Ash / September 14th

My day began with a knock on the door.

"Come in" I said groggily, expecting it to be Gary or my mom

To my surprise, Serena entered through the room, a friendly smile plastered on her face - during the past few weeks, I had begun to experience feelings for her unlike I had ever felt for a female friend of mine, and both Gary and my mom had said that it was because I liked her romantically -

"Hey Ash"

I yawned. "Hey Serena. What brings you here?"

"Did you just wake up?" She asked

"Yeah, why?" I responded

She pointed to my alarm clock, which displayed the current time in yellow digits. "It's almost one in the afternoon"

"Oh"

"Anyways, I was just hoping we could talk real quick" She said, pressing her index fingers against each other nervously - it was cute.

"What's up?" I asked, sitting up as she sat down on my bed, crisscrossed, facing me

"You know how I was upset over my dad passing?" She asked me to remember, and I confirmed with a hum. "Well, there was another thing I learned... Have you ever heard of something called an elemental master?"

"Elemental master... I might have heard it somewhere once" I said

"Well..." She hesitated, as if she didn't know how to explain. "Basically, when an elemental master passes - there's one for each Pokemon typing - a successor around our age is chosen. My dad... well, he was the fairy-type master, and I was chosen to follow him"

I took a couple seconds to process what she had said. "Thats... pretty cool, I guess"

She sighed. "I don't think you get it. X and Y can use all of those crazy, unknown, and powerful moves because they're the dark and fire masters. Ash, you're a master too - water"

"M-Me?"

"X said so, and I don't see a reason for him to have lied"

I glanced over at Pikachu, who was still asleep, and then back at her. "You're telling me that I'm some kind of master of water-types, and that with training, I can use moves like X & Y?"

"Yeah"

"Then I got to start training right away!" I said, quickly getting out of bed and changing into a different shirt . When I looked back, Serena had a surprised look and a blush on her face. "Oh shoot, my bad"

"N-No, it's okay" Serena assured

.

"Ash, don't you think you've done enough training?" Serena asked

"Yeah, you haven't even gotten anywhere" Gary added

"I should have known it wasn't going to be this simple" I sighed, returning my water-type Pokemon - Froakie, Oshawatt, and Totodile. "It's too bad there isn't anyone I could ask for help on this"

"The only other masters I know of are X and Y, and you can't exactly get ahold of them" Serena said

There were a few moments of silence.

"I've got it!" I said. "I think it's about time I went ahead and challenged my first gym in Kalos"

"Oh right, I was wondering when you were going to get to that" Gary said

"Most people tend to go to the gym in Santalune City for their first gym battle" Serena informed. "If you want, I can take you there"

"That'd be great. Thanks Serena"

.

"So how far away is Santalune City?" I inquired as we continued to a trail. On the left, there was a forest filled with wild Pokemon, and on the right there was a river that flowed down to the direction we were heading.

"By foot, about two hours" Serena answered

"Oh boy" I exhaled

"How far did you think it was?" Gary asked

"I don't know, like, a fifteen minute walk" I said

"And I'm the dumb one" Gary sighed and Serena giggled

"You're use to these kinds of walks though, aren't you Ash?" Serena pointed out

"Yup. Nothing like a good old adventure" I replied

We continued down the trail, occasionally passing by a small village. Nothing eventful happened until about thirty minutes later, when Gary decided to begin whispering into my ear.

"You should totally ask Serena out on a date already" He said

"You're crazy" I whispered back, a little louder

"Is everything alright?" Serena asked, turning with an eyebrow raised

"Everything's fine!" I quickly assured and Pikachu chuckled

After a peaceful and quiet walk, we finally arrived in Santalune City. It wasn't as big - or filled with as many people - as Lumiose City, but there was definitely a lot of people, and a lot of places to visit. We passed by a couple of shops and some unfamiliar Pokemon, until we came across a crowd that was gathered around a battle.

"There's a lot of people watching this fight" Gary said

"Might as well check it out" Serena suggested

After getting through the crowd, I noticed the battle was between a boy around our age with light green hair and an orange robe - his Pokemon was a Yanmega.

His opponent was an older man with rough black hair, a gray shirt, and white shorts. His Pokemon, a Crobat, was having trouble trying to land attacks on Yanmega, who was quickly evading all its attacks.

"I don't get it, what's so special about this fight?" Gary asked to no one in particular

"You guys don't know who Zack is?" a girl next to him asked back

"Nope" the three of us answered

"He's been getting a lot of attention around here lately for his speciality in bug-types; the kinds of moves he uses are strange but also powerful" they explained

"Yanmega, use Sonic Whirlwind" 'Zack' commanded

"Crobat, dodge it and use Steel Wing!"

A spiral of sound waves - that looked like a miniature tornado - shot out of Yanmega's eyes, pinning Crobat to the ground momentarily before exploding. Persistently, Crobat quickly flew out of the smoke and attempted a Steel Wing, but missed as Yanmega dodged, flying to the other side of the field.

"Use Atlas Beam" Zack said, sounding as if he intended to finish the move in that attack

The sun shone brighter down onto the battlefield, and in moments, a laser beam came down that struck Crobat, pinning it to the ground and exploding. When the smoke cleared, Crobat had been taken out for good. Zack returned his Yanmega and walked away, not bothering to speak any words. He walked past us, and as we made eye contact, time seemed to slow down as a grin spread across his ace. There was something about him - I could feel it, but couldn't explain it.

