Author's Note: So yeah, hello everyone who decided to read this. Welcome to Chapter 1, basically, of All The Lonely People. As I said, after the prologue, chapters will become longer and here I am fulfilling my promise. Thank you to Palkiajack for reviewing and mylifesahell for the favourite. Anyway,

Allons-y!


4 Weeks Later

Serena sat on one of the padded chairs in Professor Sycamore's office, fists clenched tightly on her knees. She couldn't stop Lysandre. She had been weak and because of that, she had let Lysandre walk away. Serena suddenly had become obsessed with the need to become stronger. To live up to people's expectations and not disappoint them. So she trained everyday, pushing her Pokemon to their limits. Most of her team had evolved now, Frogadier became Greninja, Wartortle became Blastoise, and Combusken became Blaziken. She trained her Blastoise and Lucario hard when it came to their Mega Evolutions, making them even stronger than ever. Her pokemon understood how she felt and happily complied with whatever she wanted them to do.

The professor paced back and forth in front of his desk, mumbling and talking to himself. He still couldn't believe it but he could not deny that he had noticed that Lysandre had been acting quite strange lately and the attack on the Research Lab confirmed that. Every time they talked, the red-haired man would always mention something about preserving beauty and would try to get him to join Team Flare.

Before the attack he remembered how Lysandre had just talked to him. They talked about Mega Evolution and the research that he had gathered.

"I guess I should have known something about Lysandre's involvement especially before the assault on the lab. Right before he walked out of the front door, he placed his hand on my shoulder and apologised." Sycamore said.

"He apologised?" Serena asked.

The professor nodded, "Yes but when I asked him why he just smiled sadly then left."

"Maybe it was because you two had a history together."

"Perhaps." Sycamore said thoughtfully.

"Well, what are we going to do now, Professor?" Serena asked after a while.

The professor scratched his head, "Well, we can't do much but resume where we had left off I suppose."

The young trainer stood up, her fists still clenched at her sides, "But what about Lysandre? What are we going to do about him?"

Sycamore bent down a little to level with Serena, his face just a few inches away from hers, "I know you feel responsible for letting him roam free but nobody is blaming you. You have to understand that. Continue on with your journey, defeat the Elite Four, become Champion,"

Serena winced when he mentioned being Champion but the professor didn't notice, "Worry about him later. From what I gather, he's put his operation to a stop."

Serena looked up, "He did? Why? Where did you get this information? Are you toying with me?"

The professor laughed, "No, I am not toying with you. I've sent Dexio and Sina to investigate. I'm sure you've met them already. They're quite a pair those two."

At the mention of those two names, Serena perked up and relaxed, "Oh you mean that couple dressed all in white?"

"Right, those two. Anyway, with the halt of his operation, I'm sure you have enough time to go on ahead and complete you journey throughout Kalos," Sycamore straightened up, "Go on then. The world awaits you."

Serena stood there and gave him a worried look, "But. . ."

"But what?" Sycamore questioned.

"Nothing. But nothing." She replied, suddenly afraid of telling him what she really felt.

"You can always tell me whatever it is that's bothering you." Sycamore tucked Serena's dark brown hair behind her ear, making her blush furiously.

The blushing trainer stared at Professor Sycamore and he stared back waiting for a response. Silence fell over them as they both tried to read each other's expressions.

One of his assistants knocked on the door causing the two to jump, "Professor? One of the Pokemon has been acting strongly to the stone that we'd uncovered. We thought maybe you'd like to check it out."

Sycamore cleared his throat, "I-I'll be out there in a minute."

Serena grabbed her bag from the chair and placed her navy blue felt hat on her head, "Uh, I guess I'll be heading out now," She walked towards the door and flashed him a smile albeit she was hesitant on resuming her journey, "Thank you. . . Professor. For everything you've done for me in the past couple of months."

The professor wavered for a bit and grabbed her sleeve just as she was about to walk out the door, "Serena."

The young girl looked back at him to see a bewildered look on his face, "Yes, Professor?"

Truth be told, he didn't know what he wanted to say. He acted on impulse and now she was looking at him curiously, "Good luck and safe travels. I'd like to have you back here in one piece," He let go of her sleeve.

