A/N: Hello Pokemon fans. I'm and welcome to Serene Phoenix. This is my first Pokemon story, so please don't kill me if I am not accustomed to this style of writing. Now before we start, I would like to make one thing clear. I have not seen all the movies or all episode from all seasons so I might not know everything about the Pokemon world. For example, I don't know what this Aura stuff is that is spread around the Pokemon community is so don't expect that to show up.

Full Summary: After winning the Sinnoh League, Ash was confident he could score high in the Unova League as well. However, things did not go as planned and he was eliminated much earlier than anyone thought he would be. Resolving to train harder than ever, Ash sets course for the Kalos region, where he will meet new people, old friends and new Pokemon.

Note: Some things are different from canon. Up until the Unova League, things are pretty much the same but in this story, Tobias did not exist so Ash went on to win the Lily of the Valley Conference, but got defeated by Aaron, the first trainer of the Sinnoh Elite Four. His Unova journey was also pretty much the same, but he was defeated by Trip during the Unova Conference and sent packing. The travels through the Decalore Islands were the same though, so no changes there.

I have not seen all episodes of the canon, especially not in Unova because I found Iris so damn annoying and Cilan's evaluations bored me to death so it is possible that I might miss an important event in the past when I write this story. If that is the case, then just pretend it did not happen in this universe and keep reading. Oh, and I haven't seen all the movies either. The ones I have seen are: Mewtwo Returns, The Power of One, Mewtwo Strikes Back, The Spell of the Unknown, Destiny Deoxys, Giratina and the Sky Warrior and Arceus and the Jewel of Life.

Disclaimer: I do not own this stuff.

Chapter One: Memories of a happier time

In his room at the second floor in a small house in a town called Pallet, a young man is sitting on his bed, staring emptily into the thin air in front of his eyes. His mind is not with him right now. Beside him, his trusted Pokemon companion Pikachu is sleeping peacefully in the bed. But 15 year old Ash Ketchum can't sleep. After lying awake for hours, he have given up the thought of sleeping and sat up, thinking about what was troubling him. His thoughts wandered back a few weeks, to the Unova League conference. He had arrived at the conference as one of the favourites to win the entire tournament. After his victory in the Lily of the Valley Conference a year earlier, he had been confident he could win this tournament as well. But things had not gone as he had planned. Instead, he had been eliminated in the quarter finals, by his rival, Trip.

What had gone wrong? he wondered. What had been so different from when he won in the Sinnoh League?

Feeling restless and frustrated from his thoughts, Ash threw himself down onto the bed covers again and sighed. Why was this bothering him so much? It wasn't like he hadn't been sent packing in the quarter finals in earlier tournaments. Most people would be proud of making it as far as he had in this tournament. So why wasn't he?

Because I'm not most people. Ash thought bitterly.

Ever since he had started his journey, his league positions had gotten better and better. For 4 years, Ash had constantly grown as a trainer, placing better and better in his league positions and eventually he had won the Lily of the Valley Conference and been offered the chance of challenging the Sinnoh Elite Four. Sure, Aaron had squashed him like a bug, but at least he had gotten stronger from the year before. But now... He hadn't even made it to the semi finals. Had he gotten weaker? Or had the opposition been stronger this time? What if his win in the Sinnoh League had been a lucky shot?

Normally when he got home from a journey, he would have felt overjoyed to be home and immediately been on the look out for a new adventure. This time, he even had an adventure waiting for him. On the way home, he and his friends had met a Pokemon Journalist from the Kalos region, named Alexa. She had invited him to come along when she returned to Kalos. After seeing her to him unknown Pokemon, Ash should be all psyched up to go and find new species of pokemon he had yet to meet. So why was he feeling so down? He hadn't been this depressed since...

-X-Flashback-X-

Ash stood in place, frozen in shock. He felt his chest constrict as he looked at the face of the tearful girl in front of him. The world seemed to slow down around them. The Machoke that was working on moving all the stuff in the house into the truck outside seemed to be moving in slow motion as Ash and Serena looked at each. The honey-blonde girl with the straw hat was looking back at him with her blue eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry Ash." she whispered.

It couldn't be. He must have heard her wrong. There was no way his best friend was moving away. There must have been some kind of mistake. These pokemon that were taking their stuff away... there had to be another explanation.

