Opening her eyes from one of the best nights of sleep she had in a while, Serena squinted at the rays of sun shining through her window. Peeping through just a single open eye, she saw her three Pokémon sprawled out at the foot of her bed, making her smile tiredly. They all looked so comfortable; the small Eevee cuddled against the newly evolved Quilladin. Squirtle curled up by itself a few inches away. Thank Arceus the bed was big enough for all three; it was lovely to have them so close, and to finally be in a bed instead of camping out, for that matter.
It was nine o'clock in the morning. Her first instinct was to throw the blanket back over herself and sleep for a few more hours. Might as well take advantage of the Camphrier hotel room she paid for, right?
Camphrier was rumored to have an extensive history dating back over 3,000 years; surely it would be home to at least some information about mega evolution. Even so, surely it could wait a couple hours so Serena could sleep more. Perhaps someone would know something about its origins, the secret to mastering it, or even whom to ask next would be enough to satisfy Serena. She still wasn't entirely sure what exactly mega evolution was. Sure, Professor Sycamore provided a brief overview, but a Pokémon temporarily evolving only when connected with its trainer? That was a bit much to wrap her head around in a quick conversation. Needless to say, it sounded awesome, whatever it was. And there was no doubt that mastering mega evolution would give her a substantial advantage on her journey, especially over her rival. Now that Calem had declared a rivalry with her, it established an unspoken race between the two of them to uncover mega evolution before the other. Well, so much for getting more sleep in; her mind was awake and refused to be silent.
She felt a gentle nudging at her arm that made her look up again through squinting eyes. However, she instantly perked up to see the newest member of her team trying to get her attention. "Hi Squirtle!" She mumbled in attempt to sound excited. "How are you?" Squirtle answered the question by grabbing and tugging her trainer's arm off the bed. "What - already? Don't you wanna relax a bit?"
Squirtle hopped off the bed, getting the attention of Sylvester and Chase.
"Okay, okay." Serena finally gave in as the rest of her team woke up. They were used to the battle between Serena and the world every morning. "Come to think of it," Serena mumbled as she ran her fingers through her tangled hair, getting stuck in the knots. "I didn't name you, Squirtle." That got the water-type's attention. Her black eyes beat excitedly, waiting for her new trainer to continue. "You're the first girl on my team. How would you like to be named … Kristie?"
It was official - Kristie cheered delightedly, jumping up and down to express her overwhelming approval. She hadn't battled alongside Serena yet, but her toughness was hard to hide.
"Awesome." Serena yawned, her body not quite caught up with her mind. "I think you'll get along well with the boys! I'm gonna get ready to go - play nice, guys." She winked at her team of three before grabbing her much needed hair brush and walking to bathroom adjacent to her room.
'Of course, Serena!' Sylvester agreed readily. 'It's like you're officially part of the team, Kristie!'
'Glad to be here!' Kristie replied, smirking rather smugly. 'So what's the deal - does this girl always battle or is she gonna force a bow and dress on me and stick me in a contest, or musical, or something?'
'Hell no. Our girl battles, and pretty damn well.' Chase answered.
'Not that performing would be so bad …' Sylvester mumbled softly under his breath, earning shady side-glances from the other two.
'Anyway,' Kristie began. 'Now that I'm on your side, don't count on losing.'
'What?' Chase scoffed. 'We always win, right Sylv? And if you forgot already, I'm the one who beat you back at the professor's lab!'
'So I was rusty! Besides - you wouldn't have done so great if you didn't have the type advantage.'' Kristie growled.
'Um, guys?' Sylvester's eyes darted between the two.
'So you think you're some tough shit, huh?' Chase returned her snarl. 'You haven't even evolved.'
'I just joined the team yesterday! Get off your high Rapidash.'
'Guys,' the small Eevee muttered again, practically silently. 'I don't think we should be -'
'Well maybe you should go back!' The Quilladin spat, still not seeming to faze the water type despite now being much larger.
