Tiny grains of warm sand sifted between her toes in the most relaxing, therapeutic sensation she'd felt in a while. With her legs stretched out and exposed to the sun, she basked in the warm rays that embraced her body in total bliss.
The road to Ambrette town included a plethora of ambitious trainer, wild Pokémon that attacked at the slightest rustle of grass, and a cave chucked full of angry Zubat. By the time Serena saw Ambrette's welcome sign, she didn't feel the least bit guilty about taking a break from training.
Luckily, there was a mid-winter heat wave, leaving the Ambrette beach just warm enough to be enjoyable. Serena watched as Kristie swam through the ocean, conquering the waves that tried to throw her off course. Chase and Sylvester used the opportunity to spar, never letting a second go to waste.
'Chase! I know you're excited that you just learned pin missile, but give it a rest! You'll drain your PP in a real battle!' Sylvester panted tiredly, taking the chance to have a seat in the sand.
The Quiladin wiped his forehead, flaunting a cocky smirk as he stood the self-declared winner of their spar. 'No way! You're just upset because you haven't learned good moves in a while.' Chase cackled at his own 'friendly' jab at his teammate's pride. Sylvester didn't think it was funny. 'You know, what's up with that, anyway? You've been training as much as me; when are your moves gonna come in? You've been fighting with quick attack and bite this entire time.'
Sylvester sighed disappointedly. 'It's just part of being an Eevee. Our move selection is pretty limited until we evolve. But I did learn baby doll eyes!'
"It doesn't do damage, though. And Serena is all about a strong offense." Chase held a leafy hand to his chin. 'Why not try to tell Serena you're ready to evolve? I'm sure she could get her hands on the evolution stone you want somehow.'
'But the thing is,' Sylvester began. 'I want to evolve into whatever will help Serena the most. She did save my life, after all. I want to wait until she's ready to evolve me.'
'Suit yourself, bro.' Chase shrugged, plopping down into the sand next to Sylvester. All was tranquil for about five seconds when Chase got a blast of water shot directly at his face.
'Oops, my bad!' The nearby Squirtle chirped, not sounding very sincere in her apology.
'You did that on purpose!' Chase growled, immediately jumping to his feet and preparing another pin missile.
'Did not! I was just practicing my water gun but your ugly face got in the way!' Kristie shouted back.
'Guys please don't start again!' Sylvester pleaded. 'You two have been at it every day!'
'Bitch started it!'
Serena swore being a trainer felt like what she imagined motherhood would be like at times. In all her exhaustion from traveling, she was tempted to let the sound of waves lapping against the sand carry away the sound of her dysfunctional team's bickering. Unfortunately, it couldn't carry away the nagging sense of responsibility she had as their trainer.
"Seriously, guys!" Serena begrudgingly rose from her place in the sand to approach her team. "What did I tell you about working together? We're never going to win if you can't even cooperate off the battlefield!"
The three Pokémon looked down like children being scolded, finding the sand beneath them much more pleasant than Serena's look of disappointment.
"Now Kristie? Chase? What do you say to each other?"
The water and grass types glared at each other through the corner of their eyes, hardly wanting to even see one another.
"Well?" Serena urged.
'Sorry.' Kristie mumbled, hardly audible at all.
'Yeah. Sorry. Whatever.' Chase grumbled.
Serena had to trust that they did, indeed apologize. Based on their reluctance to comply, she assumed that was the case.
"Good. We need to stay on point if we want to have any chance of getting our next badge. The second gym on our list is supposed to be in this town." Serena explained, feeling chills just from saying the words aloud. "So if you all are rested well enough, what do you say we -"
"Hey, Serena!" A familiar voice interrupted from behind. However, her name sounded altogether unfamiliar coming from his voice.
"Oh, Calem. You've made it to Ambrette!" Serena declared cheerfully, smiling at the fact that he skipped the 'neighbor' business this time. Suddenly, the wind passing through the beach seemed more harsh as she was more conscious of the damage it was doing to her hair.
