The thirty-second in the series of Carry On films to be made, now adjusted for inflation by being 20% cooler. And yes, that's a reference.
A/N:
Long story short, real life caught up and decided to smack me in the face. Hard. With an added serving of writer's block.
*facepalm* Four months. Mamma mia, do I suck at keeping deadlines.
Sheesh, in hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to join student council. Life is hard when you're committed to your council work, and that work just so happens to drain so much energy and inspiration from me. No wonder most of the writers here are adults; they have so much more time than I ever will have.
I'd like to thank my all of friends on the other side (a.k.a Ellie and Rian and the others on my ask; leave a note if you were one of the others I can't identify) for helping break the chain of monotony. Seriously, you have no idea how much you helped keep my spirit alive, and thank you all for being so understanding. Regrettably, I only managed to start work on this late July, so, I suppose it was technically an unannounced hiatus. For that, I am so, so sorry, because I didn't want to make you guys wait so long, especially since this chapter is admittedly not one of my best.
Regardless, I promise to be faster next time round (much, MUCH faster), and as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter! That's all from me, so allons-y!
It was an ordinary day in Camphrier Town. The citizens were-
…Right, I think we already used that joke.
Well, actually, it wasn't quite an ordinary day, really. Notwithstanding the boy who had inexplicably created a face-sized dent into their fountain, they also realized that the temperature was a few degrees hotter than normal.
Then again, it was probably because he broke the fountain's water pump.
That being said, no one really batted an eye at the spectacle. Weirder things have happened.
"Hello? Is Calem anywhere in there?"
Calem felt a finger prod his cheek. The voice was familiar, but he couldn't place a name or a face on it yet.
"Dude, are you in there? You've been out for an hour, man."
"Ugh, feels like it's been two months…"
Rubbing his eyes, Calem opened them to see a pair of grey eyes, and the slightly concerned face of a blonde Gym Leader attached to it.
Connecting said face to a name was easier than he'd thought. "Miss Korrina? Where-"
"Très bien! You're awake." she straightened up and smiled. "It's still Korrina, though, although I can't blame you for not remembering since it was before that nasty crash."
As the memories of what happened that one hour earlier came rushing back to his head, so did a massive ache.
"Hngh!" Calem grabbed the side of his head and doubled over.
"Woah, take it easy, man." He heard, before a pair of hands grasped both sides of his head. "Here, let me."
As she started to massage, Calem could physically feel the pain ebb away. Bit by bit, the tortuous ache in his head subsided.
"Wow… this is great, but how-"
"I used to get injured a lot too, y'know. Roller-skating's not exactly the safest of sports, to say the least." she kneaded his forehead, "My grandpa had to do this to me all the time, and eventually, he got tired of it, so he taught me how to do it myself."
By the time she had finished talking, the discomfort in his head was all but gone. She stepped away and looked at him, as if admiring her work. "Better?"
"Yeah, I'm feeling much better." Following that, Calem looked himself once over. "At least I don't think I've got any permanent damage on me."
"You did get kind of wet in the fountain, though." She grabbed him by the arm, "C'mon, let's get you some new clothes."
"Situated between the ever-lively Lumiose City and the beachside cities of Ambrette and Cyllage, Camphrier is a relatively peaceful town that doubles up as a rest-stop before the long journey towards the coast, or a place to cool off from the hustle-bustle of Lumiose's hectic life.
It is in direct vicinity to a number of sightseeing options. Among them, the Shabboneau Castle, a semi-popular tourist attraction, is right-next-door, where guests may view the past history of the once-grand castle in its untouched prime. Further on, a branching path leads off to either the Parfum Palace, a similarly more-popular tourist attraction, or, over the bridge path, the wide expanse of Route 7.
However, fair warning must be given. If you ever care to visit during the late parts of the year, be on the lookout for the Snorlax that always seems to come back. He's not dangerous or anything; he's actually quite harmless. But he always picks the same exact spot to take a month-long nap, unless... Well.
Normally, this wouldn't be much of a problem, but the aforementioned spot just so happens to be the only bridge between Route 7 and Camphrier. And it's not like we can swim or anything… right?"
'The Ultimate Kalosian City Guide: What To Do, and Where To Do It' (2020), by Elite Four Member Serena Rosseau.
