Hey I'm back.
So I was thinking the other day about the fanfiction world of Pokemon. I mean, its quite extensive, ranging from stories on this site to stuff on other websites too. It's also been going on for a pretty long time. There are many different common types of Pokemon fanfictions, and while I was thinking about those, I came up with the idea for this story. There are some types of fanfiction that are done a lot more than others (high school, betrayal, Aura guardian, etc). Serena Yvonne, with the help of the time-travel pokemon Celebi, will be traveling across common Pokemon fanfiction genres. I love the idea of time-travel and/or dimensional travel. My first story on this site was actually a time-travel/dimensional travel story, but I deleted that quite a while ago.
The usual, I don't own Pokemon or any right to the genres I'll be poking fun at. Just a regular guy who does regular things and doesn't own any multi-billion dollar companies.
I intended this to be satirical, and want to preface this by saying that no particular story is referenced throughout this entire thing. I just want to point out and poke fun at various commonalities I've seen across the Pokemon fanfiction community. So, with that in mind, here we go. On to chapter 1.
A lot can happen in a short period of time.
Serena Yvonne knew this better than anyone.
After all, a little under a year ago, she was still at home, dreading her life as a future rhyhorn racer. But fate had different plans for her. By chance, she ended up going on the journey of a lifetime with her second family, Clemont, Bonnie, and Ash. They traveled all around Kalos and encountered more miracles and wild situations than Serena ever could have dreamt up.
They fought villains, rescued pokémon, performed death defying stunts, held off Team Rocket, and grew together as a family throughout it all. Serena never would have thought it possible to grow so close to people that she didn't know existed not even that long ago, but she witnessed it happen with her very eyes. Every morning for the past year she woke up with a smile on her face, ready to face the day with her family. Nothing could stop them, and they were ready for anything.
In that time, Serena established that she had a crush on one of their group members, Ash Ketchum—the raven-haired trainer. This further developed over time into what she would call love. She loved the boy. More than anything. They had conflicting dreams though. Ash was to become a Pokémon Master, and Serena was to become Kalos Queen. Soon, Ash was to return to Kanto to start anew in another region, and Serena was to head off to Hoenn to pursue Pokémon contests.
Was it the right decision?
Serena wasn't sure. But whether or not it was the right decision in the long run, she felt like it needed to be done. She would go to Hoenn to work on herself and eventually she would return to Kalos to try again at the title of Kalos Queen. It hurt her heart to separate from her family, especially Ash, but it needed to be done. She had a dream to chase, and that dense boy was part of that dream.
So Serena Yvonne lay in bed, late at night, staring at the ceiling as she contemplated her choice to go to Hoenn. In less than 24 hours, she would be on a plane that would be landing in the faraway region, and Ash would be on a plane that would take him to Kanto.
Her mind went over everything she had gone through with her little family, from watching Ash at the Santalune Gym to meeting Korrina in Shalour City to the summer camp where she met Shauna. She traced all of these events and everything up until the current moment, where her life was about to change forever once more.
Serena felt her eyes beginning to droop. She had been thinking about the past year and staring at the ceiling for hours, and decided that she'd better sleep. The flight to Hoenn was going to be long and planes weren't very comfortable places for rest.
Just as she closed her eyes and felt her consciousness beginning to slip away, she was brutally interrupted by a bright blue flash.
She jumped up from her bed, instantly waking up and gasping in fear at whatever brought on that bright flash. The recent event with Team Flare put the honey-blonde on edge, and she wasn't willing to take any chances. Looking around her room, she saw Bonnie sleeping peacefully, as if she didn't see or hear anything.
Confused, Serena turned her attention to the fading light that was beginning to condense into a navy-blue orb floating in the center of the room. Serena blinked, her breath low in fear as she put herself between the orb and Bonnie, determined to protect her from whatever was going on.
"Bonnie, I don't know how you're still asleep, but I really need you to wake up right now!" Serena said, her voice edged with worry.
"She can't hear you!" An unknown voice replied. Looking around for a few moments, Serena was unable to determine where the voice came from, until the blue orb began disappearing, and a small form took shape inside it.
Serena squinted her eyes as a little green creature—no, pokémon—appeared in front of her, the blue orb completely gone. It smiled and waved at the performer, but despite its seemingly friendly demeanor, Serena steadied her stance and grabbed her pokeball that contained Braixen. Something seemed off about whatever had joined her. Holding the pokeball threateningly out in front of her, she glared at the small pokémon.
