After her somewhat joking suggestion that we travel together in the future, I was grateful when Serena didn't press for a way to contact me. Honestly, being around Serena made me miss being a normal pokemon trainer and that wasn't something I should allow while I was working. That didn't stop me from enjoying the relaxing feeling on my day off though. Roisel was healed and ready shortly after we finished eating and when I suggested we should go for a walk I was glad that Serena accepted.

It made me feel a little happy to see Roisel perched on Serena's shoulder, just like Pikachu on mine. As we walked away from the main part of Jubilife City and towards the quieter areas of the forest that surrounded it, Roisel and Pikachu seemed to be carrying on a conversation between the two of them. Serena giggled several times as the two spoke animatedly and I wondered what they were saying.

"So, what's your next step?" I asked over their whistling conversation. Serena looked up at me and shrugged her shoulders delicately so as not to disturb Roisel too much.

"I guess I'll head over to the next pokemon contest. I'm pretty sure there are a few scheduled in the smaller towns between Jubilife and Oreburgh City," Serena mused with a slightly faraway look. "And I should probably call my mom and let her know that I'm okay."

"Mom's worry a lot, huh? I'm sure she'll be happy to hear from you," I commented, thinking of my own Mom and her patience with me. I felt bad that I couldn't contact her that often, but she always kept herself busy so I hoped she didn't miss me too much.

"Maybe... She was pretty upset when I told her I was quitting as a rhyhorn racer," Serena mumbled softly, looking out to the side of the path and away from me. I frowned slightly at this news, feeling bad that Serena's mom seemed less chill than mine.

"Are you happy, Serena?" I asked, tucking my hands into my jeans pockets. It was great not having to wear the weird grey uniform that was required as a Team Galactic Grunt. I had even considered bringing along a hat to wear like the old days, but since Serena had known me as a kid, I figured I should stick with gelling my hair instead.

"Why do you ask that?" Serena asked, turning back to look at me with a surprised expression. I shrugged, rubbing the back of my neck.

"Well, I was just thinking that as long as you are happy then that should be enough for your mom to be okay with your decision, right?" 

Serena blinked up at me for a few seconds and then her mouth turned up in a gentle smile. "Thanks, Satoshi. You're right. I just need to show her that I'm happy," she said, clasping her hands casually behind her back and looking down the path we were following with a happy smile. 

She had changed out of her contest dress before we left the pokemon center. I thought about telling her I liked her outfit, just a simple combination of light-wash blue jeans, a white shirt, and a purple vest, but I didn't want it to sound weird so I held my tongue.

"You should probably catch another pokemon soon. One of the upcoming contests might be a double performance after all. Sinnoh likes to do that," I told her as I thought back to the double performances Dawn competed in.

"I... actually have another pokemon. But I should probably get some more so I can have better combinations," Serena said with an awkward chuckle.

"Really? Can I see?!" I asked excitedly. Surprisingly, Serena blushed and placed her hand to cover the ring clipped through one of her belt loops where several miniaturized Pokeballs were hanging.

"I guess... but it's a water type that can't battle on land," she mumbled.

"No way! That's awesome! Water type pokemon are so cool, right Pikachu?" I asked with a wide grin.

Pikachu grinned, sharing a secret look with me telling me he knew exactly which pokemon I was thinking of. I had caught tons of pokemon since I had become a trainee at the IIA, but there was only one water type pokemon that I had chosen to bring with me on this undercover mission. His Pokeball was safely hidden in the false bottom of my backpack and it felt great to know that I had one of my closest friends near me at all times, just in case something were to go wrong.

"You sound just like Aryan," Serena remarked with a small chuckle. 

My entire body froze for a split second and I quickly lengthened my stride to stay in step with Serena as she continued walking, a small smile playing around the corners of her lips.

"A-who?" I asked, forcing a bright smile and hoping that I had heard her wrong.

"My new friend, Aryan. He was going to come to the contest too but something came up and he couldn't make it. He's the one that helped me catch my second pokemon and he said that I should definitely get a water type because they were his favorite," Serena explained with a roll of her eyes, but her expression seemed happy.

It's just a coincidence, Ash. Aryan must just be a popular name, I told myself firmly as I kept the smile plastered on my face.

"Well, it sounds like he's got good taste," I said lightly. Serena hmphed slightly, poking out her bottom lip in a pout.

"I don't know about that. He convinced me to catch the first pokemon we fished out of the river and I honestly have no idea what to do with it," Serena huffed, her pout deepening and causing her to look slightly childish. I chuckled at how cute she looked and motioned towards her Pokeballs.

"I did use to be a pokemon trainer; just show me and I'll see if I can help," I offered with a grin, hoping to turn the topic away from Aryan. It was cowardly, but I didn't want to find out that Serena was talking about the same Aryan that I was going to have to sell out to Neptune in just a couple of hours. That would make me feel even more guilty!