As Calem walked out of the changing room, he polished his sunglasses with the cuffs of the new green jacket he'd gotten, before tucking them into the brim of his knit cap.
Placing his now-drying clothing into a package, he dropped it off at the postal service (along with a little tip, of course), before walking out of the changing lounge.
Korrina, who had changed out of her signature gym leader clothes in favour of a more comfortable t-shirt and pants, waved him over from her seat on one of the main lounge's chairs, before suddenly pointing to the corner and shouting, "Wait, sto-"
It was then Shauna turned said corner, and proceeded to crash straight into Calem, dropping the bunch of cardboard boxes she was carrying on them both.
As far as Calem could figure, the entirety of his face was covered by fabric, followed by a weight that felt strangely familiar. Realizing that he'd been in this exact situation before a few days ago, he elected to keep his mouth shut; a wise choice, after the weight lifted itself off him.
"Oh my gosh, C-Sharp, are you alright?"
Blinking the stars out of his eyes, he saw Shauna above him, a concerned look on her face.
"I am," he started, "But before anything else, please move off me before we have another misunderstanding."
Blushing once she realized how their current position would've looked to onlookers, she proceeded to shift to the side and get up, allowing Calem to get to his feet as well.
"That was a pretty hard fall. Shauna," Korrina admonished from where she sat. "When you're carrying stuff, you need to make sure that you can see in front of you too, y'know?"
"Alright, K-Town, I'll keep that in mind!" she chirped back sheepishly.
"K-Town?" he echoed.
"She came up with that nickname ago during our little tête-à-tête a while ago." Korrina shrugged.
"I thought it up on the spot, and it sorta-kinda stuck." Shauna explained.
"Anyways, what's in these things?" Calem picked one of the boxes up and shook it gently.
"I don't know." Shauna admitted, "But the Nurse Joy just asked for help on bringing these to one of the recreational rooms."
Turning the box on end, he saw a familiar logo on its side, that of a stylized 'S', with two circles in the gaps.
"This is Silph Co.'s technology…" He pondered.
Korrina's eyes lit up. "Actually, here, let me help you carry these boxes over."
As she picked up one of the boxes, she was joined by both Shauna and Calem, who queried, "I'm getting the feeling you're getting excited about something. Mind sharing what?"
In response, she grinned. "If what's inside is exactly what I think it is, then, there's something I'm keen on doing with it."
"I didn't expect there to be so many of you." the Nurse Joy playfully quipped, "I distinctly recall only asking one young lady for help, not a young man and a gym leader."
She waved them into the recreational room, which was spacious, to say the least. On one side, there was a row of PCs, separated by barriers and curtains, of which one was currently occupied.
"Aha!" Korrina exclaimed. "Called it."
She fished out a small choker-like object from the depths of the Styrofoam packing peanuts. "As I thought, it's an-"
The memory finally clicked inside Calem's head.
"AmuSphere!" he blurted out, to the girls' surprise, and Shauna's confused echo of, "AmuSphere?"
"Oh!" Korrina exclaimed, "So you've already been acquainted with the AmuSphere!"
"Well, not exactly." He tapped his chin, lost in thought. "I've only ever used it that one time, and even then, I'm only familiar with the basics."
"C-Sharp?" Shauna asked, "When was this 'one time'?"
He felt his face heat up at the memory of a certain gym leader and her boyfriend.
"Moving on," he quickly changed the subject, "Korrina, how do you know of it?"
"Well," she recounted, "Back when Super Training was in its early stages…"
"This isn't gonna hurt, is it?" Korrina eyed up the large, dust covered machine anxiously, as well as the helmet sitting next to her, that was connected to said machine. Clemont sighed from inside the machine, muttering just loud enough for the girl to hear, "It shouldn't. We'll just have to find out."
It was at this point Clemont stuck his head out. "Hold on, is this scene even in the right fanfic?"
Korrina folded her arms. "Of course it isn't, but it's for continuity, so-"
An Uxie floated in, and with one burst of light, caused both their eyes to become glazed, and Clemont to move back into his machine.
"Sorry about this, readers, but we felt the obligatory need to make this reference, and with Alty still injured, we can't pretend it's an alternate universe. Now, without further ado, the rest of the flashback." Chelsea apologized, before snapping her fingers and disappearing.
