"So you know your position?" My Team admin asked while I stood in front of the Pokeball factory
"Got it, Rin" I said, saluting to her
"You sure? Because you're not very good at your job" I glared at her "That trainer keeps coming to ruin our plans because our guard can't keep up" she shrugged "Whatever. Just get through enough until we get enough" I nodded and watched her leave into the factory with a dozen more of my teammates. I sighed and leaned back, glad there weren't any workers inside due to a holiday. That would had made things more difficult.
Trucks were being loaded with hundreds of Pokéballs at a time and shipped off to our hideout. The last truck had left and I was instructed to continue what I was doing while the scientist handle some other thing I didn't really care about
As of lately, I felt undetermined to do anything for these people. My dream still holds out, but I haven't had the same energy to do my job that well since Serena left my apartment.
I've felt weird ever since that day. Just doing that to her made me feel guilty, even if she seemed like she was desperate for something, I couldn't deny her and gave her what she wanted. She wanted all of me, even if she was crying the entire time. She wasn't scared, I knew since I kept talking to her, but she knew what she was doing... I just wonder why she had to seem like she had to do it if all she knew about me was my name.
While I was in space, someone was talking to me "Hey, are we allowed to enter the factory?" A girls voice asked. I spat out my response without knowing who was talking to me
"No" I said, not even putting together why the voice sounded a bit familiar
"We can't?" I had other things in my mind and got so frustrated that I ended up screaming my next response that freaked out a childhood friend I haven't seen in years. She screamed surprised and ran off
"Scary!" I jumped surprised and ran after her, wanting to apologize, but couldn't speak "Stop following me!" She shouted. Shauna! What in the distortion world..? Why is she here? I haven't seen this girl in ages and instead of avoiding her like I did when I left Vaniville town without telling anyone, I'm chasing after her
"Shauna! What's the matter?" A boy with red hair asked, later noticing me chasing after her "hey!" He ran after us. I groaned, telling myself to stop running, but I couldn't. I was suppose to avoid the people I knew before, so why am I still running?!
At the erg to stop myself, I slammed on my heels at the end of the sidewalk and widened my eyes when the girl with the glittering blue eyes caught my sight and was about to run into me. Unable to stop, I panicked loudly and quickly wrapped my arms around her and switched spots so that she landed on me instead of me landing on her.
I groaned at the fall and held Serena close in my arms "Calem..?" Serena's soft voice was shaking above me "Y-You okay..?" She got off me so I could sit up and rubbed the back of my head in pain, though it wasn't anything serious. I looked up to see Serena sitting in front of me, shaking like a leaf and eyes full of bags like she hasn't sleep well in a long time
"Serena..." I reached to hold her cheek, wanting to hold her again, before someone held me back and body slammed me to the ground "Ah!"
"Don't touch our friend, grunt!" Some guy shouted at me, putting his entire weight on me. I groaned and tried getting free, but he was too heavy
"Get off him!" The guy on me froze and later quickly got off of me so Serena could come and check if I was okay. My glasses broke and dropped to the floor, but I was now able to see how lifeless her eyes looked without them "Calem..." she frowned. I gulped and reached to hold her cheek, which made her flinch, but relax and look at me. Serena... it's been about a month. I...
"I'm sorry for running into you" I said, unable to say how I really felt "are you okay..?" her eyes were shaking before she bit her lips and looked down, holding my hand
"Y-Yes..." she let a tear run down her face. I could only wonder what's going on in that mind of hers.
"What's going on?" The red head boy asked. Someone came back to our circle after running away from me earlier
"What happened- Huh?!" Shauna flinched, watching me holding Serena's cheek while she cried and take in my warmth "Hey! Who are you?!" Shauna glared. I looked down, gulping, knowing it was time to stop hiding, and looked up at her. She stared at me for a moment before her face went pale
"No way..." she kneeled down to look at me properly "it can't be... Calem?!" I bit my lips and slowly nodded, helping Serena back on her feet and watched her jump to hide her face on my chest. Serena..?
"Yeah..." I responded to Shauna standing beside Serena. Shauna's face was mortified "I..."
"What happened to you after all these years..!?you've disappeared without telling anyone where you went! I... I thought you were dead" she cupped her mouth and started crying. I looked at Serena moving away a bit so Shauna could yell at me "Why would you..!? You're part of them!? Calem!" She cried "Why..? Why would you do this!?"
"It's to get what I want!" I yelled back, making her stand back and listen while Serena frowned at me "Life... was holding me back. I don't want to live in a world that..." I looked at my shaking hand. I can't get myself to say what I wanted to say... somewhere deep down was keeping me from saying it. It was even harder when Serena was in front of me "This was my choice... once Team Flare's plans succeed, what I did won't matter" I decided to abandon my duty and left the scene, not caring about my job at the moment. My head was screaming at me, telling me to fix what I did. I couldn't... I can't. I got my mind set to this goal... so why couldn't I say it with pride?
I removed my clothes and went back to wearing regular clothes again. I sighed and headed towards the city, wanting to get my mind off what just happened earlier and not run into them again. Serena's hold... Shauna yelling at me. What I'm doing was what I've wanted... but how could I..? I don't want...
