NOTE: Hey guys! So, this is the next installment in my Kalos Academy stories. The second one behind Love & Friendship. If you haven't read that one yet, then I'd say maybe you should. I personally think that you don't have to read that one to understand what's happening here, but it might help out if you're confused about certain things. I mean, if you're confused, then just ask me a question and I'll happily answer if you don't want to read the first one. :D

I just wanted to point out that I am uploading this first chapter as some kind of "teaser", but it probably won't be updated as fast until I sort out a few things. So, enjoy!

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Kalos Academy: Rivalries & Firsts

Genre: Friendship, Romance, and Drama

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon

Pairings: Amourshipping & some other minor pairs.

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Chapter One: Welcome Back Ladies & Gents

It was that time of the year again. That time where students from selected academies were off to venture into a different region to explore what the other unfamiliar places had to offer.

Serena perused the many flyers that were tacked onto the bulletin in front of her. Her eyes shifted from each separate ad, removing those that were just cluttering the corkboard behind it.

"Okay, Vulpix," The honey blonde smiled down at the fire-fox Pokémon that was gently biting onto the edge of a freshly printed flyer. The adorable creature was just added to Serena's team a week ago, and she was just yearning to teach it some moves and add it to the new routine she's been working on. That had to wait though. Her duty as student body president came first.

"Vul…" Vulpix tried to let out a call through its paper filled mouth.

Serena giggled quietly as she reached down to grab the paper. She then held up the flyer in front of her, a tack in her right hand as she pressed it against the center of the corkboard. She pressed the tack against the top left corner of the page before securing it with three more tacks at each remaining corner.

"That ought to do it," Serena said quietly before hearing the sweet voice of her Vulpix agreeing.

She looked straight ahead, scanning the words on the flyer for the umpteenth time. 'Unity of the Seven' was printed in giant, colourful, bubbly letters on the top half portion of the page. Below that was a schedule of events that Serena, Dawn, May, and Miette planned when they returned to the academy days before anyone else.

This year, chosen students in their first year were sent to the academies in Hoenn and Unova. The rest of the students were to entertain the incoming students with festivals and games. This year, students from Kanto and Alola were coming to Kalos Academy. At the end of the semester, every student from each academy was to gather for a celebration at a chosen location.

She glanced over to the word 'Alola' on the flyer. Whenever she looked at that five-letter word, Ash immediately came to her mind. She wasn't chosen to go to Alola before, and during the grand celebration at the very end, there were way too many faces for Serena to remember. She couldn't even differentiate who was a student at Hoenn or Johto.

Serena was just curious about who he was friends with in Alola. Some of them had to be students from the academy. Ash was the friendliest person ever. He was probably a friend to everyone in that region. She just had to know which group of people were the ones to break through his density. She just had to know because she had to thank them.

Thank them for making him hers. Okay, well, soon to be hers. Because after today, Serena was going to talk to him, and tell him that she was ready to start a relationship.

A relationship...

A relationship with Ash. That thought sent Serena's emotions ablaze.

She felt her face heat up as she scrunched up the hem of her blazer. She let out an affectionate sigh before hearing the sounds of a few male voices coming her way.

She glanced down to her watch, noticing that most of the students were probably going to be rolling in soon.

"Let's go," she said to her Vulpix before bending over and grabbing her bin of supplies and flyers. She turned to her left, her mind set on getting all the flyers up before the start of the assembly.

"Are you serious?"

Serena froze upon hearing that familiar voice.

It was his voice.

After a few weeks, she was hearing it for the first time.

She robotically turned her head to the left, looking behind her shoulder. There, she saw Ash and Gary standing by the glass door to their dorms, each rolling in their luggage's and other bags.

"We're right here, Gary," said Ash. "Just bring your luggage into the room."

"I can't," said Gary, placing his backpack on top of his suitcase. "We were in Alola for the whole break while my fellow council members were planning something important. I'm co-president. I need to know what's going on. I need to find them and let them know that I am still their king."

Serena groaned quietly while mentally slapping her forehead. She could not believe that Gary just declared himself as king of the student council.

"It's only going to take a few minutes. They can wait!" said Ash, annoyed. Pikachu immediately agreed, but their words were not convincing the brunette. Before Ash could say anything else, Gary was already running up a plight of stairs, heading towards the girls dormitories.

Ash groaned, causing Pikachu to try and cheer him up.

"I guess we should bring everything in, buddy," said Ash.

Ash dropped his bag onto the floor before reaching a hand into his pocket. He turned around, almost facing the honey blonde who just witnessed everything.

Serena gasped quietly before ducking down into a nearby bush. She felt the relentless race of her heart as she sat on the grass, the length of it tickling her legs. She hasn't seem him in awhile and he somehow became much more attractive.

