Appalled.
That's the word that described Serena, who stared at the group that had just appeared at the café. Clemont, Bonnie, and Chloe, all looked at her in equal shock, not knowing what to think or say. Ash looked on in curiosity and embarrassment as no words were spoken. Even Pikachu, who now sat in Bonnie's arms, was shocked, silent, and confused.
Serena wasn't so annoyed and frustrated upon seeing the group at first. She was somewhat happy to see the three after so long. However, it took her a few seconds to put the pieces together and realize that the only reason those three were here was most likely because of Ash, someone who she couldn't stand right now.
The three walked forward into the building, speechless, causing Serena to take a few steps back. She bumped into Ash and flinched as she did so. "Sorry," he muttered, stepping away from the group and sitting down at a table. She looked over at each person, taking in their presence one by one.
There all of them were, in the tiny little café. The desire to speak lingered heavily, but the understanding of the implications of doing so took precedence. No one dared say what was on their mind; that is until a younger blonde aspiring Pokemon trainer blurted something out.
"Why don't you talk to us anymore?" Bonnie asked abruptly. Her question had relaxed everyone in the room, as the tension had been growing every silent second that passed. Clemont shook his head and muttered under his breath, "Of course, she asks such a dumb question." Serena frowned and looked at Bonnie, who was visibly angry at Serena.
"I've been busy with Kalos Queen stuff," she lied through her teeth. "There are lots of things that I need to take care of." Chloe pierced through Serena with her eyes and muttered to herself, "That's not true. Not even a little bit." Bonnie must've heard Chloe, as she turned to her and asked, "What'd you say?"
Serena looked over at Chloe as she stared at Serena angrily. "I said that's not true," she stated louder and firmer. "Not even a little bit." Ash, who was trying to stay out of the conversation but still was curious about what Chloe meant, blurted, "What do you mean it's not true? Is she not the Kalos Queen?"
"No, she is," Chloe answered. "But she's lying about the fact that she's got to do stuff because there hasn't been a single challenge for the title in three years." Ash walked over to the group and looked at Serena. "Wait, so you've been Kalos Queen for three years because you haven't let anyone else challenge you for the title?" He asked, flabbergasted.
Serena felt trapped; her breathing struggled as she stared at the people accusing her. "You promised you were gonna become Kalos Queen alongside me, but you left and did every Performance without me. Do you realize what happened? I stopped going to Performances because I was so unmotivated to continue," Chloe explained angrily to Serena, who frown and gulped, stressed.
"You promised me, too," Clemont said emotionless, staring straight into the ground. Everyone noticed his disposition, given that he had been completely silent. Serena seemed uncomfortable as Clemont said this, something Ash noticed and pointed out. "Serena, do you know what he's talking about?"
"She should," Clemont said a bit louder, but overall extremely calm and calculating. Bonnie seemed to know exactly what Clemont was talking about, as she grabbed her brother's arm and squeezed it. "You see, Chespin started acting angry around three years ago; the same time that Serena left," he began explaining.
"At first, I didn't know what was wrong. I went to Nurse Joy, who tried every berry and medicine she could, but nothing worked. It got so bad that we had to restrain him to make sure he didn't damage anything." His voice cracked as he explained, telling Ash and Chloe, the two who didn't know about this, that Clemont must've had a horrible experience with this.
"After trying everything, I remembered something," he continued. "I remembered that Serena's Sylveon had feelers that could calm people. But, I also remembered how it didn't touch people that it wasn't close to. So I didn't ask her about it at first and respected her and Chloe's traveling to do Performances."
Clemont looked up and stared at Serena with an odd form of jealousy. "Then, she offered to help after witnessing firsthand the destructive nature of Chespin's suffering. She offered to have Sylveon, who grew out of this no touching phase, use her feelers to calm him down. Even Professor Sycamore said that it would work after doing some tests."
"But then, you left," Clemont said, addressing Serena. "You left all of us and now, Chespin is still angry. He's locked up in Sycamore's Lab, only eating and screaming every single day." Serena felt awful, but she also felt it was unfair to blame Clemont's problem entirely on her.
"I could still do it now that I'm here!" She retaliated. "It's not like you couldn't have just found another Sylveon!" Clemont shook his head. "No, we tried other Sylveon. Turns out, since Chespin had such a close bond with yours, it's not doing anything. Sycamore only tested what would happen if we used the feelers from your Sylveon."
Now Serena felt even worse. "Well, I was trying to discover myself by going to Palermo and having her teach me!" She exclaimed desperately. "And I'm sorry for Chespin, I am, but it's not my fault that I couldn't be there to help with your problem!"
That angered Clemont, who gave up trying to speak calmly to encourage peace. "Not after you promised!" He yelled angrily. "You can't just promise to help me with something so awful and then leave just like that! What the hell?! You said you were trying to discover yourself, but the only thing you ended up discovering was complete and utter loneliness!"
Silence.
That's all that remained in the room as Clemont breathed heavily from screaming so loudly and angrily. He would've instantly apologized and retracted everything rude he had just said, but this time, he meant it and wanted everyone in the room, especially Serena, to understand that. Chloe and Bonnie stared blankly out the window while Ash gave a sad look to Clemont.
"W-Why didn't you tell me," Ash whispered, breaking the silence. "Why didn't you tell me about this." Clemont sighed heavily and looked at Ash, breaking his angry look slightly. "Just another thing I didn't want you to worry about. It's the reason I'm always working on my laptop. I'm trying to wake Chespin up by building a machine at my company."
