ive decided to rewrite this fic! i didnt like how i wrote the kids before (also the doc containing my plot outline is on my old laptop which decided to kill itself before i could move everything to dropbox, rest in pieces)

for everyone new to this story, legacies is an xy novelization thats definitely based off the games but takes the same storytelling liberties as pokespe. im expanding and remixing xys plot, and while the original is still there its going to be really different at the same time. xy had the weakest story of all the games imho, but that opens it to a lot of interpretation and ways to make each novelization unique! i hope you stick with us and enjoy the ride!

Legacies

by stellariums

[Chapter I: The First Bud]

"If I am worth anything later, I am worth something now.
For wheat is wheat, even if people think it is a grass in the beginning."

— Vincent Van Gogh

Sunlight softly trickled over the rooftops, flooding slowly into the tiny town of Vaniville. Its residents began to rouse themselves from slumber, ready to start a new day. Wild fletchling began their morning song as curtains were pulled back and doors were opened, the smell of breakfast cooking starting to fill the air. Adults began to set up tables in the town square with the aide of their pokémon, and children began to coax their friends out of their beds and out to play.

It was another day of tradition that hadn't been broken in decades: Vanivillers were famous in the Kalos region for waking early and eating breakfast together in the square. With such a tiny population, this was incredibly easy and there wasn't anything particularly unpleasant about it, unless you didn't really like waking up early or being around people.

Serena Leclair, unfortunately for all who ever had to wake her or get her to spend time with them, was one of those people.

"Rise and shine, kiddo!" Grace Bellamy, who lacked her namesake as she clumsily flung open the curtains, was not sympathetic in the least when the blonde flinched away from the sunlight and buried herself further in her blanket nest.

"Serenaaa," Grace whined, shaking the girl. "It's our first day in town, please don't embarrass me by sleeping in!"

The girl murmured something in her sleep that was muffled by her pillow, but Grace knew her well enough to tell it was probably something along the lines of "go away" or "five more hours."

"Serena Rose Leclair, you better get up right now!" There was silence again, and as the seconds ticked by Grace tensed, bracing herself to grab a corner of one of the blankets to flip the girl onto the floor. Finally, Serena rolled over and stared up at her tiredly. She opened her mouth to speak, and for a foolish moment Grace felt hopeful. Sadly, the small bud of hope was quickly squashed.

"No."

Grace's howl of frustration echoed throughout the small town, rudely disrupting the fletchlings' song.

-:-

Serena was not a people person. It was obvious, seeing that she usually went out of her way to avoid others, and even now she was struggling to not stare at her breakfast. Not falling asleep again was also a challenge, though the endless babble of all the Vanivillers definitely helped. Many of her new neighbours openly gawked at the two newcomers and whispered to each other in Kalosian, while their pokémon watched her curiously. She poked at her food until most of the stares were redirected elsewhere, finding herself physically incapable of eating while others were watching.

"Hey, Serena!" Grace exclaimed suddenly, acknowledging Serena's existence for the first time since she dragged her out of bed. Naturally, she timed this shout at the exact second Serena began to eat. That attracted the attention of everyone else at their table back to Serena, and she forced herself to not sink into her seat out of embarrassment. "Chantelle here was telling me about her kids! She has a son your age, I bet you two could be friends! Wanna meet him?"

At once all the eavesdroppers were talking much louder, eager to get the newest addition to their town to make a friend. Face red in embarrassment, Serena shot up from her chair, legs immediately threatening to give out. The sound of her fork clattering onto her plate made them stop, the concerned silence even worse than the overwhelming chatter.

"Thank you for the offer but I'm going home now!" she blurted, fleeing the table immediately. Grace spluttered protests behind her, and the Vanivillers exchanged worried murmurs, but Serena was already down the path and in her yard before any of them could make a move to stop her or offer to pack up her breakfast to-go.

Serena didn't stop shaking even once she collapsed on the grass next to Grace's rhyhorn, hands going up to pull her honey hair in stress.

Gah, why did I do that? she griped internally, wringing her hands in distress. I'll never change if I keep running away.

The rhyhorn made a grunt next to her, nudging her in the side gently, eyes still closed. Though the pokémon was a giant, sharp chunk of stone, there was something soothing about the action that broke Serena out of her daze and calmed her down.

