AneresMelac: Haha, I agree. If I were in Serena's position, I would totally think the same thing about Calem.
A/N: Already wrote the next chapter, should be up tomorrow, if not sometime this week. Will be plenty interesting, in my opinion. And thank you AneresMelac for the review, and a thank you to the new followers!
Happy Roaming!
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Glittering Cave
"Lose all sense of direction as you wander through this cave, where Luminous Moss glows emerald green."
.
Grasping tightly onto her Jaw fossil, she hurries around each corner in a desperate attempt to get away. She tries her best to sprint and find the way out, but she could still hear his presence behind her beneath her own smacks of the feet. There was so much noise in her head, including her thundering heartbeat and overwhelming discomfort.
He just didn't get it.
Winding turn after winding turn led to more meandering pathways, and to her dismay, the wonderful, bright exit was nowhere in sight. There were only dark, endless tunnels. "Serena!" she hears her name shouted from behind her. But she's not listening; she will not yield. She's focuses only on running along the twisty dirt path, letting her adrenaline fuel her, and letting the blue and green crystals on the wall light her way.
(***)
It's unclear why he's doing this. The tiniest bit of mortification he felt when Serena discovered him quietly following in her footsteps should have been enough to halt him in his tracks and send him scurrying the other direction.
It's how things were supposed to be: the both of them continuing on their adventure together, but not exactly together. He didn't want to be close to any girl right now; he didn't want to be close to her. It's what he'd wanted, right?
Though sadly, things have changed. The plans have gone hay-wire, the cat out of the bag, mission aborted… and he definitely blames the zubats for it, because he was turning into something unproductive. Some devilish being constructed a fork in his road. There was a blockade to the only road to success, and an all-access street to some chamber or deep chasm or abyss.
All he can think of these days and nights was her absolute location in this world. It's become the new obsession. Examples being: What if she was to tread the mountains and happened to slip and therefore started to precariously hang on the edge of a cliff? What if she journeyed into another cruel forest? What if those goons that called themselves Team Fire (or was it Flare? Fire? Flame? Whatever) kidnapped her?
He doesn't have any earthly idea why—and it annoys the living crap out of him—but she makes him not himself.
He was drifting further and further away from who he wanted to be whether he allowed it or not.
(***)
"Serena! Please! Stop!"
He sounds an awful lot closer than before.
No, she won't stop, but apparently he won't stop either. Though at this rate, if she were to keep going, she was bound to come up at a dead end—then what was she going to do? Let him confront her? No way. That would just…just…defeat the whole purpose!
Her eyes scan the surroundings as she continues to run. What if she could hide somewhere then let him jolt past her as she waited?
Yes, that would work, she decided. There were plenty of paths that forked off the main one. Right at the next tunnel, she would change course.
There. It was up ahead. She reaches it, and with a cautionary pivot of her feet, successfully slinks out of the main path to slip into the unknown recesses the tunnel. Hopefully her sudden change of plans was unknown to her chaser.
She steps back in to the wall to further merge with the darkness, but a sharp pain enters the back of her knee when her back meets the wall, and she stumbles forward, completely fearful. Her fossil and bag go flying from her clutches onto the ground.
She dares a glance back at the wall; mentally preparing herself should some offended pokemon attack her, but there wasn't one. Instead there laid a strange-colored moss giving off an immense neon color she hadn't noticed before. Did accidentally hitting it with her skin trigger the glow? She dares her imagination and looks behind her knee. Sure enough, the patch of skin that had been pierced was also giving off a similar glow.
And was that…purple skin she was seeing beneath the vague neon glow?
She attempts to nurse herself by steadying her forehead with a hand. How could moss cause this?
"Are you alright?" She turns to find Calem standing there, huffing slightly from all the running. "Why'd you stop?"
She shakes her head and shows him her knee, motioning half-heartedly at its luminous glow.
"Oh." Was all he could manage, and she began to limp away from him, clenching her jaw in discomfort and her eyes darting in search for her things.
"Look, I'm sorry I followed you like that. We're friends, and it wouldn't have been friendly-like for me to not look out for you while we're both here, right?"
She stops and turns to stare at him, confused. What was he saying? He noticed her running away…but not her obvious uncharacteristic behavior during the confrontation with Team Flare? The knee was getting to be numb but that wasn't the sole thing bothering her. Didn't he get already why she was this way? Was he being purposefully dense? She had made it as obvious and apparent as she could when they were double-battling earlier; her un-cooperation with his battle tactics, her ignorance in his questions, her running away especially—why couldn't he just question her? Didn't he care? Didn't he know he was the one at fault here, strolling off with some girl when he told their group of friends to meet somewhere—?
"Serena, your knee—it's—"
Her nerves snap and she whirls back around, limping deeper into the dark passage. Calem sighs.
"I don't think that's a good idea…"
She attempts to limp even faster. It doesn't take very long until he tries again, and it brings a silent pride in her.
"Serena."
Nope, not listening—she continues to limp and limp—
"Serena that moss is known to kill in less than an hour. It's poisonous."
She stands stock-still, the blood draining from her face.
"Just…come back slowly so you won't spread it."
