AN: I expected to get this second chapter out much earlier than this, but I managed.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
It turned out that the building they had seen in the near distance was not floating. When they approached the large and elaborate double doors of the mansion on the water, a man dressed in a tuxedo came out. He introduced the mansion as the Pokemon Battle Chateau.
"Well can we go in then?" Calem said.
"I'm afraid, sir and madam, that this facility is an exclusive club, only for those who get a recommendation from another member. Therefore, you will not be able to enter unless you are expected," the butler said.
The Battle Chateau was indeed a place for the rich and powerful. The doors were open and Conelle could glimpse people in fanciful clothing. There were women wearing striking make-up and silken dresses and skirts. A few men in sight had tuxedos and suits.
After the butler gave his apologies he began to close the large doors. Suddenly from within Conelle heard a shout.
"Hey. Wait! Nathen open the doors back up," Conelle could hear a feminine voice calling from within the chateau. Also apparently the butler's name was Nathen.
The sudden shout from inside the chateau gave Conelle a start. She looked over at Calem who looked surprised himself. His eyes went wider than normal, the blue hues looking much larger now.
"Nathen I know that boy. Give me a minute outside would you?" said the mystery voice.
"Of course madam. I am merely here to be a good servant to the members of the Chateau That is what I'm payed for after all." the butler said.
The doors were wide open again, and Conelle could see a women stepping through. She came down the steps to meet the pair of trainers. The woman approached Calem.
"Hello Calem. It's nice to see you again. How is your journey coming along?" the woman said.
"It's going very well, thank you very much. I've gotten much stronger since our last battle," he said in answer.
The woman sidled up next to Calem and held onto his arm."Dear you don't have to impress me. You are already a much stronger trainer than I." she was staring right into his eyes, her face close to his. Then she tucked a loose locke of hair behind her ear. Calem smiled back at her response, he didn't even look bothered by the close contact.
Conelle could see that the two obviously knew each other. They looked to be on very friendly terms by the tone of the woman's voice, as well as her proximity to him. Conelle hadn't taken Calem to be in a romantic relationship. He seemed far too innocent, but then again, what did she know about that kind of thing?
However, now that she looked a little bit more closely at the women she realized that she seemed familiar. There was something about her that had a familiar ring to it. Conelle just couldn't quite place it.
Calem then turned to Conelle, and with a flash of a pleading look, said, "this right here is my girlfriend, Conelle say hello."
She stared at him for a minute. Not so very sure as to what to do. Then finally, Conelle walked over Calem and grabbed a hold of his left hand, which was free of the other woman's grip. She mustered her best false glare towards the woman. It might have looked convincing, but she wasn't entirely sure.
"Hello my name is Conelle, may I have the pleasure of your name?" Conelle said. Inwardly she was continually stabbing herself in the chest for going along with Calem, but what else could she do? There was always the option of leaving him to suffer.
The woman looked taken aback by this new occurrence. "W-why my name is Viola. Nice to meet you." There was an embarrassed blush on her face now.
"Likewise," Conelle said, frowning at Viola. Now she knew were she had seen that woman before. Viola was the name of the Santalune city gym leader. She was a powerful trainer, being a gym leader, and it sounded as if Calem had beaten her in a league sanctioned battle. So Calem has a badge? He doesn't look that strong.
"Well I was going to invite you both into the chateau, but I can see that you both are busy with your journey, and I wouldn't want to take time away from your life goals." Viola said, letting go of Calem and stepping back. She looked hurt, and frustrated, as if Conelle had just delivered a slap in the face, and she might as well have. "Au revior," Viola walked back up the stairs of the chateau and entered the mansion. The butler closed the door behind her and bowed to the pair.
Conelle scoffed, "What was that Calem?" she let go of his hand, and immediately moved away from him to make some distance.
"The embarrassment of being in a supposed relationship with you is nothing compared to dealing with her. Do you even realize that Viola is like four years older than me. I think it's illegal for her to even do that. You saved me from having to deal with her for the foreseeable future." Calem said. The embarrassment of being with me? What?
Conelle gave him a harsh look, "Whatever. Don't expect for me to cover for your ass again anytime soon. Lets just go before she comes back out. That act was mentally and physically exhausting." she said.