"Who are you, and what do you want with us?" She hissed. She wasn't taking any chances with this mysterious pokémon. For all she knew, it was a secret weapon of Team Flare.
The pokémon chuckled and waved again. "I am Celebi, the Voice of the Forest." It replied, but not through its mouth. It seemed to speak to Serena's mind directly, through telepathy. "I know who you are, Serena Yvonne." Celebi added with a playful tone.
Not quite convinced the pokémon wasn't a threat, Serena kept her defensive stance. She had heard of the legendary pokémon Celebi before, but after everything that happened in the past week, she wasn't taking any chances. "Okay Celebi. What do you want with Bonnie and I?"
The pokémon laughed and flew up to Serena, causing the honey-blonde to take a step back towards Bonnie. "Well, you see, Serena Yvonne, you are a very special person. I have kept my eye on you for some time. Bonnie is important too, but I'm afraid I'm just here for you, so I decided to let her continue sleeping."
Serena considered lowering her guard, but decided to keep it up for the time being. She kept Braixen's pokeball raised, just in case, her hands ready to release her fiery pokémon in things went awry. "I am? You've been keeping an eye on me?" She looked back at the sleeping blonde child behind her with worry. "And what do you mean you kept Bonnie sleeping?"
Celebi nodded, smiling, its eyes darting to Braixen's pokeball for a brief moment. "I have been watching. You see, I have the power to stop and continue the flow of time itself! So I used my power to stop time for a moment so that we could talk. Bonnie is fine, do not worry. She is just paused for a bit. But, in addition to this, I also have a power that most humans aren't aware of." It shrugged then, looking slightly nervous. "I'm also able to teleport between different dimensions."
"You mean like that mirror world that Ash got stuck in!?" Serena asked, the memory of that day coming back full-force. How could she ever forget that? It was the day that Ash almost got stuck in the other dimension, and she was nearly heartbroken.
"Yes, just like that mirror world. That is but one of an endless number of dimensions, with some very similar to your world, and others quite different. "
"That's cool and all, but why are you telling me this?" Serena replied, eyes narrowed.
"Well, throughout all of the dimensions where there is one known as "Ash Ketchum", in almost all of them, there is one known as you." Celebi pointed at the honey-blonde. "All of these dimensions have a "Serena Yvonne". And all of them are very important to that dimension."
Serena felt a blush beginning to form on her cheeks and she glanced away to hide her face. "So other dimensional versions of me have their lives intertwined with Ash too…?". Convinced that there may not be anything wrong with this Celebi, Serena finally decided to lower her guard and stood normally. Celebi seemed friendly enough, at least.
Celebi chuckled then, as it must have heard Serena's thoughts, much to her embarrassment. "Yes, that is true, Serena. Whether it be good or bad, one way or another, Serena Yvonne is always in Ash Ketchum's life. You truly are a very important person."
Pushing her embarrassment aside and willing her blush to disappear, Serena placed Braixen's pokeball back on the table next to her bed. "Okay, so Serena is important to the dimensions Ash is in, but what does that have to do with me?"
Celebi did a flip in the air and laughed. "Well Serena, of all the versions of you I've seen, you are by far the best one. The most gifted. The most determined. The most positive. The most loving. You are all of these things, and more."
Serena watched on in awe, shocked to hear that Celebi thought of her in such a way. She never really thought she was anything special, but to hear that she was the best version of herself that the time-pokémon had seen throughout thousands of dimensions? Now, that was certainly something to hear.
"I understand that you are leaving for Hoenn tomorrow too, hmm?" The time-pokémon asked, and Serena nodded slowly, averting her gaze down to her feet. She was happy to be going and pursuing her dream, but still sad that their group was separating. "Well, I have arrived to teach you the importance of friendship!"
"Friendship?" Serena asked, raising her eyes. "What do you mean? I already have amazing friends, and I love all of them!"
"Ah yes Serena. But, not all of your dimensional selves have these friendships. In fact, your bond with your friends is quite rare among the dimensional Serena's. I want to help you…appreciate what you have…"
For the first time since the pokémon appeared, Serena began to feel uncomfortable instead of cautious or accepting. She took another small step back and narrowed her eyes at Celebi. "What do you mean? Why did you say appreciate like that?"