"Actually, I'm just coming back from the gym. Second badge locked in." Pulling out his trainer ID case, he flashed a shiny, second badge that she hadn't seen before.
"Wow, you've already beat the gym leader …" She meant to sound happier; she really did.
"He wasn't too tough since I had a grass type. Bulbasaur and Fennekin are making a really great team so far." Calem spoke as he returned his wallet to his bag.
"Hah, I bet" She forced out with a smile, not daring to mention the issues her own team was having.
"You haven't challenged Grant yet, but you're letting your team slack off at the beach? Jeez neighbor, I expected more from my rival."
"... Excuse me?" Serena's jaw dropped as her eyebrow arched. "We are not slacking! We just came a ridiculously long way from Camphrier where I went on a wild Furfrou chase for a pompous rich man, battled probably a million Zubat, and not to mention all the trainers. I don't think it's too much to ask for to relax for ten minutes."
His hands shot up in front of him defensively as he spoke in between bursts of laughter, "I'm sorry, Serena. Honestly, I was just kidding with you."
His smile radiated sincerity, and she had to look away so that his own stupid charm wouldn't make her smile too. "You better be, you jerk." She mumbled the last bit. Noticing that her hands were balled into fists and her arms were tense, she couldn't help but chuckle a bit as well for getting so defensive for the sake of her team.
"Well if you're not going to attack me, I'm heading over to the fossil lab now to see if they have any information on mega evolution. With so many archaeologists and geologists, there's gotta be some sort of answer there. Wanna come along?"
"Oh!" That sparked Serena's interest enough to forgive him for what he said before. "That's a great idea, actually. Camphrier was a total bust; hopefully we have better luck here."
"Seriously,' Calem huffed, clearly unamused. He was most likely just as anxious for a lead as Serena was. "Well, shall we?" With his rising intonation, Calem extended his hand to the young lady in front of him. Serena eyed his hand suspiciously, unsure of what to do with it. What did he want her to do? To shake it? A high five?
… Oh.
She swallowed heavily. She tried to focus on anything - the sound of the waves crashing, the Wingulls chirping, or the kids playing nearby - so that she wouldn't hear her heart pounding ruthlessly inside her chest. Taking a second to return her Pokémon to their respective balls, she then placed her slightly shaking hand in his. He didn't seem to hesitate before entwining their fingers and leading her inland toward the main city.
This is fine. You're doing okay. She repeated in her head, over and over again to help relieve her anxiety. Horrified that her hand was getting sweaty, she found it hard to even think about enjoying it. Then again, why should she enjoy it? This was her rival - her "neighbor," as he insisted on reminding her so often. She already knew Calem would be her biggest obstacle in obtaining mega evolution for herself. He was clearly tough, so a competition with him was inevitable. She had to make sure that didn't happen. She had a father to prove herself to.
Her father … Indeed, she had no room to falter to men, not her father, and certainly not Calem. Why risk getting involved when they inevitably let her down?
Walking through Ambrette, shoes kicking loose pebbles occasionally, each step she grew more and more anxious. With a single clumsy motion, she yanked her hand out of his. His eyebrows raised as he looked at her with confusion.
"Sorry, gotta check the time." She smiled briefly, pretending to dig in her bag for her holocaster. She said an internal prayer that he wouldn't notice the watch on her left wrist. She spent the rest of the short trip to the fossil lab clutching to the strap of her bag with both hands.
It was just about everything one would expect of a fossil lab. Men and women in lab coats conversing quietly, probably comparing data. Some sat at desks, examining specimens under a microscope. Certain jargon that Serena wasn't familiar with seemed to be a popular topic throughout the lab as she and Calem wandered through, looking for someone who could possibly answer a question or two. And it looked like they found that someone.
"Excuse me, sir, young lady, you can't come back here. Feel free to have a look at the meteorite gallery to the left. Oh, but don't touch anything." A stressed-looking, aged man in a lab coat, probably one of the higher up scientists, greeted them.
Calem cleared his throat. "I'm Calem and this is Serena Fiore. We're students of Professor Sycamore and we are helping him with his research mega evolution. I was wondering if you knew anything about it."
