October 1st, 2021 at 5:44pm

Serena's POV

"Drew?"

"...Paul?"

I looked up from the adorable skitty keychain I was checking out, to see May and Dawn stare at two guys(one of them was wearing a hat) who had backpacks, they had just walked past us, and went near Pokeball and Hats section which is right behind me

"What's wrong?" I asked and looked at May and Dawn, "Do you know them?" 

"Well uh the green haired dude's my close friend and he's also dawn's friend" May answered. Wait...green haired dude? I turned back to see the two boys and saw that the taller one's(the one who was wearing the cap before) hair was indeed green, grass green...and it looked natural hmm maybe his hair is silky and he dyed it.

"And the purple haired one's also our friend....well more like an acquaintance, but still" May continued, while Dawn continued to stare behind me, at one of guys I'm assuming.

"Oh okay, is Dawn fine?" I asked May as she turned to look at Dawn.

May sighs and whisper-yells Dawn's name a few times in her ear, the third time successfully waking her up from...shock I guess, I wonder why she's so shocked though.

"Oh hehe sorry for spacing out, I was just thinking that, the dark blue hat hanging behind Serena, would look so good with a dress I have!" Dawn exclaimed and pointed behind me.

"Oh, wow! It does look pretty good!" I say looking at the hat.

"Anyways, it 5:45 we should get going" May reminds us the time whilst checking her newly bought watch.

"Okay, but we need to buy vitamins, pokeblocks and a pokeblock case for our pokemon" Dawn said as she put a Togekiss and a Quilava keychain in her shopping basket which already had some pokemon contests and coordinator magazines along with a fashion magazine, which I also had in my basket.

"Their section is this way" May said leading the way

"Umm what are these pokeblocks?" I asked, seeing many colorful candies blocks in small boxes.

"Pokeblocks are are colorful candy blocks made for Pokémon and are mainly used to increase a Pokémon's condition for pokemon contests" May explained to me as Dawn nodded and started checking out the different boxes of pokeblocks.

"They are mostly common in Hoenn, that's why you didn't know about them, also the flavors in a Pokéblock depend on the flavors of the Berries that went into making it, so be sure to check behind the boxes and choose the flavors which your pokemon like" May continued.

"Oh and sometimes the color of the pokeblock represents its taste, like red pokeblocks will mostly be spicy, blue will mostly be dry, pink will mostly be sweet, green will mostly be bitter and yellow will mostly be sour" She added, smiling softly.

I returned her smile "Thanks so much for telling me about them, May!" I said.

"Sure thing! Now let's hurry and buy them" May said. I nodded and began to see the boxes.

Dawn's POV

May and Serena began to check out the pokeblocks, after May was done telling Serena about them. Since I was done picking pokeblocks for my pokemon I leaned behind an aisle and sighed.

I began to think about Paul 'why is he here? I mean it's obvious he came to participate in the Hoenn league, but I thought that he would go somewhere like Jhoto or Kanto, why Hoenn? Also he and Drew walked in together, so does that mean Drew is going along with Paul on his journey? If that's the case, then we might run into each other. I'll ask May whether Drew and Paul are journeying together, she probably knows. Also Drew, I should go and say Hi to him, maybe I should also greet Paul, I mean he should remember me-"What 'cha thinking about DeeDee?" I felt someone(Definitely Drew, no one else here calls me that) whisper in my ear. 

I yelped quietly and turned around to come face-to-face with the grasshead's face, who was now laughing at my reaction, 'I mean, I knew it would be him, but I wasn't expecting him to suddenly sneak up on me like that' I thought. 

"Hello to you too Grasshead" I said teasing him.

At the mention of the nickname that I gave him, he stopped laughing and sighed, "Your always gonna call me that aren't you?"

"Just like how you always call me DeeDee" I replied.

"Of course" I chucked a bit at his exasperated expression.

 Paul then came up behind him "Hi Paul!" I greeted him, cheerfully.

"Hnn, let's go Drew" He said. "Hey! At least greet me properly" I said angrily. 

He just grunts as I start shaking my fist out of anger, Drew sweat drops and tries to calm me.

"Hey Dawn! Let's g- Why do you look so angry?"  Serena questions me.

"I bet 100 poke rupees that Paul pissed her off" May snorts.

"Paul is the lavender haired one right?" Serena asks May.

"Yep" May confirms, "I'll tell you all about him and Dawn afterwards, we should get going now, we've been in the mall for more than an hour" May says, checking her watch.

I huff and turn around from Paul and Drew,  "I bet you're really hungry too April" Drew teasingly says "I bet your stomach growled but we weren't able to hear it since you were in a different section" he adds, oh boy I turn to see May's face which has anger written all over it  "It's May, you cabbage head and my stomach did not growl! Ask Serena!" May exclaims, gesturing to the blonde who had an perplexed face, not knowing what to do. I feel bad for her, poor kid got dragged into a classic May and Drew argument.

Drew and Paul turn to look at her. "So your name is Serena, it's nice to meet you, I'm Drew, where are you from?" Drew politely asks.