"Serena..." he croaked, but realized his voice was trembling. He couldn't keep it steady. Suddenly, his throat felt all dry and Ash desperately tried to swallow to ease it. Wait, why did he mouth taste like salt? Why was his face wet?

Slowly, he lifted a hand to his cheek and touched it. Was he crying? But he never cried! He hadn't cried since he was a baby! But then again, he hadn't lost his best friend before. As he looked at the only girl he had ever felt wasn't "icky", Ash hesistantly reached out with a hand, as if he was afraid she would already have disappeared. Seeing the gesture, Serena reached out with her own hand and took his hand in hers.

"Forgive me Ash. I tried to tell mom that I didn't want to move, but she wouldn't hear of it. I'm so sorry." Serena's voice was trembling from her sobs.

The realization that he might never see Serena again hit Ash like a Tauros in full charge. He swallowed, but then he finally gave in to his emotions and pulled Serena towards him and threw his arms around her. Serena didn't even hesitate. She returned his gesture and hugged him back. For what felt like hours, the two 8-year olds hung onto each other as if their lives depended on it. Ash cried like he had never before and he felt Serena cry similarly against his shoulder. Right then, right there, Ash knew he couldn't let go. He would hold her for all eternity if he had to. They had so many things they hadn't done yet. And they still hadn't gotten out on their journey together. They promised each other that they would leave on a journey together when they became 10 years old. But even eternity doesn't last forever and eventually, Ash let go of his best friend.

By now, the house they were standing in had been emptied completely. It felt like a completely different without all the furniture and objects that belonged to Serena and her mother. The walls that had felt as good as home to him since he was 5 years old suddenly felt like they were closing in on him, threatening to swallow him alive.

"Serena! It's time to go." her mother's voice came from outside.

The dark blonde girl hicupped when she heard her mother call for her. She gave Ash one last tearful look, before she began turning towards the door.

"Well, I guess this is it. Thank you Ash. For everything." she said.

Ash watched her go. She was wearing the same straw hat that she had worn the day they met, at the Summer camp 3 years ago. He had never really realized how much that hat personalized her. She had told him it was her favourite hat. At the time, he hadn't thought much of it and at times, he had even found it kind of irritating that she just had to wear that hat all the time, but now he felt like he would miss it almost as much as he would miss Serena herself. How could he have thought she was weird that day when he had found her injured in the forest? Wait... injured in the forest, that gave him an idea!

"Serena, wait!" he said as he tightened his grip on her wrist to stop her.

Serena turned around with a look of sad confusion on her face. After making sure she would run away, Ash let go of her and reached inside one of his pocket to pull out a blue handkerchief.

"Here. I want you to have this, so you will always remember me. It's the same one I used to bandage your knee back when we first met." he said as he put it in her still outstretched hand.

The girl gasped as she retracted her hand and looked at the cloth that had been placed in it. Why did he still have it? It was just a handkerchief. But still... she felt now that it this handkerchief would become something important to her. It was a part of her best friend. It was a symbol of their friendship, something that had linked them together since the day they first met. She wanted to give him something in return, but couldn't come up with anything. But then, she remembered how Ash had always teased her about her hat. Knowing just what she could give him, Serena took off her hat and detached the pink band that ran around its top.

"Here. So you won't forget me either." she said as she gave Ash the pink band.

Ash clasped the band in his hand and felt warmth well up through his arm, from the band. Pulling it closer to his chest, he managed to smile at her, despite the situation.

"Thanks, but I won't need it to remember you." he said as they took the last steps out to where Serena's mom was waiting in the car.

"Neither will I need this to remember you." Serena whispered as she climbed into the car.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, taking in each other's features one last time. Then, Serena took a deep breath and closed the door to the car. Sitting up straight so she could still see him, she breathed out onto the pane so it became foggy. Ash watched in sadness as Serena began drawing in the fog, forming the letters: A+S, BFF. His eyes filled with tears as he heard the motor roar to life. Seeing Serena's unsure look, he put his thumb in the air and nodded towards her. Serena barely had the time to give him one last smile before the car started moving and before they knew it, she was gone. Left behind was a sobbing 8 year old, clutching a pink band in his hands as if it were the most important thing in the entire world.

