Eevee had a unique move I didn't think it would have. From how much Calem had been training it for me, I wouldn't have figured it's body glew in the dark like a night light
"How useful" I said "Calem had been training you two hard, huh?" Fennekin barked in response, walking along side Eevee. It still makes me wonder why they still choose to stick around
The path through the cave, the name I learned from a few mountain dwellers; Glittering Cave, wasn't all as dark as I expected a cave to be. Glowing stones surrounding the walls fairly lit up the path, only barely. It's a tourist attraction apparently, and this cave could only be reached by riding a Rhyhorn. Talk about luck... good thing I had Z. Even if I felt okay with Fennekin and Eevee touching me, only by the slightest, I still don't think I can handle touching a Pokémon on my own. So how can I possibly ride one so suddenly?
"This cave is pretty beautiful, I guess" I kept looking around "but we're not here to explore" I know I can feel Serena's aura somewhere in this place "you can feel it too, right? Fennie?" Fennekin seemed confused, looking around
There was a new entrance up ahead. Over at that direction held the intense feeling of Serena's aura. It might be my intense wanting to find her, since my head had been all over the place lately. I can't tell for sure if it's all in my head. Having high hope, I kept my Pokémon close-ish, and we entered a brighter part of the cave being lit with actual lights. Probably due to scientist wondering around and searching for fossils, or what I heard
The color red surrounded my sight, not because of my boiling anger that build up too immediately, but because it was two strangers standing in the middle of the cave, wearing nothing but a red uniform, red hair, and red glasses... the perfect description of what Empoleon told Z! Because I was in a gang, it was obvious it was a uniform, and a really tacky one at that...
"Huh?" The female took notice in me before the guy did
"Hm? What's this?" I stood in place, waiting for the right opportunity to snap. The guy smirked and crossed his arms "well, well. Do we have here? A nosy little trainer has come poking around"
"This is a tourist attraction, what do you even mean by that?" I glared
"What did you just- Listen up! We're the fashionable team whose very name makes people tremble in fear; Team Flare!" I jumped over and kicked him between the legs, making him fall in pain. The first thing I did was press my foot on his face like garbage
"I'm shaking" I said in monotone "I'm not here to meet new people, I came for one reason and one reason only" I pressed on his face harder, making him groan. Even if his one arm was holding his crouch and the other was trying to push me away, he was weak compared to me "where is my sister?"
"What?" The girl didn't sound amused "what on earth are you talking about?" She took out a Pokéball "our only goal is to make it so we're the only ones who are happy! Why would we waste time with anyone else? Get out of here, girl! Don't you know not to play with fire?"
"I know all about playing with fire" I kicked the guy's stomach hard and stepped over him to approach the girl
"Stand back!" She send out a Vulpix "don't come any closer! You freak!"
"What's going on here?" Another female grunt, one with light pink in curly twin tail hair, a different uniform from the other two, and strange eye gear, approached us "What are you doing? Don't you know we have work to do?" From the outfit she had one, a suit with a skirt, she seems to be a different rank compared to these losers
"Nothing! Admin! We have it from here!" The one I stood in front of said. The Admin looked down at the guy still on the floor
"Do you?" She took out a Pokéball "must you make us look like a fool? We're Team Flare! We put the fashion into fear!" She face palmed at the last part "I hate saying that... listen, let's not make a scene right now. We were simply looking for fossils, not trouble" I glared, making her step back a bit surprised
"I don't care what you're doing!" I shouted "I want my sister! Where is my sister!?" I glared so hard I was giving myself a headache. The admin stared at me
"Sister?" The guy slowly got up from the floor and stood by the girl with the Vulpix and send out his Houndour
"Don't worry Admin, we got this!" The guy groaned, still holding his crouch "gee... you kick hard" I cracked my knuckles single handedly
"Want to see how I can punch?" I have to control my temper, at least for right now. Pichu was in my arms after all "Fennie, Eve, take care of them. Z, assist them" my Pokémon went off to battle the Pokémon so I can face the trainers/grunts
"What are you doing!?" I looked at Pichu sleeping, still... and stored it in my bag so it wouldn't see anything "This is not how you battle-" I lunged towards the guy and round kicked him on the same spot he was holding, getting his hand hurt along with his little guy as well. I'm not sorry for killing his children
"Shut up" I popped my neck and lowered my scarf "I want answers, and I want it now"
"W-what are you talking about!?" The girl asked "what's this got to do with us!?" I grabbed her neck, lifting her in the air. It's my signature way to scare anyone. I didn't waste breath, since I've had a long day already, and threw her away
"My little sister, she was kidnapped by someone with the description such as yours. Someone from your team took her... I came a long way to find her" I flipped my hair "tell me what you know, or else" the girl sat up, grinding her jaw
"Or else what? Admin, won't you help us?" The admin lifted her arm
"Stop this" I glanced at her, holding a calm expression "I have a name, you know?" she shook her head and looked at me "we do not have your sister" I faced her, feeling my fist shaking "if you're certain one of our team members took her, try someone else who knows. Nobody here knows what you're talking about" she stared at my clothes "I like your clothes, it's the best clothing in this cave"
"Admin!" The girl gasped. The admin sighed and shrugged her hand
"We seem to have caused trouble without realizing it. My apologies, we will take out leave for now"
"But!" The guy yelled. She lifted her arm to shut him up
"Listen to me, idiot... do as I say, and leave. Now!" The grunts returned their Pokémon and left the cave. I was standing in this cave alone with this girl constantly staring at me "there's something about you..? What is it?"
