Chapter 13: Glitter and Shine, Lovely Kalos
My third summer in Kalos, I didn't have a regular job. Instead, I went on various trips with my friends. There wasn't much of an actual plan. Sometimes one or more of us would have to go home for a family event, sometimes all of us spent an entire day talking and figuring out where to go. If we needed money, we'd battle other Trainers or find some errand to run. I have a lot of fond memories of that time, treasures I'll always have. Like the time we crashed Serena's sixteenth birthday party.
"I can't believe we're actually doing this," Calem muttered. 'This' being attempting to sneak into Parfum Palace with Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor while dressed up clowns in order to get into a fancy party they had not been invited to. Each of the clown outfits had their own quirk, and it so happened that his costume came with sparkly bunny ears.
"It's so crazy it has to work," Shauna insisted, keeping her voice low while they made their way through a garden of hedge mazes. Her clown costume included kitty ears and a tail.
"Well we've gotten this far, so no point going back," Trevor added, shifting the feathered cap he wore. He and Tierno had lucked out in appearance, as Tierno has a headband with antlers on it. So how did Calem end up dressed like a bunny?
This had all started almost a month ago at the end of the school year. On a day when they didn't have much to do in homeroom, the class started talking about what they were going to do over the summer. "There's supposed to be some really cool ghosts over at this old broken down hotel outside of Lumiose," Shauna said. "Since I'm thirteen, my parents don't mind me traveling on my own during the summer, so I'm gonna look into that!"
"You're always chasing after ghost stories," Tierno said. "And most of them turn out to be only Ghost Pokemon or old wrecks."
"Yeah, but I'm sure I'll find a real ghost someday," she said.
Trevor laughed a little. "One would think that you'd raise the dead with all the ruckus you bring everywhere."
"You'd think," Shauna said, tossing her hair and making others laugh. She grinned at that.
"I heard that there were some interesting stone formations over near Genosage," Calem said. "I thought about seeing that for myself. Or maybe going to the beaches on that side of Kalos."
"Oh man, those are great places to go," Tierno said, nodding. "My family used to spend summers on the coast; there's so much to do over there. Plus I heard they've opened up a cave where you can find fossils and gems."
"That'd be like work, but it'd be fun because then you'd have gems to make jewelry with!" Shauna said, intrigued by this idea too. "You should come with us too, Serena!"
"I have to pass, sorry," she said. "I'll be focusing on my Pokemon League credentials, so between challenging gyms and training my Pokemon, the only time I'll have to spare is already taken by my birthday party at Parfum Palace."
"Wow, you're having a birthday party there?" one of the other girls in class asked, impressed. "I've heard it's one of the most beautiful buildings in Kalos."
"Yes, and it's family tradition to hold a party there for certain birthdays," Serena said. Despite that, she didn't invite any of them there to the party.
A week later, when he met back up with Shauna and Tierno to discuss their travels (as Trevor was twelve and his family didn't want him out on his own with his condition), the subject of the party came up quickly. "I think we should go," Shauna said.
"But she didn't send us any invitations," Tierno pointed out, disappointed. "You'd think she would have, since we're her friends."
"She's not been much of one lately," Calem said. "She didn't even stop those other girls from making fun of you, Shauna."
"Well she apologized for it later," Shauna said, not seeming all that hurt. "I think she wants us to come and that's why she told us about it. She's been trying real hard this year to stay looking cool, but I room with her, so I've heard her fussing over who she should hang out with to maintain her social appearance, and about how she's trying to be like all these great people like her dad but thinks she comes up short, or even debating on what classes she should take in order to get into some kind of exclusive apprenticeship that she really wants. I try to tell her not to worry about it and have fun instead, but she keeps trying hard to get liked by people that I don't think are her friends. So we should crash the party and show her what real friends do!"
"Based on how some of them argue so much and then keep trying to be friends for appearances, yeah, that doesn't really seem like being friends," Calem said, relenting to her. There was some truth in that. He had seen Serena complain about another girl who was using her to advance in popularity, but then when Calem told her that didn't seem right, Serena apparently couldn't deny the girl or her reputation and popularity might be wrecked. From the sound of her voice, that was something akin to the end of the world if she lost that, which he didn't really understand. And the next week, Serena and the other girl were denying ever liking each other for whatever reasoning went into popularity.
