United Destiny: The Hero and the Hybrid (Amourshipping)

[Dragon's Blaze]

Hello everyone! So my name's you already know. Yeah, So I wrote this for FFN and already began posting on Wattpad. So thanks to Umbranatic for helping me with making the transition to Serebii.

Now then this story is probably one of the few that has Serena as the Main Protagonist. Yeah, I kinda got a bit tired of Amourshipping stories with Ash as it. Anyway the summary.

Serena Yvonne has always been a strange girl, talking to pokemon and a few strange abilities that seem to mirror that of a pokemon. Ash Ketchum is a boy from Pallet Town who has saved the world and has a Dream to be a pokemon master. It seems that there destinies seeming so far apart are actually intertwined together.

Lets begin!​

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Serena. That was the name Grace had picked for her child. It came as a surprise when she found out she was pregnant. It certainly explained why she started throwing up in the morning. She had half a mind to yell at her lover for knocking her up, but the thought soon turned into a whirlwind of emotions. First was fear at the thought of being a mother, then anger at the man who impregnated so suddenly. Finally, the emotion that surprised her was joy. She was going to be a mother and she couldn't wait to teach her child how to be a Rhyhorn racer just like her

That was all months ago. It was only a day ago that Grace had had her little girl and already she was looking for a new home. There was nothing wrong with Lumiose City, well maybe if one doesn't count her ex, but Rhyhorn racing training would be a bit of a problem within the urbanized environment. Plus, she always pictured a nice little place in the country to raise her child.

The sound of wing beats was heard as a tiny bird Pokémon flew by the window of her hospital room. "Fletching," the Fletching chirped as the tiny robin Pokémon jumped on the edge of the bed. Grace gave the small bird Pokémon a smile before she petted it.

Grace showed the small robin an image of the house she had been considering. "What do you think about moving to Vaniville Town, Fletchling? It's nice, small, and there's plenty of open space for you to fly.

The robin like Pokémon jumped a bit and landed on Grace's shoulder, excited for a pleasant change of pace. "Fletch, Fletchling!" The tiny bird chirped happily

Grace scratched the bird under its chin, a smile on her face, "That settles it then. We're moving to Vaniville." Grace couldn't wait to take Serena with her to their new home.

Her thoughts on her new home and family were soon interrupted as the Doctor walked in with a concerned look on his face, "Ms. Yvonne, I'm afraid I have some terrible news.

Grace turned to the doctor in alarm, her mind pushing away thoughts of a happy life in the country. "What is it, Doctor?" Her thoughts started to form into a panic. "Is Serena alright?" There hadn't been any problems with her that she knew of the last time she'd seen her.

The tiny robin Pokémon sensed her mistress's worry and spoke up, hoping it wasn't anything serious, "Fletch, Fletchling?"

The doctor looked away as he tried to find words for what he was going to say. "I'm sorry, Ms. Yvonne but your newborn daughter..." The doctor stopped as he didn't know how to continue. Steeling his nerves, the doctor finished with an apologetic tone, "We don't believe she will make it past the day."

Grace's face fell as she heard those words. She froze up as her mind raced with all of this. Fletchling's eyes watered as she heard this. The little bird Pokémon couldn't believe what she was hearing herself. "Fletchling..." The little Pokémon was almost as heartbroken as her trainer.

Finally, Grace overcame her shock as the weight of the news hit her heart. She was just ready to be a mother, and now... "There has to be something you can do! Oh Arceus, please tell me there's something you can do!" Grace begged, tears forming in her eyes.

The doctor looked down, not wanting to meet her eyes. Telling a mother that her child was dying was never easy, "I am sorry, but there is nothing we can do."

"No, oh Arceus please no..." Grace couldn't take it anymore and she started to sob. She was soon joined by Fletchling, who was crying with her trainer at the impending loss of her daughter.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It moved silently through the Kalosian city, its mind reminiscing as to the get together that had just concluded. A few of the Legendary and Mythical Pokémon as the researchers called them periodically got together to keep up-to-date on goings-on around the world. While humans would most certainly be awestruck to witness one of these meetups, it was more of an informal hangout between old friends than anything world-shaking. Most of the time, anyway.

Near the end, a few interesting things had cropped up. The Swords of Justice had found a new Pokémon like them and started training him. It was rare that a new potential "Legend" would suddenly appear, and so was a topic of much discussion. Then a few had started to talk about champions and potential successors, but it wasn't as interested in them. Due to its nature, it had never needed either of those and saw no reason the pattern shouldn't continue indefinitely.

It let its mind wander to something else. It was something it knew was coming. Something terrible that hadn't been seen in a long time. It brought itself out of its musing and realized that while lost in thought, it had apparently wandered into what appeared to be a hospital. A place of healing the sick and injured. A place where lives were usually saved. Basically, a Pokémon Center for humans. It paused as it heard crying coming from one of the rooms. On a whim, it decided to see what was causing such distress.

As it entered it saw a Fletchling asleep on a windowsill with dried tears visible on its beak. In a hospital bed was a human female crying over an infant in her arms. It could sense the overwhelming grief, the despair coming from the human mother as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness.

Hovering over the pair it could see why the mother was crying, 'The young one is not long for this world,' it thought solemnly. With its senses, it could feel the newborn's life slip away. How cruel. Practically on the day, it came into this world the young one would leave it. 'I am sorry, little one.' It focused on the mother before turning to the infant, 'At least you should know your mother loves you.'

It turned and was about to leave, but stopped. Turning back, it focused on the infant as a strange sensation came over it. It moved over the child, feeling its life force holding on by a thread. The child was fighting to hold on to life. Admirable, but it was a futile effort really.

And yet...

Reaching out to the child, it focused on the feeling that came over it. It recalled the talk from before about Champions and Successors. Perhaps it's colleagues had been onto something...and given what was coming, it might be beneficial to stack the deck in its favor as much as possible.