"Never heard of those moves before" Gary said as we continued on our way towards the Santalune City Gym

"I think I got it" Serena announced

"Got what?" I asked

"Well, that one girl said that he was known for his powerful bug-type Pokemon, and the strange moves he uses. I think he could have been the bug-type master" Serena said

"There was something I felt when looking at him, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it" I added

"X said that masters should be able to recognize each other" Serena recalled

Suddenly, a net came down from the sky, scooping up Pikachu and raising him off the ground. Looking up, I noticed a familiar balloon, logo, and trio. By now, I had had enough encounters with them to not be surprised they were here in Kalos and after Pikachu.

"Team Rocket" I muttered

"Looks like they still haven't given up" Gary said

"Sorry chum, but Team Rocket doesn't give up" Meowth replied

"Do you guys know these people?" Serena asked. "And is that a talking Meowth?"

"That's Team Rocket, people who like to steal Pokemon. They've been after Pikachu for a while now" I explained

"And now, we've finally succeed!" Meowth said

"If you don't mind, we'll be taking our leave now" James said

A smoke bomb fell down from the balloon, blindings us. When the smoke finally cleared, there was only the faintest sight of the balloon in the far distance.

"We have to go after them" Serena said, and we nodded

We ran in the direction of the balloon, causing people to give us strange looks, but we didn't mind them; we ran for about ten minutes until realizing that we had lost sight of the balloon.

"Oh man, we lost them" Gary exhaled, out of breath

"Check it out, there's smoke over there" Serena pointed off to the right

We decided to run towards the smoke, and sure enough, when we got close, Team Rocket's ballon had crashed. Pikachu spotted us and used Iron Tail to break out of the net - which had become de-powered - and ran back over, jumping onto my shoulder.

"Help... us" Meowth groaned as he crawled out from underneath

"What happened to you guys?" Gary inquired

"There was some kind of freak in a white robe!" Meowth exclaimed

"White robe? Anything else?" Serena said

"He had these staffs on his back, and his Charizard completely annihilated our Pokemon and our balloon in seconds" Meowth described

The three of us exchanged a quick glance with each other.

"Y"

James and Jessie crawled out from under the balloon, their clothes tattered and scratches over their body.

"Usually this would be battle time, but our Pokemon are already fainted" Jessie said

"But don't worry, we'll be back" James weakly lifted up a finger

Beneath the trio, a red circle of light appeared, and an explosion was set off seconds later, propelling them into the air as usual until they became nothing more than a sparkle in the distance.

"Will they be alright from that?" Serena questioned

"Oh, they'll be just fine" Gary said

Heavy metallic footsteps approached from behind, and we turned to be face to face with Y, who had a set of staffs I hadn't seen on him before. Between his bandanna and his hood, his eyes starred at us, as if calculating our every thoughts and our next moves.

"I can only imagine what kind of nuisance they are" He said, approaching us. Contrast to his eyes, his voice was smooth and calming, as if he didn't have a care in the world, but at the same time meant business.

Needless to say, the three of us were too surprised to say anything.

"Ash, there's something I would like to talk to you about" He requested, examining Gary and Serena. "Preferably alone"

I followed Y off to the side of a trail and a bit into the forest. We came across a small pond with a couple of Pokemon, and he sat down on a large rock, facing me. Here, the air was a lot colder, despite the sun shining brightly down onto the vicinity.

"I'm sure you know by now that the spirits have chosen you to become the next water-type master" He started off

"That's what Serena said" I replied

His eyes continued to stare directly into my soul. "You probably didn't realize it, but it happened exactly one year ago - when you were chosen. I know because my master, the previous water-type master, died one year ago"

Once again, I was still a little too surprised to say anything.

"You've got a riveting and determined personality, Ash. I could sense from miles away that you were attempting to train your water-type Pokemon"

"That's right, but I didn't really do anything special"

His stare diverted back to where we had come from. "On the surface level, you're pretty relaxed. But deep down, you're conflicted about a certain companion of yours. Until you get those feelings in check, you can't possibly become a master"

"What do you mean?"

"Love is a powerful emotion, be it positive or negative. It's the driving force behind many things, and also the downfall of others. You may think it's a simple crush, but your affection for Serena is much more than that" He explained. "You're conflicted on how you feel about her, and it's stopping you from beginning your training.

Once you get your feelings in check, I will train you to become the next water-type master, just like how your predecessor trained me"

Still, I was too shocked to say anything, so I just continued to look back at him.

"Think of it as me helping you in more than one way" He said. "Your time is limited until your left without the privilege of a choice. Decide how your truly feel about the girl, and then we'll have a conversation"

I watched as he walked away, still processing what he had said. I knew I definitely liked Serena in a romantic kind of way - my mom had to really explain it; she was thrilled to hear I had a crush on her - but I at least knew that love was something much more then a crush.

After a while, I headed back to my friends, and we began our way back to Santalune City.

Did I really love Serena? I think it was a possibility, but what confused me more was that he had said I had limited time until I didn't have a choice.

"Ready for your first gym battle?" Serena asked

"Never been more ready"