Serena
Adventuring was a lot quieter than I thought it would be. Sure, it had been eventful so far, but there was no other sound besides Gary's humming and our footsteps. Ash looked like he was deeply thinking about something to himself, but I didn't feel like bothering him.
"I haven't ran that much in... I don't think I've ever ran that much" Gary complained
"We only ran for about fifteen minutes total" I replied
"Exactly" He replied. "Point is, I could totally pass out right now"
"You mean like that guy right over there" Ash pointed to a middle-aged man passed out on a bench table in a park.
Across the table, papers were scattered, and so was a tablet; he was lucky that there was no wind. He wore a white lab coat, and had circular glasses on that had become titled from the position he was sleeping in.
"Looks like he was working on something pretty hard" I said
"I don't know about you guys, but I totally want to find out what" Gary said, jogging over to the table before we got the chance to stop him
"Classic Gary; can't mind his own business" Ash sighed
I giggled. It was part of the reason I liked Ash; he was brave, confident, charismatic, and also funny during the rights times. When he first got to Kalos, I wasn't sure about how I felt towards him, because sure, I had a crush on him in the past, but wether or not that would carry over to present time was something that only time could tell; time told, and I was sure I had a big crush on Ash.
"Hey, are you alright?" Gary shook the man's shoulder, and he suddenly jumped up.
"W-Who are you people?" He asked, his voice coming off as if he hadn't slept in days.
"We were just passing by and saw that you'd fallen asleep" I answered
"Sorry if we bothered you," Ash apologized, "but Gary here insisted that we find out what you were working on"
"No problem at all" He said. "I'm always reluctant to have a conversation on what I'm researching; have a seat"
He gathered up his papers into an organized pile, and the three of us sat across the table from him. Gary asked what he was researching; he responded that he was working on finding out what makes X and Y so powerful - his name was Doctor Eckleburg, but we could call him Doc.
"Everyone wants to know, but no one bothers to try and find out" He explained
"That's what I'm saying!" Gary agreed. "We've met them a couple of times, heck, we just saw Y a few minutes ago"
"You have?" He asked, shocked and readjusting his glasses
"Coincidentally, we tend to bump into them quite a bit" I informed
"How lucky," He said - if only he knew - "I've never actually seen them in person besides the live matches, like when they fought the champions"
"Right. Serena said that they were pretty impressive then" Ash said
"Much more than just impressive" Doc slid his tablet across the table, facing us. "X's two-on-one match against Champion Lance and Cynthia is what first sparked my interest. Check out his finishing move"
He pressed play on the tablet, and we were brought to a live video of a stadium filled with a large crowd that rivaled the size of the Kalos League. The battlefield was flat and desert-themed; Cynthia had her Garchomp, and Lance had his Dragonite, while X was using a Mega Tyranitar.
"So far, neither Lance nor Cynthia have been able to land any major damage" said the commentator. "What will happen next? Will X finish them off, or will they find away to prevail"
X - whose identity I knew now - made some kind of ninja-like hand motions, and the ground began to shake as his voice echoed across the battlefield. "Secret God Art: Divine Wrath!"
Beneath Garchomp and Dragonite, a black circle of light appeared, and dark-purple vines arose from it, wrapping around both Pokemon and squeezing them tight. Purple lightning came down from the sky, electrocuting them as Tyranitar let out a powerful blast of energy that hit them, setting off a large explosion.
When the smoke cleared, both Pokemon had fainted, and the crowd went wild.
"As you can see, they produce very powerful moves the likes of which no one has ever seen before" Doc said. "I've made many hypothesis, but the only thing I managed to discover was that their moves were type specific, with X's being the dark-type, and Y's being the fire-type.
Not only that, but recently, there's a trainer by the name of Zack who specializes in bug-type Pokemon, and uses similar moves to X and Y"
"Yeah, we saw one of his battles earlier too" Gary said
While Gary and Doc got into some kind of conversation, Ash leaned in and whispered: "Do you think we should tell him?"
"Maybe not yet" I advised, and he nodded in agreement
We bid our farewell to Doc after a few more conversations - we decided against telling him about our type-master status - and continued on our way to Santalune City. When we got there, I froze in my tracks at the sight: burning buildings, people screaming in panic, and smoke arising from the center of the city. Red scorched the dark sky, and all I could see where the colors red, orange, and yellow. When I turned, both Ash and Gary had disappeared.
I dashed into the city, hoping to find anyone, but I couldn't find the origin of the screaming voices - whenever I would get close, they would chance locations.
"Ash?" I called out, standing on a water fountain - now dried up - in the middle of the city. "What in Arceus happened? Where is everyone?"
"Welcome to the future" a voice from behind me announced
Turning, I was unsurprised to see X standing in front of me. Flames burnt behind him, and the screaming only got louder with his presence.
