"Do they never stop?" said Ash, peeking carefully from around the corner of the small cafe where he and Gou had run into hiding. Pikachu also peeked and sighed, "Pikaa.."

After waking up at the Pokemon Center the next morning and having breakfast first, Ash and Gou had packed their belongings, handed over the key to their room, and set out for Professor Magnolia's Research Lab.

They had gotten quite far with Gou's guidance when again two girls had besieged Ash and demanded to be able to take pictures with him. Ash had had nothing against it and so they had taken pictures.

But after some time, more and more, mostly of the girls, people had been asked to take pictures with him and Ash had gradually begun to get bored with it. He and Gou had barely had time to move a meter, while someone was already besieging them.

But the culmination of it all happened when they had gone to the same cafe, which corner they were now hiding, of with the idea of eating there. They had barely stepped in the door when they had noticed a fairly large group of girls sitting at the nearest table. Ash had had bad ideas about them and he had been right.

When they had entered the cafe, the bell above the door had rang and one of the girls sitting at the table had looked up to see who had entered the cafe. When she noticed Ash, her eyes were spread and she had exclaimed, "Hey girls, look who just came in the door! Ash "Alola Master" Ketchum!"

The other girls had also looked up and the first girl's exclamation had also made the eyes of the others in the cafe turn in Ash's direction and Ash had realized that they all seemed willing to meet "Alola Master" And he had realized he would not survive it intact.

After the girls got up from the table and moved eagerly toward Ash, he had quickly hissed at Gou, "Run. Quickly," Gou hadn't had to command a second time.

They had quickly rushed out of the cafe and the first girl to shout had exclaimed, "Hey! You're not running away!" And the whole girl crowd had rushed after them, only to find that they had disappeared somewhere.

But to the great chagrin of Ash and Gou, the girls had not surrendered, but were left to sway in front of the cafe. So Ash and Gou had no chance of passing them without being noticed.

****
"Do they never stop?" said Ash, peeking carefully from around the corner of the small cafe where he and Gou had run into hiding. Pikachu also peeked and sighed, "Pikaa.."

Gou also peeked and frowned. "We should be able to go soon if we want to get to the Professor's lab before tonight," he said and sighed. "Ash, I guess we can't help but try not to get noticed and go past them."

Ash sighed too. "I guess you're right," he said, pressing his cap in front of his face so it couldn't see completely. "I'm ready," he said, and Pikachu also nodded resolutely. "Pika!" it exclaimed.

Ash and Gou further made sure none of the girls were definitely looking in their direction and then set out to walk away from them.

It's a pity that just then one of the girls looked up and noticed Ash and Go. "Hey! That's where they are!" she exclaimed to the others and Ash and Gou quickly looked at each other and then exclaimed in one voice, "Run!"

"Now you don't run away!" shouted the girl who noticed them and they set out to chase the boys. Ash and Gou ran as fast as they can, but then Gou got the idea. "Quickly, here," he said, opened the door to the nearest store and they slipped inside.

****
They looked through the door as the girls ran past the store and sighed in relief. Now they began to be interested in what kind of store they had really come into.

Ash looked around the store and the first thing he noticed was that the place was very small and there were different fabrics or other sewing supplies everywhere. "Ash, this is probably a fabric store," Gou said and Ash nodded.

They weren't quite in the kind of store that might interest them the most, but they didn't want to take the risk of the girls still spinning nearby and going out directly to them. So, they decided over time to study what the store was like.

Ash wandered between the stacks of fabrics and was getting a heart attack when someone said in a friendly audible voice behind him, "May can I help you?"

Ash turned around and saw in front of him a friendly-looking old woman looking at him from behind her glasses with bright blue eyes that had not faded with age.

The woman was wearing a light pink sweater, lilac, long skirt, and brown, low-heeled shoes on her feet. Her gray hair was with a loose bun on her head and she had a pearl necklace around her neck and pearl earrings from the same set in her ears. She has glasses and Ash came to mind as a kind grandmother.

"What is this store?" Ash asked and the woman smiled at him. "Well, as you can see, this is a fabric store. And a pretty successful one, if I may say so. Admittedly, now it's pretty quiet here, you see, I have fewer customers all the time, people you see are buying their clothes nowadays, and they don't do so much themselves", the woman explained and sighed. "But not about that anymore. My name is Marlene, nice to meet you," she then said and held out her hand in greeting.

Ash grabbed her hand and said, "My name is Ash and this is my partner Pikachu," he said and pointed to Pikachu, who exclaimed happily, "Pika!" "Nice to meet you, Ash and Pikachu, do you want to tell me what brings young people like you here?" Marlene said and smiled.

Ash was just beginning to tell when Gou appeared to him. "Ash, there you are, even though this is a small shop, this can be quite a maze," he explained, then noticed Marlene and said a little embarrassed, "Sorry, I didn't notice you."

Marlene smiled at him. "It's nothing, young man," she told to Gou. "I guess you're a friend of this Ash, aren't you?" she continued and Gou nodded.

"My name is Gou," he said and Marlene nodded. Then she slapped both her hands together and said, "What if we drank some tea and you could tell me a little over time what brings you to Galar, I notice you're not local."

Ash and Gou glanced at each other and Ash said, "I think it works," and Marlene smiled kindly at him. "All right then, come after me and I'll show you where we can drink the tea," she said, pointing her hand at Ash and Gou to follow.

****
Ash was just about to follow her when something caught his attention. It was on a shelf next to two stacks of fabric, as if abandoned on it. Ash took it in his hand and looked at it.

It was a red silk ribbon and Ash realized it was a ribbon similar to the one he had given a long time ago to a certain honey-blond girl as a gift. That ribbon had been blue though, but this ribbon was the same material as the one he had given and the ribbon reminded him of the day in Coumarine City when he had received that blue ribbon.

