn't look at me once. If I could have seen her face, then I was sure I would see stubbornness on it. How different she and I were compared to Calem and Froakie.

"Okay Froakie, let's start with Leer," Calem called out the first move. Leer? What did that do? I wondered, watching as Froakie narrowed his eyes at Fennekin. Fennekin seemed to shrink slightly as if intimidated. "Leer lowers your foe's defence," Calem explained upon seeing the confusion on my face.

"Oh, okay," I replied unenthusiastically. "Well, erm, Fennekin use Scratch," I called out to my pokémon. Acting on Calem's advice, I had checked my pokédex to see which moves Fennekin knew and what the effect of those moves were. To my annoyance Fennekin ignored my command, turned around so she was facing me, and began to wag her tail in Froakie's direction. "What is that supposed to be?" I glared at Fennekin. "Don't tell me you're going to win the battle just by wagging your tail at your opponent," I said sarcastically.

Fennekin stuck her nose in the air, still ignoring me. Great, not only did I get lumped with a pokémon I didn't want in the first place, but I got lumped with one that wouldn't listen to me.

"That was Tail Whip that Fennekin just used. Maybe she wants to try out some different moves?" Calem suggested. "She'll probably start listening to you soon. After all, she's probably just as eager to get to know you as you are to get to know her." Not eager at all, then. "Froakie, use Tackle," he ordered his little blue water pokémon.

Froakie began to hop towards Fennekin with a determined glint in his eye. "Fennekin, use Scratch," I tried again, but to no use. Fennekin simply sat there and took Froakie's tackle. The attack pushed her back, but she stayed on her paws. I glared at the back of her stupid cream head. "If you won't listen to me then we're going to lose this battle," I growled at her. Why wouldn't the insensitive thing just listen to me? "Now, use Ember!"

But again, Fennekin refused to listen, instead launching a Scratch attack on Froakie. "Oh, so you'll scratch him when you want to use Scratch but not when I want you to use Scratch?" I was getting more and more frustrated, but I tried to keep my cool as Calem didn't look in the least bit fazed. He actually looked excited, completely absorbed in the battle.

"Froakie, use Bubble and wrap this up." Looking up at me, Calem added, "You know, I thought you'd be a harder opponent to beat but I guess I was wrong."

"I thought you were supposed to be helping me, not taunting me, friend," I muttered under my breath.

Froakie's Bubble attack shot towards Fennekin. I yelled at her to dodge but just to spite me she stayed put and the attack hit her full on. I was surprised when she buckled though and fell to her knees. I thought she was tougher than that.

"I'm amazed Fennekin is still hanging in there," Calem remarked. "After all, water is super effective to fire." Oh. That's why Fennekin looked like she was on her last legs.

"One more Bubble should do it Froakie: you're doing great so far," Calem told his pokémon. Oh yeah, that's right, rub it in, I thought darkly. Just because you two are getting on so well…

"Froakie," Calem's pokémon croaked happily. He drew himself up for another Bubble attack but suddenly, a strange boy walked right into the middle of our makeshift battle field.

"Your Froakie looks strong," the boy commented. He had dark, spiky, chocolate-coloured hair and sea green eyes. His hands were stuck in his pockets and his clothes were casual. Under different circumstanced I might have found him handsome but I was too worked up at Fennekin to care about anything else.

"Thanks," Calem replied. "But we're in the middle of a battle," he said pointedly, slightly confused as the boy, who looked about our age, bent down to tickle Froakie's chin. The water pokémon lapped up the attention.

Ignoring Calem, the boy looked at me next. "So I guess that's your Fennekin?" he asked. Disdain coloured his tone as he stared down his nose at my pokémon.

"What's it to you?" I glared at him. So what if I didn't like Fennekin? That didn't mean he could disrespect her. She was my pokémon after all.

"Oh, nothing much. Just, she looks really weak. If you ever want to get more than a few steps further in life you're going to need to train her up a bit more," the boy said casually. Both Fennekin and I glared daggers at the boy.

"You really don't want to mess with me," I spat but he turned his back on me, focusing once more on Calem and Froakie. Fennekin let out an irritated hiss.

"On the other hand, your Froakie looks like he knows what he's doing. In fact, he's too good for a weak trainer like you," the boy told Calem.

Calem frowned. "What are you talking about?"

The boy smirked and picked Froakie up. Oblivious to his trainer's discontent, Froakie was still lapping up the boy's attention. "It means I'm taking this Froakie off you because I believe I will bring out his strengths more effectively that you ever could," he said smartly.

Then, the boy turned and marched right out of Vaniville Town with Calem's Froakie nestled in his arms.

"Hey! Get back here; you can't steal my pokémon!" Calem shouted after him, beginning to follow him. In answer the boy broke into a run, with Calem chasing after him.

I looked at Fennekin; Fennekin looked at me.

Maybe I couldn't do Pokémon battles, but I certainly could chase down the bad guy, (beat him up if need be) and return Calem's Froakie to him.

I started to run. Fennekin joined the chase, working her stubby little legs hard to keep up as I pounded over the earth in the direction of trouble.

This, I was good at.


Author's Note: I really enjoyed writing this, and I think it reads better now. Let me know if you have any comments to make and please review!

Thank you for reading,

~ Jay