Chapter Nine - Someone Like Him

The next morning, Serena jolted awake as soon as she regained enough of her consciousness to remember the events of the previous day. Before she had enough time to so much as sit up and yawn, her heart jumped and her stomach sank as all the memories returned to her. How she had managed to fall asleep at all was a mystery to her. Too much had happened all at once. Clemont and Korrina's gyms, Korrina's ill-fated battle with Palermo, her own encounter with a drunken Meyer, Ash's returned letter... it was all too much. And then, of course, what had happened after all of that was yet another step too far.

Serena sat upright and realized that she was still in her day clothes. The only part of her regular attire that was missing was her shoes. They did not reside at her bedside as they usually did, though. Her heart palpitated at the memory of what she had done with them. Her eyes confirmed it. She looked, and she saw her shoes discarded at Aria's bedside. Her eyes widened, and she covered her face with both hands while she inhaled a long, deep breath through her nose, then slumped backward onto her bed again.

Pulling her hands away so that she could stare up at the ceiling, her fingers touched something unexpected. Her heart skipped yet another beat. The fabric was still there. She ran it between her fingers. The scarf. The scarf Aria had given to her. She had not removed it. She had worn it all night.

Serena picked up one of the loose ends of the scarf and held it up so she could see it. Even in the dark, the scarf's color had been obvious. It was a deep, striking red, so much so that red felt insufficient to describe it. Scarlet seemed more appropriate. As Serena remembered everything that had transpired after receiving it, she began to turn a similar color. Feeling the heat rising on her face, she loosened the scarf around her neck.

For a while, she remained there in silence, intermittently admiring the scarf and staring at the ceiling, her thoughts whirling inside her head like a storm. The silence came to an abrupt end when there was a click followed by a burst of light and an unmistakable buzzing sound. Startled, Serena rolled onto her side and then sat up as she saw Ribombee emerge from inside her bag.

Even more energetic than usual, Ribombee trilled as she zipped around Serena's head several times at a dizzying pace. Serena raised a finger to her lips and tried in vain to make eye contact with Ribombee, or do anything to get her attention.

"Shh!" Serena whispered. "I think Aria's still asleep!"

Ribombee snapped to a halt in midair, but only for a second. A moment later, she landed on Serena's shoulder, vibrating with excitement.

"What's gotten into you this morning?"

A curious look in her eyes, Ribombee inched closer toward Serena's neck. Cautiously, she reached out with one hand, then touched Serena's scarf.

"Oh, right. I guess this is new to you, isn't it?"

Ribombee scooped up as much loose fabric as she could in her tiny arms and then rubbed her face in it.

"Aria gave it to me."

Ribombee uncovered her face. She gleamed up at Serena for a moment with her dewy eyes. Then, she took hold of her own tiny scarf, chirping as she rubbed it against her face. Serena paused for a moment, but then realized.

"We match now, don't we?"

Ribombee chirped louder, then took to the air again. Singing, she danced about in front of Serena, twirling her scarf. Serena bit down on the inside of her lip and suppressed a giggle.

Her moment of laughter ended immediately when she saw Aria sit upright. As quickly as it had begun, Ribombee's dance ended. She zoomed to the other side of the room and rapidly circled Aria several times before landing atop her head. Dazed, Aria looked up, blinked heavily, then rubbed her bleary eyes. When she opened them again, she looked at Serena. Serena saw Aria's eyes land directly on the scarf, then shift back up to her face.

"So... I wasn't dreaming," said Aria.

Serena looked down at the scarf, raised a hand to it, and took hold of the soft fabric.

Her heart jumped. The memory of the motion lingered in her muscles. She had done the exact same thing so many times before with Ash's ribbon.

She looked at Aria. A wave of heat pulsed over her face.

"No, you weren't," she said.

Aria pursed her lips for a moment. She looked aside.

"Do you like it?"

"I love it."

Aria met Serena's eyes again, but only for a moment. She sighed and turned away.

"Good," she said. "That's... good."

She bowed her head, lips tight. Ribombee went tumbling off, then took to the air again. Aria looked up at Ribombee for a moment, then closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I shouldn't have," said Aria. "I really shouldn't have done that."

"I'm really glad you did," said Serena. "I needed it, more than you know."

Aria shot Serena an aside glance, then shook her head again.

"You don't need me," she said.

"That's not true!"

