Narrator / November 17th

Today, the weather was awfully nice. Ash exited his home alone, ready to go and take on his second gym in Kalos, accompanied by no one other than Pikachu. As soon as he stepped down from the final step on his porch, he knew that he had no idea where he was going, but he decided that he would figure it out along the way. Classic Ash, Serena's voice giggled in his head, and he shook it to clear the sound.

Despite that, he heard that voice call out to him a couple of moments later, but this time, it was real. "Hey Ash!"

He turned around, a bored expression plastered on his face. "Oh, hey Serena"

She jogged over and offered him a genuine smile. "Where are you off to?"

Ash hesitated on telling her where at first. "I was heading to my second gym battle"

"Well, I was hoping we could talk actually" Serena said, pressing her index fingers against each other nervously. Ash thought it was cute, but he brushed that thought off too.

"I don't think there's anything to talk about" Ash said, turning to continue on his way.

Serena decided to catch up and walk next to him. "If you want, I could take you to Cyllage City, and maybe along the way I could um... tell you something"

Ash abruptly stopped in place, and Serena did too. "I think you should go back Serena; Calem wouldn't like this"

"Just forget Calem for a moment" Serena quickly dismissed. "I really need to talk to you"

"That would be a bad idea -- forgetting Calem. He's your boyfriend after all, if there's something you want to talk about so badly, you should talk it out with him"

"But..." Serena tried to protest, but no words came from her mouth

"Go home Serena," Ash continued on his way, "call Calem or something. You haven't bothered talking to me outside of school for weeks, so I'm sure whatever you need to talk about can be sorted out with him"

Serena stood there, watching Ash slowly walk away, until she found words in her mouth -- just not the ones she wanted. "W-Well, it wasn't like you were making an effort either"

Ash stopped again, but didn't turn to face her. "Huh?"

"Friendship is a two-way street, Ash. Sure I may have been a little bit distant, but you could have at least told me how you felt about it" Serena said. "It's not just mine, but both of our fault's that we aren't friends anymore"

"That's right..." Ash agreed. "We aren't friends anymore"

"But that's not the way I want it to be!" Serena said, raising her voice

"Maybe you should have thought about your choices a little bit more than" Ash replied. "Because maybe then, I wouldn't have lost you"

"You haven't lost me!" tears welled up in Serena's eyes. "Why are you being so stubborn? I'm trying to tell you how I feel!"

"It's too late Serena" Ash raised his voice too. "I wanted to tell you too, but it's too late... for both of us"

This time, Ash walked away, and Serena didn't stop him. Instead, she just fell to her knees and cried into her hands, wondering how she could have let such a mistake happen. To her, it seemed like the end of the story between her and Ash, but luckily for her...

help was coming.

"I'm sorry I could only afford just an hour" Aria apologized

"It's fine" Jason blew out the candle on his cupcake. "It's not like I have any time to be doing this either. So much has happened in the last couple of months, it makes me wonder just where everything is going"

Aria frowned. "It's too bad Anna isn't here; she would have known what to do"

"Yeah" Jason agreed sadly. "But I have no idea where she is"

Fifteen minutes later, the two said their goodbyes and walked off in separate directions. Somewhere in the middle of Lumiose City, Jason could have sworn he saw a familiar face walking on the opposite street.

He took his chance, at risk of getting embarrassed. "Kiawe!"

Luckily for him, it ended up being the person who he thought it was. Kiawe turned around, and so did his four companions. Jason crossed the street, and the two old friends examined just how much the other grew.

"Well if it isn't you" Kiawe said as the two shook hands. "And you said Kalos was just the place you didn't want to be at"

"Things change" Jason shrugged. "Why are you here in Kalos? I thought Alola was the perfect place for you. I mean, you're even wearing a shirt"

"We're here for three months; Professor Kukui thought it would be a good idea for us to get out of Alola" Kiawe explained

Jason introduced himself to Kiawe's friends, and they did the same. The two explained how they knew each other -- they had been friends when they were younger, growing up in Alola. But one day, he had to leave in search of something. What that thing was, was never specified.

"So where are you guys staying at anyways?" Jason questioned

"Professor Sycamore got us a nice place to stay at" Lillie answered. "It's quite big actually"

"And how about you?" Kiawe asked. "Ever find what you were looking for?"

"Unfortunately not" Jason shook his head. "Of course I haven't given up, but right now I'm more occupied with... other problems"

"I see" Kiawe nodded. "So trouble hasn't stopped following you"

"I doubt it ever will; that's just the way things are" Jason replied. "I should get going though; I'll ask Professor Sycamore where you guys are staying, and I can drop by later"

"Sounds good" Kiawe agreed

The five Alolans continued to walk down the street and towards their destination -- the Lumiose City Pokemon Museum; they were in search of Pokemon they had never seen before, and to learn about what "Alolan-form Pokemon" were suppose to look like originally.

Along the way, Kiawe spotted a pretty girl having a battle against another trainer. He didn't know what it was, but something stood out to him. She had long green hair, forest-green eyes, and wore a white robe that made her look like a princess. Her Pokemon was a Zeraora -- a Pokemon that was suppose to come from Alola -- and she was battling against a Dragonite. (A/N: Zeraora is not a mythical or legendary Pokemon in this)

"Check it out" Kiawe stopped a pointed. "She has a Pokemon from Alola"

"That's right" Lana said. "I wonder if she's from Alola too"

Zeraora delivered the finishing blow to Dragonite, sending him crashing into the ground in front of its trainer. The disappointed trainer returned their Dragonite and thanked their opponent for a good challenge before sulking off.

