"Welcome to Santalune Forest." Calem stopped in front of the entrance, turning to look at Serena on his right.

"So COOL!" Shauna bounced up and down excitedly. "We're finally beginning our journey together!!"

Serena stared at Shauna as if she was a Ponyta running around with a Magikarp for a head. "Are you always this hyper...?"

"Of course!" Shauna laughed, punching Serena's arm lightly and not paying attention to the blonde's internal cringe. "I CALL SERENA!" Shauna wrapped her hand around Serena's, running straight for the forest and dragging the blonde with her.

"Wait, what---AH!" Serena yelped girlishly when Shauna caught her off guard by suddenly starting to drag her around at top speed. She kept trying to squirm out of the girl's impossible grip. "Let go of me! What are we doing!?"

Calem shook his head, watching the two girls disappear behind the shady trees up ahead. "Good luck, Serena..."

_______________________________

"Stop! Quit dragging me around---LET GO!" Serena protested very loudly, digging the heels of her boots into the ground in attempt to slow Shauna down.

It didn't work.

"This will be so much fun!" Shauna finally let go of Serena as she stepped into the forest, causing the blonde girl to actually fall backwards onto her butt from Shauna suddenly letting go of her hand.

"Oof!" Serena fell to the ground with a thud, and her hat fell over her eyes.

Shauna turned around and shot Serena a quizzical look. "Hey, Serena, why are you sitting on the ground like that?"

Serena slowly lifted the brim of her hat from her face, focusing her now visible gray-eyed icy glare on Shauna. "You dropped me here."

Shauna stared at her for a good minute before turning on her heel and skipping off. "...nope. I don't think so."

Serena groaned to herself, eyeing the Pokeball clipped to her belt. "What have I gotten myself into...?" She was about to stand herself back up when someone grabbed her wrists and immediately jerked her back up. "Hey!" Serena pulled her hat from her eyes again, glaring at Shauna.

Shauna rolled her striking green eyes. "You were too slow, so I came back to pull you up. Now, come on! Let's go!" She excitedly pointed ahead, then immediately started to bound off in that direction.

"Hey, wait!" Serena snapped at her and lunged forward, latching onto Shauna's shirt collar. "Be careful! You nearly just walked right into a pond!"

Shauna turned around and blinked at Serena incredulously. "What pond?"

Serena had an intense are you kidding me look on her face as she pointed to the small pond that was literally just right beside them.

Serena deadpanned, "that one," as she pointed to it, completely serious and a little annoyed with Shauna's naivety.

Shauna blinked owlishly at the small pond that was right next to her feet. "Oh."

Serena just facepalmed. "Do you ever pay attention to where you're going?" She slid her hand slowly down her face until she could see Shauna again.

Shauna just scoffed. "What? Of course I do! The pond just...snuck up on me." She brushed Serena off, immediately running off again somewhere into the woods.

Serena just stared blankly ahead at Shauna skipping off into the distance. "Is she...serious?" The blonde just groaned before taking off into a sprint after the hyper fifteen-year-old. "Shauna, slow down! AND WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

They had wandered around in that forest for hours. Shauna was too stubborn to admit she was lost and didn't know where she was going, Serena was too busy pulling Shauna out of the way of constant danger to leave her side and take her chances wandering around by herself, and neither of the two girls had any clue where the exit was. Neither of them had seen Tierno, Trevor, or Calem since they split up. The guys had to be somewhere around here, right...?

"...and so once he moved in and our parents met each other, we became friends!" Shauna blissfully danced around the forest, recalling the first time she met Calem when she was just an infant. "We've been friends since we were born!"

"That's great." Serena annoyingly stared forward at nothing in particular, reaching out for Shauna's shirt collar and pulling her out of the way of a tree again.

"Isn't it?" Shauna gleefully smiled, not having noticed the large maple tree she nearly walked face-first into.

Serena took in one deep breath and sighed. Shauna was just not taking any of her "I seriously don't want to talk to you" hints. Dense wasn't a good enough word to do Shauna justice.

"And then I met Trevor and Tierny in Trainer School!" Shauna clapped her hands together excitedly, ignoring the annoyed groan that escaped Serena's lips. She just kept going. And going.

And going.

"Let me guess." Serena sarcastically rolled her eyes into the back of her head. "You guys all got assigned to sit at the same table in class."

Shauna spun around at an incredible speed, bewildered beyond belief. "How did you know!? You must be psychic or something..." She slapped the sides of her face, gasping sharply.

