The Adventure Zetto
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, but we've been down this road before.
Kenshin: Welcome everyone. Nice to be back again.
Yusei: Let's stop dueling for real for a while; starting to get an ulcer.
Manabu: A-Anyway, this chapter will take place directly after the last.
Julia: You're a moron.
Manabu: SHUT UP!
Takeshi: This chapter will have our X protagonist going to the Parfum Palace, and then he will meet with Serena for some heartfelt bonding. Also some Pokemon capture.
Journal Entry 4: A Golden Palace
Calem and Shauna reach Route 7. Here at this site, after a few minutes of constant travel, our X protagonist and his tiny friend find the guy back at the mansion on a wooden bridge. There a Snorlax sleeps on top of the wooden bridge connecting the two lands together, a feat that should be impossible. "What in the heck is this?" Shauna asks. Apparently she recognizes the ridiculousness of the giant thing sleeping there and not breaking it with its sheer weight.
"Yeah, that's Snorlax," says the owner of the Shabboneau Castle. He places his hands on his waist and shakes his head disappointedly. "It sleeps here a bunch of times; we can hardly move it."
"It'll be fine if we use the Pokeflute," speaks the other guy, the one who told him about the Snorlax in the first place. "... Wait, do you still have it?"
"... No. The owner of the palace has it."
"Huh? What's a Pokeflute?" Shauna asks curiously.
The adults turn to her, the one who ran the mansion saying, "That's an item used to awaken sleeping Pokemon. It's in Parfum Palace, with its owner."
"It was given as a loan," says the other guy. "Those two used to be friends, but ever since he came into money that snooty owner started valuing keeping himself in tiramisu cakes instead of their friendship."
"Hey, that's a bit much don't you think?"
"Oh, that's it? We just need to go get it then right?" Shauna says with a smile. "What do you say X?"
"Well, got nothing else to do... Might even learn about Mega Evolution," he responds before checking his town map. It directs them up a path back the way they came. "Past Route 6."
"Alright, let's go!" Shauna grabs Calem's arm and takes him off, despite the trouble he has moving with skates on. They turn down the road before curving up northwest, where a path leading in that direction unfolds for them.
Calem notes two different paths. He looks to the left and sees a field of grass, and believes more Pokemon to be found there. "Shauna, you go ahead up there. I'm going to catch some more Pokemon."
"Oh, I think I wanna see this," she says, joining by his side to watch him catch Pokemon. They head into the grass, where they see plenty of Pokemon around minding their own business. "Oh, look at all the Pokemon!"
"There's certainly plenty..." Calem notes one Pokemon that looks like a cat. He scans with his Pokedex.
Espurr the Restraint Pokemon - The intense psychic energy it emits comes from the organ sheltered by its ears. It possesses enough energy to blast everything within 300 feet of itself, but cannot control its power.
"Espurr..." Calem checks his Pokemon roster around his waist: Nanami, Acno, Yaoki and Pikachu. 'When I trained with my Pokemon last night I put some back in the PC. I can carry two more.' "Let's grab a new friend, Yaoki."
He sends out his little Fletchling, which flaps his wings and lands beside him. "Attack that Espurr with Peck."
The bird flies in and jabs the cat Pokemon with its beak, but after the first hit it releases a psychic wave that sends the bird into the ground. Yaoki picks himself up and glares at Espurr, who sends another wave at it. "Agility!" Yaoki increases his speed and avoids the psychic attack.
"Now, go in with a Quick Attack." Moving faster than usual, Yaoki pierces and knocks down Espurr like an arrow. "Let's go, Pokeball!" The ball spirals in the air and hits Espurr in its head, capturing it inside. The ball lands, shaking for a moment before the light goes out.
"Wow..." Shauna whispers, in awe at how easy Calem managed to capture that Pokemon. 'He's a natural.'
"Ready to go?" He looks over to Shauna, who turns flushed and holds her hair down. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing! Let's go!" She brushes by him, moving faster to make it out of the tall grass. Calem follows after with a shrug of his arms. Along the way he checks his Espurr's stats, revealing it's a boy with Keen Eye.
Along the way he fails to notice an eye following his movements.
Soon the duo reach the top of the hill, which leads to a sight for both trainers to behold. It's a literal golden palace three floors tall; the roof is shingled navy blue, a golden gate guarding it.
"That's so amazing! It's pretty!" Shauna says as she gazes at the pretty palace. She can't believe a place this gorgeous exists, even though this is already Kalos.
Calem is equally stunned, an idea coming to his mind. 'This is... This is perfect...'
"Beautiful, isn't it?" speaks the voice of a woman. The two look back in shock seeing the woman Calem traveled with before behind them.
"When did you follow us?!" Shauna shouts, shocked at her sudden appearance.
"I took after you a few feet back, after you left that mansion," she says to them. She then turns to the palace before them. "This is the Parfum Palace, built 300 years ago by the king of Kalos. It use to be his home, but now it's a museum that runs on donations for whoever visits it."
