Hey guys, it's been quite a while since I have last updated, and for that I am quite sorry. I've had a lot of work to do over the past couple of weeks, and left writing this on the back-burner. Good thing is, I'm not stopping this story for anything, as I want to write and I'm sure that you guys would like to read what I have to offer. I also have taken some criticism from you guys and tried to correct my story (did you like it?).

So without further delay, here is Chapter 4: The Road to Lumiose

Disclaimer: Do I even have to say this? I don't own pokemon, though it would be cool if I did.

Serena woke up the next morning under the sheets of a bed in the Pokémon Center. How did I get here, the last thing I remember was sitting out in the field and watching the stars with Ash and Bonnie. Did they carry me back here? She looked down to see that she still had been wearing her clothes from the day before, and her hat perched on one of the posts by her head. All of the other beds were empty, except for a small note on the desk. Serena lifted herself up and walked over to read the note. It had messy handwriting, but she could make out the message that it held.

Serena,

We didn't want to wake you up. All of us are downstairs eating breakfast. Take your time and come join us.

Ash

When Serena had finished reading the letter, she changed out of her clothes and into a fresh shirt and shorts. She grabbed Fennekin's Poké ball and released the fox pokémon. Fennekin gazed intently at her trainer, who said, "Good morning, Fennekin. Are you ready to go get something to eat?" No doubt the pokémon was hungry after it had been in its ball for too long. Thanks to the technology in a Poké ball, it could keep a pokémon dormant until they're needed again, reducing the amount of food they needed to eat every day. It was a luxury that pokémon staying out of their balls didn't have, but it didn't really matter much to them anyway.

Fennekin hopped into Serena's arms as they left the room to reunite with their new travelling companions. Serena walked past the smiling Nurse Joy into the cafeteria, bustling with a large number of trainers getting ready for another adventure filled day ahead. Serena let Fennekin down and grabbed a tray and filled it enough to satisfy her and the fox pokémon. She spotted Ash, Clemont, Bonnie, and Pikachu sitting at a booth by the windows and moved to join them. Ash saw her coming first and said, "Hey, sleepyhead. We were wondering when you would show up. You were really tired last night, I had to carry you back to the room."

So he did carry me back, I wish I was awake to see that. It would have looked so romantic. "Thanks very much, Ash. I guess I haven't really travelled that much so I was a little tired."

As Serena finished talking, Bonnie launched out of the booth and came eye to eye with Fennekin before shouting, "Serena, is this your first pokémon? It's so cute!"

Fennekin gave a appreciative "Fenn!" and licked Bonnie's cheek, receiving a laugh from the young girl.

Ash grinned and said to Serena, "So you chose Fennekin, huh?"

Serena nodded, "Yeah. I've wanted to have my own Fennekin for a while now, but I never had time to go on a journey before."

"That's awesome, Serena. I can just tell that you and Fennekin will have so many great adventures together. You two already have become so close after so few days."

Serena blushed slightly, Ash always has a way of getting me so flustered, even when he gives me a small compliment. She then sat down next to him and ate her breakfast. Fennekin joined Pikachu and Dedenne, but preferred not to converse with them while she voraciously ate her own breakfast.

After they finished, everyone went back to the room and prepared for the day of traveling. Ash had decided that he would go to Cyllage City for his next badge. This meant that they had to backtrack, and go through Lumiose City again. Knowing that they had another day and a half of traveling to get to Lumiose, Clemont had packed a days worth of supplies using one of his successful inventions to pack all of the supplies in an area about the size of Pikachu. He tried to explain to everyone how he used the technologies in Poké balls to compact the supplies, but only ended up confusing all of his listeners. Once he had finished stuffing the supplies, and the others had done their laundry and daily duties, they all checked out of the Pokémon Center and left Santalune City behind them.

It was a rather nice day outside, and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. Serena let Fennekin stay out of her Poké ball and enjoy the day, and the pokémon happily skipped beside her until it became exhausted, and retired to Serena's shoulder. Serena felt Fennekin's soft, warm fur tickle her neck as the pokémon snuggled up against her. The pokémon's heat made Serena start to sweat lightly, but she didn't mind. Being close to her own pokémon was enough for her.

Little did they know, they were being watched from above. A large, Meowth-shaped hot air balloon floated overhead, carrying none other than the villainous Team Rocket, spying on the group and awaiting their next move. James pulled his pair of binoculars down and turned to Jesse and Meowth to ask, "So how should we try to catch Pikachu today?"

Meowth looked up at the man and responded, "I'm glad you asked, Jamesy-boy. You see I have devised the perfect plan to finally stop the twerps."

