(A/N: Welcome to this new book, this time in Galar. Here are a few things I hope you will keep in mind.

1. I haven't watched a new series at all, so I have no idea how things are going in anime. I haven't played Sword & Shield either, so everything in this book comes from my head. (Except, of course, Pokemon, the names of the characters and the places they go.)

2. Ash, Serena, and Gou are about 16 years old because I think the events in this book are about 2 years away from the events in Kalos, and in that series, Ash looks about 13-14 years old.

3. Yes, I will describe their appearance if need be, but imagine the events drawn in the style of the XY series or the latest series.

4. I don't own pictures)

Hope you enjoy, let's start!

Galar. A beautiful region with plenty of Pokemon, new and old, people and much more interesting. And now our heroes are stepping into this region.

Let's turn our gaze to the airport where the flight Kanto-Galar has just landed. When the door opens, the first to step out is a boy with raven-black hair, Pikachu on his shoulder and full of enthusiasm and energy, as always.

"Hello Galar, Ash Ketchum has come to you!" the boy shouts excitedly and Pikachu on his shoulder also exclaims happily, "Pika!"

So, he's Ash Ketchum, a 16-year-old boy who has just arrived in Galar, with the goal, of course, of collecting all the gym badges and winning the Galar's Pokemon League. As a companion, he always has a faithful Pikachu who follows him everywhere and who has been his support and companion almost every day.

"Nice to announce, Ash, but you might be able to move out the front door, there are others here who want to get out," says the voice from behind Ash and Ash moves to the side in embarrassment. "Sorry, Gou," he says to another boy who has just stepped out of the plane.

The boy has blue eyes and dark, almost black, short hair, but with a hint of brown. He is wearing a gray hoodie as well as black jeans and gray sneakers and he has a brown backpack on his back. His name is Gou and he's 16-year-old too.

Ash jumps down the stairs two at a time, while Gou walks more calmly and in a normal way. When he reaches Ash, who is waiting for him with a wide smile on his face, Ash asks, "Where are we going first? Would it be..." but the growl in his stomach interrupts him.

Ash rubs his neck in embarrassment and says, "I guess it's time to have food in the first place. Are there any good places to eat at the airport?"

Gou looks at him in disbelief. "How you can be hungry again, you just ate on a plane!" he exclaims, but Ash just shrugs. "I dunno, I think this new situation that made me hungry. Come on, let's look for that place to eat," he says and goes towards the inside of the airport and Gou rolls his eyes, but go after him.

****
After a while, they sit in one of the airport fast food restaurants and Ash eats his burger with satisfaction (No worries, the steak is made with a meat substitute or something like that) while Gou has only small french fries in front of him and he eats them slowly, dipping them in ketchup that Pikachu looks craving.

Ash notices Pikachu's gaze and gives him a bottle of ketchup in his backpack. "Here, buddy," he says and Pikachu starts happily eating his ketchup.

Gou looks at this and says, "It's interesting how Pikachu can love ketchup." Then he turns to Ash and asks, "Well, Ash what are the plans?"

Ash shrugs. "I'm not sure. It would probably be good to visit the professor first and then embark on a decent journey," he says and bites his burger again.

Gou nods. "Yeah, it could work, but.." His explanation breaks, because next to their table have just come two girls about their age who giggle and one of them asks, "Are you Ash Ketchum?"

The girl had very blond, curly hair that had been put on with pink hairpins. She was wearing a pink ruffle skirt as well as a white, long-sleeved shirt and a pink vest on it. She was wearing black tights and brown boots. She had a necklace hanging around her neck with a pink heart and a bag on her shoulder that was, of course, pink.

Her friend also had blonde hair, but it was not curly but straight and she had a green headband on her head. She wore a green shirt, blue jeans, a brown jacket and basic, red sneakers. She also had a brown shoulder bag.

Ash swallowed a piece of hamburger and said, "Yeah, I am, why do you ask?" The girl looked at her friend and this one nodded. "And are you really the Ash Ketchum who won Alola's Pokemon League first ever?"

