Day 2's theme is Letters!

"And that's when I said, 'Don't worry about the mess, I'll have it clean in a seconDunsparce!'"

Lana beamed as she carried Popplio, satisfied with the joke, but Mallow looked completely put off by the pun. Bounsweet, seated on Mallow's shoulder, shared her expression "You heard that from the principal, didn't you?" A nod from the fisherwoman confirmed the chef's suspicions.

"Hey guys?" Lillie said, waving the other two girls to a stop, stopping just outside the classroom inside Melemele Island's Pokémon School. "Is he alright?"

All three girls poked their heads in through the doorway to see what Lillie was talking about (though Lillie herself had already noted it). Sitting at his desk, scribbling on a sheet of paper, was Ash. Pikachu was sitting on the desk, overlooking whatever the boy was writing, and Rotom hovered overhead, more confused than anything. It was Mallow that decided to break the silence. "Alola, Ash! What're you doing here? We didn't get any homework today."

Ash looked up and saw the girls in the doorway. He gave them a relaxed smile. "Alola. Sorry. I just figured that since I was already here at this desk, I'd try writing here instead of at the professor's house."

The girls entered the room and began surrounding Ash, their curiosity piqued. Lillie spoke up, leaning in (though keeping her distance somewhat to avoid touching Pikachu), "What are you writing, if I may ask?"

"It's a letter," Ash explained. "I want to write a letter to a friend of mine, to tell her how I'm doing in Alola since I got here."

"Her?" Mallow and Lana spoke up simultaneously. Lana was the one who continued this thread. "So there's a girl you're writing to, Ash? Is she back home in Kanto?"

Ash shook his head. "Nah, she's in Hoenn right now. But she's from the Kalos Region. That's where I journeyed just before I came here."

All three girls looked at each other. "She must be important…" Mallow said, her suspicions rising.

"It's not helping him write the letter any," Rotom said, slumping as it hovered overhead. "He's been starting and restarting it for the past twenty minutes." Pikachu chimed in, agreeing.

Ash scratched the top of his head, pushing his hat aside for a moment. "I can't help it. Writing this letter is way harder than I thought it'd be. Every time I try to write something, I look at it and I feel like the words come out all wrong."

"Maybe we can help," Lana offered, stepping forward with Popplio, with the Sea Lion Pokémon offering an additional bark and clap. "Can we see what you have so far?"

"Sure," Ash said, holding up the letter for them all to read:

Dear Serena,

How are you? I'm studying Pokémon in Alola right now! They're really great! I even caught an Alolan Pokémon already, called Rowlet! I hope you're doing great in Hoenn! The Contests sure are fun, aren't they? Have a great trip!

Ash

"It really wasn't much," Rotom noted.

"I know," Ash groaned. "This letter isn't good at all…"

"I'll say," Mallow quipped.

"But perhaps we can assist you with a rewrite?" Lillie said, taking the letter from Ash. "Why don't we start from the beginning? Perhaps you can describe her a little for us, so we know what Miss Serena is like?"

Ash leaned back, humming to himself for a moment. "Serena… Well…" He wrinkled his brow and scratched his cheek. "Well, the first thing you gotta know is that Serena is really kind. She cares a whole lot about all her friends and Pokémon. She's always doing nice things like baking treats or helping them clean up. She worries a lot, too, especially about people like me who're always getting into trouble, eheh…" At that thought, he laughed at himself.

Lana looked at Popplio, grinning. "Well, from what we've seen, you do have a thing for getting in trouble, Ash. Anyone would worry about you."

"Arf, arf!" Popplio confirmed.

"She's also super-talented. She's a Pokémon Performer, so she's always putting on amazing performances that make you wanna say 'Wow!' or 'Amazing!'"

"Oh, I read about those in a book once!" Lillie said. "They're female Pokémon Trainers that put on shows called Performances in the Kalos Region! They participate in performance tournaments called Pokémon Showcases!"

Mallow leaned closer. "Do you think you could be one?"

Lillie backed up, nervously laughing. "I think I'd need a reason a bit more logically sound to touch a Pokémon than that…"

"And speaking of treats," Ash continued, "her cooking's amazing! The sweets she makes are the best I've ever eaten!"

"I bet even I could learn something from a Kalosian cook," Mallow said. "It'd be great if I could learn some Kalosian cuisine for the menu at our restaurant."

Ash looked at the girls standing around him. "But the most important thing about Serena is that she never gives up, not 'til it's over. Serena struggled a lot with what she wanted to do, and with the Pokémon Showcases that we went to during my time in Kalos, but no matter what, she kept going. Serena's really strong…"

"Most important information about Serena: updated," Rotom said, taking a picture of the excitement all over Ash's face as he described her.

Mallow scratched her chin. She was definitely getting a feeling that there was something else going on between Ash and this 'Serena', but she really didn't know enough about what happened between them. She pulled Lana and Lillie back into a huddle. "So Ash really thinks a lot about this Serena girl…" she whispered.

"You don't think they were dating, do you?" Lana asked.

"I don't believe so. The letter was far too plain to suggest that," Lillie said, before realizing that Bounsweet was right next to her, on Mallow's shoulder. Lillie immediately froze and shot backwards, tripping over Ash's desk and collapsing on the ground, bringing the desk down with her as her wide-brimmed hat flipped off her head.

"Lillie!" Ash rose to his feet. "Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine," she protested, a blush of embarrassment on her cheeks as she stood up. "I was just… caught off-guard by Bounsweet."

