Sorry again for this being late. My laptop was in repair and then they wiped the memory so I had to re-write this chapter :/ Anyways, here it is now :)

We ended up back in Cyllage City after a ride on one of Michael's flying-type pokemon. He led me back towards the entrance to the city but refused to tell me where we were going exactly.

"Why won't you tell me where you're taking me?" I asked, "Are you trying to kidnap me or something?"

Michael just shrugged at me. "If I said yes, you would run away screaming, so let's say it's a no."

"So you are trying to kidnap me," I gaped at him.

"I'm far too much of a gentleman to do something like that." He grinned at me. I rolled my eyes and playfully punched him in the arm. He feigned injury, making me laugh, but then silence settled over us.

Eventually, Michael said, "You know how I was telling you about fossils?"

I frowned, digging through my thoughts to bring back the memory. "Yeah, I remember."

"Well, this has to do with that. Trust me, it's cool. I thought you might want to see it."

"Okay," I said suspiciously.

We wound up in front of a clean, white building in the middle of a dusty waste-land. The sign on the door read Fossils Laboratory. Michael led me inside, were there were shelves upon shelves of rocks, bones, leaves and other unfamiliar objects, and at least ten scientists buzzing around the items and recording things on little clip boards.

One scientist seemed to spot us and waved us over. He was a short man with a few strands of hair pathetically pulled over a bald spot on his head. He squinted at us through a pair of thick glasses and said, "Good evening, Michael. What are you doing back here? I thought you were off to Shalor City.

Michael shrugged. With his laid-back vibe, hands in his pockets and cool grey eyes observing the man in front of him casually, Michael reminded me of Calem. "I ran into this lovely lady," He gestured to me, "And decided to bring her back to show her him."

The emphasise on that last word sent a shiver down my spine. Who was him? The scientist observed me sceptically. "You sure she would want to see?"

Michael nodded without a doubt. Maybe, just maybe, he should've asked me how I felt about this first. I didn't even know what it was that he wanted to show me!

The scientist sighed. "Very well."

We followed him to the back to the room, pushing past a few excited scientists to get behind the front desk and through a back door. Michael grinned at me again, "Don't be scared now. He can't hurt anyone."

Worry and doubt filled my stomach. What was going on?

We walked down a long hallway lit up with sickly white lights and came to a stop in front of a bulky metal door with a passcode lock. The scientist punched in a few numbers and the door swung open. I almost screamed.

Calem's POV

Stupid, stupid, stupid…

I kept calling myself that. Over and over again. It was really the only word to call myself at the moment. Everything that had happened with Serena was eating away at me, and I didn't like it. I wanted these stupid feelings to stop. I wish I had no emotions.

Besides, I had more important things to worry about. Shauna, Trevor and Tierno had all met up along the way to Shalor City and now we were all looking up at a gigantic stone castle that was ringed with statues of Pokémon (mostly Lucario).

"D-do we go inside?" Trevor stuttered.

No one answered. They were all too busy gaping at the enormity of the building. So, I – with my hands in my pockets and my eyes neutral – said, "Well, it's no good standing out here."

I was the first to take a step inside of the building, and I made myself seem as casual as possible. There was no point in getting worked up about this place. The castle's interior was just as huge and grand as the outside at been. A spiralling staircase ringed the outside walls and a magnificent statue of Lucario dominated the centre of the room.

"Hello?" I called out.

The others were just entering the building, all of them grouping nervously behind me. "It doesn't seem right." Shauna squeaked.

I shrugged her comment off. She was just nervous. I called out again. There was still no response so I turned to the group. "She did say to meet us at this place, right?"

Everyone nodded. I sighed. "Oh well. Let's look around."

Much to the others' distress, we split up. Trevor and Tierno searched downstairs while Shauna and I made our way up the staircase. When we got to the first landing, Shauna volunteered, "I'll search in that room over there," She pointed at a set of large double doors down a corridor.

I nodded. "I'll keep going up, then."

And I did. I went up and up and up until there were no more stairs to walk up. There was a huge open archway and I could feel a salty breeze blowing in through it. I stepped towards the archway, and something grabbed me from behind.

I tried to scream, but a hand clamped over my mouth, muffling my cry. I struggled against whatever had a hold on me, but something hard hit my legs and I went toppling to the ground. As I blinked the stars away from my vision, a face appeared above me. She had blonde hair, light blue eyes and she was smiling. The face made me stop squirming… it was Korrina. Beside her, two blue and brown faces appeared – her two lucarios.

She held a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet, and then she removed her hand from my mouth. Immediately, I whispered, "What was that all about?"

She giggled quietly. "I'm sorry. I didn't want you scaring it."

"Scaring what?" I asked.

She motioned towards the archway and I followed her towards it. We poked our heads around the corner, and I immediately understood what she had meant.

Outside the archway was a massive balcony, it's ivory railings glimmering in the twilight. But the beautiful balcony wasn't what took my breath away. Standing on the balcony was a Pokémon… but it wasn't just a Pokémon. I had never seen anything like it before, but I could tell that it was powerful.

It was a giant deer. It's blue body shimmered in the rising stars' light and it's magnificent antlers that sprouted from its head seemed to glow with a dazzling, yet non-existent light. It was like I could see it glowing, but it wasn't. The sensation made me dizzy.

As if it sensed us watching it, its head turned ever so slightly to reveal a gleaming white eye that stared directly at us. Without even realising I had done it, I had stepped out into its full view. I expected it to leap away, but it only turned more to face me.

After a while, I worked up the courage to slowly approach it. Korrina hissed at me to stop, but I felt like I had to. I got within a metre of the Pokémon before it snorted slightly at me and I stopped. It had completely mesmerised me.

It felt like eternity had passed when I heard something… like a whisper sweeping through my brain. And I knew it was this Pokémon who had spoken to me, even though it gave no indication that it had been the one to put the message in my brain.

Serena is in danger.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter :) I'm starting to wind it down to a couple of action chapters... you've been warned. Please let me know if you liked it or if there's anything I can improve. Thank you :) See you next time :)