Kalos high- beyond the regions

Chapter 3

Disclaimer

For sake of uniformity and for the story, the drinking laws of pokemon world will be similar to those of Germany, i.e., age Fourteen and above can drink wine and beer with their legal guardians, age Sixteen and above can drink beer and wine, while age eighteen and above can drink any type of alcohol.

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Calem was sitting on his couch, going through some papers, when his doorbell went off. After Steve's death, Calem had grown distant from others and didn't like to talk to anyone.

He irritably opened the door, and saw Serena.

Serena looked at Calem's face and became worried.

"Hi Calem. How are you? You have not been coming to school lately," said Serena.

"I have made an arrangement with the Interpol and school. Now I only need to go there to write tests," said Calem in an emotionless tone.

It had been six months since Steve's death, and Calem's look had changed a lot since. He had a shaggy, unkempt beard and had huge dark circles under his eyes.

"What happened? Why have you become so rude?" asked Serena, slightly hurt.

"No, it's just that I have been really busy lately," said Calem.

"So... are you not going to ask me in?" said Serena apprehensively.

"Come in if you wish," said Calem in the same tone as before.

Serena was shocked by this, but she went in anyways.

The house was a complete mess. There were papers all around, some had pins upon them and were attached with rubber-bands. All kinds of maps were littered on the floor. In one corner, there were empty bottles of gin, whiskey and beer. In another corner, there were boxes of pizzas and other food items. There were dents on the walls, as if someone had punched them repeatedly.

"CAL! Have you been drinking a lot lately?" asked Serena sternly.

"Why should you care?" asked Calem irritably.

"Why? Because I am your sister," said Serena.

"Correction: You are my cousin," he retorted.

Serena was dumbfounded, as tears welled her eyes.

"Really? You never thought of me anything more than just your cousin?" asked Serena.

Calem wanted to say no, but he couldn't. He had lied many times before, to others and to himself, but he couldn't say a lie as big as this. He had promised himself that he won't cry again, but for some reason, his eyes too were filled with tears.

He looked away to hide his tears.

"What do you want?" asked Calem, still looking down, trying to change the subject.

"I want my brother," said Serena with sadness in her eyes.

"Your brother isn't here," said Calem as he looked up again. His eyes had nothing but sadness in them.

"No, he is in there somewhere. And I am not going away until I see him again," said Serena.

"Go have fun with Ash. Don't care about me, okay. Go pretend nothing happened and screw with Ash," said Calem.

Calem knew what he had said was really bad. He had began to hate himself, long time ago, but didn't try to change.

As for Serena, she couldn't believe what she had heard. She raised her hand, and slapped him in his face. He staggered backwards, holding the place where he was slapped.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU! I can't believed you have become so disgusting," said Serena, crying.

As soon as Calem saw her face, his heart shattered into a million pieces. He couldn't believe that the person whom he always looked up to, the sister he always loved, was crying in front of him, and he was the reason.

"Serena, I didn't..." said Calem before he was cut by Serena.

"Want to hurt me? It doesn't matter, what you said is said. You can't take it back," said Serena, with pain in her voice.

"And for your information, Ash didn't pretend nothing had happened. He was hurt too. He thought it was his fault. He berated himself too," said Serena.

"I... I am so sorry. Just... just please don't leave me like Mewtwo and Lucario," was all Calem could say. His eyes were covered by his hair, and he just kept looking down, unable to make eye contact with her.

"What happened to you? You were never like this," asked Serena coldly.

"M... maybe I always was," said Calem feebly.

"You were not," said Serena sternly.

"I don't know anymore," said Calem.

Even though Calem tried to hide it, she could see the sadness in his eyes.

"But I know. You are the best brother," said Serena softly.

"Was," said Calem.

"Are," said Serena.

"Listen! You shouldn't stay here," said Calem, before Serena cut him.

"YOU LISTEN! I am not going until you are going to tell me everything," yelled Serena.

Calem couldn't take it anymore. He lunged onto Serena, hugged her, and started crying.

Serena had never seen Calem cry like this. He would always control his tears, at least in front of her. She instinctively put her arms around him as he cried his eyes out.

"I... I miss him," said Calem, as he choked back his tears.

"Everyone does. But you can not ruin yourself because of that," said Serena.

"Yeah, I am sorry. After I lost him, I felt as if I had lost the direction of my life," said Calem.

"Hay, we are here for you, so don't worry," said Serena.

"Okay," said Calem.

"Now... what is all this?" asked Serena, asking about the mess.

"Well, after Steve died, Mewtwo told us about a prophecy about which Steve always talked. So for the past six months, I have been trying to find out more about the prophecy. For now, I know about many locations which may contain information about the prophecy," said Calem.

"And what is the prophecy about?" asked Serena.

Calem knew what it was about, but didn't want to tell Serena about it as it was related to both Ash and Steve. So he started thinking about a suitable excuse. Serena sensed that he was uncomfortable, so she decided to not pry.

"You know what, leave it. Now, promise me you won't drink..." said Serena, and Calem got nervous.

"Too much," said Serena with a smile, as Calem sighed.

"I thought you were gonna ask me to give up drinking," said Calem.

"What? I won't do that, considering I drink a little too," said Serena, as she sat on his sofa and took a beer bottle.

"WHAT!" gasped Calem.

"What? Like I and Ash are seventeen now, in case you forgot our birthdays, which you did, considering that you didn't wish us," said Serena, and Calem smacked his head on his stupidity.

"I am sorry, it's just that I have been so down for past six months that I didn't care about these stuff," said Calem.

"It's not okay," said Serena pouting, and Calem frowned.

"But it's okay," said Serena tilting her head and smiling cutely.

"Anyway, so we both are of legal age to drink. We just can't drink hard liquor, which even you are not allowed to drink, so no gin and whiskey," said Serena.

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