"And you are all registered! We look forward to seeing your performance, Serena."

"Thank you very much!" I squealed happily, bowing to the woman behind the counter of the Contest Hall. She waved with a smile as I turned and walked back out into Jubilife City. The city reminded me of Lumiose City a little bit, although the clothing boutiques were not half as wonderful and there wasn't an architectural wonder to look at like the Lumiose Tower. But even so, I liked it.

I had decided to stay at the Pokemon Center and practice in the courts behind the center once I had gotten here. Roisel was doing absolutely amazing at the training and she had even learned a new move! I had nearly dropped my pokedex after I entered her new move, Lick, and immediately a message had popped up in the corner of the screen from Professor Rowan.

When I opened the message, it explained that Lick was a common attack learned by lower leveled pokemon. He thanked me for updating Roisel's entry and asked me to message him as soon as she evolved if she ever did. Honestly, I wasn't sure I liked the idea of Roisel evolving, but I told him that I would let him know if she did on the messenger app which was apparently a new upgrade to the Pokedex.

Roisel nuzzled my shoulder affectionately as I began walking down the street towards the Pokemon Center and I tickled her chin happily. As I continued to walk, my eyes slid over to the police station that was coming up on my left. I had been in Jubilife City for several days now but I hadn't gotten the courage to go in and ask for Aryan's contact information. It might have been silly of me, but I didn't want any misunderstandings between Aryan and his coworkers. However, now that the contest was scheduled for tomorrow... it would be nice to have a friend in the audience for my debut.

"What do you think, Roisel? Should we go ask?" I asked Roisel nervously. She cocked her head at me as if asking what I was talking about. I giggled at the cute expression and decided that it was worth the potential embarrassment.

When I walked into the police department I was surprised at how busy everyone seemed to be. Several officers were rushing back and forth from rooms, calling out for file numbers and other things I didn't understand. I had just about decided to come back when it wasn't so busy when an officer noticed me and walked up.

"Can I help you, miss?" I blinked as I looked at the beautiful woman and cocked my head. She looked familiar, but her dark blue hair that flipped out over her neck and shoulders didn't seem quite right.

"Officer Jenny?" I asked tentatively. The woman blinked and then smiled.

"That's me! How can I help you?" she asked, glancing behind her at the bustling officers.

"Well, it's nothing urgent... but my friend Aryan told me that if I wanted to contact him I should come to the police station and ask for his information," I explained, feeling a little less embarrassed since it was Officer Jenny instead of a male officer.

"Ahhh so you're the girl that Detective Aryan was talking about," Officer Jenny said with a wide grin. I tried to keep myself from blushing, but hearing that he had been talking about me was a little unexpected.

"What did he say?" I asked worriedly and Officer Jenny laughed.

"He said that you were a talented rhyhorn racer that decided to become a coordinator and you are a terrible fisher," she relayed with a grin, walking over to a desk and beginning to rummage around in a drawer.

"I haven't really practiced fishing..." I muttered, thinking back to how Aryan had helped me catch my Feebas.

"Here it is!" Jenny exclaimed triumphantly, holding up a folded piece of paper. "This is his Pokedex ID and personal contact number."

I took the slip of paper happily and bowed slightly to Officer Jenny, noticing for the first time how quiet Roisel was being. Glancing over, I was happy to see that she didn't seem afraid. Instead, she was sniffing the air and looking all around at the bustling policemen.

"Thank you for this, Officer Jenny. I'm sorry if I interrupted something," I apologized, glancing at the busy office. Officer Jenny waved her hand but let out a little sigh.

"You don't have to apologize. But... Don't feel bad if he doesn't respond right away. Something big happened and he's pretty deep into an investigation right now," she said with a small frown, looking out at the frantic activity around her as well.

"Can I ask what happened?' I asked hesitantly, remembering back to when Aryan had said that his investigations were a secret.

"Someone was kidnapped," Officer Jenny answered with a heavy frown and I gasped in shock. "We're working on trying to figure out what happened, but Detective Aryan thinks that this kidnapping is linked to a few other disappearances from around Sinnoh, so he's looking into it too."

"That's awful!" I exclaimed sadly, feeling a brief wave of fear go through me at the thought of someone being kidnapped.

"Don't worry. We'll find whoever did this and get the researcher back before you know it!" Officer Jenny said with a confident smile. "I'd better get back to work though. It was nice meeting you..."

"Serena. Serena Yvonne from Vaniville Town," I said, taking the hand that Officer Jenny had held out to me. We shook quickly and she smiled before whisking into the back of the police station.

I left the police station feeling sad for whoever had been kidnapped and I hoped that the police would find them quickly. Glancing at the piece of paper in my hand I quickly inputted the Pokedex ID into my own and sent a friend request to him. Then I pulled out the PokeCom that I had bought from the Poketch company when I first got to Jubilife city and added Aryan's number as my first contact. I decided not to call him until he responded to my friend request though since I didn't want to disturb his investigation.

"Well, should we get some extra practice in, Roisel?" I asked her after carefully stowing Aryan's contact info into a side pocket of my backpack. Roisel scuttled back and forth across my shoulders, sending a tickling sensation through me and I couldn't keep from laughing.

As we made our way to the Pokemon Center. I was surprised when I saw a large crowd of people gathering in the practice fields. Curious, I followed a few people who were running around the Pokemon Center to see what was going on. My eyes widened when I saw a huge cheering squad with signs saying "Go Keira!" and "We Love You, Keira!" at the side of a field where two trainers seemed to be battling.

