FOUR

The going-away party for Calem and Trevor was held in Augustine's office at the laboratory, just as Shauna had said. When Serena walked in, the first thing that caught her attention was how clean the office was: books were actually in shelves instead of lying in haphazard stacks on the floor, paintings were hanging on the wall instead of merely propped up, and it smelled like lavender – mostly because there were a few sprigs of lavender in a vase on the windowsill. His desk was not covered in papers or computers, but trays of finger foods and a few bottles of wine in an ice bucket.

Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor were hanging out next to a long shelf along the wall, examining the collection of round colorful stones arranged there. Calem and his parents were talking with Augustine; Calem stood off to the side awkwardly while his parents discussed a framed magazine hanging on the wall. This magazine, "Newsweek: Kalos" was from three years ago; the front cover depicted Serena and her friends, standing tall and proud next to one another with a title that read "Champions and Heroes: How Five Youths Toppled Team Flare (and Took the Pokemon League by Storm)."

"Yes, Madame Dupont, I am very proud of your son," Augustine was saying to Calem's mother. He was wearing a white dress shirt, an indigo tie, and a gray waistcoat with gray slacks. Serena didn't remember the last time she saw the professor wear something other than his oversized lab coat, and she stopped at the partition for a moment, taken aback by how good he looked. Of course, he still wore those red socks, even with dress shoes.

"Ah, you must be Mademoiselle Serena!" Calem's father was the first to notice Serena's arrival. Everyone else's heads snapped around to face her; while Calem's face fell a little, Augustine's lit up.

"The one and only!" Serena strode over to Monsieur Dupont, smoothing out the skirt of her dress as she did. Once she was close enough to him, Monsieur Dupont took her by the shoulders and kissed her once on both cheeks in a customary Kalosian greeting.

"It is good to finally meet you," said Monsieur Dupont. "Calem talks about you frequently."

"Does he say good things?" asked Serena.

"Mostly," said Calem congenially, smiling as he tried to hide his feeling that he would no longer be the center of attention at his own party.

Serena then turned to greet Calem's mother in the same manner, then went to give all of her friends brief hugs. Calem's parents kept Serena by their side as long as they could, talking at her about her fame and notoriety as the Champion, and how she just had to battle them sometime. Serena nodded and agreed politely to meet their challenges next time they met. When the Duponts began to reminisce about their younger days as Trainers, Serena slinked away and joined Augustine at his desk.

"Professor," she said with a smile. When she breathed in, she caught a whiff of his cologne: sandalwood, mixed with a hint of cinnamon. The scent delighted her senses.

Augustine smiled back at her.

"Hello Serena . . . you look nice," he said, a small blush rising on his cheeks.

"So do you," she returned. "How'd the inspection go?"

Augustine sighed. "Care for a drink?"

"That bad, huh?"

"Non, not bad, just . . . irritating." Augustine picked up a bottle of red wine out of the bucket, uncorked it, and poured some of the deep red liquid into two glasses. "I never knew a government agency could form so fast . . . I guess Teleurac prearranged everything, anticipating he would win." He handed a glass to Serena, and held the other in his hand. "Anyway, this overbearing woman comes in, criticizes the light fixtures we have, tells us to get new windows – and to figure out what's nonessential in the laboratory and get rid of it, because we're apparently the second largest drain on energy in Lumiose!" He knocked back a gulp of wine. "Everything here's essential!"

"Did you tell her that?" asked Serena before taking a sip of her own wine.

"Of course I did. She didn't heed what I had to say, so I get to decide which department of research is getting shut down. At the very least, I won't be calling Diantha for my experiment."

"Serena!" Shauna called. "Have you seen the Professor's Mega Stone collection?"

She migrated over to her friends, and looked down the line at the Mega Stones on the shelf.

"Those are all of the known Mega Stones," Augustine commented as he watched his former students examine them. "Minus Ampharosite, of course, but that one is in very capable hands." He winked at Serena.

For the time that followed, Serena interacted with her friends and helped herself to the food and wine. Trevor went on about how excited he was to work with Professor Birch, Calem discussed the Gym Leaders he would be facing in Hoenn and what he could learn from the region's former Champion (while glancing at Shauna occasionally), Shauna went on and on about all the things that she and Serena needed to do in the near future, and Tierno showed off a new dance routine he had been working on with his Pokemon. Calem's parents alternated between interacting with their son and his friends, and talking to Augustine about his research. Serena listened passively, asking a question or two to keep conversations going, but thoughts about Bernard and Chief Renshaw kept resurfacing in her mind. Before she knew it, she had returned to the desk for her third glass of wine.

"Is something on your mind, Serena?" Augustine's voice came from behind her. He had no doubt seen the troubled expression on her face that she tried to hide from everyone else.

"No," Serena said quickly, turning to face him. Noting the concern in his eyes, she felt tempted to confess the truth.

"All right, if you say so." He reached past her, plucking a bottle of champagne from the ice bucket. He opened it, poured the contents into eight champagne glasses, and went around the room distributing the glasses to everyone.

