A/N: Don't ask me how it happened, but for some reason I felt like "Fck schoolwork, I'm on holiday", and so I sat down and got myself to write. This chapter will set both Ash and Serena on their journeys, and I know you will all be pissed but they won't meet just yet. Just stay with me for a little longer and you will get your wish, I promise!

On a side note, I want to tell you to disregard my AN that mentioned that Serena would be wearing Leaf's outift in this fic. Since I decided to feature Leaf herself as a side character in this chapter and onward, Serena will have her usual attire. Ash will still have Red's coloration on his original outfit though, so that stays like it was told. But Serena is back to her black shirt and pink hat. That's all I want to say for now, so enjoy the chapter! :D

Chapter Two: The Journey Begins

The Vermillion City harbour was bustling with life, even this early in the morning. Workers were loading things onto the bay that had been transfered from other regions and passengers were filling off and on the ships, depending on if this was their final destination, or if they were just about to leave. Over by the marketplace, merchants were just setting up their stalls and preparing their goods for the day, hoping to make some nice profit from a busy day.

However, our person of interest is currently standing by the counter in Vermillion City's Pokemon Center, where Serena was just retreiving Fennekin after having allowed her to heal up over the night. The short journey from Saffron City hadn't been too hard on them, since it was a pretty short route, but still it never hurt to make sure that her friend was in top condition. Not to mention, she wanted her starter to feel that she was loved.

Nurse Joy had seemed quite interested in Fennekin when Serena had handed her over. Well, maybe that wasn't so strange, considering that she was a pretty exotic species around these parts. From what Serena knew, Fennekin was a species that was unique to the Kalos Region, so to find one over here in Kanto must be quite surprising, if not even shocking, for the nurse.

"Thanks for taking care of Fennekin, Nurse Joy. I really appreciate it." Serena said as she picked up Fennekin's Pokeball from the counter and bowed in respect of the older woman. Nurse Joy just smiled kindly at her and motioned for her to stand up straight. Such formalities weren't nescesary.

"I was glad to be of help." she said and smiled kindly towards the young girl. "So, where are you off to now, Serena?"

The honey blonde girl straightened up and gained a thoughtful look on her face. Well, of course she wanted to go to Pallet Town, that's where Ash was, but now that Nurse Joy mentioned it, she had no idea on how to get there. She knew that Saffron City was in the center of the Kanto map... and Vermillion City was south from that, since it was by the sea, but how did she get to Pallet Town from here?

"Uhm... well, I want to go to Pallet Town, but now that you mention it, I am not quite sure how I'll get there." she admitted.

Nurse Joy chuckled at the teen's clueless expression and led her over to the Regional Map that was hanging on the wall next to the Phone Booths. Serena followed with a sheepish grin on her face, feeling a little embarrassed that she didn't even know her own home region. She had never stopped regarding Pallet Town as her true home, but she didn't even know exactly where it was located. She knew it was supposed to be in the south-west of the map, but exactly where she didn't know.

However, Nurse Joy didn't seem to think much of it and simply studied the map thoughtfully for a moment, thinking of the best route to get to Pallet Town. While the town itself was pretty small and not really worth mentioning, it was still quite famous due to it being Professor Samuel Oak's home town. And sure enough, it didn't take the Nurse long to find it on the map, just a little further down from Viridian City.

"Here, look. If you go through Diglett's Cave, it will lead you to Route 2, which is just above Viridian City. From there, you just go straight down and through the city to Route 1 and it will lead you to Pallet Town. It shouldn't be too hard." she pointed and drew her finger over the route she had picked out for Serena as she spoke to show where she was supposed to go.

Serena studied the route the nurse pointed out and nodded. It sounded simple enough. It was just... she didn't feel too comfortable travelling through a cave. While she wasn't really afraid of the dark, she did have her share of respect for what could be lurking within the dark. But nevertheless, it seemed to be the easiest route to take so she just nodded and did her best to put on a smile.

"Sounds good. Thanks a lot, Nurse Joy!" Then, she took a moment to think over her next words. "Is there anything I should... watch out for while taking this route? Like, are there any strong Pokemon living in that cave or something?"

She sounded pathetic. At least in her own ears. That last sentence made her feel like a scared little girl, almost like that same scared little girl who had been stuck in the woods crying for her mommy during Professor Oak's Summer Camp all those years ago. Well, if it hadn't been for that she wouldn't have met Ash, but still, she didn't like to feel weak or vulnerable.

