Serena's POV

"Serena, it's time to wake up now!"

I heard my name being called. But I felt very confused because the voice sounded nothing like Mom.

I squinted my eyes open and then stared at the ceiling. That's when I realised that I was still on the ferry and had completely forgotten about my mission.

Then I sat up straight and looked around. I felt really grateful that the man had let me sleep in the ferry as it would take a whole day and night to arrive in Kanto.

I gathered up all of my belongings and walked out of the room to see the ferryman standing by the edge of the boat with the Fletchling from yesterday once again perched on his shoulder. Behind him was a woodland area known as Route 21.

"You did want to be dropped off in Pallet Town, right?" He asked, head tilted to the side.

I smiled before saying, "Yes, Pallet Town is the correct place!"

"Excellent!" He exclaimed and then gestured towards the exit of the ferry.

I took the ferryman's hand as I hopped off of the ferry with my poké balls in one hand and suitcase in the other.

"Well then, I guess you'll be off now!" The ferryman said.

"Yes, and thank you!" I bellowed, doing a curtesy for him.

"No problem at all, now have a safe journey!" The ferryman said and then bowed for me, his Fletchling mimicking him.

We then waved goodbye and I set off towards the exit of Route 21. But soon enough, I found that I had arrived in Pallet Town.

It was a very peaceful town and I found myself happily skipping along the path. I had noticed how there were two houses in Pallet Town but I had no clue which one was which.

I tried knocking on the first house's door. From where I was, I could hear some kind of Pokémon from inside the house but it wasn't one of the Pokémon I had ever encountered in Kalos, that was for sure.

The door opened and there was a pink pokémon wearing a green apron looking up at me.

"Mr. Mime!" The pokémon greeted, waving happily with it's hands that look similar to gloves.

"Oh, hello..." I waved back, a little creeped out by the pokémon who looked a lot like a clown.

There was a minute awkward silence between the two of us. Eventually, I decided to ask, "Does Ash happen to live here?"

The pokémon beamed at hearing Ash's name and then ran off in the opposite direction, running into one of the rooms nearby.

For a minute or two, I was left there until the clown-like pokémon came back to the door. In it's hand, it dragged along the hand of a lady with brown hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Hello there, how can I help you?" The lady asked with a warm smile on her face.

"Hi, do you happen to know Ash Ketchum?" I asked, a little anxious that I had mistaken for the wrong house.

"Ash! Yeah I know him, he is my son after all!" The lady said and then went deep into thought of her son.

"Your... son..." I mumbled, not completely believing what I was hearing.

I just couldn't believe I was actually meeting Ash's mum at that moment, it was a little nerve-wracking for me because I didn't want to mess up my first impression on her.

"Yes, so what is your name," Ash's mum asked, clasping her hands together.

"M-my name is S-serena," I greeted nervously, an awkward grin on my face and I gave a small wave.

"Ah, so you're Serena! Ash has told me a lot about you!" The brown-haired lady exclaimed, holding her hands outwards.

I then blushed a little when I heard those words. Surely that meant that he sees me the way I see him, and that it won't be awkward when we see each other next...

"Well my name is Delia!" Delia said, holding out her hand, breaking the trance I had been in.

I then whiped my hand from sweat before shaking her hand.

"So, do you know where Ash is?" I asked after letting go.

"Ah yes! Ash is in Vermilion City, he's a research fellow for Professor Cerise alongside his new friend!" Delia explained.

I felt very shocked and suprised. I knew that obviously Ash was going to make new friends quickly but I just didn't understand why he wasn't travelling in a new region for a new journey? Was he retiring? Surely not... but I thought he would have probably been travelling in Galar by now or something.

"Oh... but I came all the way here and now I'm going to have to travel all that way there," I mumbled and then looked at the floor in disappointment.

Delia looked at me and she looked like she was sorry even though she hadn't done anything wrong. But suddenly, the brunette came up with an idea

"Don't worry Serena, I'll take you to Vermilion City myself!" Delia said, furrowing her eyebrows with determination and putting a fist by her chest.

