The two Kalos League finalists were busy putting on coats provided by the professor, in addition to some better footwear for the weather. The clouds showed no sign of diminishing any time soon, but that didn't phase them in the slightest.
Ash had already informed his flying types of their task; thankfully, they didn't seem to mind the idea of having to search in the horrendous weather. They watched patiently by the front door, waiting for permission to begin their search.
Bonnie approached the two trainers with a look of concern. "How are we going to find Serena, anyway? We have no idea what direction to start looking in."
A quiet chuckle from behind answer her question before Ash and Alain could. Bonnie reluctantly turned around and saw Clemont with a proud smirk.
"There is no need to worry, everyone!" He yelled, drawing all eyes to him. "During our temporary stop here, I have created a machine that will aid us in finding Serena." He then frowned slightly, but his enthusiasm shortly returned. "I haven't thought of a name for it yet, but it will help us find Serena!"
He raised his right fist towards them, extending his arm out in the process. On his wrist was a type of bracelet that looked mechanical.
"Wow! Science is awesome!" Ash excitedly responded. "Will it actually help us find her, Clemont? That's so cool!"
Alain stared with an unconvinced expression. He hadn't forgotten the earlier incident at Lysandre Café where Clemont's invention resulted in an explosion. Bonnie had a look of irritation, but Emma shared Ash's enthusiasm.
"What does it do, Clemont?" She asked, stepping closer to the gym leader so she could get a better look at the contraption.
The inventor continued his quiet chuckle. With his other hand, he pressed a button the device, opening the top up slightly. This revealed what looked like a compass. "This, will lead us in the direction of Serena!"
"How does it detect her, Clemont?" Sycamore asked him the inevitable question, wondering how it worked.
Clemont didn't respond too well to the professor's response, acting like he was caught off guard. "Uh... well, it doesn't look for Serena specifically. It actually searches for Braixen. A little bit of her fur had fallen off in their room, so I used it to create this device to search for Braixen, knowing she's probably with Serena."
"Jeez, big brother." Bonnie moaned with a pout. She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I guess it's better than nothing."
"Anyway," Clemont coughed after a moment of silence. "It's pointing to the south east."
"There's only woodlands in that direction." Sycamore mentioned. "Do you think there's a chance she's there?"
"Hopefully. It's our only lead." Ash admitted. "Is everyone ready?" He then asked, receiving nods from the group that were planning to head out.
The group consisted of Ash, Alain, Clemont, Bonnie and Emma. While he had tried to get his sister to stay put especially with the weather, Bonnie insisted that she wanted to go, leaving Clemont with little choice as he understood her desire to find Serena too. The group was surprised to hear that Grace wasn't going with them; the woman hadn't said much at all since her daughter ran away. Sycamore decided to stay put so he could keep an eye on the hurt mother. He also wished to find out any additional information with the help of his connections.
"Alright!" Ash shouted, stretching his arms up as high as he could. His chest was begging him to stay put, but he ignored the lingering pain. Ash headed out of the lab, prompting his three flying types to follow him. "Talonflame and Noivern, you two stay up in the sky and search from above. Hawlucha, you search for her in any forests you see; you're experienced with wooded areas so this should be right up your alley. If any of you three find her, find us and lead us to her. We shouldn't be too hard to find."
Talonflame and Noivern roared in approval and launched themselves into the sky. Hawlucha acknowledged his important role with a few karate chops before jumping and gliding off into the distance. Ash watched as they passed Sycamore's laboratory and they left his eyesight.
"Charizard, you help out too!" Alain sent out his partner Pokemon, who seemed to be aware of the situation as he answered with a nod before taking off.
The rainfall began to increase in intensity, reminding everyone to put up the hoods on their coats.
"Ash!" Sycamore called out to the trainer from inside the building. "Good luck!"
"Thank you!" Ash yelled back.
Braixen hopped from tree branch to tree branch, albeit at a slow pace. She wasn't experienced with this kind of movement, but decided the vantage point would make it easier to spot her trainer.
Pancham and Sylveon followed her from the ground, keeping an eye on their surroundings at all times.