The day was beginning to wane. Conelle and Calem both continued to travel together. Through their shared experiences they seemed to be stuck together for the time being at least. The rest of the day passed without much consequence. In fact the walk for the rest of the day was almost boring for Conelle. She was refusing to talk to Calem, which didn't actually seem to bother him all that much. He looked as if he were now relishing in the silence that had- earlier in the day- been awkward.
The landscape did not change much either. The lake they walked along was a large one. The lakeside would be in view for at least another three days of walking. On the other side of the trail, was a field of flowers ranging in all colors, but yellow seemed the most prominent.
Soon the sun was setting, and Calem made the decision that they should camp. Conelle agreed with him, because she wanted time to prepare for her sleep. The pair walked off of the trail, closer to the lakeside, not so close as to be splashed, but close enough that Conelle could hear the gentle lapping of the waves in the mild wind.
They set about putting their tents together. Conelle had her little one person green tent, while Calem's tent was definitely large enough to allow spreading out. It was a deep black color. They set up their tents parallel to each other with space in between for a fire.
Calem dug a small fire starting kit out from his backpack and began preparing a small fire while Conelle lounged around. She had no idea what she was doing in this area of survival and decided to leave the fire to the man. He was engrossed in his work anyway. Any help she would try to give would be harm.
Conelle looked up at the late evening sky, which was beginning to turn dark. The sun was falling behind the horizon, illuminating the clouds in a beautiful manner. The clouds we layered with pink, purple, and orange. The colors rainbowed out from the setting ball of fire.
Soon Calem had a nice, warm fire burning. The warmth chased away the awakening chill promised by night. Long flickering shadows traveled around the small clearing they had cleared and shaped with the placement of their tents.
Finally Conelle broke her long silence between her and Calem. Calem had since spoken but Conelle did her best to ignore him.
"So, what are your plans for the future?" Conelle said.
"Well besides the research I'm obligated to do for Professor Sycamore, I fully intend to be the Kalos league champion. In order to do that I have to beat all the gym leaders. My journey to become champion fills the Pokemon research need as well. I will encounter many Pokemon in my travels, and possibly even discover new species." Calem said, as he poked at the fire with a stick. His jabbing at the fire caused small embers to float into the air.
Calem looked up from his fire and looked right into Conelle's eyes. " I know that my dreams seem big, but I know I can do it. It may just be my ego getting ahead of my actual ability, but I feel like my chances are high."
Conelle nodded, "Well it's always good to aim high. Even of you don't become champion, following your dream will take you to high places." she suddenly stared at Calem, "Calem, what are we going to do about food?"
"Don't worry, there is a small store set up a few hours away from here. It was on the map you can buy of the area," he said matter of factly.
"Well that doesn't help me now!" Conelle mumbled.
Needless to say, the two went without food for the night. They sat around Calem's campfire for awhile before Conelle retired to her tent to sleep. She had been forcing herself awake because she really did not feel like sleeping. Soon, however, she was no longer able to stay awake.
Conelle did not know how long Calem stayed awake, but he seemed like the kind of person to stay up late and feel fully refreshed in the morning.
Once inside the privacy of her tent, Conelle undressed herself down to her undergarments before unrolling her sleeping bag and slipping inside. Soon, any trace of chill left her body as the sleeping bag did it's job, and kept her warm. The lull of the lake's waves, combined with the light and occasional crackling of the fire sent her to sleep.
Later in the morning
Conelle and Calem were walking down the grassy trail, towards the cave that would lead to Ambrette town. She was holding onto her stomach for dear life and moaning. I'm so hungry. Conelle was far too stubborn to say anything anyway. She didn't think she would need to complain to Calem about what was wrong. He could probably tell what she was thinking at the moment anyway.
Soon they saw a pair of figures walking along they path. A rather large young man, though not terribly over weight, was a good size. Next to him stood a short boy at least half his size. The small one was- from what she could see- on a pokedex as they walked, his head buried in the research information included on the advanced machine.
Calem sped up his steps and looked like he was in pursuit of the pair of odd boys.
"Hey what are you doing?" Conelle said.
"I know those people, their friends from Aquacorde town, which is just an hour or two's walk from Vaniville," he said in response.
