Viola might not be Peter Parker, but even she can sense the imminent threat.
Each trainer only had one Pokémon, so the battle didn't take long. A few Embers from Juliet was all the skater's Zigzagoon could handle, but that meant nothing to the trainers. Serena was happy that she won her first official trainer battle, while the skater was happy that she had gotten to see one of Professor Sycamore's starters in real life.
"As promised," the skater said once Zigzagoon was back in its ball, "I'll take you to go get some skates of your own. You can get some for your boyfriend, too."
"He's not my boyfriend," Serena said at once.
"I'm not her boyfriend," Calem said at the same time.
The skater just laughed. "Fine, I'll buy it. I'm not sure Viola will, but you never know. Maybe her shipper sense won't be tingling this time." She started to lead Serena away, but Serena stopped to look back.
"You won't need my help to navigate the Gym, will you?" she asked, and Calem started to push her away.
"Rini, I've known you less than a day. I made it seventeen years without you, I think I can handle a few more hours." He waved as she left, pleased with himself. "And get me some skates, too! We'll cut our walking time in half if we both have wheels."
Once they were gone, he looked down at his two occupied Pokeballs. He wasn't completely sure, but he could have sworn at least one of them was laughing at him.
"Laugh all you want," he said, and meant it. "We're men! We don't need women to tell us what to do! Serena and Juliet can just wait their turn, because we are the newbie battle champions!"
"I need her help."
The statement would have gone unnoticed, if it hadn't been for the very tired Litleo glaring up at him as he'd said it. They all needed Serena's help right about now. Not because of anything that she could have done, but the fact that they had underestimated what was needed to take on a Gym. Calem could find nothing wrong with type-advantaging things, especially with Eddie learning Rollout to give himself a better shot. But borrowing Juliet would have come in handy, even if she did her own thing most of the time.
So he was more relieved than he'd admit when Serena showed up, carrying two pairs of skates over her shoulders. Calem immediately called her over.
"Great timing," he said, reaching for the extra skates. He didn't need them now, but it didn't hurt anything. "So, do you have any extra Potions? I don't want to have to go back to a Pokémon Center before I beat the Gym Leader."
"Or lose," Serena said, not seeming to care about her negativity.
"Before I beat the Gym Leader," Calem repeated, and she just smiled innocently. "Can I buy some off of you?"
"I wrote in the adventure tips that you should never run out of Potions," she pointed out, sticking her nose into the air. He pretended to be offended. "If you'd read that, you would have stocked up when we were at the Center."
"Well, maybe I'm poor and couldn't afford any more Potions. Did you ever think of that?"
"Well, maybe you should have battled more trainers on the road."
"I did battle trainers. That's why I'm offering to buy Potions from you instead of promising I'll pay you back." He held out his hands expectantly. "Please?"
Serena immediately reached into her bag and pulled out three Potions. "Here. Half my stock."
"You only have six Potions?"
"I only have one Pokémon," Serena reminded him.
Oh, right. "Well, then," Calem said, once again pretending nothing had happened, "let's get going. The Gym Leader won't be waiting on us forever."
"She's kind of obligated to," Serena said to herself, but she followed Calem once again, and this time, she promised herself that she would never leave his side again.
He needed looking after. He was good enough at battling to keep the bullies away, but someone had to make sure he didn't starve to death on the road because he forgot to eat.
Viola had greeted them with a warm smile and a camera to the face, taking her guests by surprise. Seemingly satisfied by how the picture had turned out, she held up the camera in triumph.
"Not good, but not bad," she said, before putting the camera back around her neck. "This is going right on my wall."
"Do you take pictures of all your challengers?" Calem asked, not sure if this woman was entirely sane.
"Not all," Viola said, as if she wasn't paying attention. "Just the ones that come with friends. You never know when Professor Sycamore might choose kids to save the world."
"How did you know we were chosen by Sycamore?" Serena asked.
"It wasn't that hard. I saw the boy battle a Gym trainer with a Chespin, so I put it together with the fact that it was that time of year. My sister always warns me when Professor Sycamore hands out starters, because that usually means I'm getting a challenger soon." She put the camera down, and chose her first Pokémon. "Now, which of you is my challenger?"
Serena pointed at Calem. Calem raised his hand halfway.
"Me."
Viola waited until Serena was safely away from the battle zone, and then tossed the ball. "Let's get it started, Surskit!"
A Surskit. A Water-type would definitely put his plan to have Litleo storm the place out of order. So, out of options, he reached for a ball.
"You're up, Eddie!"
Viola didn't let him take a chance. "Use Quick Attack!"
Well, at least it wasn't a Bug move. "Uh...Vine Whip." It was easier than calling a Rollout. The Bug typing might have given it a little resistance, but it wasn't enough to stop him.
Surskit took the hit, and Viola called for another Quick Attack. Calem retaliated with another Vine Whip. And the pattern repeated until Surskit lost the strength to continue and Eddie was rewarded with a Potion. When Viola sent out Vivillon, Calem didn't even try.
"Now switch to Rollout!"
Vivillon didn't stand a chance.
Viola handed Calem the Bug Badge, not even pretending to be upset at her loss. Eddie looked proud of himself, if a little dazed from when his last Rollout ran over Vivillon and carried him right into the wall.
"You've got potential, kid," she said, picking up her camera again. "Do you mind if I take another shot? The first one wasn't the best, and I always want to get good pictures for my wall."
"What wall?" Calem asked, not sure he wanted to know. "The main shots up there were all of scenery or Pokémon."
"Not my professional wall," Viola said, "my Wall of Suspects. There's a shipping web, of course, but you clearly aren't a couple. My shipper-sense isn't tingling. That doesn't mean it won't happen or even that it's unlikely, but I can pick up on official couples without even trying. Then there's the Pre-Mugshot Mugshots, but you two are going on the Professor list."
She said it as if she'd been working on those walls for years. Naturally, Calem turned her down.
"It's not that I won't save the world if I'm forced to," he said, "but there are plenty of other regions to have the whole supervillain thing. We can't be sure it's Kalos until something starts, can we?"
Viola lowered her camera. "I guess not," she admitted after a second. "Then I hope you two enjoy your journey. There's a Gym up in Lumiose City, which shouldn't be that far of a walk."
"Lumiose?" Serena seemed almost too excited. "I've heard it's a procrastinating trainer's dream! Cafés, shops, a place where they let you make your own video..."
"They what?" Calem had never heard of such a thing.
"Relax, they don't keep it. They give you a copy and delete the footage." She was almost shaking with excitement. "Can we, Calem? Please?"
He tried to resist. He really did. But it took all of four seconds before he agreed.
After all, Lumiose City was a procrastinating trainer's dream. Calem liked procrastinating. Adding it up, it sounded like a good time for both of them.