"How much is this place?" Calem asks her.
"How much?" she asks surprised. From all she's gathered of him he doesn't normally seem interested in anything but his friends and Pokemon. "I don't really know, but I doubt you can afford it using wine money from your parents. Let's go see."
The trio, much to Shauna's annoyance considering the new person's arrival, approach the gate. The caretaker at the gate says, "Good day to you, charming young children. Would you care to enter?"
"Sure," says Calem.
"Of course!" says the girl.
"I'd love to!" Shauna shouts.
"Let's see, for trainers... that'll be 1000 Pokedollars, each." The price takes them by surprise.
"What?! It costs money to go inside!" Shauna shouts when the information is processed.
"What part of museum don't you get?" says the nameless girl with them.
"But a thousand Pokedollars isn't exactly cheap!" Calem looks on as they argue. He can tell that this is a shocker to them, especially Calem himself who has been skimping by. But, that gives him more desire.
So he pays without haste, causing the girls to do so. "This is how the rich get richer..." Shauna complains under her breath.
With their donation, the guard opens the gates leading to the palace. Calem walks forward with intrigue. Shauna moves up close to him, saying, "Remember, we have to get the Pokeflute too."
"Got it," he says as he enters. He spots a man standing in front of a gold statue of Milotic.
"Where is it? Where is it?!" he shouts frantically as he searches random spots. "My beloved Furfrou! Where are you!"
The trio look among themselves wondering what's going on. Shauna approaches him, asking, "Is something wrong?"
"My Furfrou is missing! Have you seen it?!"
"No, but we can look for it for you," she says, offering her assistance.
"You will?! Oh, thank you!" He grabs her hands and shakes them, lifting the girl up as he does.
Calem approaches her. "You offered to help find his dog?"
"Of course I did; if I was missing my Pokemon I'd be worried sick," she replies, giving him concerned eyes.
"... I guess so..." says Calem as he pulls her aside. "Still, we can't just offer our help for no reason. They might suspect something."
"X, you don't have to think so skeptically," she responds before pulling her arm away. She didn't understand why he did it in the first place, despite not feeling any pain from it. 'Was he always this closed away?'
'Obviously he has trust issues...' The nameless girl sighs as she examines him.
"But, this might put us in good favor to lending the flute; let's check the entire palace," Calem says before running ahead down the left hall.
"He changed his tone awfully quick," Shauna mutters before going down another direction.
The three trainers search the palace for the scampering Pokemon. After a few minutes of searching, Shauna takes to the top floor and goes to the backyard balcony. She sighs. "This is gonna take forever..." She looks down into the garden, amazed at how large it is, and notices a Pokemon peeing in the grass. She scans with her Pokedex.
Furfrou the Poodle Pokemon - Furfrou has fur over its body that if trimmed can add to its appeal and swiftness. These Pokemon historically have been said to be the guardians of the Kalos region.
"That's a Furfrou?" Shauna rushes inside and down the stairs, where she happens upon Calem and that other girl. "X! I found the Furfrou!"
"What? Where?" he asks her calmly.
"Outside in the garden!" She leads him to the big doors leading out back. Upon opening, they come face to face with a garden larger than the town both Calem and Shauna live in. Stretched past a moat cross-able by a pearly gold bridge.
Calem and the girls cross the bridge, reaching the garden. There Calem notes the statue of the white dragon Pokemon Reshiram. Shauna says, "I'll check the back," and rushes to the end of the garden.
"Okay." Calem turns around to face the other girl, only to find she's gone. "Great..." He moves towards the inside of the garden while looking for the Furfrou. As he does he moves towards the end of the maze garden, where Calem spots a statue of the black dragon Pokemon of Unova Zekrom. Though, as he stares at it a part of him is reminded of a familiar person. 'Why does that remind me of Hilbert?'
"Calem!" He hears Shauna's voice and goes to it. There he spots her chasing after the poodle Furfrou. "Help me out; I need to corner it."
"Got it." Calem follows after her as they chase the dog, before he notices several pathways to cut it off.
He goes in that direction and leads her off, causing the poodle to hide further down the road. Its path is cut down, forcing it into the hedges trapped. Calem approaches it with Shauna, saying, "Well, we caught it."
"Thanks to your help, unlike that girl," Shauna says with a sigh. "Who is she anyway?"
"No clue; I helped her out of a tree and she says she owes me a dinner," he replies. Shauna blinks and drops her jaw. "What?"
"My Furfrou!" They quickly turn around to see the brown haired adult from before rushing to his poodle. It tries to squirm free, and Calem and Shauna look to eachother before turning to the owner and dog Pokemon.
'So that's why it got away...' Calem sighs, feeling bad about doing this. "Excuse me, do you know the owner of this place?"
"Who? That'd be me!" he says, giving them another shock.