"Well, Diglett's Cave is mainly inhabited by Diglett and Dugtrio, as for the name, and they are usually friendly enough. However, the exit of the cave will drop you off close to Viridian Forest and I've heard that there's been a lot of Beedrill incidents this year so you might want to watch out for them."

Beedrill? Well, those were fine. Fennekin could probably take care of those easily, Serena thought. After all, Bug-types were weak against Fire-types so she should be able to defend herself against those. As long as there wasn't anything in the cave, she would be fine.

"Actually, a young man left not too long ago. He said he was going to Diglett's Cave in order to get to Pewter City. If you hurry, you could catch up to him. It's always safer to travel in a group." Nurse Joy said as she placed a finger on her chin in thought.

Travel in a group? Yeah, that sounded good to Serena. Not that she was afraid or anything, but some company would be nice. At least until she could meet up with Ash. And by the sounds of it, it would only be through Diglett's Cave that they travelled together, since a quick glance at the map told her that Pewter City was located on the other side of Viridian Forest, which meant that once they were out of the cave, they would go separate ways.

"Thanks, I'll try to catch up to him. What's his name?" Serena asked as she checked over her bag to be sure that she had everything. Some emergency provisions, someting to eat for lunch... some potions in case Fennekin got injured, her pokedex, some Poke Balls... not that she planned on catching any new pokemon in the near future, but she had learned that it was always good to keep some Poke Balls around, just in case. All in all, it looked like she was geared up and ready to go.

"His name's Roxas. He seemed like a fine young man, very polite and cheerful. I'm sure you two will get along just fine." Nurse joy said as she began to walk back towards he counter. "He's got this untidy, blonde hair so he should be easy to recognize."

Serena nodded. Untidy blonde hair? Got it! Shouldn't be too hard to find him.

"Okay! Thanks a lot Nurse Joy, for everything!" she said as she ran towards the door, waving towards the Nurse who had just gotten back to stand behind her counter in wait for new trainers to arrive.

"You're welcome! Good luck on your journey!" Nurse Joy called after her as Serena exited the building and the doors shut behind her.

The streets outside were already crowded, despite the early hour. Serena had been planning on letting Fennekin out of her Poke Ball, but decided against it when she saw the crowds. It would be too much of a risk to let Fennekin run around by herself in these crowds and she didn't want to lose her. Fennekin probably wouldn't mind, as long as she was let out once they reached Diglett's Cave. Serena had noticed that Fennekin had been a little stiff and on guard while they were on the Airport so maybe she simply didn't like big crowds anyway.

It wasn't really hard to find the way to Diglett's Cave. Since it was located just outside the city, whoever built the city had apparently thought it worth the trouble to set up signs that pointed towards the cave, even within the central part of the city. Serena walked at a fast pace, wanting to catch up with this Roxas character before he entered the cave if possible.

It would seem that Lady Luck was smiling at her today. Just when the cave got within eyeshot, she spotted a patch of untidy blonde hair amongst the crowd. Said blonde was making his way in the direction of the cave, it couldn't be anyone other than the one Serena was looking for, right? She couldn't make out his face, as he had his back turned to her, but he was wearing a white jakcet with black squares running around the stitches, along with a black backpack, a pair of dark gray pants and sneakers. When she got closer, she also noticed that he was wearing a black and white sweatband around his left wrist.

"Excuse me!" she called after him. "Please, wait up!"

Hearing her call out to him, the boy turned around with a frown on his face. Serena came to a stop in front of him and leaned over, trying to catch her breath from the short rush. She had quickened her pace into a run when she had spotted him, wanting to catch up as fast as possible.

The boy raised an eyebrow at her as she stood back up. Well, Serena would probably too be quite surprised if some random stranger just called out to him and told him to "wait up".

"Can I help you?" he asked, still with his brow raised.

He didn't sound offending or rude in anyway, more like he was curious about why she had called out to him. Serena straightened up again and nodded, trying to calm her breathing before she spoke up.

"Yeah, uhm. You don't happen to be Roxas?" she asked, feeling a little awkward about the situation.

"Well, yeah that's me. How'd you know? Did I leave something at the Pokemon Center or something?" the boy answered, still not sure what this was about.

Serena offered him an apologetic smile. She felt a little embarrassed from this conversation. The boy however, lowered his raised eyebrow at least and instead offered her a curious glance, wondering where she had heard his name.

"Nurse Joy told me you would be travelling through Diglett's Cave. I wondered, would you mind if I tagged along?"