Korrina snorted with disbelief, folding her arms. "That's what worries me. This thing is how old again? You haven't touched it for how long?" she said, giving the machine a light kick - skates removed, thankfully. This didn't stop the boy from removing his head from the wiring compartment and snapping, "Don't do that!"
(A/N: I could spend an entire chapter of this story explaining how and why Korrina has so much experience, but I'd honestly be copying. Just pop on down to Ms. Angel-chan Desu's Tales With and Outwith the Gyms of Kalos, Chapter 18, because she's done a great job of doing just that. Cheers)
"So, other than Clemont, I would count myself as having the most experience with Super Training." Korrina concluded with a flourish.
The resounding silence was only interrupted by a Kricketot chirping.
"Guys?" she turned.
"And dat's how ya safely plug in an AmuSphere, yo!" the man holding said Kricketot finished, to the captivated audience of Calem and Shauna, "If ya needa know more, my house is right next to the Center, so ya can't miss it, y'know?"
"Hey, you!" Korrina said, as she stepped over to confront them.
"Who's asking?" the man turned around and stared, "Well, I'll be a Mankey's cousin. What's a Gym Leader doin' so far away from her gym, eh?"
"I'm just passing by! Now, who-"
"This is Cassius, K-Town." Shauna explained, "He's the guy who helped co-design the user interface for Super Training with Clemont!"
At this, Korrina blinked. Cassius was a fairly weedy man, but his fashion sense screamed… well, delinquent, to be fairly honest. He was wearing a biker jacket over a shirt with faded jeans, and his head was shaven with the exception of a splotch of spiky green hair over the top of his head.
Not the type of appearance you'd expect a software designer to resemble. Minus the glasses, which were probably one of the only things differentiating him from some of the punk guys she'd encountered before in Lumiose.
"I don't mean to be rude, but, you sorta…" Korrina's voice trailed off.
"Look like a freakin' gangster?" Cassius finished, before laughing. "Yo, allow me to explain!"
He pointed to his head. "I may look an' act like a punk, but I ain't lacking anything up here! You're looking at the valedictorian of his graduating class, with a PhD in computer engineering, and a Bachelor's in programming! Plus a minor in Women's Studies."
Silence followed, broken by the alternating beeps of the three AmuSpheres, signalling that they were ready for use, and Cassius' Kricketot, who was imitating said beeps.
"Well, dat's my cue to go! If you need me, ya know where to look. Ciao!" he waved as he went out the door.
Silence ensued yet again, before Shauna shrugged. "I like him."
"Oddest person I've met so far." Korrina admitted.
"Wait till you meet my dad." Calem muttered, before the three grabbed an AmuSphere each and laid down on their respective beds.
"Are you guys ready?" he asked, "Then, Link St-"
"Oh, right!"
Calem felt Korrina leap out of the bed beside him. "I can't forget Chammy Bear!"
"Chammy Bear?"
SUPER TRAINING MODE ACTIVATED! PREPARE FOR AN INTENSE WORKOUT!
"Well," Oberon said nonchalantly as he swivelled in his chair, "I guess we're going to Super Train again."
"Un… And I just had a shower too." Blair finished towelling herself, and flicked it to the laundry with Psywave. "I'm gonna get all sticky again."
Almond looked up from the side, "But I thought Ghosts don't sweat?"
"Hm. Good point." She admitted, before the light enveloped all three of them.
When they rematerialized, they were standing on the familiar metal surface of the Super Training's Cage. And then, they turned to their right, and realized there weren't quite just three of them.
Towering over the trio was a Pokémon of large stature. It held up a clawed paw.
"Hello." the Pokémon rumbled.
Oberon's eyes widened as he scrutinized the Pokémon up and down, but mostly up. He had to have been more than twice the size of any of the three of them!
The sound caught in Oberon's throat, before freeing itself with a strained, "…H-Hello."
"Eep!" Blair squeaked, before floating behind Almond, who waved back, "Hi there!"
"A pleasure to meet you three." The large panda smiled faintly. "My name is-"
"You know," Calem said and he smoothed out his jumpsuit, "When you said 'Chammy Bear', Korrina, I'd have thought you meant a Pancham."
Korrina smiled as she reminisced, "Well, Chammy Bear's all grown up now!"