"Well, we were looking for the Pokeflute," Shauna says to him. "There's a Snorlax sleeping on the bridge at Route 7 and we need to awaken it."
"Ah! Why of course! I'll send for my butler; and don't be away for the fireworks!" he says to them, walking off with his poodle.
'I'm gonna do something about that...' Calem watches as he walks away with his Pokemon.
"As bad as I feel for Furfrou, I'd like to see the fireworks. I know a great place to watch them too!" Shauna says as she runs back to the palace.
He shrugs, and follows at a calm pace after her. Once he reaches the bridge, he comes before the nameless girl. "Hello."
"Hey, where were you?" he asks her.
"I went to find the owner of the palace." She takes his hand and guides him inside, causing him to go red. "Where's that little girl?"
"Shauna is waiting for me up on the balcony. I'll meet with you in a sec." He rushes inside, releasing his grip on her. The girl watches as he leaves.
Calem reaches the top and into the balcony, where he sees Shauna waiting by the edge. "X, so good to have you here... Come on, it's almost starting."
"S-Sure..." He approaches the girl and looks out; from where he stands he has an excellent view of the garden and the mountains behind it. "Wow."
"I know..." Shauna rests her head on her hands while leaning off the balcony. Calem pulls her back a little, noticing she's going a little off the edge. "Oh, uh... Thank you."
"Sure." Calem looks back out, waiting for the fireworks.
"Calem, thanks for coming here," she says to him. "I've never watched fireworks with a boy before. I hope that one day we can come together like this even more, as friends."
"Uh, of course." He looks to her in shock. He hasn't thought of her actually being his friend; Shauna truly acknowledges him as a friend. The shock of it brings a smile to his face, a warmth in his heart.
Soon the fireworks go off, inciting joy in Shauna's eyes. "Oh wow!" The late afternoon sky is soon lit up with explosions. Calem smiles a bit as he watches the fireworks. The nameless girl watches from within the palace, standing behind the two.
Eventually the fireworks subside, and Shauna jumps up and down with joy. "That was so amazing!"
"And that!" The owner comes inside with his butler. "Was for my beautiful Furfrou! I hope you enjoyed it."
Calem turns to the man. "Excuse me, about the Pokeflute..."
"OH!" Shauna suddenly screams. "I almost forgot the Pokeflute!"
"That's right..." He snaps his fingers, and his butler presents it. "It was Shabboneau Castle's treasure, but I took it as payment for a loan. Rich folk and common people don't go together after all!"
The butler hands it to Calem. "An important lesson kids, always return what you borrow."
"Understood," she says to him with half opened eyes.
"I have a question." Calem steps forward to the owner of the palace. "If someone were to purchase this home from you, how much would it cost?"
"Eh?" The owner steps back in shock. The nameless girl leers her head in intently. "Why, for me to give up such a valuable place would be ridiculous; not a single home in Kalos or the world compares to this!"
"Just tell me a price." Shauna looks to Calem with interest.
"Well... Considering you really want to know, and there's no way you could ever make that much money... 500,000,000 Pokedollar."
"WHAT?!" Shauna shouts in utter shock, one of the many times today.
"Okay." Calem twirls the Pokeflute in his hands happily. "Also, did any of you two know anything about Mega Evolution?"
Shauna gasps, remembering that's why she partook in this quest from the beginning. As the owner leaves, the butler says, "I remember something about that subject in a book in the palace library. It required what you now call a trainer holding a mysterious stone high and making Pokemon evolve even further."
"Anything else?"
"No, unfortunately I don't. So sorry," he tells him before walking away.
Shauna huffs, throwing her arms down rudely. "The owner of that castle used to be friends with that guy... now I know why not anymore."
"Let's go wake up Snorlax," he says before walking away.
Shauna rushes up to catch him. "Calem, why did you want to know the cost of the palace?"
"Secret," he replies, and walks with her towards the exit. "What did you think of that guy?"
"Well, as much as I want to make lots of memories on my journey, I would rather forget about him!" she declares, huffing while glaring back at him.
They pass by the nameless girl, who follows after them. 'Curiouser and curiouser. Is that why he's saving up money?'
Calem, Shauna and the nameless exit the palace. He looks back at it and sighs, attaching his rollerblades and taking off. His little friends hurries up to catch him, while the other girl sighs and walks at a normal pace. Coming down south, Calem comes before a sword stuck in the ground.
Curious about the metal object he approaches it, placing a hand on the hilt. The cloth flings out and wraps around his arm, tightening its grip. "What the?!"
An eye opens up on the center of the guard. It looks up at him, bringing him down to one knee. Shauna runs faster, saying, "X! Are you okay?!"
"That's a Honedge!" speaks the other girl as she runs closer to him.
Calem takes out his Pokedex and scans it.
Honedge the Sword Pokemon - This Pokemon is said to have been born of a departed spirit entering a sword. It absorbs the life energy of anyone that dares to grab its hilt that it deems unworthy.