At this, Roxas eyes lit up in understanding and his confused expression was quickly replaced with a friendly grin.

"Sure, no problem. It's always nice to travel together with someone." he said and turned towards the cave, before he added. "These caves tends to be a drag anyway so a little company would be nice."

Hearing that, Serena felt a little of the awkwardness that had gathered in her chest disappear and she smiled at the boy, who motioned for them to start moving again. He seemed friendly enough, though Serena felt that maybe someone should introduce the guy to a hairbrush, if this was how he usually kept his hair. However, she kept those thoughts to herself. It wouldn't really be a very good thing to say during their first meeting. Instead, she should introduce herself, which she realized she hadn't done yet.

"Thanks! I'm new to this whole travelling thing." she said with a laugh and walked up beside Roxas. "My name is Serena, by the way."

From that, the two of them carried on until they reached the cave. As it turned out, Roxas was a very sociable person and asked a lot of questions, as well as told Serena a little about himself and his earlier journeys. Apparently, he wasn't native to Kanto either, but had arrived here by boat just a few days ago from Hoenn, a region that was located on an island. He had travelled his own region two times, competing in the Regional Tournaments and taking the Gym challenges. This confused Serena a little, as Roxas didn't appear to be any older than she herself was, but he explained that the rules were a little bit different in Hoenn to what they were here in Kanto.

In Hoenn, trainers were permitted to begin travelling their own island already from the age of 10 and onward. He himself had started out when he was 11 years old. However, they still weren't allowed to travel outside their own region at that age, because of the international Pokemon League Rules, which was why Roxas had travelled Hoenn 2 times in a row.

"So... how did you do in your Conference battles?" Serena asked as they entered the cave, to keep the conversation going.

"Well," Roxas said, "I guess I've done okay. I got eliminated in the qualification rounds the first time. I did a little better the second time and reached the quarter finals, but then I got outclasssed by this guy named Wallace, who would go on to win the entire thing."

They kept on talking like that all the way through Diglett's Cave. Not much happened, but Serena found that she actually felt quite comfortable, despite being in a Dark Cave. They saw a few Diglett's here and there and they were actually pretty cute. Maybe if she ever came back here, she would catch one. Roxas also introduced Serena to Bagon, his starter and chosen partner. Apparently, he had left his other Pokemon at home, wanting to start this new region with a clean slate. In response, Serena introduced him and Bagon to Fennekin. All in all, it was a pleasant trip that made Serena look forward to the upcoming journey even more. If travelling with a complete stranger, albeit a very friendly one, was this fun, then how fun wouldn't she have once she met up with Ash?

-X-Y-Z-

While Serena and Roxas were making their way through Diglett's cave, a certain young man in Pallet Town was starting to become impatient. Ash Ketchum had woken up early in order to leave Pallet and start his journey as fast as he could, but his mom and Professor Oak would have none of that. Because it was "tradition" that the new trainers start their journey together, Ash had to wait for the other three rookies to at least show up to pick up their pokemon before he was allowed to walk out the village gates. Honestly, why did they even have that tradition? Two of the three others weren't even from Pallet Town! Aside from Gary Oak, two other trainers had come to Pallet from other towns to start their journey on this day. One of them was a cocky teenager named Damien, who had managed to give Ash a worse impression of himself in a matter of minutes than Gary had managed in the last 5 years (and that was saying something...). The other was a young girl with light brown hair, who had travelled to Pallet along with her mother. From what Ash knew, her family lived in Viridian City.

But tradition or not, Professor Oak wouldn't let Ash anywhere near the village gates before the others had shown up so rather than try to sneak away, Ash had settled down in the shadow of a large oak in the back of Professor Oak's garden, while he was waiting for Gary and the others to arrive. By his side, Pikachu was starting to become just as restless as Ash felt.

"Calm down, buddy. They won't let us leave until Gary and the others are here." Ash tried to reassure his partner.

"Pikapika!"

"Yes, I know it's a stupid tradition, but there really isn't much I can do about it."

"Pi-ka!"

"No, it won't help if you shock the Professor. If it did, I would've told you to do it a long time ago."

However, despite what he told his partner, Ash too was starting to get tempted to let Pikachu loose at Professor Oak. What was the point of being all set and clear to go if he had to wait for the last one to show up anyway? He had made sure to pack his stuff the day before and had picked out his outfit. His mother had been nice enough to sew a completely new set of clothes to match his Official Pokemon League Cap that he had won when he was younger. He was now wearing a red jacket with white short sleeves, light blue jeans and black and white sneakers, along with a pair of black and red fingerless gloves. Completing his outfit was, of course, his signature cap. While not one to bother too much about his looks, Ash had to admit that these clothes fit him pretty well.