-X-End of Flashback-X-

In the present, Ash sighed as he thought back to a time before he became a trainer. It had been a long time since he had thought about those days, and even longer since he thought about Serena's departure. Man, he must really be down if he compared his current mood to the one he had been in the weeks following the loss of his best friend. Looking out through the window, he couldn't help but wonder how she was doing. He didn't even know where she lived anymore. Silently, he sits up and rises from his bed and trips over to the wardrobe, where he opens the door and reaches into the back of it. After searching for a minute, his hand finally settles on what he is looking for. A triumphant smile on his face, Ash pulls out a pink band that used to sit on a little girl's straw hat. He had kept it for all these years, but when he had left on his journey, he hadn't wanted to chance the risk of losing it.

Looking down at the band as it bathes in the moonlight that streams in from the window, Ash ponders what he should do next. What would Serena have wanted him to do? He almost laughed at his own thoughts. What a stupid question. She wouldn't have wanted him to give up, or become depressed about a single loss. She would have told him to take his own example and keep going no matter what. It had been their motto, "Never give up until the end". Smiling at the memories these thoughts brought back to him, Ash went back towards his bed and lay back down. Now he knew he would be able to sleep. Now, he knew what he would do.

-X-X-X-

The next day, Ash took the time to sleep in. After staying up late, he slept well until 12 o'clock. When he awoke, Alexa had already left for Professor Oak's laboratory. She had been really excited to do her interview yesterday so that wasn't really surprising. Also, sometime during the morning hours, Pikachu had gotten up and left Ash's room, obviously not wanting to disturb his trainer. And so, Ash woke up to an empty room. He briefly wondered where his rodent friend had run off to, but soon dismissed his thoughts as Pikachu probably had come with Alexa to Oak's in order to catch up with his friends there, Ash's other Pokemon. And sure enough, when Ash made his way downstairs half an hours later, the first greeting he got was:

"Morning sleepyhead. Pikachu got bored of waiting for you to wake up so he went with Alexa and Helioptile when they went over to the Oak Laboratory." his mom said.

Delia Ketchum was in the middle of preparing what appeared to be an unusually large lunch. Well, large for anyone who didn't know Ash Ketchum that was. Ash gave a greeting to his mother before sitting down by the table. Since he had missed breakfast and lunch was coming up, he figured he might as well wait so he got something to eat before heading to Oak's lab to greet his other pokemon. Thinking back, he realized that this last journey, he had caught more pokemon than he had on any earlier journey, as was evident from the fact that he had to rotate pokemon on his team.

As he thought about the word "rotation", he realized one thing he had done differently during the Unova League from the Sinnoh League. During his battles in the Lily of the Valley Conference, Ash had used all of his pokemon, both caught during that particular journey and before. Thus, his team had been much more flexible and capable of adapting to a situation. However, in the Unova Conference, he had solely used pokemon he had caught in the Unova region, with the exception of Pikachu, who always got to battle, and Charizard, who had rejoined him on his journey after years of training at the Charizific Valley. Also, it was worth noting that Charizard had not been on his team when he lost his quarter final match. Since his Unova pokemon were all freshly caught, they did not have the experience that some of his older friends did. Now that he really sat down to think about it, he realized that all the times he had actually won a league, he had used all of his current pokemon, not just the ones from the region he was currently in.

Even though his Unova team were bigger than any other single region team he had before, all of them were quite young. Particularly Scraggy was inexperienced but even Pignite, Oshawott, Leavanny, Boldore and Unfezant were quite young. If he had to estimate, he would say Snivy, Krookodile and Palpitoad were the only ones who were older than 2 years. A team needed to be balanced, combining younger pokemon with more experienced ones to create a good mix. And truth to be told, the only ones who had been travelling with him that was somewhat experienced was Pikachu and Snivy. Krookodile later on, but even he had been rotated a lot.

Wait, since when did he think about all this stuff? When did he learn all of this, he hadn't thought about stuff like this since he started his journey. Oh, he must have learned it before his journey then... Yeah, that made sense in a way. He must have learnt it during the Pokemon Summer Camp. He had tried to not think of that time since he started his journey, because that would mean thinking about Serena.

Just as he thought about that, the door opened and Alexa came into the kitchen, with Pikachu and Helioptile running around her feet. The Pokemon journalist gave Delia a happy greeting and sat down by the table opposite to Ash. Ash greeted his friend, who smiled back at him.

