Serena and Ash walked together down the dirt path as they headed for the town they had seen in the distance. They were side by side and both were quiet as different things ran through both of their heads. Finally, after a few minutes of walking, Serena finally broke the silence.

"So Ash, you've traveled a lot, do you have an idea on where we are at?" She asked the riolu walking beside her.

He put a paw to his chin as he began to scour through any memories of the area before he finally came up with an answer.

"Nope! I don't have a single idea." Ash said cheerfully like it was exciting for him.

With the tone of his voice and the expression on his face, Serena could easily tell that Ash was enjoying this all.

"Uhh, Ash, are you happy we're pokemon in an unfamiliar location?" Serena asked another question.

"Well, I mean, it's so cool we get to be pokemon, and I'm sure everything will be alright," Ash explained. "Why, do you not like this?" He asked Serena

If she was honest, Serena was a little scared but the fact that she was with Ash helped her mind out.

"Yeah, especially since I'm with you," Serena answered.

"Same, it's nice being with a friend," Ash said back, once again blind to Serena's feelings.

Serena looked away from Ash as she turned her sights back towards the road ahead. Looking down the road Serena was surprised to see a figure was walking down it. They were still a bit away so she couldn't make out exactly who or what they were but all Serena could tell was that they weren't human.

Seeing this Serena whispered over to Ash.

"Hey Ash, someone's coming our way. What should we do?" Serena asked.

Ash stopped walking as he began to think. He tapped his chin and Serena watched. Finally, Ash concluded.

"I think we should go talk to them," Ash answered.

The simplicity was not unlike Ash but still, Serena wasn't too sure. What if they were prey in the pokemon's eyes, maybe they were on its territory and would be swiftly cut down? Serena began to have these thoughts run through her head just like when she had first become a pokemon.

Before she could reply to Ash, Serena felt a paw on her shoulder as she looked up to see him staring at her.

"Well whatever you were thinking, they see us now." Ash pointed down the path and Serena looked at the pokemon.

Serena looked and saw it waved a limb up in the air, behind it, the pokemon seemed to be pulling some kind of cart that a merchant in old times might peddle around. It had orange fur, a face with a gray muzzle, on its sides it had blue rings. The pokemon had four short legs and most distinguishingly were the strange, gray, jagged humps on its back that reminded Serena of volcanoes. While it looked familiar, Serena couldn't recognize the pokemon or remember what it was called. Now it was approaching the duo.

Knowing he was better at pokemon knowledge, Serena whispered into Ash's ear.

"Who's that pokemon?" She asked.

"I believe it's called a camerupt." He whispered back to Serena.

As the two looked up they saw the camerupt was now close to them. At least Serena now knew what it was called. Serena realized how much bigger of a pokemon the camerupt was compared to Ash and her. Just one hoof of the thing looked big enough to smash her. The pokemon looked friendly enough, much to Serena's and Ash's relief, however, both were a little nervous.

The pokemon was the first to talk to the duo.

"Hey, there you two. What are fellas like you doing out here?" The camerupt spoke with an accent that Serena could only describe as rural Unovan.

While she knew they would be able to understand pokemon, Serena was still mildly taken aback by hearing one speak. However, She did her best to not appear fazed by it. Serena didn't want to say anything but she figured it would be better to do the talking then Ash.

"Hello there, my friend and I were on our way to the town down the road. What about you?" Serena asked.

"Really, I'm moving out of that stinkin place, I can't stand some of those fellas. If I were you I would turn the other way and find a better place than here. I would never take another step in that place. Ah pardon me, where're my manners, the names Ern. How 'bout you?" Ern asked Serena.

"Oh well my friend here is Ash and you can call me Serena." She answered, she wanted to shake his hand but it probably wouldn't work.

"Those are some nice names although to me your boyfriend doesn't look like a fire type now." The Camerupt chuckled. "Sorry I couldn't resist, say you two kids seem nice why don't you come with me and the little guy to someplace better?" Ern offered.