"Professor Sycamore, eh? Yes, I've heard Sycamore has taken on quite the bunch of talented pupils. I'm Doctor Boulanger; I'm the head archaeologist here. But let's see, mega evolution?" He asked, scratching his stubbly chin. "Sorry lad, I don't know much more than that it has something to do with mega stones, which are hard to come by, as far as I know."
Not again, Serena thought, mentally cursing as she exhaled with more force than necessary. "Do you know anyone who might have more information? Maybe someone specializing in geology?"
"Not a geologist, but," Boulanger began again. "We've got a team in Glittering Cave right now on the hunt for fossils, which as I'm sure you know, we are capable of restoring here at the lab. What I'm thinking is that the transformation from fossil to a live Pokémon might just be connected to the transformation of a fully-evolved Pokémon into its mega evolution."
"No disrespect intended, but I'm not sure I see the connection," Calem stated, clearly trying to hide a confused expression.
"We don't know anything until we put in the research! Unfortunately we've seem to be hitting the wall in finding any fossils to research. Maybe we could help each other out." The man pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
"Sir," Calem said firmly looking straight into the man's eyes, "I respect your research and I wish you the best with it, really. But we have our own work to do for Professor Sycamore, so unless you're sure that you can help us-"
"Hold on, Calem." Serena interrupted. She inched herself close enough to Calem so that she could whisper, hopefully without the scientist hearing. "It's the only lead we've got so far. If you don't want to go, that's fine, but I'm gonna take the chance." She looked up, trying to read his not-so-friendly expression at the moment. She returned his glare with a faux-friendly smile before turning back to the doctor. "So how do I get to Glittering Cave?"
"Amazing." Calem scoffed, walking behind Serena. The cold walls of the cave made him shudder. The more he worried about this expenditure being a waste of his valuable time, the more claustrophobic he felt. "You know, I seriously doubt we're even going to find any fossils in here, let alone any leads on mega evolution. Why would Doctor Boulanger even ask us when he has a team of trained professionals?" He mumbled, more so to himself.
"I told you, you didn't have to come!" Serena replied, a slight giggle in her voice. "I didn't know you complained more than I do!" She smiled as she continued to walk, knowing that he wouldn't be able to see her expression from behind. She was unable to tear her eyes away from the glowing gems lining the cave walls. No light was even necessary to see thanks to the stunningly sparkling minerals. It was breathtaking; how could Calem find anything to complain about when surrounded with such a wonder?
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Let's just try to find the team of scientists. Maybe they already have a lead."
A noise. A scream? Something far away echoed throughout the hollow tunnels of the cave, causing both trainers to stop dead in their tracks. Serena spun around with pale skin and wide eyes. She observed a similar expression on Calem. Without saying a word, the two charged forward into the depth of the cave. The luminescent stones that were shrouded with wonder and beauty just moments before suddenly appeared to glow in a more ominous luminescence.
"What do you think that was?" Serena said through heavy breaths as she looked over her shoulder to her rival.
"I don't know, but get ready to battle."
"Who in the world would be in -OW!" She gasped, running directly into something, or someone in her way.
Serena didn't have a chance to say anything else before a strong pair of hands pushed her back, forcefully enough send her stumbling into Calem, who thankfully stood firmly behind her.
"What the hell?" Serena squinted, trying to see in the dim light.
"You all right?" Calem asked, helping her stand up straight.
"Damn brat," the figure hissed. "Why don't you watch where you're going, huh? You're gonna get your snot all over my favorite suit." He took a step forward, his crimson, slicked-back hair and bright red suit becoming more visible from the light of the bigger room behind him.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Calem growled angrily, his husky voice resonating off the stone walls.
"We of Team Flare do not matter individually, for we are working for a much bigger cause."
"That's .. that's not what I asked, you moron!" Calem replied.
"Wait, 'Team Flare?'" Serena questioned. "I met one of your members before … Where are you coming from and what do you want?"
"Right now, I want you and your grubby little boyfriend to get out of my way!