"It seems you're in a better mood today. How are you feeling?" she asked.

Ash opened his mouth to answer, but then he froze. How did he feel? He had been so engrossed in his own plans of what to change on his next journey that he hadn't realized that he didn't feel as depressed as he had yesterday. Thinking back, he realized he must have looked pretty miserable. But today, he felt entirerly different. He didn't feel unsure of what he wanted anymore, he knew he would leave on his next journey in a matter of days. It felt so obvious he couldn't believe he had even doubted it, no matter how sad he had been after being elimintated in the Unova League quarter finals.

"You know what? I feel great!" he said as he gave Alexa thumbs up and smiled at her.

Alexa fittered at his response and leaned forward to rest her elbows on the table.

"Oh? So i guess you have decided on what you want to do next then?" she asked.

Standing by the stove, Delia was listening intently. She had been worried ever since Ash got home yesterday. It wasn't like him to be as depressed as he had been when he got home. Normally, she wouldn't be as curious about his descision as she was now, but he had said himself yesterday that perhaps he should take a break from travelling and simply try and power up his Pokemon for a year before leaving again. While she of course liked it when he was home, Delia had mixed feelings about him staying home to train. She was thrilled at the thought of spending more time with him but at the same time she felt like she didn't want him to give up travelling just because he got sent packing early in the Unova League.

"You bet! I am coming with you to the Kalos region!" Ash said as he pumped his fist into the air.

"Hah, I see. Well I am sure you will enjoy it. There are lots of pokemon there that aren't native to any other region." Alexa said with a smile.

Delia felt strangely relieved. It wasn't that she didn't want him to stay home, more like she didn't want him to stay home for the wrong reasons. If he had stayed home in order to train, then he would probably have kept dwelling on his loss and that was not a good reason to stay home in her opinion. She wanted her Ash to be spirited, hyperactive and on constant search for adventure.

With that thought, Delia declared that lunch was ready and after serving the other two occupants of the house, she sat down along with them. The three occupants of the Ketchum Residence housed mundane discussion about what Ash was thinking about his upcoming journey while they ate their meal. In her mind, Delia had already began thinking about how she wanted to make Ash's clothes for this journey look. It had become customary for her to sew a home made outfit for him for each new journey he went on.

When he was finished with lunch, Ash went up and quickly changed into his Unova gear before he went back downstairs, telling his mom that he would be back for dinner. As he ran by the table, Pikachu jumped onto his customary place on Ash's shoulder, giving off a happy "Pika!". Outside, Alexa was waiting for him. She was going back to the lab so she could do an interview with Professor Oak's closest assistant, Tracey Sketchit. On the way to the laboratory, Ash could hardly contain his excitement at seeing his friends again, both old and new. When they finally got to the lab, Ash lost his patience and ran up the stairs to the door.

-X-X-X-

While Ash entered the Oak Pokemon Lab, an old friend of his had just finished his lunch break and returned to the Pokemon Center where he worked. Unbeknownst to him, his old best friend was home after another long journey, the first one where he had not come along. It had not been an easy descision to stay behind, but in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a Pokemon Doctor, he needed to get a proper education and that was something he could not get if he went on travels all the time.

Now, after being home for one whole year, Brock was starting to feel restless. It wasn't that he regretted staying home, he had learnt so much during this year but at the same time, he felt like he wanted to get back on the road again. He realized now that perhaps he had never really understood how much he had enjoyed his adventures with Ash, Misty, May, Max and Dawn. Well, that wasn't entirerly true though. That he had never understood how much he would miss them were probably a better way of describing it.

"Hey Brock!"

Upon hearing his name being called by a familiar voice, he spun around to find his younger brother Forrest standing in the doorway of the Pewter City Pokemon Center. Forrest pretty much looked the same as Brock, just that he was a little shorter, but that could be downplayed to the fact that Forrest was several years younger than him.

"Hey, what's up, little brother?" Brock smiled at his younger sibling.

Forrest grinned as he walked up to his brother and predescessor as Pewter City Gym Leader. After Brock had left the first time, their father had taken care of the Gym but even back then, Forrest had been allowed to battle in the Gym. After a year, he had taken to challenging the Gym himself with his father as the leader and beaten him, earning him the right to officially take over the Gym. Since then, Forrest had been the Pewter City Gym Leader, the youngest Gym Leader in the entire of Kanto. Now, as he came up to stand in front of his older brother, Forrest couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic because of the reason for his visit to Brock's job. He usually only visited the Pokemon Center after a really tough challenger had come by the Gym.