Serena blushed at Ern's joke but turning to Ash she saw that he didn't seem to care much. She thought about his offer but wondered about something.

"Hold on, who's the little guy?" Serena asked.

"Oh yeah, they're sleeping in the back of my wagon here." Going around the back of the cart, Ash and Serena saw a sleeping Ralts wrapped in hay, also in the cart were a variety of things from closed bags, to woven baskets filled with different berries. After looking at Ern's well-supplied wagon the two came back around to Ern.

"The little guy lost his parents a few weeks ago and now I'm taking him with me to someplace better," Ern explained. "So, how 'bout it, interested in joining?"

With Ern's story, Serena couldn't help but appreciate how kind Ern seemed to be, however, a feeling in the back of her head told her to head to the town. She tried to suppress the thought but it just ate away at her. Finally, she gave in to the feeling.

"Sorry Ern, but Ash and I have some stuff we have to take care of in town. Maybe if we're fast enough we'll catch up to you." Serena lied, trying not to be rude to Ern.

"Aw, that's fine then, I didn't mean to make you late. But if ya want you can find me spending the night in Wurmple Woods. Stay safe y'all and I hope I can see you again." Ern had a grin on his face and with that, Ern walked down the path behind Ash and Serena with his cart rolling along behind him.

The pair sat there for a minute as they watched Ern continue to walk off before finally speaking again.

"Wow, Serena I'm surprised you handled that so well, considering you were talking to a pokemon after all. I was so surprised he spoke exactly like this one Gym Leader I had to fight once. Although I wished you would've let me talk to him," Ash said.

"Yeah, I kinda surprised myself as well. It just felt natural and he was so friendly. And I'm sorry but I didn't want you spilling out our secret, I didn't want us thinking we're loony or anything." Serena apologized.

"Alright, he seemed so nice taking care of that poor ralts, I can't imagine what it's like to lose your parents like that. But hey, why did you turn down his offer, this place sounds real crummy now?" Ash asked Serena.

"I don't know, it was just that something in me said that we had to go to this town. I'm sorry but it just didn't feel right going with that pokemon. Once we're done in town we can go back and catch up to Ern," Serena responded.

Serena looked up at the sky to see the sun was shining right above. If she had to guess it was either Eleven AM or One PM. There was still plenty of time left in the day regardless, enough time for the town and then to find Ern.

"Well, I guess we should get going if we're going to meet back up with him." Ash began to walk down the dirt path towards the town.

Not wanting to be left behind Serena began to walk with him as before. The town was now closer than ever of the duo. Looking at it from a distance Serena saw that there were a bunch of small houses. It also seemed to be on the edge of either a sea or a rather large lake. As well there was a river that seemed to cut through the town. Even from the distance they were, Serena thought those houses were tiny.

Thinking back to Ern pulling that cart a thought crossed Serena's head. Turning to Ash while continuing to walk she began to ask a question. "Hey, Ash I'm wondering about something, with how tiny those houses are and Ern pulling that cart full of stuff, I feel like there aren't going to be much in the way of humans here."

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, Serena. Do you think they know where we could find any humans?" Ash asked Serena.

"I'm not sure but isn't this strange, a whole town of pokemon that live out their lives almost like humans from the look of it," Serena said as they got even closer.

After a few more minutes the two were on the verge of the town when they came across a tent on the side of the road. It had a blue cloth cover and Ash and Serena thought it was empty. However, as they walked by both jumped when they heard someone speak.

"Oh, hello there! I haven't seen you two before!" The voice yelled with high energy.

Ash and Serena turned to face who surprised them. Inside the tent, there was a feline pokemon that had purple and cream-colored fur a delcatty. Serena recognized this pokemon seeing as it was such a popular choice for contests. Although she never expected them to be so energetic.

Recovering from the surprise Serena began to speak. "Oh my, you sure scared us."