Sycamore mentally kicked himself. He felt extremely embarrassed.

Serena chuckled, "Oh, wow I thought it was something deathly serious. Don't worry, Professor. I'll make it back alive," she straightened her coat, 'Hopefully', she added in her thoughts.

The dark-haired man sighed, "That's good to hear."

'Serena patted the professor's arm, "I'll be back soon. If you need me just send me a message through my Holo Caster, okay?"

And with that Serena turned and left, leaving Sycamore to realise that it had been the first time she's smiled and laughed since that fateful day.


Serena walked out of the Pokemon Lab and out into the cool air and loud buzz of Lumiose City. She stretched for a bit before heading to Route 14. She decided to stop by the Pokemon Centre to stock up on some materials since she was running low. When she got there she heard the ring of her Holo Caster and checked the message from Calem.

The hologram of her best friend shone bright, "Hey Serena! Professor Sycamore sent me a message to tell me that you were resuming your adventure again and I thought maybe you'd want to battle with me. I'm at Route 14. Let's meet up there, okay?"

Serena smiled softly to herself, some things just never change. She quickly bought Hyper Potions, Ultra Balls, Revives and Full Restores then headed towards the gate to Route 14. Once she went through it, she spotted her dark-haired friend waiting by the slide nearby.

She ran to him and hugged him, "Calem! Hey, I would've thought that you'd be at Anistar City by now, grabbing your seventh badge."

He chuckled nervously and let her go, "Well, I kind of uh put a standstill to my journey when I found out that you did as well."

The smile left Serena's face as quickly as it came, "Why? Why would you do that? Why would you stop just because I did?"

"I stopped because I didn't see what the point was if I couldn't live up to you," Calem replied, confused by the turn of events.

Serena was silent. She hated when people said that. She absolutely hated it. Why did people have to measure their strength by hers? They're always telling her that she would be the one to save them all. The one they could call Champion. It was a burden she had to bare. A burden she had to bare alone. In the end she'll just end up disappointing them and let the culprit walk away.

She didn't respond to him, making Calem worry. He thought he saw fury in her eyes but shrugged it off, "Serena? Are you all right?"

The young trainer nodded idly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Just. . . thinking," She grabbed Greninja's pokeball, "So how about that battle?"

Calem smiled, oblivious, "Heh. You'd better watch out Serena. My pokemon became a lot stronger these past few weeks."

Serena cocked an eyebrow, "Oh boy, I am trembling in my boots."


"Sir? The girl's Holo Caster is active."

Lysandre sat on his seat, which was more of a throne really, and nodded, "Play the message."

The grunt complied and transferred the hologram onto the centre of the globe.

The image of the young boy Serena often battles with came up, "Hey Serena! Professor Sycamore sent me a message to tell me that you were resuming your adventure again," Upon hearing this, Lysandre stood up, "I thought maybe you'd want to battle with me. I'm at Route 14. Let's meet up there, okay?"

The message ended and Lysandre walked towards one of the large screens, "Bring up the footage from Camera 2 in Route 14. Hurry."

The grunt nodded, "Here it is, sir."

The image of Serena and her friend talking came up on the screen.

"Why? Why would you do that? Why would you stop just because I did?" Serena didn't look too happy.

The boy, confused by the sudden change in her expression, replied, "I stopped because I didn't see what the point was if I couldn't live up to you."

He saw how angry and hesitant she was. She trained and trained just to beat him but the because of that the strength of her Pokemon had grown a reputation so large that even people outside of Kalos wanted to battle her. They all knew what she was capable of. Everyone would always talk about her becoming the next Champion. It was a conversation that had become a regular at the dinner table. Lysandre's interest had been piqued from the first moment he saw her. He noticed a certain fire in her eyes. A fire that he could certainly use in Team Flare.

Now all he had to do was get inside her head.


There we go, Chapter 1 is done.

If you felt like this was still too short then don't worry! These chapters will gradually become longer and longer.

As always, reviews are appreciated. Please tell me how I can improve upon this story.

Smut will come later.

Again, I will try to update regularly.

Tomorrow, though, I probably won't be able to update since my family's doing something. We'll see.

So yeah.

'Til the next chapter!