"I was just wondering what you were planning on doing now that you have taken your final Pokemon Healer Exam?"

Surprised by the question, Brock raised an eyebrow towards his younger brother.

"What do you mean?" he asked, not sure what his brother was getting at.

Forrest just sighed and shook his head. Brock was a natural when it came to taking care of Pokemon, but in some ways, he really could be clueless. Well, not as clueless as he was when it came to how to treat a girl, but still, there were some things that came as a close up-sticker.

"What do I mean? I mean, are you gonna go on another journey now? You won't have to stay here now that your not taking those studies so why stay here?" Forrest said in exasperation.

For a moment, Brock's mind wondered to how wonderful it would be to get to go on another journey. To see new places he had never seen before, to meet new Pokemon to care for and spread his knowledge to those who needed it. But he quickly shook those thoughts away.

"Now that I have taken my exam, I am going to stay here and work at the Pokemon Center of course. It's my dream to take care of and help Pokemon and what better place to do it than here at the Pokemon center?"

Forrest had already opened his mouth to give Brock an answer, telling him to think more outside the box, but before he could utter a sound, another voice interrupted them from behind Brock.

"Is that really how you feel Brock? Then what about your wish to travel again?"

Brock froze and turned around to face Nurse Joy, who had come out from her office while they were talking. With his attention elsewhere, Forrest gave Nurse Joy an approving nodd, trying to encourage her to keep talking.

"What do you mean my wish to travel again?"

"Brock. I've seen you office. Where most people have photos of their family, you got pictures of you former travelling companions. And I have caught you sitting and staring at those pictures more times than I bother counting, completely oblivious to the world around you. I know you miss travelling with them." Nurse Joy said.

In his mind, Forrest thought that Nurse Joy really must care for Brock on a personal level. It was not often she gave out this much of her own thoughts. And what was more, it appeared she was reaching Brock as his brother seemed to melt under the intense gaze of the nurse.

"If it can help you come to your senses, I hear Ash is back in Pallet Town." Forrest supplied.

Hearing this, Brock's eyes shot open(Not literally) and he spun around towards Forrest with a shocked look on his face. Ash was back in Kanto? How come he didn't know about that?

"What? When did he get back? I thought he was in Unova?!" Brock asked.

Forrest sighed in frustration.

"Have you been living with your nose stuck in that medicine study book of yours? The Unova Conference was 5 weeks ago! Ash got eliminated in the quarter finals!" Forrest told his brother.

Brock seemed to take in the fact that he had in fact missed his best friends return to their home region. Forrest let him take his time, as did Nurse Joy. Inside, Brock was in turmoil. Yeah, he did want to go out and travel again. And with Ash home again, it would be the perfect time to start a new journey and just tag along with him. It would be just like old times again. But at the same time, he felt obligated to stay here at the Pokemon Center and helping Nurse Joy.

As if she had read his mind, Nurse Joy chose this moment to walk up to the two brothers and put a hand on Brock's shoulder. Upon her touch, Brock snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at her.

"Brock, there are some things that one can only learn by experience. Travelling is a wonderful way of learning new things and extending your medical knowledge. You're still young. You will have more than enough time to work here at the Pokemon Center when you get older." she said with the trademark Nurse Joy smile.

Hearing it from Nurse Joy herself, Brock finally gave in. If Nurse Joy thought it was ok for him to leave, then it would not be a problem. And she was right, as much as Ash battled, he could probably learn a lot simply by healing his Pokemon when they got hurt. And he could probably learn a lot by travelling to other regions and study their methods of healing. Sighing as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulder, he turned to look back at his brother, then turned towards Nurse Joy and then back again.

"Thanks. I guess I needed that." he said.

Forrest grinned at his older brother and Nurse Joy smiled a warm smile.

"Well, you got that right. You were being unusually stubborn on this, even for you." Forrest said as he smiled sheepishly at his older brother and scratched himself at the back of his head.