Celebi smirked and Serena felt dread beginning to form in her gut. "Well, I want to show you how different your life could have been, by showing you alternate versions of your own universe. Then, you'll see just how important your friends are to you. And maybe, it'll teach you a few lessons about yourself and others."
"Wait, what do you me—"
Celebi flew its hands out, and a bright blue flash blinded the performer. She put her own hands out to protect herself, but quickly realized that that didn't help anything at all. She felt her body begin to stretch and compress, and bright lights of every color blinded her, even through her tightly closed eyelids. An impossibly loud sound that was like a deep reverb echoed all around, and the performer had never been more terrified in her entire life. Not even when she was facing down Team Flare in Lumiose City.
"This is it. This is where I die." She told herself as the bright colors continued to circle around.
After what felt like a minute or two of blinding lights and what can be described best as "weird dimensional stretching", Serena felt the air around her begin to change. Instead of the cool Kalosean night breeze, she felt the warm sun on her shoulders. The bright lights began to subside and the loud deep reverb disappeared in an instant, allowing Serena's sore ears to adjust to the sound of…birds?
Opening her eyes again, Serena's vision took a moment to adjust to the lack of blinding lights, and she gasped at the sight that was in front of her.
No longer was she in the room she shared with Bonnie. It didn't even look like she was in Lumiose City any longer, as she now stood in a brick courtyard filled with teenagers dressed in every type of clothing. Some were talking, some moping around, and others sitting and staring at handheld phones. They looked about her age, and all of them seemed lost in their own worlds. Far in front of her behind an ornate-looking fountain was a large brick building with a strange red, white, and blue flag in front of it blowing briskly in the warm breeze. The teenagers are seemed to be flocking towards this building, and a loud bell echoed throughout the immediate area. The teenagers seemed to know what this meant, and all of the ones that were formerly lost in their worlds began shepherding towards the building, leaving Serena in her place to stare at the strange location.
She looked down at herself, forgetting that she was still in her pajamas, until she saw that she was no longer wearing them. Instead, she wore tightly-fitting blue jeans with a few holes in the legs, bright white shoes, a white t-shirt, and a light green cardigan. Somehow her clothes had changed?
"What am I wearing?" Serena asked out loud, inspecting herself with a few turns.
"It's called "today's fashion", sweetheart. You'd better memorize it."
"Whoa…" Serena said out loud again, her eyes widened. That voice was very clearly Celebi, but the small pokémon was nowhere to be seen. It also seemed to have lost all of the friendly tone it had when they were conversing just a few moments ago. Its tone now was…condescending.
"Where am I?" She asked in her head, hoping that Celebi could hear her.
"You're in a strange land called "Ohio" in an equally strange place known as "The United States"". Celebi's voice replied. Its voice had an odd echo to it that gave Serena a slight headache, but she wasn't going to complain about it.
"Good, because it would be pointless to complain about it."
Serena narrowed her eyes and balled her fists with a look up at the blue morning sky. "What's an "Ohio"? Why did you take me here? Tell me!"
"Well, to start, Ohio is a place. Lots of corn, lots of rust-belt cities. You see, as a time-traveling multi-dimensional pokémon, you'd think I'd have seen everything there is to see. If you thought that, you'd be correct." Celebi started with a snarky tone. Serena was already beginning to not like where this was going and she inwardly groaned. She should have had Braixen Flamethrower that stupid pokémon away when she had the chance.
"Hey I can hear that!"
Serena crossed her arms and glared at the concrete. "Well, it doesn't change that that's how I feel. Just get on with what you were saying."
She heard the pokémon clear its throat in her head, irritatingly. The lack of sleep must have been getting to her. "Anyways, I have seen pretty much everything I've wanted to see, and I'm bored. I saw what a perfect version of Serena you were, and I decided to have a little fun."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I'm going to show you some of the different versions of the world you live in. You'll be able to see why I think your world is so special, and you'll do that by temporarily replacing these world's Serena's."
"What will that accomplish?"
"Well…nothing, really. I'm just bored. I figured it would be a good way for you to appreciate what you have back in your world if you saw just how messed up other worlds are."
Serena pinched the bridge of her nose, her headache gradually getting worse. "Okay. Well, now that I've figured out that I'm your entertainment until you get bored, where is this place you've decided to just throw me into? The sooner I get this over with, the sooner I can get back to my universe, right?"
"Whatever you say, sweetheart. We'll see what happens. I've paused time back in your universe too, meaning that no time will pass where you're from. That leaves us to have as much fun as we want!"