Ash felt it would be inappropriate to say his usual catchphrase about science, so he just zipped his mouth and turned to Serena, who had clenched her fist and stared back at Clemont. Usually, she would've instantly apologized for not being there for Clemont, but something about the way that everyone in the room was against her and leaving was starting to piss her off.
"Loneliness, Clemont? Really?" She asked sarcastically. "You expect to me take that whenever you and everyone else refused to help me look for Ash for those first few years?! You guys kept telling me to just move on and find someone else, but that obviously didn't work because it caused me to leave to understand more about myself as a person!"
Everyone except for Ash stared back at Serena, puzzled. "What? What is so shocking that I'm receiving these looks?" Chloe stepped forward. "You were telling us to move on, not the other way around," she explained. "Yeah, and we were trying to look for Ash, not you," Bonnie added onto the that.
Serena opened her mouth to counter their arguments, but it almost broke her mental state when she realized that they were, in fact, correct. She was the one telling all of them to move on, not her. In fact, she suddenly remembered how Goh and Clemont were working on a machine that could potentially find him, while she was trying to forget about him completely.
"I'm... you're..." She stuttered, realizing she couldn't say anything back. The only thing she could say was the truth. "Because I was in denial," she said in exasperation. "I was in denial that he could leave us like that for good, so I guess I was just denying the reality of him leaving." Chloe's ear perked up at the word. Denial.
"Well, if you had just said that, we would've understood," Clemont responded, slightly kinder. "You could always tal-"
"Guys!" Chloe suddenly exclaimed, shutting Clemont up. "Serena, what was it that you said just now?" Serena, embarrassed, responded, "I-I said I was in denial." Chloe nodded and everyone could see her brain working. "My father said that Goh was also in denial about Ash. About him leaving and everything."
"Yeah, so? Everyone denies things that happen to them," Ash said, projecting his denial about Samuel. Bonnie gave him a quick glare to be quiet as Chloe continued. "So if Serena went to do what made her most comfortable when she was in denial, do you guys maybe think Goh would also go do what makes him most comfortable?"
"I suppose you're right," Clemont realized. "But what is it that makes Goh most comfortable?" It was silent for a moment before Ash said, "Well, we know he's looking for me, so I'd supposed the thing that makes him the most comfortable is solving problems." Serena looked around, confused, before asking, "Okay, what are you guys talking about?"
Bonnie pulled her to the side and began explaining the entire situation, including Ash being on the island and Goh's endeavor to find him. "What problem would there be to solve, though?" Clemont asked Ash. "It's not like there was any mystery besides you on that island."
"Except there was," Ash responded. "Those Team Rocket members. I'm sure that Goh is probably trying to find out why they were there." Chloe understood what Ash was saying. "Right. If he was trying to find you, then I'm sure he'd start by looking at the first thing that could lead him right to you."
"Which would be the main cause of you leaving," Clemont added. "He probably thinks you're chasing after Team Rocket to get revenge." They all smiled at their realization until another one hit them. "But, where would he even go to figure out stuff about Team Rocket and Ash?"
Serena, who had been listening to Bonnie, overheard the conversation by the other three. "We need to find someone who knows equally about Team Rocket and Ash so that we could find Goh?" She asked to be sure. Everyone nodded and she smirked. "Well, that's easy. There are only three people that know all about Ash and Team Rocket, and we know where one of them is."
No one knew what Serena was talking about until Ash's face lit up. "Your clone!" He exclaimed. "Right," Serena responded. "And the last place I saw S was in Snowbelle City, so I'd say we need to go there if we want to find Goh." The mention of the clones made Ash think about his parents, but he didn't want to worry about that currently when Goh was missing.
"We?" Clemont asked. Serena looked at Clemont and sighed, standing up. "Bonnie explained the whole situation and I wanted to say I'm really sorry. I guess I was mostly angry at myself for leaving you guys when I felt depressed, and I took it out on you." She bowed over and exclaimed, "Please forgive me!"
Everyone else stared at each other and smiled. "Of course, we'll forgive you," Clemont said kindly. "We weren't mad that you left us, it was just that you left without telling anyone." Chloe nodded and walked over to Serena, hugging her. "But now that you're here, we're not mad about that."
Serena was shocked at the welcoming forgiveness, but smiled, returning the hug to Chloe. "Thanks," was all she could say. Chloe stepped back and gave Serena a confident smile. Clemont walked up to her and gave her a soft smile. "I would be glad to help Chespin out now," she said apologetically. "I did make a promise."
"I'd like that," Clemont responded, shaking Serena's hand. "Alright, let's go find Goh," Chloe said, going with Clemont and Serena to the door, Ash close behind. He was suddenly yanked away as Bonnie grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back.
"By the way, Serena is still mad at you for leaving," she whispered to him. He frowned and looked over at the honey-blonde Performer. "I don't understand it. She likes me and I like her, so why is she mad?" Bonnie rolled her eyes and said, "She already told you. She expects more from you."
"So why is she coming along?" Ash asked. "If she's so angry with me, wouldn't she just leave and avoid me?" Bonnie shook her head and replied, "No, she's not like you, idiot. I think she's hoping that you'll come to your senses and apologize for what you did." Ash crossed his arms and tilted his head.
"I don't understand it," was the only thing he said. Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and began walking to the door. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just follow what our heart desires," she said nonchalantly. Ash took a deep breath and stared at Serena leaving through the door.
I don't get it.