Her legs still covered by the sheets, Aria pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, hiding her face behind them.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be just because I made a mistake," said Aria. "I shouldn't have done that and we both know it. Don't pretend it isn't the truth."

"You didn't make a mistake."

"Yes, I did."

"No, you didn't!"

Aria inhaled and then exhaled very slowly, her face still hidden. After a brief silence, she looked up at Serena. Serena had never seen her look so lost.

"Serena, what are we even doing?" said Aria.

"I-"

"What are we? What's the point of all this? What was last night?"

Serena rose from her bed.

"Because... I don't know," said Aria.

Aria looked as though she had something more to say, but the words got lost as Serena approached her. Stepping slowly, Serena unwound the scarf around her neck until it merely dangled over her shoulders. She stopped at Aria's bedside, then knelt down.

Their faces at an even height, they stared at each other. Breathless, Serena's heart pounded.

After several silent seconds, Serena broke eye contact. She looked down at the two lengths of the scarf dangling from her shoulders. She took hold of the ends with both hands, then evened them out, leaving an equal amount of fabric hanging from both sides. When she looked back up at Aria, she found her shaking as she drew an unsteady breath.

Aria's breath halted in a silent gasp as Serena reached out to her with both hands, still holding the ends of the scarf.

"Serena?"

Serena wrapped her arms around Aria's back. In the center, her hands met. There, she made an exchange with herself, each hand passing one end of the scarf to the other. Her hands damp with sweat, she tightened her grip.

She pulled. The scarf cinched the two of them together, drawing them together as if in the center of a knot. Startled, Aria reached up and placed her hands on Serena's shoulders, almost as if to brace herself.

With their faces only a few inches apart, Serena stopped.

"I can explain," said Serena.

Pulling the scarf taut again, she closed the distance between them. She closed her eyes.

She kissed her.


Serena spent the rest of the morning in a daze. Though she made breakfast for herself, she barely touched it. Instead, she sat at the kitchen table staring aimlessly into space while her tea and her croissant went cold. The images and words of what had happened played over and over again in her eyes and her ears, like a film stuck on repeat inside her mind. The more she thought about it, the less real it felt.

She had kissed Aria.

It had not been a mere kiss on the cheek like the one Aria had once given to her. Aria's reaction lingered on her lips as if she were still there, the feeling still with her, a phantom sensation. The sound Aria had made still rang in her ears, echoing over and over again. In slow motion, it all played back, again and again and again. When their lips touched, Aria froze for a moment, then completely melted. Whatever it was she intended to say got lost on the way out, caught somewhere in her throat. There, it mingled with a mess of other words and emotions before it all eventually came out. It was a messy, muffled sound. It had interrupted their kiss as Aria sputtered it against her lips. It was everything all at once, too many emotions to be put into words, too many feelings too contradictory to ever explain. It was something like a cry and an exclamation and a laugh and a moan, all at the same time.

And when it passed, Aria slipped her arms beneath the binding lengths of the scarf, pulled Serena in closer, and kissed her back.

When the kiss ended, they remained there for a while, bound in an embrace. Eventually, Aria excused herself. She ran to the bathroom. When Serena passed the door on her way downstairs, she wasn't sure, but she thought she heard Aria sniffling inside.

Now, hours later, she continued to sit at the kitchen table, stunned. Midday approached, yet there had been hardly any signs of activity at all elsewhere in the house. Aside from Bonnie briefly entering the kitchen to grab breakfast, no one else stirred. Serena suspected that Meyer was nursing the aftereffects of his ill-advised binge and that Clemont had likely stayed up all night and was only now catching up on sleep.

Her trance broke when the front door opened. She jumped in surprise, the sound of the door alarmingly loud after such prolonged silence. She scrambled to sit upright in her chair. It was only then, during a momentary glance at the table, that she realized her breakfast was still there, untouched.

Just as Serena was about to call out and ask who was there, she heard a familiar voice.

"I'm back."

Korrina stepped into view from the foyer. For a moment, she peered around the empty house, stopping when her eyes landed on Serena.

Serena opened her mouth to try to say something, but nothing came out. There was too much to say. Korrina spoke again before she did.

"Hey," said Korrina. She raised one hand in Serena's direction in a weak wave, then let it fall to her side again. She stepped into the kitchen.