Serena sighed heavily but reached down and unclipped the first Pokeball from her ring. Roisel instantly perked up, bending down and sniffing at the Pokeball in obvious interest and Serena chuckled.

"Come on out, then," she said.

A red light flashed from the Pokeball and I blinked in surprise as a Feebas appeared, wriggling crazily on the ground. Roisel instantly leaped from Serena's shoulder, pouncing on the defenseless fish out of water and giving an excited whistle of amusement.

"Wow! You caught a Feebas? That's awesome!" I exclaimed exuberantly, holding out my arm so Pikachu could crawl down and jump off me easier as he joined Roisel in playing with the squirming thing.

"What's awesome about it? I know that Feebas evolves into a gorgeous pokemon, but how am I supposed to even train it? She only knows the move splash which does no damage, so I can't put her in battles or she'll just lose! And there's nothing she can do in the appeal round because all she does is flop around like this," Serena complained with a look of annoyance mixed with confusion.

"Huh, that's a good point. Honestly, I've never seen someone train a Feebas before," I admitted, thinking back to my travels and my time with the IIA. I couldn't think of anyone on the IIA who had a Milotic on their team, although plenty of them had trained Magikarps and evolved them into Gyaradoses. But from what I could remember they had just battled them against other Magikarp until they learned Tackle and eventually evolved.

"And besides that, she also gives me the heebie-jeebies, so I am having a hard time wanting to train her even if I knew how," Serena said with a small shudder. I looked down at the flopping pokemon and Roisel and Pikachu who were running around it giggling in their pokemon way.

"It's not so bad. Maybe you can try to get in the water with it?" I suggested after a small pause. Serena blinked up at me with a startled expression which made me laugh.

"What do you mean?" she asked in obvious confusion.

"Well, to be any worth in a battle you'll have to at least teach it to tackle. Maybe if you try to show her how it's done yourself then she'll get the hang of it," I encouraged with a small chuckle. Serena glanced down at the flopping Feebas with a contemplative expression before holding out her Pokeball and returning it.

"I guess that makes sense," she admitted with a small smile. "Thanks for the idea, Satoshi."

"No problem!" I responded immediately. "But for now you should probably get another pokemon that could help you in your next contests."

"Do you have any suggestions?" she asked with a smile and I shrugged.

"When I was on my journey I tried to catch every pokemon I saw! I remember when I was traveling through Sinnoh I caught a Buizel, a Gligar, and I had a Turtwig. There was this super strong trainer that was a real jerk to his pokemon, and he ended up releasing his Chimchar so I took over his training. When he evolved into Infernape, man, you should have seen how strong he was!"

Glancing down at Serena I flinched slightly at the amused expression on her face. I self-consciously wiped at my cheek, wondering if I had a tomato stain from my soup or something, but that only made Serena giggle.

"You sound so happy when you talk about your journeys! I hope I can become friends with lots of pokemon too," Serena said with a happy smile.

We ended up walking and talking until my stomach started grumbling again. It was getting close to the time when I had to meet the jet and go back to Mt Coronet, but when Serena offered to make us something for dinner I instantly agreed.

I gathered some kindling and firewood and started building a fire as Serena pulled out ingredients from her storage capsules. I was surprised when she pulled out a package of onigiri and then a box of miso soup before setting up a small camping pot and setting it up over the fire I had started.

"I'm not really good at cooking, I hope this won't be too simple for you," Serena said with an apologetic smile and I grinned widely.

"Hey, food is food! I'm sure everything will taste great. I hate to ask, but do you have anything for Pikachu? I didn't really think to bring any food for him," I admitted while rubbing the back of my neck. I wasn't even surprised when a small shock zapped me in the side and I scowled down at Pikachu who was looking slightly miffed. "I didn't bring food for myself either!" I said defensively.

Pikachu sighed heavily before Roisel suddenly ran by, wagging her tail mockingly. Pikachu immediately gave chase and I smiled as I watched them romping around together. It had been a while since I had seen Pikachu acting carefree like this and it made me happy. 

Once dinner was ready Pikachu and Roisel happily ate their mixed-berry pokechow that Serena had served them and I bit eagerly into one of the salmon onigiris that Serena offered me. The miso soup was a little bland, but I still ate everything happily. When we had all finished eating, Serena pulled out a small basket from her backpack and my eyes widened when I saw the highly decorated, colorful treats inside.

"I'm not great at cooking, but I do enjoy baking. These are called pokepuffs because they are usually used as treats for pokemon, but you are welcome to try one too Satoshi," Serena said with a smile as she handed a pale pink pokepuff to Roisel.

I eagerly took a green colored one but waited until Pikachu had bitten into his own so I could watch his reaction. He didn't disappoint either. As soon as he had bitten into his treat his eyes widened in shock, then turned misty as he let out a sigh of pure contentment. Serena and I both laughed and when I bit into my treat I was surprised at the slightly earthy taste that made the sweetness of the treat even better.