"But what kind of present should we bring her?" Tierno asked. "I never know what to get her since it seems like she could get anything she wanted and I could never afford that."
"I was thinking we'd do something only we could do, like give her a song!" Shauna suggested.
Calem wasn't too sure about his ability in singing, but Shauna promised that she'd write something easy. Since it was from all of them, they talked Trevor's parents into letting him come along for the party crashing. Then they wanted to all their Pokemon involved in the singing too, which was quite a group involving two Floettes, a Frogadier, a Chespin, a Meowstic, a Crawdaunt, a Honedge, a Pinsir, a Haunter, a Mawile, a Spinda, a Swirlix, a Fletchling, and a Litleo. Calem wasn't sure they could get all the Pokemon and themselves ready in time, but that turned out to be what Tierno's knack was.
Since he had to do more practice singing to come close to the others, Calem often spent time with Tierno and the Pokemon. It was just as amazing to watch him plan as it was to see him perform. Tierno would talk to the performing Pokemon for a little while, observing how they moved and communicated naturally, and then he knew exactly what it should do to get the end result Shauna wanted. Like how Percival spoke exclusively in metallic tones and Starlet could speak with or without them depending on her mood. Or how Nibbles could making a humming drone with her hidden wings or clicks and snaps with her pincers, but didn't make as much noise as the others.
Or even the differences between the Floettes. "Mortan's really quiet and hesitant to sing," Tierno said while considering the two. "But Coco is the chattiest of Trevor's Pokemon and she'll sing on her own. If we do use Mortan, I'll probably have him in the rhythm or base melody. Coco's fine with a lead part for a celebration song, but I don't think Mortan would fit a noticeable part unless it was something somber. Which is odd for a Floette, but I can imagine him doing really well making people cry at a song."
"I would like to cheer him up more often, but it's kind of how he is too," Calem said, sitting on a low wall in the park where they were practicing. Their Pokemon were wandering around until Tierno called on them, so he tried to keep an eye on those at the edges, especially Yorick, as much as possible.
"Well we've got enough cheerful and energetic Pokemon that it should be fine for this performance," Tierno said. "I wonder if she'll have her Pokemon out and about; I may have to consider them joining in in conducting them."
"How'd you figure out how to conduct Pokemon in music?" Calem asked. It was something he'd been curious about for a long time, since he'd first met these three friends. "I know people who have trouble just directing Pokemon in battle, but this has got to be harder."
Tierno rubbed his head. "Ah, actually I find this far easier than trying to lead them in battle. I get so nervous about getting my Pokemon hurt that it's hard for me to keep up with the battle. But then this, everyone has fun with it so it just comes to me. Oh, you might not believe this, but when it was a little kid, I was really sick for several years. There were points where I had trouble just eating and so I got to be little more than skin and bones."
"That's horrible," Calem said. And truly hard to picture given Tierno now. The two of them were about the same age with Calem being older by a few months, but Tierno was larger than he was. He was hesitant to call his friend fat, because he actually had a fair bit of muscle too and could keep up with the rest of them on skating and biking trips. Although, he or Trevor would be the first to get tired and Tierno could stand to lose some of the flab.
"Yeah, it was, but I got through it all," Tierno said, his voice positive as usual. "And one of the things that helped me was music. I was always borrowing CDs and albums to have something new to listen to. And I got to where I could sing anything I'd heard; I wanted to dance too because I admired dancers even more, but it was tough for a long time. After a while, I noticed some Fletchlings that would be near my window when I had my music on, so I tried to coax them to sing along. And wouldn't you know it, it worked! It's always easiest with Fletchlings, I find, but I've been able to get more and more Pokemon to sing along."
Calem smiled. "So out of something terrible, you managed to do something amazing? That's great. Are you planning on going along with Shauna when she becomes a music star?"
"You bet!" Tierno said. "We'd get Trevs in on it too, but he gets nervous around big crowds and so far he really only does the Pokeflute which doesn't always work out with our style. Still, I think he could become big too if he gets control of his aura disability and becomes braver. We bring him into our performances hoping to help him get over that stage fright."
"I think you're doing pretty well," Calem said.