I should say hi. She thought to herself as she stood up and began peering through the top layer of the bush. She watched as the raven-haired Champion began wheeling in his set of luggage. Moments later, he came back out and sighed as he placed a hand on Gary's giant suitcase. He then peered behind the suitcase to see a few duffel bags lying on the ground.

Serena watched, contemplating if she should help him. She wanted to. It was the right thing to do; yet she was having a hard time moving her feet.

"Uhh… Serena?"

She felt a hand on her shoulder.

Serena jumped and almost let out a loud squeak. She then quickly took a glance back, noticing Ash looking her way. He had a look as if he wanted to check it out, but ignored it and resumed to lugging in all those bags.

"Serena, what are you doing?" Miette asked with a raised eyebrow while crossing her arms.

"Nothing," Serena said with a red face. "I was just…" Serena looked around her, trying to use the objects in her vicinity to formulate a response. "…pinning a flyer." Serena lifted a flyer from her bin and held it against the length of the well-trimmed shrub.

"Against a bush?"

"Uhh…" Serena shifted her eyes from left to right before grinning widely at her friend. "Yeah," she said, breathily. "A bulletin board is one thing, but if it's pinned here, everyone will be wondering why it's here, and they will all see it. It's much more effective than a boring old board!"

"Are you sure you weren't just spying on As-"

Serena leaned over, covering her friend's mouth. "Don't say his name."

Miette pulled Serena's hand away from her mouth and gently pushed Serena away from her. "Look at you," she said, nodding her head in shame. "When you were ten, you travelled with him all over Kalos. And then you had the courage to remove him from your life. And now you can't even handle hearing his name?" She nodded her head again. "That is just sad."

"It's not sad." Serena pouted. "I don't mind hearing his name."

"Okay, then why don't you go and talk to Ash? It's better than hiding behind this bush, and I know Ash would also like to talk to you because it's been awhile since you've seen Ash." Miette emphasized his name each time she uttered it, causing a chill to travel up Serena's spine.

"I-I will. I just have to finish with pinning all my flyers."

"I'll do it," said Miette grabbing onto the bin. "I'm done anyways."

"But I-"

Miette placed a hand on the honey blonde's shoulder. "Serena, you're fifteen, not seven. If you can perform in front of a hundred people, then you can talk to a boy."

"But, But." Serena felt Miette's grip as she began guiding her to the edge of her hiding place.

"You got this." Miette grinned widely before finally pushing Serena hard enough to have her stumble from the grassy area to the cemented ground.

Serena bit her bottom lip as Ash turned his head to see what that noise was.

"Serena?" He blinked before standing up straight. "Hey." He smiled warmly before unclenching his fist from around the strap of Gary's suitcase.

"Hi," Serena squeaked before looking down to the yellow mouse like Pokémon that was coming her way. "Hi Pikachu." She felt more relaxed upon seeing the tiny fur ball.

She bent down to pet Pikachu's tail. The electric Pokémon smiled and closed its eyes as it let out a yelp of complete bliss. She smiled before feeling the soft fur of her Vulpix rubbing against her lower leg. Serena lifted her other hand, and began to rub her Vulpix's head.

"Whoa," said Ash as he walked over to the honey blonde. "A Vulpix?"

"Yeah." Serena stood up as she watched Pikachu walk over to her fire Pokémon to introduce itself. Her Vulpix looked up at her, wondering if it was okay for it to make friends with Pikachu. Serena smiled, and urged her Pokémon to do so. In less than a minute, the two were running around the trees and benches, chasing one another.

"Did you always have a Vulpix?" asked Ash.

Serena looked up at Ash, her cheeks slowly starting to go red. "I just caught it a week ago. I can't wait to get it into performing."

"That's awesome." The raven haired Champion bent his legs, and reached down to pet the Vulpix. "Brock has a Vulpix too. If you need any help with taking care of it, I'm sure he can give you some pointers."

"Professor Brock?" Serena questioned.

"Yeah." Ash stood up straight and refocused his attention back to her. "Sorry. He wasn't a professor when I met him. It's weird to call him that."

Serena nodded before letting out a quiet and awkward giggle. She stretched her arms behind her back and clasped her hands together. Her mind was reeling. She wasn't sure of what to say to him.

"So, how was your break, Serena?" he asked. "Other than getting yourself a Vulpix, what else did you do?"

"Oh," Serena said, trying to recall what she did in the last few weeks. She placed her index finger on her chin. "I spent the break with Dawn and May. We've been at my house all break, and then we came back here a week ago with Miette to prepare for the exchange students." She stopped before bringing her finger down. "How about you? I assume you went back to Alola for the break."

"Yeah." Ash smiled. "Had to see which trainers were making their way to the top." He chuckled while bringing his hand up to his nape. Serena could see that he was already revving to battle the lucky trainer who was going to win the next Alolan league.