"Indeed, I have." Chammy Bear stated, "Although I would now prefer Pan or any variation thereof, since the 'Cham' part has sort of become redundant."
The three nodded so quickly, their heads would probably have fallen off (Except for Blair, who was, by all means, a head to begin with, and so had already fallen off). It was most unwise to rebut a Pangoro, after all.
"We have guests?"
Two furry, canine heads popped out on either side, before breaking into grins.
"Oh, wow, fancy meeting you guys here!" Lucia greeted. "I'dve thought our next meeting would be much, much later!"
"Indeed, this is a fortuitous circumstance." Luke followed, the two of them stepping out from behind Chammy Bear's frame. "At the very least, it's just you three-"
"Ooh, don't forget about us!"
Almond looked behind the other trio to see two pink Skitties materialize and drop out from the sky. But while one landed facefirst with a muffled, "Ooh, owwie!", the other immediately morphed into a Quilladin not unlike him, before landing on his feet on the ground.
"Hey, Meta!" Almond greeted, as the Quilladin looked up, and her beady black eyes stared forward into nothing.
"Hello. Good to see you guys." He replied, near-monotonous.
As he finished, a second flash of light appeared above them, as a certain masked frog dropped to the Cage.
"Hey, what's up? We just saw some kind of warning and suddenly-"
Before he was suddenly interrupted by the Aura Sphere slamming directly into his face, sending him flying off said Cage.
Mere seconds later, Fontaine reformed on the metallic surface, and immediately hid behind the nearest Lucario.
"Aah, Lucia, hide me from your brother!" he cried, grabbing what he assumed to be her shoulders and closing his eyes.
Tense seconds passed, before a voice spoke up, "Uh, Fontaine? I'm… over here."
He opened his eyes and turned to the right. There she was, Lucia, the figure of his dreams, and-
Wait, if that was Lucia, then, who was he-
"Shauna, why is your Frogadier going off the side of the Cage?" Korrina paused to ask, "We haven't even set the difficulty level yet."
"Beats me." Shauna shrugged, "Fonty was always a pretty active frog. I think he just can't wait to get started!"
Having regenerated for the third time, Fontaine immediately fell prostrate to the ground. "Please, no more!"
Luke mimed blowing the smoke off his paw. "Okay, fine, we're even."
"Okay, now that that's over with," Almond pulled Fontaine to his feet, before pushing over to stand next to Chammy Bear, "Come and say hi to our new friend, Mister Pan!"
To this, Chammy Bear raised an eyebrow. "Miss. Miss Pan."
Beat.
Simultaneously, Almond gulped, Blair gasped, Fontaine made an odd croaking sound at the back of his throat, Meta transformed into a Pangoro, Kat got up, and Oberon merely blinked.
Followed by a chorus of "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH?!"
Scatterbug Lugs Back! Scatter out and bug it!
"So, how are we going to control this anyways?" Calem pondered. "I mean, when I was Super Training, it was solo, and all the controls could be done by one person."
"Well, ever heard of Power Rangers?" Korrina innocently asked.
To this, both Shauna and Calem grimaced in unison. This is starting to feel like one giant callback to that day, he thought.
"So I get control of up and down, and you guys get to steer. Simple?" And without waiting for an answer, Korrina yelled, "Go!"
Evidently, she had also set the difficulty bar much higher than normal. This much was clear, when, instead of the one-ball-at-a-time slowballs Almond remembered…
It was a frakking fusillade of black and white.
As the barrage of balls zeroed in on the Cage, Luke let out a whoop, "Let's get this on!"
Jumping up and ducking down, keeping pace with the movement of the steel floor beneath her, Meta avoided the majority of the first wave, only receiving small hits from balls that glanced off his enormous arms.
I best be taking a more flexible frame, she thought, and with a flash, the Pangoro was replaced with a Skitty, who proceeded to continue evading the onslaught.
Jumping from side to side herself, Kat catcalled, "Ooh, this is so fun! Can we do this all day?"
"How is this fun?!" Fontaine groaned as he reformed for the eleventh time, "I don't want to have balls in my face for the rest of the day!"
"That's what she said." Luke quipped with a grin.
"Hey! …Actually, I walked right into that one." Fontaine admitted.