He ended up having to spend so much time practicing that he didn't get to help Shauna plan the act as much as he would have liked. This ended up in the small disaster of the costumes she got for all of them. "Since we're gonna have lots of Pokemon, I thought we should look like cheerful Pokemon clowns!" she said as she pulled out clown suits in silver and pastel colors.
"Really?" Calem asked, not sure he wanted to be seen wearing those. Especially not by someone like Serena.
"Shouldn't you have asked us first?" Trevor asked, looking over the felt cap covered in white and peach feathers that Shauna had handed him right off the bat. "I mean, it's a bit embarrassing..."
"No, it'll be fun, I promise!" Shauna said, then handed Calem a headband that had sparkly white bunny ears on it.
"Your idea of fun or ours?" Calem asked. Although at that point, they only had one day before the party, not enough to return the costumes and find something else. So they went with it, hoping that even if they ended up making her laugh, they could make Serena's party more memorable and try to get her to be less uptight. After all, it'd be hard to take anything serious with costumes like these.
Now here it was, the day of Serena's birthday party. The four of them had arrived at the lawn of Parfum Palace to discover that they were checking invitations at the gate instead of further inside. Fortunately, Mortan had an idea. He whispered to Calem that there should be a servant's entrance in back near the garden, if things were as he thought they were. Calem suggested to the others that they walk around the fence and sure enough, after nearly twenty minutes getting around the huge brick and iron fence, they found a back entrance that had a padlock that Shauna was able to pick. When Tierno asked her where she had learned to pick locks and why, she just said, "Always be prepared!" with a smile.
The hedge maze garden was quite a task to navigate. The bushes were thick, growing well above their heads in nearly manicured formations. Occasionally, they would come upon small flower gardens hidden away in the labyrinths, with gorgeous plants and outdoor furnishings. "Oh, they did a really nice job on this place, I can tell already," Mortan said quietly on Calem's shoulder. "This isn't the palace, I know, since it burned down centuries ago... still, so many memories."
As much as he would have liked to say something about that, Calem didn't want to draw attention to such a conversation with his friends around. He gave a slight nod and kept following Shauna and Trevor as they debated how to get through this place fastest. And since that was taking up so much time, he eventually had several of his Pokemon hover over the hedges and try to gauge the path out from that viewpoint.
Eventually, they came out to stand in front of a white stone statue of a large dragon god, where a straight path showed that following the central path would have been easier than sneaking around. Past the statue, there was a stone bridge that arched over a large pond stretching across the back of the palace. Other statues and fountains were within the pond, making the back as impressive a sight as the front. The massive doors on the other side of the bridge had been left open, making it easy for them to get inside.
The inside of the palace was as grandiose and lavish as the outside. Or even more so: the walls gleamed a rich yellow gold, the floors were polished so well that they could see their reflections in them. Nothing inside was ordinary as even the most mundane of furnishings like chairs and light fixtures were so elaborate or ornate that it seemed they properly belonged in a museum. Statues and paintings lined the halls, while they occasionally got glimpses of servants dressed as formally as they had been in the Battle Chateau.
"This is incredible," Trevor said, caught amazed as the rest of them for a moment. "Then, um, where would the party be?"
"The ballroom should be in the hall to your right, second door on the left past the entrance hall," Mortan said quietly.
And he turned out to be correct, which the others deduced by it being where music was coming from. There were a fair number of people inside, all dressed in lavish if old-fashioned attire. Looking on, Calem wondered if this ballroom looked like this when it used to be used by royalty. He did note something odd: for being a girl's sixteenth birthday party, there weren't many teenagers there. It was mostly adults with a few other teens mingling around. All the teens fit in with the regally dressed adults; their group would be the ones to stand out once they went inside, even compared to the modestly dressed servants. They'd stand out even if they weren't Pokemon-themed clowns.
"There she is," Calem said, pointing Serena out to the rest. Like always, she out-dazzled everyone else there. Today, she had her hair done up in elaborate braids and beautiful antique hairpins. Her dress was worthy of belonging to a princess, a fanciful elaborate piece of pink and white that seemed like it might be heavy and warm even if it was cute. She wore dainty white gloves and two necklaces, one having a heart-shaped locket and the other being a strand of white pearls. She was talking politely to an older woman, but also seemed bored.
