A loud banging from downstairs awoke Calem. It was far too loud for a normal knock but still louder than any normal person to make. Whatever was knocking was extremely strong. Even in his groggy state, Calem sensed it wasn't safe to investigate directly. Instead, he reached for the pokeball of his pokemon, Greninja.

Before he could release him, however, he heard a voice shout. Whatever was said was lost, due to the walls muffling the words. The shout quickly turned into a loud bang and a crash. Then multiple sets of loud footsteps on the ground floor. It was hard to make out the exact number, but Calem could tell he was outnumbered at least five-to-one.

He still sent out Greninja, but now with a different purpose. Instead of a plan to fight, he had a plan to retreat. His blue and black pokemon emerged from his ball while rubbing his eyes. Like his master, he hadn't received enough rest.

"Greninja, I'm sorry. But can you shoot a smokescreen downstairs and in the room?" Calem said in a whisper.

The pokemon looked at Calem and turned its head sideways.

"I know it sounds weird. There's some guys downstairs we can't fight now. I need the smokescreen for cover."

Greninja, still seemingly a tad confused, nodded and quietly made his way to the door. He carefully opened it, then went to the top of the stairs. He took a breath and shot out a ball of smoke from his mouth. The ball went unnoticed to the men until it hit the floor and burst. The room quickly filled with smoke. All the strangers gasped and began to yell and cough.

Heading back, Greninja shot another smokescreen, leading into the hallway as well as the room, just as Calem climbed out the window. Calem thanked his pokemon, returned him into his ball, and closed the window to keep smoke from escaping. He crawled along the roof before jumping down into his backyard. He ran across it, hopped the wall, and headed into the woods.

He ran for a while, despite his fatigue, and didn't stop until he was in Santalune City. Once on the outskirts of town, he collapsed onto this knees. Only the tree he held onto prevented him from falling on his face. Every breath he took was full and deep. He didn't dare try to move until he was breathing normally. Even then, his legs felt like jelly. Yet he forced himself to his feet and walked into town.

He needed to find help. Someone who can hide him. Someone to help him find out who was at his home. There was only one person he knew would help. Least one he knew was close enough.

It was quite late. Or early, depending on the person. Either way, Calem knew they would be asleep, the one he had to rely on right now. Still, he went to her house, up on a small hill.

Knocking on the door proved futile. Knocking just a bit louder didn't seem to stir anyone inside either. It wasn't until Calem began to bang on the door did anyone else make noise. A girl's voice yelled from inside.

"Alright, alright! I'm coming!"

Calem heard the girl's footsteps stop at the door and silence for a few seconds. No doubt checking who it was through the peephole. The girl gasped. From behind her, another girl was heard.

"Who is it?"

"It's Calem..."

"What?!"

Calem recognized the second girl. He banged the door louder.

"Viola! Open the door! I...I need your help!"

The door remained closed. Viola and, who Calem guessed was her sister Alexa, talked quietly to each other. Only the last bit was heard.

"Okay, okay. Just...let me talk to him for a bit," Viola said.

"Fine," said her sister. One of them stepped away from the door and the other closer.

"Calem?" said Viola.

"Viola, why won't you open the door?"

"Calem...I'm sorry, but I can't. We know what you did."

"What I did...?"

"We owe you, for what you did for us, but we can't help you now. Please let this be the last time we see each other. And don't tell anyone we've met."

"What? Viola..." Calem banged on the door once again. "Viola!"

When there wasn't a response for a few minutes, Calem knew anymore knocking more was pointless, so he stepped away. Viola was his only immediate option. Everyone else he knew was in other cities and towns much farther away. He was out of options. He couldn't go home. He had no one to turn to in the immediate area.

Unsure of what to do, he headed to the town's pokecenter. With it being near two in the morning, the lobby of the center was empty, aside from the nurse behind the counter. Calem brought his exhausted body over to the front desk.

"I need a room...please," he said.

"Alright," said the nurse with a smile. "There's one completely vacant room, but it needs to be cleaned still. Please wait a moment as we get it ready."

The nurse left the counter and went into the hallway. It appeared that she was the only one working. Calem sat down on a bench and watched the TV hanging on the wall across from him. It was some made-for-TV movie starring Diantha, the current Champion of Kalos. Calem's former position. If it wasn't for him resigning, he likely would still have the title. Since he resigned so soon after, no one had challenged him. So, the position defaulted back to Diantha.

Calem tried to watch the movie, though since he started in the middle it was confusing. As he was trying to figure out who was who, the movie cut out. It was replaced with an emergency news broadcast. It was a wanted notice for a criminal. Calem had seen this used before, most recently with Lysandre, the leader of a violent organization that threatened to destroy the region. Fortunately, due to Calem and his friends intervening, the region was saved and Lysandre was arrested.

The TV also had a synthetic sounding voice speaking, providing details on the criminal. The screen itself had the words Wanted Alive on the top and bottom respectively. Calem was surprised the person was only wanted alive. Most are acceptable to turn in dead, even Lysandre. Whoever was wanted, they must have some valuable information.

The voice continued speaking more details. Revealing the person to have possible connections in Santalune, Lumiose, and Snowbelle. It was also noted there was no recent photo available, so instead, they decided to use a photo from over a year ago. Calem froze when he saw his Champion portrait.

A photograph of just a couple hours after beating Diantha. Hours after his hardest battles. Just days before he would resign. Over a full year before now.

Now Calem realized who those people were that broke into his home. Now he knows why Viola and Alexa wanted nothing to do with him. The men were either police or bounty hunters. Seeing as how they busted in, likely the latter. Viola and Alexa didn't want to harbor a fugitive. It was likely that none of his friends will help him. It was even more likely that more bounty hunters or police will be hunting him down.

"That broadcast was probably the first one they've done, since the nurse didn't recognize me," thought Calem. "Wait, unless it isn't and she knows about me. Maybe the room cleaning was a lie. She probably contacted the police and they're on their way right now. Shit...I have to get out of here!"

Calem stood up and bolted. He heard the nurse emerge from the hallway and yell something, but her words just went through him. Once outside, he pulled out a pokeball and released the beast inside. His charizard let out a loud roar, despite the time. Normally he would scold his pokemon for doing something rude, but now wasn't the time.

"Charizard! We need to leave the region, now!"

Charizard looked to his trainer. He was still exhausted, flying for hours to arrive home and only getting a couple to sleep. Yet, when he looked in Calem's eyes, he felt he shouldn't resist. He knew his trainer wouldn't force him to fly without reason. So, Charizard came down, let Calem onto his back, and began to fly as fast as he could into the air. When Calem felt they were high enough to not be spotted so easily, he ordered his pokemon to fly to the coast.

There was only one place Calem believed he could get help. He just hoped he could make it without incident.

Been wanting to make this for a while but finally did it. Aside from the cool plot I wanted to write, also decided to make it as I've noticed a lack of stories of Calem doing cool stuff. Make sure to fav/follow and leave a comment.

~~~Sikoh