Serena kept her eyes glued on Korrina. Never before had she seen Korrina look so tired, so weary, so fragile. The ever-present fire in her eyes was nowhere to be seen. Instead, dark circles cast heavy shadows beneath her eyes. Serena wondered if Korrina had slept at all. If so, she figured that of all the possible habits Korrina could have picked up from Clemont, that one was the worst.

"Is Lucario okay?" said Serena.

Korrina slung her bag off her shoulder and placed it on the table. She dug into it and pulled out a Poké Ball.

"He's fine," she said. "I've got him right here. It's going to be a few days before he's back to normal, but he'll be alright."

"That's good."

"Yeah, it could have been a lot worse," said Korrina. "You and Ribombee really helped. If she hadn't healed him right there when she did... well, he would probably still be at the Pokémon Center."

Serena couldn't think of anything meaningful to say. Nothing felt right. It all seemed vacuous, trivial in comparison to what had nearly happened. Despite wanting to speak, she pursed her lips and looked aside.

Her eyes shot back toward Korrina when Korrina spoke up again.

"But hey! No need to be down about it! We took a beating, but that's okay. Lucario's gonna be fine. He just needs some rest."

Serena's eyes lingered on Korrina's face. Everything she saw was a lie, a tragic, bitter, obvious lie. Despite the smile Korrina had forced onto her face, her eyes remained the same. It was all a charade, a façade, a futile attempt to pretend that she was okay and that so was everything else.

Somewhere in the pause that followed, Serena could have sworn she heard Korrina say that she also needed a rest. When she heard another voice, she supposed it was nothing more than her mind connecting the dots.

The pause ended with a thunderous rumble as Bonnie bounded down the stairs and threw herself onto Korrina.

"Korrina!"

Bonnie wrapped Korrina up in an enormous hug and squeezed as if she wanted to permanently attach herself to her.

"You're okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Korrina.

Bonnie pulled back and glared up at Korrina with a grimace on her face.

"You better be fine!" said Bonnie. "We were worried!"

Korrina raised a hand to the back of her neck.

"I know. I'm sorry. I'm okay, really. Lucario is, too."

Bonnie did not appear to be listening. Instead, she turned around, cupped her hands around her mouth like a funnel, and shouted up the stairs.

"Clemont! Get down here!"

A few seconds later, footsteps came from above, followed by the sound of a door opening. Clemont emerged from his room and appeared at the top of the stairs. His hair disheveled, he fumbled with his glasses as he hurried to place them on his face.

"Bonnie! What in the world is the matter? How many times have I told you-"

Clemont froze mid-sentence as he slipped his glasses over his eyes. Serena could see the gears turning inside his head behind the lenses as his eyes landed squarely on Korrina.

"You're back," said Clemont.

Korrina nodded.

"I'm back."

Clemont adjusted his glasses as he shambled down the stairs. He ruffled his hair as if trying to shake the sleep from his head. At the bottom, he came to a stop and stood before Korrina.

There was a tense pause.

"I can barely express how relieved I am to see that you appear to be unharmed," said Clemont. He scratched his cheek with one finger. "I confess that I was quite concerned for your safety when you left. I was all but certain that you were making a remarkably reckless and dangerous mistake."

"It was a mistake," said Korrina. "I didn't think. I should have listened, to you and Aria and everyone else."

Clemont nodded. Serena had the distinct impression that there was something he wanted to say, but decided not to say it.

"I'm sorry," said Korrina. "I wish I hadn't worried you. I wish I hadn't gone."

"My only regret is that I did not have the courage to follow you."

"Huh?"

Korrina's eyes widened in surprise. Clemont nodded once again. He looked at the floor for a moment, then back up at Korrina.

"I know it's illogical, but you've shown me that sometimes abandoning reason is the only thing to do. The world isn't a very logical place, after all."

Korrina struggled to say anything. Clemont let out something like an amused, halfhearted laugh.

"You would think that I would have learned that after spending so much time around Ash," he said, scratching his cheek again. "It seems that we all have lessons we have to learn the hard way."

Serena's heart lurched at the mention of Ash's name. A momentary panic swept over her. No one else knew, but surely everyone could see it. It was written on her face, plain as day.

No one looked at her, though.

"Even if you fought with me, I don't think we would have beaten her," said Korrina. "Serena was right. We need Ash."

Again, Serena's heart jumped.