"Great, then this is it," Shauna said, bringing her hands up to her chest. "Everybody ready?"
"Ready for anything," Calem said, with the other two boys nodding.
"All right, then we'll go in, and get singing while everyone's still surprised enough that they won't stop us," she said, then bounded into the room and forced them to move quickly to keep up. Fortunately, the small instrumental group that had been playing the music was between songs as Shauna called out, "Hey Serena! We've got a wonderful birthday surprise for you!"
Everyone was staring at them; Calem tried not to look too embarrassed, so he checked on his Pokemon as he had the most of their group. They seemed to be waiting on the signal to start, even Yorick who was putting off being distracted to join in. Meanwhile, Serena looked shocked to see them there, probably more so because of their costumes. "Oh... my..." she said, her hand near her mouth.
"We wrote and made a special musical number for the occasion, so here you go!" Shauna said, then turned to find Tierno and nod at him. And thus their song began.
It was unlike any other song Calem had experienced before, much less participated in. They had such a wide range of participants, from Pokemon who would sing as part of their normal everyday life like the Fletchling to Pokemon who usually weren't thought of connected to such cheery numbers like Percival and the Meowstic Merlin. And even among the four of them, Calem had hardly any experience singing in front of others, while Shauna and Tierno both wanted to get into musical careers. Thankfully, his part wasn't that hard and their number went on without much of a problem.
There was some laughter and applause when they were done, although the most enthusiastic response came from Grace, Serena's mother. "Yeah, that's exactly what we needed to liven this party up!" she said, coming over and giving them high-fives. "Nicely done, kids."
"Yes, that was quite unexpected," Serena said, smiling in amusement. "But it was wonderful, really, thank you."
"I wanted to have Pokemon races on the front lawn and lane, but the old guy who owns this place is such a wet towel," Grace added. "Come on and stick around, although first you have to tell us how you got in here."
With that permission approved by Serena (although not quite by the owner once he heard how they got in), they were able to stick around and talk with her. "I was just about to see if I could go out in the gardens because it is a bit of a drag in here, if you're pardon me for saying so," Serena told them. "But you know, family traditions and all that, had to invite certain folks even if I hardly ever see them."
"Like those far-flung aunts and uncles that you only see every five or so years, but you always get Christmas cards from them?" Calem asked. "Sometimes I don't see how my parents keep track of them all."
She nodded. "It gets bad when you're talking about third cousin twice removed or something like that. Like if you put together the family trees of everyone in this room, there'd be people who were five pages away because they couldn't all fit on one as your last common ancestor was three hundred years ago, but invite them anyhow. That's how it is between me and Lord Owain de Kalos, the man who properly owns Parfum Palace. Then I found out just today that Lysandre is Owain's nephew, so he showed up for a bit. He didn't have an invitation either, but there's nobody in the room that would deny him coming by. Apparently he's due to inherit the palace, unless Owain does something silly like will it to his Furfrou." She frowned. "Which is entirely possible, I realize now that I've talked to him for a little while."
"Wasn't the original of this place built for a Pokemon?" Calem asked. When Serena gave him a curious look, he shrugged. "Something I read somewhere."
"Legends say that it was," Serena said, thinking, then moving towards the exit of the ballroom. "Come here, I can show you something about it if you're interested."
"Sure," Teirno said. Since Serena seemed familiar with the place, they all left with her into the hall just outside of the ballroom.
She stopped them in front of a large portrait of a king and queen that Calem recognized as being the same from the memories Mortan would show him sometimes. He was a large man, with thick short blond hair that had probably natural highlights of red in it. His green eyes were quite piercing, giving him an intelligent and observant air; the fact that he was larger than anything else in the portrait might be a hint at his power or his actual appearance. At his side, there was a gorgeous woman who would have been greatly admired even today. She wore ribbons of lace and pearls in her dark blue hair; her skin was fair and smooth, completely unblemished by any flaws. Beside them, there was a table that had a vase of various flowers in it. But, a single white lily was out of the vase; a Floette was napping on the table while clinging to his flower.