My holocaster went off in the middle of the route. I answered it, expecting to get yelled at "You little runt!" My other admin glared at me from the hologram "You disappeared when you were needed at the entrance! What happened?!" I sighed and rubbed my head
"The trainers involved were too strong. I couldn't do anything about it and left" I lied
"You couldn't warn us?! Are you stupid!? The scientist had to deal with that pesky girl that keeps getting in the way! And why aren't you in uniform?!" I groaned and rubbed my face, not wanting to deal with this
"I had to take it off. There were cops around" I lied again
"Alright then" she sighed "I'm getting tired of dealing with this, but I fought the girl before. She's really tough. I can understand that she was difficult to stop" It wasn't that she was tough to me, she was just a weakness now "I won't report this to Lysandre about your activity, but I've been giving you chances to redeem yourself. Because I'm such a nice person, I'll give you three more chances" I nodded quickly
"Yes sir! I won't let you down! I'm sorry" I bowed my head "I'll try my best next time and report back to you if something bad happens!" He nodded
"That's what I like to hear. In the mean time, I'll keep you posted on what I want you to do next. The next time you answer this call without your glasses, you'll receive a punishment and go without work for a week" he hung up immediately after that. I shook my head and put my Holocauster away
"I broke my glasses again..." I sighed "Im getting paid to work, sure, but those glasses are expensive... dammit" I pulled down my beanie "I haven't even made enough to recover the life savings I gave away to join this team... why is my head making me regret doing it?" This is what I wanted... but why is my mind messing everything up?
Whenever I'm in the middle of a midlife crisis on my decision to keep going on with my work, I can only think of Serena and her tears. The smile that shined a room when I first met her became tearful and full of sadness. I hate this...
"Calem" I jumped and looked back at Shauna calling me from behind. She stood firm with a upset look on her face "We're not done talking" I sighed and stood a good distance from her, facing her a bit so she can talk
"Then talk" I said, glancing the other way "I'm already set to what I said earlier"
"How could you just leave without saying anything? Did your friends not mean anything to you? We were all trying to make you feel better, and I understand what happened to your parents was hard, but you have to embrace the love and care that your friends have for you. I've been worried this whole time, worried! I never wanted to believe you were dead, but you've been gone for 5 years already" I slowly nodded
"I'm sorry I had to make you feel that way, but I had to leave in order to get what I want"
"You are a part of this gang that cares about nobody but themselves! You say you're sorry that you made me feel this way, but a selfish person wouldn't say that! You don't belong with them, Calem! Join us now and help us stop Team Flare from destroying this world! It's all we have!"
"Wrong! This world will be wiped out from all the ugly people that make this world this way! Those people killed my parents for their money! I was trusted with only a handful... and it was all I had! I joined this world so people like that don't exist!"
"People in Team Flare are like that! They would hurt anyone who will get in their way!" She shouted, crying "Your parents wouldn't have wanted this for you!" I glared "They would want to watch you grow and be good... not be the kind of person who wishes death upon everyone else!" She held her chest "what about me and everyone that cared about you? What will happen to them..? Do you really feel right about killing everyone and be alone..?" I looked down, shaking. I don't care... I don't care! I know the world will be better off! No more wars... no more violence... the more people we wipe out, the better...
"It's a shame that everyone have to be wiped out, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make in order to make this world beautiful again" I looked at the sky, staring at the blue color "People have made this world so ugly... you can never turn a corner without there being someone out there to take what's yours... I know I may be selfish now, but those who will live to see another day will live on in peace and carry what needs to be passed on"
"What about Serena?" I froze "You two seem like you knew each other from how you guys were earlier" I looked at her watching me "I don't know how you knew each other, but that connection I saw earlier... are you willing to sacrifice her for your own selfish gain?" my fists were shaking. I couldn't control my anger, so I went up and grabbed her shirt to pull her up to my face to glare at her. She didn't change her expression
"Shut up! You don't know anything! I'm willing to do anything! Whatever it takes! I don't care about that! I don't care about you! Or anyone!" My lips quivered
"But you care about Serena..." I slowly let go of her shirt "Serena is a strange one, you know?" She rubbed her arm and looked away "When I first met her, it was when she first moved into Vaniville Town. I went to her house to say hello, and she was the brightest thing out there. Brighter than the sun. She was really sweet and offered so many treats to everyone, all until the point when we left on our journey. She'd sometimes ask about the house next to yours, and I told her your story, but I never told her your name" I bit my lips
"Time went on, and she was still very cheery and happy. I didn't see her all the time in the middle of our journey, but when meeting up with her at the Tower of Mastery, she didn't seem like herself" Tower of Mastery? That was after I ran into her in route 10 "The more I ran into her, the less she was smiling. She stopped smiling all together after the power turned back on in Lumiose" my heart felt like it was shattering into pieces. I didn't want to hear anymore...
"I met up with her the day after they turned on since she said she was busy with something else. She stopped smiling, but she'd always bounce back and gave it her all no matter what. With a smile that bright just like in the beginning, I always wondered if it was real in the first place" I snapped my head to look at her frowning at me "Do you really want the girl you held in your arms earlier to die? Because you want something that's unrealistic?"
I thought back at the time when Serena's Ralts had given me a vision of many moments Serena was frowning and crying... even when she was a child and looking at me in the eyes, like I was there watching her crying towards me. I would hate to think that the smiles she gave were never real... I didn't want to lose her and want to continue seeing her smile for me. I want her to smile... only for me.
"I asked her if she wanted to join Team Flare" I said "She refused... I asked her a few times, but the answer never changed. I believe some good people will be sacrificed when Team Flare succeeds, but it's never too late to join" Shauna sighed and shook her head
"That's not an option for me. I won't let Team Flare get what they want" I snorted "Thanks for the offer, but I'll pass. I may not be strong enough to take them on, but Serena has been working hard to get rid of them. If you value Serena in any way, you should consider making sure that maybe if our side doesn't succeed" she closed her eyes "you should take care of her until then" I frowned "But it won't happen. Still, consider talking to her. I think it'll make her happy" she turned and walked away without anymore to say...