'Just wait till I learn ice beam, then you're going down, you wilty plate of lettuc -'
"Aww, are we becoming friends?" Serena cooed as she obliviously returned to the room of quarreling Pokémon. She was now dressed to leave, with her now-tamed natural waves cascading down long past her shoulders. "Teamwork is important for us - especially if we're in a double or triple battle." She straightened the sheets on the hotel bed and threw her belongings haphazardly into her bag as she spoke. "Are you all ready to go uncover mega evolution? Haha, I sure am. I really hope you all getting along, because we're going to be together for a long time."
'Terrific, isn't it?' Chase narrowed his eyes wearily at the Squirtle next to him.
'The best.' Kristie scoffed.
Sylvester looked between his two disgruntled teammates and sighed sadly.
It wasn't a big town at all. Camphrier had a very vintage, folk-like vibe; Serena wondered how Lumiose could possibly transition into this, being only one route apart. Of course, that didn't mean there weren't answers here. At least, Serena hoped there were.
Perhaps the landmark of the town was the strangely quiet Shabbaneou Castle towards the north of Camphrier. Serena didn't even know if visitors were allowed judging by how desolate it appeared. But it was worth a shot, right?
As she walked in, she felt a slight ease to see a familiar face chatting up with a man standing near the entrance.
"No, I told you," Serena watched the girl state boldly as the man eyed her with confusion. "I'm a student of Professor Sycamore in Lumiose town. He asked me to find out whatever I can on mega evolution. Can you help me out?"
"I don't understand what you mean - what is this mega evolution you keep babbling about?" He replied.
"You gotta be kidding me." The girl sighed, clearly annoyed.
"Sorry, Madam, my job is just to look after the noble family's former castle. Clearly I'm not the one you're looking for."
"Any luck, Shauna?" Serena asked as she approached, although she was already certain of the answer.
"Serena!" Shauna's face brightened as soon as she noticed the young woman. "Unfortunately, no. Doesn't look like we'll find much here…"
"Maybe we should ask around somewhere else, then. The professor did say that we were likely to find answers here."
As Shauna was about to reply, all heads turned toward the entrance of the castle as a clumsily frantic man stumbled through the archway. "Marius, it's back."
"Already?" The man standing with the girls groaned. "Let's see what we can do."
"Wait, what's going on?" Shauna asked.
"Come with me. See for yourself." Marius replied nonchalantly.
"You see," Marius began, giving the upper bridge of his nose a massage. "It does this every year, blocking the path between Route 7 and Camphrier. It does quite the job in disrupting deliveries and other business deals, as I'm sure you could imagine."
"Not to mention, we won't be able to get any further in discovering what Sycamore wanted us to find." Serena said through a frown.
"Seriously, what the hell is this?" Shauna shouted. Puffing out her cheeks, she gave the massive Pokémon a slight poke out of curiosity. "Hey buddy! You need to move."
"Shauna, don't make it mad!" Serena spewed as she grabbed the shorter girl's arm. "It might be really strong!"
"Yeah but it's in our way!" She rolled her eyes as she pulled her Pokédex out of her bag. "Let's see what this guy is."
"SNORLAX - Normal type. It must consume over 880 pounds of food followed by long periods of sleep," the Pokédex vocalized.
"Great, are we supposed to just wait around until it gets hungry again and leaves?" Shauna rolled her eyes.
"Well, the thing is," Marius began apprehensively. "There is a way to wake it - the Poké Flute, to be exact. It was a treasure of the noble family back in the day. But you see, it was taken from me."
"Who stole it? Can we help get it back?" Shauna asked.
"I can't ask you to do that for me. It wasn't exactly stolen but rather -"
"It's fine," Serena interjected. "We need this big guy to move as much as you do, right?" Shauna agreed with a firm nod.
Marius dropped his hand and looked between the two girls. He didn't appear to take either very seriously, but he shrugged and agreed anyway. "All right then. I'll tell you where to find the man who took it, although don't count on getting through to that ridiculous excuse for a man."
The girls made their way through the grassy pathway, both worried that they'd miss the building they were looking for.
However, pushing aside one last tree branch to emerge from the forest, Serena realized that missing this building would have been virtually impossible.