"It's nice to meet you too, I'm from Kalos, I'm here to compete in Pokemon contests" Serena introduces herself.

"Hnn, let's go Drew" Stupid plum grunted, "Well, he's actually right, we should go, bye you guys" Drew says as he tosses me and Serena 2 yellow roses and gives May a red rose.

 Serena, May  and I say our goodbyes and then head to the billing counter. Serena then showed me the pokeblock case she picked out for me.

May's POV (6:07pm)

"Guys, we should head to the Pokecenter, I know that you both especially you Sere, wanted to shop here at the arcade, but you both also need to practice for the contest tomorrow and the Pokecenter is far from here"  I announce sadly.

"Ohh, it's okay. You're right, me and Dawn need to practice, so we should get going to the pokemon center" Serena says.

"No need to worry! We can come here tomorrow! After the contest!" Dawn exclaims optimistically.

"Yeah, we can come here tomorrow" I agree with her.

"Okay! Then let's get to the Pokecenter" Serena says.

"Ok, so there's a bus stop at the end of the arcade, the next bus which is at 6:15 will take us directly to the pokecenter" I says checking my PokePhone, then I lead the way and manage to drag Sere and Dawn out of the arcade, without stopping at any shops.

While waiting for the bus, I see a vending machine and buy a Charmander(orange flavor)Soda pop, Dawn gets a lemonade and Sere gets a chocolate flavored MooMoo milk.

Drew's POV ( 6:17 pm)

We took a slight detour in our original plan, now that it has been announced that we could challenge the hoenn gyms in any order, (AN- I made this up)Paul and I decided to take route 120 after takings route 121, so that Paul can challenge the Fortree City gym first and then we'll take route 119 and 118 to reach Mauville city. We're currently walking on route 121, it's a 2 hour walk to reach route 120. So Paul and I will probably reach there at 9:20, then we'll hit the sack after having some light dinner.

Unlike what other people think, Paul has a heart and emotions just like everyone else. He's not completely a cold-hearted bastard. He just finds some cheerful people(Dawn)annoying, doesn't have a lot of patience and almost never smiles but still he's a good guy at heart. I should know, I've been childhood friends with him thanks to our families. He was actually a pretty funny and nice guy when we were kids, but when his parents abandoned him and Reggie(they died a few years after), Paul completely changed and turned into the person he is today.

"So Paul, I've decided to also challenge gyms and participate in the league"  I announce, I had been thinking about this for a long time and I had eventually decided to try something new.

Even though Paul managed to keep his emotionless face on, I could tell that he was shocked at what I had said. I could read him like a book, even after all this time.

"Good for you, let's have a battle tomorrow morning" He replied.

I smirked and accepted the challenge, even though I would probably lose, I was exited to battle Paul.

Paul's POV

"So Paul, I've decided to also challenge gyms and participate in the league" I was surprised as Drew said this and I could tell that he could tell that I was surprised.

Even though I am not fond of pokemon contests, they're far too showy and impractical for my sake. But while I have no interest in contests, I respect that pokemon coordinators need a mastery of skills are that are far beyond my level of understanding. Hence I managed to respect Drew, his gir-er friend and that girl. So I was surprised when Drew wanted to step out of his comfort zone and try something new, I'm happy for him.

"Good for you, let's have a battle tomorrow morning" I say. I want to see how long it will take for him to lose and then maybe I'll give him some tips.

-----TIMESKIP-----At 9:25 pm

Drew's POV

I look at my PokeNav, we finally reached the starting of route 120, and find a nice camping spot. Great, I'm tired and so is Paul.

"You set up the tents, I'll make us dinner" I tell Paul. He just nods in response and starts setting up the tents.

I get some wood and light a campfire with a lighter, then I put a small portable camping cooker on the fire, and fry the ingredients(Onion, Bacon, Shimeji mushrooms and Asparagus) in olive oil, then I add 150 ml of water and consommé and boil the water and fold and put the pasta in it.  When the water starts to decrease, I add 200ml of milk and sliced cheese and boil until the pasta becomes soft. Then I sprinkle salt, pepper and parsley and Voilà-My famous soup pasta is ready!

"It smells good" Paul says sitting on a log beside the campfire.

"Of course it does, I made it" I announce proudly.

Paul scoffs "Pasta?" he asks.

"Soup pasta, here have some and tell me how it tastes" I say, handing him some in a bowl.

"Wow" he says as the tastes the soup pasta. "It's seriously good" he adds. I smile at him and have some myself. It's really nice spending time with Paul after all this time. Hopefully we'll catch up with each other on this journey.

I'm baaaaack! For good this time, I swear. I am extremely sorry to all the readers who were waiting for the next chapter. Also make sure to check the Photos page, I edited it and added pokemart and pokecenter images.

@HappyLilKittyCat I am especially really sorry to you, you patiently waited for my updates and I'm really sorry to disappoint you. But now I'm back for good, the next update will either be on 15th or 16th. See you then!

PS- The recipe Drew used is not mine, I do not own it. And neither do I own the characters, I just own this fanfic and plot.