Laughing nervously at his brother's jab, Brock asked Nurse Joy if it would be ok for him to go back home to tell his parents about his descision. She just smiled at him and said that she was no longer his boss. Seeing that his brother had finally come to his senses, Forrest bid the two goodbye and returned to the Gym. With a feeling of happiness and freedom he hadn't felt for over a year, Brock also bid his farewell and left the Pokemon Center. However, before he got home, he decided to take an longer route to drop by the Poke Mart. He had a lot of preparations to do.

-X-X-X-

"Hey guys! Guess who's back!" Ash called out as he entered the meadow where his Pokemon lived while they were at Professor Oak's lab.

As soon as he did it, all the pokemon in the meadow looked up from what they were doing and stared right at him. Behind him, Alexa had to stiffle a giggle at the boy's antics, while Professor Oak just gave him an amused smile as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. For a moment, nothing happened as Ash's old friends stared at him. Then after a few seconds, the entire meadow burst into activity. Ash had barely opened his arms in a welcoming hug gesture before Bayleef tackled him to the ground, squeling in happines at his return. And soon after, his herd of Tauros had caught up with Bayeef. And then, the big purple blob known as Muk was all over him. From above, Swellow, Staraptor and Noctowl swapped down on them and landed in the heap. The only one who didn't rush to meet him was, not too surprisingly, Charizard who kept his cool, most likely not too keen in getting tangled into the mess of legs, arms, wings and other limbs that was now Ash and his pokemon.

From the doorway, Alexa and Professor Oak was watching Ash's reunion with his pokemon with amused smiles. Charizard had been sent back to the lab during Ash, Iris and Cilan's journey through the Decolore Islands, so Alexa had only met him once, but from what she had seen, Charizard was not as happy-go-lucky as the rest of Ash's pokemon. Judging by this scene, only Ash's Buizel shared Charizard reserved and proud warrior attitude. The Sea Weasel pokemon also took his time getting to Ash.

"Is this how it usually is when he gets home from a journey?" she asked the Professor.

"Oh yeah. It's just their way of showing their love for Ash." the Professor chuckled. "Over the years, Ash have built a special bond of trust and friendship with all his pokemon. Even if most don't travel with him any longer, they still love him and are willing to do anything he asks of them."

Alexa looked back to the scene in the meadow, where Ash had managed to untangle himself and was now half laughing, half talking with the group of excited Pokemon. It seemed like he was telling them all about his latest journey and as he came along the point where he had captured a new pokemon, he either released it from its pokeball or pointed it out in the group, in the case of those who had been rotated.

"Yeah, I can see that. Perhaps by this time next year, I will be doing an interview with him about the bond he shares with his pokemon." she said as she smiled at the heartwarming scene.

"Oh? I take it he have decided to go on another journey then?" Professor Oak said with a knowing smile on his face.

Alexa just nodded. By now, Ash had released the last of his pokemon and the new Unova pokemon was being introduced to all of his old ones. Oshawott was proudly showing his shell to anyone who wanted to see, Snivy had sat down with Sceptile and Pignite was currently talking to Infernape and Herracross. Scraggy, Donphan, Boldore, Bayleef and Gible had taken to playing a game of tag. Around the meadow, all of Ash's pokemon had taken to do something to include the newcomers into their circle. The sight made Alexa's smile widen.

"Yeah. He is coming back to Kalos with me." she said as she went out to join her friend and his Pokemon in the meadow.

-X-X-X-

In another region, in another small town, another 15 year old is not having the time of her life. Like her childhood friend, she is spending her afternoon with pokemon, more precisely on the back of a Rhyhorn. But Serena does not enjoy riding her mother's Rhyhorn. She would much rather just spend her day relaxing inside or go to the mall in the next town with her friend Shauna. But no, her mother had insisted on this being her training day. Now, she was holding onto Rhyhorn's sadle for dear life as the Spikes Pokemon was jumping around, trying to throw her off while her mother was standing by the sidelines shouting encouraging words. Or at least that's what they were supposed to be.

"Come on Serena! You can do it! Only 5 more minutes!"

5 more minutes? She had only been at this for 5 minutes?! It felt like it had been days already! Her mother must be cheating! That timer had to be rigged somehow! Why was she even doing this anyway? Just as she thought about asking Rhyhorn to stop, the Spikes Pokemon made a very quick turn to the left, causing her to lose her balance and just a few seconds later, she was sent flying with a scream and landed in front of her mother's feet. She groaned at the pain this brought to her chest. It certainly was not made for making landings like that one. When she had regained her breath, she glared up at her mother who was looking down at her with a concerned look on her face.