"I've got it!" Kiawe announced. "I'm going to challenge her to a battle"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mallow asked. "She seems pretty strong"

"Kiawe will be fine; he's a powerful trainer after all" Lillie reminded

Confidently, Kiawe walked over and stepped onto the battlefield, where the girl's previous opponent stood. "If you don't mind, I'd like to have a Pokemon battle with you"

"That's fine by me" She agreed -- even her voice was beautiful.

Mallow, Lillie, Sophocles, and Lana sat down in the stands of the battlefield, while Kiawe called out his Turtonator.

"I take it you're from Alola then" the girl guessed correctly

"Yup" Kiawe confirmed. "That's why I wanted to have a battle with you"

"Usually people who come from Alola don't travel out of it" she said. "What bring you to Kalos?"

"We're just here to explore. How about you?"

"To tell the truth, I was in search of something that would have greatly benefited my friends, but I haven't seen them in a really long time. I just returned, and now I'm looking for them" she explained. "My name's Anna by the way, it's nice to meet you"

"Well I'm Kiawe" Kiawe pointed a thumb at himself. "You can have the first move"

"Ok" Anna said. "Zeraora, let's let loose this battle, alright?"

Zeraora nodded, and the ground began to shake heavily. Pebbles levitated off the ground, and shockwaves of electricity began to shoot out of Zeraora as an aura of thunder surrounded it.

"Use Thunder Roar!" Anna began

"Ever heard of that move before?" Lana asked

"I don't think so" Lillie said

"Turtonator, dodge and attack with Rapid Spin!" Kiawe instructed

Turtonator entered his shell and began to spin rapidly, before shooting forward and zigzagging around the battlefield like a ball in a pinball machine to avoid the attack. Zeraora jumped up and fired a column of electricity from its mouth that hit Turtonator. Upon contact, the attack exploded and Turtonator was sent flying back, forced out of its shell.

"Powerful..." Kiawe said under his breath

"Use Electric Stinger!" Anna continued

Six large bolts of electricity -- three from the left; three from the right -- shot out from Zeraora's back, curving to look like spider legs. The bolts traveled to quick for Kiawe to react, and they shocked Turtonator hard.

"Use Dragon Pulse!" Kiawe retaliated

Turtonator shook off the damage and fired a quick-moving Dragon Pulse that collided with Zeraora, setting off a small explosion and covering the Pokemon in smoke. Kiawe thought he was a safe for a couple of moments, until Zeraora jumped out of the smoke with a large ball of electricity above one hand.

"Electric Haze!" Anna commanded

Zeraora tossed the large ball of energy forward, and it exploded against the ground in front of Turtonator, setting off an explosion that covered the entire vicinity, including the stands, in smoke. When it cleared, everyone except Anna was coughing, and Turtonator was barely standing still.

"Turtonator can still battle after all that? That's amazing" Anna said

"Uh, yeah, right" Kiawe nervously chuckled before going back into serious-mode. "Use Flamethrower!"

"Stop that with Electric Jigsaw" Anna defended

Turtonator built up heat and then fired a powerful Flamethrower; Zeraora raised one hand, and a sharp disc made of electric formed. The disc was thrown, and it cut straight through Flamethrower; Turtonator barely managed to dodge the disc by ducking under it.

"You're really strong, but I get the idea that you're still holding back on me" Kiawe said

"Very well" Anna nodded. "We'll go all out"

"That's more like it"

Zeraora backed up a couple of steps, and Anna held out her hands in front of her, palms facing the ground. Electricity began to spark from the battlefield and travel up Zeraora, and thunderclouds rolled up in the sky. "Zeraora... God Sleeper"

A yellow circle of energy appeared underneath Turtonator, and in seconds, a massive cylindrical column of thunder shot up from the ground and into the clouds, causing the sky to rumble. When the attack finished, Turtonator had fainted.

"That was a good battle, thanks for letting us let it out" Anna said

"Yeah... no problem" Kiawe returned Turtonator, still shocked at what he had just seen

10pm

For some odd reason, it was already snowing in Kalos, despite it being the middle of November. Jason walked the streets of Lumiose City -- which were completely empty at this time due to how dark it was -- wearing a white shirt, grey pants and a yellow scarf. He had been informed through Shauna that Serena had been crying all day, so he decided that he might as well go and pay her visit to see if he could do anything.

He had noticed that ever since Serena had started dating Calem, that two had been becoming much more distant, which was strange because they had been as close as friends could get before. Some even said they acted like they were already dating; Calem was never too fond of those statements.

It reminded him of his past a little bit. He had never gotten to tell the girl he loved the way he felt, and he never got the chance to, because one day she just disappeared. He almost resented Ash for still having Serena around and not telling her how he felt. Jason regretted not having said something to help out Ash, but just like for him, it was too late now.

The silhouette of a figure appeared just up the street Jason was walking, and he took it as nothing more than another passerby. Yet, when the two got closer to each other, he stopped when he saw the familiar shade of green eyes and hair.

It was like a clock began to tick backwards in his head as the girl stopped as well, a smile on her face. "Hey"