"This is AZ, the great king from the golden age of Kalos' birth," Serena said. "As well as his wife for a few years, Queen Mercia. Parfum Palace was built as the second replica of their country palace; there was one castle they had in Lumiose which no one's quite sure what it looked like, as well as the mountain palace AZ built as a defense in the worst times of war they lived through. The ruins of that place lie at the foot of League Headquarters, actually. Some legends say that the country palace was built as a wedding gift to Mercia, but others said his gift was actually the Crystal Clock at Anistar, while this place was built because the Lumiose palace made one of his Pokemon sick too often. See?" She pointed out the Floette.
"Hey, that's a Floette," Trevor said. "Wow... so this guy is your ancestor?"
She shook her head. "No, we don't think he had any children. Although, I think we are descended from Mercia; she eventually left AZ and married his brother Leonidas instead, and my family most definitely goes back to him. It's either her or his second wife."
"Wow, I don't think I could trace my family history back further than my grandparents," Shauna said, impressed.
"It's weird, but this portrait of AZ makes me think that I've seen him before," Tierno said. "Or maybe just someone who looks like him. Weird."
"Yeah," Calem said, although he knew who it was that Tierno couldn't think of. "Lysandre's family has the same claim, right? I've heard it anyhow."
Serena nodded. "Yes, but like I said, our family branches have been separated for quite a while." She touched the pearl necklace she had, smiling. "Oh, Lysandre even came with a gift; he got me this necklace, see. And they're real pearls too, gathered from wild oysters instead of farm-raised ones. It was so sweet of him."
"I think that's weird," Calem said. And creepy too; a grown man who was probably in his forties giving a teenaged girl a pearl necklace when she wasn't directly related to him? Maybe if he'd been closer to her age and her boyfriend, maybe it'd be fine then.
That just made her laugh. "What, you hadn't heard? It's a tradition to give a girl a pearl necklace on her sixteenth birthday. My father thought about doing that, but they got me the locket instead, saying that I could put what picture I want in it. Though I haven't found one I like for it yet."
"Ooo, yeah, it looks like one you'd put a picture of you and your boyfriend in," Shauna said. "If you were dating anyone."
"That's what my mom said too," Serena said, still happy about it. "She can be so silly at times, but I wouldn't trade her for any other mother."
"Mine's the same way," Calem said. "What're you going to be doing after this?"
She put her hand to her cheek. "Well, my next goal is to beat Grant; the trainer badges shouldn't be quite as much trouble after I pass him, although magic proofs won't be that simple."
"But you have a whole load of those badges and proofs already," Shauna said.
"I wouldn't call three each a whole load," she said. "That's just getting started."
"Well we plan on going that way, so why don't you travel with us?" she asked. "There's so much we could do along the way! Especially once we get to the beach."
"It's not that far from here," Serena said. "Just a long hike down route 7 and through the mountain caves. In fact, Grant's gym is in the caves."
"But it'd be more fun with friends than just with your Pokemon, right?" Calem asked.
She hesitated on answering, which let her father interrupt their conversation. "I think they've got a good idea," Richard said.
"Dad?" she asked, puzzled that he'd come out of the ballroom too.
He smiled and nodded. "Don't want to waste your youth, after all. Sometimes I worry that I made you too serious. There's no time limit on your goals, after all, and I don't think the Tower of Mastery is going to be open until next summer. You might as well spend the summer having fun because they'd certainly keep strict restriction on your activities if you made it."
"I guess so," Serena said, and that was how she wound up joining them on their travels through Kalos.
The southeastern beaches of Kalos were gorgeous. Golden sandy beaches ran along the shimmering sea, cliffs stretched far into the brilliant sunny skies, wild Pokemon of many different kinds went about their lives in a carefree manner. Even the summer crowds added to the wonder of it all: the people playing volleyball, those holding Pokemon battles, joggers, sunbathers, swimmers, families... it was a happy time to spend with others, to enjoy life.
"Wonder when the girls are going to come back," Calem wondered to himself, standing on the warm beach with his sandals in hand.