The being's mind was made up. As the last bit of life almost left the child's body, a spring of energy came forth from outside and held it back. 'It is not your time, young one.' With that, the being poured a bit of itself into the child, pulling her back from the grip of death.

~~~~~~~~~~~

It gave a tired sigh as it pulled back. What it had done to the child to save her...What it had done was unheard of. True, they could do something like this on occasion, but this child was so far gone it literally put a piece of itself into her. This was truly unprecedented. There was no telling what would come of its actions.

It regretted nothing. Somehow, it knew it had made the right choice with the girl. It looked forward to seeing how she developed in the days and years to come. Taking one final look back, it left the building and vanished into the dead of night.

Grace looked at the stunned doctors as Serena giggled in her arms, perfectly healthy. She had expected to wake up to find her child having left this world, but instead, Serena greeted her with a giggle. The doctors seemed to be broken as they saw this. "How... how?" One of them finally asked after a few moments of silence.

Grace herself didn't care at all. She was overjoyed by all of this. Her daughter was perfectly healthy after being so close to death. "I don't know. And I don't really care," Grace admitted as tears of joy welled up in her eyes

"Fletchling Ling, Fletch!" The tiny robin cried as it hoped to greet the baby. Serena looked at the Pokémon before reaching out, wanting to grab it.

The doctors regained their composure after witnessing the-in their medical opinion-an honest-to-Arceus miracle. "Well, Miss Yvonne, it seems your daughter has made a full recovery. Normally we would like to look after her for a while, but after the hectic day you've had, we suppose you can take her home now." The doctors walked out of the room, murmuring to each other about this turn of events.

Grace didn't seem all that focused as she cradled her daughter. Serena looked back at her before she tried chewing on her finger with her gums. Looking back at the nightstand and the image of the Vaniville house she smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A six-year-old Serena giggled as she chased Fletchling around the yard as Rhyhorn watched. "I'm gonna get you!" Serena jumped as she tried to tackle the bird, which flew away, laughing at her. It then landed on the bow in Serena's hair as she groaned, getting up. "No fair, you can fly!" She complained as Fletchling giggled.

"Well, sorry if you don't have wings," A high-tone feminine voice chirped from the little robin-like Pokémon.

Serena rolled her eyes at the bird, "Yeah, well, just you wait! I'll sprout wings, you'll see, and then there'll be no way you can fly away from me!"

A small chuckle was heard from behind her. "And I'll learn how to swim next week," a deep yet kind masculine voice spoke as Serena turned to Rhyhorn with a puffed up look on her face.

"I don't see you trying to catch Fletchling," Serena pouted as Rhyhorn rolled his eyes and walked up to his trainer's daughter.

"Because unlike you, I don't try to take the little bird's challenge." He looked at Fletchling. "She's doing it on purpose, the little troll."

Fletchling looked offended at this. "I do not!" Rhyhorn smirked, not falling for this one bit.

As the three-continued arguing, Grace watched from the window. She remembered when Serena was four years old and started saying that she could talk to Pokémon. At first, she thought it was something born of her childlike mind, but now she was starting to wonder if she was serious.

That wasn't the only strange thing she'd noticed. Around Serena's birthday, she could feel something come by the house. Something that seemed to be almost watching Serena. Normally something like that would make her rife with fear, especially considering how close she'd come to losing her child once, but...she couldn't bring herself to be worried. It was kind of eerie, really.

Grace shook her head as she pushed the last bit away. 'It's nothing Grace, you're just imagining things.' Grace looked down at the table for a moment. On it was two plane tickets to Kanto and an invite to Professor Oak's summer camp. 'I can't wait to surprise Serena, who knows, maybe she'll meet a cute boy.' Grace giggled to herself. Serena wasn't even ten years old, yet she couldn't wait for her little girl to find someone special. And hopefully, it would be someone better than her father.

Unknown to Grace, something was watching Serena at that very moment, but not with any malicious intent. No, it was watching her to make sure she was safe and ready to take on her role when the time comes.

'You have already grown so much,' the creature that had given Serena new life mused as it watched the girl trying and failing to climb onto Rhyhorn's back. 'I am curious to see how much further you will go...my dear Sereginia...'

 

[Dragon's Blaze]

Chapter 1​

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A calm breeze was blowing through Vaniville Town as the community awoke to a cool summer sun. Fletchling came flying into the Yvonne home, landing on the counter as she watched Grace cleaning the greens for dinner later that night in the kitchen. Grace turned to the Pokémon, a bit annoyed. "I told her to wake up or else she'll be late." She sighed. "Fletchling, mind waking her up?"

Fletchling jumped off and flew through the house and up the stairs, landing in front of Serena's bedroom door. With a bit of a push, the bird walked through the tiny crack in the door. Jumping into the air, the bird landed on the sleeping ten-year girl. Fletchling said nothing as it pulled back and delivered a peck to her face. As soon as that happened, a loud voice broke the calm of the house and the town. "AHHH! I TOLD YOU TO STOP DOING THAT"

A few of the bird Pokémon nearby flew off as Rhyhorn turned his head upwards to Serena's window. The ground and rock type rolled his eyes. "Told her she shouldn't have stayed up so late."

Fletchling landed on a Pokéball-shaped coffee table as Serena fell off the side of her bed. The honey haired girl pulled herself up and glared at the tiny robin Pokémon. "Your mom said I should wake you," Fletchling tried to defend herself. Seeing that Serena glare didn't falter after explaining herself, Fletchling tried a different approach. "You know what today is, right?"

Serena stopped and recalled what today was. "I almost overslept!" Serena jumped up and quickly looking through her outfits. As she was doing this, Fletchling flew out of the room and came back downstairs, landing next to Grace.

The former Rhyhorn Racer placed a bowl of Pokémon food in front of the tiny bird. "Thanks for getting Serena up." Fletchling didn't wait to dig into her food.

A few minutes later, Serena came racing down the stairs with two hats in her hands. "Mom, which hat goes best with my outfit?"

Grace looked at the two hats and then at her daughter's outfit. She was wearing a dark grey tank top with a white collar, a red pleated skirt, dark grey stockings, and black hi-top shoes. "The red one." Grace pointed to the red hat in Serena's right hand.

Serena tossed it aside. One thing her mother was terrible at was picking outfits. "Right, the pink one it is." Serena put on the pink hat paired with a black ribbon and headband combo.

Grace rolled her eyes at her daughter's actions. "Why did you even ask me to pick?"


"So I know which one fits," Serena explained to her mother. Catching a glimpse at the clock, she realized she was cutting it close to being late. "Sorry mom, I gotta get going!" Serna quickly grabbed a bag from off the counter and raced out of the house.


Grace ran out past the gate, waving at her daughter as she shouted to her. "Bye honey, tell Sycamore I said hi!"


Serena waved back to her mother shouting back, "Don't worry, I will!"


Grace stood outside the gate as she watched her daughter leave to get her first Pokémon from Professor Sycamore. "Time sure does fly." Walking back into the house, she noticed that instead of the bagged breakfast Grace made for her Serena choose instead to take a bag of Pokémon food. "I swear she eats more Pokémon food than human food."


"Fletch, Fletchling, ling." The tiny robin was in agreement with her trainer.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena reached into the bag and tossed a handful of Pokémon food into her mouth, enjoying the favor. For a brief moment, she could recall her mother commenting on her strange eating habits. Pokémon food was technically edible for humans, even though the poison and steel brands were known to cause stomach problems, but they were never made for humans in mind and anyone would tell you how awful they taste. Anyone except Serena that is.


Serena actually liked the taste of Pokémon food. In fact, she preferred it over most human foods. 'At least it costs less,' Serena thought to herself as she finished the bag, tossing it into a trash can at the edge of town Serena picked up the pace as she concentrated on running, feeling a familiar energy rising up in her. "Ok three, two, one..."


A white aura seemed to surround her as Serena took off at speeds far faster than any human alive. The honey haired girl was almost a blur to some as she raced along the path to Lumiose City. This was something she hadn't shared with her mother. In fact, no one except for Fletchling and Rhyhorn knew about this. Anyone else would find what she was doing next to impossible. For Serena however, it felt, well to her it felt normal. Talking to Pokémon, eating Pokémon food, and running at speeds only a Pokémon could match. It all felt normal to her.


As the honey-haired girl raced by, she was unaware that something was watching her. 'Seems her powers are developing rather slowly and in unusual ways.' The entity that had saved her life all those years ago pondered this for a moment. Ever since the day it gave her a part of itself it had watched its new "daughter" from afar, making sure she was safe and wasn't in any danger.


Yet it knew what was going to happen today. Ever since Serena showed that she could talk to Pokémon, her mother had been in contact with Professor Sycamore. The Pokémon researcher was amazed at the girl's miraculous ability to understand what Pokémon was saying. The being almost had a chuckle at this; the language of Pokémon was her native tongue after all. Regardless, the Professor had become a family friend and offered for Serena to come and get herself a starter Pokémon when she turned ten.


'That reminds me, I have something I need to get.' With that said, the being disappeared deeper into the forest.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena's enchanted spirit slowed as she came up to Lumiose City. She continued her race through the city, trying her best to avoid passersby. Rounding a corner, however, she crashed right into someone, knocking both her and the person she ran into back. "Oh, sorry, I should have paid more attention," Serena apologized, looking at who she had run into.


It turned out to be not one person, but two. One was a boy around her age, though he appeared a bit on the short end, with blonde hair, is blue eyes mostly obscured by his large glasses. He was wearing a blue full body jumpsuit and wore a strange backpack-like contraption on his back. "It's quite alright," he assured her.


Serena helped him up, and suddenly found the second person, a younger girl with similar hair and eye color to the boy, in her face. She had on a short-sleeved black top and a fluffy white skirt which resembled a cloud. Over her shoulder was a yellow bag with a small mouse-like Pokémon, a Dedenne to be exact, riding in it. "Oh my you're a keeper! Please take care of my brother!" She beseeched the confused Serena


"Pretty please!" The Dedenne added with his cute high pitched tone.


Serena didn't know how to respond to this. "Wha?" Did this girl and her Dedenne just ask her to take care of her brother? The boy she crashed into went beet red after hearing this, and with a press of a button, a long metal Aipom-like arm came out and picked the little girl up by the back of her neck to face him.


"Bonnie, how many times have I told you to stop doing that?" The boy turned to Serena with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry about my little sister, I keep telling not to do that."


Serena couldn't help but giggle at this. After the moment of shock wore off, she thought it was cute that Bonnie cared for her brother enough that she was trying to get him a bride. If it was a boy who tried that, Serena would be sure he would be hit over the head for being a pervert, but that's double standards in gender for you. "Oh, it's alright, I'm Serena Yvonne."


"My name's Bonnie Volta, and this is my brother Clemont." Bonnie reached into her bag and pulled out the mouse Pokémon. "And this is Dedenne."


"Hi Serena, it's nice to meet you," The mouse Pokémon waved at her happily.


"It's nice to meet you all." Serena gave the trio a smile before remembering, "Oh no, I'm going to be late to see Professor Sycamore!" Serena was about to take off when Bonnie, now freed, grabbed her arm.


"Wait you're going to see the Professor too? Mind if we tag along?" Bonnie gave her cute begging eyes.


Serena gave her a smile. "Sure." Serena took off at speeds ordinary humans were more capable of, this time with the two siblings following her close behind.


A few minutes later Serena walked into the lab's lobby with Bonnie following close behind. "Hello, Professor Sycamore?!" Serena yelled into the building. They waited a few minutes for someone to come by. The door behind them opened as Clemont walked in, short of breath.


Bonnie turned to her late brother, annoyed. "What took you so long; you were going to miss the Professor!" Her brother just flopped on the ground, doing a pretty good impression of a Magikarp out of water. Or in water, for that matter.


A menacing Pokémon that resembled a cross between a shark and a dragon entered the room. The dragon saw Serena and gave her its approximation of a happy smile. It spoke, its voice to the honey-haired girl's ears as surprisingly motherly and calm despite her appearance. "Serena dear, it's good to see you." The Dragon gave her a hug with its fin-like arms which Serena returned.


