Disclaimer: No Ownership of Pokémon.
Summary: Miette and Serena restart their romantic rivalry for Ash when Team Rocket runs interference. PoffléShipper.

Sweet Rivalry

Chapter 1: PokéPuffed for the Contest

Stopping in the new city, Ash and his friends saw a flier which held another PokéPuff Contest. Last time, Serena made the Final Round with Miette who seemed interested with Ash. Both girls lost to a brother/sister team with a Makuhita. This new contest could prove who the better PokéPuff Baker is. "So are you gonna compete in this contest?" Ash asked Serena. This could be redemption for the blond from the region.

"Of course!" she yelped. "But can I borrow Pikachu for this?" The idea left Ash and the others a tad befuddled.

"Why do you need Pikachu?" Clemont wondered. "Is something wrong with Fenniken?" A shake of the head told him it wasn't a condition of her Pokémon that was the problem.

"I just thought of a recipe for Electric-Type Pokémon and this stage could be useful for the PokéPuff of choice." While her reason seemed fascinating, Bonnie opted someone else.

"What about Dedenne?" she spoke up. "He's an Electric-Type, too!" Serena forgot about Dedenne but was quick to assess the mistake.

"Whoops! Sorry, Dedenne." The Antennae Pokémon squeaked in forgiveness. "But Bonnie's taking real good care of you, right?" Dedenne looked up to Bonnie, the mind that perhaps she didn't want to take care of him anymore.

"If you want, I can help you practice," Clemont offered. Ash and Serena turned to the Lumiose City Gym Leader in curiosity.

"I should be fine but..." Not listening, Clemont adjusted his glasses while bringing forward his technological bag.

"The future is now, thanks to Science! Clemontic Gear on!" Out came an ice cream scoop with a huge scoop. It also had a dial, wires and switch. "Presenting... my PokéPuff-Stuff-Berry-Fluff-Instant-Scooper! I can adjust the firmness of the Berry used for the PokéPuffs which will enhance texture and flavor to make the treat more tasty!" Ash would normally be impressed with Clemont's inventions but he's learn enough that most of his technology ends up blowing back in his face. Serena and Bonnie heard the name of the device, disgusted with what it was.

"It's only a description," Bonnie mulled.

"And using that in this contest is illegal," Serena added. Clemont gulped at the word his device would break the rules.

"You... can't... use... this?" he stuttered before slumping in defeat. All this excitement left Ash rather exhausted.

"You guys get yourself ready for the contest if you want," he spoke. "I'm gonna take a walk." He turned to stroll away from the group when Bonnie had one minor detail to add.

"You know the contest isn't until tomorrow," she pointed out. For Ash, there was time to warm up.

"Take some time to practice for it." It was rare for Ash to split from Pikachu but the Electric Mouse felt there was a reason. One would be that Serena had asked for his help. Ash wandered in the city for sometime, unaware of someone watching his every move. One turn on a corner later... and some lips touched Ash's cheek. The kiss caught Ash off-guard and jerked his head to the side a little. Parting lips from his face, the reddened cheeks then eyes shifted to a blue-haired girl.

"Now that is how you kiss someone you like," Miette cheered, her Slurpuff by her side. "And since you're here, so is Serena?" Ash nodded to Serena's rival.

"Don't forget Clemont and Bonnie as well." Learning the gang made it, Miette could easily see everyone if she wanted to.

"I don't mind them as much as yourself. Besides, if Serena hasn't stepped up her game, I may not have a choice but to take care of you myself." The thought spooked Ash about marriage already.

"Slow down! We can't just call a relationship just like that!" Miette laughed at that outburst.

"I know, I know. I'm just saying that Serena and I made a deal that if she can't get your attention, I'd be claiming you as my own. And from you being distant from her, I'm starting to believe you two don't see eye-to-eye, right?" Miette may be hinting Ash to love but he couldn't tell what love was if it hit him in the face like a moment ago... until he remembered the "husband" plot.

"If Serena is telling me, I'm just not hearing her." Miette sighed and put a hand on his shoulder, flustered with his slow response.

"I knew it. How about we grab something to eat while I know about what Kanto's like." Before Ash could reply, Serena found the pair and nearly prevented a date from happening.

"Not so fast, Miette!" she yelled. Ash and Miette turned to his group and even Pikachu.

"I should have known that with a PokéPuff Contest, you'd be around to participate," Clemont concluded.

"Nice to see you again, Miette," Bonnie greeted. Miette acknowledged the company but eyed Serena for her failure.

"What did I tell you about keeping your feelings from Mister Ketchum?" she warned. "For someone who wants him to remember the days before, you're not doing a good job of it." Serena's face puffed up in anger at the mock. She darted her head away in disgust.

"That's rather harsh of you, Miette," Clemont argued.

