Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Pokemon :'(

You all have my most sincere apologies: I honestly did not mean to go this long without updating. School got in the way and revision for exams, but I'll try and update as regularly as possible from now on. This chapter was quite hard to write (or the first part at least), but at least it's here now.

Enjoy.

Chapter Three

~ Gary? ~

"Serena?" A voice called my name. It sounded distant and disconnected from reality. All I could see was darkness, there was a constant buzzing in my ears, and my head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton wool.

"Serena?" The voice came again but it was louder this time. Closer. The buzzing sound lessened and my head began to clear as I slowly rubbed my eyes. Blinking them open, I felt dizzy as colours swirled around me and it took several long seconds before my vision cleared and I could see the woman with pink hair leaning over me.

"Serena, it's good to see you're awake at last," the woman smiled at me. I frowned as questions flooded my brain and I tried to sit up, but my head instantly began to ache and I groaned, lying back down again.

"Ow… What happened? Who are you? Where am I? How do you know my name?" I mumbled, my words slurring together slightly.

"My name is Nurse Joy; I work at the pokémon centre in Santalune City," the woman introduced herself. She was a young, in her early twenties I guessed, with pink hair looped back behind her head and a kind smile on her face. "Currently we're in Aquacorde Town though, in the makeshift pokémon centre they have here," she informed me. I glanced around the room, noticing my surroundings for the first time. It was small and rectangular with several boxes stacked at the end of my bed. There was one more bed squashed into the small room and I looked at it curiously. Still asleep was a boy with chocolate brown hair facing away from me.

"Okay…" I murmured, still processing the information. "But what happened, and how do you know my name? And who's that boy in the other bed?"

Nurse Joy glanced towards the closed door of the little room before answering. "Your friend Calem told me your name when I arrived to look after you. Do you remember anything at all?" she asked carefully.

I scrunched my forehead, thinking. "I was in a fight with a boy… and then we fell in the river… and then… Shoot!" I jerked up suddenly, wincing at the pain in my head but not letting it deter me. "I remember now. That jerk stole Calem's Froakie. But where is he now?"

Both Nurse Joy and I glanced over and the sleeping boy in the bed nest to mine. Or rather, the now-awake boy in the bed next to mine. He was observing us with an amused look on his face. I scowled. "You mean he was sharing a room with me? For how long?"

Nurse Joy shrugged. "You've been out for about a day, Serena. Your friend Calem is really worried about you – Shall I tell him that you're awake now?" I nodded and the nurse looked over at the boy in the other bed. "Oh and Gary, you're free to go. Chancy just gave me the results of your tests and you're fully recovered. Just take it easy for a couple of days, okay?" she added.

The boy, Gary, nodded. "Sure. Thanks Nurse Joy. Do you have my pokémon?"

"Yes, I'll go and fetch him. Wait here," Nurse Joy said and left the room, closing the door behind her.

Both Gary and I stared at each other in silence for a moment before Gary cleared his throat. "I should say thanks," he said, looking me in the eye.

His words took me by surprise – I was so dumbfounded that I lost my voice for a few seconds. Finding it again I managed a weak, "What for?"

"Don't you remember? You saved my life," he muttered. When I still looked confused he added, "At the river. When I was hanging onto that rock and you jumped in and you pulled me up out of the water. So, thank you."

I nodded slowly as the memories came flooding back. "Oh, yeah. In that case, thank you as well." Gary perked an eyebrow. "For not letting go of me," I clarified, staring at the ground.

"Yeah well, I reckoned I owed you. I don't like owing people." His reasoning was scarily close to my own – I don't like owing people either.

"Um, yeah," I stammered, shaken. Taking a breath I stood up but a wave of dizziness overcame me and I stumbled forward, tripping over my own feet. If Gary hadn't caught me Nurse Joy probably would have had to nurse me for a huge bump on my head as well as my recovery from my swim in the river. "Thanks, again," I mumbled, pushing away from him ad sitting back on my own bed.

Gary smirked. "No problem."

Nurse Joy re-entered the room carrying two pokéballs. "Here's your Bunnelby, Gary, and this is your Fennekin if I am not mistaken?" she asked me as Gary claimed Bunnelby's pokéball eagerly. She held out the remaining pokéball to me and I took it hesitantly.

"I suppose," I grumbled. Noticing the weird looks I was getting, I quickly pasted a smile on my face. "I mean, thanks so much for getting her for me – I thought she was lost forever," I said with as much emotion as I could muster.