Just as he was starting to wonder if Gary was holding them up on purpose, the door to the lab opened and one of the other rookies, Leaf, Ash reminded himself, walked out. She was wearing a cyan colored sleeveless shirt, along with a red skirt that reached down to just above her knees. To complete her appearence, she was wearing a white hat with a pink Pokeball symbol on its front. She looked around nervously, but when she spotted Ash, she stepped into the garden and closed the door behind her before making her way over to him. When she got close, Ash stood up to greet her.

"Hi there. I'm Ash, nice to meet you." he said and held out his hand for a greeting.

The girl smiled shyly towards him as she took his hand and shook it.

"Uhm... Hi, I'm Leaf." she said and gave him a nervous smile.

Ash had to resist the urge to frown. Why was she so nervous? Did he look scary or something? Shouldn't she be excited? She was just about to get her own first Pokemon for Arceus sake! For a moment, Ash waited to see if Leaf would say anything else, but the girl just stood there awkwardly. When it became clear that she didn't know quite what to say, Ash decided to take the initiative.

"So... Leaf, what are your expectations for this journey?" he asked as he sat back down by the tree and motioned for Leaf to do the same.

After staring at the ground in front of her for a moment, Leaf complied and sat down in the grass beside him. Ash noticed that she seemed to be deep in thought, as if she didn't know quite what to say. However, after taking a few seconds to think it over, she nevertheless opened her mouth to answer his question.

"Well... I'm not really sure. Guess I never really thought about it." she said and looked up towards the sky. "B-but... I got this dream of completing the Kanto Pokedex, you know." As she said this, her cheeks flushed a bright red color. Was she embarrassed because of her dream?

So, completing the Pokedex? Man, did that bring back memories to Ash. For a moment, he was reminded of those days so many years ago, when he and Serena used to just sit around and talk about their hopes for the future. Those times... they seemed so far away now, almost like they were part of another life. Hadn't they had it all planned out? They were gonna travel the world together. Ash was going to become the strongest trainer in history and Serena was going to complete all the Pokedexes in all the regions.

"Completing the Pokedex, huh?" he said with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I used to have a best friend who had that same dream."

At this, Leaf turned towards Ash with a surprised look on her face. Up until now, people had always laughed at her or just shrugged her dream off like it was just that, a dream. Something that never would come true.

"Really?" she asked.

Ash couldn't help but chuckle at this, as a grin spread across his face. This girl reminded him a whole lot of Serena.

"Yeah. People say it's impossible to see all pokemon ever encountered in just one region, but rumor has it that there was a guy a few years back who actually managed to complete the entire Kanto Pokedex, even including the legendary Mew."

Leaf's eyes widened at this declaration. She had never heard of this rumor before. Not that she got out much back in Viridian City, but still something like this should have reached even her ears.

However, their little conversation was cut short as the door to the garden was slammed open and the, to Ash, familiar figure of Gary Oak entered the garden with an irritated frown gracing his features. Ash couldn't help but smirk at the sight. No doubt, Gary was as ticked off at being held back by Damien as he himself was. Leaf flinched a little when the door slammed into the wall. Gary cast a glance around the garden until his gaze finally settled on Ash, Leaf and Pikachu over by the tree.

"What's with the sour look, Gary? Annoyed that someone else around here has become more annoying than you?" Ash taunted him with a grin.

"Tch, like you're one to talk about being annoying, Ashy-boy." Gary retorted and stomped over to the other two.

Ash grinned. It wasn't often Gary was in a sour mood, but when he was it was just too fun to irritate him. It wasn't very nice of him, but since Gary was usually the one doing the taunting, Ash didn't think it more than right that he got a dose of his own medicine.

While the two boys were doing their best to annoy each other, Leaf sat there and stared at them, not sure if she should intervene or let them just sort it out. These two obviously had a history of some sort, so maybe this was normal behavior from their side?

However, the descision was soon taken out of her hands when the door opened one last time and Professor Oak stepped out and called for them to come in. Apparently, Damien had finally arrived at the lab and it was time for the rookies, minus Ash of course, to pick out their starter. Hearing this, Ash and Gary quickly dropped their little argument and began making their way towards the door. Behind them, Leaf and Pikachu followed, both sweatdropping at how quickly the two boys had just dropped an argument that had made it sound like they almost wanted to break into a fist fight, at least on Gary's side.

