The Reaper and the Paladin

Chapter 1: The Young Reaper

After all these years, she was back in her homeland. It was unbelievable it's here—an opportunity to see and live in the region of her birth.

Choosing what clothes to keep was especially the hardest part for the young girl Serena. Thankfully, she had a chance to go shopping the next day and also the days ahead. Her mother told her to take a breath of fresh air anyway, and she was excited to see whether the outskirts of Kalos had very different fashion tastes!

For now, a long beauty sleep was what she needed. In her pink, gold-embroidered sleeping dress, she sat on her wool bed with a velvet red canopy above her.

Her new room was to her satisfaction. It had a maroon wallpaper with circle-link patterns and walnut wood for doors, for window frames, for trims, and for floors. The same was for the furniture. Her bed was positioned in the center of the room and in such a way the moonlight would land on her from the window as she slept at night.

She had been gazing contentedly at the said window, familiarizing herself with the town's scenery of brick houses when her mother knocked at her door.

"Rena, coming in!" her mother announced.

The mother was none other than Grace, the celebrated Rhyhorn Racer. During her golden days, Rhyhorn Racing was the region's favorite sport; however, people in the region now turned their eyes towards Lumiose's Pokémon battling, a centuries-old sport recently being revived. The region of Kalos simply had to catch up with the world's sports trends someday.

Likely, the drop in Rhyhorn Racing's popularity led to Grace's decision to retire. In one of her last years of Rhyhorn Racing, Grace was in Kalos with her husband, and little Serena was born. But one day, Serena's father no longer returned for a reason Serena never knew. Ever since Serena's birth, Grace took her and lived in different regions, and now, Grace wanted a quieter life in her childhood town.

With her mother bothering her again, Serena yawned and pouted. She was already about to tuck herself in bed, but she nevertheless walked over to the door and opened it. "What is it, mother?" she asked.

"Good news, all of our belongings are here earlier than we expected! That makes you completely free tomorrow," her mother replied.

Serena made a drowsy smile. "That's...so...so great! Hehe."

Grace nodded. "I went for a stroll earlier and saw a few shops you might like! You may want to pay a visit. There's a lot of desserts," she excitedly added.

Serena's eyes lit up for a brief moment. "Ooh! Okay! Hm..." Serena tilted her head. "Did your fans not bother you this time?"

There was a group of Rhyhorn racing enthusiasts that warmly welcomed Grace into the town earlier, and Serena stayed inside the Talonflame carriage even after it landed to avoid being a killjoy.

"Sweetie, of course they did!" Grace laughed. "As I said before, I love meeting fans. They're part of my life!"

"Ah... As long as they don't do anything bad!"

"Oh, and I also just found out that one of our neighbors has a child of your age! Maybe you want to talk to him and make a friend," Grace said.

Serena smiled and nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. For now, I'll sleep, mother. Bye!"

She abruptly closed the door, making Grace place her hands on her hips and sigh. Grace then said through the door, "I'll make us dinner tomorrow! Feel free to eat lunch out while I arrange a few more things in my room!"

Meanwhile, Serena had already tucked herself in bed again. She started to daydream of what she could be doing once she wakes up. There was shopping, eating, probably even looking for a nice place to study...