"Actually it was me who found her for you. She was skulking around the riverbank while the rescue team were fishing you out of the river so I got her pokéball from your bag and returned her for you," Calem said, appearing from behind Nurse Joy.

"Calem!" I grinned, forgetting about my dizziness as I stood up to greet him. I stumbled forwards and once again Gary caught me with his lightning reflexes, grabbing onto my arm and steadying me. I found myself frowning. I'm the one who's supposed to have lightning reflexes after training for six years to be a spy, and yet here I am tripping all over the place. I'm hardly ever this clumsy. I must have been more injured than I thought.

"Careful," he said.

"I'll leave you three to get reacquainted but I'll be out in the front of the shop if you need me. Serena, you are also free to go but please do be careful and call me if there are any problems," Nurse Joy said before leaving us alone. I called a thank you after her and was about to thank Gary for catching me again when his next words put a frown on my face.

"Are you always this clumsy?" Gary asked with a smirk.

I glared at him and wrenched my arm out of his grasp. "Get lost, loser," I told him angrily. I could feel my face flushing at the cheek of him. "First you steal Calem's pokémon, then you almost drown me in the river, and now you insult me. Who do you think you are?"

"Hey, calm down," Calem said, moving closer to me and taking my hand. "Forget about him, I got Froakie back and the important thing is that you're okay."

"Aw, cute," Gary sneered. "I feel sick just watching you two."

"Then look the other way," I snapped at him, annoyed that he ruined a good moment between Calem and I. "Or even better, get out of here and go do whatever else you losers do."

Gary stood up and pushed in between Calem and I as he headed for the door. "Don't worry, I don't want to spend another moment in your presence. Just to warn you though, you both might want to watch your backs in future. You never know what might happen if you let your attention wander," he shot over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

"Was that a threat?" I asked with a frown, clenching my fist. How dare he? If he knew who I was he wouldn't have been so quick to threaten me.

Calem was staring at the closed door with a furrowed brow. "I don't know, but I do know that I really don't like that boy," he muttered. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Are you sure you're fully recovered?" Calem asked, glancing at me worriedly.

I sighed. "Yes, I'm fine." We were in the front of the makeshift pokémon centre. "When can we leave anyway?"

"In a moment… Hey, you might want to hear this," Calem muttered, holding out his miniature travel radio towards me. Taking it, I held it to my ear. After listening for a few moments my eyes widened.

"…We still don't know who this mystery girl is, but she showed incredible strength and bravery when she dived into the river to save a boy who would have surely drowned otherwise, and this was after she had already endured a stretch of time in the fast-flowing river. The reports coming in mention that they fell from the cliff overlooking…" the reporter was saying. Wordlessly, I handed the radio back to Calem.

"How does the press know?" I asked at last, running a hand through my hair. I made a mental note to wash my hair ASAP – it was extremely greasy, not to mention stringy.

Calem shrugged. "I don't know, but at a guess I would say that the rescue team flying out from Lumiose City to the quiet town of Aquacorde drew quite a lot of attention. The press probably smelled a story."

"Yeah, probably," I agreed absently. My mind was whirling; as a spy the centre of attention was the worst place to be, and I knew I was going to have to keep a low profile for a while.

"Calem?"

Calem and I both looked up to see Nurse Joy walking towards us. "Here are the supplies you asked for – five potions and five pokéballs. I have to get back to Santalune City now but I hope I'll see you there soon," she said with a friendly smile before hurrying out of the door.

I glanced at Calem as he put the items Nurse Joy had given him into his bag. "You mean we've been waiting for those all this time?" I asked disdainfully.

Calem rolled his eyes. "We should get a move on, the others are waiting for us just inside Santalune Forest." He took my hand and led be out of the door. His hand was warm and comforting, and I was doing my best to fight off the flutters my heart was making inside my chest until I sat the sight that awaited us outside in the Aquacorde Town Square, when my heart nearly stopped beating. People. A small crowd of people were gathered, waiting, and as soon as Calem and I emerged they began cheering. Huh? was all I could think as I stared at them.

Next to me Calem stopped dead and I could tell he was as shocked as I was. "Maybe they're not waiting for us?" he suggested in a low voice.

Suddenly the mini crowd surged forwards, shouting out names.

"Yeah, maybe they're shouting out the names of two pokémon who happen to share our names," I mutter sarcastically before a blonde reporter with a camera pushed her way to the front.

"Is it true you dived off a cliff to save the drowning son of Professor Oak?" the reporter asked, her camera flashing madly.