"Oh no! He's going to kill Calem!" Shauna shouts in worry.
"A Honedge huh..." Calem stands back up, feeling as tip top as ever. Still gripping the handle, he says, "You can let go now."
The sword blinks once, and then releases its grip on him. Calem takes out a Great Ball. "Would you like to join me on my adventure?"
It blinks once. Calem takes that as a yes, and taps its head with the ball. It enters inside, and it shuts down without trouble. The girls approach him, hoping he's okay. Shauna asks, "Are you okay?"
"Yes. Why?"
"I thought that Honedge was going to turn you bone dry," she says, overcoming her worried tone.
"You're more interesting than I thought," says the nameless woman curiously. The more she stays around Calem the more she finds herself liking him. "Honedge must have seen something special inside of you."
Calem looks at her, making her stare back. "So, are you gonna tell us your name?"
She tilts her head to the side, before smiling. "Sure, why not? My name is Valerie."
"Valerie?" Calem nods to her. "Good. It's nice that you finally trust me enough."
Valerie smiles at him before they move forward. Eventually they reach Route 7, moving west to the bridge. There they spot the owner of Shabboneau Castle and his partner, as well as Snorlax still asleep.
The owner turns to them, asking, "Did you manage to get it?" Calem holds it up from his pocket and hands it over. "Holy crap, you actually did it! He didn't force some weird debt on you or anything right?"
"No, so here you go," he says, letting the man take it. "You're the only one who knows how to play it right?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that, but sure." He turns to the Pokemon. "Oh yeah, one more thing; Snorlax can get kind of grumpy when he wakes up. So much so that he could attack; can you stop him if he does?"
"You got it!" Shauna says with a thumbs up. She then stretches her arms out. "This time I'm getting into a battle!"
He plays the Pokeflute, delivering a beautiful tone. Snorlax twitches a bit before standing tall, its shifting weight causing the bridge to cringe. The two non-trainers step back. "You guys are up!"
"Go, Bulbasaur!" She sends out the plant Pokemon Bulbasaur. Snorlax growls before swiping it away. "Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!" Her Pokemon uses vines to attack the big Pokemon, who shrugs it off.
"Snorlax is stronger than he looks!" The owner of the castle backs away to stay away from the fighting.
"Leech Seed!" Bulbasaur fires a seed that explodes on contact with the Snorlax and creates vines. But it grabs the vines and begins to eat them.
"Shauna, this won't work," Calem tells her as he observes the duel. "Use someone else."
"Got it; return!" She retrieves her Bulbasaur. She then sends out her other Pokemon, Sakuya the Braixen. "Fire Spin!" The fox conjures up a ring of fire to entrap and burn Snorlax.
"Throw in a Psybeam!" Sakuya raises her stick and sends a concentrated beam of psychic energy to blow Snorlax over the edge, falling in the water. Water splashes out from the river and hits everyone, putting out the fire spin and drenching Valerie's clothes.
"... Really?" she mutters.
"Oh no, Snorlax!" Shauna looks on as the Pokemon floats away. She sighs. "Oh well."
"Let's hope Snorlax doesn't sleep here again." The owner breathes a sigh of relief.
The group look back in shock when they hear a Furfrou barking, and note the owner of the Parfum Palace. "My god, your flute playing was beautiful."
"Oh, it's him..." Shauna grumbles under her breath.
"All I could do was put that flute on display; you've been playing it since you were little and became a master. Even Furfrou loved it, not as much as my fireworks of course!"
"... Yeah..." The owner of Shabboneau Castle's head tilts to the side at the sudden disclaimer.
"You keep your hands on that for the moment; continue practicing and become better!" he says, before walking away with his Furfrou.
Shauna's jaw drops in disgust. "Was that an attempt to patch things up? How rude, right Calem?" She looks over and sees Calem has walked ahead. "Calem, are you going ahead?"
"I'm heading to the next gym, see ya later," he replies to her. "You've gotten pretty strong."
Shauna gasps at the sudden compliment, blushing so much she covers her face to hide it. Valerie looks back at Shauna before focusing forward, scowling. He notes this and asks, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Yo! X!" The two look back and spot Trevor and Tierno up ahead at a building north of a field of tulips.
"Oh, Tierno and Trevor," Calem says as he faces his friends. "What brings you guys here?" He gets no response, because they've all turned to staring at Valerie.
"X... Who is she?" Tierno asks.
"Friend of mine, anyway, what brings you guys here?"
"I'm here to check out the Pokemon Day Care," Trevor tells him, pointing at the building to their left.
"Day Care?"
Valerie touches his shoulder, saying, "A Pokemon Day Care is used to leave up to two Pokemon in the care of breeders who will raise them for you while you leave, for a certain fee."
"That... That's right," Trevor says.
"I think it's interesting, so that's why I did it," Tierno tells him.