"Or someone like him, anyway," said Clemont. "I suspected as much, but that doesn't change my sentiment. I wish I had found the strength and courage to battle alongside you. Even if we were defeated, at least we would have been defeated together."

"Clemont..."

"I don't like being in the position that I'm in right now," said Clemont. "I wish that you could tell me that I was wrong. I wish I wasn't right about this. I don't want to stand here and lecture you from a position of superiority. We're supposed to be a team. I don't want to argue with you. I want to be on the same side as you. Because of that, I wish I had been able to summon the courage to put my fears aside for once, regardless of the consequences. Being with you is worth more than me being right."

Korrina's face went slack in astonishment.

"I-"

Clemont smiled awkwardly.

"I say that I don't want to lecture you, and yet I say all that," he said. "I think I've said enough."

Korrina reached out to him, grabbed him by the shoulders, then pulled him in and wrapped him up in a tight embrace. Bashfully, Clemont returned the embrace. With his head over her shoulder, he turned his eyes to look toward her.

"I suppose actions speak louder than words, don't they?" he said.

"I love you."

Some words spoke louder than others.

Bonnie gasped. Both Serena's heart and her train of thought came screeching to a halt. Momentarily stunned, there was a brief pause before Clemont closed his eyes and deepened the embrace.

"I love you, too."


The remainder of the day crawled past. Never in her life could Serena recall time passing so slowly. Every minute felt like an hour. Every single one of those minutes was awkward, with nervous, unspoken tension flowing through her veins. Nothing was the same anymore. Everything felt different.

She spent much of the day lazing around in bed under the premise of needing a nap. Despite how true that was, sleep was out of the question. Her mind was in overdrive. On the other side of the room, Aria sat by the windowsill, reading by the thin ray of light that peeked through the space between the curtains. She remained quiet all day. All the while, there was a faint but definite smile on her lips.

Every now and then, when Serena glanced over in Aria's direction, she caught Aria glancing at her.

That night, when fatigue overcame her and she was on the verge of drifting off to sleep at last, she was awoken by something both unexpected and unsurprising. She opened her eyes to find Aria leaning over the bed, her eyes closed, holding her loose, dangling hair back with one hand. She pressed her lips to Serena's.

"Goodnight," said Aria.

"Goodnight."

When the next day came, time moved erratically and blindingly fast, with that day spilling into the next one, and the day after that, and so on until the end of the week. Serena felt as though she were standing still in a crowd as the world moved around her, with words being said and plans being made while she sleepwalked through every day.

There was no way to avoid it – Korrina had to return to Shalour City to sort out the mess with her gym. It would only be temporary, or so she hoped. Maybe a few days, maybe a few weeks. No one knew. Together with Clemont and Bonnie, Serena saw her off at the train station. Aria expressed her condolences that she wished she could come, too, but leaving the house seemed too dangerous.

With heavy hearts, Korrina boarded the train and everyone else stayed behind, waving her goodbye for now as she slipped away, down the tracks and out of sight. Without her, the house was almost eerily quiet. Not even Bonnie could make up for her absence.

The evening Korrina left, Serena stopped as she passed the door to Clemont's room. As always, the door was open, and Clemont sat at his computer desk, eyes glued to the many screens. Silently, Serena stepped into the doorway. Despite casting a shadow across the room, Clemont did not seem to notice. She hesitated for a few seconds before gently knocking her knuckles on the door.

"Oh, hello," said Clemont. He sat upright and swiveled in his chair to face her.

"Hey."

"Is there something the matter?"

"Not really," said Serena. "Do you have a minute, though?"

"Certainly," said Clemont. "I'm not currently involved in anything critical."

"Do you mind if I shut the door?"

"No, I don't, although that leads me to believe that something actually is the matter."

Serena stepped inside, gently shut the door behind her, and sighed.

"You're right, as usual," she said, approaching him. "That's... kind of why I'm here."

"I'm not certain I follow."

"I'm here for advice."

"About what, exactly?"

"A few different things," said Serena. "That, and I have some questions for you."

"Well, I suppose I'll do my best to help you and to provide you with answers, then. What's on your mind?"

For lack of another chair, Serena sat down on the floor beside Clemont's desk with her back against the wall. With her legs stretched out across the floor, she folded her hands over her stomach and looked up at the ceiling.

"It's been a while since we've talked like this, hasn't it?" said Serena.

