Lumiose University - A Degree In Pokemon

Chapter 21: A Need to Worry

"How's Serena doing?" Shauna asked quickly, looking at Ash expectantly. "Is she okay?"

Ash looked up, glancing around at some of the students walking past them before looking back at Shauna. "Not really," he said, sighing, clearly worried about Serena. "She seems really down. I get it that she's disappointed, but she did perform really well. She can't let this one setback get to her like this."

"It was probably a big shock to her. I know I didn't expect to get completely shown up like that," Shauna pointed out, looking towards the theatre as she spoke. "These Laverre students aren't playing around."

"It's only going to get tougher," Ash whispered, glancing at Trevor and then Clemont as he spoke. "We've gotta make sure we're ready. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

The group was fairly quiet after that, as they waited for Serena. Despite their talk, Clemont could tell everyone was still feeling pretty down about things. Ash and Shauna in particular looked pretty upset. It wasn't surprising to Clemont that Shauna was so down about her loss, but he was shocked by how things seemed to have affected Ash. He actually looked a little nervous.

Finally, after a few more minutes, the theatre doors opened and Clemont and the others noticed Serena stepping out, now back in her regular outfit. As she approached the group, she avoided eye contact with everyone, making it apparent that she was still feeling pretty down about her loss. Clemont supposed she was going to need quite a bit more time to deal with it, so he didn't really blame her.

"Hey Serena," Shauna greeted, as Serena approached, "you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she muttered, clearly lying. "I...I think I'm gonna go and see Absol before the Contest battles start. I just want to make sure he's doing okay. I'll ask Marie how the eggs are doing as well. I'll see you guys later."

"Wait, we'll come with you," Ash said quickly, making his way over to stand next to Serena. "We've got enough time."

"No, it's okay," Serena said, managing a small smile. "Really, Ash, it's fine," she added, as he gave her a concerned look. "I'll be back in time for the battles. See you guys later," she said, turning and walking away.

As they watched her go, everyone in the group was noticeably uncomfortable with what was going on. Serena had never seemed so down, and Clemont could see that Shauna, Trevor and Tierno thought this was unusual as well, which said something, given that they'd known her the longest. Clemont didn't like how things were starting out with the IPL. Their team was already off their game, and they had a long way to go to just finish the first match.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Ash asked, after a couple of minutes, looking up nervously at Pikachu on his shoulder, before turning his attention to Shauna, Trevor and Tierno, clearly hoping they'd be able to tell him.

Shauna shrugged. "I don't know. It's just one loss, and she's been able to get over that kind of thing before, but it seems like she's taking this pretty hard. Gabby really seemed to get to her. Whatever made her freeze up like that probably isn't something she can just forget about."

"We've gotta go and make sure she's okay," Ash said, narrowing his eyes and looking towards the exit. "She has to know she's not alone."

"She just wants time to herself," Dawn pointed out, fiddling with her Poketch. "There's not much we can really say to make her feel better right now. Letting her have some time on her own is probably the best thing."

Ash sighed at that, but then nodded after a couple of moments. "Yeah, I guess so. I just know that when I lost my eighth gym battle, I was feeling that way, and it was kind of tough for me to clear my head. I wouldn't have been able to do it without Pikachu, Greninja and my other Pokemon."