It was immediately apparent that this wasn't a normal battle though. Even though the pokemon were battling each other, their moves were calculated and beautiful. A large brown Flying Type beat its wings, sending arches of wind that spun elegantly through the air towards the small pokemon on the other end of the field. I pulled out my Pokedex and pointed it at the two pokemon.

I tried to keep one eye on the battle going on as I swiftly read the Pokedex entry for the Noctowl and Tyrogue battling. From what Aryan had told me, it seemed like Noctowl had the advantage in this battle. However, the small Tyrogue seemed to be holding its own against the bigger pokemon.

"Tyrogue, use Rock Smash on the ground!" 

I glanced over at the female trainer with the Tyrogue. She had a piece of black and orange fabric tied in her short hair, which was a color so pale it almost looked gray. She was wearing an orange and white crop top with a transparent black undershirt covering her ribs and stomach and matching shorts with black spandex poking out from underneath them. She had white bands of fabric wrapped around both knees and, alarmingly, she had no shoes on.

My attention moved away from the trainer to her pokemon as the small fighting type smashed its glowing fist into the field. I yelped in shock as three large pieces of the field burst up from the force of the pokemon's punch and my mouth fell open in shock.

"Now kick them towards Noctowl!" Keira called out. 

I watched in amazement as Tyrogue jumped up and slammed his feet in quick succession into the chunks of rock and dirt that he had smashed into the air. They sailed towards the Noctowl, who seemed too surprised to even dodge. The flying type was knocked out of the air and fell to the ground with a large crash. I winced as it attempted to get back up, but Keira wasn't finished.

"Finish it with Rock Slide!"

Tyrogue held his three-fingered hands up into the air and dozens of perfectly round rocks winked into existence above Noctowl. I was surprised since I had seen Rock slide before and normally the rocks were all different shapes and sizes, but the perfect sphere's hovered above the struggling Noctowl for half a second before they all dropped on top of the helpless pokemon.

A huge cheer exploded from the audience as Keira and Tyrogue both punched upwards and then kicked one of their feet high into the air in a sort of victory dance. People began rushing toward Keira, asking for autographs and wishing her luck in the upcoming Pokemon Contest. Keira accepted the attention gracefully, not seeming to be bothered by the huge crowd gathered around her. I noticed that she didn't even once look at her opponent though, who had returned his Noctowl and ran into the Pokemon Center looking absolutely gutted.

A small ding from my Pokedex pulled my attention away from the poor trainer and I looked down in surprise to see that Aryan had already accepted my request to link our Pokedexes. As soon as the request was accepted a small message appeared in the corner of the screen and I clicked on it eagerly.

Hey, Serena. Did you get my PokeCom number?

After a second I put my Pokedex down and pulled out my new PokeCom. After fumbling for a little while with the new device I managed to send a message to the number I had added as a contact.

I did! I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon.

To my shock, the PokeCom began to vibrate immediately in my hand. Looking at the screen, I realized that Aryan was actually calling me! Feeling a little strange, I swiped the screen to accept the call and put it up to my ear.

"Hello?" I greeted hesitantly.

"Hey, Serena. Is this a bad time?" Aryan's voice asked through the speaker near my ear. I laughed unexpectedly as Roisel placed her own head against the back of the PokeCom and let out a whistling "Siiiii" of excitement. Aryan's deep laugh echoed from the device and I grinned.

"Nice to hear from you too, Roisel," Aryan said with a small chuckle.

"Roisel and I were just about to start training. How is your investigation going? Officer Jenny told me that someone was kidnapped," I said, feeling my light mood dampen slightly.

"That's actually why I called you," Aryan responded with a sigh. "I'm following a lead right now and I had to leave Jubilife City, so I won't be able to go to your Contest. I just wanted to call and apologize to you."

A brief sense of disappointment filled me but then I smiled slightly. I gently shook my head, making sure not to bump Roisel too much since she was still pressed up to the phone with her round ears wiggling slightly.

"Don't worry about it. I hope you are able to find the researcher quickly," I said sincerely.

"Thanks, Serena. Text me when you decide which contest you'll enter next and I'll try to make it," Aryan promised and I smiled faintly.

"Sure," I agreed quickly. It was nice to know that he wanted to support me.

"Have you told your mom about being a coordinator yet?" he asked me. I blinked at the unexpected question and grimaced slightly.

"No... not yet," I mumbled. Aryan didn't say anything for a little while and I was about to change the subject when he spoke up.

"I'm sure you'll do great in the contest, Serena. I'm sorry, but I just stopped to grab some lunch so I have to get going soon," Aryan explained with regret in his baritone voice. 

"That's fine. Thank you for calling even though you are busy," I said happily.

"I'm glad I decided to leave the sound on my pokedex up so I heard the notification," Aryan said with a chuckle. "See you around. I look forward to seeing your Feebas in all its glory in a contest soon."

"Goodbye, Aryan," I said, a little frosty, and I could hear him laugh before he disconnected the call. 

Roisel continued to press her head against the back of my PokeCom for a few seconds after the call ended, but then she pulled her head back and whistled curiously. She sniffed the phone as if she was expecting Aryan's voice to come out of it again.

"He's busy, Roisel. We should start training again," I suggested with a little chuckle. Roisel scurried down my arm and jumped to the ground below, bounding towards an empty field energetically.

I followed after her happily, putting the large crowd and the battle I had just seen out of my mind for now.

A/N  Thank you for reading!