THREE

The next day, Serena slept in and woke up to a Holo Cast message from her mother. Grace had called to see how midterms had gone, and to ask her daughter's opinion about Teleurac and his new policies. Serena told herself to call her mother back later before she rose from bed and changed into her red-and-black dress.

With Eevee walking alongside her on a leash, Serena left the apartment to go to the Berry Juice shop. At the counter, she let Eevee pick out two berries for his drink, and then drank the resulting colorful shake happily. She ordered two more shakes for Eevee, her ears catching two people in line behind her conversing about their cab ride to the shop. ("That poor driver, suddenly getting laid off from his job!")

Serena and Eevee left the Berry Juice shop once Eevee indicated that he was full, and turned to go down to North Boulevard. The two of them strolled down the street; Eevee greeted a Skiddo that was curled up underneath a tree, and Serena looked around, watching people go about their business. There also seemed to be more police officers out and about than usual; one of them was leaning into the open window of a blue cab, telling the driver that after today he would no longer be driving his cab and instead would be in charge of Gogoat shuttle handling.

As the two of them passed a café, something went crash in a nearby alleyway. Serena bent down, scooped Eevee up in her arms, and dashed to the entrance of the alley. She looked to see that a metal trashcan had been knocked over, rolling lazily on the ground, while another form was lying next to it.

She stepped into the alleyway and walked towards the trash can, Eevee snuggling into her chest for protection. It didn't take long for her to get close enough to see that a man was sprawled out on the ground, not too far from the trashcan. He was perhaps in his mid-twenties; his face was covered in scratches and bite marks, his clothing was singed, and the fabric of the shirt over his right shoulder was completely gone, revealing a spot that was red, pink, and slightly bloody.

"Are you all right?" Serena dropped to her knees by the man's head. She grabbed a Pokeball off her belt and used it to recall Eevee.

The man moaned in pain.

"I'll take that as a no . . . let's get you to a hospital." She reached down, snaked her arms under the man's body and hooked him under his armpits before slowly standing up and turning him so that one of his arms draped around her shoulders.

"The police," breathed the man.

"We can call them too," said Serena reassuringly, walking with him in tow.

"No . . . they did this."

Serena halted. "What?"

"Yes . . . I was arrested yesterday . . . they set some Houndour on me."

Disbelief and disgust rose up inside Serena. "They don't do that!" she snapped.

"They do now. And they took my Pokemon. Name's Bernard, by the way."

"I'm Serena . . . Bernard? Were you the one they arrested yesterday for 'disturbing the peace?'"

"If you call telling a policeman that these new policy changes are unfair 'disturbing the peace,' then yeah" quipped Bernard, his voice still weak.

Serena half-dragged Bernard to Lumiose Hospital, a three-story building located next door to the North Boulevard Pokemon Center. While he was seeing a doctor and having his wounds cleaned up, she sat in a waiting room, which was currently occupied by one other person who had her face buried in a fashion magazine. The television in the corner of the room was playing a rerun of an old sitcom, and Serena passed the time by watching that until Bernard reappeared. There were bandages all over his face, wrapped around his head, covering his right shoulder, and up and down his arms. Some of the bandages were already stained red from blood. The gash on his forehead had been sewn shut.

"Are you good to go?" Serena asked him as she stood up to move to his side.

"Yeah . . . I can go home on my own. Thanks for bringing me here," said Bernard. He readjusted the bandage on his head so it lay on top of his dark hair rather than bare skin at the nape of his neck.

"Don't you want your Pokemon back?" Serena continued.

"Yeah, but . . . I don't want to go back there. It's not a big deal, anyway. The new chief of police is terrifying."

"I'll go talk to them for you, then," offered Serena.

"I don't see what good it'd do, but okay. Whatever."

"I'm sorry, Miss Carlyle, but I can't release Mr. Lecroux's Pokemon to you."

Serena went on to the Lumiose police station after making sure Bernard got a cab ride home. She went in and spoke to the chief of police herself: Alison Renshaw, a redheaded middle-aged woman who kept an ashtray on her desk and smelled horribly of cigarette smoke.

"Why not?" asked Serena.

"Because you are not Mr. Lecroux," said Renshaw, as if she was explaining to Serena that things got wet when it rained. "If he really wanted his Pokemon back, he would have come to get them himself."

"He's terrified to come back here after what your force's Houndour squad did to him! It's not fair of you to expect that from him." Serena half-shouted, leaning forward and planting her hands on the desk.

Renshaw leaned back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. "Life isn't fair, Miss Carlyle. Mr. Lecroux learned his lesson, hopefully. If he does not want to cooperate to make our society a better place, he won't be able to enjoy certain privileges . . . like keeping Pokemon. Everyone else will learn from his example. And if I didn't know any better . . . you may need an extra lesson yourself. I don't care if you're the Champion and you heroically saved Kalos from Team Flare three years ago. You are not exempt from the rules and you cannot retrieve an offender's confiscated property for him."

"They're Pokemon, not property." Serena snapped. Renshaw shrugged in response.

"I'm sorry I wasted your time, Chief," said Serena, repressing the urge to yell again. She turned around and stormed out of Renshaw's office.

Before the cab had gone off with Bernard, Serena had overheard his address. After leaving the police station, she caught a cab and rode to that location, a small apartment building on South Boulevard.

She stepped inside the lobby of the building, noticing the peeling wallpaper and thinking that this place had seen better days. Along the wall were the mailboxes; she saw the back of a man at his mailbox, the white bandages on his head and arms contrasting with his olive skin and dark hair.

"Bernard!" she called out to him.

Bernard jumped, then turned around to see Serena.

"I'm sorry, but . . . the chief will only release your Pokemon to you," lamented Serena as she approached him.

Bernard sighed. His gaze remained downcast, and Serena could see his eyes expressing the internal battle he was having at the moment.

"Well, thanks for trying," he murmured. "Would you like something to drink? My apartment's on this floor here, the first one on the left when you enter the hall."

"That sounds lovely, but I have to go run some errands I've been putting off all day," said Serena, thinking about the going-away party that night.

"Wha – I'm sorry I kept you from those," apologized Bernard.

"No, don't worry! You're more important than my silly grocery list. But here," Serena pulled a scrap of paper and pen out of her bag and scribbled on it before handing it to Bernard. "This is my Holo Caster contact information. Call me if you need anything else at all."

Bernard's mouth formed a faint, sad smile. "Merci beaucoup."

Serena smiled back. "Go get some rest, Bernard."

She then left that apartment building, opting to walk back to her own apartment since no cabs were available and letting Eevee back out to walk alongside her. While walking, she replayed the conversation with Chief Renshaw in her head – and then realized that this was perhaps the first time she remembered a minor offender's Pokemon had been taken by the police. It was also unlike the police to have their Houndour squad brutalize detainees. Above all, Renshaw's red hair was too bright for Serena's comfort . . . .

She wondered if Team Flare was slowly making a comeback, but she then pushed that out of her mind, telling herself the whole notion was ridiculous. The Lumiose police may be corrupt, but that did not at all put them on the same level as the organization who tried to destroy the world to make it more beautiful.