Luke beamed, "You know, when you're not trying to hit on my sister, you're a pretty okay guy."
He held up a hand, "And that's why I'll teach you the five 'D's of the defensive round! Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and-"
He stopped when he realized he had ran out of fingers one finger ago.
"Dodge. Yes, Dodge! Don't forget the 5D's!" he finished, ducking under another soccer ball from the air. "Oh, and don't hit on my Lucy."
Fontaine held his hands up in mock surrender. "Not trying to."
Luke was unamused. "You better; I can sense you're not entirely being honest with me, but I'll let it slide. But if you try anything-"
As if on cue, the Scatterbug Balloon sputtered once, and was still, and with it, the legion of balls came to an abrupt halt.
Pan, who had dealt the decisive blow with a high-power ball to its right eye, smirked. "It's in cooldown mode. Time to begin the offense."
Signalling towards the Lucario twins, she grunted as she lifted her immense fists, which started to glow with a silver sheen. They quickly rounded up the balls that started spawning, before tossing them in front of her.
"Watch and learn. This is how you solo a Balloon." she muttered audibly, before yelling, "Comet Punch!"
In a barrage of lightning-fast jabs, every single soccer in the same pile was sent ontowards the Scatterbug Balloon.
Let's face it; the thing never stood a chance.
As the balloon flew off into a twinkle in the sky, Calem asked, "We're facing a Spewpa next, right?"
"Well, not exactly." Korrina shook her head.
Shauna tilted her head. "Then… What are we-"
"Mon dieu." Oberon whispered, as he stared into the same patterned wings of the Vivillon (Evie, was it?) who had quite painfully dealt with him.
As if the regular-sized Vivillon hadn't been enough trauma the first time.
Vivillon Takes The Field! Vivid moves will defeat this papillon!
As the bright red light dimmed from her gem, Blair let out a sigh of relief. "And… done! Feeling better now, Berry-nii?"
Still hugging his shoulders, Oberon got to his feet. "I'm fine. Thank you for absorbing my fear."
"Win-win for us, no?"
Okay, sir, you can unfreeze the game.
You got it, Oberon.
"Alright, we're going to start moving again." He turned towards his sister. "Blair, Psywave me."
"Hai. Rest of you guys, get ready to dodge." Blair replied, as her distinct red 'arms' formed and positioned themselves next to Oberon, who had a ball directly in front of him.
"Wait, am I supposed to dodge left or-"
"Play!"
At once, the balls regained their normal velocity, and so did the rest of the Pokémon.
Oberon, who had been in the crosshairs of a football, was knocked to the side, successfully eluding the high-velocity sphere.
Fontaine had also managed to dodge the soccer ball coming his way, but he had instead crashed into-
I don't even have to tell you who, do I?
"Nngh…" Fontaine grunted as he pushed down in an effort to steady himself up.
The floor of the Cage felt strangely like fur to him. There was a small bump, though; odd, wasn't the surface supposed to be completely flat-
Oh.
Oberon looked at no one in particular, before sighing. "And I thought this was supposed to be Sir Calem's job."
Fontaine quickly scrambled off Lucia, who was rubbing both her head and her chest dazedly. Now that he had pieced together what had happened, he knew what to expect when he looked up.
Body trembling, eyes burning with red-hot flames, it was safe to say that Luke was almost apoplectic with rage. He slammed his paws together.
"Bone Rush!"
Bringing them apart, a bone-like staff appeared in his paws. He took one step, and in a flash, sped over to where Fontaine was still crouched on the ground with Extreme Speed.
"Yippee-ki-yay." Luke muttered under his breath.
Fontaine near-wet himself.
"Fore."
And he brought the staff down in an arc, much akin to that of a golf swing.
In an instant, Fontaine disappeared off the cool metal surface of the Cage. What used to be his body flew in a blue blur towards the Vivillon.
BAM!
The balloon exploded, but that wasn't the end of his flight path, as he shot straight through, and into the distance.
"Uh… Hissatsu?" Blair contemplated, as the star in the distant sky twinkled.
Success!
"So," Korrina said, as they walked outside the Pokémon Center, fresh from their 'workout', "I've gotta go to my meeting, but before I do, mind if I ask what brings you two so far from Vaniville, anyways?"