"We're not really getting anywhere," Lana said, turning her attention back to Ash. "Can you tell us more about her? Maybe some of the things that happened with you two?"

Ash pulled his desk back up. "Sure, I can do that." He hummed to himself. "Well, there was that one time she pretended to be me." All the girls raised an eyebrow and looked to Ash, waiting on his elaboration. "Y'see, I got really sick from some late-night training one day, and so while some of our other friends went to get me medicine, Serena stayed to make sure I was okay since I couldn't exactly move. But then this guy came by and wanted to battle me. Since I couldn't battle, and since he wouldn't leave unless he got a battle, Serena battled him in my place. She wore my clothes and pretended to be me and everything."

"S-She wore you clothes?" Lillie asked, eyes going wide.

Lana smirked. "Well, hopefully she didn't get sick from wearing your clothes too much."

Mallow sighed. "Well, did you two ever spend time alone together?" she asked.

Ash shrugged, not sure how this was related to the question of helping him write the letter. "Well, there were a few times. Mostly I had Pikachu with me, or we were with our other friends. There was one time we went off shopping together."

"That's what I'm talking about," Mallow said, energized as she came closer. "What sort of things did you do? Was there dinner or anything?"

Ash shrugged, noncommittal. "Well, Team Rocket attacked us. But I mean, I guess in the middle of getting gifts for our Pokémon, I gave her a gift, myself."

"A gift? What was it?" Lana's nosiness only grew more interested.

"It was a ribbon."

The blue-haired girl sighed, like the air had been let out of one of Popplio's balloons. "Just a ribbon?"

Ash grinned, nodding. "Yeah. It was the same color as her eyes, and she even started wearing it around shortly after that!"

The girls immediately looked at each other. "The same color as her eyes, huh?" Mallow said, as if her suspicions were correct.

"But what are you trying to convey to her?" Lillie spoke up. "It's obvious that you two are close, but if she's not with you right now, there must be a reason for it."

"I said she was in Hoenn, right?" Ash said. "She went there to become a better performer. She's going to study hard and become even stronger than before. I just want to make sure she knows I'm still cheering her on, and that she should never give up on reaching her dreams!" As he spoke, is voice was overcome with a passion that made his eyes sparkle, and he clinched his hand into a fist.

"So the short of it is, you miss her," Lana said bluntly. "And you want to let her know that."

Ash shrugged. "I guess so." He scratched his head again. "Man, this all seems so complicated. How do you write a letter to the girl that kissed you without messing it up?"

Mallow, Lana, Lillie, and Rotom all froze in second-hand embarrassment. "She kissed you?!" The four of them shouted at once.

"Does not compute… does not compute…" said Rotom, its displaying static.

Ash nodded, looking at the three of them, confused. "Yeah. Right on the lips. It felt really nice, but now whenever I try to think about writing something Serena'll see, I get nervous for some reason."

"It's because you really like her, right?" Mallow asked. "You don't want to spoil the memory of that kiss she gave you."

Ash paused, thinking over it for a bit. "Yeah, I guess so. I mean… she said we'd meet again someday, and I don't want to make her not want to see me again by saying something wrong, I guess."

The three girls let out a sigh of relief. "So it's a crush on this Serena that's making Ash struggle to write this letter," Lillie said. "I've read about that before, too…"

"A crush on Serena?" Ash repeated the words as if he was chewing on them, trying to figure out their taste. "I mean... I'm not acting like another one of my friends did, but I guess I've been thinking about Serena a lot..." He looked at the piece of paper again. "I just want to make her happy with this letter. That's why I'm having such a hard time."

Mallow leaned in, putting an elbow on Ash's shoulder. "Don't worry, Ash. We're here to help you write that letter! We'll make sure Serena really enjoys reading it!" Lana and Lillie nodded in concert with her.

"Really?" Ash asked excitedly. "Thanks, you guys!"

Sitting at the desk in the loft of Professor Kukui's house, Ash decided to give the letter one more read through right before he went to bed that night. The envelope was already prepared, stamp and all, and Ash would leave it in the mailbox in the morning.

But even after getting the help from his friends, he wanted to make sure it captured exactly what he wanted Serena to hear.

Alola Serena! (They say Alola as a greeting here!)

How's the Hoenn region? I hope you're on a ton of fun adventures out there! Have you caught any new Pokémon or made any new friends? I just know you're giving it your all and getting even stronger than you were in Kalos!

I'm studying Pokémon in the Alola Region right now! They're really great! I even caught an Alolan Pokémon already, called Rowlet! I've also made a bunch of new friends here at the Pokémon School! I'm sure that with their help, I'll get stronger, too! We're both going to keep racing to our dreams!

I wanted to say, though, that you're already really strong, even if you don't think so. Think about all the great stuff you've already done! I dunno if it's hard for you in Hoenn or not, but I know you'll use everything you learned on our journey together, and everything you're learning in Hoenn, and you won't let anything stop you! Not until it's over!

I know we probably won't see each other again for a while, but maybe we can keep writing letters. I don't wanna lose track of you over time, especially since you promised me that we'd meet up again someday. I want you to know that.

Good luck, Serena! Go for broke!

With love,

Ash

Ash puzzled for a moment longer. The girls insisted that he sign it 'with love', but he didn't quite get it. As long as Serena enjoyed the letter and she wrote back, though, it'd be okay.

He gently folded the letter back up and slid it in the envelope.