Serena scoffed and rubbed her temples, hoping it would make the headache go away. All she wanted was to go to sleep, and instead she got abducted by a seemingly innocent psychotic pokémon. What were the chances of that?
"Not high." Celebi replied with a chuckle. "Like I said, you're in Ohio. You see, it's very common for people your age in other universes to go to a place called "High School". I can't count how many of these types of dimensions I've seen. Almost all of them are angsty hellholes too."
"Hey! Language! I don't appreciate you swearing like that around me!" Serena scolded, wagging her finger at the sky. While of course she had sworn before, she never liked to, and tried to keep it at a very minimum. She always tried to keep her manners up too, and didn't appreciate when people would swear around her.
"Hey lady. When you've seen the things I've seen, you'll understand that there is no controlling what comes out of your mouth, okay? So be quiet and listen. You'll want to hear all of this if you want to survive here."
Serena sighed and began walking towards the ornate fountain. It was one of the largest fountains she had ever seen and looked out of place among the oak trees, grass fields, and large brick building that was in front of her. It looked like it belonged instead in front of a fancy multistory mansion.
"You'll find that a lot of stuff doesn't make any sense here, sweetheart. The fountain is the least of your worries."
The performer rolled her eyes and sat down on the fountain's side, looking up at the sky as teenagers walked past her towards the brick building. Some sent her confused looks and others snickered at her for no apparent reason, but Serena attempted to ignore them.
"So, high school is an angsty hellhole, like I said. You'll find that the teenagers here are incredibly cruel for no reason and will look for literally anything to bully others about. Your nice little world of gumdrop happiness and rainbows couldn't be any further from the average high school, honey. People here are cruel, and will tear you apart."
"Man, you're really doing a great job at selling this place to me, Celebi…"
"I like your sarcasm. I knew it was a good idea to choose you! Anyway, you'll find that in this dimension there is a version of Ash, Clemont, and all of Ash's past friends. They may or may not be similar to the versions you are familiar with, so it's best to treat everything with caution."
"What about Bonnie? Is she here?" Serena asked, a hopeful twinkle in her eyes.
"Well, most of the time in these alternate high school dimensions, Bonnie either doesn't exist, or is barely around for some reason. Sometimes she's not even related to Clemont too. Haven't quite figured that one out yet."
Disappointed that she may not have Bonnie here, Serena sighed. She was hoping that there would at least be someone here she could be comfortable around.
"Hey, watch out sweetheart. I said earlier that sometimes these versions of your friends are nothing like the versions you know. You have to remember that, otherwise you're not gonna have a good time here."
Serena crossed her arms and huffed. "I don't think I will anyway." She said, this time out loud, drawing a few stares from teenagers walking past her. She had yet to recognize anybody, but unfortunately had nothing but the traitorous Celebi's word to go by for her current situation.
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that."
"Okay, what do I do now?" Serena asked out loud again, her attention to the sky. She didn't know why she was looking at the sky, figuring that it was the closest thing she could get to actually looking at the pokémon's face. She glared at a cloud, picturing it as the time-pokémon.
"First of all, stop responding to me out loud. People are going to think you're crazy. Trust me, that's the last thing you want in this hellhole. Back to what I was going to say though: high school is basically a learning center for angsty teenagers. Some high schools in various dimensions are different from others, but this one is rather typical. You go to class, gossip about boys with your girlfriends, cry, have pointless teenage drama, fall in love temporarily, and go back to your broken families at the end of the day. Every teenage girl's dream, really."
"Oh, I can't wait."
"Anyway, you'd best head to class. I'll guide you along the way and give you advice so that you're not totally out of your element. It's best you play carefully though. You have no idea what you're gonna see in there."
Serena sighed, seeing no other option but to play with the cards she was given. She got up and adjusted her flowy cardigan before following the streams of teenagers inside the big brick building—the school—as Serena figured out. Inside the doors was a very long hallway with rows of lockers on both sides. Not having the slightest clue of where to go, Serena aimlessly walked down the hallway, trying her best to avoid meeting the eyes of anyone that looked up at her. She squeezed her way through the locker bay, passing couples making out, fights starting, students finishing homework last-second, loners listening to loud music, and people playing games. You name it, and Serena saw it. The hallway had the feel of a bad alleyway in a big city, with shady things happening all around. She had never seen so many different teenagers doing so many different activities, and it was hard to believe that there were so many dimensions with things like this, if Celebi's word was to be trusted.