"Nice to see you too, Garchomp." Serena and Garchomp broke the hug as Serena looked behind the ground and dragon type for her trainer. "Is the Professor busy?"


"Oh, Sycamore? He's busy trying to keep the latest Chespin from eating everything in the kitchen." Garchomp giggled a bit as she recalled the scene in question "He kept asking for Alain to help him but Alain left a week ago on his journey."


"Well, mom told him he should have gotten more assistants." Serena knew Alain for a while now. He was the most skeptical that she could understand Pokémon speech. It took an embarrassing secret from his Charmander for him to finally admit that she could.


"Wait, you're acting like you can understand what Garchomp is saying." Serena turned to Clemont and Bonnie and looked at the older sibling. Serena was a bit embarrassed by this.

"Oh, she can, and I should tell you it's quite remarkable." Professor Sycamore walked into the lobby, his outfit covered in bits of food from the kitchen. "Hello Serena, it's good to see you again. I trust your mother is doing well?"


"She sure is. Oh, she wanted me to say hi for her." Serena gave the Professor a smile as the revelation that Serena could understand Pokémon started to set into the two sibling's minds.


Clemont was the most amazed by this. He actually had trouble believing that this was true. "That can't be. How can someone just understand what Pokémon are saying?!"


Sycamore had a light chuckle at this. "Clemont my boy, it's good to see you and Bonnie again. As for your question..." Sycamore looked at Serena before he sighed. "To be honest, that's something I actually been studying in my spare time. There are methods for speaking with Pokémon. Psychics can telepathically communicate with their Pokémon, and there are ancient legends of people who could do it with aura, but Serena is different. She can understand what they are actually saying without reading their mind or life force."


Serena felt a bit embarrassed as everyone looked at her. She rubbed the back of her head for a moment. Bonnie practically shoved Dedenne up to her with excitement. "Oh, oh, oh can you tell me what Dedenne is saying please?"


"Slow down Bonnie, slow down." Sycamore leaned down to the little girl, "Serena came all this way for something, so why don't we let her do what she came here for first?" Sycamore stood up again and waved his arm as three small Pokémon came forward.


The first was a blue frog-like Pokémon with its eyes extending off its head and a coat of white bubbles around its neck and back. Next was the Pokémon that Sycamore had trouble with a while ago. It was bipedal and looked like a hedgehog in a way. It had a light brown front and dark brown arms. On its back and head were a green shell and quills coming from the top of its head. The last was quadrupedal and looked like a fox. Its fur was yellow with red puffs coming from its ears and at the tip of its tail along with a white muzzle.


The three lined up as Sycamore stood to the side. "Well Serena, I have three Pokémon for you to choose for your starter." His arm outstretched to the one on the right. "We have Froakie." Then to the one in the middle. "Chespin." Finally the one next to him on Serena's left. "And Fennekin." Sycamore gave Serena a smile. "Go ahead and take your time, maybe even talk a bit with them."


Serena nodded, though she did have a personal preference to Fennekin. Leaning down with a smile she greeted the three starters. "Hello, I'm Serena, it's nice to meet you all."


"Whatever," was the Froakie's response with a dismissive tone to his voice. Serena took note of this and his disinterested tone.

"Hey, are you good at cooking?" Chespin asked with a carefree voice and a smile, his stomach winning out.


"Hello, your hat is pretty by the way," Fennekin greeted, her tone formal with a hint of regality to her voice, admiring her outfit.


Serena had a tiny bit of pride after hearing that. "Oh, thank you Fennekin, it's actually something I made." This didn't go unnoticed as the three Pokémon blinked for a moment in surprise.

"Wow she can understand us!" Chespin's excitement caused Froakie to roll his eyes.


"Oh come on, she can't understand us. Humans can't understand what we're saying." Froakie's words and the way he was acting was enough for Serena to dismiss him instantly.


"I'll have you know I can understand each of you," Serena affirmed before giving the frog-like Pokémon a glare. "Also, there are people and Pokémon with psychic powers who can communicate via telepathy." Serena lectured caused Froakie to turn away with a frown, not liking her, and the feeling was mutual.


Chespin raced a paw in question. "So he's out of the running?" Fennekin wasn't surprised at this. She'd been in the lab for a while now and had seen Froakie being picked only to return after a very short time, having to dislike the trainers who picked him. Froakie hopped out of the room, mumbling about this.


"He kinda wasn't in the running," Serena admitted to the grass type. Froakie suddenly felt insulted that he wasn't picked by the girl. Sure he likely would have left her after a week, but really, he wasn't even on her possible choice list. "I actually had a choice in mind before coming here."


Chespin got all happy and proud at those words. Serena then picked up Fennekin, destroying his moment of triumph. "What do you say, Fennekin?"


Fennekin had a huge smile on her face. "Yes! Of course, I'll come with you!"


Sycamore had a smile on his face as well as he saw this. "Well then, congratulations, Serena." Sycamore handed her a Pokéball. "Here's her Pokéball, and I will get your Pokédex in a moment along with your first five Pokéballs." Sycamore walked into the next room as Garchomp led the frozen in shock Chespin out of the room.


Serena put Fennekin down as she looked at the Pokéball. Bonnie seemed to jump up next to her as the young girl started to shoot questions at her. "So you're a new trainer then?! Are you going to take on the Pokémon league?! Are you going to give Fennekin a nickname?!"


Serena couldn't help but give Bonnie a smile. In truth she was wondering whether she should even put Fennekin in her Pokéball and the girl's questions pushed those thoughts from her head. "Well, yeah, I mean I came to Professor Sycamore to get my starter." Serena shrunk the Pokéball in her hands before answering the rest. "I don't know about participating in the League, though. I thought about maybe traveling around Kalos, Unova, or maybe doing some contests."


Serena realized she didn't really have a solid plan on what she was going to do. Maybe she could do a bit of each or possibly head to Kanto to see... Him? A blush came over her as she thought about the boy from summer camp all those years ago, who she had been in contact with ever since via letters.


"I guess you could give me a nickname if you like." Fennekin's words broke her from her thoughts.


"Oh, ok then. Ah, how about..." She thought of a name for a moment.


Sycamore, however, chose that moment to return, pulling a tray with him. "Ok, here are your five starter Pokéballs and your new Pokédex." He picked up the Pokédex. "Now I just need to scan you so it can register you has its holder." Pointing the 'dex at her, the advanced device did something no one was expecting.


"Unknown Pokémon scanned. No data available."

Sycamore raised an eyebrow at this. The Pokédex seemed to be treating the scanning of Serena as that of a Pokémon. Checking it up as a glitch he typed a few things in hopes of having the glitch corrected before scanning Serena again.


"Unknown Pokémon scanned. No data available."


Clemont looked at the device as his mind raced with possibilities as to why it kept saying that Serena was a Pokémon. "Hmmm, perhaps the problem is a programming error? A few Pokédexes of this model end up having an error where they don't properly scan a target Pokémon. Maybe it's something like that."


Sycamore thought about what he suggested and figured it made sense. He had to send out a few patches for Pokédexes in case of programming errors and the like all the time. "Makes sense. Hmm I'll have to turn off the Pokémon scanning function for a moment, maybe that would help."

Tapping in the code to disable the feature he tried it once again.


"Scan complete. This Pokédex is registered to Serena Yvonne of Vaniville Town," the Pokédex responded, finally working the way the Professor expected. A few more taps on the keypad reset the functions on the 'dex to clear up any bugs it may have.


"Well then, now that's settled, here is your Pokédex. I helped make this model myself." Sycamore rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed by the glitch. "I'll be sure to give it the patch by the end of the day, so no worries about it confusing a Fletchling with a Moltres." Now that Serena was done Sycamore turned to Clemont and Bonnie. "So, what can I help you both with?"


Bonnie pulled out Dedenne to show to the professor. "My brother caught me Dedenne to take care of a month ago." Dedenne was then put back in her bag. "Then dad told me that I could get a junior trainer's license, so I wanted to come by to get one."


Sycamore nodded in understanding. "That can be given easily, though you do know that Kalos Law requires a recommendation from a full-fledged Trainer to vouch for you." Sycamore looked at Clemont, giving the boy a knowing look. "So, I take it she had the Lumiose City gym leader's recommendation?"


"Yeah." Clemont was still a bit unsure about this, but Bonnie really wanted to be a trainer, and after their dad let it slip about the junior license . He knew there wasn't much else he could do.


Serena blinked in surprise. "Wait you're the Lumiose City gym leader?"


Sycamore gave Serena a nod. "Not only that, but he's also a bit of an inventor. I've seen a few of his inventions myself." Clemont had a bit of pride at hearing though Bonnie just rolled her eyes.


"Yeah the ones that didn't explode in our faces." Her deadpan tone soon crushed much of her big brother's pride by reminding him of his overwhelming number of failures. The poor boy.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later in the Lumiose City Pokémon Center, the three newly made friends took a little time to talk about themselves and their dreams. Well, Clemont and Bonnie's dreams, mostly. Clemont wanted to be a famous inventor, but as Bonnie kept pointing out, not only did an alarming number of his inventions explode, he was terrible at names. Clemont tried to dismiss this, but Bonnie started listing off a few of the ridiculous names he came up within the past month until he begged her to stop. Bonnie, on the other hand, wanted to travel across the world.


"You both seem so set on your goals." Serena's comment caused her to think about her own goals as she brushed Fennekin's fur.


"Hey, don't worry; I'm sure you'll find something for yourself." Clemont gave her a friendly smile.


"Oh, oh, oh, maybe you can travel with us?" Bonnie turned to her brother. "I want to explore the world and make a lot of friends, you should come with me and my brother!"


"Bonnie, you know I have a gym to run," Clemont protested to his sister.

Bonnie shook her head at this excuse. It might have worked in the past, but there was something that she could counter with. "Come on Clemont, you can leave the gym in Clem-bot's hands, right!?"


Clemont was taken aback by his sister. He had indeed gotten approval by the league in using his robot double as a substitute on the off chance he was too busy or away from his gym on travels. "Well, yes, but..."


Bonnie would have none of his excuses, pointing at his face, "No buts, there's no reason you can't take me on a journey. You also need to get out of that gym." Bonnie waved her arm out at Serena. "Besides, you need to get Serena to fall in love with you!"


Clemont's face turned red out of pure embarrassment after hearing his little sister's declaration. "Bonnie, please stop," Clemont begged his little sister.


Fennekin was broken between giggling at the scene and rolling her eyes. True, it was adorable that a younger sibling would be trying to get her brother a girlfriend, but it just seemed silly at how easily she was taking control. Serena, however, was a bit annoyed by this. She already had a boy that she liked. "Bonnie, look, I think it's sweet and adorable that you're trying to get your brother a wife," She started sweetly before she got much more serious. "I think your brother is probably a wonderful person, but I already have someone I like."

"Oh, alright, sorry." Bonnie's mood soured a bit but Serena gave her a kind smile.


"Don't worry Bonnie, I still want to travel with the two of you." Serena reassured the younger girl.


Bonnie was hopeful after hearing this. "Really?" Serena nodded, causing the girl's brief moment of sadness to turn into excitement.


"Excuse me." The three turned to Nurse Joy and her Wigglytuff, which had a box in its arms. The Nurse had a note in her hands as she turned to the honey-haired girl. "You are Serena, correct?" Serena nodded as Wigglytuff handed her the box. "This was found just outside the Pokémon center, with a note addressed to you." Nurse Joy handed Serena the note.


Perplexed, Serena opened the note and read what was rather poorly yet still legibly written on it. 'Happy Birthday, Serena. I hope your journey makes you stronger and wiser in the coming years. Within the box is a gift, which is long overdue. Signed, your Father.'


Serena was confused by this. Her father had already given her his gift. Well, his secretary had given her it. Her father was rather distant with her and her mother didn't seem to like him at all. Her origins aside, she was pretty sure she only had one father. "Thank you both."

"My pleasure." Nurse Joy gave a bow.

"If you need anything else just ask." Wigglytuff joined the nurse as the both of them left the group.

The small fox-like Pokémon looked at the box and the letter with curiosity. "Who's it from?" Fennekin asked as Serena turned to her and closed the note.

"I have no idea." She opened up the box and saw what was in it. She pulled it out to show the others a small marble-like a stone with a symbol resembling a segment of DNA within its center. "A Key Stone?" Serena was familiar with this object. After all, Sycamore specialized in Pokémon Evolution and had been studying this in particular.