When they were all gathered in Professor Oak's Laboratory, including Damien who was leaning against the wall opposite to the door and offered them an arrogant grin and a just as arrogant comment about "pipsqueks". After the introduction, Professor Oak went on to explain about caring about their Pokemon and how to best take care of things Pokemon-related. Ash wasn't too focused on the instructions, as he felt that he already knew most of it anyway, having both read about it and cared for Pikachu in the last few days, not to mention helping Professor Oak around the lab from time to time when he was younger.

"Alright," Professor Oak said as he revealed the three pokeballs that no doubt held the three Kanto Starters. "Since Ash already has his starter, here's the three Pokemon you can choose from, Gary, Leaf and Damien."

At this, the other three peeked up a little, though Gary made a very futile attempt to keep a cool head and not show his own excitement. Typical Gary, always trying to show off. Leaf didn't make any such attempt, though her cheeks flushed slightly in embarrassment from her own excitement. Damine... well, Ash honestly didn't care too much about him but he smirked like a mad man, but Ash didn't really pay too much attention to him, thinking that the sooner he got away from him, the better. He didn't pay it much mind though, as Professor Oak had just released the first starter, a Bulbasaur.

"Saur, Bulbasaur!" the little green creature exclaimed as it looked up at the three rookie trainers that was standing around it.

"Bulbasaur," Professor Oak said, "the Grass-type Pokemon. It's easy to raise and can become a very faithful partner. This particular Bulbasaur is still very young though, so he mainly likes to play around and isn't much of a fighter."

With that, Professor Oak turned around and picked up the next Pokeball, the one with a waterdrop on its front, and with him both Gary and Damien turned their attention to the next Pokemon, apparently already bored with the Grass-type. Ash however, noticed that Leaf didn't turn away from the little Bulbasaur, and instead eyed it with a hopeful look. Because he looked at Leaf and Bulbasaur, he missed when Professor Oak release Squirtle, but he didn't feel like it was too much of a loss. He did however turn back towards the Pokemon Professor when he released Charmander, which was probably the one that he himself would've gone with, had it not been for Pikachu... wait a sec! Where was Pikachu?!

"... and it's one worth raising, as it can obtain incredible amounts of power if it is raised correctly..." Professor Oak's voice sounded in the background as Ash looked around frantically for his electric mouse.

No wonder... he had thought that the little mouse had been strangely quiet. While he was a lot calmer and friendlier than when they first met, that didn't mean that Pikachu had stopped causing trouble now and then. Scanning the lab for any sign of a yellow, lightning bolt shaped tail sticking out from somewhere, Ash quietly began to back away from the other three rookies so that he could search without disturbing them. Professor Oak seemed to be too caught up in explaning something to the other rookies to notice Ash sneaking away.

"Pikachu..." Ash called in a whisper, as if Pikachu would actually answer his call if he heard him.

It didn't take Ash long to get on the right track though. As he got closer to one of the computers in the lab, his ears picked up the sound of static from somwhere closeby. His eyes narrowed as he recognized the sound. It sounded almost just like... 'Oh boy...' was all he could think in reply to this. Turning towards the computer and walking over to it, he noticed that the static sound did indeed grow more audible the closer he came and sure enough, when he looked behind the computer, he found Pikachu chewing on one of the cables that were linked to the computer.

Ash sweatdropped. Pikachu had done the same to the cables linked to their television just the other day. Seriously, would he really dare to take Pikachu to a Pokemon Center if the mouse was going to start chewing on the first best cable he could find?

"C'mon buddy, stop that. You can't just run off like that and you certainly shouldn't chew on cables like that. Didn't I tell you?" he said as he reached behind the computer to lift Pikachu off the floor.

He didn't realize his mistake before he had gotten his hands on Pikachu and electricity began to crackle from the red pouches on Pikachu's cheeks, a sure sign that the little guy wasn't too happy about being touched by him.

'Oh, crap...' he thought as Pikachu released the electricity he had been building up, shocking Ash and illuminating the entire lab in a yellow flash from the sheer power behind the attack. No doubt had his little "meal" served to empower the attack, something that Ash was unfortunate enough to feel, as well as see.

-X-Y-Z-

"So, you're dream is to complete the pokedex?"