"If I may have your attention everyone," his voice rang out. "At this time I would like to propose a toast to Trevor and Calem. Trevor, as we know, will be representing Sycamore Laboratories in Hoenn as he studies regional differences between Pokemon found in both Hoenn and Kalos with a colleague of mine, Professor Birch. Trevor's a young man after my own heart, with a keen scientific mind and a thirst for knowledge. He'll do well there. And Calem is one of the most gifted trainers I have had the privilege to teach: always striving to be better than he was the day before. I expect great things from him too, and he could not have picked a finer region for training abroad."

Everyone said "Cheers!" in rough unison, raised their glasses to Calem and Trevor, and drank their champagne.

"Thanks Professor," said Calem. "I have something to say." He turned to Shauna.

"Shauna . . . timing's really awful, isn't it? I've picked now of all times to let you steal my heart, right before I'm about to leave for three months. But when I get back . . . would you want to officially go out with me?"

Tierno gasped softly.

Shauna nodded fervently. "Yes!" she squealed, throwing her arms around Calem. He returned the embrace, and everyone else clapped.

Even in heels, Serena was still a head shorter than Augustine, so she raised herself up on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear. "I knew it."

Augustine chuckled and patted her on the shoulder.

Suddenly, two Holo Casters started ringing. Calem and Trevor checked their pockets and pulled their Holo Casters out to check the messages they had received.

"Good evening! This is the Kalos Transportation Service. We regret to inform you that your voyage from Coumarine City to Slateport City that was scheduled for nine o'clock on Tuesday morning has been postponed. All of our ships have been temporarily appropriated by the Department of Environmental Sustainability and are undergoing renovations to become more energy-efficient. We will let you know once your departure has been rescheduled. Please accept our sincerest apologies."

Both Calem and Trevor groaned.

"They can't do that . . . can they?" Tierno questioned.

"Yeah, that's . . . odd," Serena added.

"We can fly on Altaria to Hoenn, Trevor," suggested Calem.

"Hoenn's too far away. Don't put that stress on your Pokemon," Augustine objected. "I'll call Birch in the morning and tell him what has happened."

Serena noticed that Shauna slipped her hand into Calem's and squeezed it in reassurance. Although she had no idea why this was happening now, thoughts about Team Flare returned. Lysandre's face, his eyes blazing with the same fury and madness that had provided plenty of nightmare fuel over the past three years, made its way into her mind's eye.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?" Augustine had leaned over so he could address her quietly. Serena then noticed that her hand was gripping the desk's edge so hard that her knuckles were turned white.

"I, uh, just realized that I forgot to feed Eevee." Serena said hastily, setting her glass down. "I need to get going. It was a great party. Call me to reschedule lunch sometime." She gave speedy good-byes to her friends and Calem's parents before bolting to the elevator.

Back at her apartment, Serena changed out of her party dress into a sleeveless shirt, a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers: all black. She tied her hair back into a ponytail as well.

On her way back, she had stopped by a Pokemon Center and withdrew her Haunter. She had once considered making this Haunter a permanent member of her main team, but put it off just in case a better Ghost-type came along. The prospective Ghost-type never did, and she forgot all about it while she was chasing Team Flare around Lumiose City and Geosenge. Tonight, however, she counted on Haunter to help her with her plan.

She threw up her hood and looked at herself in the mirror, realizing that while her hair was concealed her face was not. The first thing that came to mind was her black scarf, which she had found for cheap at Anistar's boutique and did not wear very often anyway. She tied it around the bottom half of her face to hide her nose and mouth.

Keeping in mind that she would look odd and suspicious walking down the hallways of the apartment building dressed like this, Serena opened the window that faced the inside of an alleyway and climbed out of it, down two stories, and onto the street. From there, she slunk through the town's alleys and back roads until she reached the police station. Lights were on inside, contrasting against the silhouettes of officers inside the building, sitting at their desks and moving around the space.

Serena approached the station from the side, sidling alongside the wall and noting the window next to her head. A stray Skiddo trotted by; once it was gone, she pulled a Pokeball from her belt and released Haunter.

"Haunter," she spoke in a whisper, "Go inside and use Hypnosis on everyone. They all need to be asleep."

Haunter nodded in understanding and floated to the wall, phasing through into the station. Serena watched from the window as all of the people inside fell to the floor and slumped over as they were affected by Hypnosis.

Serena then pushed the window open and climbed through it, landing right next to a man who was fast asleep on the floor.

"Haunter, keep watch. Use Hypnosis on anyone that comes in." she ordered.

She then pulled open every box, cabinet, and drawer she could find, digging through them frantically until realizing that what she was looking for was not in this area. She then rounded the corner to Renshaw's office; luckily, the police chief was not there. Serena went through all of the cabinets and shelves in the office until she found a box labeled "Contraband" underneath the desk. Inside this box was a brown belt with four Pokeballs affixed to it. The belt was tagged "Bernard Lecroux."

Serena grabbed the belt and sprinted out of the office. "Let's go Haunter," she said to her Pokemon before hopping out of the window from which she entered.