Clemont looked at the stone, recalling that Diantha and a few of his fellow gym leaders had one. "Wait, isn't that one part of what's needed for Mega Evolution?" Serena nodded as she looked at the orb in her hand. That was now apparently hers.


"It is." Serena was lost for words at the gift. She didn't know why anyone would give her something like this.

As they left the Center, a breeze flowed through her hair in the sunset sky. Another breeze kicked by and for a moment Serena thought she could feel a presence for the faintest of moments. When she glanced around, however, there was nobody but herself and her companions.

"What is it, Serena?" Fennekin asked with concern.


"Did you just feel-" Serena began but shook her head. "Nevermind. It was probably nothing."

Her mysterious benefactor, who most certainly wasn't nothing, smiled as it watched Serena and her new friends walking away. 'I'm sure you will make good use of that gift, my darling Sereginia..."

 

[Dragon's Blaze]

Chapter 2
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________​

A crisp morning fog filled the air as a boat crossed the calm waters, its destinations over the horizon. At the front of the ship stood Serena, now fifteen years old, with her friends and traveling companions. Clemont, still a bit short for his age, kept having to rub the fog off his glasses. Each time he did, though they fogged up again, making the whole thing pointless.


"I told you to get contacts." Next to Clemont was his sister Bonnie, sporting Serena's old outfit, minus the hat. It had gotten a bit small and instead of throwing it away Bonnie wanted it and Serena was all too happy to give it to her.


"I told you they itch whenever I put them in," Clemont protested as Serena just giggled. The sibling's antics always seemed to lighten her mood. Serena went back into thought before pulling out a case from her shoulder bag. Opening it, she saw her eight Sinnoh gym badges, looking them over for a moment.

"You getting nervous?" A regal feminine voice asked. Serena turned to see that Braixen had walked on deck. The bipedal fox could read her partner like a glove, a benefit of being with her the longest out of all her Pokémon.


"A bit. I mean, I know I've done a lot of battling in these past few years, but never this." Serena thought back to the last few years, as they traveled across Kalos before they went to Unova. It was there she really started doing battles with the battle club and the tournaments that were hosted there. She winced for a moment, remembering when they got caught up with a group calling themselves Team Plasma.


It was where Serena almost came to question herself and the bond she shared with her Pokémon, which they themselves quickly shot down. They were more than a team, they were like a family. With her beliefs strengthened she meet their leader and surprised him with the fact that she could actually understand Pokémon, and then a bit later let it slip she could use Pokémon moves. She nearly destroyed his whole worldview. Then Reshiram and Zekrom happened and they along with him managed to stop the organization's true leader in the end.


Luckily their travels in Johto and Hoenn were not as crazy as that mess. She even got into contests, which she absolutely loved. Yet there was something missing that she couldn't quite fathom.


And then, just before her fifteenth birthday, like on the day she started her journey, and a few others at random times, a strange box and note were given to her with a badge case and a note telling her to join the Sinnoh league and wishing her luck and happiness.

"Don't worry, we're nervous as well." Serena raised an eyebrow at this, not buying it, well, not buying that they all were nervous. "Ok, Serperior thinks you'll blaze through the trainers with her, Lucario is calm as ever, and Popplio is so excited we had to spend the past half hour getting her to calm down."


"She does know she isn't trained for battling, right?" Serena had to suppress the urge to giggle at this. Her little water type was always easy to excite and it was one of the reasons she loved her.


Braixen rolled her eyes. "That was the first thing we tried. It took Sylveon rapping all her feelers around her to finally get her to calm down." Braixen turned to Clemont before returning her gaze to her friend and partner. "Also, Chespin ate the all Poképuffs again."


Serena facepalmed at this. Clemont looked at her, wondering what it was that Braixen had told her, only for Serena to turn to him. "Clemont, Chespin ate the Poképuffs again." Clemont groaned softly after hearing this. Serena turned to Braixen as the boat docked. "Go get the others, we have to sharpen ourselves before it starts."


Braixen nodded before smiling. "I take it we'll be doing it out of the way of the other trainers?"


"Yeah, I am going to join you all and we don't need people spying on us." Braixen caught her trainers meaning with a nod before racing off to get the others ready. Bonnie walked up to her with a curious look.


"You're going to use that, right?" Bonnie pointed at her chest and Serena looked down. Handing on a neck chain was a heart-shaped charm with the Key Stone embedded in it. She knew what Bonnie was asking. Was she going to use Mega Evolution during this League?


Serena was kind of conflicted about using it. From what she gathered, outside Kalos most hadn't even heard about it let alone have the means to Mega Evolve. "Maybe, though I want to save it for someone who deserves it," Serena answered as Bonnie nodded in understanding.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sceptile blinked as he picked up his Pokéball. The fully evolved grass type wondered where Ash was at. He was told by the Professor that Ash was calling up all his Pokémon for the Sinnoh League, and now he was here, in some unfamiliar forest. "Hmmm, knowing his luck something happened and I got separated." As he was deciding to either wait for his trainer to come and find him or to find him himself, he heard what sounded like a Pokémon battle close by.


His curiosity piqued at their potential opponents, Sceptile decided to take a look. Hiding in the bushes he saw a group of unfamiliar Pokémon training. The closest near him were mostly green and white regal-looking serpent training with a jackal-like Pokémon that Sceptile recognized has a Lucario. "Come now, dear, is that really all you got?" the Lucario quipped.


The serpent-like Pokémon gave him a playful smirk. "Oh, that's how it's going to be then?" She glows as the ground split open, massive vines shooting at him. "Frenzy Plant!"


The Lucario was either very quick or had enough experience with this as he took off, jumping on each vine, summoning a bone made of aura to help hit back any vine that got too close. It was strange how the way he was moving was more reminiscent of contest battling.

"Go, Mom! Go, Dad! You're both going to win this!" A childlike yet regal voice spoke as Sceptile caught sight of a small Pokémon that looked like the serpent's pre-evolution. By the sound of it, the Lucario was his father.


A bit to the side he spotted a Milotic lounging in a pond with a Pokémon that seemed somewhat like a Seal, only leaner and blue. It bounced a bubble on its nose in excitement as a pink and white Pokémon with ribbons that seemed to be a part of it watched her closely. 'It looks like an evolution of Eevee,' he thought.


On the other side, he noticed two humans, a boy and a girl who looked like siblings, watching the Pokémon along with a small white and black bear-like Pokémon. Sceptile narrowed his eyes as he spotted a Pokémon that looked a bit like Pikachu on the girl's lap. Next to them were a rabbit-like Pokémon and a brown and green one eating Pokémon food at an alarming rate. Resting in front of them was a feline-like Pokémon.


In the air nearby he spotted an eagle-like Pokémon with red, white, and blue feathers flying overhead as it dodged streams of fire being sent at it from the tip of a branch in the hands of a bipedal fox on the ground.


Finally, in the back, he spotted a Shiny Gardevoir battling something Sceptile had a hard time seeing. Edging ever closer he finally could make out who Gardevoir was facing, and was astounded that it looked to be her trainer, a honey-haired girl about Ash's age. 'What the distortion wor-' Sceptile's thoughts were stopped as he watched the girl gather a ball of energy in her hand and fire a Shadow Ball right at the Shiny Gardevoir! "What in Arceus'-"


Sceptile froze as he felt a presence behind him. Turning around he was meet with the single eye of a floating sword with a shield held in front by its two cloth-like arms. "Mistress Serena, we have an intruder!"


His scream was caught by Lucario, who paused his Aura sphere as Serperior stopped her Energy Ball. At seeing the two of them stop their training, the others turned and soon everyone in the clearing was looking at the fully evolved Hoenn Pokémon. Sceptile cursed under his breath.


"That's enough, Aegislash." The floating shield and sword floated away to the honey-haired girl's side. Serperior slid up to her fellow grass type with a glare.

"Spying on us, weren't you! Where is your trainer?" Serperior looked ready to start a fight with her fellow grass type. Snivy hopped in agreement with his mother while Lucario was ready to keep his mate from going too far.


Sceptile held up his Pokéball and started to make gestures to convey his story and predicament to the humans as he spoke to the Pokémon. "I kind of got separated from my trainer. I think my Pokéball got blasted out of the machine during transfer or something and I landed nearby." He looked at the assembled Pokémon and people. "I didn't see much, I swear."

Both Popplio and Snivy, being the youngest of the group, couldn't help but laugh at Sceptile. "Why were you adding those hilarious gestures?"


Sceptile looked at the Unovan Pokémon with a slight glare. "So that the humans can understand me."

"You don't have to do that, silly." Popplio waved a flipper to Serena with pride. "My mama can understand Pokémon speak."


Serena had a bit of an embarrassed smile as Popplio just told a random stranger her big secret. 'I need to teach her not to just say that everyone we meet.' Serena mentally filed for later.


Sceptile wasn't as surprised as he should have been. Only a moment ago he watched her use Shadow Ball, a Pokémon move. Even after all that he had been through and heard that Ash had done, even he was surprised by that.

"Hey, Serena, what is that Sceptile saying?" Bonnie had a good idea of what Sceptile meant, but Serena usually did a better job of explaining it, especially when her guesses were wrong. Really, Bonnie wished that she could learn how to understand Pokémon.


"Oh, Sceptile's Pokéball got separated from his trainer do to an accident," Serena relayed to her companions. She looked at the forest Pokémon again. "You mind telling me what your trainer looks like?"


Sceptile thought about this for a moment. His trainer likely wasn't wearing the same outfit as before, and all humans looked more or less the same to him, so this would be tricky...


"Sceptile, hello? Sceptile!" Sceptile turned his head in the direction of where the voice came from.


"Are you around here, Sceptile?" Three people walked into the clearing. One was a tan-skinned young man wearing a green collared shirt, an orange vest, khaki pants and blue hi-tops. The second one was a blue-haired girl wearing a black and pink v-chop mini dress, and a white beanie on her head along with pink knee-high boots and a yellow backpack.


The final one, however, caused Serena to pause as her mind flashed back to the summer camp almost ten years ago. After that day she kept in connect with him via the mail, but for years now she had lost touch with him. Her memory flashed back as she compared him then with now. The boy was fifteen years old wearing a black vest with a white collar, a white short-sleeve undershirt, blue cargo jeans, black and red sneakers and a blue Pokéball hat. Also, a Pikachu was riding on his shoulder.


"Ash..." Serena's voice was shocked, and Ash looked equally surprised at seeing the Kalosian girl.


"Serena? What are you doing here?" Ash's familiarity with the stranger caused both his companions to look at the girl in question.


Serena pulled out her badge case. "I'm here to compete in the Sinnoh League." She had a small blush on her face. There was a brief feeling in the back of her head that this all felt arranged, but it was quickly shot down.


"Seriously? That's great, I'm competing as well!" Ash's exclamation caused Serena to blush a bit more.


"Ash, you know this girl?" the blue-haired girl asked.


Ash nodded. "Yeah, this is Serena. We met at summer camp when I was a kid, and wrote letters to each other for years."


"You never told me you had a pen pal," the dark-skinned boy complained.


"I don't need to tell you everything," Ash said defensively, unaware that Pikachu, his partner and so believed that Ash did tell him everything, was upset by this omission. "We lost touch a few years back. I didn't think I'd ever see her again, but..." He smiled at Serena, causing her heart to flutter. "Here we are."


"Yeah," she whispered. "Here we are..."

"Hey Braixen, do you think it's him?" The Shiny Gardevoir asked, her voice a bit higher pitched and soft.


Braixen turned to her friend. Gardevoir was Serena's first catch back when she was a Ralts, and both Pokémon had an almost sisterly bond with each other and Serena. They were the only two Pokémon that she ever told of her crush, after all. "I do believe it is." Braixen held back a giggle.


Gardevoir soon had a dreamy look in her eyes as she started to picture this as if it were one of those romantic books she loved to read. "This is so perfect. After the league, they can confess their feelings, become a couple and get married!" The assembled Pokémon all turned to the Embrace Pokémon with either a look of confusion, eye rolls, or in Popplio's case, joy after hearing this.

"I'm getting a daddy?" Before she could go on an excitement-driven cheer Sylveon wrapped her feelers around her to calm the Pokémon down.


This was the first time that Serena wished she couldn't understand Pokémon. Her face was almost completely red from all of this. Thankfully, the moment was broken when Bonnie loudly reminded everyone of her existence by rushing up to Dawn and exclaiming, "You're a keeper! Won't you please take care of my brother-"


"BONNIE, NO!"