Serena couldn't help but wonder what god would make so many depraved worlds.
"Hey Serena!" A voice called out to her right far ahead in the corrupted locker bay. She didn't recognize the voice, but apparently, it recognized her. A blue-haired girl with dark blue eyes wearing similar clothes to Serena bounded towards the honey-blonde and took her into a tight hug. "I thought you were going to be late! You're usually here so early!"
Serena nervously chuckled, not recognizing the bluenette in front of her in the slightest. She figured her alternate dimension self must have been friends with her though, judging by how she reacted to seeing her. Attempting to not make things weird, Serena awkwardly patted the girl's back and forced a chuckle. "Oh yeah. You know me! Never late. Always on time. That's Serena!"
The girl playfully punched Serena's arm before taking her hand and forcibly guiding her through the depraved crowd of scum and villainy that apparently were alternate dimension high school teenagers.
"Yep! That is Serena!" The girl cheerily replied, forcing her way through the crowd. "May and I made a bet this morning since you didn't arrive when you usually did! I bet you'd be late, and she bet you'd be on time. I guess I lost this one."
The name May sounded vaguely familiar. Celebi did mention that this universe had Ash's past friends in it, so it was safe to assume that this girl currently pulling on Serena's arm through the locker bay and this May girl were two girls he had known at some point.
Passing two teenagers who looked to be trading some drug of some sort, a brown-haired girl came into view and upon seeing the bluenette and Serena, her face lit up and she ran towards the two girls. Bringing Serena into another tight hug, she squealed loudly, hurting the honey-blonde's ears and those of everyone around them.
"Serena! I'm so happy to see you!" The girl, who Serena assumed to be May, yelled. "I told Dawn you'd be here on time!" She let go of Serena, who took her chance at finally breathing normally for the first time in the past 60 seconds with great breaths.
"W-well I'd hate to disappoint you. You know me. Reliable Serena."
May looked at the performer questionably. "You're acting weird, Serena. Usually, you'd have hugged me already and cried to me about your family, but you haven't even asked me how Drew is doing!"
Serena felt the sweat beginning to form on her forehead. She hadn't been here for 10 minutes and the two girls who were supposed to be her friends were already onto the fact that Serena may not be the one that they're familiar with. Right as she was about to open her mouth to hastily reply, Dawn threw her hand over the honey-blonde's mouth and pointed behind her.
"I know why…look who it is!" She said in a loud whisper, as if everyone around couldn't hear what she had just said.
Serena slowly turned around and couldn't believe what she saw.
Down the hallway were three teenage boys walking in the cockiest fashion that the performer had ever seen. Their posture was lax and their arms swung widely with an over-exaggerated swagger that Serena had only seen in movies. Unlike when Serena was being dragged through the hallway, violently pushing through the crowd, it seemed as if these three boys had a godlike aura that compelled everyone to swoon and move aside for them. It was like a light from above was shining down on them, bringing attention to the boys, as if they were the greatest thing to ever walk in the hallways of the building.
That is, until Serena realized that a light literally was shining down on them. The lights above the hallway were dimming as they got closer and lighting up just as the boys walked under them, giving them a "spotlight" affect.
It was probably the most ridiculous thing that Serena had ever seen, and she had seen a lot of ridiculous Team Rocket stunts.
Nobody else seemed to think that though, as she heard swooning girls and jealous huffs from guys all around her as the three godlike boys got closer to where she was standing.
Leaning over towards Dawn, Serena whispered loud enough only for her apparent-friend to hear. "What's going on? Why are they so special?"
Dawn elbowed Serena in the side with stars literally in her eyes as she looked over at the boys. "Don't play dumb, Serena! They're only the coolest and hottest boys in the school! Paul is just so dreamy!" She drew an imaginary heart in the air and pointed it at the one walking on the right. They were close enough now to where Serena could make out their faces, helped by the stupid spotlight affect that was going on too.
The one of the right—Paul—had what looked like a permanent scowl on his face and purple hair. He didn't even look up from the ground, instead keeping his angry gaze on the floor below him as he walked. A few girls actually threw roses at him, which he scoffed at absentmindedly. Serena cringed. She couldn't believe that everyone was acting this way towards one boy. Especially one with such a bad "cool guy" attitude.