Conelle caught up to him and then matched his pace. Soon they were gaining on the pair of boys, who were still oblivious too their advances. They didn't, in fact notice Conelle and Calem until Calem wrapped both in his arms and shouted.
"Boo!"
They both jumped and shouted, turning on their heels in surprise. Calem let go so he wasn't drug around. The looks on their faces were full of surprise, but quickly melted away to warm and welcoming friendship.
"Gosh Calem, you nearly gave me a heart attack. What possessed you to do that?" the small boy said.
"Nothing," he said simply. What kind of answer is that?
"Enough of that, we're going to get back at you in the form of battle. Trevor and I will take you on. If we win we will forgive you, also, if we lose we will forgive you," the larger boy said, smiling.
"Uuh fine, I'll battle, it's against rules to deny battle to a challenger anyway. I have my own condition though. It will be a double battle, me and my friend Conelle here versus you, Tierno, and Trevor." Calem said exasperatedly.
"Deal!" Tierno said excitedly, "that sounds like a whole bunch of more fun than just me and Trevs beating you to a pulp."
"Well I don't know about getting beaten to a pulp but it sure would be an unfair battle," Calem said.
"Wait, what kind of person do you take me for? I'm not that much of a good trainer. Don't drag me into your petty fights Calem." Conelle said, but the battle had already begun.
Tierno, who Conelle recognized as the larger one, made the first move. He sent out a corphish, a lobster like Pokemon. It looked quite threatening. Following Tierno's move, the other three trainers in the battle sent out their Pokemon. Calem's first choice was his Pancham, which appeared in a flash of light, ready to tussle. Trevor sent out his flabébé.
Conelle was still very confused and had to be urged on by Calem into sending out her Pokemon. Eventually she did, calling upon the power of her Combee. The bee Pokemon flashed out ready for whatever her trainer called on her for, which in this case, was battle.
Calem made the opening move. He was the first to act. It was not necessarily because he was decidedly the first to go, but he started the match before anyone else could. It was a good strategy, starting off unexpectedly to gain the advantage.
"Pancham use low kick. Hit the corphish for all it's worth!"
Calem's panda Pokemon lept into action, sweeping forward towards corphish. The speeding Pokemon was nearing on succeeding.
"Uuh- Quick flabébé intercept Pancham's attack with vine whip. Stop him in his tracks!" Trevor jumped in to aid his partner for the battle.
With a cry flabébé sent out powerful plant vines to stop Pancham. The vines snapped around Pancham's leg and drug him to the ground, ending his attack, and saving Tierno's corphish. As quickly as it attacked, flabébé's vines retracted, leaving Calem's Pokemon on the ground.
Tierno acted, "corphish, swords dance and then use crab hammer!" corphish began to dance around in a small circle, then suddenly stopped. It charged blue energy into it's right claw and skittered towards Pancham. Conelle could hear the small noises that corphish made as it charged at Pancham.
"Get up and out of there Pancham!" Calem commanded. "Conelle, get Combee in there."
"O-okay. Combee, hold corphish back while Pancham escapes! Gust!" Conelle said, shouting. Combee obeyed and began to beat it's wings in a furious way. While the buzz of the wings was normally quiet until up close, Conelle could hear it as her Pokemon worked to create a powerful wind current to hold corphish back.
The gust did work and Pancham had enough time to escape. Corphish was blown over onto it's side were it was stuck. This was quite the predicament for Tierno. His corphish was virtually defenseless.
Once Tierno's only Pokemon was out of commission, and quickly disposed of by Calem's Pokemon, the battle went much more smoothly. Even though Conelle was of little help, more of a support role in the battle, they still did well. Pancham, being weak to the fairy type, was knocked unconscious by Trevor's flabébé. It was all over once his Frogadier came onto the scene.
"Frogadier use pound on the flabébé!" Calem said. Immediately his Pokemon obeyed and jumped into action. The pound attack alone sent Trevor's Pokemon into unconscious.
Trevor sent out his final Pokemon, pikachu. "pikachu use thundershock!" Trevor said.
Pikachu charged a bolt of electricity and fire at calem's Frogadier. The attack knocked Frogadier off of it's feet.