~~~~~~~~~~~

It turned out the Pokémon Center that Ash and his friends had picked to stay in was the same one Serena and her friends were staying at as well. Serena silently found that oddly convenient. As they all settled down for a meal in the Center's cafeteria, human and Pokémon eating together, Serena placed a bowl next to her for Popplio. "Thank you, mama!" Popplio started eating as Serena gave her soft pet on the head.


Serena placed the last bowl in front of her, puzzling Dawn, who wondered who it was for. She got her answer as Serena took a few of the bits and ate them. "Wait, you're eating Pokémon food?"


Clemont and Bonnie, who were unfazed by this, looked at Dawn. "She tends to prefer it over human food."


Clemont's explanation didn't do much to curb the weirdness of watching Serena eat Pokémon food. Serena gained another blush as she saw Ash was watching her. Serena started to get self-conscious about it. "Well, you see..." Serena tried to come up with an explanation. "I... I kinda want to be closer to my Pokémon, you know?" Serena turned away from Ash, mentally screaming at herself. 'Oh, Arceus he probably thinks I'm a freak!'


"Wow, really? That's so amazing." Serena turned back to him as everyone looked at the boy. "I mean, you're willing to go that far to bond with your Pokémon!" Ash rubbed the back of his neck with an embarrassed look. "Truth is, I tried that myself. I just couldn't handle the taste at all."


Serena gave a sigh of relief, yet she still had a small blush at his praise. She caught both Braixen and Gardevoir giggling at this. She shot her two honorary sisters a glare.


"So you two have known each other for how long?" Dawn queried.


Serena and Ash looked at each other after hearing Dawn's question. "Well, we met at Professor Oak's summer camp when we were six, and kept in touch via the mail," Serena answered as she had one of her sweet smiles.


Ash nodded, "Yeah, I remember hearing that you had gotten your first Pokémon. It got me so psyched for mine, that I kinda stayed up and overslept."


Serena cursed herself after hearing that. She was four months older than Ash and remembered sending him the letter about getting Fennekin. In her eyes, that caused him to miss out on getting himself a starter. "I'm so sorry Ash, I didn't know!" Serena apologized but Ash gave her a friendly smile.


"Hey, no worries, I may have overslept but it's thanks to that I met Pikachu." Ash turned to his starter as Pikachu paused from eating his ketchup-covered Pokébits. "We've traveled a lot to together and are the best of pals."

"Oh. Thank you, I guess," Pikachu thanked the honey-haired girl.


"You're welcome, I think." Serena gave the electric type a smile.


"You three have some amazing Pokémon." Brock's statement caused both Clemont and Bonnie to give each other embarrassed looks.


"Yeah, about that, all the Pokémon here except Dedenne, Snivy, Bunnelby, Luxray, and Chespin are all Serena's," Clemont explained. The group turned and looked at the assembled Pokémon. Serena had at least ten Pokémon with her.


"Isn't that over the six Pokémon limit?" Brock questioned as Clemont, Serena and Bonnie all had guilty expressions on their faces. "What did you do?" Brock crossed his arms with a frown.


"Well, you see, technically Serena has six on hand, it's just she can't seem to part with her Pokémon." Clemont remembered that Serena rarely put them in their Pokéballs unless they wanted it or she had too. The surprise when she first saw a Pokéball disappear via transporter was still fresh on his mind. He hazarded a guess she almost learned Scary Face. Clemont pointed to his upgraded backpack contraption. "I made a special compartment in my device that stores her extra pokemon's Pokéballs in a state similar to that the Professors use."


"Wow, you made it yourself?" Dawn asked in amazement.


Clemont gave Dawn an affirmative nod. "Yeah, it's one of my brother's inventions." Bonnie turned away and said under her breath, "At least one that didn't blow up in our faces." He scowled at her.


Ash looked at all the Pokémon that Serena had, tempted to pull out his Pokédex to scan most of them. He looked back at the honey-haired girl with a bit of excitement. "So are most of them from Kalos?"


"Well, Braixen, Gardevoir, Sylveon, Pancham, and Aegislash are from Kalos," Serena listed her first five Pokémon. She didn't add that Aegislash, Sylveon and Gardevoir had evolved in Unova. In Aegislash's case, he was fully evolved a bit after they started traveling in Johto. "Serperior, Lucario, and Braviary are from Unova." She then looked at Milotic, "She's from Hoenn." Finally, she tickled Popplio. "And my little girl hatched from an egg I got in Johto about three months ago."

"Mama, stop it that tickles!" Popplio giggled as Serena just continued to tickle her.


"So you have ten Pokémon, then?" Ash asked. Serena shook her head at this. "How many more do you have?"


"I have three more. Two stay with my mother to help her and the last is currently in training." Serena finished as she thought about them. One wasn't much for battling or contests, yet despite that she was good at caretaking and cooking. The other was with her due to feeling a sense of danger in the Kalos region and wanted to be there to warn anyone of it. She also was a great companion for her mother, watching her game shows and movies together. The last one was training with a friend and she was to expect her back likely after the Sinnoh League.


"So have you competed in any other leagues?" Brock asked.


"No, we actually mostly traveled and did small tournaments for a while. I did do contests for a while until I decided to try my hand at a Pokémon league," Serena admitted, though she kept the fact someone gave her the idea after leaving a box in front of the Pokémon center she was staying at.


"So you're a coordinator and a battler?" Dawn asked.


Serena pulled out three Johto ribbons. "Unfortunately, I was a bit late and couldn't compete in the Grand Festival." Serena looked down at the ribbons and put them back in her bag. "Some of my Pokémon only do one of either. Pancham and Sylveon, for instance, prefer contests or other events, while Serperior and Aegislash are solely battlers."

