Yeah, I'm gonna be pumping out chapters more frequently than usual.
Song of the Chapter: Hau'oli City (Sun & Moon)
"Golisopod!" exclaimed Ash as his Golisopod fainted. Now he was just down to his Decidueye, as his Alolan Sandslash had also fainted earlier. His opponent, Hapu, was the kahuna of Poni Island and Ash's last obstacle before the Lanakila Conference. Her Mudsdale stood in a bulky stance, preparing for any future hits.
"Decidueye, it's all on you," uttered Ash. Decidueye flew out of his Poké Ball, and spread his wings out.
"Now, use Sinister Arrow Raid!" exclaimed Ash as his Z-Ring began to glow. Decidueye's Decidium Z began glowing as well as the Grass-type ascended into the sky alongside many, many arrows. He then tucked his body in as the arrows bombarded Mudsdale, before flying off and watching the arrows explode. Mudsdale took heavy damage, but held on.
"Earthquake!" exclaimed Hapu. Mudsdale began shaking the ground, which dealt quite a bit of damage to Decidueye.
"Finish this with Leaf Blade!" exclaimed Ash. Decidueye dashed at Mudsdale, letting out a massive strike with a swordlike leaf. Mudsdale was knocked out.
"Looks like you win," uttered Hapu. "Take this Groundium Z. You'll need it for the Lanakila Conference."
As Hapu handed Ash the Z-Crystal, his Rotom Dex suddenly emerged from his bag.
"There we go Ash!" exclaimed the Rotom Dex. "All of the trials completed!"
"Yeah Rotom, this is gonna be great," replied Ash.
Ash sat in a Pokémon Center, waiting for his Pokémon to recover from their injuries in the battle with Hapu.
"Rotom, can I contact Professor Kukui through you?" asked Ash.
"Video calls are something I can do," replied Rotom as the screen began contacting Kukui.
"Done the island challenge?" asked Kukui as he appeared.
"Yep," replied Ash. "Hapu was pretty tough."
"Nice," replied Kukui. "Head back to Melemele Island. I've got to tell you some stuff before the conference."
Ash got off his Pokéride Pelipper as he waved goodbye to it. Pikachu was still sitting on his shoulder, smiling and looking around at the nearby beach near Kukui's lab. Eventually, the two of them entered the house.
"SURPRISE!" exclaimed everyone inside. Ash, clearly shocked, looked around to see that his former Pokémon School classmates and Kukui had thrown a surprise party for him.
"We threw this together as a way of celebrating you finishing the island challenge," uttered Kukui. "Just relax for the rest of today. After all, the conference doesn't start until Monday."
"Yeah, I'm gonna take it easy for now," replied Ash. As he looked around the room, he noticed that there were macarons on the table alongside several other foods. As if instinct got to him, Ash grabbed a macaron and began chowing down as Pikachu snagged one as well. The macaron tasted pretty good. Yet, it also tasted familiar.
"Who made these?" asked Ash as he swallowed the macaron. "They're delicious!"
"I found a recipe online," uttered Mallow.
"Well, I remember tasting this exact kind of macaron in the past," replied Ash. "Let me just head to my room for a second. I left something behind there the last time I was here."
As Ash walked through the hallway, he opened the door to his old bedroom. For some reason, Serena was looking around the room for something. She had a red hat on and green shorts. Ash immediately experienced shock, but brushed it off.
"You made the macarons, didn't you?" uttered Ash. Serena immediately looked behind her to see Ash, and dashed towards him.
"Looks like I found you," replied Serena as she tackled Ash with a hug. Ash returned the hug, as it had been a year since they had seen each other. And Serena looked through the hallway to see Mallow, Lana, and Lillie giving her thumbs up.
"So what are you doing in Alola?" asked Ash.
"Well, I'm on vacation from my mentoring with Palermo," replied Serena. "So I thought I'd head over to Alola to see the Lanakila Conference."
"That's good," replied Ash. "I'm just glad to see you again."
Later that night, Ash found himself on the porch outside Kukui's house alongside Pikachu. He couldn't sleep due to the stress from the upcoming Lanakila Conference.
"Pikachu, the conference is gonna be tough," uttered Ash. "I heard both Gladion and Hau are competing."
"Pika..." uttered Pikachu.
"But we'll win this time," replied Ash. "I know we will. We've got the support of everyone we've met in Alola, plus a few others."
"Can't sleep either?" asked Serena as she opened the door. "My bedroom's air conditioning isn't working."
"Yeah, it can get really hot at night," replied Ash. "Feel free to sit for a bit."
Serena gulped slightly before sitting down.
"So, I forgot to ask how Hoenn was for you," uttered Ash.
"It was great," replied Serena. "Contests are fun. Also, I met someone you might know."
"You're joking," replied Ash. "Who?"
"I met May," replied Serena. "She helped me out with Contests in Hoenn."
"Yeah, I travelled with May back when I was in Hoenn," replied Ash. "Those were good times."
"I also caught some new Pokémon," replied Serena. "A Milotic and a Sceptile."
"Interesting," replied Ash. "I actually have a Sceptile myself."
"Yeah, I chose Treecko as my starter in Hoenn," replied Serena. "Still, I'm just glad to see you again."
"Me too," replied Ash. The two of them were blushing, but didn't notice each other. It seemed as if they both knew about the kiss, but neither of them wanted to say anything for fear of rejection.
Some emotional bonding. By the way, the confession won't be happening until later on, but there will be a large amount of buildup leading to it. Anyways, see you soon!