"Well, good luck with that; I think I'll keep mine on my person," Calem tells him before walking off.
The two continue their travel, until passing by a large chateau. Valerie looks to it, saying, "So they made the chateau here afterall..."
"The what?"
"Nothing," she replies quickly, going off topic. She looks up at the far edge of the road, and sees a girl with dazzling honey blond hair coming towards her.
"Oh hey, it's Serena," Calem speaks as he waves to his friend. Valerie frowns seeing that, as the teenager comes running towards him.
"Calem, haven't seen you since..." She quickly pauses seeing Valerie, and almost frowns. "Who is this?"
"This is Valerie; I helped her off a tree," he tells her.
"Hello there, Serena was it?" Valerie speaks, staring at this obviously younger girl who seems irritated with her presence.
'Off a tree... Wait, that was just like...' Serena's eyes widen as she remembers something from her past concerning him. She shakes her head and says, "Anyway, have you seen the others?"
"I just past by Tierno and Trevor," he replies, looking back to see they've come back. "And here they are."
"Yo, Y! How's it goin'?" asks Tierno as he steps in.
"I'm glad I caught you guys; I want to have a tag battle," she says, intriguing everyone.
"A tag battle?" Calem asks curiously.
"It's a battle between four trainers who side together in teams," Valerie tells him, and he nods in understanding.
"So, Calem," Serena goes to her neighbor and childhood friend, before taking his arm and pulling him away from Valerie, "since we're neighbors how about we battle together?"
'Kind of saw that coming,' Trevor says in his head as he shrugs. "I'm a little interested, so sure!"
"Alright! Let's do this!" Tierno takes out a Pokeball of his own.
Valerie steps to the side. The teams come together and take out a Pokeball, or a variant to it.
"I choose Pikachu!" Trevor sends his Pikachu.
"Have some fun, Corphish!" Tierno releases his crab Pokemon.
"Let's go, Garo." Calem sends out Honedge.
"Flambe!" Serena chooses a Combusken.
"What the?" Calem takes out his Pokedex and scans it. Unfortunately it gives no data. 'When did she get that?'
"Corphish, hit him with a Bubblebeam!" Corphish sends a stream of bubbles at them.
"Dodge!" Combusken moves away from the attack, but Honedge lets himself get hit. Serena notices this and says, "Calem, you didn't make Garo dodge!"
"Garo has the No Guard ability; he can't dodge," Calem explains carefully. "But, he can do this; Fury Cutter."
Garo draws himself from the sheath and flies in towards a runaway Pikachu. It tries to avoid the attack, but gets cut. Trevor's jaw opens in shock. "What happened?!"
"No Guard also gives it the ability to hit anyone Garo wants," Calem replies. "Once more!"
Garo swings again, and like before Pikachu is unable to avoid it. The attack is also much stronger. "Corphish, Vicegrip!"
Corphish reaches out to grip it, but the sword passes through. "Garo is a Steel and Ghost type."
"Blast; X has gotten better," Tierno says to himself.
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Pikachu charges up electricity and releases it at Garo.
"Flambe, go!" The fire chicken gets in the way, taking the thunderbolt full force. This shocks everyone, especially Calem and Valerie.
"Why did she do that?" wonders Valerie. "Even if Garo fainted from that it wouldn't matter; she could still win."
"Now, Double Kick!" Flambe leaps up and kicks the two Pokemon in the face.
"Garo, Fury Cutter." Garo flies in and slices Pikachu again, knocking it out this time. Sparks surround the sword before it sheathes. "It got paralyzed in the end."
"Flambe, finish it off with Double Kick!"
"Bubblebeam!" Corphish fires at Flambe, but the fire chicken braves through and slams both feet into its head, knocking the crab out.
"That was a pretty good battle," Serena says as she retrieves her Pokemon.
"Yeah, I guess we're still behind compared to you guys," says Tierno as he retrieves his Corphish. Trevor and Calem do so as well.
"I'm heading to Ambrette Town. I'll see you there," she says before walking towards the end of the road, which leads into a cave.
"There was a cave?" Calem looks over and sees the cave, watching his friend Serena go. She enters the cave, leaving them behind. "Guess that's where to go next. Ready Valerie?"
"Ready to go, Calem!" She takes his arm and leads him in, causing him to turn red.
Tierno and Trevor watch as they leave. The big guy sighs. "Trevs, you ever think Calem has no control?"
"No control?" Trevor could only wonder and assume what he's talking about.
"When it comes to girls. I mean, you said before that he and Serena has a history, and now that girl Valerie. You've seen the way she glared at her."
"Yeah, that was weird..."
Back with Calem and Valerie, they travel into the Zubat cave, and in almost no time at all come out the other end. There, Calem looks out, noting they've come to a cliff. Down below he sees a sparkling beach, and a town. "This must be Ambriette Town!"
Calem checks around and blinks, noticing the two familiar faces of Dexio and Sina. "Okay, hello Calem!"