"Good morning, Hen," she greeted a few moments later, running a hand over the rock-type's side as she sat up, brushing grass and dirt off her hair and back. Hen opened one eye to lazily watch her scoot over to him and press her back against him. "Today started perfectly." The rhyhorn snorted, shaking his head as she pulled her messages up on her phone in hopes there was something that could distract her.

(1 text from the bestest friend ever!)

—heeeeyylo dearest rena! :) hows the new neighbourhood?—

The text was from the day before, when Serena was still unpacking. She didn't really know her timezones, but if it was this early in Kalos there was very little chance for her friend to be awake. Sighing, Serena typed back a reply and cursed the poor signal in Vaniville.

—grace still won't take off her racing suit! if i don't scare the neighbours off and force us to move again, she definitely will.—

It really had to be some ungodly hour in the morning back home, but her friend replied almost immediately. —lol! but seriously rena, how are you holding up?—

—i don't know, it feels strange to be settling down in one place. why are you still awake?—

—youve only been there for one day! alsooo i needed to check on u!— Reading the message, Serena giggled, glad that even if she was an entire region away nothing would change with the few friends she had.

—you sound like an old lady. and don't lie, you're marathoning some tv show, aren't you?—

—youre the youngest! we feel obligated to protect the baby of the group haha! and ur the one making up lies— Serena smiled at her phone, warmth washing over her. The feeling shriveled when the next text followed through. —hey, have you ever tried asking aunt grace to go on a journey?—

—i cant, not yet.—

—:(—

—...i'm a little scared.—

—oh, sweetheart...—

—go to sleep, leaf. i'll talk to you later.—

Pocketing her phone, Serena rested her head back against Hen and closed her eyes. He made a low grumbling noise, like he wanted to say something. But whatever it was the rhyhorn had to say, she'd never hear, since the after-effects of being woken up early caught up to her at that moment. Hen huffed, dutifully keeping still to avoid waking her as she slumped against his side.

Serena was asleep for a good fifteen minutes when the gates to the village, which were next to Serena's house, swung open with a loud creak. Laughter and footsteps sounded in the street. The first voice that became clear sounded like it belonged to a young girl, bubbly and way too loud for this early in the morning. Though she was at first telling a story about something or another, she got quickly distracted and changed the topic as their voices drew closer to Serena's yard.

"Hey, hey, Calem, you said you got new neighbours, right?" The mystery girl paused for a moment, presumably to let her friend silently make some sort of response. "I want to meet them! Trainers come and go all the time in Santalune, but you never get new neighbours!"

"Absolutely not," the boy said immediately, his tone leaving no room for argument. "No one likes being thrust into the spotlight right away, Shauna. Leave them alone. We can introduce ourselves once they get settled."

"But that will take forever!"

"Trust me, it'll be a lot quicker if you left them alone."

Ignoring her friend, the girl skipped over to the entrance and waltzed right in without a moment of hesitation.

"Helloooo, Calem's new neighbour! Oh, she's asleep!"

"Shauna, I told you not to!"

Hen's growl of suspicion woke Serena up, and she blinked sleepily at the two figures in the entry. The boy paled at the sight of the intimidating rock-type and tugged the girl back back into the safety of the entry. Serena placed a hand on Hen's head as she stretched and stood up to greet the newcomers, doing her best to hide the nervous and reluctant tone her voice wanted to take.

"Who're you?" she asked, as Hen pressed against her side to steady her. You can do this, Serena! she told herself. "Don't worry about Hen. He's all bark and no bite." The derisive snort Hen made probably wasn't helpful, but the boy stepped forward slowly anyway.

"Uh, hello. I'm Calem, your next door neighbour, and this is my friend Shauna. Sorry for intruding." Serena shook the hand he offered her, taking a moment to examine the two.

Calem's dark hair reached past his ears in a style that was a surprisingly good look for him, and his gray eyes were bright and aware as he lowered his hand back to his side and stayed still when Hen gave him a critical glare. He looked like someone who hung around pokémon often, knowing to stay still until the rhyhorn decided to trust him and settle down. She envied the sort of confidence he was carrying himself with.

In contrast to the calm, tall, and collected boy, Shauna was small and a little chubby, bright eyes and strangely-styled pigtails emphasizing her young and excited appearance. She seemed to be a ball of energy, bouncing up and down with poorly contained excitement despite Calem urging her to settle down. Though he examined this girl even harsher than Calem, Hen eventually closed his eyes again and the two were able to join Serena on the grass.