"I wouldn't be caught within one of those contests," Serperior added, still savoring her food.

"I don't know mom, dad showed me how they work and I would like to take part in them," Snivy spoke up. Serperior looked at her son and then turned to Lucario with a bit of a glare.

"He asked and so I showed him a few of the routines me, and Braixen had worked out." Lucario's calm reply was met with an annoyed eye roll from Serperior.

"Oh come on Serperior, let the boy choose for himself!" Pancham half-yelled at the regal Pokémon. Sylveon wacked Pancham with her feelers soon after. "Hey, why did you do that?"


Sylveon looked at him with an eye roll before speaking, her voice naturally cute-sounding. "You be quiet, this is between Snivy's parents." Pancham shot her a slight glare before going back to eating. Sylveon turned to see Pikachu looking at her with a puzzled expression. "Yes?"


"Sorry, but did you evolve from an Eevee?" Pikachu had a feeling that was the case but he wanted to make sure.

"Yes, I did," Sylveon answered with a smile. "I'm a Sylveon." She extended one of her feelers for Pikachu to shake.

"Thanks, you're kinda pretty." Pikachu had a slight blush on his face, as did Sylveon.


Dawn's Buneary who was watching, gave Sylveon a death glare. Hopping over, she knocked Sylveon's feeler out of Pikachu's paws. "Back off tramp, he's mine!"


Pikachu let out a sigh at seeing this. Sylveon, however, shot back a glare at the rabbit Pokémon. "Did you just call me a tramp?!"


Sylveon and Buneary were just about ready to fight when Pikachu broke it up. "Hey, hey, no need for a fight, ok?" The two turned away from each other in a huff.


The small argument didn't go unnoticed by the trainers. Dawn had a blush of embarrassment after watching her Buneary get possessive of Pikachu. She gave Serena an apologetic look. "Sorry about that, Buneary kinda has a crush on Pikachu."


Serena waved it off. "It's fine, it happens." Popplio tagged a bit on Serena's clothes. Serena turned to her little sea lion Pokémon.

"Mama, I'm done eating." Serena picked up Popplio's empty food bowl with a motherly smile. Popplio yawned before snuggling closer to her. "I'm sleepy." Popplio was soon napping next to her.


"Looks like Popplio has fallen asleep," Bonnie cooed in a low tone as Serena petted Popplio lightly. "Everyone be quiet." Bonnie made a shushing motion to the others. The rest of the conversation was spent with soft talking and whispers as Serena and Ash spent the time catching up on the years they'd missed.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Serena looked out at the clear night sky from the balcony of her room as the stars twinkled. The Lily of the Valley Conference was soon to start, yet Serena wasn't even thinking about it. No, her mind was set on Ash. She blushed a bit as her mind conjured up an image of him in the stars.

"You're thinking about the Conference? Or is it about you know who?" Serena turned around to see Gardevoir standing there with her head tilted.

"A bit of both," Serena tried to cover herself, embarrassed.


Gardevoir giggled at her honorary sister. "He's quite the person. I can see why you fell in love with him." Gardevoir's efforts got a deeper blush from Serena. "So you think we're ready for the league?"



That was a big question that Serena didn't know how to answer. She believed in her team, in her family. She was sure they would do their best, yet there was still an unsettling feeling. This was her first attempt at a league. Ash had told her that this was his third major league run and he had yet to win one. Who knows how many more have similar stories? She started to feel in over her head. "I... I'm not sure."

Gardevoir took her hand in hers and looked at Serena straight in the eye. "Serena, it's ok to be nervous, but remember, we came to do our best." Gardevoir gave her a sisterly smile.

"Yeah, you shouldn't let yourself worry." Serena turned to see Braixen at her side. "Remember all we've been through."


Serena recalled her journey so far with her friends. All they had done and the hardships they faced. Her free hand moved to her pendant encased Key Stone. Serena closed her eyes and held it over her heart before she opened her eyes with a determined look.


"Thanks, girls." She brought them both into a hug. "I needed that."


Both Pokémon returned the hug. Outside the building, someone watched the scene from outside the window before turning its attention to another room on the other side of the building.


Ash was, like Serena, looking out in the night sky, reminiscing about all he had gone through since he came to Sinnoh. Pikachu jumped next his partner, breaking him from his thoughts. "Well, we had an amazing journey, right buddy?"


"Pikachu." Pikachu nodded in agreement. It was always a blast traveling with Ash, traveling the world and making so many friends. Ash rubbed Pikachu's head, getting a happy "chaa' from the Pokémon.


"I'm really happy to see Serena again." Ash thought about summer camp and their letters to one another. Seeing her after all this time caused a weird feeling to come over him. He didn't want to see Serena go, and what's weird was he wanted to stay close to her. "Hey Pikachu, mind if I tell you something?"


Pikachu looked at his partner with a curious look on his face. "Pika."


"It's just, seeing Serena after all this time, it's, well..." Ash paused, wondering how he was going to go about this. "I miss her and I don't want to see her go away again." Pikachu raised an eyebrow as he heard this. Could it be that Ash was actually in love with someone? "I don't know how to describe it Pikachu, but I hope that I get to see more of her." Ash had a very slight blush on his face before he walked out of the room.


Pikachu blinked for a few minutes before he jumped down and raced out to the rest of Ash's Pokémon waiting in the next room. The mouse Pokémon turned to Sceptile. "Well, looks like you, Bulbasaur, Swellow, and Noctowl win the bet."


Sceptile turned down to the mouse with a confused look. "Which bet?" Sceptile remembered a few bets he had with the mouse and a few other Pokémon at the ranch. It was something they did to keep busy.

"The Big One. You know, the bet on if Ash would ever fall in love," Pikachu explained.


Sceptile stared at him for a few moments before remembering the bet in question. He only joined it because everyone else seemed to do it and because he had to admit, it was kind of strange watching his fourteen-year-old trainer not show any signs of attraction to anyone. "I'll be honest. I wasn't fully into it when I made my bet," Sceptile admitted before he looked back at Pikachu. "So, is it the new blue haired girl? May, or that girl Misty?" Pikachu shook his head and with that Sceptile's list of possible females was thrown out. Cringing, he tentatively asked, "Is it Brock?" Pikachu gave him a weird look. "What? Humans occasionally do that, you know," he said defensively.


Pikachu blinked a few times as he tried to find the words to respond with. "I... wha... how... I didn't need to know that." Pikachu after a few moments just accepted it as something he shouldn't judge. "You don't mind if I ask how you found that out?"


"Oh, I watch TV occasionally with the others. Sports mostly, but Meganium has dragged me into watching her Soap Operas. It's where I learned about that." Sceptile shrugged. "Not my place to judge. If they're happy they're happy." He did know a few pokemon that did it as well. Give how Pikachu was reacting he likely didn't know it either. 'I wonder how unknown is it to everyone?'


That was another thing Pikachu had to question. 'How long ago was it when Bayleef evolved?' Deciding to stay on track Pikachu pushed that question aside for now. "No, it's that girl Serena. The one Ash used to know for years. You four betted that Ash already had his eyes on someone and you were right." Pikachu held his paw under his chin in thought. "Though he still doesn't know that he is in love."


Sceptile blinked for a moment at hearing this. "Seriously? He's fifteen years old and he still doesn't know what love is?" Sceptile shook his head in disappointment. "You know, she can understand us. Not only that, I saw her use Shadow Ball."

"You're joking right?" Pikachu looked at Sceptile, whose expression had changed to a very serious one. "You're not joking."

"Trust me I am not." The two were silent for a moment as they considered this.

"How in the name of Arceus is that even possible?" Pikachu has seen a lot of crazy stuff traveling with Ash. Psychics and Magic users? Yeah, he could understand that. Legendary Pokémon and Ash saving the day? He learned to accept it. A human that could understand how Pokémon speak and could use a ghost type move? Yeah, that finally stretched his rather flexible definition of believability.


"Maybe she's secretly part Pokémon?" Sceptile joked, receiving a glare of annoyance from Pikachu. "That was a joke. The rest, yeah, I'm dead serious and trust me, even I have a hard time believing it and I saw it!"

 

[Dragon's Blaze]

Chapter 3​

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fireworks popped in the skies above the stadiums as the Lily of the Valley Conference was underway. Vendors set up shop all around the Stadiums, hawking their overpriced goods and wares. Spectators flooded into the stands, ready to watch the trainers do battle. The hopeful trainers were all standing together in the main stadium, waiting for Mr. Goodshow to begin the tournament. Serena herself stood at the far end of the crowd of trainers. She could make out Ash with his Pikachu on his shoulder in the center of the crowd. She took a look at the other trainers. Some were younger than her, others older, and a few were around her age.


Everyone turned their attention forward as Mr. Goodshow soon ascended to the stage and took the mike. "I welcome everyone to the start of the Lily of the Valley Conference, boy that's a mouthful huh?" The aging Head of the Pokémon League's little joke brought a smile to a few of the trainers' faces. "Our contestants have traveled far and wide from across the regions, they have proven their worth by defeating eight gyms, and now here they are to compete in the Sinnoh League!" A roar of cheers and applause were heard by the spectators in the stands. "Now to officially signal the beginning of the Conference: the lighting of the torch!"


The trainers turned around as the torch runner came racing up. The trainers moved out of the way as the runner ascended the stairs and placed the flame in the torch perched atop the stadium, igniting it, and bathing everyone in its light and heat.


With the opening ceremonies concluded, the trainers started to leave the area, including Serena. From what she remembered, there were around a hundred and twenty-eight competitors, meaning that before the tournament began, preliminary rounds would be held to eliminate trainers until there were sixty-four finalists.