Calem blinks. "What can I do for you two?"
"Well, did you know that the Kalos Pokedex cannot contain all the Pokemon in this region? There's too many, so we have to change it for certain areas. Having come all this way here, you can use the Ocean region." Sina holds her hand out to him. "Hand over your Pokedex and we can upgrade it."
"Oh, okay," he says, handing over his Pokedex. She takes out a device and links it together, causing it to release a beep and charge. It gives another beep.
"Here you go!" Sina hands it over to him, and Calem checks. It can now read the Ocean Pokedex.
"Uh, thank you." The two then walk off, leaving Calem and Valerie alone. "Let's continue to the town. It's gonna be dark very shortly."
Valerie nods, and follows Calem down the pathway off the cliff. Along the way, Calem also comes before a bunch of trainers and unique Pokemon, all of whom he manages to best or avoid. When he eventually reaches the rather small town, he hears, "Yo, neighbor!" He looks in the direction of the voice to see Serena awaiting him.
"Serena? You're still here?"
"I just stayed behind to tell you that to reach Cyllage City you go through the aquarium, and I wanted to look into the Mega Evolution."
"There's a clue to that here?" To be honest, after Shauna spent most of her time with Calem looking for clues about it has gotten him a little interested in it. He wasn't even sure Serena really wanted to know, but now that he does he should probably look into it.
'After all, if she masters it before me she'll become champion first and I won't be able to gather enough for that house.' "Where's that?"
"It's near the aquarium; I'll show you!" She takes his hand and guides him, causing Valerie to watch as she's left behind.
"Very well, I'll meet you two in the Pokemon Center when you're done," she tells him, leaving for the center nearby. As she does, Valerie adjusts her heavy clothes. "As long as his friends are around I won't have much chance of getting close to his secret, especially that girl Serena. Still, this should work just fine."
Serena guides Calem towards a relatively large building, equal in size to the Pokemon Center. "Is this it?"
"Oui oui," Serena tells him. She walks inside with him, to which they turn right to where some scientists are. Behind them a table with gemstones and fossils rest. The older man says, "Welcome! You future archaeologists must have been drawn in by the mystique of Fossils, no?"
"Actually, we're researching Mega Evolution," Serena replies, causing him to hang his head in disappointment. "I'm Serena, and this is Calem."
"Ara! So then you're Professor Sycamore's students!" speaks the female scientist. "Unfortunately all we understand is that it pertains to mysterious stones."
'So, pretty much what the butler said...' Calem cups his chin. Apparently the secret to Mega Evolution involves these stones, one of which he suspects is the Charizardite Y he has. But what else?
"But, since you guys are trainers are you also interested in Pokemon fossils?" asks the male scientist.
"Huh?" Calem mutters.
"Pokemon fossils can be used to revive extinct Pokemon," he says to him. "All you need is a fossil composed of a Pokemon's DNA and we can bring them to the present."
"Actually," begins the female scientist, "you can check the dig site in Glittering Cave for the professor's assistant; he's been doing recent studies involving Mega Evolution so maybe he has a clue."
"Hmm..." Serena holds a finger to her cheek. "What to do... Since I'm already here I guess I should talk to that assistant."
"I'll go with you. It'd be good if I was there to hear the info too." She looks to him with a smile.
"Then let's go!" Serena attaches rollerblades to her shoes and takes off.
'When did she...' Calem adds his own and follows after. They exit the building, where east of their direct position they notice a gateway leading to Route 9. The duo skate through the gateway. "Serena, what have you been doing so far?"
"Me?" She turns back to him, who is trailing behind. "I met a trainer who traded me their Torchic."
"A Torchic?" Calem checks his Pokedex at the name, but it still gives no reading. "Must be a foreign Pokemon."
"Yeah, I felt that was the reason," she replies as they move forward.
Eventually they come out the other end of the gate, into Route 9. There the two trainers stop when they see a trail of stones and rubble blocking their path. Rather, it is their path now since they're on a mountain connected to that cliff.
Calem and Serena remove their blades and examine the ground, leaving Calem to say, "This can't be crossed alone. The stones are too spiky for even our boots."
"Calem, what about Pokemon?"
"I'm not going to put my Pokemon through this pain."
"No, I mean this one?" The X protagonist turns to the Y and sees her standing before a sleeping Rhyhorn. There is also a sign, which she reads. "Route 9, also known as Spikes Passage, has dangerous terrain formed through former Rhyhorn races. Only the resident Rhyhorn can cross while carrying humans. Do not catch them."
"Meaning, we can ride the Rhyhorn over the jagged passageways to reach the Glittering Cave," says Calem with his arms crossed under his chest. He looks down at the Rhyhorn, which has opened its red eyes. "Now if only one of us was the child of famous Pokemon Racer Grace..."
"Oh!" Serena widens her eyes and smiles. "Was that a joke? Is Calem Xavier finally breaking out of his shell?!"