"Just an honest opinion. No sense going out of your way just to get the attention of someone you like." Those words startled Ash. He said the same thing when Brock, a traveling partner and former Pewter City Gym Leader and Pokémon Breeder, tried to hit on a Mawile trainer.

"Took the words right out of my mouth," he gulped. This further infuriated Serena as she darted her head back.

"You better bring your best tomorrow," she snapped as she fingered Miette. The blue-haired stood composed, not threatened by her intimidating shout. Finally, she stormed off, Bonnie coming from behind.

"Serena, wait!" she cried out. Pikachu reunited with Ash but got worried about Serena.

"We'll let her blow off whatever is steaming her," Miette advised. "In the meantime, I know a restaurant that serves breakfast all day. I'm just in the mood for an Oran Berry Omelet." Pikachu got excited for Miette's choice. Acknowledging his Pokémon, Ash obliged.

"Sounds like a good idea," he accepted. As the four journeyed to find the restaurant, Team Rocket schemed about a new plan. Watching the exchange from around a building, they knew a situation to work on.

"Looks like the oven's burning between the twerpettes," Jessie sneered. "But I can finally reclaim my place as the PokéPuff Princess." Sounded like she wanted in on the competition tomorrow.

"Jessie, last time, our PokéPuffs became charcoal!" Meowth reminded.

"And our machine went mash!" James added. Team Rocket recalled Ash sacrificing his body to overheat the vacuum and have his Pikachu, Serena's Fenniken, Miette's Slurpuff and a swarm of Swirlex shread the machine to bits.

"Then we play things differently," Jessie plotted. "If I'm gonna beat those twerps in the contest tomorrow, what we need to do is thin the herd." James and Meowth blinked at the suggestion. She wanted to take out the other competitors before the contest.

"Now hold on a second!" Meowth roared. "We're Team Rocket! We don't try to murder dose twerps!" Suddenly, James realized the plan.

"Not the twerps but their ovens to make them unusable," he pictured. "No ovens, no contest!" A great idea; sabotaging the ovens would help Jessie get the crown... if Jessie wanted it that way.

"Nah, those twerpettes are the biggest threat," she pointed out. "We'll kidnap the twerp and his Pikachu and you know those twerpettes will come for him." James and Meowth gawked again at Jessie's plan.

"Jessie, Team Rocket takes Pokémon, not twerps!" Meowth reminded again. "Why go through all da trouble for a contest?!" The reason would be one of long and hard frustration.

"That twerp and his Pikachu have humiliated me for far too long! I want to make him suffer for all the embarrassment he put me through!" This was a personal vendetta that screamed payback in the most severe form. Even Wobbufett got spooked with her ranting. To the boys, it sounded over-exaggerated.

"It doesn't necessarily help that she was once a twerp, herself," James pointed out.

"Dat must have been one bad childhood," mulled Meowth. While that planning started hitting the blueprint, Bonnie and Dedenne caught up with Serena on a park bench. She gritted her teeth, finding Miette with Ash settled less and less with each second passing.

"Are you okay?" the little girl asked in concern. Dedenne squeaked its worry to the gloom of the partner who came to see Ash after his little stunt at the Prism Tower.

"No!" whelped the new trainer. "Why should Ash be with... with that upstart?!" The bitterness from Serena started souring the usually happy-go-lucky little blond. Dedenne hopped off Bonnie and scurried to Serena's lap, trying to cheer her up. The daughter of a famed Rhyhorn racer petted the Antennae Pokémon, still pondering what she could do to get Ash back.

"Could you tell me why you want Ash for yourself?" The curiosity of little kids...

"Well... I guess. I mean... did you hear me ask him if he remembered me?" Bonnie may be little but that moment wasn't too long ago.

"Yeah! You also said something about a camp near a Pallet Town, right?" She must have big ears to catch that detail.

"I sure did. You see, one day at the camp, I was chasing an Oddish into the woods. Without looking, I tripped on a tree root and hurt my knee. The pain was so bad, I cried out when Ash came to my rescue. First, he wrapped up my knee and then tried a 'magic trick' to get rid of the pain. I giggled in amusement from that before we held hands to lift me up. It soon was the first time that a boy actually... embraced me in his arms." Bonnie and Dedenne awed the story from the Vaniville Town girl. She could only picture herself being hugged by someone like what Serena had gone through.

"That would be so cool!" A smile from Serena produced a giggle from her, too.

"It does, doesn't it?" A few seconds of happy Serena reverted back to upset. Bonnie started worrying about the swing of emotions Serena kept shifting throughout. At a diner, Pikachu and Slurpuff enjoyed some PokéPuffs made by Miette while sitting with Ash and Clemont.

