Calem should be glad he's not the protagonist of a video game. Oh wait...
They did not find a grappling hook, but they certainly tried. Instead, they found the man from the castle, reluctantly empty-handed and hoping for a better solution, but he had not moved the Snorlax from its position.
"The end of the world couldn't wake it," he was complaining. "How are we supposed to do anything about it?"
"A Pokeflute?" Calem was not in the mood to put up with this stalling. "That seems to be the only thing that energizes a Snorlax enough to get it up off its giant-"
"Do you have one?" Serena cut him off before he could finish it with a word that he should not say in front of Shauna's innocent ears.
"I did once," the man said, "but I handed it over to the owner of Parfum Palace. If you kids could run and get it for me, I could play it and move the Snorlax."
"Or you could hire a forklift and move it yourself," Serena pointed out, but Shauna laughed.
"Come on, Rini," she teased. "I thought you liked exploring."
"Exploring is one thing. Forced missions are another thing entirely."
The man seemed to have selective hearing, as he quickly turned it on the kids. "You're Professor Sycamore's chosen few, aren't you?" he asked, and, when none of them spoke up, he assumed it was a yes. "If you can go to the Parfum Palace and get my Pokeflute, I'll play it and wake up this thing. Then you can go ahead and go on your way."
Calem had to think. On the one hand, this was not his problem, and he did not want to make it so. On the other, he had learned that ridiculous roadblocks like the one he was currently experiencing were a natural part of video games, so there was a chance that this could be an important sidequest. He doubted he'd get an extra life or a weapon to deal twice the damage to monsters that tried to kill him, but the possibility of rare items was still there.
"I'll get your Pokeflute," he decided. "And in exchange, you tell me where I can find a grappling hook."
Calem led the girls down a small yet oddly clear path, the three of them taking turns battling tourists until Juliet evolved into Braixen. Parfum Palace was just on the other side of the path, and Shauna had to admit to reliving her childhood princess phase when she walked through the gates with her head held up high.
Even Serena had to jokingly give a princess wave, which was mirrored by Juliet as the Pokémon got used to walking on two legs. Eddie hadn't lied, it really was easy to grasp. It almost made her wonder what took human babies so long.
"I want this guy's life," Calem said, as simply as if he was commenting on the weather. "Pictures of long-dead kings, big fancy castle, gold everything..."
"You just want a whole room dedicated to your game systems," Serena said, like she knew what she was talking about.
"That's part of it," Calem confessed, "but look at this place! It's a real castle! Haven't you ever wanted an evil lair to make plans to conquer the world, even though you know you won't go through with any of it because your parents raised you too well?"
"Of course not!" Shauna cried in horror.
"Who hasn't," Serena said at the same time. When Shauna turned to her in confusion, Serena just faked innocence and hoped for a distraction.
A distraction that came immediately.
"Where did my precious Furfrou go?" the owner of the palace was sobbing. "Did somebody leave the door open?"
"My friends and I can help you find it," Shauna offered, distracting Calem from the castle and Serena from the conversation about it. "I know that I'd be worried if my Pokémon went missing."
"You will?" The man sniffled and wiped tears off his cheeks. "Oh, if you can find my Furfrou, I'll throw you a fireworks show!"
"Any idea why your Furfrou would want to run away?" Calem asked.
"Of course not! It's always been such a well-behaved Pokémon!" The man held out a picture of a white dog Pokémon, its head hair styled into what looked like a giant hat. "It's time for its haircut," he said. "We were going to try out a new style this time. Please find my Pokémon!"
In Calem's opinion, it was pretty obvious why Furfrou ran away, but he didn't want Eddie or Litleo to run away under the impression that he was a jerk. So, he followed Shauna and Serena into the giant maze that was Parfum Palace, telling himself that one day he would buy this place and have his own Pokémon run around.
And he wouldn't give them stupid haircuts. They would be spoiled pets, like they should be. Feeding them Pokepuffs and letting them exercise in the back...isn't that the life a Pokémon dreams of after they make it to the Hall of Fame?
The excitement of being in a real-life castle wore off after a while. It wasn't until they made it to the balcony that Calem's desire to be a king returned with a vengeance.
"A guy could get used to a view like this," he said, looking out at the giant statues of Unova's legendary dragons of truth and ideals. "I still want a castle."