"It has," said Clemont. "Not without good reason, though."

"I'm sorry about what I said last time, about being jealous of what you and Korrina have. That was... really petty of me. I wish I hadn't said it."

"No offense taken," said Clemont. "I accept your apology anyway. May I ask, though, what brought this on? I had almost entirely forgotten about the incident in question."

"Honestly, I don't know," said Serena. "It's not just one thing that made me think of it. It's a whole bunch of things."

"Has this been weighing on your mind as of late?"

"No, but a lot of other things have."

"Understandable."

"I just... wanted to apologize to you for that, because seeing what you two have, it feels really wrong for me to say I'm jealous of it. It's not right of me to think like that."

"Jealousy isn't a thought," said Clemont. "It's a feeling. There's nothing wrong with feeling one way or another about anything."

Serena stared blankly at Clemont.

"Our feelings are beyond our control," said Clemont. "Our thoughts are another matter, of course."

"But... what if our feelings really hurt somebody?"

"The only people who can be hurt by our feelings are ourselves," said Clemont.

Serena tilted her head.

"I really don't think that's true," she said.

"Actions can hurt others. What we think and feel is entirely our own."

"What if Korrina fell in love with someone else?" said Serena. "Wouldn't her feelings hurt you then?"

Clemont's expression tightened. He rubbed his chin and nodded, thinking.

"As much as I dislike admitting it, most logic seems to fall apart when applied to love, doesn't it?"

"That's why it's always so hard to figure out," said Serena. "It never makes any sense."

"I disagree," said Clemont. "I think it all makes more sense than you may realize."

"But you just said it wasn't logical!"

"Logical, no, but it does follow an identifiable chain of cause and effect."

Serena squinted in confusion and shook her head.

"What are you talking about?" she said.

"I know it's a terribly cynical way of thinking about it and that most people are uncomfortable with the idea, but really, psychology is an applied form of chemistry. Everything we think and feel is the result of chemical reactions inside our brains. The only reason it looks like something different is because the system is too complex for us to fully understand with our current science. Regardless, neurons and synapses are electrochemical systems. It's all just chemistry, and a bit of physics."

Serena stared at Clemont, agape. Clemont looked aside.

"Everything is just physics, really," he muttered as if speaking to no one in particular.

"It can't be that simple," said Serena.

"It's not simple at all," said Clemont. "If it was, brain surgery wouldn't be the notoriously complicated field that it is. Psychology, sociology, economics, and perhaps even history would all be solved, fully-understood fields of study. That's beside the point, though! My point is that our emotions are beyond our control. Our feelings are chemical reactions. It's all purely physical, and we're incapable of controlling physics. Those laws are absolute. We can't change them."

Serena stared at her lap. If anything, the idea gave her even less comfort than what she previously thought.

Clemont took a deep breath and continued.

"So, love and attraction may not make much sense to us on a logical level, but on a physical level they are the nervous system's natural response to certain stimuli. People say they can't help falling in love because it's true. They really can't."

"But-"

Serena stopped herself, grasping for words.

"You make it sound so meaningless!" she said.

"It's not meaningless at all," said Clemont. "It has whatever meaning we want to give it. Just look at the incredible quantity of art, literature, and even technology that has been produced throughout history because of love. Love has meant more than anything to more people than we could possibly imagine."

"Does it mean anything to you?"

Clemont's face tightened. He swallowed before he continued. When he spoke again, it was not in his typical professorial tone of voice. It was much more serious.

"Very much so," he said. "More so than I think you understand."

Serena shut her eyes and bowed her head.

"Why do I say things like that?" she groaned, covering her face with both hands.

"What you asked was a perfectly reasonable question," said Clemont. "I don't hold it against you."

"Maybe, but I didn't have to be so tactless about it!"

"There was nothing wrong with what you asked," said Clemont. "Most people – in fact, practically everyone, I think – are uncomfortable with the idea that our conscious experience is merely an abstraction of a purely physical existence. Many people reject the idea because they feel it renders our existence meaningless, and that it undermines the concept of free will. I prefer a different perspective, though."

Clemont looked up at the ceiling. He adjusted his glasses.

"I find inspiration in it. It's a miracle that any of these systems work at all. Our mere existence is phenomenal. The odds that we would not exist, that we would experience nothing instead of something, are incalculable. And yet, here we are, in bold defiance of those odds. Many people don't agree with me, but I find deep meaning in that. It doesn't matter if we're all just collections of particles interacting with each other. We exist. We think, we feel, and we do. That is the most remarkable thing of all."

