Disclaimer: All rights go to the Pokémon Company Inc.
Chapter 3: Serena's Debut! Part 1
It was around 8:30 in the morning and we would have arrived in Couriway Town. We stood on a hill taking in the breathless sight. The sun was rising from east of the town which showered it with light which added to the peaceful, beautiful environment.
"Wow. Couriway Town." I said in amazement. The town was very beautiful. There lied countless buildings with trees to help with the scenery. The Poké Center was located at the center of the town, ironically. It was an amazing sight. We began descending the hill and in about 15 more minutes we make it to Couriway Town.
"Aw man. Are you psyched Serena?" I ask pumped. I was really looking forward to seeing her Showcase.
"You bet I am. I'm going to win the Poké Puff round then I will win the Grand Challenge round." She said smiling with determination. I couldn't help but smile at her determination. That's one thing I like about Serena is that she is determined just like me.
"Yeah that's the spirit Serena! You'll definitely win for sure!" I say while pumping my fist in the air. We all do the same.
"Alright we should head to the Showcase. If I'm not mistaken it should be over there where the stage is and those people." Clemont said as I looked over there and sure enough there was a stage and a lot of people.
"Yeah let's go!" Serena said with excitement as she ran towards the place leaving us behind. I pause smiling and also my cheeks feel hot, but I don't know why. I shake the feeling off and run off toward the place where the Showcase was being held.
"Alright I'm going to head backstage." Serena said.
"Okay. And Serena," I say getting her attention.
"Yeah Ash?" She said. I pumped my fist.
"Win this thing." I say with a determined smile. She smiles and nods which signals she understood. I look around to find Clemont and Bonnie sitting and also saving me a seat. I walked over there and sat down. I let my Pokémon out so that they can watch too.
"Thanks guys." I say.
"No problem." Clemont said.
"Serena will win this thing for sure!" Bonnie exclaimed excitedly. I just smiled and look toward the stage waiting for Serena and just Serena to come out.
Serena's POV
I walk backstage and find that there is Miette, Nini, and Shauna getting prepared for the Poké Puff contest.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Serena the girl who can't keep her mind off of Ash." Miette teases with a smile. I just smile back. Her smile grew bigger when she saw mine.
"Oh my Arceus. Are you two an item now?" Miette asked in a excited tone. If only.
"If only." I say.
"He is still the dense sap that he is isn't he?" Asked Shauna. I nodded.
"What is it about Ash that you like? Do you think he is cute? Cause I think he is a looker to me." Nini asked.
"Well you're right about that. But what I really like about him is that he is bold, courageous, caring, and helpful for people and Pokémon alike. And he is so passionate about his dream of becoming a Pokémon master. Overall he is a good person with no bad intentions and that's what I really like about him." I say dreamily. All three of them look at each other and then at me smiling.
"Say Serena? Are you in loooove with Ash?" Miette asked teasingly. My heart skipped a beat when she mentioned love. Did I love Ash? I mean I have had a huge crush on him since we met back in Pallet Town. But was it more than that? I didn't know, but now I was going to focus on the challenge ahead of me.
"I-I don't know," I say, but I shake out of it and pump my fist.
"But that's not important right now. What's important is me winning this showcase and getting my first Princess Key." I say with determination coursing it's way through my body. They all nod in agreement. I put on my apron and awaited the order to be called out to the stage. After about another five more minutes they finally calmed the crowd down and they were doing the intro. My heart was pounding through my chest. But I was going to win. One by one our names were being called. I drowned out the announcer's voice as I was focusing on my breathing to control my pounding heart.
"Third we have Serena!" I heard the announcer say as I made my way out onto the stage and waved at the crowd. The crowd was roaring. I know it was a general cheer, but man did I feel like a celebrity out here. The announcer called out the other 5 contestants and eventually we are all here. As the crowd settled down the announcer called out the rules.
"Ok how the first round works. You guys have one hour to come up the with best Poké Puffs you can with the ingredients at your guys' baking table. You will create three different Poké Puffs! There can only be 4 people that advance! So good luck to all of you on your baking journey! Now! On your marks! Get set! Bake!" The announcer said and blanks were fired off as the timer started ticking. Ok I knew exactly what I was going to make. Orange-Oran berry Poké Puffs with an almond cream frosting. Pecha-Chocolate Poké Puffs with a vanilla frosting. And a Sitrus-Aspear berry with a chocolate frosting. I brought out three mixing bowls and put all the ingredients I needed in each one of them. As I was doing that I couldn't help, but scan the audience to find Ash. And sure enough I saw him in the back of the crowd next to Clemont and he gave me a smile which I returned. I was gonna win this for him. I then turned my attention back to the baking. I turned on the oven to 325 degrees and began stirring the Poké Puff batters.