The trio had followed Serena to these woodlands, but the forest had made it easy for them to lose track of her. The group had caught up to her several times during their chase, but their trainer was being surprisingly clever with her movement, taking corners and turns they weren't expecting. It disheartened all three, subtly slowing down their speed. Not one knew why Serena didn't want anyone to follow her.
A rustling in the trees caught their attention and made them stop. Braixen turned towards the source of the noise and saw a large, green Pokemon staring at her. They locked eyes for several seconds, not one saying a word. Braixen had a feeling she had seen this Pokemon before, but she had to be careful just in case. Pancham and Sylveon watched the confrontation quietly.
"Wait up!" A faint voice called out to the three, startling them as it broke the moderate silence they were experiencing. They turned around and saw a familiar, green-haired trainer running towards them.
Once the trainer caught up to the Pokemon, they stopped and took several deep breaths. Sceptile hopped off his branch and landed beside the young boy.
"I-Is everything alright?" the trainer the Pokemon recognized as Sawyer asked. "I saw you all with Serena running somewhere. Where is she? I thought she was uh... you know."
Braixen sighed with relief, jumping onto the cold grass below. "Brai, Braixen Brai!" She said to the trainer. Sawyer bit his lip and looked around, realizing there was no trainer around to explain to him what was going on in a language he could understand.
"Uh... I'm not sure what's going on, but Serena isn't here. So you're looking for her, right?" He theorized. Braixen smiled at the trainer and nodded. Sylveon and Braixen repeated her gesture. "Okay then. Please let me help you!"
"Syl!" Sylveon replied with joy.
"Okay, I have an idea!" He exclaimed a little louder, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a Poke Ball. "Slurpuff, come help us out!"
The fairy type emerged from its Poke Ball and looked at its trainer, waiting for an order.
"Slurpuff, we're looking for Serena. Can you see if you can retrieve her scent? It should be on her Pokemon here." He asked his Pokemon.
Slurpuff approached Braixen first and began to search for a unique scent on Braixen's body. The fire type was disturbed by its closeness, but endured the discontent she was feeling.
It shortly turned around and gazed into the dark woods ahead. Its nose twitched rapidly and it moved around, trying to search for the scent it had picked up. When it began to walk away in one direction, Sawyer realized it had found its target.
"Alright, let's go!"
"Jeez, what is with this rain?!" Bonnie complained, her whining slightly muffled by the sound of the downpour. "It hasn't rained this bad in Lumiose... since forever!"
Clemont pulled the hood of his coat up further, trying to cover a piece of loose hair. "You're not kidding. This is crazy."
"C'mon guys, we're close to the exit now!" Ash encouraged them. He and Alain were at the front of the pack, whereas Clemont and Bonnie were at the back, mostly due to the former's inability to run that well. Emma was in between, her speed slightly hindered by making sure Mimi was safe in her hands. The psychic type had insisted that it was with Emma at all times.
"Hey, Ash, up there." Alain alerted the trainer next to him, slowing down his movement. Ash slowed down and looked up, noticing his Talonflame circling around them in the sky.
"Hey, Talonflame!" Ash yelled, alerting the bird that he had noticed its presence. The fire and flying type soared down to the ground. It looked a little uncomfortable in the rain, but tried its best to not show it. "Did you find Serena?"
Talonflame hesitated briefly before shaking its head in shame. The brief stop gave Emma, Clemont and Bonnie time to catch up. They all began catching their breaths.
"Alright..." Ash replied, a little saddened by the response. He soon perked up again. "You must have found something then, right?"
This time, Talonflame nodded.
"Okay. We're about to leave Lumiose City. Once we've done that, lead the way." Ash gave the flying type an order.
"H-Hey! Wait just a second!" Clemont complained as Ash took off again. Alain and Emma soon followed after the trainer from Kanto, either ignoring or not hearing him. The gym leader took several deep breaths as quickly as he could.
Bonnie giggled quietly. "C'mon, big bro! You're going to have to speed up, or we'll leave you behind!" She told him, chasing after the group as fast she could.
Clemont sighed and gave up, jogging after his little sister. He hoped they would find Serena soon, as he was not built for these long running sessions.
"Professor Sycamore?"
Sycamore was a tiny bit startled by Grace suddenly speaking. The woman had understandably been quiet for some time. He looked up and locked eyes with her. "Yes, what's wrong?" He asked her calmly.