Clemont looked at Serena again. He smirked, exactly the same way she had seen him every time he had debuted a new invention.

"Now, I'm sure you're wondering, what is the meaning of life?"

Serena stared at him. She blinked a few times.

"Well, I regret to inform you that the question falls outside my realm of expertise," said Clemont. "That's a conundrum of philosophy, not science. I don't have the answer."

Serena slumped her shoulders.

"So, what's the point of all this?" she said.

"Humans are illogical by nature. So is love. It happens if the conditions are right, regardless of whether or not we want it or consciously will it to happen. The same is true of all feelings. There is no shame in feeling any of them."

"Would you feel ashamed if you fell in love with someone other than Korrina?"

"Well, perhaps," said Clemont. "It would depend on how I handled the situation. If I chose not to act upon those feelings and instead discussed what I was feeling openly and honestly with Korrina, I don't think I would have anything to be ashamed of."

A wave of heat washed over Serena's face.

"I... feel very ashamed."

"Why?"

"Because I'm falling in love with someone other than Ash."

Clemont gave her a knowing nod.

"I suspected as much," he said.

Serena's eyes snapped up to meet his.

"You did?"

"I mean no offense, but it was fairly obvious, even to me."

Serena blushed in earnest. She pulled her knees up to her chest, hid her face, and groaned.

"I guess it doesn't help that Bonnie is running around with a diagram of everyone's relationship status at all times," Serena grumbled.

"I... really wish she wouldn't do that," said Clemont. "But, to be honest, as selfish as it is for me to admit this, I prefer it to her proposing on my behalf to every girl she meets."

Serena peeked up above her knees and stared at the opposite wall for a while.

"How do you all not hate me?" she said. "How come none of you think I'm just the worst person there is?"

"In part because right now we're all being conspired against by someone who is a strong contender for that title," said Clemont.

"Well, true, but that doesn't make me feel any better!"

"More so because you obviously don't want to hurt anybody. You're dealing with everything the best you can."

"My best is pretty terrible."

"You're not a bad person. You're a very good one, as a matter of fact."

"But... what about Ash?"

Clemont folded his arms. He tightened his lips and drew in a long breath through his nose. Serena spoke again.

"The last thing I said to him was that I loved him! And now... this!"

"It's a complicated situation," said Clemont.

"When he comes back and finds-"

Clemont held up one finger and stopped her.

"If he comes back," he said.

Serena went abruptly silent. There was a stern, solemn look on Clemont's face, one that she had rarely if ever seen before. While she stared at him, Clemont removed his glasses. He rubbed his temples and craned his neck up toward the ceiling, then leaned back in his chair.

"Ash is probably the single most outstanding person I've ever known," said Clemont. "Meeting him was arguably the best thing that ever happened to me. Should I be so lucky, decades from now I suspect that when I reflect on my life, my time traveling with him will be its greatest highlight. I am privileged to have had such a rare and unique opportunity in my life, and Ash has unquestionably made my life better by being a part of it. I consider it an honor to be able to call him my friend."

Clemont paused. Still gazing at the ceiling, he shook his head.

"But, when I said goodbye to him at the airport the day he left Kalos, I did so with the expectation that I would never see him again. You know the stories. He always moves from one adventure to the next. He never comes back. He doesn't stay in touch. He moves on. Ash is a truly great person, but he's not perfect. I will always consider him my friend, but-"

Clemont let out a sharp breath through his nose. He rubbed his forehead, then closed his eyes.

"I know better than to believe that people will always come back."

Serena stared at him, speechless. Clemont sighed, then pulled himself fully upright again. With his glasses off, he continued to gaze off into the distance.

"I apologize for making the mood even more depressing," he said. "Unfortunately, there are some difficult truths about life that are challenging to understand without experiencing the death of a parent."

Clemont looked toward the far wall. His Aipom Arm backpack hung there on a hook.

"There are reasons why I am so protective of Bonnie that transcend merely loving her because she's my sister. There are reasons why I never want to throw myself into danger or allow anyone else I love to do it. The greatest among them is that I never want to see the people I love experience that kind of pain again."

