"All teens have the desire to somehow run away."

-Joan Chen


Vallée Étroite Way stretched far to the southeast, over the bridge that spanned the river and to the old mines of Terminus Cave beyond. It was a warm, windy day with the sun beaming in a cloudless sky. The breeze whistled through the grass and scrub and kicked up dust as it wound its way on the bare slopes of the mine. Sunlight glinted off the metallic exoskeletons of the durant hordes as they swarmed in and out of their mounds. Not far off a pair of lairon were having at each other over a choice bit of iron with a clang! clang! of armored heads. All in all, it was a typical summer day for the area as Serena set out on the road.

Her bicycle left a long wobbly line on the packed dirt as she went. With her mouse brown hair cropped back into a pixie cut, the air whooshed right past her ears as the girl leaned into the next narrow turn. Gloved hands gripped the handlebars tightly as she pedaled double time to build up speed. Serena's eyes shone with a daredevil's thrill as she just managed to avoid careening off the main road into the rushing river below. Her laughter echoed across the valley.

"Gain way!" she squealed as she swerved to avoid running over a napping graveler. It growled after her in irritation but otherwise could not be roused to moved from its resting place. The girl continued to almost bump into a number of trainers and wild pokémon alike, tossing breathy apologies over her shoulders.

"Whoa there! Sorry! Mind your head! Excuse me! Careful! Coming through!" She rode like a tornadus on a storm front, scattering and disrupting everything in her wake. In spite of her giggling and unshakeable smile, her frantic pace resembled that of one being chased. And, she was being chased by a most infamous predator indeed: reality.

Those nagging reminders and obligations pursued and nipped at her tirelessly. Everything that had happened at Geosenge stuck stubbornly with her, though it had been nearly a month since the incident. She could scarcely think of Team Flare or its enigmatic boss or the apocalypse they had almost succeeded in bringing about and not instantly become angry, sad, and just plain angsty.

Lately she could hardly stand to be around anyone save her own pokémon. The girl could not even talk with Shauna or Calem or any of her friends without feeling the intense, frightening urge to bite their heads off. Her fuse was dangerously short. For goodness sake, an electrode had a better temper than she did!

None of them deserved it, though; they were not the reason she felt so... furious? depressed? lost? So she had begun avoiding them like the plague for a few weeks now.

After what happened with Tierno, she could not muster up the nerve to face any of those close to her. Shame burned at her cheeks and ruddied her face when she thought of how she had made the aspiring choreographer cry. Her spiteful, thoughtless words had cut the boy's sensitive heart to ribbons. His tears, Shauna's shocked gasp, Trevor's face drawn up in a scowl of anger and indignation for his friend's sake - the memories were permanently imprinted on her brain and played ad infinitum in her dreams when she slept.

Serena had not spoken with any of them since, not even over the holo caster. Her personal caster buzzed in her satchel a few dozen times a day with incoming calls, each unheeded and unanswered. To her surprise and chagrin, everyone seemed to have left her at least one message concerned about her whereabouts and safety. Even Tierno - Arceus bless him - had tried several times to get into contact with her.

"Baby girl, we're all so worried. I understand if you don't want to pick up right now... just know that we all care about you and are here if you need us."

"Hey, Serena. Calem here. I get that you're in a rough spot after what happened at Geosenge, but can't you give us some sign that you're all right?"

"Serena? It's Professor Sycamore. Mon dieu, why won't the girl pick up... The others say you won't return their calls, that they haven't seen you in two weeks. If you haven't fallen off the face of the earth, at least send me or one of your friends a message. I've been at that age before, so I won't call it selfish, but still... If you're feeling hurt, the rest of us are hurting at least half as much worrying over you. Tierno is absolutely beside himself right now. The poor boy blames himself for your disappearance..."

"I'm s-s-sorry, Serena! P-please come b-back! If... if you're still mad, you c-c-can scream at me all you l-l-l-like. J-just c-c-come back..."

She always teared up when she replayed the last one. It took every ounce of willpower not to send an earnest reply, begging for their forgiveness. That, or just smash the caster and be done with it. The fact was, though, she did not trust herself around them. She was afraid she would lose it again. Sycamore was right that she was hurting them, but Serena knew that would only hurt them even more by sticking around.