"Not without a fight. Get out the way and see if you can back up those big words." Calem scoffed, bringing a hand to his belt and grasping a Pokéball.
"My pleasure," the Flare grunt said through a twisted grin. He took a few steps back into the larger room that was the end of the narrow pathway they had been traveling. "You got a big storm coming, kids."
"Hey, Thomas!" A woman's voice, fast approaching from the opposite pathway rang through the halls. "You need a hand?"
"Tch," Serena hissed, watching as a woman in the same red suit pivoted around the corner. She had strong, defined facial features that her red lipstick complemented in a sort of blood-chic way. Serena felt her blood boiling already as it always did during a battle. Truthfully, she was terrified not knowing how strong Team Flare was. But she couldn't display her fear - not to Team Flare, but especially not to Calem.
"Serena," Calem started, enlarging his chosen Pokéball. "We're double battling. Send someone out already!"
She wanted to scoff and criticize his manner of ordering her around, but the right words were stuck somewhere in her brain that was a little fuzzy on adrenaline. Without a word, she did as he said, sending out Kristie and praying for the best.
"Let's do this, Maddy!" Sending out his trusty Braixen,
The Flare grunts sent out matching Mightyena, snarling intimidatingly at Kristie and Maddy.
Following Calem's quick orders, Maddy charged in first with fire spin. Serena ordered Kristie to start with water gun, but she didn't have the chance. In a matter of a couple rushed, tense seconds, the opponent's Mightyena lunged forward, claws bearing into the earth beneath and biting into Kristie - hard.
The under-leveled Squirtle cried out in pain, trying desperately to get out of the opponent's grasp.
"Kristie, water gun! Get away from it!" Serena begged, mustering up all the courage she had to avoid showing how scared she felt.
Kristie didn't have the chance to free herself. All she saw was red as her ally used flame charge, successfully throwing the Mightyena back a few feet.
"Serena, get it together!" Calem shouted over the battlefield.
And with those words, Serena felt her heart drop in her chest. Here she was, trying to show how strong she could be, but her own rival had to save her. If that wasn't bad enough, she knew she felt tears threatening to form.
No. Not now. Not today. She swallowed any insecurities and anxiety that begged to take control of her body as she nodded in agreement with Calem's orders.
"Kristie, hang in there. We got this!" Pumping a fist in the air, Serena was ready to battle, for real this time. "Use bite!"
Clawing, roaring, crashing, and burning. The cave grew hot in the conjured mix of water and fire. Wiping her brow, Serena exhaled in relief as the strangers in red withdrew their fainted Pokémon.
"Thomas, let's get out of here. We already got the fossils that the boss wanted, anyway." The Flare woman declared.
"What fossils?" Serena asked cautiously.
The male grunt clicked his teeth. "None of your business! You've wasted enough of our time," he shouted, quickly growing angry in impatience.
Not a second too soon, a man in a white lab coat peered into the room from around the corner. It looked as if he tried to remain discreet, but his face turned bright red when all eyes in the room turned to him.
Looking to each other briefly, the Flare grunts made a run for the exit. Out of reflex alone, Serena threw herself in front of the narrow tunnel leading to the cave's exit. The woman in red didn't hesitate to push Serena out of her way, causing her to lose her balance and nearly fall. Without hesitating to display any remorse, the grunts had fled.
"Fucking assholes." Calem chided, loud enough for his voice to echo throughout the cave. "Serena, are you okay?"
She nodded, still trying to catch her breath. Why she would throw herself in their way, she had no idea. She didn't think about it; she just did it.
The man in the white lab coat timidly inched his way around the corner, joining Serena and Calem in the larger nook of the cave.
"Who are you?" Calem asked, partially still on edge.
The older man inhaled shrilly, clearly nervous and flustered. "Ah, my name is Jeremie. I work for the Fossil Lab in Ambrette Town. I was just on a routine excavation when those goons attacked me." He swallowed, hands still trembling. "Th-thank you so much for chasing them off."
