A Performance In Peril!
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The hefty, ground shaking steps, of her motherâs Rhinocorne caused Serena to almost jump out of her skin. Pulling herself together, and tugging Feunnec up into her arms â Serenaâs head turned to see Rhinocorne who was nudging his horned muzzle against his large bowl. âAgain,â she huffed as she moved the upper half of her body towards the duo type, feet going to follow suite, before she heard the humming of the Rhinocorne racer inside the family kitchen. Serena hummed in retaliation before straightening up. She knew what Grace would say â Rhinocorne needed to stay in shape for his races. Pft, races, it made her eyes roll. Serena didnât want to follow in her motherâs Rhinocorne tracks. A semi-devious smile crossed her lips, âalright this once,â she let Feunnec find the ground and began to lug the Rhinocorneâs special food over and poured some of the food from the bag into the bowl. âBut donât tell Mama,â she winked with a smile. âYou know she wouldnât be happy with either of us.â The rock type let out a happy roar before beginning to munch away. Finding her own fiery partner, the girl pulled her up into her embrace with one arm, and then looked at the flier that she had hidden in the band of her skirt while walking past her mother that morning. A performance. She had to say â it sounded fabulous! Interesting, exciting, risk-taking! The last only because she had yet to tell Grace how she had gained an interest in performing over racing. âYou ready, Feun?â A yip came from the tiny fox as she spun around on her heel, âBye Mama, weâll be back later,â she waved with the flyer gripped hand â not waiting for Graceâs disgruntled mentions of racing practice, before bounding through the path, the family Passerouge flying on behind.
Thankfully â she had been a little brave â and signed up for the event ahead of time. (Which was more nerve-wracking than she first expected â but, hey, she had to try!) This was the best thing for them â how else was she going to know unless she tried. It was only thankful, however, because looking at the large clock on display in a tower, she would have been late for the sign up. Getting from here to Santalune wasnât a far trek, but not one that she could make â by foot â before the sign-up booth closed. Serena sighed, taking in the now quiet (if not for the Passerougeâs twittering), moment around her as she hugged Feunnec closer to her chest. âWait, what am I doing?â Serena queried â speaking to herself than to the two PokĂŠmon accompanying her. âIâm not ready for thisâŚâ It hadnât been even three weeks since she had chosen her starter at the Sycamore PokĂŠmon Laboratory (although she knew instantly that she wanted to have a Feunnec over the other two options.) The two had only ever really brushed each otherâs hair together in terms of what they had done as a âteamâ. This was because between Graceâs attempts at making her a competent Rhinocorne racer, Serena wasnât all for getting her hands dirty. This was why after witnessing a pretty pink haired girl on Pokevision doing her things â and with a Roussil too â on social media, Serena first felt the perk of inspiration and desire wash over her. It was semi-like how she witnessed her mother get when she set upon a Rhinocorne saddle. Santalune Forest was quite the trek for the poor trainer. The closest she had ever gone to being far away from home (on her own) was Aquacorde Town⌠and that was just next door to Vaniville Town! (Okay, thatâs a lie, she was in Kanto by herself but that was to a Summer Camp, not on her own accord.) So to pass through a forest and go to yet another City away, was fresh for the girl â exciting, but scary. Especially so when she had to deal with a Roucool that was getting too close for comfort with Passerouge and she had to get the two birds to stop fighting â which resulted in the Roucool pecking at her hair! Luckily, Feunnecâs ember managed to scare the flying type back into flight â but to Xerneas that was not something Serena wanted to go through again. This fighting thing wasnât for her.