Taking their first steps inside Parfum Palace, as it was called, Serena felt that she should be careful not to even breathe too heavily in fear of damaging something. The mansion was decorated with golden statues as if they were common as light fixtures. Whether it was glamorous or gaudy, Serena wasn't quite sure. But the riches that went into keeping the impeccability of the mansion was evident. While still perhaps unnecessary, the large entrance fee was almost justified. Almost.
"Excuse me?" Shauna asked immediately upon seeing a man at the entryway, who was pacing in circles recklessly. "Monsieur we need your help."
The man didn't respond; he didn't even look up at the young ladies. Continuing his pacing, his hands massaged his temples as he began mumbling. "He's gone. He's gone. My baby, he's gone."
"Sir?" Serena asked apprehensively, contemplating whether she should approach him. "Who's gone? Maybe we can help?
"My Furfrou!" He finally shouted, causing Serena to reflexively jump back. "He disappeared and I can't find him anywhere." The wretched sound of sobs were stuck in his throat. "Won't you please help me find him?!"
"Actually, Sir," Serena tried to sound as sensitive as possible. "We were asked to come here because there's a problem on Route 7. We were actually looking for the owner of th-"
"When was the last time you saw your Furfrou?" Shauna accidentally cut Serena off. "We'll be happy to help."
"Really, ladies? Thank you! Thank you both so much!"
"Shauna… not to be rude, but do we really have time to be going on a wild Furfrou chase?" Serena whispered as the man began weeping tears of gratitude.
"He's obviously distressed; it wouldn't hurt to help him out. Besides, imagine if Chase disappeared. I'm pretty sure you'd be desperate for help."
Serena sighed in defeat. "No argument there. But I swear, the secrets to mega evolution better be just beyond that Snorlax." She mumbled.
Unlike Camphrier, Parfum Palace was enormous. They swore they had searched through every Arceus-forsaken room at least thrice, talking to everyone inside to gather potential information along the way. Their search ultimately led to the garden out back as they had exhausted all other possibilities.
Of course, not that it was much better. The garden was a maze. Literally. But after a good hour of dragging their feet seemingly in circles, they wished finding Furfrou was the hard part.
"Easy… no sudden movements …" Shauna whispered mindlessly, focusing every amount of brainpower she had left on making her footsteps as silent as possible.
So when a twig beneath her feet snapped and the Furfrou fled for the fifth time, Shauna cursed a litany of indignant expressions in her language that Serena could only infer the meaning of.
"This isn't working …" Serena said with a deep frown. "It's terrified of us."
"I know," Shauna groaned. "If only we could get it to trust us somehow. Oh well, let's keep looking?"
With a shrug and less than half-hearted nod, Serena walked alongside Shauna in the direction that Furfrou ran off in. At this point, dragging their feet would be giving them too much credit.
"We're supposed to be looking for the owner of the palace to ask for the Pokéflute. I know this poor man is upset but we already had a job to do."
"I know, I'm sorry I volunteered us for this." Shauna replied, guilt laden in her voice.
"No, no! I'm not blaming you." Serena urgently responded. "I think it's really nice that you offered. But…"
"But you're bored, tired, and want to get on with the professor's request? Yeah, me too." Shauna smiled, finishing Serena's sentence with surprising accuracy. "Hold on."
"What are you doing?" Serena asked, watching Shauna run off the pathway towards a nearby bush of flowers. The younger girl pulled a small, red primrose from the bush, not caring if it was against the owner's request. After all, she did pay to get in. With the stem intact, Shauna slid the delicate flower into Serena's hair.
"Since this day has sucked, we might as well take souvenirs." Shauna sung with a cheeky smile. "You look pretty in red!"
Serena felt her cheeks grow warm, and she didn't even know why. She was never good with compliments. "Thank you, Shauna..! That's nice of you to say."
"No, I'm just saying the truth."
Following along the path, they walked at a speed hardly above a crawl. Were they even still looking for Furfrou? It began to feel much more like they were taking a leisurely stroll through the garden.