All was quiet and still for a while. Time passed in silence. Serena supposed it was at least a minute, maybe a few. She was the one to eventually break the silence.

"Clemont?"

"Hmm?"

Clemont snapped back to attention and placed his glasses back on his face.

"When you said that we needed someone like Ash to stop Palermo, what did you mean?"

Clemont thought for a moment, then gave a slight shrug and a shake of the head.

"I did not intend for there to be a greater meaning to it," he said.

"But what did you mean?"

"I meant that while Palermo is certainly strong and her defenses seem insurmountable to us at the moment, she is not the strongest trainer in the world. She likely is not the strongest trainer in Kalos, nor even in Lumiose City. We may not need Ash specifically to defeat her."

"But... who?" said Serena. "Who else would help us? No one else understands what's happening! Ash is probably the only trainer in the world who is strong enough to beat her and would actually believe us!"

"I wish I had an answer," said Clemont. "I'm not certain. I suppose that more than anything my point is that we are not out of options, and that we should be prepared to explore them if Ash never returns. I admit that I don't know what those options are, but I do not believe that this situation is as hopeless as it seems, even without Ash's help."

"I wish I agreed," said Serena.

"Well, I take no offense from you feeling differently about the situation."

Serena stood.

"I'm sorry I came in here and was such a downer," she said.

"There is no need to apologize. These are difficult times. We all have a great deal of negative emotion inside of us that needs to be expressed. I am equally culpable, if not more so."

Serena glanced at Clemont's array of monitors. They had all cut to a screen saver.

"I'll let you get back to work," said Serena.

She headed for the door. She stopped when Clemont interrupted her.

"Serena?"

"Hmm?"

Serena turned around and saw Clemont's eyes on her, an expectant look on his face.

"Could I have your permission to ask you a personal question?"

"Um."

Serena hesitated. Clemont could not have made it any more awkward if he had tried. Then again, given the conversation that had taken place in here, it was doubtful that anything he asked could possibly cut too deep. How could anything be off-limits anymore?

"...okay," she said.

"Do you really believe that Ash is the only person in the world for you?"

"I used to."


Time continued its steady, inscrutable march. The days that followed all seemed to blend together in Serena's head. Each day was the same. Serena went off to work and sorted parts mindlessly until it was time to go home. When she got home, she found the bedroom a little bit more organized than when she left, a sign of Aria's progress on her task. The word from Korrina, if there was any, was always that it would be just a few more days before she could return, the legal situation with her gym becoming more convoluted by the day. Every night, she and Aria shared a goodnight kiss.

Some days, they shared more than a goodnight kiss. Some days, Serena found herself standing in front of the bathroom mirror splashing cold water on her red face, grateful that she had kept her wits about herself for long enough to escape before discarding any of her clothes. Some days, she would stand in the shower until the hot water ran out wondering how any of this ever happened. Some days, she wondered how she would ever be able to explain any of it to anyone who wasn't there.

One morning, a couple of weeks after Korrina left, she opened the front door as she left for work and found something on the front step. It was a newspaper.

They didn't get the newspaper.

And on the front page of that newspaper was a familiar face and an eye-catching headline.

ALOLA LEAGUE CROWNS FIRST-EVER CHAMPION

It was a photo of Ash standing triumphant in the middle of a battlefield, holding a trophy high above his head. Pikachu was on his shoulder, holding up his classic victory sign.

Serena smiled sadly. He had done it. He had accomplished his dream. She folded the newspaper in half and slipped it through the mail slot on the door. She figured the others would like to know.

She didn't accomplish much at work that day. Around lunchtime, it occurred to her that Delphox had been doing all the work for her the entire day, levitating parts and placing them in different boxes without any command. Serena knew she didn't need any command at this point. She understood exactly what to do.

Serena snapped out of her trance when she noticed Delphox look at her and stop.

"Is something wrong?"

Delphox gave her an imperious look, then looked away as if to return to her work.

"I haven't been keeping up today, have I?"

Delphox shot her another glance.

"I'm sorry for making you do all the work. I'll do better to keep up, I promise. My mind is just... all over the place today."

Delphox chuffed. Serena's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

Delphox neither looked at her nor responded.

"Sorry..."

There was another minute or two of silence. It made Serena uneasy. She spoke up again.

"We... really haven't communicated well in a while, have we?"