So there she was at the gate out of Santalune Forest, hair a tossed, feet sore and boots mucky. All she wanted was the opportunity to stop and rest but that wasnât going to happen on Ouvert Way unless the City mayor had recently installed new benches across the route. âOkay, Serena, you can do this â one foot at a tiiiiime,â she whined as she hung her head low and pushed forward. Her Feunnec appeared to be aghast with her new trainer â given she was acting like she had just walked the whole of Kalos. (That could be because the small starter hadnât walked since they left home. Serena had carried her the whole way. Well, of course she did â it meant that she wouldnât get her paws dirty. Speaking of paws, she reached up and swatted Serenaâs cheek with a clean, soft padded, foot to get her to âget out of her daze.â âRight, right, sorry Feun!â Serena shook her head (making her hair worse, donât tell her), before taking in a deep breath and continuing forward â Passerouge still swiftly following in the air. The normal type took ahead of them, enjoying the breeze aiding his wings so that he could glide. But, when he reached the large sign to enter Santalune City he stopped, hovered in the air and cawed. What was going on? Serena, however, was too distracted by the pain aching her feet, that she hadnât noticed what had caused Passerouge to stop and chirp away as if to tell her something. Within the area right ahead of her â something was wrong. A booming white, rainbow rimmed, hole glistened in front of Serena, but she barely noticed through her clenched tightly shut eyes through trying to press forward. The only thing she had noted, was a weird sensation that came over her as she passed through said light. Her ears felt like she had been on a plane, as if they were whining, pressured and needing to pop. She opened her eyes â expecting to see something â but⌠the buzzing within her head from the pressure on her ears ceased, her hearing returned to normal â and there before her was⌠Sanatalune City. Damn, she really must be out of it â all this walking was not good for a girl! She was fine. The girl turned her head to look at Passerouge to see what the fuss he was making was for â but the bird wasnât there. She huffed, âRude! Just flying off like that,â the girl spoke towards the fennec fox. She would have to have words with him later â he could have at least said goodbye. âWell, we should go pick up our pass!â She still had a degree of nerves hindering her tone. She had organised her place online, but she had to pick up her entrance pass, entrant number and find out her placement. She also raided her Tepiggy bank â she would have to visit Santalune Boutique and get some clothes to wear for the performance. (If she dressed up coming out the house her mother would have definitely knew something was up.) But first things first â the Santalune Performance Hall and pick up that pass.
âLetâs go Feun!â The girl pushed forward moving at a much quicker pace (almost jogging) as she passed a couple of teenagers on roller-skates doing tricks upon railings. As soon as she saw the grand building, she pressed forward, placing her hands upon the desk and grinned at the lobby lady, âSerena Gabena, I registered online but I had to pick up a performance pack.â âAh, right, yes I think thatâs behind here somewhere,â the lady at the lobby mentioned before she turned away from the girl (and another girl that looked as exasperated as her on the opposite side of the desk.) âOne second.â The lobby lady turned to Serena, âTa da~â She mused with a sing song voice and handed over the pack.
Hmm, Ta da, Serena whispered to herself, with a smile upon her lips, what a cute saying. Pushing her thought aside, she kept Feunnec atop the desk and turned to the pink clad girl who was standing beside her, âthis is so exciting!â Feunnec barked in agreement with Serena, although the PokĂŠmon had yet to notice the Couafarel beside the other trainer (otherwise she may have gotten a bit nervous. Besides the family PokĂŠmon back at home she hadnât really been around other PokĂŠmon. She hadnât even been let out of her PokĂŠball when she was at the laboratory.) Still, this was all new for both trainer and PokĂŠmon but Serena had to hold her head up high. Fear was coursing through her veins and nerves were firing on all cylinders in her brain â but it was either chicken out and leave or actually do something and prove to her mother that there was more to her than a possible protĂŠgĂŠ in the world of Rhinocorne racing.
âYou mean-â Her dad was here!! She almost wanted to squee with excitement.Her father had been very tight-lipped about a project as of late, but he seemed to have this little sparkle in his eye whenever he talked about Shaunaâs Showcase debut. She knew now, why. He had arranged this whole invitational and was acting as one of the judges. That meant she would have to do her best! No more nerves. She had to show her dad just what beauty she was capable of working into her performance! She had planned out her debut for years now, working alongside her ever faithful Couafarel. If she remembered properly, this performance was restricted to two Pokemon, so it was good that she had gotten in some practice with Risso beforehand. The Marisson would have a critical role to play in her performance.
Her delight in this news was only soon interrupted by the arrival of another late entrant, something she could relate to, who dashed in mere seconds after the lobby lady handed over Shaunaâs pass. This girl spoke in clean Kalosian, but what drew the brunetteâs attention was not the state of her accent, but her name. It was the same as her neighbor and new friend. With a different surname of course. Still, it was enough to turn her head. Â
Weird. Another girl named Serena...
Who was also blonde. And wearing a felt hat with a Feunnec- or she supposed, as Serena Archer called it, Fokko. And when she turned to express her own glee at joining in on this Showcase, it became clear that something was definitely, definitely weird. It would be one thing if their names were just similar. Another if they shared the same Pokemon. But this girl looked way too much like her neighbor- except she had long hair.Â
Shauna stood there in shock. So much so that Relle, the ever faithful and ever stubborn hound had to knock some sense into her with a light butt of her head. Anything to pick up the girlâs jaw that sheâd dropped all the way to floor. Figuratively, of course. It would be weird to actually take off and drop your jaw.
âSerena?â she addressed the girl, almost hesitant. No, she shouldnât say anything. It would be weird or assuming. But maybe... âI thought you had a Gym Battle scheduled for around now? Didnât you just leave the Center just this morning after we had breakfast with Tierno and Trevor?â