"I'm Serena," she said, trying to sound friendly and welcoming yet knowing she was failing.

"You're not really one to talk much, huh," Calem assumed. Serena flinched, expecting some sort of ridicule or unhelpful reassurance like 'don't be shy!' to follow. To her immense surprise, Calem's eyes widened at the sight and he quickly went to apologize. "That was rude, wasn't it? I'm sorry, I'm too used to my friends shouting at each other. We won't force you to talk if you don't feel like it."

That was... a first. People usually disregarded what she wanted and dragged her into conversations when she was clearly uncomfortable with it. Calem must have sensed things were that way too, by the way he smiled kindly at her.

Shauna didn't seem like the type to read people, but she was sweet in her own way. "Oh, I wish we had time to introduce you to our other friends!" she said wistfully. "You and Trevy would get along sooo great! He's pretty quiet too, but he's really nice!"

"We're leaving tomorrow to start our journey," Calem explained, scratching his ear. For a moment Serena felt something like disappointment— but why?

While she tried to make sense of the strange emotion, Calem was eyeing her, almost as if sizing her up. "I just got an idea. Wait a sec, I'm gonna make a phone call!"

He nearly tripped over Shauna as he stood suddenly and rushed off, turning the corner to what Serena presumed was his house. The small brunette shrugged when Serena looked at her questionably, and began to talk about what they were going to do on their journey.

Surprisingly, Serena found herself a little at ease around the smaller girl, content to let her do most of the talking. Shauna talked non-stop but she didn't demand anything but just a fraction of Serena's attention.

Calem returned about fifteen minutes later with a wide grin and a plastic bag of cookies which he handed to Serena.

"Where's mine?" Shauna demanded, grabbing his shoulder and shaking him when he sat down.

"Mom baked them as a welcome present," he said with a shrug, before turning to the blonde, who was already tentatively nibbling one of the assorted cookies. "Hey, Serena, what do you think about going on our journey with us?"

Shauna completely forgot about the cookies as she made a little squeal of delight, clapping her hands excitedly in agreement. Calem beamed, pleased that his companion approved of the idea, but tried to soothe his expression to a neutral one while waiting for Serena to respond.

The girl in question was stunned, eyes wide in disbelief. It must have been a sign, for sure! Her big chance, what she needed to grow, just happened to wander into her front yard. Yet...

Every possible con flew into her mind at once and overwhelmed her. "I-I couldn't possibly impose on you and your friends," she spluttered. "And I'm not really used to pokémon. I'd just get in the way."

"You wouldn't be imposing at all!" Shauna insisted, dismay written more clearly in her eyes and in the curl of her lips. "You're our friend now, we want you to go with us! And po—"

"Don't worry about it," Calem said easily, hiding his disappointment better than Shauna. "You don't have to make a decision right away. We're leaving Aquacorde tomorrow at noon."

They stayed with her for a while after that, keeping the topic far away from adventures and pokémon. Serena found herself slowly growing comfortable with them, spurred on by Shauna's fast-growing affection and Calem's nods of reassurance. It was only after Grace returned from breakfast and the two introduced themselves that they parted ways, Calem promising to sit next to her at breakfast the next day and Shauna expressing her hopes that they would see each other again.

Making a decision was going to be even harder than she thought.

-:-

"So, do you think Serena will go with you?" Chantelle Chevalier asked, looking up from her newspaper at her son. Calem's ears burned red, hidden under his long hair, and he determinedly looked away from his mother as he checked his bag for the fifth time to make sure he had everything he needed.

"She probably won't," he said evenly, like it wasn't a big deal. And it wasn't! Really! He didn't want to force his new friend into anything she didn't want to do. If she decided to stay, it would be fine. It wasn't like he planned on never returning to Vaniville once he left.

He still really wanted her to come with him, though.

His mother knew it too. "Why did you invite her if you think that, then?" she asked, adding teasingly, "You like her, don't you." She giggled when Calem went through his bag for a sixth time, clearly refusing to make eye contact with her.

"She looked like she needed a friend," he admitted quietly, trying not to fiddle with the bag strap. Chantelle smiled, expression soft.

"She seemed uncomfortable at breakfast yesterday," she said, more seriously. "But when you sat down with her today I saw her smile."