"T-This is the future?" I asked
"Well, a future where your love for the boy prevails" X said
"But how could something like that cause all of this? It doesn't make any sense!" I countered, annoyed and frustrated
"Oh Serena, if this future isn't the result from that, then I will make it so" He insisted. Two columns of flames shot up from the ground behind him, and a building collapsed.
"You're just biased!" I said
"I have no reason to be" He chuckled, lowering down his hood - the eye beneath his scar was pure black. "I've learned of Y's little plot to bring the two of you together, but I can assure you that it will lead to this. I'm trying to prevent this from happening from Serena"
"Why should I trust you?" I demanded
"Why should you trust Y? After all, Ash doesn't even see you romantically - not one bit" X replied, and tears began to well up in my eyes from the jab. "After all, Y is just a stranger to you - his true identity as well. But me... you know me, or at least how I am"
"How you use to be" I pointed out
"I'm still the same" He grinned. The flames all around us began to grow even hotter, causing sweat to drip down the side of my face; tears began to fall from my eyes as well. "In order to avoid this future, you mustn't see Ash"
"But there isn't even anything between us..." I said, more tears flowing down. "there never will be"
"If that was true, then I wouldn't showing you this" He responded. "You have to forget Ash"
"I can't..."
"You will" His voice came out hypnotizing
From somewhere behind me, a loud and creepy bell began to sound, echoing throughout the city. I turned, taking my face out of my hands, and I could make out a figure approaching us through the tears that blurred my vision - it was Y; I could tell by the staffs on his back.
"Torturing the innocent?" Y said - his voice was a nice contrast to X's; it was calm and soothing - "I didn't think you would swoop so low"
"Mind your own business" X snarled
"Serena, he can't be trusted" Y turned to me. Between his bandana and hood, his eyes were strangely compelling. "If you let the darkness guild you and tell you what you should do, then you will descend into corruption"
"It's not about dark or light, Serena. I'm simply trying to save the future; this future" X said. "It may come off as harsh, but it's for the best. You can't listen to Y, there's a reason why he's followed by those bells you hear when he appears"
"There's a reason why one of us wears white, and the other black" Y said, removing one of his staffs of his back. "This isn't the future; this is your twisted dream"
He thrusted his staff into the ground, and the flames were extinguished. The ground shook, and the sky shattered like fragile glass. Before I knew it, I was back where I was minutes ago, on a trail with Gary and Ash, who was waving his hand in front of my face.
"Serena?" Ash said
"Huh?" I replied
"Are you alright?" Ash inquired "You just stopped for a second and started to look off into the distance"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just... realized something" I assured, and he nodded before we continued our way back to Santalune City.
It wasn't a complete lie - I did realized something: I liked Ash more than I thought I did. I went over the argument between X and Y over what I should do - on one hand, I actually knew who X was, and on the other, Y was a complete stranger to me. Though the obvious choice was Y - he represented purity after all - something in the back of my head kept telling me that he couldn't be trusted.
There's a reason why he's followed by those bells. Ever since Y had shown up to the cathedral to battle X, I did always think the bells were a bit creepy; they sounded like they were meant to strike fear, and I had no idea why they played when ever he showed up.
We entered Santalune City again, and I was relived to see that it was normal. Despite that, I still felt like I was being watched, and one time, I could have sworn I saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring at me from a dark alleyway. Moments after that, there was a loud bell that made me flinch.
"Are you scared of bells, Serena?" Ash joked
"N-No, it just reminded me of something" I faked a smile
Throughout the rest of the walk - I was leading them - the sound of Y's entrance bells was stuck in my head. The bells themselves sounded like they were old, and in the background it also sounded like an xylophone was being played on top of it. I liked that Y had saved us a lot of trouble so far, but I really wished he wasn't followed by those creepy bells.
"What are you thinking so hard about Serena?" Ash asked. "If you don't mind me asking"
I took a couple of seconds before reply. "Have you guys ever wondered why those bells play when Y comes along?"
"Come to think of it, they are a bit creepy" Gary said. "I just thought it was some kind of entrance theme, like in a cartoon"
"Yeah, but this is real life" Ash pointed out. "When you put some thought into it, the bells don't make any sense; they don't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular"
"It's almost like they get inside your head" Gary made a good point
What if X had been right? What if Y couldn't be trusted, and that me and Ash's future could potentially lead to what he had show me? If there was one thing influencing my decision, it was those darn bells - those creepy, old bells.
Elsewhere
"Ash... Serena... I never would have imagined you two would be so important" Y said under his breath as he walked down the trail towards no where in particular; he was a traveller who was always on the move. "And those bells keep following me"
Several visions of the future flowed through his head, mostly concerting Ash and Serena. The first couple of them was from their past at summer camp, but the rest were definitely that of the future - weeks from now even.
"Serena... why do you make that choice"
