"So calem, how are you, it's been a while" shauna asked

The 3 of them were traveling along the brick path to vaniville town and had been walking in silence under the warm sun shine until shauna decided to break the silence.

"nothing new" calem replied, feeling a bit sad

"oh" shauna replied feeling slightly down.

Calem shifted his gaze to his right and saw serena walking in awkward silence, playing with the tips of her hair as to do something while they walked.

"so Serena" said calem

"huh?" Serena turned to face calem

"tell us, why did you come to kalos?" calem asked

"well more or less looking for a change of things, and getting away from other things" she replied

"oh?" Shauna wondered

"well kalos is known to be the land of celebrity and fame and I always wanted to be a star so I thought right here might be a great chance to start" she replied

"a dream job of yours?" asked calem

"more of a life dream" Serena smiled

Calem made a small nod and shifted his gaze to the ground.

"well you have a very beautiful face, I think you are very fit to be a celebrity" said calem

Serena's face turned red." Thank you" she cleared her throat

"they also say that kalos is the land of love, so who knows I might get someone eventually". Serena continued

"so how old are you Serena?" calem asked again

"I am 18 years old, years fly so quick don't they" Serena chuckled

"indeed" Shauna replied. "I am 16 but I can't wait to grow up to become a famous Pokémon scientist, therefore I am helping the professor in his research. You can say I am being a trainee under the professor's hands" she smiled

"that is great" Serena replied. "so, what about you calem?"

"me...I ahh.." calem was starting to fell anxious

"well I am 19 years old...entering my 20s soon actually and I dreamed of being a Pokémon league champion"

"the champion" Serena's eyes widened "that is one big goal, have you done anything to achieve that?"

"well...I"

Calem was at a loss for words, he did not want to recall his past but at the same time he found that this could be his chance to impress Serena.

"I...went to Xavier's trainers school"

The instant he said that, Shauna's gaze shifted and met Calem's.

"wow, Xavier's school, I've heard of it. They say that the graduates are the best of the best trainers out there. You must have an extraordinary skill a Pokémon trainer" Serena replied

"yeah, it's true, but...."

"but how come you don't even have a partner yet" Serena interrupted calem

"well...you see"

"oh, we are here" Shauna interrupted calem

Shauna raised her finger and pointed at the buildings in the distance.

"come on, if we hurry up we will be at the professor's place in no time"

And with that the group continued walking to reach vaniville town.

Inside the small town Serena was a in a loss for words, if one thing she liked a lot it was shopping, cloths, jewelry, accessories, perfumes and all kind of goods were her favorite things to buy. And the shops in vaniville were like a heaven to her.

Calem took the opportunity of Serena being distracted looking at what cloths being displayed behind the glass with her mouth wide open to talk to Shauna for a bit.

"thank you for getting me out of that situations" calem whispered to Shauna

"no problem, but you know you should have never opened up the subject if you did not want to talk about it" Shauna whispered back

"well, you know how things have been and I needed to say something instead of remaining awkwardly silent" he replied

"what I am saying is just be more careful next time, alright?"

"alright, I will".

With that Shauna gave calem a gentle smile and he smiled in return.

Further ahead the street Calem and Shauna saw Serena jumping from storefront to the other, slamming her head and hands on the display glass moving them in a very awkward way almost if she was mimicking a Mr. Mime, embracing the latest fashion being displayed.

The two friends could not help but stare awkwardly at the girl. Calem however found her to be kind of cute looking like this.

"Serena" Shauna called, finally breaking the awkward long stare as she waved her hand to signal for Serena to return.

Serena looked at Shauna and waved back as she began sprinting back towards them.

A moment later Serena had returned to the group.

"alright, we should get a move on. Once we leave the town we should be on route 101 which will take us directly to lumiose city" said Shauna

"actually" serena interrupted, "I would like to stay here and do some shopping if you don't mind.

"now? but the professor is waiting for us" calem replied

"now that you mention it, I was supposed to gather some samples from Pokémon here in vaniville for the professor, but kind of forgot because I was rushing towards your house ". said Shauna with a nervous chuckle as she scratched her neck.

"oh my arceus" calem sighed

"that settles it then, I will do some shopping while you Shauna go gather these samples. But I will need someone to accompany me in the town so I don't get lost" said Serena

Calem sighed. "fine I will come with you

"alright then, we will meet up at the exit of vaniville near route 101 after an hour, but don't go on the route alone since wild Pokémon will jump at you and you don't have any Pokémon to protect yourself with yet" Shauna replied.

"once we are together again we will head out to lumiose city"

And with that Shauna walked away from calem and Serena waving her arm to them as she vanished into the horizon.

"well we are alo..." calem was interrupted as Serena grabbed his hand

"come on, let's go" she said and with that calem was dragged down the street.