"Get up Frogadier I know you have more than that in you. Use water pulse!" Calem shouted. Frogadier obliged.
The battle did not last much longer, and Conelle did not do much else. Her only great contributing factor was stopping corphish. She did not know how much of an impact her help had had in the battle, but that didn't matter. There was fun to be had in it and she was pretty sure that was the reason why they battled.
"Nice battle," Calem said, "you guys have improved since last time. Sorry about taking you out so early on in the battle Tierno."
"No need to worry. I got to see the awesome choreography of the battle without having to focus on the battling aspect of battle." Tierno said, smiling.
Conelle turned to Calem, "why did you make me do that? You could have handled that just fine on your own, I literally did one single thing."
"Well I had to make the battling odds even, and I couldn't have won the battle all alone. Corphish would have destroyed my whole team if you hadn't knocked him over."
Conelle just humphed.
They left Tierno and Trevor, going their separate ways. It was not long now that they would come upon the pass that led to Ambrette town. All that was left before a small caving adventure was to climb a steep hill, a steep hill that was painfully long.
Conelle look up and could barely see the top of what she now categorized as a mountain. Up on the top she could see the figures of a few trees. They looked to be very far away. So far, almost, to not be worth such a hike.
"Hey Conelle stop staring at the top of the hill. Let's just climb it and get it over with. I want to be on the other side of the cave before nightfall, which is just a few hours away you know. I don't know about you but I would rather not have to tangle with the thousands of Zubat that are awake at night."
"Uh okay. I guess you have a point." Conelle said quietly.
They made the ascent to the top of the mountain. The journey to the top left Conelle exhausted. She was gasping before they were even half of the way to the top. Calem on the other hand seemed to be just fine. Not even effected in the slightest by the exertion.
"Are you okay Conelle? You don't look so hot right about now..."
"Does it look like I'm fine? I'm dying here, while you're over" *gasp* "there all fine and dandy like this climb is nothing but a joke."
Calem stopped his climb to look over at the struggling Conelle. "Well if you need to rest, just say it and we can stop here for the night, and not get any more traveling done, and have to finish this hill in the morning."
"No no, I would rather complete the pain right now rather than spread it out in slightly less lethal doses." she gasped out, before sucking in more of the necessary air.
They continued to trudge on, but the longer they walked the further from the top of the mountain she was, the further it looked like they had to go. Soon she gave in and sat herself down. Less of any kind of graceful thing and more like she just plopped down like she had fallen.
"No I can't do it. It's too much for my poor little body to handle. Calem you have been on your journey for nearly two months longer than I. Of course you have much more endurance." Conelle said, crying out in despair.
"Don't you think that you are being a bit melodramatic? This is a bit much even if you are sore and tired. I'm pretty worn out myself," Calem said, frowning down at the prone Conelle.
Conelle just continued to be stubborn and lied on the ground. Quickly she hatched a devious plan as she lay in the fetal position on the ground. It was a truly evil creation, but she knew it would work. Conelle smiled.
She got up ignoring the soreness she felt and turned to Calem. Before she actually committed the act she thought about what she was about to do. What if this makes another awkward and embarrassing situation? I don't need another one of those with Calem. Twice is plenty enough and I shouldn't have even had one. Well here it goes.
"Calem, catch me!" She said.
"Huh?" he had been turned with his back facing Conelle, now he turned around. What he saw was a girl charging him.
Conelle jumped forward right at Calem. He reacted quickly catching Conelle in his arms. She had jumped in a way to land in his arms bridal style. The contact of her body forced him to bend his legs to take the impact.
"What the heck are you doing Conelle?" Calem said, shouting in surprise.
"Well I decided that because you wanted to continue on and into the cave, I came up with a solution. Because I want to rest you can carry me, and we both get what we want, except you have to work harder." Conelle smiled, and laughed.
Calem just sighed. Then, he re-began the trudge up the mountain. Conelle was snuggled up in his arms, which was making the climb a great deal more difficult for him. Calem was beginning to sweat just a little. It was enough to be noticeable, if Conelle was paying attention, which she wasn't.
Soon Conelle drifted into sleep in his arms. She couldn't help but to lose consciousness. His body was so very warm and cozy. She slept for the rest of the trip up.