"You did well out there." Serena turned to see Lucario standing there waiting for her with Serperior. "I can sense your nervousness."


"Yeah, a little." The canine-like Pokémon gave her a smile. True, she was nervous but she was also ready for whatever was thrown at her.


Serperior slithered up to the two of them after they had their moment. "Now that this is out of the way, we should rejoin the others and see who our first opponent will be." Serena gave a nod in agreement as she followed her two Pokémon to get ready.


Pikachu had kept his eyes on Serena as he watched her converse with her Pokémon. A bystander would probably chalk it up to a trainer being close enough to get the gist of what their partners were saying. The mouse Pokémon, however, could understand them, and the way Serena spoke to Serperior and Lucario was a bit too direct.


Pikachu was still skeptical that she could understand Pokémon, but now he was actually thinking Sceptile was right. Ash turned his head, noticing that Pikachu was looking off in thought. "Hey Pikachu, are you alright?"


Pikachu turned back to Ash and gave a sheepish look in embarrassment. "Pi, Pika." Ash turned to see the retreating figure of Serena and her Pokémon. Strangely enough, he felt bad about battling her for some unexplained reason.

'Wait, where is this coming from?' It was weird, as it wasn't the only feeling he had. He wondered if she would stay around if she was defeated, or if she would cheer him on as they battled. 'Maybe I should ask Brock about this?' Brock seemed to have advice for everything, and maybe he could help him with this feeling he had for Serena.


Mentally reminding himself to talk to Brock about it later, Ash walked into the Lobby to find his friend when he paused, seeing Paul walking out of the building. Forgetting his plan to ask Brock, Ash raced to catch up with his Sinnoh rival. "Paul, wait up!" The purple haired teen turned to Ash, his face hosting a neutral and indifferent expression. "I see you made it."


Paul simply sneered at this. "Of course I did." The purple haired teen was about to take off again. Ash was about to make a response when another voice cut in.


"Hey, do you know how rude, you're being?!" Bonnie yelled as she came walking up to Paul with Dedenne and Snivy following her. "Ash is trying to be your friend, the least you can do is not be a jerk about it." Dedenne and Snivy both spoke in agreement with her.


Paul looked at her for a moment but didn't seem fazed at all by her words. "Whatever." Turning around, however, he was met with a one-eyed glare courtesy of Aegislash.


Next, to the somewhat menacing floating Shield and Sword was Serena, who also had a glare fixed at Paul. "What is your deal?" Serena hadn't even met this guy, and already she was starting to dislike him.


Paul looked at the honey-haired girl and back at the Aegislash. He recalled seeing it with a bunch of other Pokémon waiting in the lobby. Paul may have never been to the region, but he knew the Pokémon from what his brother had told him about it. "My deal is this is a serious competition. That's it."


Aegislash's glare hardened from one of mild annoyance to one of loathing. There was something about this boy that the Royal Sword Pokémon just hated. "Mistress, is it alright if I attack him?"


Serena shook her head at his request. No matter how much she disliked the guy, she wouldn't wish Aegislash's wrath on him. "No, Aegislash." She sighed and got out of his way, allowing Paul to walk past. Pikachu watched that with interest. It wasn't hard to pick out her Pokémon's emotions, but something about that exchange told him she had heard him speak.


Paul hesitated, then glanced back. "You've been to Kalos, correct?"


"I'm actually from Kalos." Serena raised an eyebrow at this, wondering what he was getting at. "Why are you asking?"


Paul turned to her with a look that held a bit of curiosity. "Is it true? The rumors of a higher evolution?"


Serena was taken back for a moment after hearing this. Only a few trainers have asked her about that on her travels. Ash was confused by Paul's questioning. "Higher Evolution? What's that?"


Paul looked at Ash, seeming more understanding of his ignorance than usual. "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it, it's not well known." Paul paused for a moment turning to Serena. "It's said to be an extra evolution that certain Pokémon have access to. Its temporary, yet the results are easily apparent." Paul locked eyes with Serena. "Kalos is said to be where it was discovered."


Serena debated for a moment on how to respond to this. She didn't think he was one of those who could achieve it. "There is, but it's not something that you can get with training."


Paul had a surprised look for a moment after hearing her say this. He didn't believe the rumors himself, but the idea of a higher state of power for his Pokémon was tempting. It also made sense that simple training wouldn't be enough. After all, if that was the case, it would be known the world over. "So it is true, then. Have you seen it before?"


Serena closed her eyes for a second as a memory flashed through her mind. She opened her eyes and answered, "Yes, I've seen it."


Paul looked at Serena for a moment before nodding his head. "Thank you for your time." He turned away and what he said next surprised everyone. "I hope you get far in the league." He walked away from the group as he wondered what to do with this information.


A silence came over the group for a short while until it was finally broken by Ash. "Wow, so there really is a higher evolution?" Ash questioned, still at a loss for words after hearing this.


Bonnie gave Ash a nod. "Yeah, it's called Mega Evolution. You should see it! It turns a strong Pokémon even stronger!" Bonnie turned to Serena who shook her head.


"Wow, I wish I could see it!" Ash said excitedly. Serena's hands reached for her pendant after hearing this. Her thoughts went back to her desire to not use Mega Evolution. "Hey, Serena?" Serena was pulled from her thoughts before they could begin by Ash. "We should probably get going; we've got to see who our opponents will be, after all."


"Sure." The three humans walked to the center, with the Pokémon coming close behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Charizard basked in the warm sun of the Charicific Valley, almost falling asleep at times. Things were rather slow in the valley lately. This actually started to bore Charizard. According to Liza, he was nearing the end of his training, and while that still meant there was more to do, he was craving a challenge. None of the other Charizards were up for a battle, and no poacher had tried to raid the valley in months.


"Hey, Char." Charizard picked himself up as he saw Liza climbing up on his ledge. The pseudo-dragon helped her up on his cliff face. "Thanks, I've been looking for you."


This was a surprise. Liza only came to him either for help with something big or because... Charizard looked down at her belt and saw his Pokéball. Charizard knew what this meant and was excited. Ash was calling him up!


Liza noticed the pseudo-dragon's excitement and gave him a smile. "Yep, I got off the phone with Professor Oak. Ash is competing in the Sinnoh League with all his Pokémon, and the professor figured its best if I send you over as well."


This was the answer Charizard was looking for. He could finally try out all his learned, relieve is boredom, and see his trainer and his friends again. Charizard gave Liza a nod and stood ready. Liza unclipped his Pokéball, and in a red flash, Charizard disappeared into it.


A few hours later Liza had made it back to her small home built into the caves of the valley. Powering up the transfer system she called professor Oak. After a few moments, the professor appeared on the screen. "Ah, Liza I take it you have Charizard?" Liza nodded, turning to the side to show the professor the Pokéball.


"Yep, he's all set." Liza turned on the machine and Charizard's Pokéball was sent to the Professor. "Tell Ash I said hi for me."


Oak gave a nod in confirmation. "I will, Liza. You take care now." With that, the video call ended.