"The new PokéPuff I made strengthens a Pokémon's defense against Ground-Type moves," she explained. "I also gave it a touch of Watmel Berry extract for sweetener. Perfect for woodland Pokémon like Pikachu." The Pokémon in question flashed a smirk and a Peace Sign, liking the taste.

"So you use different berries to see what Pokémon favors tastes to the effects of what PokéPuff does to certain Pokémon," Clemont hypothesized.

"Sounds easy but not all of the same Pokémon will have the same taste buds. It's like humans; we differ in so many ways like girls who favor tough boys to those who show the sincere type." Ash could think of another comparison.

"It's also like people who prefer Pokémon to battling or to have around as pets," he tried to pair up. Miette scoffed at Ash's attempt of understanding people and Pokémon.

"You're funny!" Hoping for a head's up about tomorrow's contest, Clemont wanted to ask Miette for a recipe she's be using.

"Anyway, is there a special PokéPuff you'll show off in the preliminary round?" he asked. Miette's reaction was to waive a finger at the tinkering Gym Leader of Lumiose City.

"A good Pokémon chef never reveals her secrets. Besides, you're friends with my romantic rival. It's a risk I can't take." She's not taking a chance.

"It's okay," understood Ash. "Anything that fills the stomach should be a compliment to the chef." A chuckle told Ash how Miette felt from his words.

("True enough,") Pikachu agreed. After they had their fill, Ash paid the bill and all left the restaurant.

"Well, I'll see you at the Contest tomorrow," Miette promised as she left to do a little shopping.

"Yeah, see ya!" said the Pallet Town trainer. The boys started their way back to the Pokémon Center and back to Serena and Bonnie. Thinking back to their conversation, Clemont's mind filled with questions toward the company he's a part of.

"Ash, have you thought about what Serena's feelings may be when she hears about our meal discussions with Miette?" he brought up. Clueless to a fault, Ash glanced blankly at his machine-making partner.

"Well, why are you worried about it?" Clemont stopped his walk, Pikachu noticing and patting Ash to turn around.

"Did you or did you not invite Serena to go around Kalos with us?" Ash's honesty had a backseat with the inquiry of his team's morale.

"I did..." That's when something clicked for Ash. "Hold on... you're worried that I'm choosing her over the friends I'm with, including you." Telling Ash that he's correct, Clemont adjusted his glasses.

"You see where I'm coming from? Serena came to find you for a reason..." Ash coughed a huge sigh at the thought of Miette ruining the friendship between him and his gang.

"And why is it every region I go, there's another person who jeopardizes the bond I have with people I'm traveling with?" To Clemont, this wasn't Ash's first rodeo. He's been through this plenty of times.

"Really? This I didn't know about." Even Ash felt ashamed of the shenanigans that plagued his adventures.

"And perhaps that I don't wanna share too much with. I swear I try my best to help people and move on..." Clemont and Pikachu heard the tone of frustration with Ash and his past. Notable names that threatened to break his team included Melody who was the first girl to kiss Ash. Then Macey who fell for him after he saved Pikachu and her Vulpix. Plenty of girls shook Ash up with his charisma and faith from his close friends. "Pikachu, could you stay with Clemont for a while? I need to clear my head." Respecting his wish, Pikachu hopped over to Clemont's shoulder.

"Just be careful, okay?" A nod from the Pallet Town boy allowed the Gym Leader and the prized Pokémon to enter the Center. Ash walked to an ice cream shoppe, grabbed a cone and sat at a bench, a scoop of chocolate swirl being his flavor. Unbeknown to him, his talk with friends were heard by one person he'd think the least to care about him.

"This is exactly what I warned you about, twerp!" scorned Jessie. Ash turned his head to the redhead adult leaning on the bench and staring at Ash.

"You came without James or Meowth?" he noticed.

"I saw you with Twerpy Inventor and that blue-haired twerpette instead of your regular crew. I couldn't help but take inklings." This was a rare moment for Ash, talking to Jessie instead of him stopping her and Team Rocket from their latest scheme to Pokénap his Pikachu. "It's not normally my position or attitude to care about what you do on your twerpish time, but I thought I would remind you about what I said back on Fire Island before Zapdos came by." This intrigued Ash about her memory. "When you get involved with the opposite sex, you're only asking for trouble." The words started sinking in and Ash blindly realized the trouble he kept finding himself in. However, he felt that it's been unavoidable.

"Even when you tell me that, it doesn't actually help that the opposite still finds me and gets me in trouble, especially those that I never wanted any part of." Out of comfort, Jessie patted Ash on the head. Hearing how he tried but couldn't shake the trouble with women somehow earned Jessie's understanding.

"Then perhaps what you should do is go with the flow until you know what you need to do." On that note, Jessie walked away to reunite with the "men" she's with. Ash finished his cone before returning to the Center, his mind trying to make sense of what to do next.

TO BE CONTINUED...