Serena just stared at her. "You told me the same story five minutes ago."

Shauna paused for a second, thinking really hard. "Oh yeah."

It took all of Serena's inner strength to keep herself from abruptly bashing her head on a tree repeatedly. Shauna was driving her insane. She just kept on talking. And talking.

And talking.

...and not to mention all of the bouncing.

The blonde scowled ahead of her at the sight of Shauna skipping happily around with her Chespin in her arms. So annoying... Serena had left Charmander to remain in his Pokeball, given the fact that all the baby Pokemon really ever liked to do really was nap.

This whole day was just so overwhelming for Serena. Hell, this whole month has been overwhelming. Her father was murdered, and his killer got away with it. That angered her beyond words. And then she had to move to a completely different region, and even though she was originally from Kalos, the move still stressed her out. That was enough change for her to put up with for a good year or so, but no, the universe just had to give her more bullshit to deal with. Like four idiots she had to babysit on a trip around the region.

Oh joy. So much fun.

She hadn't seen the brainy idiot, the dancing idiot, or the thick-headed know-it-all idiot in a few hours, and Serena had practically been glued to the happy-go-lucky idiot's side this whole time. Seriously, shouldn't they have run into Trevor, Tierno, and/or Calem by now? Serena knew that Santalune Forest was big, but not this big.

Serena narrowed her eyes at a particular tree they just passed, and she came to an immediate stop. "Shauna, we've passed this tree before. Stop."

The brunette came to a skidding halt in front of Serena, and she poked her bug eyes around her to see. "...oh. I think you're right. Now what do we do?"

Serena just sighed as she began removing her hat and purse, setting them down at the base of the tree. "I'll be right back... Stay here, Shauna."

Shauna perked right up and saluted Serena seriously. "Yes ma'am!"

Serena just rolled her eyes to herself as she began grabbing onto one of the lower tree branches. She hoisted herself up onto the bottom one, and the blonde didn't waste any more time in climbing this tree. Pretty soon, she disappeared from Shauna's sight, and she found herself sitting at the top of the tree on a branch.

"Hmm..." Serena hummed to herself, looking around her to try and find the exit. "Well there is Aquacorde Town, so that means... Ah! There it is!" She pointed ahead of her at Santalune City, just thrilled by the fact that it was only a five minute walk away. "Finally, we can get out of here..."

Shauna nearly jumped out of her skin when Serena suddenly landed in front of her, having jumped down from the tree. "Yikes! Jheeze, Serena, you scared me!"

Serena completely ignored her and picked her stuff back up, placing her hat back on her head before heading in the direction of the exit. "Let's go, Shauna. The exit is this way."

Shauna blinked repeatedly. "Hmm? Oh! Okay~!" The fifteen-year-old skipped after her new blonde friend, humming cheerful songs to herself that just pissed off Serena.

Well, to be fair, everything pissed off Serena.

Just as Serena predicted, it only took them about five minutes to reach the exit. No one else was here besides them, so it was easy for her to conclude that they were the first to find it. Serena took a seat at the bottom of a tree and leaned her back up against it, getting ready to wait for the rest of the group to catch up. As she began removing her pencil and sketchbook from her purse, Shauna anxiously started to jump up and down in place.

"Hey, Serena?" She started to burn off some of her energy by rocking back and forth on her heels. "I think I'm going to go back and look for a Pikachu. Wait here for the guys, okay?"

Serena didn't even look up from what she was doing as she waved good-bye. "Already on it."

The harsh silence of Santalune Forest was almost a little overwhelmingly intense, but it was a peaceful silence. The only noises that reached Serena's ears were the lulling chirps of Fletchlings and the windy rustle of leaves. It was very cold outside today, thanks to the slight breeze, and Serena was already thankful she thought to bring her black, floor-length trench coat with her on this journey. Travelling right around Christmas time in Kalos was very difficult, considering how much snow Kalos got each year.

"Why did I lie?" Serena thought to herself as she began sketching accurate pictures of the forest Pokemon like Fletchling and Scatterbugs.

Why did she lie? Why did she lie about her role as the professor's assistant? She was supposed to take the lead and be in charge of everyone, and yet...

She lied to conceal the truth of who she really was.

But why? It's not like Serena really cared what these four idiots thought of her...

She didn't really understand why she did it. When they asked her those questions earlier, she just blurted out her lies as if it were instinct. Subconsciously, she tried to cover for herself so they wouldn't find out Serena had gotten special treatment from her Uncle.

