Guess who decided that putting our Portal 2 story up first would be taking too long? Guess who wrote this first chapter in a week?

If you guessed me for the first one and my partner in crime for the second, you were right. Now it's time for Case Closed, the sequel to Destiny Bond. Now with more direct shipping.

Five months post-Lysandre...

Calem woke up in his own bedroom in his mother's house. He still wasn't used to that. It had been a while since he ended up in the Kalos region Hall of Fame, but he still half-expected to wake up in a Pokémon Center, with Serena sitting on the other bed across the room, making bets with her Delphox on when he would get up.

His confusion was not helped by the fact that his mom hadn't sent her Fletchling in to attack him since before he even met Serena.

Then again, Grace hadn't even shown up at the parade to honor her son and his friends. Not that Calem blamed her, another celebrity would have been distracting the attention from where it belonged. But even the Fletchling that had assaulted him at the parade hadn't belonged to her.

Speaking of Grace, she was probably still waiting for him.

Sure enough, when Calem had finally dragged himself downstairs, Grace was already facing the morning. "Professor Sycamore called," she said, watching as her son headed right for the coffee. Apparently, she'd learned not to say 'Good morning' when he was only awake physically. "He said he wanted to meet you at Lumiose Station."

"Lumiose Station?" Calem repeated, sure that he had never heard those words in that order before. And he had been to Lumiose City on at least three different occasions, and only preoccupied with saving the world during one of them.

"It's a train station in Lumiose City." He grunted in acknowledgement, and she continued with the message. "He said that there was something important he needed to get out of the way."

"Why didn't he use my Holo Caster?"

"He said he did, but that you never picked up."

"I was sleeping!"

"That's what I told him. Then he questioned why you were sleeping at 10:30 in the morning."

"It's not 10:30 in the morning!"

"Of course not." Grace gestured at the clock on the wall. "It's noon. I was just letting the new Champion of Kalos learn to set his own schedule, but apparently, I've failed as a mother."

Calem stared at the clock for a solid ten seconds, letting it sink in. "No wonder the coffee's cold," he commented.

And that was the exact moment that Grace gave up on her son. "He did say that Serena was accepting the same offer," she added, deciding not to comment. "Don't you want to see her again?"

Of course he did. He'd been through a lot with Serena, and it was still unusual to do anything less private than sleeping without her. So, with that in mind, he took a large gulp of cold coffee, poured the rest of it down the sink, said goodbye to his mother, and walked out, wondering if Serena had already made it to Lumiose Station.

He was halfway to the edge of town when he realized that he could have called her to see. He was halfway back to her house when he realized that he could have taken Yveltal.

"You haven't changed at all, have you?"

It had been only days since he'd last spoken to Serena, and the sound of her voice was almost calming. His partner in crime was right by his side, just like she should be, as they were heading off to see Professor Sycamore.

He wondered, even as he agreed with her statement, whether or not she still had that crush on the professor. Sycamore had confirmed his relationship with Diantha, the acting Champion of Kalos at the time of Team Flare, but Serena hadn't talked about her feelings on it.

She didn't seem to be reluctant, but that was all Calem could see.

"What do you think he wants to talk about?" he dared to ask as they were flying across the sky on the local god of death and destruction.

"Pokedex stuff, probably." Serena shrugged. "He already thanked us for putting a stop to Lysandre's insanity, didn't he?"

"But there's still the possibility that Lysandre survived the collapse," Calem reminded her. "Maybe they finally dug him out and Professor Sycamore wants to ask us what we want done with him."

Serena grinned. "I'd say they should put him back."

He laughed with her. "Exactly."

The bird landed, and Calem held out a pink Pokepuff to pay for the service before calling it back into the Master Ball that it called home.

The designated drop-off space was one of the Pokémon Centers, and the saviors of Kalos took a moment to look around at all the awed and occasionally horrified faces as the people of Lumiose realized exactly what they had seen. Calem looked around uncertainly, and then said something so basic that it must have been entirely underwhelming.

"Does anyone know where we can get to Lumiose Station?"