She smiled, seeing the twinkle in his eyes. He was always one for a battle. Maybe not as eager as when he was younger, but she could see that battling was one of his many passions.

"So," he said, looking down. He suddenly looked a tad bit shy.

"So?" Serena questioned, looking at him.

"It's good to be back." He brought his arm down from his nape before meeting her sapphire coloured eyes. "… And it's good to see you again." He paused momentarily. "I… uhm… missed you."

Serena's lips slightly parted as her eyes widened in surprise. She could not believe the words that just escaped from his lips. She never thought that he would say such a thing, at least, not in that kind of context.

She brought a hand to her chest and felt the thump of her heart increase in speed. This was the perfect moment for her to tell him that she really did like him, and was ready to start a relationship.

She opened her mouth, her mind flashing through the many scenarios that could depict the outcome. All of them were good. What he just said had to confirm it. "I missed yo-"

"Serena! Ash!"

Serena turned her head to the right upon feeling a hand tugging at the hem of her blazer.

"Bonnie?" Serena questioned as Bonnie walked between the two. She immediately wrapped her arms around the Alolan Champion before turning around to do the same to the honey blonde. "It's good to see you guys!" she said in a cheerful tone.

"It's good to see you too Bonnie," said Ash.

Serena looked down to Bonnie's outfit, noticing that she was wearing a maroon and blue plaid skirt with a maroon blazer. "You're a student here now?" Serena asked in surprise as her eyes fell upon the nametag that was pinned just below the school insignia.

"Yep. I wanted to surprise you," Bonnie winked before twirling around in her uniform. "What do you think?"

"You look great!" said Serena.

Bonnie grinned smugly before placing her hands on her hips. "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything important by barging in the way I did," she said, eying the two.

"What do you mean?" Serena blinked.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, I think I heard you telling Ash that you missed him."

Serena giggled nervously. She then tugged on her collar, suddenly feeling like she needed to shed a few layers of clothes. "What?" she squeaked. "I missed everyone… I was about to tell him that I missed you... and Clemont too. Is- is he here?" Serena coughed.

"He's bringing in all my things."

As if on cue, the inventor came into view, panting hard while lugging in a large suitcase and a couple other small bags.

"Bonnie!" he called, out of breath. "I told you to wait for me!"

Bonnie cupped her hands around her mouth. "And I told you to use an invention or one of your Pokémon! It's not my fault!" The young blonde smiled back at the two before sprinting off towards her brother. She then turned around, stretched out an arm and began to wave at the duo. "Clemont and I will see you later! We have some other news to share!"

"I wonder what news…" Ash said quietly before shaking his head. "I guess I should finish bringing in the rest of Gary's things before wondering about anything else." Ash groaned before wrapping his fingers around the strap located at the top of the suitcase.

"Do you need help?" Serena asked, nervously.

Ash lifted a finger to his temple and began to scratch it. "I don't know," he said. "This is Gary's stuff. I don't want you carrying his things." He then glanced down, staring at the rest of the things he had to bring in. "I'm contemplating just leaving it out here," he joked.

A small smile formed upon Serena's face. "I don't mind helping." She bent down to reach for one of the duffel bags.

Ash leaned over and placed a hand on her wrist before her fingers could grasp against the strap. The sensation of his touch sent a chill throughout body, and the very spot he was touching was making her skin all tingly.

"I got this, Serena," he said, reaching out for the bag and draping it over his shoulder. "Besides, I wouldn't want our first encounter after the break involve us bringing in Gary's things. I'd want it to be more memorable."

Serena tilted her head, wondering what he meant. What exactly did he mean by more memorable? She just wanted to help him. There was nothing more to it.

"You were gonna say that you missed me too, right?" A smug grin replaced his placid expression.

Serena opened her mouth, but froze on the spot.

Ash grinned, noticing that what he said caught her by surprise. "I'll see you later, okay?" he chuckled while slowly starting to back away with the luggage. "I have to talk to you anyways, but I don't want to do it right now. Maybe somewhere later." His eyes shifted upwards. "Alone." He finished off before turning around and disappearing into the building. Pikachu followed behind him, using its tiny paws and teeth to aid it with lugging in Gary's last bag. It waved it's new friend, and Serena goodbye before disappearing behind Ash.

Serena stood there, her mind reeling with a dozen of scenarios.

He wanted to talk to her? What for? Was he going to make the first move and ask her to be his girlfriend?

Her eyes began to sparkle at the thought.

She then looked down and pulled her phone from her pocket upon feeling it's vibration against her side. It was a reminder. It was time for her to go to the auditorium to set up for the assembly, and meet the representatives from the other academies.

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Yep. So this is the beginning. :)

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