Jesse gave an uncertain gaze at the talking pokémon and said sarcastically, "Yeah Meowth. That's exactly what you said for the last plan that you came up with."

"Yeah, but we never actually had success when the twerp still has all of his pokémon in their Poké balls. If we wait for the right time, we can use your guys' new pokémon to help catch him off guard and capture Pikachu for the boss. Now come close, I need to tell you all the details."

Jesse and James huddled up with Meowth as he explained his scheme. Jesse grew a sly look and said, "That's brilliant, Meowth. That Pikachu will definitely be ours for sure."

As she spoke, one of the Poké balls on her belt opened up, releasing a tall, blue pokémon with squinted eyes that saluted the surprised Rockets by yelling, "Wobbuffet."

Jesse gave the pokémon an exasperated sigh and said, "Yeah Wobbuffet, it's nice to see you too" as she recalled Wobbuffet back into his Poké ball. She then turned back to the other Rockets and said, "Alright, let's wait for the right time to strike. Are you two ready?"

James pumped his fist and replied, "I was born ready, Jess."

The group had been walking for a couple of hours before Serena let out an exhausted moan. She pleaded to Ash and Bonnie, "Can we please stop here, guys? We've been walking for so long and my feet are getting sore."

Clemont collapsed on the ground and said weakly, "I agree with Serena. We're making great progress, but we still have a full day of travel left to go. Let's rest here and get some lunch."

Bonnie looked back at her complaining companions and teased, "You guys are so slow. If it was just Ash and I, we would get to Lumiose by tonight." She stuck her tongue out at the two tired teens and tried to continue walking before Ash grabbed her arm.

Ash shook his head and said to Bonnie, "Actually, Bonnie, it might be a good idea to stop here. There's no use trying to rush, the gym isn't going anywhere. Let's get some lunch, what do you say?"

Bonnie stared at the young man and nodded, running back to her brother and Serena. She stopped in front of Clemont and asked, "So where would you like to set up, Clemont? I'm starving!"

"You just said that you could keep going."

Bonnie laughed, "I lied. I just didn't want my slow brother to go farther than I could."

Ash chuckled at the young girl and said, "Well Bonnie, there's a stream over there for us to sit by. That's a great place to take a lunch break."

He pointed at a small grassy knoll with a wide brook running around the base. Bonnie walked over to the waterfront and dipped her toes in the clear waters. Dedenne crawled out of her satchel and jumped into the river, splashing Bonnie with the cold water. Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder and joined Dedenne in the water.

Clemont pulled out his canister, filled with supplies, and brought out his cooking utensils. He released Bunnelby, who dug a wide, shallow hole in the ground and took some branches and dry pine needles to make a fire pit. Serena figured that she could be of use and asked Fennekin to use Ember on the tinder. The pokémon breathed a ball of fiery cinders that ignited the kindling, creating a small fire that Clemont would use to heat up their food.

Ash unclipped his Poké balls and released Gible, Froakie, and Fletchling. The three pokémon looked expectantly at their trainer, who gave them all a smile and said, "Alright guys, lunch will be ready in a bit so don't get into any trouble." Ash then pointed to Serena and Fennekin and continued, "They're our new friends, Serena and Fennekin. Go and say hi!"

Gible was the first to greet the newcomers, in the only way that he knew how. Ash turned around to see Serena running around and screaming, with the land shark pokémon latched onto her head. He chuckled and said to Serena, "It looks like Gible likes you, Serena."

Serena pulled Gible off of her head and scowled at Ash, "Yeah, a little bit too much if you ask me. His affection hurts."

Bonnie giggled and added, "Don't worry, Serena. Gible did the same thing to me too. He's a funny, little pokémon."

Gible walked back over to Ash and gave a wide grin before making his way back to the other pokémon. Pikachu walked toward Fennekin and motioned her to join the rest of the group, and the fox pokémon shyly joined Ash and Clemont's pokémon. She was accepted quite easily by all of the pokémon, and they began to play a variety of games at the riverside.

Serena and Ash both sat down on the small hill overlooking the brook and playing pokémon. Serena felt that she could use this time to get closer to Ash and began to slowly scoot closer to him when he wasn't paying attention. To her surprise, he either didn't notice or didn't care and let her come close enough for them to almost be touching. Ash then laid back onto the ground and stared at the sky. Serena mimicked Ash, and laid down next to him. A flock of bird pokémon flew overhead, swimming in the vast ocean above the ground as a group of bulbous clouds lumbered their way across the sky. Ash tilted his head to look at Serena and asked, "It's a beautiful day out, don't you think?"