"Uh…" said a nearby cab driver, the window of his vehicle open as he took a break to enjoy the nice day. "I can take you. I guess."

"Thank you." Calem walked to the back of the cab and held the door open for Serena.

"Such a gentleman," she teased, and Calem deliberately looked away.

"Shut up."

Serena did so, but it didn't go quiet. The cab driver had started to speak again as he pulled away from the curb. "So, uh…was that…"

"Yveltal? Yes." Calem shrugged, as if it meant nothing. "Unfortunately, Yveltal didn't know the way to Lumiose Station any more than we did."

"Huh." The driver wasn't quite done. "It's not often we get someone with a legendary around here. It's not often anyone even sees a legendary."

Calem gave the mirror a wide, innocent smile. "It's going to be a lot more often now, though," he said, and the driver pulled up to another curb. The Station wasn't that far from the Pokémon Center they'd landed at. That was unusual. He handed the driver a handful of money and hopped out of the car, leaving the door open for his friend to close herself as he walked to the doors of the building.

Serena caught up to him quickly, and continued the conversation easily: "Wait until he sees me release Xerneas and just ride it like a Ponyta."

Professor Sycamore was waiting for them, all alone in the station. There were other people, of course, but none of his assistants were present. Not even Trevor was there, which was an actual disappointment.

Still, he was prepared for their arrival. "There you are!" he said, though the look in his eyes said 'It took you long enough.' "I hope you were enjoying your time off?"

"Immensely." Serena playfully nudged Calem. "I'm sorry I'm late, but I didn't want to leave without him, and he didn't leave his house until noon."

"I didn't get out of bed until noon," Calem added, sounding more proud of himself than he should be. "What did you want us for, Professor?"

Professor Sycamore handed each of them a train pass. "I wanted to give you passes to Kiloude City," he explained. "Consider it a bonus for convincing Lysandre to destroy the weapon and prevent its use in the future."

Calem opened his mouth to say that there was still a chance that someone would recreate the weapon, but a look from Serena silenced him. So, instead, he nodded, mouth closed in the hope of holding in his thoughts.

"Kiloude City is a popular destination," Sycamore was saying. He looked at Serena pointedly. "There aren't that many places to shop, but there are plenty of opportunities to battle."

"I'll find and enjoy both," she promised. Calem had no doubt she would.

"And of course," Sycamore continued, "I would like to ask you to continue collecting information about Mega Evolution for me."

"Why don't you do this yourself, since it's your lab?" Calem asked.

Professor Sycamore froze, then cleared his throat. "I have no Key Stone," he said, keeping his answer short. "And even if I did, I have other things on my mind at the moment."

"Of course you do," Serena said before Calem could challenge the statement. "And I'm sure we can get the extra data for you, Professor."

"If not," he said with a smile that started heating her face immediately, "I have other assistants."

"We'll try, then." Calem took Serena's hand and pulled her away. "Thanks for the passes, Professor."

"Bye!" Serena called, waving with her free hand.

They scanned their passes, boarded the train, and were off.

They returned to Lumiose City after only five hours. The Battle Maison, while interesting, was far too competitive for them to deal with at the moment.

But that was when Calem got another call from Professor Sycamore. "It's about your Sylveon," the professor explained, and Calem immediately felt his heart skip. Sylveon might not have been the brightest bulb out there, but she was still an important member of Calem's team and as loyal as any Pokémon could be expected to be.

"Is she safe?"

"She's as safe as she ever is," Professor Sycamore reassured him. "She's fully recovered from her…self-imposed injury."

"What injury?" Serena asked, concerned.

Calem was not as concerned. "Oh. I left her with the professor when she got her head stuck in a bucket."

"How did she…" Serena flailed her hands around. "Her head is barely bigger than my fist!"

"It was a small bucket. More like a pail, now that I think about it."

"But her EARS! And the bow…things! How did they FIT?"

"That's why I left her with the professor – I hoped he could use science to figure that part out." Calem turned his attention back to his Holo Caster as his friend gave up on trying to make sense out of Sylveon. "Thanks for telling me. We'll stop by your lab on our way back home and pick her up."