As soon as Serena said those words the delcatty's expression turned from joyful to upset. "Oh, I'm sorry you two, Vol says I need to stop being so loud." The delcatty began to sniffle.

Ash stood there surprised at the pokemon's major mood swings but Serena felt bad for what she said and began to apologize. "Wait, please don't cry, you didn't do anything bad, we just thought your tent was empty."

The delcatty sniffled once more before speaking. "Really?" She asked.

"Yes really," Serena responded.

That seemed to cheer the delcatty up as she wiped her eyes a smile formed on her face. "Alright, so are you two new around here?" She asked the pair.

"Yep, I"m Serena and this is Ash." Serena pointed a paw to Ash who was still slightly taken aback by the pokemon's abrupt mood shift.

"Oh, those are such amazing names, my name is Kit. Hopefully, you two will be nicer than that jerk Ern who just left." Kit scowled.

"Wait for Ern?" Both Ash and Serena asked in unison.

"Yeah, Ern is such a mea-, no I shouldn't talk behind people's back like that." Kit stopped herself.

Serena and Ash wondered why a pokemon like Kit would have such feelings for Ern who seemed so nice. However, both thought it was best not to question her much.

"If you guys are new then I definitely need to take you on a tour of the town to get you guys introduced!" Kit zipped her tent shut. "Well, we better hurry I have a lot to show you."

"Wait, before we go, I have a question," Serena spoke up. "What is the name of this place?" Serena asked both Ash and she had been waiting to finally know where they were.

"You don't know what wonderful town this is? This place is called Flower Lake."

New chapter! Sorry for another long wait for a chapter not as long hopefully this next chapter won't be. I would love to hear thoughts, criticisms, and suggestions as well. As well I'm looking for OC's to inhabit Flower Lake and make it feel more lively!

As I already get ready for this next chapter I have something I want to say. I AM LOOKING FOR POKEMON OCs. But there is a catch. I want OC's to act as citizens and guild members of Flower Lake, not a main character to take away from Serena and Ash. You can submit me an OC via PMs and maybe reviews although it would be much better via PMs. Now I have a few rules for submitting an OC.

1. Has to be an actual pokemon with a reasonable color scheme (I'm fine for example a red Charmander but not a hot pink one. Shinies are fine but I will only take so many)

2. The pokemon is either a guild member or resident of Flower Lake (It's your choice which one but understand it's a little weird for an Igglybuff to be a guild member.)

3. OCs' in the story serve more like a cameo. They wouldn't be very involved in the story. Ash and Serena may talk to them but that's about it. The reason for this is I have a lot of the characters already planned out. Maybe they would be more involved in a filler chapter but for the main story, they wouldn't have any impact.

4. While you don't have to be extremely specific if you send me a barebones OC description then the most you'll probably get is the characters making note of your OC walking by.

5. Don't make them super special. I'm fine with an Ivysaur baker that makes berry pies to die for but don't tell me that same Ivysaur is from our world and suffers from amnesia. Guildmembers can be strong of course but don't tell me how they are strong enough to defeat Arceus in a fight single handily.

5.5 If you want a higher chance of acceptance, if you're going for a guildmember then maybe an interesting role. Why not an account, a trainer, a tutor, a doctor?

6 Last, NOT ALL WILL BE ACCEPTED. It could be I don't think it fits for the story or I might have enough OC's. If your OC is really good I may accept it after receiving enough OC's. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO SUBMIT MULTIPLE OC's

Here's the form if you want to submit an OC.

OC Species:

OC Name:

OC Gender: (I should say that I'm fine if they are trans or enby although that might not matter much.)

Guildmember or Citizen: (Are they a citizen or part of the guild?)

Occupation: (What do they do?)

Physical Description: (What do they look like?)

Character Description: (A basic description works, just attitude and maybe what they would do during free time.)

Optional Reference: (I would love to see art of your OC and it helps me picture them better. Not needed but helps your chances)

That's about it. I'm excited to see everyone's OC! And without further a do chapter 2!