"If you're trying to say something, say it!" I glared "you say you don't know where my sister is, and to ask the others... you're basically asking me to knock some information out of them"
"Be my guest... these idiots don't care about anyone but themselves. When you get what you want, stop bothering us. Right now, if you wish to knock some information out of my grunts, it's better to do it now than to keep doing it and get in our way of our plan" she walked pass me "though I have no idea why our team would take your sister. Get some facts straight before you start beating in people randomly. It's not nice"
"Do I seem like the nice type?" I didn't even turn to look at her. I had no reason. All she did was giggle
"Touché..." I squat down and pulled on my hair. I didn't get anything out of what I just did. I always get what I want when I use violence, but because I was too much in my own little world, I couldn't concentrate like I usually do or keep my cool as much
"They weren't lying when they said they didn't know what I was talking about... I know that much" Pichu started crying. I hurried to pick it up and rock it back and forth while checking on my Pokémon who were just battling "are any of you hurt?" They all smiled and cheered "I don't know how to do fair battles, but you guys seem to know what you were doing. Thank you..." I closed my eyes and looked around the cave "I guess it was all in my head after all..." her aura is gone "let's get out of here... I'm sure the others are wondering where we are by now" wait... why do I even care? I've been with them for this long... why am I still sticking around? This is about the time I ditch them, but...
"I don't know why..." but Calem keeps coming into mind when I think about. I groaned, holding my head in pain, and exit Glittering Cave back to town where everyone might be waiting for me, at the aquarium
"Sophie!" Calem waved from standing in front of a huge water tank. My eyes glistened at the blue color of the water holding multiple beautiful Pokémon. Calem waved me over and showed me what he was looking at. I put my fingers on the glass to admire it all. It took a few seconds in to see a flash coming from his direction. I wasn't fazed by it this time... all I did was slowly look back at him staring at me with the camera still in hand
His eyes stared right into mine. His fingers slowly reached for me, taking the strands of my hair and softly stroke through it "your hair is down again" he always seems to be mesmerize when he sees it down. Now that I think about it, back in the forest, he stared for a long moment before saving me. I looked down, not wanting him looking at me for too long
"Yeah... it was getting hot" I lied, reaching for my sunglasses at the same time I felt eyes on me. I looked around to see everyone in the building staring at me, including Shauna and the boys from a distance
"Oh boy" Calem said "there's a pretty big event going on here. You picked the wrong day to take off your scarf"
"Crap" everyone started piling up on us. I covered my head and felt Calem take my hand to remove me from the crowd. Reporters out of nowhere shoved their microphones close to my face, asking me where I've been and what I've done with my hair, thinking I was Serena. I tried not to be my usual self to protect Serena's reputation. Luckily I covered my face before I was put on camera.
"Don't worry Sophia! We'll handle it!" Tierno yelled. I looked back at him and Trevor keeping the crowd in one place as Calem, Shauna, and I made it out the other exit of the building until we made it to the beach with no one around
"That was close!" Shauna gasped for air. I stood straight, looking for anyone to see me and quickly put on my scarf back on "what made you think to take off your scarf in public, Sophia?"