"Shut it," he replies, looking away with a scowl that evolves into a smile.
"It's nice that you're finally smiling. I missed it." Serena comes closer to him, and without warning on even her part takes his hand. "Calem, it's okay. You don't have to be a shut in anymore."
"Serena, it's..." He turns to her, pausing as he stares into her eyes. He ends up getting lost in them, and she looks on into his just the same. They soon realize what they're doing and part away from one another, flushing redder than her skirt.
"A-Anyway," Serena coughs as she tries to restore her composure, "let's go ride it. We can do it together."
"Do you have experience?"
"Of course, but only with Skiddo. That's why I caught one," she tells him before gesturing him towards the rhino Pokemon. "Rhyhorn are different. Besides, my specialty are Sky Battles."
Calem approaches the Pokemon before getting on its back, before calling Serena over with hand gestures. She joins him on top of it. "Alright, let's go Rhyhorn. Hyah!" He pulls on one of the back horns it has, causing the rock rhino to jerk back and growl. It then gets up and moves, going into position over the rocky terrain. "Forward."
Following his commands, the Pokemon moves forward into the rocky pathway. Serena grabs hold of him for protection, enjoying the feel of being so close to the X protagonist. "The Rhyhorn is slower than the Gogoat."
"Don't worry about speed, but you should hold on tight," he tells her.
"I'll be fine; it's not like-Kya!" Rhyhorn steps on the ground near the cliff, causing it to break off. This forces the rhino to lose its balance and fall backwards, causing Serena whose grip was loose to slip and hit the ground. She screams in pain as the hard impact and the stones cut up blood and skin upon impact.
"Serena!" Calem dismounts Rhyhorn and steps on the harsh terrain, the stones easily cutting into his boots, before coming to his friend. He lifts her in his arms and brings her close, moving over to Rhyhorn and remounting it. "Serena, are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah..." She looks up to him with worry. "I guess next time I'll hold on tightly."
"This isn't a joke; you could die from something like this!" Calem tells her. He can't believe something like this happened to her; if it was him it wouldn't have mattered, but her? Anything but.
"Calem, it's just some wounds. Keep moving," she says, despite the blood leaking down from her back and behind her head. There's more from her behind and legs. "I'm not going to fall from something like this."
"Quit acting so tough." She twitches a bit, an evil look in her eyes. He notices this, and he ends up twitching too. She looks up in his eyes and sees a light of hope in them. "Serena?"
"Like I said, I'll be okay. Let's continue." Serena sits herself up, holding tightly onto Calem. "I'm sorry for worrying you."
"It's...It's okay." Calem continues as he guides Rhyhorn forward through the stones. "The cave should be close."
Serena looks over her left shoulder, where most of the damage is visible, and sees that the bleeding has stopped. She closes her eyes and frowns, a perfect moment with Calem ruined by her carelessness.
Eventually they reach a large opening in the cliff, the entrance to Glittering Cave. They step off of the giant rhino to enter, Calem holding tightly to Serena the whole way. They look around the inside of the cave, seeing the amusing walls of glittering stones.
They continue further down the road, where Calem notices Serena walking gradually better. Eventually she says, "I can walk fine now."
"You sure?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She moves out of his grasp, reluctantly, and stands on her own. He looks down at her busted boots and zettai ryouiki legs to see she's stopped bleeding. "What about your feet?"
"If I can help you I can do just fine," he replies, finding himself smiling again. Serena smiles at that, glad that he's feeling better again. A part of her fears this incident would cause him to withdraw again. "Anyway, I see a light up ahead; the assistant might be there."
"Okay." They step further in, entering an opening. In this opening they see tracks and a rail cart further in, but in addition they spot an adult male with flaming red hair wearing shades darker than theirs. His red suit of an outfit stands out with flare.
"Who are you?" he asks them as if it was the obvious thing.
"That's our question," they say in unison, something that should have been more obvious.
"Isn't it obvious who I am?" His response is only answered in blank stares. "It's only natural for someone from this country to know who Team Flare is!"
"Team Flare? Ces terroristes?" Serena responds.
"Calling me a terrorist is harsh; I'd rather be known as a revolutionist. It's our job to gather followers and make our organization happy, by eliminating every greedy and weak fool in our way."
"Terrorists?" Calem then remembers what Hilbert was talking about; he was after a group with this same name! But why? Even more, who are they?
"That's what I call a terrorist!"
"Shut up, petite fille! You don't wanna mess with fire, or you'll only get burned!" He takes out a Pokeball. "The life of two measly trainers are worthless to the world!"
The grunt sends out Houndour. Serena grabs a Pokeball. "Squirtle, let's show hi-AH!" She suddenly drops her ball and grasps her heart, falling to one knee.
"Serena!" Calem runs over to her.
"Stay away!" she replies, inching farther away from him.