"I'm not at the lab." Sycamore sounded very disappointed, and they could only guess what Sylveon had done. "The reason I know that Sylveon is entirely recovered is that I made plans to meet Diantha at the Anistar sundial, and Sylveon sat there and screamed until I agreed to take her with me. I was hoping that the sight of her trainer would distract her from being my constant companion."

"That's my Sylveon." Calem rolled his eyes. "All right, then. We'll hop on Yveltal and crash your date to get the pink menace off your hands."

"I would appreciate it."

He didn't sound sarcastic at all.

By the time they reached the Anistar sundial, they had heard enough of Professor Sycamore's voice to know that Sylveon had somehow stolen something important, and was currently playing a game with the poor man. The sight was even worse.

Sylveon had a paper between her teeth, and her tail was wagging like a happy dog's as she jumped from bench to bench, and once even off the professor's back. Sycamore himself had given up on chasing her and was instead just reaching for the paper whenever she got close enough.

"Sylveon, freeze!"

Calem's order was enough to stop the Pokémon from having more fun, and she stopped in place immediately.

"Now," Calem said, pointing to Sycamore, "give the man his notes."

Sylveon immediately dropped the paper at Sycamore's feet. "It was just a game," she protested as he bent down to collect it before it blew away.

"What are the notes for, Professor?" Serena asked, and Sycamore put the paper into his pocket.

"It's just a theory," he said, "but I was going to ask you to do this for me, anyway. Dexio managed to find a Key Stone for himself, and I found a way to alter it so it could help him find more Mega Stones."

"That's pretty cool," Calem admitted. "Can you do it to mine?"

"It's not going to be easy," Sycamore explained. "Dexio's upgrade only works for half an hour per day. I made a few notes so that I could work on upgrading that, and giving you that upgrade…" He ran a hand through his perfect hair. "I didn't mean for you to find out so soon, but Sylveon found the notes before I could hide them."

"Half an hour might be all the time I have to use the Mega Stone tracker," Calem pointed out. He pulled off his Mega Ring and handed it out to Sycamore. "Can you give me whatever updates you've made?"

"A little impatient there, Calem," Serena pointed out, but Sycamore just laughed it off.

"Dexio's uses technology to find the Mega Stones," Sycamore said, refusing to take the device from Calem. "But thinking about how this sundial gives off a strange light…would you help my theory by touching the sundial, Calem?"

"Touching it? Is that allowed?"

"I can trust you, Calem. The worst you would do to it is leave fingerprints."

Calem was sure he could do more damage if he really wanted to, but he was also sure that doing so just to prove the professor wrong would damage Serena's opinion of him. So he touched the sundial, and his Key Stone immediately reacted. A flash of light reflected from the sun, through the sundial, and off of the Key Stone…or maybe the sun had nothing to do with it.

"I'll be honest," Calem said after a moment of silence. "I did not think that was going to work."

"It might not have," Professor Sycamore confessed. "It was, after all, just a theory."

"Then I guess we should go Mega Stone hunting, huh?" Serena smiled at Calem, almost innocently. "Sounds like another adventure."

Calem twisted his hand around, trying to see if there was anything new about his Mega Ring. "It does," he agreed. He called Sylveon back into her ball and called Yveltal back out, promising Professor Sycamore that he'd stop by his lab the following afternoon if he found anything.

When Diantha arrived, she immediately knew exactly what had happened. "You made him touch the sundial, didn't you?"

"He wanted to be the test subject for my newest theory," Sycamore said defensively.

"I know. This is Calem we're talking about." She was quiet for a moment. "Do you think they'll find anything?"

"It's Calem and Serena. They're bound to find something. A better question would be if it's a Mega Stone or another sinister plot."

"And how much of Kalos will be left."

"That, too."

Conversation abandoned, they walked away from their meeting place together, discussing his research and her movies and trying hard not to think of the possibility that Lysandre was not the end of the young heroes' adventure.