"Did Calem's Froakie really evolve after pulling you out of the water?" cried another reporter, this one clutching a pad with the pen hovering over the top sheet, ready to scribble down every word that was said.

I glanced at Calem. He was frowning as he pushed a microphone away from his face. "Sorry, we don't have time for an interview," he apologised, not sounding sorry at all. I just let my hair fall over my face and kept staring at the ground.

Calem was pushing through the crowd when I suddenly realised what the female reported had said. Whipping round, I stared at her. "Did you say the son of Professor Oak?"

The reporter flashed me a bright smile. "I sure did. Don't tell me you didn't realise it was him you were saving!" she chattered. "Care share your thoughts on the matter now you know his identity?"

I blinked. "No, I don't," I all but snapped. Calem looked back at me in surprise.

"What's up?" he muttered in a low voice.

Before I could reply, a cocky voice rose above the noise of the crowd. "That's right Seri – didn't you know? I'm Professor Oak of Kanto's grandson."

The crowd instantly parted to reveal Gary standing in the middle of the town square with a smirk on his face. Forgetting Calem and I, the reporters and the towns people surged towards Gary.

"You want an interview? Sure, I'd be only too happy to provide one for you," he said with a charming smile aimed at the rolling cameras.

I gritted my teeth as I watched. How dare he? "Stuck up jerk," I growled under my breath.

"Hey, don't complain; at least we're not the centre of attention any more. Anyway, if you want to go on ahead, I'll catch you up in Santalune Forest," Calem told me, beginning to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I called after him. He was heading towards Gary…

Calem shot a sheepish smile over his shoulder. "Professor Oak's grandson is famous for being the one everyone thinks is going to beat the Kanto Champion before he turns eighteen, not to mention having Professor Oak as a grandfather. I want to be the best trainer I can be and an opportunity to meet Gary Oak is something I just can't pass up. Later, Seri," he explained before getting lost in the crowd.

I narrowed my eyes as I stared at Gary lapping up all the attention. Not so long ago Calem was chasing him, trying to get Froakie back off him, the thief. Now, Calem was all over him just because he was famous. Gah. Fuming, I turned on my heel and began stalking towards Santalune forest. Not two steps later I hesitated and changed direction, heading back to the makeshift pokémon centre. This might be the last opportunity I have to take a shower in a long time…

An hour later (…what? I like showers, okay?), I exited the makeshift Pokémon Center feeling refreshed and much, much better. I wasn't even dizzy. There was no sign of Gary or the crowd (or Calem) in the town square either which was good.

I left Aquacorde in high spirits and the entrance to Santalune Forest was in sight when I heard my Holo caster ringing in my bag. Wondering who might be ringing me (and, I admit, I was kind of hoping it was Calem), I quickly took it out of my bag which I then dropped on the ground and answered it. However it was not Calem who was projected in front of me, but Professor Augustine Sycamore.

"Hi Professor," I chirped, smiling at him and wondering what had happened to put that frown on his face. "Is everything all right?"

Sycamore glared at me. "Serena, what is one of the most important things about being a spy?"

I raised an eyebrow, confused. "Erm…"

"Your face is being broadcast to the whole of Kalos right now," he told me, exasperated. "You're an undercover, momentarily inactive, spy. And now the whole of Kalos will recognise you on the spot."

I winced, remembering back to the reporter who'd been pointing a camera at me. "Oh, yeah."

Sycamore's glare intensified and I found myself shrinking back despite his image being only a projection. "Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

I hesitated. "Well, I may have made the news but I doubt I'm front page headline news. Probably just thrown into the mix somewhere. You only paid attention to it because you know me. Besides, everyone will have forgotten about it soon enough," I reasoned.

The professor sighed. "That's not the point, Serena. The point is that you can't afford to slip up like that again."

I nodded. "I won't. It was an accident, but it won't happen again."

"Good. Now tell me, how's your pokémon coming along? Which one did you choose?"

It was my turn to glare now. "The fire thing," I growled, glancing at my bag which contained the little rat.

Sycamore blinked. "You mean Fennekin? Good choice, I would say-"

"Sycamore, I want to know why you decided to lump a stupid pokémon on me," I stated firmly.

The professor glanced sideways, appearing to be listening to something, and then turned back to me. "So sorry Serena, but I have to go. I'll explain everything when you reach my lab in Lumiose City, I promise," he said swiftly before ending the call.

"Urgh!" I muttered, kicking my bag in frustration. So it was all right for him to be mad at me, but when I'm mad at him he gets to end the call? Life is so not fair.

"Fen, Fennekin."