They weren't planning on swimming today, just playing on the beach, but still decided to shop in Ambrette for more beach-appropriate clothes. Being in a good mood, Serena had challenged them all to pick things that were outside their normal color schemes. So no pinks for Shauna, no blacks for Tierno... no dark blue for Calem, which was a disappointment, but if it got Serena out of her usual black and red that seemed so much like Team Flare's colors, he agreed to the challenge. After some time in a boutique with Tierno, Calem had picked out an orange shirt that had a print of a rather fierce looking Mawile, along with khaki shorts that went to his knees. He kept some sunglasses because of the brightness, but decided to go barefoot for a while because it felt nice.
Then he spotted them coming down the wide stairs from the aquarium. Tilting his sunglasses down to see the color a little better, it seemed that Shauna hadn't gone too far from her usual colors as she was wearing a purple sleeveless shirt with a white skirt. But Serena had taken it to heart. She was now wearing a sundress with a soft green and white checker pattern. Somehow, she'd also found a green beret that matched it, along with a white ribbon bow on the hat.
"That's really cute on her," Calem said quietly. Then he waved and called to them, "Hey, over here! Our group's gotten a little bigger now!"
"Oh has it?" Serena asked, coming over with Shauna.
"There you are!" Trevor called, running over towards Calem to wait on the girls too. "Hi!"
"Hey Trevor, you came too!" Shauna said, grinning and running the rest of the distance. Serena laughed and followed suit.
The younger boy nodded. "Yeah, my parents agreed to come out here for the afternoon. Although my mom's still caught up in work, at least we got to join you. Wow, you both look nice."
"Thanks," Serena said, smiling. "You missed on another fashion game. You seem to have done nicely this time, Calem."
"It didn't take too long," he said, rubbing his head and grinning.
The day seemed to go by in a flash: there were a few Pokemon matches had, and building of a large sandcastle, and lots of talking. It seemed like all too soon when Trevor's parents called them over to get dinner somewhere in town. "We'll have to find a place now if we're going to catch a train back to Lumiose before dark," his father said.
"I know a nice place," Trevor's mother said. "It'll be our treat."
"Aw, thanks Janet," Tierno said.
"I wish the day hadn't ended this fast," Trevor said, trying to smile but disappointed to be reminded that he'd be going back home with them.
"Can't stop the sun, not even by magic," his father said. "But you know, we've been talking, about how you're all good kids. We don't want you going out on your own so far, Trevor. But if you promise to stick with your friends and they agree to watch over you, we'll let you go with them this summer."
"Really, I can?" Trevor asked, surprised enough that he nearly backed into his Meowstic. Merlin just patted his shoulder.
"We won't let anything happen to him," Calem said. "Right guys?"
Serena nodded. "Yes, certainly, he'll be safe with us."
"Thanks, I promise I'll be with them," Trevor said happily, hugging his mother and then his father.
"Oh, but we should get a photo of you kids before we head back to town," his mother said, bringing out the camera that Trevor usually had. So the five of them all gathered in a laughing happy group (with Serena putting herself right by Calem, in part because they were the two tallest there) for a picture.
Running through the enormously tall grass was fun. Unlike the soft lush grass in front of Parfum Palace, this field on Route 16 was drier, more like paper. That made it rattle as he made his way through it. He caught glimpses of Pokemon as he passed through, his own playing around too or wild ones observing them. He spotted one Pokemon that looked like a mournful ghost hiding in an old stump. Since it was crouched down trying to hide, Calem let the Phantump be.
"Now which way out of here?" he mumbled to himself. For once, Mortan wasn't with him. He'd found a nice patch of purple flowers, so Calem had let him stay there as he liked. Since he could see nothing but the green and tan grass all around him, patches of black dirt beneath his feet, the Phantump, and bits of the clear blue sky overhead, it was a hard time getting his orientation. But if he kept going forward, he was bound to come out some time, right?
Before long, he came across Yorick. The Haunter made an exaggerate look of surprise, making it look like his jaw dropped a foot. Calem laughed, but Yorick soon put a finger to his lips and grinned. Waving for him to follow, he led him through the grass and right to the edge, at a point where Serena seemed to be hiding. She was sitting on the ground and seemed to be playing some video game, right near a rustic wooden fence that blocked off the side of a steep drop. A waterfall tumbled down into a river not too far ahead. Coming to his side, Yorick tapped Calem's shoulder, then pointed him to Serena with a look of mischief.