Delphox paused in the middle of suspending several parts in midair. She looked at Serena, her mouth slightly open.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what I'm doing. I wish I was a better trainer. You deserve better than this."

Delphox gently brought all of the parts in the air down to a rest on the countertop.

"That's why I offered you the chance to go with Ash. He's a way better trainer than I am. He's so good at understanding his Pokémon. I just mess up all the time."

Delphox stared at her.

"You never seem happy anymore, and I feel like that's my responsibility, like it has to be because of me. I've been trying so hard to figure out what it is that I don't understand or don't have, but I haven't found it yet, and I feel like I've really neglected you because of it. We used to be so close, but then, well, everything happened, and things got... weird."

Delphox looked to be in thought for a moment, but she did not respond.

"And now, I keep having this feeling that you know something that I don't. I don't have a clue what it is, though. Can you see something that I can't?"

Serena's train of thought took one more step, and she spoke again.

"Can you see the future or something?"

Delphox gave her an uncertain look.

"Can you... read my mind?"

Delphox's utter lack of response made Serena feel like a fool for even suggesting such a thing. The answer was obvious before she ever asked the question. Of course Delphox couldn't read her mind. If she could, there would be no communication barrier. The entire conversation never would have happened.

Plus, the deeper implications made Serena rather uncomfortable. For the remainder of the day, her thoughts dwelled on the idea. It made her head hurt.

She was quite glad that Delphox was not a mind reader, she decided.

She remained glad about that as her workday came to an end. While Meyer continued to work in the back, Serena closed up the front of the shop, then stepped out and locked up. As always, Meyer wouldn't be home until later. Likewise, Serena made the walk home alone.

A gust of wind cut right through her. She adjusted her scarf, tightening it around her neck. Autumn was coming to an end. Only the most stubborn leaves remained on the trees. When the wind didn't take it away, her breath lingered in the air behind her, the steam rising and vanishing into the dark sky. It was only early evening, but it already felt like nighttime. It was the coldest night so far in her time in Lumiose City. It was the first taste of winter.

Rarely had she been so glad to see the front steps of Clemont's house. She eagerly anticipated the warmth inside. It seemed she was not alone.

Serena jumped in surprise. The instant she placed a foot on the bottom step, a Poké Ball burst open inside her bag. Ribombee came flying out in a frenzy. Chirping and trilling like mad, practically singing with joy, Ribombee rocketed toward the door.

Before Serena could say anything, let alone stop her, Ribombee flipped up the hatch on the mail slot, wedged herself into it, and slipped through the door.

Confused, Serena stood there for a few seconds wondering what had happened. Another gust of wind urged her to move. She climbed the remaining steps, turned the lock, and opened the door.

Immediately, she was greeted by Ribombee's incessant singing.

Then, she heard a voice.

"Goodness! Cutiefly, is that-"

Serena's heart stopped. Her blood ran cold. The sound of the door shutting behind her silenced the chatter in the kitchen.

Though she wanted to remain rooted to the spot, her feet carried her forward against her will. She turned the corner. She stopped in her tracks.

Ash and Lillie stood in the kitchen.

Clemont and Bonnie were with them. Pikachu was in Bonnie's arms. Aria was nowhere to be seen. In the otherwise dead silence, Ribombee circled above Lillie's head at a maddening speed, overjoyed.

Lillie's eyes met Serena's first. Immediately, Serena felt a bead of cold sweat drip down the center of her back.

"Serena?" said Lillie.

An instant later, Ash's eyes met hers. A shiver rattled down her spine. Her entire body trembled. Her vision distorted as her eye twitched with every heartbeat, her veins pulsing with adrenaline.

"Serena!" said Ash.

Neither of the two of them looked quite like Serena had last seen them. Lillie wore her hair tied back in a ponytail, secured by knotting her braids together. Her outfit was the one Serena had helped her pick out so many months ago, but with a few new accessories. She wore white stockings over her legs and a heavy white coat over her top. There was a Poké Ball clipped to the waistband of her skirt.

Ash's outfit was entirely different. Serena's stomach sank as she eyed him over.

They matched.

Their colors did, anyway. White, black, and red. Black jeans, white undershirt with a red and white sleeved vest over it. Red and white sneakers, red and white hat. The same jet black hair as always.

Serena bit her lip. Her breaths accelerated as she tried to hold back tears, shaking.

Ash stepped forward.

"Serena?"

Serena turned and ran out the door.