I looked up sharply to see the little rat herself standing next to my bag and I groaned. I must have released her by accident when I kicked the bag. Then I felt anger rise inside of me. "You!" I accused. "You left me to drown!"

"Fen…" Fennekin looked at me sheepishly.

I narrowed my eyes at her. She pawed my bag and whined. "What?" She then pawed at her stomach and I understood. "You're hungry? Well, tough. I'm not feeding you; you were going to let me drown."

I picked up my bag and began striding towards the forest.

"Fennekin! Kin, kin!"

I stopped. She sounded starving… I sighed and turned around. "Fine, I'll feed you, okay? But just because I don't want to see you starve it doesn't mean I want you around. However, I'm willing to put up with you until we get to Lumiose City and sort this mess out. You don't get in my way and I don't get in yours, agreed?"

"Fen," Fennekin nodded, and I reached for my bag. Now, I just had to work out what the fire-rats eat.

When I finally set off again with Fennekin trotting along nearby – near enough not to lose me but far enough away that she wasn't in my way – it took me five minutes to reach the entrance to Santalune forest. I would have gone right in, despite it getting dark, but an unfortunately familiar figure was leaning against the wooden board signposting the edge of the forest. He was throwing a pokéball up in the air and catching it repeatedly while whistling a carefree tune.

"Gary," I stated, stopping a couple of meters away. He looked up at me and a grin immediately appeared on his sneaky (but yes, I admit it, handsome) features.

"Why, fancy seeing you here Seri," Gary greeted me, pushing off the sign post and coming to stand directly in front of me.

"Do you want something or is this where all the losers hang out?" I asked, not in the mood to play games.

Gary shrugged as he put his hands in his pockets. "Oh, you know, just loitering," he said casually. I crossed my arms. There was definitely something he wasn't telling me, but I couldn't be bothered to find out what.

"Right. Well I'm tired so I'm going now. Hope I don't see you later," I told him and started to walk away.

"See ya," Gary called after me. I froze and turned back round to face him.

"What did you just say?" I questioned. Fennekin pawed at my foot impatiently, but I ignored her,

Gary looked confused. "Er… See ya?"

I walked back towards him until I was standing right in front of him, and stared at him, studying his face. Something wasn't right. His face looked like the face of Gary Oak, and his hair was the right colour. But it wasn't spiky enough and there was no hair gel applied at all – it was just a big mess on top of his head. Also, his parting words weren't right. I'd met Gary several times before (perks of working for Professor Sycamore – meeting the other Professors and occasionally their relatives) and he always said 'smell ya later', in that rather childish manner of his. I could have been wrong of course: he could have decided to change his hair style and he could have grown out of that old parting phrase. But if I had learned one thing about Gary during the few short times I had met him, it was that he thought he was better than everyone else. He certainly wouldn't steal a pokémon because he would think he was too good to steal a pokémon. If he needed one, he would just get it off his grandfather.

A triumphant grin stole onto my face. "Gotcha," I told him.

"Uh, what? You're talking nonsense," 'Gary' told me.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're not Gary Oak."

'Gary' stared at me. The slight widening of his eyes told me I was right, no matter how quickly he recovered and tried to cover his surprise up. "Aha, you're delusional. Was that swim in the river a bit much for you?"

"You're not Gary Oak," I repeated myself. "You may look like him and share his cocky, flirtatious personality, but I know him and you are not him." I stated my reasons why I was sure he wasn't Gary, and the boy in front of me glared at me mutinously. "So who are you?" I asked. "And why pretend to be Gary?"

"None of your business," the boy snapped. "Leave me alone," he growled harshly, pushing me out of the way and running into the forest. I watched him go with an intrigued look on my face. I love a good mystery, me. Insatiable curiosity comes as part of being a spy, I suppose. That boy came along at just the right moment, because suddenly I wasn't hating this journey quite so much. I had a feeling this wasn't the last time I was going to see him, so I set off to find Calem full of determination.

I was going to find out the boy's secret if it was the last thing I did.

Author's Note: Again, I'm so sorry for the extremely late update. I got the idea for the Gary thing from Amy47101 when she said that the boy I was describing as the thief in the last chapter sounded a lot like Gary to her. Any reassemble up to that point was completely coincidental - I hadn't originally planned for the thief to pretend he was Gary. But it fits with the plot and creates a useful link between something I can't talk about yet (*spoilers*) so I decided to go with it :) Thanks so much Amy!

Also, thank you to anyone who is still reading after this update was extremely delayed, and thank you to anyone new who is reading this :D

~ Jay