"You're the excavation 'team' Doctor Boulanger talked about?" Calem's eyes narrowed. "Why would you come alone?"
"The others at the lab are less enthused about searching for fossils; we haven't had luck finding any in a very long time. I was thrilled today because I finally managed to find one! But that "Flare' bunch managed to steal the fossil I found. Such a shame, it looked quite the rare specimen."
"What would Team Flare want with a fossil?" Serena pondered. "Do you think they're trying to pursue mega evolution too?" She asked Calem. His eyes widened slightly at the thought.
"Mega evolution?" Jeremie repeated absentmindedly. "Perhaps, although I don't know what they could do with a fossil without access to an elaborate lab like ours. And Ambrette has the only fossil lab I know of in Kalos."
Calem brought a hand to his chin, pensively contemplating what this could mean. "I guess I'll keep my eyes open for Team Flare, but until then, they doesn't seem to have much to work with."
"Indeed," the archeologist nodded. "Still, I'm glad they didn't manage to take this guy from me," he spoke as he reached into his lab coat. He gingerly pulled out what looked like part of a skeleton. Serena's lips parted, taking in a gentle breath in awe at the sight.
"You can see right here," Jeremie explained, pointing to the rounded edge of the bone mass. "We can see whatever this Pokémon was, it had a strong, very defined mandible. Most likely a long rostrum, and there are definitely remnants of canines right here. It was probably carnivorous." He pointed to each part gently as if it might fall apart any moment; it certainly looked as if it might. "Of course this is off the record since we still have to do research, but I'm guessing it's evolutionarily related to modern dragon types."
"You can predict all that just from looking at a fragment of its jaw?" Serena asked. It was interesting to her, but it was a whole other level of fascinating to Jeremie. She could see the lights in his eyes when he spoke, the little hand movements that showed pure enthusiasm. She wondered if she looked at zealous when she battled.
"Predict, that's the key word," He responded.
"So how do we know if this fossil transmission is related to mega evolution?" Calem asked rather bluntly.
Jeremie cleared his throat."We won't know for sure until we study it more extensively. Then with our technology, we may even be able to resurrect it, for lack of a better word."
"Right." Calem sighed. "So we know nothing. We should go back to the lab. The sooner we can get answers for Professor Sycamore, the better."
"Yes, of course." Jeremie nodded, adjusting his glasses that fell down his nose.
Serena narrowed her eyes at Calem. Part of her wanted to call him out for being so blunt. However, another part of her wanted to laugh because even when he was literally relying on someone's help, he was still Calem.
"Excellent!" The director cried in joy, carrying the skeletal specimen to his workspace. "This is fantastic, Jeremie."
"I do what I can, monsieur." Jeremie replied, straightening his coat and trying to play off his reddening face. "These two young trainers helped, though. If it weren't for them, those Flare scoundrels might have taken this one, too." Jeremie motioned to Serena and Calem, who watched the exchange in a sort of awkward silence.
"Hm," Boulanger hummed in thought. "Professor Sycamore doesn't take on just anybody, I see. I give you both my utmost gratitude." He shook both Serena's and Calem's hands.
"How long until you can restore the fossil into a real Pokémon?" Serena asked.
"If we get started now, I think we could have your answers by next week. If there are any answers, of course." Mumbling the last part of his sentence, Doctor Boulanger cleared his throat and put his thick-rimmed glasses back on.
"Next week?" Calem echoed, not having much success in hiding his frustration.
"And that's if we don't sleep." Boulanger shrugged. He gave the impression that sleepless nights were regular occurrences for him. "But, if it's any consolation, once the Pokémon is restored, one of you can keep it as a thanks for helping my staff out."
Serena and Calem exchanged glances, the former looking a little less peeved than the latter.
Before Calem could respond, Serena began speaking. "That would be great. Thank you very much, sir."
With an exchange of a few necessary formalities, Serena and Calem exited the lab, neither feeling very accomplished for a day's work.
"Well, what now? What are we supposed to do for a week?" Calem crossed his arms as he walked in sync with the young blonde next to him.
