TRAINER TIP: If anything inconvenient happens at all, it is automatically the responsibility of Pokedex carriers to deal with it. Calem and Serena don't understand that yet.

Not long after meeting Korinna, Calem and Serena teamed up against a pair of twins, and Serena caught herself a Pancham. After a moment of consideration, she decided not to name him Po, and carried him in her arms until they met up with Trevor and Tierno. They seemed to be talking about something exciting that must have happened when our heroes were distracted.

"Horde battles are scary," Trevor said, panting from running so much. "That is the last time I fight more than two opponents at once."

"They're weak," Tierno disagreed. "Our Pokémon overpowered them. It's more like a dance team than an ambush."

"Horde battles?" Calem asked, not entirely sure he wanted to know.

"Five wild Pokémon against a single trained one," Serena answered anyway. "It's a thing here in Kalos, actually taught in trainer's schools."

Well, that explained some of it. "Horde battles?" Calem repeated, weaker this time. "I don't think just one of my Pokémon can stand up to five."

"It doesn't happen often," Tierno promised. "You can probably handle them. Speaking of dancing..."

He had that look in his eye. Calem sent out Eddie before he even made the challenge official.

"Good job, buddy," Calem said once his Quilladin had taken down Tierno's Corphish. He pulled out a small container of Pokepuffs that his mother had given him, and handed Eddie a bright orange one.

"Great footwork, Corphish," Tierno said as he called his own Pokémon back to the ball.

"You really can't think of anything other than dance moves, can you?" Trevor asked critically, but healed Corphish anyway.

Tierno wasn't even offended. "Nope," he said, letting Corphish back out to show off its skills, as Serena applauded politely. "I'm going to assemble the world's greatest Pokémon dance team. You know that, don't you?"

"You might have mentioned that."

Calem looked over at his traveling companion. "I don't think we heard your dream," he said, and Serena faked innocence. "It can't really be to shop at all the 'cool' boutiques in Kalos, could it?"

"It could," Serena insisted.

"But you could have any dream in the world!" Calem gestured to the sky. "You could do any logical thing you can imagine, like finding your biological parents or going into the Hall of Fame, and you choose shopping?"

"Shopping, sightseeing...all of the lame tourist stuff." She smiled innocently. "I can't help it, I've always been happiest when traveling. I've never gone farther than Lumiose, I've never even gone anywhere without adult supervision before. I'm just trying to enjoy myself."

Something about that seemed like a lie, but it was perfectly in line with the Serena that Calem had seen so far. He decided to let it go.

Calem and Serena took turns battling the trainers on Route 5, and they had fun doing it. It was almost sad when they reached Camphrier Town and the battles had to stop.

They walked into the Pokémon Center to heal, and were immediately dragged into a conversation that they had never thought they'd hear.

"Do you kids know how to wake up a Snorlax?" the nurse asked. "I've tried shouting, battling, Awakenings, but nothing seems to work."

"Of course not," Serena said, as if it were obvious. "Only a special flute can wake up a Snorlax in the middle of the road. Where is it sleeping?"

"In the road just past Parfum Palace."

"Then we suggest that someone find a flute before people start actually sending complaints to the Champion. He or she won't be pleased about the lack of strong challengers."

"Or you can find the flute for me," the nurse suggested hopefully.

"Absolutely not." Serena linked her arm with Calem's. "We're going to see Shabboneau Castle. I've never played a flute before." She looked up at her companion. "Have you?"

"I've played a make-believe guitar and a real-life trombone," he said, and shuddered as he remembered his brief time in the band at his old school. "I'm never doing that again, just so we're clear."

"I'm not even going to ask." Serena reached for her Fennekin and Pancham, letting Calem's arm go so he could pick up his own Pokémon.

The nurse smiled innocently. "Shabboneau Castle is a Kalos landmark," she said happily. "I'm sure you'll enjoy yourselves. Young couples always do."

Serena immediately jumped back. "We're not a couple," she said quickly. "We're just traveling together."

"I'm sorry." She didn't look it, though, and suggested that they head out to Parfum Palace next, as it was 'better' than Shabboneau Castle. Whatever she meant by that, they were already on their way.

Shauna was there already, and she had apparently made friends with the tour guide in the three minutes she had been there. Seeing Calem and Serena, she immediately decided to introduce them.

"Two more visitors?" The man sounded surprised. "I can't remember the last time we've been so busy!"

"This was the manor of a noble family years ago," Shauna explained for him. "I'm trying to figure out how they've kept it standing this long."

"It is true that Kalos hasn't had royalty in centuries," the man finished, "but the nobility did not end immediately after the Great War. Someone had to clean up the mess, and legend has it that the brother of the mad king managed to suppress the natural outrage that followed such an event. The castle has had repairs before it became a tourist destination, and certainly before it got cleaned out."

"Cleaned out?" Serena repeated, looking around. The castle was barely decorated, true, but she'd thought it was because the place had been looted when the noble family left. "Where did the current owners put it?"

"Where do you think?" The guide waved his arms in the general direction of Parfum Palace. "The owners of the castle gave away a lot of their things, and as a result we have the Parfum Palace. And, as a result of that, we here at Shabboneau Castle are having a hard time keeping the place open for business."

There was a moment of silence. None of the Pokedex carriers knew how to respond to such an announcement. "What about Mega Evolution?" Shauna asked, changing the uncomfortable subject. "Do you have anything related to it here?"

The guide stared at her as if she'd sprouted a third nostril. "Mega Evolution? What's that?"

Calem gave him the exact same look. "Where have you been?" he asked, ignoring the fact that he had also been oblivious to it until Professor Sycamore had brought it up. He was new to Kalos, it was a valid excuse for him. "The region's professor studies it, I thought it was something all of Kalos knew!"

"Maybe it's only recently been made public knowledge," Shauna suggested, quick to give everybody the benefit of the doubt. "You know, something only Champions could learn."

Serena shook her head. "My parents would have warned me."

"Then maybe it was a cult," Shauna said, changing theories as easily as flipping a switch. "Only those who had taken Initiation could be given a chance, and then somebody escaped with the knowledge and taught it to non-members, where it got the professor's attention." She shrugged. "I heard it's a big deal over in Hoenn, too."

Before the guide could even open his mouth, somebody else arrived. He was not a tourist. He looked the guide right in the eyes and said two little words: "It's back."

"Back?" The guide shook his head. "Why does it always choose Pokedex season to come back?"

And he was gone without a goodbye.

Shauna frowned. "What's back?" she asked, and Calem and Serena made awkward eye contact.

"The Snorlax, I guess," Calem finally said. "We heard the nurse complaining about it."

"So our journey's going to end because a Snorlax decided to nap in the road?" Shauna didn't seem to like the sound of that. "Can't we do something about it?"

Calem and Serena both thought it over. "I have an idea," Calem said after a moment, "but we're going to need grappling hooks."