"Well," Shauna spread her arms, "We were told to come to Camphrier in search of Mega Evolution."
For a microsecond when she heard that, Korrina did the smallest of double-takes, as if she had been caught in a spotlight.
Luckily, it went unnoticed by the others, allowing her to regain her composure, before grinning and saying, "Mega Evolution? Well, then, I recommend you visit Shabboneau Castle. Have fun."
"Two visitors to Shabboneau Castle?!"
The black belt-toting man was on the verge of tears. "I can't remember the last time we've been so busy!"
"Gee… I wonder why?" Shauna pondered, as Calem took a look around.
The interior of Shabboneau Castle looked like it had seen better days. Paint was flaking off the walls, a few bricks were out of place, and he was pretty sure that the tapestries used to have pictures embroidered on them.
"This castle, chateau, if you will, was a manor house of a noble family." The 'guide' explained, "It may be a little run down, but that's because there's history to this place."
"A little too much history, if you ask me." Calem noted.
"During that history, the owners of this castle gave away a lot of their stuff to everyone, so that's why it feels so empty. The end." the man concluded.
At this, the two sweatdropped.
"That's it?!" Shauna asked, "Don't you have anything related to Mega Evolution?"
"That's it." he responded, "What in the world is Mega Evolution?"
To say they hit the floor was an understatement.
As they got up, another man rushed up the stairs.
"Sir!" he called, "It's back again!"
"Is it that time of the year already?" the karate man grumbled, "Well, there's nothing I can do about that now…"
Moving to the stairs, he called out to the duo, "I need to go to Route 7, but please take your time and look around. You can also pick up a complimentary decorative marble on your way out!"
For a while, all was silent.
"Bail?"
"Grab a marble, then bail."
"Do you really want memories of this place?"
"Can't hurt."
Moments later, a pink and yellow marble disappeared into the depths of Shauna's handbag, and the rest, as they say it, was history.
They skidded to a stop at the crossroads.
"Routes 6 and 7…" Calem read, "Didn't the guy earlier say something about Route 7?"
"Yeah… Let's go check it out, C-Sharp!" Shauna responded, before the two of them resumed skating down the path.
It wasn't hard to figure out what had been so interesting about Route 7.
Scarcely fifty metres down, the two men from earlier were paused in front of a giant dark blue blob-
No wait.
"Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. After eating its fill, Snorlax is too sleepy to move. Small children sometimes play on its belly." Calem put the Pokédex back into his bag. "Okay, so what's with it?"
"Here we go again… It's sleeping so soundly, the end of the world wouldn't wake it." The karate man cursed, as he stamped on the bridge he was standing on.
"It's blocking the bridge… Again!" the other man turned to his companion. "Come now, sir, use the Poké Flute!"
To this, the karate man sighed heavily, prompting the other man to remark, "Let me guess, you handed it over."
"More like she took it!" he swore, "That flippant palace brat comes in and takes it away like she owns it!"
"Technically, she does own it."
"Not helping, Joe!" Not-Joe retorted.
"Then what are we gonna do about it? Send another pair of kids to go grab it from her?"
Beat.
They turned towards Calem and Shauna.
"Hey, how would you guys like to-"
"Is there really no other way?" Calem deadpanned, "That river's shallow and serene, no? Just wade across."
As if on cue, a giant roar sounded, and a surge of crashing water gushed down the stream, bringing up the water level, and turning it violent.
"Thanks a lot, genius." Joe snarked, "Any other bright ideas?"
"Well…" Not-Joe commented, "Got any food on you guys? Maybe the Snorlax can be appeased with it."
"Oh! I think I might have some mushrooms!" Shauna rummaged into her handbag.
The men's eyes widened. "No, don't-"
As she opened the Tupperware box allowing the aroma to escape, the Snorlax began to stir.
It proceeded to roll over rapidly, flattening the two unlucky men, and scaring Shauna into throwing the mushrooms straight up. The Snorlax lifted its head, and swallowed it, box and all, before rolling back over onto the middle of the bridge.
Where their guide and his pal had been standing were two human-sized holes.
Needless to say, they were stunned.
"How- Does- Uh- Well. That plan went up in smoke." Shauna pouted.
"And into its gullet."
"Well, I guess there's no other choice. C-Sharp, allons-y!" she grabbed his hand, "Let's get to Parfum Palace!"