"Perhaps we have done enough for today?" her mom said, though she didn't wait for an answer before she reached out to help Serena to her feet.

Oh great, now she think so. Serena moaned mentally and thought that maybe she should learn to fall off ungracefully a bit more early on during their training sessions.

After checking so that nothing was broken and that Serena felt a bit better, Grace told her daughter that she could take the rest of the day off. There was still time for her to catch up with Shauna in Aquacorde Town if she hurried to shower and get changed. As her daughter put on her best smile and went to change out of her pink training jumpsuit, Grace sat down in the sofa. Had she been wrong to keep Serena here at home, instead of letting her go on a journey when she became 10? Of course, when Professor Sycamore had offered to give Serena her own Pokemon, they had still been new in town and Serena herself had not been too keen on going anywhere before she felt she would have a home to return to afterwards. But two years later when Serena had asked if she could go on a journey, Grace had promptly said no, hoping that her daughter would take after her and become a famous Rhyhorn Racer. At first, Serena had went along with it without protest, but lately one would need to be blind to see that this was not what her daughter wanted to do for a living. Had she been wrong to keep Serena here to keep training? It really wasn't as much Serena not being talented as it was Serena not wanting to do it for a profession. But then what did she want to do?

In her room, Serena had just finished picking out her clothes for today. She would be wearing a simple light blue shirt with a dark blue skirt, along with her black tights and black shoes with pink pokeball marks on. To top it off, she would be wearing the straw hat she used to wear as a child. The hat would go not very well with the rest of her attire, but it used to make her feel better to wear it when she felt angry or sad. It was like she felt a connection to the boy whom she had given the pink band that used to go with the hat. That usually calmed her, at least a little. And right now, she needed to feel some kind of comfort. Not that she was depressed or anything, but she was still pretty heated from her training and her chest still ached a little.

Oh! And speaking of Ash! she thought as she went over to her bedside table and picked up a blue handkerchief. For a moment, she just let it rest in her hand, feeling the soft cloth against her skin. It filled her with a feeling of warmth and holding it while thinking about the one who gave it to her sent shivers down her spine. She really hoped he was doing ok.

With a sad sigh, she tied it around her wrist, like she usually did when she didn't have any pockets to keep it in. Even now, 7 years after their separation, Serena still brought the handkerchief along wherever she went. Checking her appearence in the mirror, she gave her reflection a satisfyed nod and headed on downstairs.

"Mom! I'm leaving!" she called towards the living room. When she recieved a "Have fun!" as a response, she opened the door and went to meet with Shauna.

Back in the living room, Grace was thinking about what she could do to help Serena. If her daughter didn't want to make her living by riding Rhyhorns, then that was fine with her, but Serena would still need to find something to do for a living. But whenever she asked, her daughter just shrugged, saying she didn't know what she wanted to do yet. But how long would it take her to find out what she wanted? And how would she know what there was to choose from if she never got further away from home than Aquacorde Town? Sighing, Grace reluctantly stood up and went over to the phone to dial Professor Sycamore's number. They had a lot to discuss.

A/N: So, there we go. The first chapter of my first Pokemon fanfic. Now, my main story will still be Harry Potter: Hidden Prodigy. I am writing this story as a side project and because I feel that amourshipping really haven't come to its right here yet. With Ash and Serena having known each other during childhood and then reuniting for a journey together, as well as the apparent canonical crush that Serena seems to have on Ash, this shipping have so much potential.

I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much as I will enjoy writing it. Now, I haven't played Pokemon X or Y yet so I am not completely adapted to all the new stuff in there or the geography of the Kalos region, but I hope to be able to get one of the games for christmas. And before you ask, I will not make any promises of long chapters as this is not my main focus. The only way for it to become my main focus would be for it to get more followers than my HP story and tbh I don't see that happening anytime soon. Either that or it will have to recieve and average of 20 reviews per chapter, since my HP story currently have around 15-18 per chapter atm.

Anyway, please let me know what you think of the story so far! If you want it to recieve faster updates, don't be shy to follow, favourite and review! =)