"Wow, this is great!" I complimented, taking another large bite.

"I'm glad to hear that. I put some matcha powder in that one to..."

"Shinx?"

Serena and I both turned to look behind us and I blinked in surprise at the small blue and black pokemon moving towards us with his nose lifted in the air. Its little black tail that ended in a yellow four-pointed star wagged as he sniffed at the air and walked, almost as if in a daze, towards Serena and the half-full basket of pokepuffs. I grinned when the pokemon opened its eyes and jumped, seeming to have been so caught up in the delicious smell it hadn't realized that there were humans around.

"Hi there," Serena greeted with an open smile. "Would you like a pokepuff?"

Shinx began to backpedal away from us until Serena held out a dark brown pokepuff, balancing it on her palm. The little pokemon instantly froze in its tracks and his yellow eyes focused completely on the offered treat. I had to hold a hand to my mouth to try and stop myself from laughing out loud as the shinx's mouth opened, allowing its small tongue to loll out as he stared vapidly at the pokepuff.

Suddenly Roisel popped up seemingly out of thin air, to appear on Serena's lap. Shinx quickly glanced at Roisel as she jumped up, landing on Serena's arm and began to scurry down it, sniffing at the pokepuff and then in the direction of the shy shinx.

"Siiiiii?" Roisel called out in her strange whistle, cocking her head at the new pokemon with obvious curiosity.

"It's okay. You can have it if you want," Serena offered with a wide smile, extending her arm so that both the pokepuff and Roisel went a little closer to the cautious pokemon. Roisel did a strange little excited two-step move on Serena's arm as she continued sniffing crazily in the direction of the shinx.

A familiar weight landed on my shoulder and I looked over to see Pikachu giving the shinx an interested look as well. Small electric sparks crackled along his cheeks and Shinx blinked, causing a similar reaction in his own cheeks in response. Seemingly satisfied that it wasn't in danger, the shinx began creeping forward. Serena beamed widely when he carefully took the pokepuff in his mouth and moved it off her palm, depositing it on the ground where he began to eagerly devour it.

"Shinx shinx!" the little thing said excitedly through a full mouth and Serena clapped her hands excited.

"Oh, you are darling! Here, you can have another one!" she announced, placing another pokepuff next to the nearly finished one and the shinx immediately took a bite of the new one as well.

"Why don't you enter it in your Pokedex?" I suggested with a grin, watching her excitement with a feeling of contentment. Serena immediately reached into her pocket and pulled out a sleek white Pokedex. She looked at the data that came up in fascination as the Pokedex identified Shinx as the Flash Pokemon.

"Electric types are great to have in battles. They only have one weakness and they have lots of advantages against other types," I explained, reaching up and rubbing Pikachu affectionately

"Wow, really? That's interesting," Serena said with an excited gleam in her blue eyes. The tranquil evening was suddenly interrupted by a beeping coming from my pocket and I leaped to my feet, taking out the communication device that the pilot had given me before I left. The device showed that it was nearly 8 o'clock and I groaned.

"What's wrong?" Serena asked, looking at me with a small frown.

"My ride is coming for me and I'm going to be late. I'm really sorry, but I have to go, Serena," I said with a frown of my own.

"Oh. Will I see you again?' she asked as her frown turned sad. I noticed Shinx looking between us with interest but I ignored the pokemon for now.

"Sure! Whenever I get a day off that lines up with a contest I'll try to be there," I said with a grin, hoping that she wouldn't ask for my contact information. I really didn't want to have to come up with an excuse to tell her no.

"I would like that. Thanks for keeping me company today, it really meant a lot to me," Serena said with a genuine smile. I smiled widely and, not quite sure what prompted me to do it, I reached out and ruffled her hair slightly. Serena reached up and held the top of her head, blinking up at me in surprise and I laughed.

"You're going to make a great coordinator. I'd better go!" 

Turning around I began jogging in the direction of the field that the jet had dropped me off in. Something made me stop though and when I turned around I realized that Shinx was still standing next to Serena, watching me leave quietly.

"You should try catching that Shinx! Next time I see you I can have Pikachu teach it a cool move," I called out, smiling widely. Serena looked down at Shinx and then looked over at me with a small smile.

"Promise?" she called out to me. I grinned, flipping her a thumbs-up sign.

"Promise!" I responded emphatically.

She laughed and waved. I waved back at her before turning around and running off to the meeting place. I wasn't sure how I was going to get another chance to slip away from Team Galactic to see Serena, but I knew that I had no intention of breaking my promise to her.

A/N Hmm, I don't actually know what to say :P Thanks for reading as always!! Please feel free to request pokemon from any region that you would like to see in an upcoming contest :)