The walk through the cave hadn't taken as long as Serena had thought it would. Only a few hours after they had set out, they had found the exit that they had been looking for. It was around lunchtime and the sun had been high in the sky, so they had decided to have lunch together before they split up. A little further down the road, Fennekin and Bagon was investigating their new surroundings with curiosity, while their trainer were seating in the shadow of a tree to avoid the burning sun. It would seem that the temperature had risen quite a bit from the cool morning while they were still inside the cave.

"Yeah, and not just any Pokedex!" Serena explained with pride in her voice. "I'm going to be the first person ever to complete the International Pokedex and see every Pokemon there is to see!"

Beside her, Roxas took a gulp of his Orange Juice and looked up towards the sky (treetops?) in thought.

"Well, never hurt to aim high I guess." he said, still with that thoughtful look on his face. "So... this childhood friend of yours that you're trying to find, what's he like?"

This caused Serena to develop a thoughtful look to rival Roxas'. Actually, what was Ash like? She honestly had no idea, she hadn't seen him for 5 years after all. She knew how he used to be like: kind, cheerful, encouraging, stubborn... but had any of that changed over the years? She knew that she herself had become a whole different person from the little girl who cried when she saw her best friend and hometown slowly disappear behind her car. Come to think of it... was she herself even anything at all like she used to be?

"I honestly have no idea. I haven't seen her for a very long time. But he used to be this happy-go-lucky person who would always try to see the good things in everything and everyone." 'Even a little crybaby like me.' she added fondly in the back of her mind.

Roxas nodded and took another gulp of the Orange Juice, emptying the bottle he had brought for his lunchbreak and putting it back in his backpack.

"Sounds like a nice enough guy. Maybe if I meet him somewhere, we can have a Pokemon Battle." he said as he began to gather up his stuff and get ready to leave.

Serena sweatdropped as she followed his example and began to pick up her leftovers and garbage. Seriously, was Pokemon Battling the only thing boys could think about? It had been like that during her childhood in Kanto and during her late childhood in Kalos as well. Arguing over the last cookie? Let's settle it in a Pokemon Battle. Angry that you lost a cardgame? Let's settle it in a Pokemon Battle! And they didn't even have Pokemon back then! They just shouted it whenever there was something they got upset about, or sometimes as a sign of friendship... Gah! It was all just so confusing!

Sighing as she stood up, Serena shook her head. She would never completely understand boys and how their minds worked, but there seemed to be some kind of connection between the male brain and Pokemon Battling.

"Yeah, maybe. I don't think Ash would mind that at all, if he is anything like what I remember." Serena said as they walked over to where their partners were playing around and exploring the edge of the forest. "Well, it was nice meeting you! I hope we'll see each other again sometime!"

"Haha, believe me when I say that we will. A region like this is too small for us not to meet up somewhere down the road again." Roxas said as he picked up Bagon and put the little Dragon-type on his shoulder. "So, I guess I'll see ya down the road! Take care!"

Serena smiled at the boy as she bent down to pick up Fennekin. The little firefox seemed to be in a good mood and nibbled her fingers playfully when she tried to grab her, causing Serena to laugh. After a little game of tickle and nibble, Fennekin ultimately gave in and allowed herself to be picked up.

"Yeah, you take care too!" she called when she noticed that Roxas was already making his way towards the woods.

For a moment, she just stood there with Fennekin in her arms and looked after the boy until he entered Viridian Forest and disappeared out of sight. When Roxas was no longer in sight, she turned and began to walk to route down towards Viridian City. She should probably make a stop by the Pokemon Center there before she went on to Pallet Town. She hadn't wasted any of her Potions or Emergency Provisions yet, but it could never hurt to at least drop by to buy something to eat, just in case she didn't make it to Pallet before night fell.

"So, how did you and Bagon get along, Fennekin?" she asked with a smile.

The little Fow Pokemon let out a happy "Groaf!" and wagged its tail, causing Serena to giggle from the sensation of the furry tail tickling her belly through her shirt. Fennekin and Bagon had seemd to get along just fine, or they probably wouldn't have played together like they did but it was nice to just talk to someone about something. Maybe Roxas' cheerfulness was contagious? Or maybe she was getting a little worked up over being so close to home again? It was hard to believe, but she was just 2 routes away from Pallet Town, and Ash, now for the first time in forever.

After a little while of walking, Serena let Fennekin down so she could explore the route and whatever she might find interesting down the road. She just had to make it clear to the fox that she was not to go out of Serena's line of sight. Everything within that was okay. Fennekin didn't seem to mind at all, opting to investigate everything that moved technically. A Bug-pokemon here and there and even a funny-looking stone now and then. To her, this was all new. She had never been out of Professor Sycamore's lab before so being so close to nature was exhilarating.