"I know I probably won't get an answer to this question, but... do you have any idea why Serena acted this way?" She questioned the Kalosian scientist.
The professor sighed. He stood up and approached the woman, sitting next to her. "Honestly, it's hard to tell." He admitted. "She has been in a coma for over two weeks. There's a possibility her behavior could be attributed to that."
"When she looked at me... she didn't just look shocked, she looked terrified." Grace added. "It was like she thought that I wasn't supposed to be there."
"Well, as far she knew, you were at home." He pointed out.
"That's true, but..."
"Don't worry about it, Grace." Sycamore said, standing up and giving her a smile. "Ash will find her. That boy has a level of determination I rarely see in trainers. He cares a lot about his friend and her safety. Once he's retrieved her, we will find out why she was so distressed."
Slurpuff's movements were slow, but Braixen had to rely on the peculiar little Pokemon. It was the only lead they had; otherwise, they would likely be searching in circles. It kept its nose to the ground, making strange quiet noises every now and then.
Sawyer was quiet, which wasn't like him at all, but Braixen figured it was because he wasn't able to understand them. In fact, the rest of the group were fairly quiet, including Pancham, who was usually quite noisy.
When Slurpuff suddenly stopped, the group, including its trainer, were confused. It then shot off, running as fast as it could.
"H-Hey Slurpuff! Wait up!" Sawyer yelled to his Pokemon, chasing after it. Sceptile was already two steps ahead, conversing with the Pokemon as it ran by its side. The grass type stopped and turned to face the rest of the group, giving them a gesture that told them to follow.
Serena's Pokemon turned to face each other and smiled cheerfully at each other. Slurpuff's sudden movement told them one thing; Serena was close.
Serena didn't know how long she was staring at the canopy of the forest. A raindrop falling on her forehead snapped her out of her state, making her shake. Her foot ached, but the pain seemed to have quietened down.
She tried to stand up, but found the agony returning as she stood. She twisted her foot around slightly and saw it was bleeding, but the cut didn't look too deep, so she decided not to worry about it as much.
Using the trunk of a nearby tree as support, she miraculously managed to stand up. She raised her feet upwards, leaving the heel of her foot as her own balance. She rested against the tree and began to think out loud.
"Was..." she whispered, her voice beginning to croak. She coughed several times before sighing. "Was... any of that even real?"
Her eyes widened and she suddenly slammed her hand against the tree. More tears began to leak out of her eyes and her breathing worsened.
"No... it was real. This... this isn't." She said to herself, but doubts shortly began to enter her mind. "...Right?"
"Serena!"
The voice was quiet, but it shocked the young performer nevertheless. She instinctively stood up quickly, almost falling down again in the process. Her head moved rapidly from left to right, trying to locate the owner of the voice.
"Serena!"
The voice was louder. Somebody was approaching her quickly, but she could hear what direction it was coming from this time.
She swallowed and maneuvered her way around the tree she was resting by. Once on the other side, she took off, trying her best to ignore the pain in her foot. Her balance was wonky, but she managed to escape without making much noise.
"Are you sure she's here?" Sawyer asked his Slurpuff. It looked at him curiously for a few seconds before nodding.
Braixen hopped through the woodlands, her head moving frantically as she searched for her trainer. "Brai! Braixen!" She urgently yelled.
"Pan Pancham!" Serena's second Pokemon followed Braixen's actions, trying to tell his trainer that he was here.
"Syl!" Sylveon followed their examples.
But they received no response.
"If she's not here, then she must have just left." Sawyer informed them. "Let's continue looking for her."
Serena kept running. Her legs begged her to slow down and rest, but she ignored their request.
But they eventually got their way as she soon fell, landing face down into the mud below. She pushed her body up with her hands, but she didn't have the energy to fully stand up. She sat awkwardly instead.
"Mama..." she whispered, sulking quietly to herself. "Why... why were you there? Why are you in my nightmares?"
Her nails clawed against the dirt in frustration.
"You're not meant to be here... not anymore." She continued, her voice now achy and raspy.
Serena looked at her hands, which were covered in mud. They moved closer to her head and she began scratching against her forehead. She slowly worked her way down, past her cheeks and down her neck.
"Please... wake up... I don't want to be here anymore!"