"You want to win this for him don't you?" Shauna asked teasingly coming up to me while she was mixing her one of her Poké Puff batters. I blushed heavily.
"N-no. What makes y-you think that?" I asked while stuttering and looking down while I was mixing batters to hide my blushing.
"Well first off you're stuttering, second off you're blushing, and thirdly I saw the way you scanned the crowd and smiled at him." She said with a smug expression.
"Fiiiineee you got me. He's part of my motivation. He says so many motivational things to me and they sort have rubbed off on me." I say to her still blushing while awkwardly laughing. She just laughed back.
"Why don't you just let him know how you feel? You never know he might return your feelings." Shauna said.
"But what if he doesn't? I feel like he is too focused on his dream to want a girlfriend right now." I ask concerned while putting the batter on a baking sheet.
"And turn down a chance to be with a smoking hot girl like you? Pfft. I don't think so. As dense as he is I'm sure deep down he feels the same way as you do. He just doesn't know it yet." She said with a wink while heading back to her station. I thought about that for a second. Maybe she was right. But I shook out of it. Now was the time to finish this and move on to the second round. I put all my batter on separate baking sheets which I sprayed cooking oil on and entered them into the ovens. While I was waiting for the batters to be done I began making the frostings. After about 30 minutes my baking timer went off to signal that they were done baking and used an oven mitt to take them out. They looked perfect. I looked up to see how much time was left in the bake-off and there was just over 10 minutes left. More than enough time to put the frostings on. So I began doing that and tried to make the swirls as perfect as possible. The crowd began counting down. I put finishing garnish on the Poké Puffs.
"5! 4! 3! 2! 1! And time!" The announcer said as I lifted my hand from the last Poké Puff I put a garnish on.
"Alright! And now that we are done with the baking part, it is time to test them out. Kalos Queen Aria is here with her Delphox and her Delphox is going to take a taste test of Poké Puffs herself. And here she is! The Kalos Queen Aria!" The annoucer said excitedly as Aria came from behind the stage as she began waving at everyone with a huge smile on her face. The crowd went berserk with her coming out. I couldn't help, but stare at here. Her beauty was unmatched. I felt so insecure with the most beautiful woman in Kalos if not the world is standing just mere feet from me. I felt like an ordinary person compared to her. I wanted to be like her. After a while the crowd died down to hear what Aria had to say.
"Hey you guys! I am so glad to be here! So my Delphox is going to do a taste test for all of your guys' Poké Puffs! And after she is done tasting all of them she will give me the final results which I will share with you all! Best of luck! Are you ready Delphox?" She asked her Delphox.
"Del-Delphox!" Her Delphox said excitedly. She then began tasting everyone's Poké Puffs one by one. By the time she reached mine I was so nervous. My heart was racing. She then took a bite out of my Orange-Oran berry Poké Puff. Then my Pecha-Chocolate Poké Puff, and then my Sitrus-Aspear berry Poké Puff. After eating that one she licked her lips and then looked at me and gave me a wink while smiling. I smiled back as my nervousness went away. She liked them! I'm so happy I almost wanted to scream with joy, but I kept my composure. After a few more minutes she finished tasting everyone's Poké Puffs and went back to Aria. She then began explaining who she thought were the four best and after a couple of minutes of explaining Aria was about to make the announcement.
"Ok ladies and gents! Delphox said it was so hard to choose. But after some tough choices and decisions, the verdict is in! This is how things will work for the Grand Challenge round. Only people who win this round can advance. There will be four winners to be advanced to the next round." Aria said enthusiastically. Here we go.
Ash's POV (During the same time as Serena's POV)
They were now starting the Showcase and I was "wooing" for the contestants, mostly Serena, but the other contestants too. I know Miette would probably be in this, but I don't know who else. Maybe Shauna. They were now calling out the contestants.
"First one who is up on the list... Miette!" The announcer said as Miette walked out from the backstage curtain to the front stage with a spotlight on her and her partner Slurpuff. "Next up. Shauna!" The announcer said as she came out with her partner Ivysaur and they go to their spot for the bake-off. "Third we have Serena!" The announcer continued and the crowd continued to go wild. All I was looking at was Serena. "Fourth we have Nini!" The announcer continued. The announcer called out the rest. There were 8 total.
"Good luck Serena." I say under my breath.
"Huh. Did you say something Ash?" Clemont asked.
"No." I lied and after the announcer announced the rules the cook off began as blanks were fired to signal the start of the round. I looked toward the stage where Serena was and I began to watch her do her cooking magic. She pulled out three mixing bowls and as she put the ingredients in she looked around the crowd and our eyes eventually met as I smiled at her and she returned the smile. After that her and Shauna talked for a bit. After about 45 minutes the timer went off to signal the end and when Aria took over the reigns of announcing and were waiting for the results to come in. As we were waiting I saw that confident look on Serena's face. I smile at that. And after another few minutes the results are in.