Or maybe she did care a little...

After all, there was something different about when Serena met the four teens today. They didn't know her name, let alone who she was. Hell, Calem didn't even recognize her own mother, who was actually a pretty famous Kalosian for her racing career.

How could they not know? It was just...strange that they didn't.

But it was kind of nice for a change.

Her mother was a famous Rhyhorn racer. Her father? He single-handedly developed the Holo Caster and co-founded Kalos' biggest technology company. Her aunt on her father's side owned Boutique Couture and had her own fashion design firm. Her uncle on her mother's side was Professor Sycamore, Kalos' renowned Pokemon Professor. Diantha, the famous movie star, Pokemon League Champion, and singer? Yeah, she was Serena's godmother.

It was pretty hard not to know who Serena was. Well, at least it was hard not to know who her family was...

Serena bitterly scribbled her drawings in her sketchbook with a frown on her face. "Why doesn't anyone ever remember my name..."

She just was tired of living in the shadows of her family's success, and she wanted to never be walked all over again.

And the only way to do that was become the strongest Trainer of all, beating Diantha and claiming her position as champion herself.

"Serena?"

The blonde flinched slightly as she suddenly noticed her sketchbook was covered by a large, humanoid shadow cast over it. She carefully looked up at the figure towering over her, blinking repeatedly at Calem's face.

"Oh. Hey." Serena's eyes flickered down to her sketchbook as she gripped her pencil tighter.

"What's this?" Calem bent over and swiftly snatched her sketchbook from her hands, staring at her drawings with a smile forming in the corner of his mouth. "Hey, these are pretty good."

"Give that back!" Serena immediately shot straight up and swiped the sketchbook from Calem's hand, slamming it closed so he couldn't look at her sketches any longer.

Calem laughed a little at the faintest shade of red staining Serena's embarrassed cheeks. "What were you drawing Pokemon for?"

Serena looked off to the side as she thought, "because my uncle asked me to make a sketch to go with every Pokedex entry..." and voiced a different thought instead. "I... Just like to draw sometimes." She placed her intertwined hands behind her back, rocking on her heels a bit.

Another lie.

Calem seemed to accept that explanation without any doubt, and he curled his lips into a tiny smile. "Well, they're pretty good."

"Whatever." Serena rolled her disinterested eyes, crossing her arms in annoyance.

Calem chuckled at the ice queen's typical behavior as the sound of three pairs of feet crunching the leaves on the forest floor were drawing closer and closer to both him and Serena. Calem turned his head to see Trevor and Tierno heading this way with a giggling Shauna tagging along, who was holding an adorable little Pikachu in her arms.

Serena stared past Calem and blinked her eyes at the three approaching them, and she turned on her heel and promptly exited the forest now that everyone had caught up. "And so it begins..."

Calem watched her go with a strange look on his face. He couldn't help but wonder why Serena was they way she was, being so cold and emotionally distant like that. And why she got embarrassed at the weirdest things, like her sketches... It was kind of funny, actually.

"Was that Serena just now?" Shauna bounded over to Calem, fluttering her bug eyes at him quizzically.

Almost as if Calem didn't even hear her, the black-haired boy took off straight ahead, running in the direction Serena went. He sprinted quickly in order to catch up to her, and Shauna stuck out her bottom lip to pout as she watched him go.

"I guess I lost, huh?" She bitterly chuckled to herself with a sad smile, staring down at her feet.

"Lost what, Shaunee?" Tierno poked his head around the shorter girl to look her in the face.

Shauna did nothing but lightly pat his shoulder. "Nothing, Tierny. Don't worry about it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sooo, long time since my last update, huh?

Sorry about that XD I've been busy trying to finish TSTHOAT before 2015's Watty award deadline, which many of you know was finished literally as I was trick-or-treating on Halloween night dressed as Ciel Phantomhive XD

So, now that TSTHOAT is done, I'm going to bust my butt to get this book finished so I can enter this one for 2016's Watty awards! To my surprise, this book won the most popular vote for which book I should enter for next year 0-0

It's a pretty good idea though, so I think I'll do it! Assuming I can finish it in time, of course XD It's going to be a long book... I'm still outlining it, and I'm only at chapter 29 right now, which is Serena getting her fourth badge 0-e...... Yeah. This will be long.

Anyways...

Read, comment, vote, and enjoy the story :)