Guilt was part of the problem, but it was not all that was tearing her up inside. Until she had worked out exactly what was wrong with her and fixed the problem, she was staying clear.

In the end she did leave a recording for her inbox. The message was not particularly long or informative, but it would have to do. Maybe it would finally stop them from calling.

"You've reached Serena," it said. "I can't talk to anyone right now... but I'm okay. I have some things I have to take care of before I come back. I will come back. I promise."

With the screwy logic of a teenager, Serena fancied that if she were only fast enough she could leave it all far behind, never to bother her again. Of course, everything always caught up with her in the end. Even a flighty spirit like her own could not keep running forever.


At last she collapsed on the rough turf bordering the path, throwing the yellow bike on its side as she dismounted. She plopped down on her backside with an exasperated, exhausted sigh. Dust coated her faded jeans and, well, almost every part of her. Shedding her navy blue windbreaker she vigorously shook out the article clothing. Folding it up and placing it behind her head, she eased back to recline against her satchel. Sweat beaded on brow from her run, and she wiped it away with a flick of her hand.

Ugh, I'm gross. Wonder if I can get a decent shower at the center in Couriway... Serena's tuckered legs refused to carry her anywhere at the moment, though. She fingered the pokéballs at her belt. The gang might as well get out and stretch a bit. I'm certainly not going to be moving anytime soon.

"Alrighty, guys, come on out!" She threw one after the other into the air, watched each expand and spout that bright energy to materialize into the familiar forms of her team.

Caesar was the first to appear, shaking the ground with his monstrous weight as he dropped on his two feet. The pale feathery fluff covering his neck and lower jaw bristled as he yawned. Or rather, roared. There was no telling with the tyrantrum. Every sound from that razor teeth-lined mouth sounded equally grumpy.

Serena's venusaur and gardevoir were next, named Coatl and Guinevere, respectively.

'Ginny' made her entrance with all the cool grace her species so naturally commanded. The skirt-like appendages flared about her before settling and, refined lady that she was, not so much as a speck of dirt marred the pristine whiteness. Quick as a whip and light as a leaf, she twirled out of the way as Coatl landed in the spot she had just occupied.

The squat grass-type croaked rather like a toad as he landed, and it was surprising that he did not make a squishy splat! sound with his great bulk. However, he had a certain chubby charm with his goofy grin and chortling call that could always bring a smile to his trainer's face.

Making a less flashy appearance out of her pokéball was the strong and silent type of the crew, Brunhilde. The lucario had been a stoic she-warrior since she had first met Serena over half a year ago on Route 5. Brunhilde scanned her surroundings briefly before spying and moving for a promising-looking boulder on which to stand for her daily meditation.

Last of all was the one that had been with Serena the longest. With an exhalation of heat redolent of cinnamon incense, Minerva sat down quietly next to her trainer. The signature flame of the delphox burned as a torch on the end of the long branch. Curiously enough, the wood was never consumed by the fire no matter intensely it burned in and out of battle.

"Kriii?" Serena glanced over at her starter. The maroon fur of Minerva's legs were bunched up as she crouched, staring into the ethereal flame on her wand. While she did not look at the human, the delphox ears flicked this way and that in Serena's general direction.

"No, Min, I'm fine." Of course, she was not speaking with the fire-type, not in the sense of an actual language, anyway. Nor did she understand the delphox's growls and whines as coherent words, per say. Still, there was a conversation of sorts going on between human and pokémon. Minerva's face had never been terribly expressive, but the girl had learned to read her partner's moods in her posture. In this instance, the fluffy tail waving slowly side to side and the large ears twitching incessantly indicated worry for Serena.

Her tail kept its slow wagging from side to side. "Kriiiii..." came the unconvinced 'reply.'

Serena laughed in spite of herself. Nothing ever got past Minerva, or Guinevere for that matter. Psychic pokémon seldom missed anything, especially with the trainers with whom they worked on a daily basis. That included the violet-and-white sphere Serena toyed with absentmindedly in her lap.

"I keep meaning to do it," the girl mused aloud, raking a hand through her short hair. Her gaze pointedly avoided the master ball. "I really do. But every time I try, when I'm just about to throw it..." Sighing, she slid further on her satchel until she lay entirely on the grass. The pokéball remained clutched at her chest and disappeared into the grey wrinkles of her sweat soaked T-shirt.