Calem was struggling to keep up with Serena as she ran feeling very excited to start her shopping adventure.

damn, how is she running so fast calem thought to himself with one hand place on his cap as to try and stop it from falling while the other was locked in Serena's grip. He looked to his side as he flew past the street light, people appearing and weathering like shadows near him.

After a long run later the two arrived at their first stop.

"here we are" said Serena.

Calem was bending over with his hands on his knees gasping for air.

Serena looked at calem and let out a small laugh. "I take it you are not as excited as I am" she said.

"no, shopping is not really my thing" calem replied with a heavy breath.

"alright then, you can wait outside while I look inside"

And with that Serena went into the shop and calem was left outside leaning against the brick wall trying to catch his breath.

arceus please have mercy on me calem thought to himself. This journey was already off to a great start. A couple of hours in and it became a wait for the girl to finish shopping simulator.

Calem took a deep breath and sighed.

A couple of minutes later Serena emerged out from the shop feeling slightly depressed.

Calem noticed that she was not carrying any bags.

"so, you bought nothing?" he asked

"no, they had some ridiculously high prices" she replied angerly

"alright then let's get a move..." yet again calem was interrupted as serena grabbed his hand.

"moving on we shall" she replied smiling "onward to the next shop"

And with that calem was dragged away yet another time.

As the two ran down the road calem realized that Serena has a very high affinity for shopping and fashion as she was thorough about visiting every shop she can find along the way. Usually spending quite some time checking the shop's stocks but always emerging empty handed. Calem got to play the bitter waiting game outside the shops, only to be dragged into another after the wait is done.

At this rate calem would arrive exhausted to death at the final shop.

"here we are the last shop for the day" said Serena

thank arceus calem thought to himself. If she was this excited about visiting shops in a small town like Vaniville then what will she do when we arrive in lumiose city, will I get dragged into all of it?

Calem scoffed the thought from his head as it terrified him.

"you know, why don't you come inside for a change, you just might find something you will like" said Serena

Calem weighted his options out, he could either join Serena inside or play another waiting game.

"alright, why not" calem sighed as he replied.

And with that Serena grabbed the knob of the door to the shop and twisted it, the door was opened, and she went inside followed by calem.

"Welcome". A voice greeted them.

Calem looked behind the counter where a woman was standing, she looked quite old and by the looks of it she has been an owner of this shop for a long time.

"feel free to look around" the women smiled.

Serena was nowhere to be seen, she already found her item of interest and dived deep into the shop.

Calem scanned the shop to see what it had to offer, fancy clothes, hats, glasses, accessories and jewelry were everywhere. Nothing that caught calem's attention though so he decided to stride further inside.

Calem went deeper into the shop until he reached the clothing section. Long jackets made from fur and feathers were hanging from the ceiling, glasses and shades set on display.

From the corner of his eyes calem saw an object on interest, a hat that was resting on an old dusty shelf. Calem walked over to the shelf and picked up the hat.

It was small round hat, red in color with a line of white near the bottom and it surprisingly matched the style of the cap he was wearing.

"hey Serena" calem called out

"I am over here" Serena waved at him.

calem walked over to where Serena was.

Serena was standing in front of a mirror trying a necklace on to see if it would match her style.

"here". Serena turned around and faced calem, "I found this hat and I thought it matches your style greatly.

calem handed the hat to Serena.

Serena gazed at the hat, gave it a few spins as to eye it from different angles then put it on her head and turned to face the mirror.

"wow, it really m...matches my outfit" said Serena.

"consider it as a welcoming gift from me" calem replied

Serena lowered the hat near her chest and held on to it as she turned around and faced calem once more.

Th...thank you" she said as she closed her eyes and gave calem a gentle smile.

Calem looked at Serena and he felt his heart melt, her gentle smile, her beautiful closed eyes and her plushy red cheeks. Something about the way she looked at him lured him in, his heart was beating fast. his breath was getting heavy. Calem was in loss for words and could not describe what he was feeling.

"Calem!!" ... Serena snapped him back into reality.

"Oh, sorry...what were you saying?"

"thank you, I loved it" she said

"glad you did" he chuckled.

"why are you breathing so heavily" she asked

"must be from all the running" he replied

Serena chuckled. Calem turned around and hid his face as it was starting to turn red

"oh, I just thought of something". calem moved to where glasses were being displayed and took a white colored one with a butterfree wings itching around the lenses.

"these will go perfectly with the hat" he said to her

Serena looked at the shades and threw them on top of the hat and put the hat on.

"the do indeed" she smiled

"hey, you do actually have a great taste in fashion, why don't you like shopping?" she asked

Calem cleared his throat at her question, he did not have an answer to it

Serena chuckled at calem and headed towards the counter to buy her new hat and shades.

"These will be on me" said calem

"what? you really don't have to" Serena exclaimed

"I insist, after all they are a gift from me to you" calem replied.