Serena met Ash's chocolate brown eyes and replied, "Yeah, it really is nice outside. It reminds me of when I was younger and I sat around all day watching the clouds go by. It's one of my favorite past times, even to this day."

Ash gave her a slight smile and said, "I know what you mean. Though I spent a good portion of my childhood training pokémon, I still remember all of the great times that I had as a kid. I still remember the time when my dad and I first went fishing together."

"What was it like?"

"I was only 5 years old at the time, but I remember it like it was yesterday. We went to a lake by Pallet Town and rode on his Lapras out to the center of the lake and cast our hooks. He and I just sat there waiting for a fish to bite, until his line started to tug. He pulled so hard, but lost his balance on Lapras and fell into the lake. Lapras and I looked around for him, until he jumped out of the water, riding the largest Seaking I have ever seen in my life. The Seaking threw him off of its back and swam away. My dad climbed back on Lapras, and we both broke out into laughter over what had just happened. At the end of the day, we had caught little more than a single Magikarp, who we threw back to be with its family. It was the last time I've ever seen my father, as he left the next day. I love my dad more than anything in the world, but I'm not even sure I'd recognize him now, after nearly a decade."

"I'm sorry Ash, I didn't mean to pry this information from you. I've never met my father, my mom said that he left when I was very young."

"What about friends, don't you have any back at home?"

"Not really. I really only was around my mom and her pokémon, and I never fit in with the other kids."

"Hey, at least you have Bonnie, Clemont, and I to be your friends now, Serena."

"Heh…yeah, friends." Serena whispered lamely. She looked down away from Ash.

"Something bothering you, Serena?"

She lifted her head back up and gave Ash a fake smile, "No, nothing at all."

Ash stared back at her, he could tell something was wrong in the way she spoke to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. People were just so weird, he preferred pokémon. His thoughts were interrupted by Clemont announcing to everyone, "C'mon guys, lunch is ready." Ash jumped up and helped Serena up as well before they walked over to the picnic blanket that Clemont had placed on the ground. All of their pokémon also came over, and were each served their own pokémon food. Pikachu reached into Ash's pack and fished out a bottle of ketchup and tried to pour it onto his food. Unfortunately for Pikachu, the bottle sputtered and a meager amount of sauce showered on his food. Pikachu tried again, but with no luck. Ash gave a sympathetic look to the mouse pokémon and said, "Looks like we're out, buddy, sorry. I'll have to get some more in Lumiose."

"Pika pi." Pikachu responded drearily.

Ash patted the pokémon on his head and grabbed a bowl of stew for himself and sat down in between Bonnie and Serena. As they all ate, Serena turned to Clemont and asked, "Clemont, how did you learn to cook this well?"

"Well you see, Serena, my father was unable to come home some nights, as he controls the electric grid in all of Lumiose. I had to learn to cook for myself and Bonnie, though it took some time to do."

Bonnie began to laugh uncontrollably and said, in between gasps, "Yeah, he almost burned down the house a couple times!"

"Bonnie, it was only once, and that wasn't entirely my fault!" Clemont shouted in defense.

Ash and Serena chuckled at the fighting siblings. It seems there was always a way for Bonnie to embarrass her brother, as any younger brother or sister would.

While they tried to calm down Bonnie, the smell of food attracted a fair number of the wild pokémon in the forest. Clemont pulled out three more bowls and filled them with pokémon food. He set them down in front of the newcomers and said, "Don't worry everyone, there's enough for you guys too." More pokémon began to file out of the trees. Among them was a flock of Pidgey, a group of Rattata, a Pumpkaboo, and an Inkay. All of the trainers' pokémon finished their food and began to play with the wild pokémon, except for Dedenne, who scrambled back into Bonnie's satchel and quickly fell asleep. Ash and Serena went to hand-feed the pokémon as a voice boomed through the trees, shouting "Now!"

A number of devices fell down from the sky and caught Ash, Serena, and Clemont's pokémon in a large cage. As Ash turned to see what had happened, he was hit by a dual attack from the Inkay and Pumpkaboo behind him. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Serena rushed over to Ash and asked, "Are you alright?"

Ash struggled to get back to his feet and said, "I'm fine Serena, but I'm sure we better be prepared for trouble."

The voice boomed again, "Make that double."

Ash chuckled, "I knew it."

The iconic Meowth-shaped balloon loomed over the group and a claw reached out to grab the cages of pokémon. Jessie and James poked their heads out from the basket and continued their motto

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all people within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"It's Jesse…"

"And James."