But when a Pokémon's cry shrieked loudly from not far away, both stopped their mindless wandering, shared a petrified look with each other, and ran toward the sound.
Serena felt her heart pounding against her chest; she had no idea what she was literally running into. But if Furfrou or any Pokémon was hurt, then she didn't have much time to think.
As she darted around a corner the hedge wall (almost running into Shauna in the process), she gasped at what she saw.
A tall, older woman stood in front of Furfrou, backing it into a corner, standing alongside a Poochyena that snarled its teeth next to her.
"Hey, excuse me!" Shauna shouted to the woman. "That's not a wild Furfrou. It has an owner!"
The woman glanced over her shoulder briefly before curling her lip in disgust at the two girls. She turned away and proceeded to give her command. "Poochyena, finish the Furfrou with bite."
"No!" In a situation of fight or flight, Shauna didn't bother thinking. Instead, her brain focused on signaling her legs to run as fast as they could toward the woman. "Didn't you hear what I said?" Shauna growled, gripping the woman's arm as firmly as she could. "Leave Furfrou alone!"
"What the - get off me, you snotty little kid." The older woman shouted, yanking her arm out of Shauna's hands, freeing herself to push the short girl back forcefully.
"Don't touch her!" Serena screamed. Shauna stumbled a few steps back, suddenly frightened upon realizing how stupid it was of her to approach this woman alone. Serena's hands trembled as she reached for a Pokéball on her belt. The older woman turned away from Shauna and refocused on Furfrou. When Chase came out of his ball, he immediately prepared to attack. "Vine whip, stop her!"
Chase wrapped his vines around the mean looking Poochyena, constraining any further movement. As it squirmed, trying to scratch and bite the vines that restricted it, it looked almost hilariously helpless, at least to the grass-type in charge. Chase had to repress a chuckle at the pathetic sight.
"The hell do you think you're doing?" The woman yelled at Serena. "Mind your own damn business, nosey bitches!"
"What the…" Did she hear right? First, this tacky-dressed woman had the nerve to push her friend, then say such things to her? However, Serena wasn't nearly as offended as Chase was. He looked ready to kill, if Serena commanded. "We.. we told you.. T-that Pokémon has an owner..! What do you want with that Furfrou?"
"Just a gift for the boss. He likes beautiful Pokémon, and everyone knows Furfrou is one of the most beautiful in Kalos. So you wanna have that ugly pile of leaves put my Poochyena down so I can do my job?"
Both Serena's and Chase's jaws dropped. Even Shauna inhaled so sharply that her gasp was slightly vocalized. Serena had a hideously uncomfortable feeling in her chest as if those words mangled her heart and stopped any trace of oxygenated blood from getting to her head. Never in her life had she ever felt the need to personally smack someone so badly.
"Don't you dare think you can hurt my friends and insult my Pokémon unless you can back up that nasty ass mouth of yours with a battle. " Serena spewed, such filthy words feeling unfamiliar yet so satisfying in her mouth. Where they were coming from, though, she had absolutely no idea. "You need to take you and your hideous outfit out of here and leave the poor Furfrou alone." What am I saying? What the hell, Serena?"Down, Chase."
With great disappointment, Chase threw the Poochyena to the ground, earning a shrill whine upon impact. Not what Serena instructed, but he deemed it necessary.
The woman's forehead wrinkled in anger. Returning the whimpering Poochyena to its Poké Ball, she smacked her lips and walked past Serena, purposely bumping her shoulder against Serena's - hard.
"You screwed with the wrong organization. As a devout member of Team Flare, I will remember you."
Serena watched as the woman strode off, hopefully far away. Now that she was gone, all those brave words that Serena spewed began to drift away, leaving her feeling utterly terrified. She couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from the direction in which that "Team Flare" woman left.
"What the heck is Team Flare?" Shauna mumbled with scrunched eyebrows. "What a bitch."
Still not looking away from the path she took, Serena barely moved her lips to talk. "Yeah …"
After just a few quiet seconds, something nuzzling into Serena's side caught her by surprise. Looking down, the red, beating eyes of Furfrou greeted her. It was apparently growing comfortable with the two girls.