Ash nodded. "Yes, I am that Ash Ketchum," he said, and the girl looked excited. "Did you hear, Monica, it is he," she said to her friend and this one looked as excited as her friend. Then Ash's accosted the girl explained quickly: "Me and Monica, I'm otherwise Nelly, looked at it a match and when we saw you here, we did not believe our eyes, we are fans, you see, and big ones.." Then she glanced again at her friend and said again quickly: "So, ... Monica and I thought we could take a selfie with you, just one. Please?" She then dug out one of her pink phone from her pink bag and looked at Ash hopefully with pink cheeks.

Ash sighed and then said with a smile, "I guess it okay, do you want Pikachu to come also into the picture?" The girls nodded and so they took "a few" pictures, on both phones.

****
When the girls finally left giggling away, Ash turned back to his burger and started eating again. "You seemed to enjoy that," Gou's voice was heard and Ash looked up.

Gou grinned at him and grabbed one of his french fries and dipped it in ketchup. Ash shrugged. "I guess I'm known now that I won the Alola League first ever, but I still didn't expect to have fans," he said and Gou rolled his eyes at him. "Whatever"

When they were finally finished eating, they took the rubbish away and then headed for the main door of the airport. Gou kept explaining something to Ash all the time, but Ash wasn't really listening. Encountering those two girls had made his mind think of a honey-blonde-haired girl he knew.

Her thinking made Ash feel strange, which he couldn't really describe. He felt like there was a flock of Butterfrees on his stomach and he felt a strange, warm and fuzzy feeling in his chest and he felt the heat rise to his cheeks. What is wrong with me? he thought and at the same time, the image of bright blue eyes came to his mind.

"And then we could go buy some Pokemon food, it's always good to have a little extra with it, and then... Ash, are you listening?" asked Gou and Ash woke up to his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm listening," he said quickly, but Gou didn't believe him. "No, you didn't listen, you're so in your thoughts that you don't even notice where we're going," he said annoyed, and then said to him, "So, would you tell me what's so worth thinking about?"

"Eh... I was just thinking about tactics for the first gym battle, nothing more" Ash lied, then noticed something supposedly and headed for it quickly. Gou blinked a few times and then go after him, shrugging his shoulders at Ash.

****
When they finally got their shopping done (And shed again from the heels of a few Ash's fans) and decided to stay at the Pokemon Center and continue to the professor until the next day.

Ash opened the door to the Pokemon Center and Nurse Joy greeted them from behind her counter. "Hello, how can I help?" she asked and Gou said, "We need a room for one night"

Nurse Joy looked at her computer for a moment and then said, "It works, here's the key to your room, do you need anything else?"

"No, thank you. This is enough," Gou said and then he and Ash headed towards their room.

****
Ash leaned on his bed and stared for a while at the ceiling of their room. "I can't wait for our journey to begin properly," he said excitedly to Gou, who packed their shopping (mostly food) into his backpack and who smiled at Ash's endless energy.

"Neither do I," he said, closing the zipper of his backpack. He then said he was going to ask Nurse Joy about something and Ash was left alone in the room for a moment.

A picture of honey-blonde-hair and bright blue eyes came to his mind again. How long had it been since he had last seen her? For at least two years, he thought, and suddenly a picture of the same honey-blonde-haired girl running towards him on the escalator of the airport and the girl gently pressed her lips against his lips came to his mind. Thank you, Ash, she had said and smiled before she left.

Where was she now? Was she perhaps still in Hoenn or had she already returned to Kalos? They hadn't kept in touch, and sometimes Ash regretted it. He still didn't really understand what she was done at the airport, because he was dense, but thinking about it made him feel the same, warm feeling as thinking about a girl anyway. I wish, that I could see you again, Ash hoped.

****
Let's look back at the airport where the plane from Hoenn to Galar has just landed.

When the door opens, a honey-blonde-haired, 16-year-old girl steps out, holding her hat and looking excitedly at a new region and a new adventure. She takes a deep breath and says, "Hello Galar, Serena Yvonne is ready to challenge you"

-
And so the first chapter is complete! I hope you liked it, even though everything is just beginning and the adventure itself is just ahead. But don't worry, the action will start soon.

You may have noticed that I didn't introduce Pokemon other than Pikachu here yet. This is because I decided to give them completely new teams for this book. Yes, I know that Ash and Gou have already in the anime new Pokémon and I decided to also give them a few of them in this book, but I'm not going to do exactly the same teams as in the anime. I was thinking of giving Serena a few new Pokemon, but I'm going to keep her old too, because I like them and they fit well into this story.