"I remember it. I remember it almost killing you before I captured it..." Again she turned to look at Minerva, but the delphox only continued peering at the fire at the mention of the near-death experience. If she thought anything of the Oblivion Wing attack that had incapacitated her and kept her unconscious for three days, she did not show it.

Shivering, Serena tried not to think too long or hard on the living myth she carried with her. Chills ran down her spine at the mere memory of facing the yveltal. While she battled against it bravely enough, the truth was she had been scared witless of it, still was. The sheer, horrifying power the beast exuded was enough to give her nightmares. If half the myths were true, Serena had a good reason to be leery and wary: yveltal was the physical manifestation of death itself.

Though it was irresponsible and neglectful of her as a trainer, she had been too afraid to let yveltal out of its pokéball afterwards. She regretted not passing the behemoth off to Professor Sycamore when he had made the offer. There had once been some foolhardy notion in her mind to care of it herself, but what did a teenage rookie know about handling a destructive and life-leeching creature like that? Absolutely nothing, that was what.

So, until she figured out what do with yveltal, it would be locked up tight in the confines of the master ball and would stay there indefinitely.

"I remember seeing it for the first time in the Team Flare base," she continued, "and then that makes me think about Team Flare and everything... just everything that they did or tried to do." Brows narrowing as she spoke, her hold on the pokéball tightened a bit. "So many people and pokémon got hurt because of those glorified fashionista punks. And for what? Because of their leader's so-called 'vision' for a better world. Huh, some world!"

By now her lips had drawn up in a snarl, and her eyes sparked with an on-coming rage. "It's not even like Lysandre ever stopped to think about what anybody else wanted or needed. All that garbage about 'beauty' and 'giving' and humans messing up the world- I mean, I get that and all, but that was all he ever talked about! For Arceus' sake, his head was so far up his own ass that he refused to see anything else.

"And what a hypocrite! One minute he's going on about how pokémon are wonderful and everything and how people exploit them, and at the same time he's using them to power up that doomsday weapon from hell. Oh, so it's wrong when others do it, but when Team Flare does the same thing it's something grand and wonderful?"

Ranting, a distant part of her knew that she was quickly and irrationally spiraling into a frenzy, the same kind of manic frenzy that had ended with Tierno in tears and her running away. At the same time she could care less. So what if she was getting angry for no good reason? Serena needed to get her feelings out one way or another, or she was liable to spontaneously combust on the spot. "That abomasnow, those rhydon and the others... they had the life literally getting sucked out of them.

"That poor yveltal had it the worst of all, y'know? If it hadn't woken up, I think they were going to let it die." Angry tears started pooling and falling down her cheeks. She tore her fierce gaze down to look at the master ball that contained the very 'Destruction Pokémon' of which she spoke. Launching up into a sitting position, Serena curled her body around the ball. It was as if, in spite of her fear of it, she sought to protect the legendary creature within from people like Lysandre and his lackeys who would seek to use and hurt it.

All the pent-up frustration and stress that she had spent the afternoon trying to ride off came rushing back with a vengeance. The teenager shot to her feet so fast that Minerva actually glanced up in mild alarm. "Kri?" Serena was too far gone, and she did not register any of her pokémon, did not see how they all had turned to their trainer as her temper escalated.

"I almost wish that Lysandre didn't go up in the explosion," she growled. "If that hadn't destroyed him already, I- I-" Trembling and seething, Serena's pupils contracted to pin pricks. "I would have killed him myself!" An inhuman yell ripped from her throat. Blindly she threw the nearest object at hand, trying to throw the maelstrom of feelings and urges boiling in her chest with it.

A split second too late she realized her mistake.

Serena's anger instantly transformed into horror as the ball went flying. In a flash, the yveltal within emerged into the world with an ear-splitting cry. Electric blue eyes instantly caught the girl's own, and in their depths was a promise of retribution - and death.


A/N: Oh my. Serena, honey, what have you gotten yourself into now?

I've always understood the characterizations for the "player" characters to be subjective, so I've tried to apply that logic in writing Serena's character. If she comes across as an angsty teenager who gets mad too easily and lacks a great deal of empathy and perspective, that's good. That's what I intended for her (at least initially).

Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! I hope to have an update out in a week or so, so be sure to stay posted. Have a lovely day~ c:

-Xen