"I wasn't thinking..." I sighed, tucking my hair into the scarf perfectly wrapped and looked back at the two catching their breaths "thank you for doing that. My head is not here today" I cupped my face
"What's the matter?" Calem reached out to me. I slapped his hand away "Sophie..."
"This has gone on for too long... I told you that I'll be going on my own soon. It took this long, but it's finally time I'd go by myself"
"What?" Shauna frowned. I turned my back
"But..." their voice hurt my chest for some reason
"Hey guys!" Tierno and Trevor ran over to us "we took care of the crowd! Don't worry, we explained they had a misunderstanding and that you were a tourist visiting! And that they made a mistake" I looked at them and smiled
"I'm grateful for your help" I looked at everyone "all of you, but this is time we part ways"
"What..?" Trevor frowned "what's going on? What's with this all of a sudden? And what was that earlier? You look just like..." I shook my head, knowing it was pointless to hide it anymore
"Serena and I are twins, simple as that. Shauna was the first to know, since she saw me as soon as I came to mom's house" Shauna looked down when everyone looked at her "I said I would only stay with you guys until I can get around on my own. I've gain enough information to go on my own. I found the perfect people who might be able to help me find Serena"
"You have?" Calem asked. I nodded
"A group of people wearing tacky red suits, they call themselves; Team Flare. I ran into them when I explored Glittering Cave... try keeping an eye on them when you're on the search yourselves" I bowed "thank you again everyone. We'll see each other again, I'm sure. I won't stop looking for my twin, even if I lost hope before, I'll never stop looking. I hope you'll feel the same" I stood back up, first seeing the devastation look in Calem's face that almost made me jump. He shook his head, not believing it
"No..." I nodded softly and walked away without looking back. I don't know how long I've been walking, but I found myself in a new city. With all the thinking that I've been doing, I didn't even know how fast time flew. Pichu opened its eyes and looked at me "you like sleeping a lot, don't you?" It smiled and climbed my shoulder, nearly making me scream if it wasn't for it pointing at something behind me. I turned and was shocked at what I was seeing
"Sophie!" Calem shouted, showing no signs of slowing down. When reaching me, He held his chest, catching his breath and wheezing "you're not going anywhere!" I blinked confused
"What?" I frowned, carefully removing Pichu from my shoulder "what are you doing..?"
"I'm not letting you go anywhere without me with you"
"I don't need you to-"
"You don't get it!" He shut his eyes hard "I don't care if you don't need me, I... I need you!" My eyes widened. What..? "I don't know what I'm feeling when I'm not with you! I don't know how to feel, Sophie! I like being with you! You're the only thing that makes me feel!" He shook his head, cupping his face "I don't know what to do when you're not with me..." I slowly reached for his head, not understanding what was happening "I've waited this long... don't leave me again" I don't know what he means by that, but I rather not question it, especially when he's like this
"Calem..." I got my hand close enough to have him feel it and take it, bringing it closer to his lips and kiss my knuckle
"I'll do anything to stay with you... I swear" he looked at me with wet eyes. I don't think I've ever been this shocked before. He's crying..? "I'll do anything!"
"Calem... you're going too far. Isn't there something else more important to you? Anything other than me? I'm not worth it, I promise you. I've done bad things... if you just knew what I was like" he put my palm against his wet cheek, embracing it on his skin
"I don't care... whatever it is, I want to be with you" he came closer, putting his head on my shoulder. I didn't know what to do with my hands, but like how I comforted Serena, I pet his head gently, listening to his sobs being mellowed by my shirt
"Fine..." I sighed "I guess having you around hasn't been all that bad" I can't believe I'm doing this, but... "just don't get on my nerves like you usually do" he leaned back to give me a smile. Whenever I see tears, I can't help but remove them. Even if I disliked Sina, I removed her tears after what happened in the elevator back in the lab
He stared at me remove his tears until he smiled brightly. I shook my head and pet his head again "what am I going to do with you?" He chuckled and gave me a hug. Since I've had him around in our travels, like he said how I make him feel, I somehow feel the same way. Whether it's good or bad... I feel different when I'm with him
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I often don't like making a authors note because I'm too into the story, so whatever you have to say, right in the comments!