"You are honestly too optimistic about this." Calem shook his head, but accepted her hand, and both sped away.
A/N:
Très bien – Oh good (Very good, actually, but it's multipurpose)
tête-à-tête - conversation
Yippee ki yay/Hissatsu – Guess the references.
Pokédex count:
Central Kalos – 53/150 seen. Additions: Pangoro, Snorlax
(Coastal Kalos – 1/153 seen. – Rhyhorn – Unregistered)
(Mountain Kalos – 1/151 seen. – Ditto – Unregistered)
(National – Koffing, Misdreavus – Unregistered)
Calem's Team
Name: Oberon
Species: Kirlia
Approximate level: 21
Ability: Telepathy
Moves currently in use: Confusion, Double Team, Teleport, Lucky Chant, Return
Name: Almond
Species: Quilladin
Approximate level: 18
Ability: Overgrow
Moves currently in use: Tackle, Growl, Vine Whip, Rollout, Bite, Leech Seed, Return
Name: Blair
Species: Misdreavus
Approximate level: 15
Ability: Levitate
Moves currently in use: Psywave, Spite, Astonish, Confuse Ray, Return
Shauna's Team
Name: Fontaine
Species: Frogadier
Approximate level: 17
Ability: Torrent
Moves currently in use: Bubble, Quick Attack, Lick, Water Pulse, Return
Name: Meta
Species: Ditto
Approximate level: 15
Ability: Imposter
Move currently in use: Transform (that's the only thing a Ditto can learn, anyways)
Name: Katherine
Species: Skitty
Approximate level: 13
Ability: Cute Charm
Moves currently in use: Fake Out, Growl, Tail Whip, Tackle, Attract, Sing
Korrina's Team
Name: Lucia
Species: Lucario
Approximate level: 29
Ability: Steadfast
Name: Luke
Species: Lucario
Approximate level: 30
Ability: Inner Focus
Name: Chammy Bear
Species: Pangoro
Approximate level: 34
Ability: Iron Fist
(A/N: For those of you interested, the vocal pitch of each featured Pokémon, from deepest to highest, is as follows: Luke, Chammy Bear, Fontaine, Almond, Meta, Lucia, Oberon, Blair, Kat. Make of that what you will)
Omake:
"The meeting begins."
Olympia tapped her cue cards on her fortune teller's table. "The first order of business… Over to you, Grant."
"Right." The Rock-type Gym Leader cleared his throat and adjusted his webcam, before continuing, "Has the Chateau finished my requested rock-climbing wall?"
"They have." Viola answered, using her thumb to point at something offscreen, "I checked over it, and it looks perfect for you."
His face lit up at the answer. "Great! I'll come by tomorrow to try it out. Okay, I'm done."
"Veritably so." Olympia set the card to one side. "Next up on the agenda… Valerie, your turn."
"Thank you, Olympia-gozen." Laverre's Gym Leader bowed, before she said, "I shall be taking a short leave of absence in a month's time, for my annual family reunion in Johto. I request to leave Robin-kun in charge of my Gym when I do."
"Request granted. Ah, thank you."
Diantha smiled and tipped the waiter as he set down a steaming hot cup of Café Soleil's signature tea. Taking a sip, she looked back at her computer's camera. "Carry on, Olympia."
"This is the next one." Olympia stated as she held up the card, "For today's following news, please share, Korrina."
Said blonde Gym Leader nodded, before elaborating, "Okay, so I've been keeping up with the newest challengers to the League… And it looks like I'm going to have to prepare for their arrival."
Next time, on The Kalos Chronicles... (Whenever that is)
The chapter you BrightTomorrowShippers have been so eagerly waiting for.
Parfum Palace… Where a certain lovely pair of heroes can be found,
"It's a modest life here, out of the public eye."
With a jilted ex-lover, and a certain Furfrou,
"Well, what am I supposed to do? I don't want to get this dress dirty, now would I?!"
There's enough chaos to go around,
"Ooh, who let the dogs out, who, who, whowhowhowhowhowhowhowho-"
But when the night comes,
"C-Sharp…" "Nana…"
So will love, for two?
Well of course not. That'd be too easy.
As they say on Chapter 19: What Happens In Parfum… stays in Parfum.