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now or prepare to fight."

"Meowth, that's right."

"Wobbuffet!"

Ash clenched his teeth and shouted, "Why are you three always following me?" Serena turned to Ash and asked, "Who are these people Ash?"

"They're the ones who started the incident in Lumiose City a few days ago. They've been following me for years trying to steal my pokémon." Ash then reached for a Poké ball, but realized that all of his pokémon were now within Team Rocket's grasp. The other pokémon that had been around had now fled into the forest. He looked around to see what he could do, but realized that he had no offensive capabilities against Team Rocket. He was helpless against them right now.

James yelled once again, "Inkay, use Psybeam."

Ash turned around to see the revolving pokémon fire another beam of psychic energy at him. The attack hit him square in the chest and knocked him down once again. Serena felt a tear come to her eyes as she saw the young man clutching his chest on the ground. She turned around to watch Team Rocket slowly ascending with all of the pokémon in their custody. Fennekin stared back at her trainer and cried out in help. She knew that Team Rocket was too far away at this point for her to do something at the moment. It was all up to Clemont and Bonnie, who were staring wide-eyed at the thieves.

Bonnie yelled out at the Rockets, "You come back here!" before she felt her satchel start to wiggle. The front flap opened, and out popped a drowsy Dedenne. Dedenne looked up to see what was all the commotion, and spotted all of its friends caught in a cage under the Meowth-shaped, hot air balloon. Clemont saw the pokémon pop out of Bonnie's bag and gave his sister a grin as he said, "We still can do something. Dedenne, we need your help."

Dedenne gave his trainer a determined look and replied, "De de dene!"

He jumped out of Bonnie's satchel and arced electricity from his cheeks. The pokémon was ready to save his friends and help his trainer in their time of need. Clemont glanced at Ash and Serena and said, "Don't worry, Dedenne and I have this."

Team Rocket watched as the antenna pokémon prepared to fight, and Jessie laughed while taunting, "You think that small rat will stop us? You must be joking. Pumpkaboo, take it out with Shadow Ball."

The pumpkin pokémon charged and released a pulse of dark energy at Dedenne, who jumped out of the way of the attack and awaited an order from his trainer. Clemont pumped his fist and said to the Rockets, "I am the gym leader of the Lumiose City gym, and it's my goal in life to make the world a better place for people and pokémon alike. You three are trying to stop me from achieving my dreams, and as such I will do my best to defeat you." He then faced Dedenne and commanded, "Alright, give that Pumpkaboo your strongest Charge Beam."

Dedenne charged and released a ray of electricity at Pumpkaboo, knocking it back. The remaining electric power surged into Dedenne's body and was stored for the next attack.

James was next to attack, and ordered Inkay to use Psybeam again, only to have Dedenne dodge and retaliate with another, stronger Charge Beam. Clemont was using the move to increase the damage that Dedenne could do, bridging the gap of power between itself and its opponents. Jesse and James became aggravated and attempted to use both pokémon at the same time in a paired attack. The dual attack struck Dedenne and pushed it down the hill. Unfortunately for them, it only made Dedenne angrier, and Clemont directed it to use a Thundershock.

Dedenne released a powerful bolt of electricity at the two pokémon and launched them up in the air, towards Team Rocket. James gritted his teeth and shouted, "Inkay, use Tackle."

Inkay rushed at Dedenne and slammed into the smaller pokémon while preparing itself to attack again. Clemont knew that he had to rescue the groups' pokémon, and these crooks were stalling him in order to make a get away. He pondered for a moment and came up with an idea to stop Team Rocket. "Dedenne, when Inkay gets close, grab a hold of it."

Dedenne nodded and waited for the squid-shaped pokémon to attempt another Tackle. As Inkay barreled in for the attack, Dedenne jumped on top of his head and tugged hard. He quickly learned what Clemont wanted him to do and pulled on Inkay to "drive" him up to Team Rocket. As the pokémon came close to the hot air balloon, Pumpkaboo tried to slam into Dedenne, but Dedenne shocked her with a Thundershock and continued his advance towards the Team Rocket balloon.

Jesse ordered Pumpkaboo up to the basket, to protect Team Rocket from the mouse pokémon. This was to no avail as Dedenne rammed Inkay into Pumpkaboo, knocking Pumpkaboo into the basket at Jesse's feet. Dedenne then released a burst of electricity at the burner of the balloon. The burner began to fire excessively, and Dedenne saluted Team Rocket before pushing itself off of Inkay, falling down toward the ground. As he pushed off, the burner short-circuited and exploded, launching Team Rocket and their pokémon off into the air with a cry of "Team Rocket's blasting off again."