With that calem took out some poke dollars from his bag and handed them to the old women.

"no need for bags" said Serena." I am putting these right on". And so she barged out of the shop and into the sun embracing her new look.

Calem laughed slightly on how goofy she acted from being so excited.

As calem was leaving the shop his eyes met the old women's, with a smile the old women gave him a wink.

What was that? Calem thought to himself as he left the shop and closed the door behind him.

"young and already in love these two, reminds me of myself long time ago" the old woman whispered to herself.

Outside, calem welcomed the sun again as he felt its rays touch his skin. across the street Serena was looking at yet another display on the store front this time however she was using the reflection on the glass of the display to check her new hat out, shifting her hand bag from one side to the other as she stood in different poses, sometimes she made a confidence implying stand, other time a beauty pose while she ran her hand through her hair and let it fly in the air, Maybe she was imagining being a celebrity in a photoshoot. Getting a bit carried away was a fitting word to describe her behavior.

Calem could not help but laugh at her, despite everything she was extraordinary beautiful in his eyes.

"hey kalos queen" calem called out

Kalos queen. A very odd name to call her but Serena seem to have taken a like to it.

"we have to get going" he shouted again

Serena gave a calem a nod and with that the two joined each other and continued walking on the road, heading to route 101.

Thank arceus that is over. calem thought to himself, the shopping adventure was a nightmare to handle.

"so, are you sure you know where we are going?" asked Serena.

"this is not my first time visiting the town you know" calem replied

"well if you say so."

as they both walked, the path eventually opened up to what seemed to be a small park with a lush grassy floor, small trees that act as a home to many different small Pokémon and an open ground designed for trainers to battle in.

"look over there" Serena exclaimed and pointed at a nearby tree. She had spotted a small Pokémon making its way across the tree branches.

Serena rushed over to the tree to check out the Pokémon.

"hi there little fellow" said Serena.

The Pokémon she found was a dedenne, which proceeded to create a small spark from its nose as to welcome Serena.

"Aren't you a cute little thing, oh I know here you can have this" said Serena as she searched through her hand bag and produced a small cookies chips wrapped in a napkin.

The dedenne gladly accepted the cookie chips and started munching on them with its small mouth.

"hey calem I found a dedenne" she called out

Dedenne, the name echoed in calem's mind. Oh no he though

Serena turned around and faced calem only to give him the most confused look.

Calem was looking at the ground with his hand covering his mouth, his face was flaming red as he was trying to hold in his laughter.

"a...are you okay" Serena was feeling weirded out

Calem could not hold it back anymore and soon enough he bursted in laughter.

Serena looked at calem and was starting to feel terrified.

"what is up with you" she shouted.

"nothing...it's just" calem slumbered on his words as tears ran down from his eyes as he laughed

"I saw you wearing a dedenne pajamas earlier and you looked absolutely ridiculous" he continued

Serena's face was turning red. "wha...WHAT? have you been watching me in my room" she growled at him

Calem jumped back in alarm." No, absolutely not, please don't think of me in such an ill way. It was when you were helping your mother pick up the packing boxes" he scratched his neck and continued laughing.

Serena looked at the ground and covered her face – which was now flaming red- from embarrassment. Calem looked at her and thought he should ease things on her a bit.

"hey, I admit you looked very cute while wearing it" he said

"oh my arceus, this is so embarrassing" she replied

Well that didn't help calem thought to himself. He started to think of a way to shake off the subject.

"hey serena, there is a place I would like you to visit before we leave vaniville"

Serena removed her hands from in front of her face and looked up at calem

"huh?" she asked

With a swift move calem grabbed Serena's hand," come on, I am sure you will like it" he smiled at her

With that Serena was dragged up the path running after calem. He found this as a good opportunity to show her his favorite spot and get some revenge back on her for making him run behind her in that shopping adventure. Two fletchling in one poke ball he thought.

After a couple of minutes running the two arrived at the hill where calem comes often to find peace of mind.

"so, what do you think?" calem asked

Serena was out of breath, it took her a couple of minutes to catch her breath then she looked up and saw the view.

She could see the dense forest stretch far into the distance, the sun shining in the horizon and flying Pokémon soaring off into the sky. Off in the distance she could see the giant tree with its golden leaves creating beautiful glow as the sun light passed through them.

"it....it's...amazing" serena was at a loss for words.

The gentle autumn breeze was blowing on top of the hill. Serena grabbed on to her hat, closed her eyes, smiled as she felt the air rushing on her skin as her honey hair flew into the sky by the wind.

Calem looked at her and once more he felt his heart pounding stronger than ever, that feeling he felt has returned but this time it was stronger than ever. This time calem knew what he was feeling, it scared him but comforted him. For the first time ever in his life he was feeling true love.

To be continued in part 4