Serena shushed him as a blur of white entered her vision. "There's the Furfrou!" she said, pointing. "Let's go! The faster we catch it, the faster we can be on our way to the next town!"
Of course, by the time they managed to get to the hedge maze, the Furfrou had disappeared. Since they could still hear the owner calling, they assumed it hadn't gone back to him, so there was only one possible way to go.
"Into the maze," he instructed. "Shauna, you check the back. Serena, you go to the right. I'll come at it from the front."
They didn't question this plan, and both of them dashed into the maze without thinking it through. This resulted in the Furfrou rushing to the left, leaving three confused teenagers colliding into each other.
Calem was the first to his feet. "You want a war?" he asked, pitching his voice as low as it would go before it hurt his throat. "Then let us see who emerges victorious."
The chase ended over an hour later, with the Pokedex carriers all laying on their backs in a small triangle formation, all too tired to move. Calem was the first to catch his breath. "I'll bet Gordon Freeman never had to deal with this," he said, more to himself than to Serena and Shauna.
So it was a surprise when Serena answered. "Gordon Freeman had his own problems, most of them of the life-threatening variety. Do you really want to trade lives with him?"
Calem almost sat up, but decided against it at the last minute. Pretty, smart, and knew of violent video games? Serena was quickly becoming almost as perfect as Professor Sycamore. "I never said I wanted his life," he said, choosing not to put the previous thought into words. "But you have to admit, this dog-catching thing would be a lot easier if we had a shotgun."
"Calem!" Shauna scolded, but both of them missed the curious look that crossed Serena's face. They did notice, though, when she managed to push herself back to her feet and stagger in the general direction of where they had last seen the Furfrou go.
"We might not have a shotgun," she hissed, "but that was a great idea. We don't need a weapon, we just need to change our angle." She called a Pokémon, not Juliet but Pancham. "Chase it down and challenge it to a battle. Tell it that if you win, it has to go get the stupid haircut. Something tells me that the Furfrou is a spoiled pet that hasn't battled in its life."
"And what if it has?" Shauna challenged.
Serena's evil smile would have made an excellent villain reveal. "The rules say that a battle continues until a trainer is out of Pokémon. I have Juliet to finish the job, and you two to back me up if he has other Pokémon." She flexed her fingers, then looked down at her Pancham. "Of course, you shouldn't mention any of that."
Pancham mimed zipping his lips, and dashed off.
That night, after they had returned a Furfrou that seemed more than willing to get a haircut if it meant never having to deal with Pancham again, the owner of Parfum Palace had agreed to give the Pokeflute back so the kids could continue on their journey. They went to watch the Snorlax wake up, knowing that it was a rare event, and it was gone in time for them to catch the fireworks show.
"Still want a shotgun?" Serena teased, and Calem laughed.
"It would get me out of a lot of trouble," he said, "but it would get me into even more. Let's focus on getting a grappling hook first."
"I'd focus on getting into the Hall of Fame first, if it were me." Serena stood at the balcony as if she was starring in the role she named her starter after, while Shauna leaned over in a way that made Calem worried for her safety.
"I've never seen fireworks unsupervised before," Shauna said, breaking the conversation. "Or with a boy. It's kind of nice." She smiled even more. "This is going in my memory forever."
Calem suddenly realized that he had no idea of Shauna's goal. "So what do you want to do on your journey?" he asked. "I'm going for the Championship, Serena wants to shop at every boutique in the region, Tierno has his dance...thing. What do you want out of this?"
"Way to make me sound like a stuck-up fashionista," Serena mumbled before Shauna could answer.
Shauna just laughed at her. "You kind of are," she pointed out. "Maybe not 'stuck-up' so much, but there is another word for it." She didn't elaborate on what that word was, though. Instead, she tried to find the words for her own wishes. "I guess what I want is to have fun," she said after a moment of consideration. "Make new friends with people and Pokémon alike, make memories. Not unlike Serena's traveling goal, just with a little less focus on clothes."
Serena opened her mouth to object, as if shopping was only half of it, but she was interrupted by the beginning of the long-anticipated fireworks show.
Calem stood between them, and for once, he understood what his mother had always said. It was nice to leave the house now and then. And friends like these just made the experience complete.