"Yeah, you won't wanna miss this. Ember!" The dark hound hesitantly shoots a fireball directly at her.
"Serena!" Calem rushes to her, grabbing Serena and rolling along the ground. He then stands tall and takes out his Pokeball. "Nanami, Water Pulse!"
His ninja frog pops out and fires a water ball to entrap Houndour and send it crashing into the ground. "NO!" The grunt retrieves his Pokemon and chooses another ball, releasing Zubat. "Zubat, Supersonic!"
"Counter with Round!" The frog opens her mouth and sings, releasing a melodious tune that combats the shrieking. "Now, Lick!"
Nanami moves quickly to avoid the Supersonic, before extending her tongue to lick the bat and paralyze it. "Hit it again with Round!" Nanami resumes singing, causing Zubat enough pain that its echolocation is disoriented. "One more Quick Attack will do!" Nanami rushes forward at high speed before tackling the bat, knocking it out.
"Oh crap! Well, atleast I'll go out in style!" the grunt says with a laugh. "Afterall, I'm not the only member of Flare here!"
"Then, there's more of you jerks in here..." Calem mutters with a growl. Thinking that there are more people who would attack Serena like that stirs feelings of hate he never would have before. "Lick."
Nanami licks the grunt, causing him to freak out and fall unconscious. He then retrieves his Pokemon and goes to Serena, who seems to have recovered from whatever happened. "Serena, are you okay?"
"Y-Yeah... I think I'm fine," she replies, standing up to walk to him. She picks up her Pokeball along the way. "I'm sorry for yelling at you; I don't know where that came from."
"That moron said there'd be more of them here; let's stop them," he says, holding up Nanami's Pokeball.
"I can agree to that; I don't like those guys..." she replies, turning her eyes to down the rest of the cave. "Let's go..."
The two move towards the tracks, following it through the tunnels the cave is generating. Coming to a fork in the road, they see a female Flare grunt in their way. "You two!"
"Another one..." Serena takes out her Pokemon, ready to stand up and fight this time. "Get out of here!"
"You wish, little brat!" The grunt sends out a Gulpin.
"Go, Mystic!" She sends out an Espurr, taking Calem by surprise. He takes out his Pokedex and scans it, reading that it's a female over his male, and then Gulpin.
Gulpin the Stomach Pokemon - Its stomach comprises most of its body, including its small head and heart. It possesses enzymes that can dissolve anything, and force it to expel disgusting fumes.
"Sludge!" Gulpin releases its toxic sludge at the cat.
"Mystic, Psybeam!" The Pokemon releases a psychic beam that blows back the acid poison and knocks Gulpin away, causing it to roll around. "Scratch attack!" She then runs in and cuts into it, knocking it down for the count.
"No! Gulpin!" The grunt retrieves her Pokemon and runs past the teenagers out the exit.
Calem watches as she leaves, before turning his eyes down the other pathway. The two then wordlessly walk down that path, until eventually coming upon two more members of Flare. "Who are you brats?"
"These have to be the last..." mutters Calem, holding out a Pokeball. "You guys, get lost."
"You get lost! Like I'm going to listen to some stupid kid! We're Team Flare!" one of them says.
"If you guys want to make your group happy then that's fine, but not when you try to make others miserable!" Serena brings Mystic before her.
"Like kids are going to understand the plans of an adult!" The two grunts take out their own Pokeballs, releasing Croagunk and Scraggy.
Calem sends out Nanami. "Nanami, Water Pulse!"
"Croagunk, Sludgebomb!" The toxic toad sends a sludge bomb that diverts the wave and cancels it out.
"Psybeam!" Mystic sends her beam.
"Take it, Scraggy!" Scraggy jumps in the way and gets hit. But when the beam subsides, Scraggy is revealed to be fine. "Nice try, but Scraggy is immune to Psychic attacks!"
"These two are stronger than the last," Calem says staring at the two grunts. "Or atleast smarter."
"It won't matter; we can stop them by ourselves." Serena tightens her fists while looking over to Calem. Their eyes connect for a moment before turning to their enemies. They would have to work together to get out of this.
Kenshin: That's chapter 4. Some Pokemon have been captured, and Valerie has been fully revealed.
Takeshi: Chapter 5 will involve the conclusion of this battle. Calem and Serena then go to Cyllage City and battle Grant after getting some fossils, also...well, the rest is a secret to avoid spoiling. See you all here next time.
Yusei: These are the Pokemon these trainers have on hand at the end.
Calem's Pokemon: Frogadier/Nanami, Fletchinder/Yaoki, Pikachu, Charmander/Acno, Honedge/Garo, Espurr/Mythic
Serena's Pokemon: Quilladin/Maurice, Squirtle, Combusken, Fletchling, Espurr/Mystic
Shauna's Pokemon: Braixen/Sakuya, Bulbasaur
Trevor's Pokemon: Flabebe, Pikachu
Tierno's Pokemon: Corphish