Before I could even question about what was going to happen, Ash's mom walked away. I followed Delia and we then ended up getting into her car. I looked out of the window to see Mr. Mime get into the driver's seat and start up the car.

"We should arrive in Vermilion City in around ten minutes!" Delia said, facing towards me with a warm smile.

"So how come Mr. Mime is driving the car and not you?" I asked.

"Mimey is must better at driving then I am so I just leave it to him!" Ash's mom explained, looking the front car mirror to see Mr. Mime's expression.

"Mime mime!" Mr. Mime agreed, giving a thumbs up before continuing to focus on the road.

As we were all driving along, I felt a little awkward. All I had wanted to was find Ash but now I was sat in the car, right next to his mom...

"So how come you came all this way to see Ash?" Delia asked, her head tilted to the side with a smile on her face.

I felt a shiver up my spine as she asked that question. How could I tell her this without her telling Ash my feelings for me?

"Well, I just haven't seen him in a while so I thought we could just have a catch up!" I explained, but then guilty that it was a lie.

"How wonderful! I've never seen a friend do that Ash ever! Well actually I think Misty and May have done that a few times but that was years ago!" Delia replied.

I laughed a little nervously. Did Ash have girlfriends before me or did they just have a crush on him but he didn't feel the same way back?

After a few more minutes, we all then arrived in Vermilion City. It looked like such an amazing place with all of its big buildings and it was near the ocean!

I felt a lot of gratitude towards Mr. Mime and Ash's mom for bringing me all the way here and even parking right in front of Cerise Laboratory for me.

Me and Delia got out of the car and I was bursting with excitement.

"Well then, I guess it's time to say goodb-" Delia said.

Before she could finish her sentence, I dashed towards and hugged onto her tightly. She looked a little confused by my sudden action but that didn't mean she didn't return the hug.

After that, I waved goodbye to Ash's mom and Mr. Mime and began to walk up the steep path up to the laboratory. Why is it so steep anyway? I wonder if Ash ever falls down here or something?

When I got to the door, I ringed the bell. While I was waiting for someone to answer, I couldn't help but hop up and down with the joy that I would now be seeing my one true love once again.

I put my ear up against the wall and heard a voice,

"Fine, I'll get the door..."

It sounded like a girl's voice though. Could Ash have found a girlfriend already?!

The door opened suddenly and revealed a girl with long, maroon coloured hair, all tied up in a plait with a cherry blossom scrunchie. And she had such beautiful green eyes... Wait a second, I'm not attracted to girls! Right?

Well I could tell she certainly liked me because when she saw me she turned tomato red like a Tomato berry.

"H-how can I help you?" The girl stuttered, trying to fight her blushing.

"O-oh, do you happen to know where Ash is?" I asked, why was I stuttering?

The blush that had been swarming her face suddenly dispersed when she heard Ash's name.

"Ash? Well he is currently oversleeping like always with my childhood friend, Goh!" She explained, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"Well, that definitely sounds like Ash!" I chuckled.

The girl opened the door for me and I entered. Cerise Laboratory looked really old fashioned from the doorway, it was made from wood!

"You wait here, I'll go get a chair!" The girl said and ran off into another room.

As she was doing that, I just leaned against the baluster of the staircase. And then I thought carefully about what the maroon haired girl had told me.

She said about that Ash was oversleeping, with someone else. Did they share a room? Were they sleeping in the same bed? I had never heard the name Goh before but it sounded quite masculine, could Ash be into boys now?!

All thoughts were quickly swept under the rug when the girl came back with a chair for me.

"Thank you!" I said, cheeks glowing pink.

"You're welcome, also my name is Chloe, what's yours?" Chloe asked, reaching a hand out to me.

"Oh, my name is Serena. I'm from Vaniville Town in the Kalos region!" I replied, shaking her hand.

"Wow, you've come such a long way, haven't you?" Chloe gasped, her maroon plait swaying as she put a hand to her mouth.

"Yeah, I guess I have..." I mumbled.

"You wait here and I'll go get Ash, ok?" She asked, winking.

I nodded my head and then had to look away because I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks. I couldn't tell if it was because of the mention of Ash or because of how beautiful she was...