She looked to the left and saw another boy, who in stark contrast to the angry purple haired one on the right, seemed to have a cocky smirk on his face at all times. As he passed several girls, he gave his number out on little business cards, making them swoon and pass out onto the ground. She heard one of the girls yell out "Gary, I love you!", so she figured that must have been his name. Serena couldn't help but admit that he was attractive—much more so than angry purple boy—but she was floored when she saw who was following closely behind the other two boys, unable to catch her breath from hitching in her throat.
It was Ash. Ash Ketchum. And he was beautiful.
He wore a confident smile that wasn't cocky at all like the brown-haired boy, and had all the women looking at him with desire like the purple-haired boy, but wasn't angry and off-putting. His brown eyes carefully searched the crowds around him for an unknown target, and even they seemed to gleam in the spotlight above.
She had never seen Ash so confident and attractive in her entire life, and her mind was completely blank. Her body, frozen to the spot. She didn't know what to think, and time seemed to stop as he got closer to her. Not literally, as Serena found out that was a thing that could happen apparently, but she felt her mind empty completely as her raven-haired crush stuck his hand out, causing his little entourage to stop not far in front of Serena.
His brown eyes seemingly made contact with Serena's azure ones, and she felt her heart swell. Her face must have been the color of a tomato at that point, but she didn't—and couldn't—care. She was totally enthralled in her crush's attractiveness, causing everything around them to disappear to the honey-blonde. It was just her, and him.
Ash smirked and Serena felt her heart flip in her chest. She loved it when he did that back in her dimension, but this dimension's Ash seemed to do it so much better somehow. Ash slowly walked forward, his arms out as if to welcome Serena into the hug she always wanted. Feeling happy tears pricking at her eyes, she slowly nodded, not even bothering to wipe the nervous sweat that had formed on her red forehead off.
She took a step forward, her own arms extending to accept her crush's hug, and thought that in a moment, she would experience something she had only dreamt about in the past.
That is, until a red-haired girl appeared from Serena's right side and walked up to intercept the honey-blonde's treasured hug from the boy of her dreams. He gave it willingly, holding the girl tightly as Serena could only stand, frozen in place, as her heart shattered in front of her.
"Ah yes. I had warned you." Celebi's voice pierced Serena's mind, but she didn't care. She only stared at her crush tightly hugging another girl with such intent that there was no way it wasn't romantic. Her dream was shattered, her mind, broken, and her heart, devastated. The happy tears that were building up completely disappeared, and tears of complete anguish replaced them.
Taking a step backwards, Serena hid her face and ran through the crowd, ignoring the calls of her "friends", May and Dawn, as she sought to escape the situation as quickly as possible.
She ran through the hallway that seemed endless for an unknown period of time. Time was lost to her in her newfound depression and she just wanted to get away. Tears were flying off her face as she turned a corner sharply, and accidentally ran into someone. Serena flew to the side and may have scraped her arm, but she didn't care. Instead, her teary gaze cleared enough to see someone standing over her with a worried look. She didn't recognize him, but judging by how he was looking at her, he clearly knew who she was.
"Serena?" He asked. "What's wrong?" He held a hand out to help her up, which she cautiously accepted. Once she was standing again, she got a good look at this boy who she ran into. He had raven-black hair, like Ash, but his looked groomed and not wild like her crush's and his eyes seemed to be grey. He wore a faded red hat with sunglasses sitting on the brim, which struck Serena odd, but she didn't have to think about it, as the boy brought her into a tight hug of his own.
Too shocked to move from watching Ash break her heart and now this random boy hugging her, Serena simply gawked to the side for a few seconds before breaking the hug and backing up a few steps.
"What was that for?" She asked, trying to compose herself enough for a conversation. She wiped a few tears away and pushed the events with Ash into the back of her mind. She'd have to lament that later when she was in private.
The boy looked confused. "What do you mean? That always makes you feel better?"
It was Serena's turn to be confused now, her eyebrows stitching together. "What do you mean? I don't even know who you are?"
The boy was silent for a few seconds before smirking, a glint briefly forming in his grey eyes. "Ah yes. Playing this game again, aren't you?" He stuck his hand out as if he was a knight asking a princess's hand. "Well, I'm Calem, your boyfriend. Nice to meet you. May I ask for your name, my sweet?" He took Serena's hand and gave the top of it a kiss, and the world came crashing down on the honey-blond performer.