She comes back slowly. For some reason, the pain felt even more intense now that she has this information etched on her mind. Eventually she gets to be right in front of him, and he becomes visibly less stressed.
"Well, now that you're here…I was kidding. Your knee's just paralyzed."
She blinks, feeling utterly played.
"L-Look," he quickly says, "I'm sorry. That was mean. But—"
Suddenly, the ground shakes once, and Serena loses her balance, and Calem stumbles towards the wall to cling for steadiness.
His expression goes alert and dark. "Some pokemon's approaching from down this path."
Alarmed, Serena backs away as quick as she can from the ominous depths of the tunnel. Calem does the best he can to come support her, but the ground is formidable and unrelenting, constantly shaking and increasing in magnitude by the second that he all he can do is stay in one spot. She spots her bag and snatches it up along with the trembling fossil beside it. She frantically feels around the bag for Chespin, the only pokemon she relies on, but feels nothing. The pokeball wasn't in her bag. It must've rolled away further down the tunnel!
An onix shoots out of the ground down the tunnel, showering rocks of all sizes around it. The mediocre earthquake subsides, but the pokemon roars to make up for the lost sound, its eyes as luminous as the neon moss and Serena's injury.
Calem mutters and rolls his eyes, reaching for his pokeball. But just as he's about to whip out Braixen, a familiar face materializes out from the shadows behind the onix.
"Cheeess-pin!" The pokemon tyke shouts, waving its arms frantically, seeming to be completely oblivious of the wild beast feet away from him. Serena desperately attempts to stand. She has to guide him in this battle!
"Chespin, get over here—mmf!" Calem tries to call, but Serena slaps a hand over his mouth, shaking her head to signal a forceful No.
"In case you didn't already notice, you're practically handicapped right now. Leave this to me, okay? I'll get Chespin."
No! Her actions scream. She drags her paralyzed foot on the ground to come in front of him and block Calem's view of the now-advancing onix. Using her hand, she—
"Serena, stop being stubborn, seriously." He quickly places himself in front of her and throws out Braixen. "Oh, crap. Wrong pokemon—" He gets pushed to the side with a grunt and Serena starts to 'jump' in place, slashing her arm in the air repeatedly for Chespin to use Razor Leaf. The onix was getting to be really close.
Then her vision goes black before she could see the leaves hit the onix.
"Braixen, use Psybeam!"
"—Ches-pin!"
"—Brai-xen!"
A blast resonates throughout the tunnel, a pulse-like wind brushing against them as the chaos subsides. Serena struggles to free Calem's hands from her face. What happened? Was Chespin alright? Heat crawls up to her forehead and cheeks, and she couldn't tell whether it was from possibly the after-effects of the blast or something completely different.
A presence paws at her good leg, and Calem releases his hands to reveal a grinning Chespin bouncing energetically at her feet, shoving up at her his pokeball.
"Ch-ch-chespin!"
She gives him a small, grateful smile and pats his head, as if thanking him that he was okay, and takes the pokeball to return him inside. The tunnel smelled of earthen rubble, and the onix was nowhere to be seen. It probably fled down into the earth, or maybe the pile of rocks she sees was the fainted onix.
She turns towards Calem, and he turns towards her. With a huff, she limps rigidly out of the dark tunnel towards the light-washed one.
"I did that for your own good," he states, already right behind as vigilant as ever. She crosses her arms with a pout.
"With an injury, you shouldn't exert yourself."
Whirling around, she motions at his back and makes little fangs at her mouth, glaring while doing so.
He hesitates. "Are you saying I'm a hypocrite?"
A furious nod.
"Actually, I 'passed out' before I could even exert myself, so your conclusion isn't valid."
She despises the winning, knowing look on his face, but she doesn't let that stop her. She acts out him sleeping and then rashly getting up to run—doing the motions in one spot and with her hands. Interpretation: Why Are You Here When You Should Be Resting In Bed?
He pats his back. "My injury's practically non-existent, thanks for asking. It's fine that I'm here."
She rolls her eyes, but then suddenly, the fire dies within her, and the glare in her eyes disappears. Her shoulders sag. She noticed how she hadn't asked at all if he was okay—if he was physically okay. She'd just up and left his bedside.
"I-I was being sarcastic," he hurriedly says, taken aback. "It's okay if you hadn't asked, I'm fine, really."
She casts her head down at her twiddling thumbs. She thought running away was supposed to help. If one were to get away from a source that caused you discomfort, then one wouldn't experience its effects; that's what she believed.
Obviously for Calem, he wasn't the case.
"A-are you okay?" He tries to lean down to see her face, but she whips her head to the side, cupping her face. He notices the dampness seeping through the cracks of her hands, and then the sharp intake of breath.
"Here we go," he whispers, utterly feeling like jerk. What was he supposed to do here? Was he supposed to awkwardly pat her arm…or… offer condolence? He frowns and can only say what's clouding up his mind.
"I'm sorry—"
She runs into his chest, wrapping her arms tightly around him and burying her head deep into his jacket. He stands there dumbfounded with his arms raised in surprise as her sobs rack up his spine, feeling her silent cries within himself.
It takes him a moment to fully grasp it. There were a variety of possible interpretations for this action, but there was really only one way to take it regarding context.
It was her way of saying sorry.