"Hey little guy… Hope that mean lady didn't hurt you." Serena spoke gently as the Furfrou let her pet its head.
"Wow, Serena! It totally trusts you." Shauna remarked, amazed and slightly jealous. "It probably wants to thank you for protecting it."
Lips curling into a soft smile, the thoughts of the woman in red gradually began to fade, replaced with the warmth of the exceptionally fluffy Pokémon expressing its gratitude. Especially after seemingly hours of searching, chasing, and failing, finally getting to breathe a sigh of relief was the most rewarding thing she could imagine.
Alas, the tranquil moment couldn't last forever. "My Frou-frou!" Weeping loudly, the man who sent them on this chase approached them from the back doors of the mansion. He ran as fast as his out-of-shape legs would carry him, throwing his arms around the fluffy white Pokémon as soon as he got within arms-reach. Furfrou cringed slightly at the man's touch at first, but ultimately nuzzled him in return.
"I don't think that poor Pokémon likes him very much. No wonder he tried to escape." Shauna whispered to Serena with a frown. Serena wanted to chuckle so badly at the remark, but thought it rude to do so.
"Excellent." The man cooed, Furfrou tightly locked in his arms. "This is Froutastic. This calls for a celebration! Ladies! Stay till the evening - I'll arrange a beautifrou firework show here at my palace just for you both, and Furfrou, of course."
"Wait…You're the owner of this place?" Shauna inquired in complete disbelief.
"Indeed." He answered as if that single word filled him to the brim with pride. "The firework spectacle will be almost as glorious as the palace itself - almost." He said with an entitled smile, walking back towards the palace garden entryway, stroking the Furfrou and mumbling inaudible baby-talk to the poor Pokémon the whole way.
"What a tool." Shauna hissed once he got far enough away. "Still, it's a good thing we helped him, right? Now we're on his good side and we will be able to ask for the Pokéflute!"
"Yes! That was a good call on helping him out." Serena said. "But we should wait until after he puts on the fireworks - it will get him in a good mood."
Serena decided not to think too much into that strange woman's threats in the garden. She backed down without much of a fight; Serena decided they were most likely empty promises. With any luck, she'd never see her again. Besides, being with Shauna all day, it would have been hard to put too much unwarranted thought into the encounter. With her sarcastic charm and bubbly personality, she could lighten up any situation. Despite the slow start, soon she'd be on her way to unlocking mega evolution, and maybe winning her next badge. There was just one thing she had to do before asking the owner for the Poké Flute…
The sky boomed with different shades of every color of the rainbow, lighting up the darkness of a winter night. Sure, they came here for a purpose, but since they've been given this opportunity, it'd be a shame to not indulge in the beauty of the fireworks.
"They're so beautiful!" Shauna cheered, eyes wide as the burst of red light reflected in her green eyes. "I know today was slow in terms of our progress on mega evolution, but this kinda makes up for it, right?"
"For sure." Serena responded, smiling as brightly as the spectacle before her.
"Serena?" Shauna asked suddenly.
"What's up?"
"I'm glad you're coming along this journey with me. More importantly, I'm glad we're friends." She said in between the booms of fireworks.
"Aw, Shauna!" Serena couldn't help but smile at the girl's words. "I'm glad too. You make me feel comfortable, even after all the drama at home and wandering around a completely foreign region. I can't thank you enough for that."
"You don't need to thank me. Being my friend is thanks enough." Shauna averted her gaze from Serena, staring back into the sky to admire the fireworks. "I don't know how you felt, but today was surprisingly fun, in a way. You know, people have been around me my whole life, but I never connected with anyone as a good friend. I've never really clicked with anyone, especially not another girl. That's why… That's why I'm really happy I met you."
"I'm happy too! But it's hard to believe that you don't click with anyone. You must be the easiest person to befriend." Serena remarked, keeping her eyes on Shauna. Even though Shauna didn't look at her, she could see that her comment tugged at the corner of her lips, forming a smile as radiant as the fireworks. Still, there was a sort of melancholy looming in her sparkling green eyes. Serena wondered why it was there, and what the source of it was.