"There's... a sort of sadness to her." Calem sighed. "No one deserves to be sad."

"You're just like your father," Chantelle said, ruffling his hair affectionately, missing the way Calem's expression fell at the comparison. The sudden desire to shove his mother's hand away bit at him hard, but he pushed it down.

There was a hesitant knock on the front door, one that nearly made Calem stop breathing. The doors in Vaniville were never locked, and everyone dropped in as they pleased. His friends learned that quickly too and simply barged in. That meant the only person who could be on the other side was...

A blur of yellow and blue shot down the stairs, followed by a rush of pokémon chattering loudly. The youngest Chevalier, Anaïs, threw open the door open onto a terrified and now shocked Serena.

The first thing Calem registered was that she wasn't wearing the plain hoodie and skirt from the day before, but a pink and white dress with a matching hat. Her hair wasn't in a ponytail either, instead loose three-quarters of the way and tied off with a band. The thought that she was cuter with her hair down passed through Calem's mind briefly. She was gripping the strap of her messenger bag, wearing an expression suggesting she was very close to fleeing.

"Are you Calem's girlfriend?" Anaïs demanded, the family lillipups and skittys bouncing around their feet.

Calem yelled "Anaïs!" in a panic. The way Serena's anxiety shot up from both the question and the pokémon swarming her was clear on her face, and she looked helplessly at him from the door. He was up on his feet in a heartbeat, dragging his sister from the door and shooing their pets back into the house, Anaïs pouting the whole time. By the time he returned, he found his mother talking to Serena.

"...choice," Serena was saying, fiddling with the skirt of her dress. "Grace encouraged me, but in the end it was my decision."

Chantelle smiled, pleased at the statement. "That's good. And you won't be alone either— Calem will be looking after you the whole while. Isn't that right, sweetie?"

He knew Shauna and the others would definitely wander off to do their own thing occasionally, but Calem didn't want Serena to be alone, especially since inviting her was his idea. He didn't mind her presence either, so of course he would stay with her if she wanted him to. Not trusting himself to not say something embarrassing, Calem nodded wordlessly, smiling at Serena. She relaxed at that, though the pink tint in both their cheeks refused to die down.

"You ought to be going!" Chantelle sang, pushing the two off the front porch. She ruffled Calem's hair once more as she did, grinning at the noise of indignation he made. "Make Vaniville proud, you two! And don't forget to call in sometimes!"

"It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Chevalier," Serena managed to say, Chantelle grinning in response.

"Bye!" Anaïs shouted from behind her mother, sounding like she was close to crying. The door closed behind them as they stumbled onto the path, cutting off the sounds of the Chevalier pets shouting. Serena blinked in confusion, wondering if that was really how Calem's family was sending him off.

"My family's not one for emotional goodbyes," Calem explained, laughing a bit awkwardly. "Did you say goodbye to yours already?" Serena nodded in confirmation, glancing at her house as they passed it. She didn't want a chance to back out of her decision or a possibility of crying in front of Calem. There was no going back from this point on.

They turned the corner to the town gate, stopping there for a few moments and looking back at their hometown. Serena didn't protest; Vaniville was Calem's home. He was born and raised there, and Serena wasn't familiar with the very concept of staying in one place for long.

Calem seemed to be bracing himself to leave, taking in a deep breath as he rested one hand on the gate. Without really thinking about it, he grabbed Serena's hand with his free one, squeezing it as he pushed the gate open.

"Let's go, neighbour!" he said with a grin as the door swung open onto Route 1, smile growing larger when Serena hesitantly responded with one of her own. "Our journey starts now!"

Serena Rose Leclair

- Fairy-type. Pixilate ability. Timid nature, nods off a lot. Met in Vaniville Town at Level 16. Seems to have traveled across time and space to reach the Kalos region from an unknown region. Yawn | Rest | Flower Shield | Natural Gift.

- Fair skin, honey blonde hair, waist-length, has bangs, amber eyes, 5'4", slender and mild curves, has a few faded scars on her legs and arms. Origin of the scars unknown, but suggest possible clumsiness. She moves carefully and slowly, reluctant to go too fast. Constantly looks tired, fidgets with hair when nervous.

- A shy, introverted girl, she's awkward around large groups of people and seems a little nervous around pokemon too. She opens up a bit around those she's comfortable with, and has a sort of strength stemming from her desire to change. The one with the worst back pain.