Time literally paused just as the boy's lips were about to pull away from Serena's hand. Staring at him in shock for a few seconds before rapidly pulling away, Serena backed up a few steps and stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep her breath even.
"Celebi!" She yelled out, breathing deeply. "What is this? I know you're out there!"
"I never left, sweetheart. Now calm down before you pop that vein in your forehead."
"You want me to calm down!?" Serena all but shrieked. "I just watched my crush hug another girl and I bet he would have kissed her if I stood there and watched! And then, all of a sudden, I come around the corner after getting my heart broken like that, and this random dude says he's my boyfriend!? I was just trying to sleep and you forced all of this on me!"
Celebi chuckled then, making Serena's irritation levels rise higher than ever before. She felt that vein in her forehead twitch, and briefly wondered if it would pop like the pokémon said. "Not all is what it seems. Calem is actually a nice guy in this dimension. Better than most versions of him, actually."
Serena opened her mouth to reply before quickly pausing. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, and tried her best to calm her racing thoughts. "This is too much, too quick…" She thought, knowing that Celebi could hear her but not caring." You just need to keep calm. This isn't your Ash. This isn't your world. You don't even know this Calem guy. You'll figure out a way out of this. You just need to keep your cool."
"I think that's great advice for yourself. Give me a second here." There was tense pause and Serena realized she could hear her heart beating in the silence around her. She turned her eyes on the grey-eyed boy next to her, unable to believe what had just happened. He wasn't unattractive. No, not at all. But he did look very similar to the Ash she knew, which only confused the honey-blonde further. "So these high school dimensions usually are all the same thing." Celebi continued. "You're either one of three things: hopelessly in love with Ash, the smartest and most popular girl in the school, or are bullied and unpopular to the point of crippling depression and suicide. Or, in some cases, a combination of those three. Sound good?"
"Wait, wh—"
"I'm not done! A common theme in these universes is this boy. His name is Calem, and he always loves you, but you, most of the time, don't love him back."
"Well this dimension's Serena must love him because she's dating him!"
"That doesn't mean much, girlfriend. You see, Ash is usually paired up with Fire-Crotch back over there, whose name is Misty. She was his first traveling companion, and in many of these universes, is a total bitch. And, just so happens to be Ash's girlfriend here".
"Why are you so vulgar?" Serena asked, grimacing at the vulgar description the pokémon used for Ash's redheaded girlfriend. "Was that really necessary?"
"Most Celebi are different from me, I will admit. But, I've gotten too old and seen too much to care about that stuff now. You'll just have to deal with it."
"Great."
"I've seen the future though, and almost every single time, something happens to your relationship with Calem and Ash's relationship with Misty. You two end up together instead. The reason varies, but usually devolves into you and Ash doing creepy stuff like smelling each other and staring into each other's eyes for too long until one of you decides to break up with your respective boyfriend or girlfriend. Humans are weird."
"Well I can certainly tell you that normal people back in my dimension aren't like that!"
"Don't try and pull that card on me, missy. I've seen you dreamily stare into Ash's eyes on more than one occasion"
"No I haven't…" Serena mumbled, her face going red against her will as she turned her gaze back towards the floor. Her mind felt clouded from an overload of information. She decided to lean against the wall and put her hand on her head. The honey-blonde realized her headache never went away, but was covered up by the events going on around her. Now she felt it full-force, and it was getting worse.
"This is all so much…" Serena groaned, rubbing her temples again. "Everything is so weird. Why did you bring me here?"
"Do we really have to go over that again? Why can't we just have a little fun?"
"Your fun is giving me the worst headache of my life!"
"Fine…Have it your way. We'll have fun somewhere else, then."
Before Serena could open her mouth to object, the bright light from earlier returned, and the honey-blonde knew that wherever the sadistic pokémon was taking her probably wasn't going to be any better than this hellish high school she found herself in.
Ah, the high school fanfic. There are TONS of these out there in the Pokemon fanfiction community. For "research" for this story, I've read quite a few. There were actually some pretty good ones, but I'll admit, high school stories aren't really my thing. Don't be offended at me poking fun at the high school fanfics though :). Some characters in here are OOC, I know, but that was intentional. Gotta have them portray what I want them to portray. In this case, a not-so-great high school fanfic. As for Serena? I always thought that before she cut her hair, she had a good sense of sarcasm. I like that version of her, so I'm going to try and have her talk back to Celebi often.
Anyway, I'll see you in chapter 2!
Twilly