The last firework ignited, sending trails of golden light down from the sky. The night was quiet, except for a single Hoothoot singing his songs from a tree in the garden.
The doors to the balcony swung open behind the girls. Two large hands loudly clapped together. The owner joined the girls on the balcony, followed by Furfrou.
"Wasn't that marvelous?" He asked, still applauding his own doing. "I hope you both enjoyed it as much as Furfrou did."
"It was great, Sir. Thank you so much!" Serena answered before clearing her throat. "But, now we have a favor to ask."
"And then the owner man actually let Marius keep the Poké Flute to wake up Snorlax. It walked off to the mountains, I guess." Serena recapped, speaking into her hotel room's phone. "Clearly Parfum's owner and Marius had some issues in the past and it doesn't look like they'll be resolved anytime soon."
"Sounds like you had a busy day. So tomorrow, you'll head toward Ambrette Town?" Serena's mother asked through the other end of the line.
"Yeah, and hopefully find whatever professor Sycamore wanted us to along the way. I could say today was a waste of time - neither the keeper of Shabbaneou Castle nor the owner of Parfum Palace had any information of mega evolution. But, it wasn't a total waste. We cleared up the path to Riviere Walk. Besides, it was fun, at least." Serena said with a smile that her mother could visualize even through the phone.
"That's great, sweetie. Don't forget to have fun, sometimes. That should be your top priority."
"I guess so."
There was a silence for a few seconds. Grace finally interjected, although it certainly wasn't what Serena planned to hear.
"Your father called today."
She didn't react. She didn't know how she was supposed to. However, she did want to kick herself for feeling even the slightest bit excited.
"What.. What did he say?" Serena finally responded.
From Grace's end of the phone, Serena heard a heavy sigh. She could practically see the glass of wine in her mother's hand from the sound alone.
"Nothing important. Son of a bitch wanted to know if I accidentally took some documents of his during the move. I didn't; he just lost them, as he always does."
Now Serena really wanted to kick herself for feeling excited. Why should she when he didn't even have the decency to ask about her?
"Oh," was all Serena replied with.
"After that he just hung up, of course. Anyway, baby I'll let you get some sleep. Be safe and stay away from boys."
"Always, Mom. Love you."
With an exchange of those words, Serena hung up the phone. She sat on the edge of the bed, clutching the comforter in each hand.
"Not like he has a daughter to check on, or anything." She whispered to herself, teeth grinding each other in frustration. Did he really care that little about her? Was she so easy for him to forget? Not that it should matter, of course.
But no matter how much she told herself that, it did matter. It always would. This was potentially a chance to redeem himself after leaving, but he disappointed her yet again.
She didn't want him back. No, he was beyond redemption in her eyes. But her original plan in journeying through Kalos solidified. If he didn't care to remember her, then Serena would strive until she proved how great she could be. Not only would she aim to become champion, but she had to master mega evolution before any of her friends. This especially applied to Calem, who was probably the biggest threat to her plan. She absolutely could not have him stealing her chance to prove her worth to her father. Tomorrow would be a new day, and she vowed to make progress.
Author's Note: Heyyy look who's updating after a month lmao. Sorry bout that. The life of a science student is a sad and busy one.
So what's going on in this chapter- Chase evolved! And everyone is picking on him I'm so sorry bby. Shauna and Serena cuteness. Serena gets like 50% fierce. Bad Furfrou puns. Introduction to Team Flare! and her sperm provider being a jerk again.
I hated the stupid Furfrou part in the game, and it would have been so easy to cut it out of this fic. I considered doing so, since it's kinda like a filler, I guess? However, I worked hard to make it fit in because I think it was really important that Serena and Shauna got to know each other more. Bonds between friends are just as important as romantic bonds. Always remember that. In the future I do plan to deviate from the game more than this - I understand if this seems tedious, and I apologize. But I hope you liked it anyway, because this chapter is important to me. Thank you for reading, and let me know if you like it! If you don't, then still be nice!
Best wishes - until the next update!