"You're always in such a rush!" Serena remarked. Without turning his body, he looked down at her as he waited for a further explanation. "Ambrette isn't so bad; what's the hurry to move on to the next town?"
"I've only won two out of eight badges so far. This is already taking longer than I hoped, so of course I'm not thrilled about waiting a week for an answer we might not even get."
Serena hummed knowingly; she understood his frustration. However, she thought it pointless to grow impatient with something that was out of their hands. "You don't have to wait. You can go on and challenge the next gym, if you want." She spoke with a smirk as she stopped walking. Spinning around, she looked him right in his eyes. "But, will a week be worth your time when I'm the one who can use mega evolution and you can't?"
Calem glared silently at his rival. She was taunting him, and it was working. Even in her eyes' slate blue color, they were fire.
"I'm not going anywhere." He said plainly. "I'll just use this time to train, I suppose. I'm assuming you'll do the same."
"Do you even have to ask?" She chuckled. "But first, there's a badge I have to win." She reminded herself aloud. Simply upon remembering that she would have to undergo another gym battle made her heart pound. Her first gym battle wasn't ideal, and she still had an overwhelming fear of losing. What would that say about her skills as a trainer if she lost not one, but two gym battles? What's more, what would Calem have to say about that? He won both his badges on his first try. She thought herself hardly fit to be his rival at all.
Wait. No, she hadn't lost yet. She could very well win on her first try. Still, there were too many "if's" and uncertainties for Serena to breathe easily.
"Right." Calem nodded, a low-key cocky smirk forming on his lips. "Can't be falling too far behind me, right Rival?"
Serena's nose scrunched at the new nickname. He almost had her name right…
"Shut up," she gently pushed his shoulder with her hand. "Would you just wish me luck like a normal person?"
"Heh," he chuckled quietly. As he walked closer to her, he closed the rest of the already minimal distance between them. Serena swore her chest physically tightened. She froze as his arms wrapped around her back, feeling his breath on her neck and the warmth of his body against hers. What was she supposed to do? She had never been much of a hugger to begin with, but this was unexpected to say the very least.
Before she even had a chance to react, he pulled away. In reality, it was probably the shortest hug she ever received. It was a simple friendly gesture that people do all the time. However, the anxiety made it feel so much longer.
After returning to a more comfortable distance away from her, Calem gave her a friendly grin. "Good luck," he offered.
She stared blankly for a few seconds before she was able to process what just happened with a clear mind. "Thanks." Briefly returning his smile, she turned her back to him and quickly speed-walked away.
"Serena?" he called out after her. "The gym is that way." He pointed in the complete opposite direction that she was headed.
She blinked a few times, following the direction of his finger with her eyes. "Pff. Right. Right! I know." She laughed nervously, feeling her hands clamming up as they clawed profusely at her hair.Shit, shit shit shit, she repeated in her head. "Well, I'll just be going uh, that way then! Um, see you soon!"
He simply nodded. She prayed he wasn't internally laughing at her embarrassingly flustered state. She played that off casually, right?
After perhaps the thirtieth mental loop of that debacle, Serena looked up to see the infamous "GYM" sign greeting her.
She shook her head to hopefully rid her head of any intrusive or repetitive thoughts. She sighed, eyeing the daunting sign that stood high above her head. She felt truly tiny beneath it.
No point in stalling any longer. Calem was already training his team for his third badge; she had to catch up.
Biting her lip so that she could anchor her breathing into a relatively steady rhythm, she took a few steps forward into her second gym battle.
Author's Note: Heeyyyy guess who's alive?
I totally meant to update like 3 weeks ago during my spring break but, alas personal stuff happened. But here is chapter 6 and I hope yall like it!
I gave Serena so much anxiety in this chapter I'm sorry LMAO. That's what characters get when written by horribly anxious pieces of trash (me).
I've done a lot of planning and I have some wicked headcanons I can't wait to stick in here.
Let me know if you're reading - if not, still be nice. I just wanna say I appreciate every single review so very much; it really means a lot to me! Best wishes, until the next update!