Well, why not? Calem smiled and nodded, then quietly stepped out of the grass. Serena didn't seem to notice him, so he stepped further out of her possible view and approached her. "Hey Serena!" he shouted once he was about a foot from her.
She yelped, dropping her tablet and trying to get up and turn around, only to fall backwards in doing so. Yorick went into hysterics, racing around the area in delight. When Calem laughed, her face turned pink and she frowned. "Geez, don't listen to that crazy Haunter! I thought you had more sense."
"I thought we were supposed to be enjoying a day outside, not playing video games," he said, but went over and offered her a hand up.
She took it, but then turned her attention to brushing dirt off her skirt. "It's not a game. Well, okay, it kind of is, but it's not at the same time." Then she grabbed her tablet and made sure it was fine.
"What do you mean by that?" Calem asked, trying to peek at it. He caught a glimpse of a stadium and what looked to be a Wailord.
"It's an app called Super Training," she said, doing something with it. "Do you remember Clemont? One of the seventh year students in Battle Club, he challenged my Dad a while ago in the Trainer's League challenge and won, but he wasn't even able to get past Siebold in the magic challenge."
"Yeah, but I can't say I knew him well," he said, coming up with a blank on what Clemont looked like. Wasn't he a blond kid? He did remember that battle against Richard, since Clemont had made use of quite a few Electric aura Pokemon.
Shutting down the program, she set her tablet in her bag and finally looked at him. "He was a nerd, but really smart and worth knowing. He was kind of like Trevor is, in that he started at LMA before most kids do. Anyhow, he spent his last few years developing the Super Training program to take advantage of the fact that Pokeballs store Pokemon as digital information. It makes it so that you can put your Pokemon through virtual reality training and it works just as well as real life training. Well, almost, you don't want to put a Pokemon exclusively trained in Super Training in a challenging battle right off, as they don't really level up or evolve as a result. But they will start out stronger, so I'm putting a Phantump I just caught through some rounds, to see how he is and if I want to add him to my team."
"That sounds cool, but why not just bring him out and play with him for a while?" Calem said, waving Yorick back to his side. "It is a beautiful day and this place is gorgeous. I mean, just look over that fence; that is some seriously beautiful countryside over there, and even when you see bits of Laverre, it fits in and looks so amazing from up here."
Serena chuckled. "You're sounding like Professor Sycamore now."
"Well Kalos is a great place," he said. "I'll agree with him on that. Come on, bring out your Pokemon too and let them run around. I've hardly seen them except in battles. How can you be friends with them if you don't spend time with them?"
She rolled her eyes at that. "Come on, people who say that bonding with your Pokemon is important are just excusing a lack in training ability. I spend good time with my Pokemon too and treat them fairly."
While Calem wondered about that, he wasn't sure if it was a good thing to bring up. He didn't want to be arguing with his friends at this time. But maybe if he teased her about it... "Oh, I get it. You're just afraid that people will find out what Pokemon you're using and use that to their advantage. Right?"
"I'm not afraid, especially not of something as silly as that," Serena said. "Although it is sensible to keep your roster rotated so people aren't quite sure. It's just, I'd make better use of this time doing the Super Training and finding some people to battle than letting them be lazy and lie about in the sun, or go around scaring folks for no good reason." Yorick cackled at that.
"Are you sure that's a better use of your time?" Calem asked, tilting his head. "It's like what Shauna's going on about all the time. Do you want to remember this summer as nothing but a serious of battles you can't really remember because they weren't worth remembering? Or would you rather look back and say, 'wow that was crazy, but it was so much fun'?"
"Well I don't know how much simple memories can help me get to where I want to be," she said.
I did eventually tease her into letting them out for a little while that day, but they were really serious, even a bit uncertain of why they were being let out then. That just made it easier for Yorick to tease and irritate them. Eventually one of them knocked him out, but once I revived him, he was still pleased about it.
A/N: There actually is a portrait of AZ in Parfum Palace, but the game doesn't remark on it until after you've become Champion (so I didn't really look at it, haha). Similarly, it also says that Clemont did invent Super Training. It's a clever thing to tie it into Pokémon being stored digitally, which was noted even back in the original games.
And notice something about the chapter title? hehehe...