The cage full of pokémon was discharged from the balloon, and crashed on the ground in front of Ash, Clemont, Bonnie, and Serena. Bonnie ran forward to catch Dedenne and nuzzled the pokémon yelling, "You did great Dedenne, that was so awesome!"

"De de nene!"

Ash rushed to the cage and forced the door open to release all of the pokémon. Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder and hugged his head, while the others swarmed around his feet. Fennekin leaped into Serena's arms, and Serena hugged the fox pokémon tight. Bunnelby and Clemont embraced and Bunnelby congratulated his trainer for such a good battle.

Serena walked up to Clemont and said, "Thank you for that Clemont, I don't know what we would have done without you and Dedenne."

Clemont scratched the back of his neck and replied, "You're welcome, Serena. I'm glad I could help get our pokémon back."

Ash laughed as he put his arm around Clemont and squeezed tight, "I knew I could count on you."

After the incident with Team Rocket, the rest of the day was a rather uneventful day of travel. They had walked until the sun had set, and pitched their camp in a clearing in the field. They ate their dinner and sat around the campfire. Clemont had brought out a blanket and draped it over him and Bonnie, so that they wouldn't be exposed to the cold night. Ash gave Serena one of his old sweatshirts to wear, which she gladly accepted. It had signs of repair, and Serena learned that it had been Ash's traveling gear while he was in the Hoenn region. It was torn and tattered in a battle with Team Rocket, but his mom spent time to sew it back together for him, and gave it to him to warm him on cold nights. Serena was touched that Ash would think about her before himself. He really was a kind person, one of the traits that she found most admirable in him. Since yesterday, her feelings for Ash had grown immensely, and she could barely control herself from scooting closer to him and wrapping her arms around his body.

They had shared stories and jokes around the campfire until the roaring fire transformed into a pile of glowing cinders. Instead of adding more firewood, the group decided to retire for the night and begin traveling early the next morning. Serena hadn't expected to spend a night out of the pokémon center, and didn't bring a tent to use in that case. Bonnie squealed in delight and shouted, "Then you can be with me in my tent. We'll sit around and talk about things that I can't say around Clemont or Ash."

Clemont smirked at his younger sister and asked, "Hmmm… Like what Bonnie?"

Bonnie was about to speak in her tired stupor but caught herself and said to her brother, "Nice try, but I won't tell you. There are things that only girls can talk about."

Clemont folded his arms, saying, "Alright, but you better get to bed early tonight. I wouldn't want to use my alarm clock again if you don't wake up in the morning."

Bonnie grew frightened and pleaded, "No, not the clock! I promise to go to bed early if you don't use the clock."

Clemont chuckled and said, "That's what I wanted. Serena how do you feel about sharing a tent with my sister?"

Serena smiled and replied, "I don't know about the whole 'girl talk', but I would love to sleep with some shelter over my head. I'm not really the rough and tumble mountain-woman type."

Ash watched as Bonnie, Clemont, and Serena entered their respective tents and sat by the dying fire with Pikachu. He looked at his lifelong partner and said, "I'm glad we have such great friends to travel with, aren't you buddy?"

"Pika pi."

Ash sat against a tree trunk and stared up into the sky. He thought about what the future would hold for him as he watched a small tuft of cloud pass in front of the full moon. Traveling with Serena seemed to bring a sense of excitement that Ash had never experienced since the start of his lifelong journey. Collecting gym badges and the like were routine for him now, but he never thought he would be so joyful about waking up the next day and seeing his friends, especially her. Why was she so special? Was it because he hadn't seen her for so long? That must be it, because she was such an important person in his life during that summer camp. Whatever the reason, Ash grabbed Pikachu and changed into a t-shirt and shorts inside his tent. He crawled into his sleeping bag and stared at his best friend curled up against him before drifting off into a deep sleep, dreaming about all of the experiences that he had with his childhood friend.

So how was it? I really needed to slow down a bit and add some real exposition, so why not here? It may not be the best chapter so far, even though Dedenne and Clemont destroyed Team Rocket, but that's because I have plenty of other exciting chapters coming up soon. As to the questions that will arise like "Will we see Ash or Serena's father in this story" the answer is maybe, but if I do add them into the story, it will be at a huge point in the story, and they will be around for more than one chapter. Once again, I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but I'm sure you guys can understand. Thank you all for reading and please leave a comment, question, review, inquiry, critique, etc. and I'll see you all again for the next chapter, when I release it.