As she walked down Route 2, keeping a close eye on Fennekin, Serena felt her insides turning giddier and giddier with every step she took. Soon... very soon. It wouldn't be long now until she was home. In her real home. It was a strange feeling. She had been dreaming of returning here for 5 years, but now that she was getting so close to Pallet Town again she was starting to feel nervous. But it wasn't the thought of Pallet Town itself that made her feel nervous, but rather, the person who was waiting for her there.

"Just be sure to stay at a friendly level. I'm not ready to be a grandmother just yet."

As her mother's words came back to haunt her yet again, Serena felt herself blushing. Seriously, what was her mother thinking? It was nothing like that! Or... okay, so she used to have a crush on Ash, she admitted it, but they hadn't seen each other for so long! You couldn't love someone you probably didn't even know anymore, could you? Besides, she had barely entered puberty! She didn't have any interest like that in Ash! However, just the thought of it caused Serena's blush to deepen even further and she tried to hide her face underneath her pink hat.

And why had her mother even said that anyway? Wasn't mothers supposed to dislike their daughters getting together with boys? Or at least be a little suspicious of such activities that Grace's statement had suggested? Okay, so maybe not all mothers had to be like that, but to actually just go and make a shameless joke like that about it... that wasn't normal! Not that she had ever thought her mother any kind of normal, but still this was weird even for her!

"Fenne!"

The sound of Fennekin's voice brought Serena out of her thoughts. She looked up to find the little fox pointing with its paw up ahead. In the distance, she could just barely make out the silhouettes of buildings. They were getting closer to Viridian City! The thought that they were getting so close to Pallet made all thoughts of her mother's joke disappear from Serena's mind. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she grinned at her starter as they picked up the pace.

"Come on, Fennekin! If we hurry, maybe we can get to Pallet Town before it gets dark!"

Fennekin responded with a happy "Groaf!" and ran up beside her trainer, who had broken out into an easy sprint. Serena felt the strain from running and her less than proficient qualities in running quickly catch up to her, but she pushed it to the back of her mind for the time being. At this pace, they would be in Viridian City in no time! However, just as they approached the city, she felt something drop from the sky. Raindrops? She held out her hand and looked up towards the sky. Typical... the sky was beginning to become covered in dark clouds.

'Just great!' Serena thought bitterly, as she entered the lobby in Viridian City's Pokemon center. It looked like a storm was coming up. She knew she shouldn't be out while it was storming. A little rain she could probably handle, but a full scale storm would be harder. In the end, it was probably better to just wait it out and hope it would either pass soon or at least get toned down a bit after the first few minutes.

She had returned Fennekin to her Pokeball when she entered Viridian City. Not many people were out and about, what with the storm coming up and all, but she didn't fancy risking losing Fennekin in the middle of a city.

As it was now, the rain had already started to pour down outside the window and despite her reluctance to just give up on getting to Pallet Town today, Serena felt pretty content with not being outside in this weather. Sighing as she cast yet another glance out through the window, Serena walked up to the counter, where a boy was just getting his Pokeballs back from Nurse Joy. She waited patiently while the boy thanked Nurse Joy before she picked out Fennekin's Pokeball. She was just about to put it on the counter when it dawned upon her that there was something very familiar about the boy's voice.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy. Not that we really needed it, but I figured it couldn't hurt to make sure we were in top shape." the boy said as he put away three pokeballs in his pocket.

Nurse Joy just smiled at him.

"Well, young man. Raising Pokemon includes more than just staying in top shape for battling." Nurse Joy replied with a kind smile. "You need to make sure that your pokemon are happy and feeling good at all times as well. Just because they are still in shape for battle doesn't mean they are feeling too good."

The boy just huffed, his spiky brown hair swaying as he straightened out.

"Yeah yeah, I know already. Who do you think you're talking to, huh?"

That haircut... and that attitude (problem). If she had been doubtful about the boy's identity at first, these two major factors quickly swapped away any doubt that still lingered in Serena's mind.

"Gary?" she asked with her hand still halfway up on the counter, still with Fennekin's Pokeball clasped within it.

The boy flinched at the unexpected voice and both he and Nurse Joy turned towards Serena in unison. Seeing the boy's face, Serena saw that she had been right. It was indeed Gary Oak. Although, she couldn't recall ever seeing him with such a dumbfonded look on his face, there was no mistaking that face! For a moment, they just stared at each other in shock at meeting the other here of all places, until Gary regained his composure and finally broke the silence.