With that settled, Liza went back to looking at a report a ranger from Kalos had filed. According to it, he saw a Charizard suddenly turn black and blue after what appeared to be an evolution. Reading it over, Liza recalled her grandfather talking about a stone he had gotten in his travels that could propel a Pokémon who had a strong bond with its trainer to a new height. 'I wonder if they might actually be true.'

~~~~~~~~~~~

The preliminary matches had begun in the Lily of the Valley Conference. Ash stared down his opponent as the two of them tossed out their Pokémon. "Gabite, I choose you!" Ash called, his Pokéball busting open as a middle size shark-like dragon appeared. His opponent appeared a second later to greet him in the form of a shaggy Pokémon covered in fur with a pig like a face.


"Gabite!" The dragon type roared, having evolved in the month leading to the league.


"Primeape!" The fighting type punched the air in front of itself while it stomped about.


With the two Pokémon chosen, the referee raised his flags. "Gabite vs Primeape, begin!" With that, the match officially started.


"Primeape, use Mega Punch!" Ash's opponent wasted no time and called out his move.


"Dodge it and use Dual Chop!" Gabite managed to dodge out of the way and with its talons glowing, delivered a heavy dual chop on the Primeape, sending the fighting type back a bit. Primeape quickly regained its footing, and wasting no time, its trainer called out his next attack.


"Payback, now!"


"Dodge it!"


Gabite took off, but it was a little too late as Primeape backhanded Gabite across the midsection, knocking him on his stomach. Gabite quickly pulled himself up as Primeape rushed in for its next attack.


"Use Outrage!" A red glow started to cover Primeape as it began stomping right at Gabite.


"Dig underground now!" Ash commanded, knowing that if the move connected, it would be super effective.


Gabite dived underground as Primeape came rushing at it in a red glow. Primeape jumped up and down, enraged due to the Outrage, and didn't notice until it was too late. The earth shot up, knocking Primeape back as Gabite emerged to deliver a strike.


"Primeape!" Ash's opponent called out before gritting his teeth. "Use Payback!"


Primeape twisted its body around to deliver another strong, Payback but unlike last time, Ash was ready for it. "Gabite, use Dual Chop and toss him into the sky!" Gabite's arms glowed as he met the attack, and using Primeape's own momentum against him, tossed him into the air over his head. "Now, Draco Meteor!"


"Primeape, try to block it with Mega Punch!" Primeape fist glowed as Gabite launched the powerful Dragon attack, it's fist meeting the blast. Its fist had no effect, and the primate was pushed into the air before the meteor exploded. Primeape fell from the conflagration, tired and severely weakened.

"Finish this, Gabite! Dual Chop!" Gabite's arms glowed, and just before Primeape hit the ground he was met with the attack. Primeape collapsed on the ground and didn't get up.


"Primeape's unable to battle, Gabite is the winner! Meaning Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town will move on to the official tournament!" The referee called out as the small crowd cheered.


"Alright, Gabite! We did it" Ash raced on the field to give his Dragon Type a hug.


Gabite returned it, happy for his victory. "Gabite!" The Dragon then gave Ash's head a playful bite, much to the fifteen-year old's surprise and announce.


"Aw Gabite, seriously?" Ash tried to pull his head out of his Dragon's mouth.


In the stands, Dawn and Brock witnessed the celebration unfold. "Gabite sure has gotten a lot stronger since he evolved." Dawn had a bit of a giggle as she watched Ash still struggle with Gabite's mouth. "And he still enjoys biting Ash's head."


"True." Brock nodded in agreement.


At that point Gabite finally let Ash lose from his mouth, having given his trainer a playful smile. Returning him to his Pokéball, Ash raced out of the stadium. Serena's match should be going on now, and he didn't want to miss it.


By the time Ash, Dawn, and Brock made it to the stadium with Serena, her fight was already in full swing. Her Lucario was out and facing off against a large flying pterosaur-like Pokémon. Dawn stopped and went wide-eyed at the sight. "Aerodactyl?" The rock/flying type was currently hanging above the steel/fighting type.


"Aerodactyl, Flamethrower!" The pterosaurs trainer commanded. The fossil Pokémon let out a stream of super effective fire at the part steel type.


"Backflip!" Serena yelled, and Lucario did several back flips before jumping into the air. "Aura Sphere!" Lucario quickly charged up a blue ball of energy and tossed it right at Aerodactyl.


"Defend with Steel Wing!" The fossil Pokémon's wings were covered in a metallic sheen and blocked the ball in time.


Serena and Lucario shared a smirk. "Move in close and use Copycat!" Lucario charged into the pterosaur, arms, glowing metallic as they came down on the Aerodactyl's head. The prehistoric Pokémon slid down to the ground, stunned.


Unfortunately, the Aerodactyl's trainer was ready. "Flamethrower!" Before Lucario could react, a stream of flames knocked into his chest, sending him flying into the air.

"Aghhhh!" Lucario cried out, barely managing to catch himself in a handstand and get back on his feet. "I'm fine, just a bit winded." Lucario stood back up, ready to continue. He was used to being burned, having trained with Braixen enough times to have some endurance when it came to being hit by fire.


"Alright." Serena gave her next command. "Aura Sphere!"

"Come on dad; show this overgrown lizard whose boss!" Snivy cheered out from the stands in Bonnie's lap.

"You can do it, mama!" Popplio joined in as they watched Lucario cartwheel out of the way of a Sky Drop before using Copycat to do the move on Aerodactyl instead. Ash and his friends looked on as they took three empty seats next to Bonnie.


"Hey Ash, how did your match go?" Clermont asked.


On the floor, Aerodactyl switched tactics and went in close with a Steel Wing, catching Lucario off guard.


"I won my Preliminary match," Ash informed as he watched Lucario backflip away from another Sky Drop.


The fossil Pokémon's trainer was starting to get impatient. "Fly up into the sky!"


With that command, the rock flying type ascended into the air and far from Lucario's range of attack bar his Aura Sphere, "Use Rock Polish and then follow it up with Sky Attack!" For a moment Aerodactyl shined brightly before energy built up around the fossil Pokémon as it charged up the devastating flying type attack. After a moment, the now faster Aerodactyl dove, ready to unleash its attack.

"Serena!" Lucario yelled, hoping she had a way out of this.


"Use Aura Sphere and jump before it hits!" She yelled quickly. Lucario charged up a quickly constructed sphere and right as the blazing figure of the Aerodactyl came in he let it lose. A cloud of dust and smoke was kicked up as Lucario was seen flying up from the blast. The cloud quickly cleared up showing Aerodactyl embedded into the ground. "Aura Sphere!"


Lucario charged up another blue ball in his hands, tossing it down at the fossil Pokémon's back. Lucario twisted his body in the air and stuck the landing, his back turned to Aerodactyl, who had fallen unconsciousness. "And Scene." Lucario then struck a martial arts pose for the spectators.


"Aerodactyl is unable to battle. Lucario is the winner! That means Serena Yvonne of Vaniville Town is moving on to the main tournament!" After hearing the referee's decision, the stands lit up with cheers and applause. Serena and Lucario walked up and gave the audience a bow.

"Way to go, dad!" Snivy yelled out to his father. Bonnie giggled at Snivy celebrating his father.

"Mama's the best!" Popplio cried with joy.


"Wow, that was amazing," Dawn turned to Clemont and Bonnie, having noticed how Lucario's moves during the fight seemed reminiscent of contest battling. "Hey, does Serena use Lucario for contest battling?"


Clemont nodded. "Oh yes, Lucario is Serena's primary contest battler alongside Braixen. Outside of contests, they use a modified version for gym battles and tournaments."


Ash was amazed at hearing that. He had done a few contests before and found its style not really fitting his own, yet he did have respect for it. "Wow, she's able to do that? I can't wait to battle her and Lucario." As he said those words, he was reminded of his feelings from before. Turning to Brock, he decided to talk to him now rather than later. "Hey Brock, mind if we walk a bit in private?"


Brock was taken back by his best friend's sudden question for a second. "Sure, Ash."


The two of them wandered out of the bleachers and into the stadium hallways. "So, what is it that you wanted to ask me?"


"Brock, I feel strange. After seeing Serena again, I started having this feeling that I don't want to see her leave." Brock stared at Ash (probably, given that his eyes were invisible). He didn't want to jump to conclusions, but it sounded like his best friend was in love. "I feel like I want to be close to her and when I first thought about battling her, I kinda... I didn't want to."


"You..." Brock was at a loss after hearing this. "You didn't want to battle her?"


Ash nodded. "At first, I mean I want to now, it's just..."


Brock placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ash, you do know what love is, right?" Brock himself had noticed in their travels that both Misty and May seemed to have developed crushes on him, yet Ash hadn't shown any signs of attractions to either. He even wondered if Ash understood it.


Ash gave him a weird look. "Of course I do. I released Butterfree so he could be with his mate, after all." Though he never technically fully released him. He had Oak keep his Pokéball so he didn't have to worry about a trainer capturing him and taking him away from his mate. He paused for a second as he soon put it together. "I'm in love with Serena, aren't I?"


Brock nodded his head in agreement. "It looks like it." Ash thought about this revelation. True, he did know what love was and could tell with a bit of effort sometimes when people and Pokémon were in love, but he had never realized that he could fall in love himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Watching at the Center, the rest of Serena's Pokémon cheered as they watched her and Lucario move on to the tournament proper. Serperior had a smirk on her face as she watched her mate walk off the stadium next to Serena. She rolled her eyes as she recalled his ridiculous need to strike a pose after every win. 'It's just one of the reasons I love him.' Of course, she would never admit that out loud.


Pancham, however, wasn't celebrating with the others, and that caught Sylveon's attention being next to him. "Pancham, why aren't you celebrating?"


The panda-like Pokémon pointed to the screen he was watching. Sylveon went wide-eyed and screamed out, "OH MY ARCEUS THAT'S A DARKRAI!" The rest of Serena's team turned and saw that on the screen was indeed the Pitch Black Pokémon, Darkrai!


Silence came over the group as they stared at the screen. Slowly everyone, even Serperior who dropped her usually smug demeanor, turned their gaze to Gardevoir. They all knew who the strongest member of Serena's team was. After all, the Shiny Pokémon did take on legendaries before, both with and without 'it'.

"I'll tell Serena," Gardevoir looked at the replay of the Darkrai battle, trying to gauge how powerful it was. She theoretically had the type advantage being part fairy, though she was also part psychic so had no real resistance to his attacks. Then again, all of the fights consisted of two attacks, Dark Void and Dark Pulse. The first one wasn't as much of a problem as it could be. Her ability was Synchronize, after all. The second one was not as dangerous as it would be if she were a pure psychic type.


However, the Darkrai only used two moves, with no indication of what the other moves it knew were. That's what made her unsure, and no two legends were the same in terms of power, after all. "I'll be sure to have the Gardevoirite just in case." Gardevoir gave Braixen a nod. It was probably for the best after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, half a world away in the Kalos region, someone was watching the broadcast of the Lily of the Valley Conference preliminaries as they happened in Sinnoh. The image of Ash Ketchum appeared on the lower right, showing that he had passed into the tournament. The burly man was about to change the channel when another image appeared in the lower right.


He paused as he watched the honey-haired girl's appearance on the screen before turning off the TV. He pressed a button on his intercom to summon his secretary. A few minutes later, she entered his office to see her boss looking out his window. "Yes, sir, what is it?"


"Cancel my appointments for the next few months. Also, call up my private jet, I wish to be in Sinnoh by tomorrow," he declared.


His request caused his secretary to be speechless for a brief while. "Of course sir but if you don't mind, can I ask why?"


The burly man turned towards her with a smile of pride on his face. "Why, my daughter is competing in the Sinnoh League of course. What kind of father wouldn't cheer on their child?" His face hardened as he already knew the answer. True, he wasn't as close as he would like to be with her. Grace made that very clear when she was mad at him for his mistake. Yet he tried his best, even though work kept dragging him away.


"But sir, the representatives from Silph-"


He held his hand up to silence her. His gaze hardened as he put more authority into his voice. "Tell them to reschedule their meeting. My mind is made up about this." He walked away, silence, filling the room as he left.


His secretary sighed as she turned on her tablet. Clearing the schedule would be a lot of work for her, though privately she couldn't help but respect the man's decision. "Very well, Lysander," she said under her breath.