"Ok ladies and gents! Delphox said it was so hard to choose. But after some tough choices and decisions, the verdict is in! This is how things will work for the Grand Challenge round. Only people who win this round can advance. There will be four winners to be advanced to the next round," Aria said.
"And here are the results! First is... Miette!" Aria said enthusiastically. I cheered loudly. "Second is... Serena!" She said. And I swear she said her name more excitedly than Miette. Let's see if the others will get the same reaction. "The third winner is... Nini!" Aria said. Yeah. She was definitely more excited for Serena than the others. "And the last winner of the first round is... Shauna! Give a round of applause for the contestants!" Aria said and the crowd went wild with the applause. I was one of them and so were Clemont, Bonnie and my Pokémon. Greninja and Pikachu were the loudest of the Pokémon though due to my bond with them. Not that my bond isn't strong with my other Pokémon. Serena came over to us with a grin spread on her face.
"I can't believe I made it to the second round!" She said ecstatic.
"Yeah you did great Serena!" I said. Then I did something very unexpected. Instead of giving her a fist bump or a high five like I would normally do I gave her a hug. She hesitated at first, but returned the hug and smiled. It was like squeezing a pillow. Her skin was so soft and her hair smelled of strawberries. I wanted to stay like this forever.
"What is the matter with you Ash?!" My brain asked me. Was I starting to have feelings for Serena? I mean if I am that's nice and all, but I never showed any affection toward a girl except for that one girl Giselle back when I was in Kanto. The hug lasted for 5 seconds and then we split apart. Serena was blushing and was smiling too. We looked at each other smiling and I was also blushing. Bonnie was looking at us smirking and Clemont was clueless as ever not suspecting a thing. The announcer then interrupted our moment.
"The second round, or Grand Challenge round, which is a series of tag team battles against Monsieur Pierre and Kalos Queen Aria will occur in two days. Then a Freestyle dance will occur afterward. Remember it will take place at the same time two days from now. So stay tuned and have a wonderful rest of your day!" Aria said before she got off of the stage.
"Hey, where did Bonnie go?" I asked curiously. Clemont then started to panic.
"Oh no no no no." He said looking around. I smirked a little knowing what was coming.
"Please take care of my brother!" Said Bonnie in a sweet voice. People were staring at her trying to figure out what she's doing. Aria, who looked like she was in her lower 20's by the way, also looked very confused and blushing.
"Oh I am so sorry for this," Clemont said while bowing. "Bonnie how many times have I told not to do this anymore? Aipom arm activated." He said blushing intensely out of I'm guessing embarrassment while his scientifically magic arm extended from his backpack and grabbed Bonnie and he sped off leaving a trail of dust. Man he sure is out of shape, but he can run pretty fast when his body wants him to. Me and Serena and a few people starting cracking up to that. It took a few minutes to die down. Man that never gets old.
Time Change
Me, Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie settled in at the Poké Center in Couriway Town. The time was 7:00 and it was getting close to my bed time. I was helping with cleaning up after dinner when Greninja popped out of his Pokéball.
"Greninja-ja?" He asked. I think he was asking if we could train, but I was getting tired and I wanted to get some sleep.
"Sorry Greninja, but I'm wiped after these past couple of days." I said. But I'm guessing that was not what he wanted. He then pointed at Serena who was getting ready to go to bed. I think he was asking if I like her.
"Uh," I said blushing when I realized why he was pointing at her. He just smiled. "I don't know Greninja. What I did earlier was weird. I usually don't give out hugs like that." I said quietly.
"Gre-grenin-greninja." He said which meant my secret was safe with him.
"But I didn't say I like her in that way." I said, but I know I was lying and he did, but I didn't want him to know.
"Greninja." He said while shrugging his shoulders which meant "Okay if you say so."
"Greninja-ja-gren?" He asked which roughly translates to "Can we train tomorrow?" I just nodded.
"Yeah! I want to master that and that could be our secret weapon in the Kalos League!" I said excitedly. Greninja pumped his fist at the same time I did. He then tapped my Pokéball and he went back inside it.
"Goodnight Greninja." I muttered with a smile. I then went inside of my tent and changed into my pajamas. Then I crawled into my sleeping bag.
"Goodnight everyone!" I said.
"Goodnight Ash!" They all responded. Tomorrow we were going to head to Terminus Cave to explore it. Greninja and I were going to master that form and we would use it for our gym battle in Snowbelle City and in the Kalos League. I took one last look at the top of my tent and close my eyes and entered the world of sleep.