"Serena? Is that you?"

Serena just nodded in confirmation. What was she supposed to say? While Gary and her had never been the best of friends, courtesy of her being best friends with Ash, they hadn't been downright enemies either, at least not in the way Ash and Gary had been. At times, he could even act decently towards her when Ash wasn't around. She wouldn't go as far as to call them friends, but it was still a kind of scary feeling, standing in front of him again.

"What're you doing here?" Gary asked, still a little dumbfonded from their unexpected encounter. "When did you get back?"

Shaking her head to try and regain her composure, Serena withdrew her hand holding Fennekin's Pokeball. Behind the counter, Nurse Joy eyed them with curiosity, but didn't say anyhting.

"Well, I'm not exactly back, but I left on my journey just a few days ago and decided I wanted Kanto to be the first region I travelled through." she said, as she began to look around the lobby, in search of a certain other trainer from Pallet Town. If Gary was here, then that meant that he too had started his journey. And if Gary had started his journey, then surely Ash couldn't be far away. "Speaking of which, do you know where Ash is?"

Gary frowned and looked around the lobby. There were a few trainers sitting around here and there, some talking with their family over at the phone booths and some checking their Pokemon out for any sign of injury from their day of training or travelling, but no sign yet of his arch rival.

"Honestly, I don't know. We left Pallet at the same time, but I haven't seen him since then. Though if he isn't here, I'd say he's still somewhere outside, getting drenched in the rain."

However, while Gary smirked at the thought of Ash getting drenched during the first day of his journey, Serena paled at the mention of the possibility that Ash was still outside. As if to make matters even worse, just as Gary said it, there was a roar of thunder and the entire lobby was lit up by a lightning bolt that whiped across the sky far above their heads.

At the sound of thunder, Serena felt her throat constrict painfully. Ash was out there, in the storm! Why wasn't he here? If Gary had made it here safe and sound, then why hadn't Ash? Had something happened? Her gaze got stuck at the door. She swallowed harshly to try and fight down the urge to rush outside to look for him, but it was a losing battle. Her hands were trembling as she gazed out through the glass doors at the storm that raged outside. Route 1 was a pretty straight track between Pallet Town and Viridian City. If Ash wasn't here, that mean that he had left the road and walked into the woods, and if he was stuck in the woods in this storm that meant...

Serena clenched her hand painfully around Fennekin's Pokeball. She couldn't breath, she couldn't think straight. She felt panic creep into her chest as another lightning bolt streaked across the sky. She couldn't just stand here. She had to find him!

With all rational thinking gone, Serena put Fennekin's Pokeball back on the strap of her bag and darted towards the door. She was vaguely aware that Gary was calling to her to come back, but her mind barely registered it. The automatic doors of the Viridian Pokemon Center opened up as she got close and as soon as the opening was big enough for her to get through, she almost jumped straight out into the street.

Barely had she gotten outside before the wind got ahold of her hair and almost swiped away her hat in a second, had she not reacted instinctively and grabbed it before it could leave her head. The mere force of the wind caused her to sway and almost lose her balance, but she didn't relent. Only one thing rang through her mind as Serena struggled towards the gate that led to Route 1. She had to find Ash!

A/N: Dun dun dun...DUN! So, the ending might have been a little rushed, but I honestly didn't think there was much going on with Serena walking down Route 2. And yes, Roxas is another one of my. So, all of you who absolutely hate OCs, sorry but this fic isn't for you because I will be using people who aren't in canon. There surely exists a lot of guys in the Pokemon world who aren't shown in the canon anime, so I see no problem with putting in someone new here and there. That being said, I have learned my lesson from my mistakes with Dusk in Serene Phoenix and will not make a similar OC in this fic. One might argue that I gave even this OC a Dragon-type but come on, it's in its lowest stage. I picked Bagon because I think it's cute.

As for the OC himself, yes his name and design is based off my favourite character from Kingdom Hearts with the same name so if you want a picture of what he might look like, just google his name and you should find him.

Last but not least, I would like to know any certain events from canon that you would really like me to try and incorporate in this fic. We all got our favourite episodes and least favourites, so feel free to tell me in a review or PM if there is a certain event you want me to include/avoid!

That was all for today guys! I hope I can update again soon, but I might not be able to sneak away from schoolwork again too often. Regardless, please tell me what you thought in a review and thanks for reading! :p