"How much does this cost?" he asked without thinking about it, and to his surprise, he felt a little blush when he asked it. Gou looked at him in amazement, not realizing why he wanted to buy a red silk ribbon, but Pikachu understood the purpose of the ribbon and smiled knowingly.

Marlene smiled at him and said, "You'll get it for free, as if as a welcome gift to Galar," she said and Ash looked in amazement and said, "Really? Wow, thank you!" Then he put the ribbon back in his backpack and Marlene, who supposedly squatted to lift something off the ground, whispered to him, "Red goes well with blue, you know that. The girl is sure to be happy when she gets red in addition to the blue ribbon."

Ash looked at her shocked. How.. how was it possible that Marlene knew Serena also had a blue ribbon, he had never told it at any point. He was just asking it when the bell above the door rang and he turned to see who had come in.

At the door stood a young woman, a little older than Ash and Gou, and she looked at them in the same bright shade of blue as Marlene's eyes.

She had long brown hair and was put on a high ponytail. She was wearing black, tight jeans, an orange, turtle neck shirt, and a white, long fabric coat on it. She was wearing high brown boots and had a professional-looking camera in one hand and a small black notebook in the other. A card with her own picture hung on her neck and a gray fedora was on her head. She looked annoyed for some reason when she saw Marlene squatting next to Ash.

"Granny, are you trying to read someone's thoughts again without permission?" she asked and Ash looked at Marlene in wonder. "Can you read thoughts?" he asked and Marlene smiled. "Yes, I can do it, it's a skill inherited from the family, this Melissa, she's my granddaughter, she knows it too, but miraculously she doesn't seem to use it. Strangely enough, for it would certainly be quite useful in the work of a journalist," she explained a look in the direction of a young woman called Melissa.

"It would be cheating, Grandma," Melissa said irritably, took her fedora off her head, and came up to them. "Besides, I'm not one of the Mandibuzz journalists in gossip magazines who would definitely do anything to make their celebrity gossip public," he continued and Ash paled.

"Are you a reporter!" he asked in horror, how he had had such luck, running straight to the reporter. "I am, but don't worry, I'm not going to do you any interview," Melissa said with a smile, and Ash sighed with relief

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at work?" Marlene asked her granddaughter and Ash feel that their relationship didn't always seem to be very... close.

"I have a lunch break and I decided to come to see how you are doing here. And Ash, you're right, Grandma and I don't really get along sometimes, she thinks it's nice to read people's thoughts secretly and then scare them by revealing something they certainly hadn't told her. I can't stand that," Melissa explained and Ash realized she had read his mind.

"So you knew all along what we were thinking and who we were, didn't you?" Gou asked Marlene and she nodded with a smile.

Ash became interested in their strange abilities. "Are you Psychic?" he asked, but Marlene shook her head with a smile. "No. We can read thoughts, but we can't float objects by willpower or whatever the Psychics can do," she explained, and Ash frowned.

"So you just know how to read thoughts. Wow. Can you decide when you want to read them or can you regulate it in any way?" he asked and instead of Marlene Melissa answered.

"It works, but takes practice to close all other people's thoughts out of the mind. I will do so when I'm at work, such as interviewing people," she explained, and Ash nodded.

****
They chatted for a moment longer until Melissa looked at the clock on the wall and said her lunch break was over. "The work is calling, I have to make it to Professor Magnolia's lab today," she said and Gou became interested.

"Did you said Professor Magnolia's lab?" he asked and Melissa nodded. "That's where we're going too. Is it okay if we come on the same journey with you?" Gou explained and Melissa thought for a moment.

"Yes, it does. But let's go then, the boss won't be happy if I don't get the Magnolia interviewed today," she said and Ash and Gou nodded. They said goodbye to Marlene and walked out the door with Melissa.

As they walked along the sidewalk, Ash blinked almost all the time for the girls who had been chasing them. Fortunately for him, however, they were not visible and Ash relaxed a little.

"So, Melissa, do you have any Pokemon?" Ash asked her and Melissa smiled. "I thought you'd ask it. And the answer, yes I have," she said and took one Pokeball from the pocket of her jacket and seconds later little Eevee appeared in front of them.

"Eevee!" it exclaimed and Melissa smiled at it. "This Eevee has been my helper for as long as I can remember," she explained and took Eevee in her arms.

"And I have another helper," she said suddenly, taking another Pokeball from her pocket as well. "Boltund, come greet my new friends!"

It took a second and a slightly bigger Pokemon appeared in front of them. "Bol!" it exclaimed and Ash looked at it with interest. "I haven't seen that Pokemon before," he said, digging his Pokedex out of his pocket. He indicated Boltund with it, but Pokedex reported that it had no data on Pokemon. "Well, why doesn't this recognize it?" he asked in wonder and Melissa smiled.

"Maybe it doesn't recognize it because your Pokedex hasn't been loaded with Galar's Pokemon data," she explained and scratched Boltund's neck.

Ash sighed in disappointment and Melissa laughed. "Wait a minute," she said, digging her own Pokedex out of her pocket. She headed it to Boltund and Pokedex said:

"Boltund, dog Pokemon and evolved form of Yamper. Electric-type. This Pokémon generates electricity and channels it into its legs to keep them going strong. Boltund can run nonstop for three full days."

"So that's Boltund," Ash said and Boltund barked at him happily. Suddenly it noticed something and started running very fast towards the something it had noticed.

"Hey, Boltund, where are you going!" Melissa exclaimed and left to run after her Pokemon. Ash and Gou glanced at each other and followed after them as well.

Luckily, Melissa didn't have to run long, as she found Boltund middle of the street as people stared at him in amazement as it licked some girl's face and the girl giggled at the Boltund and tried to push it away. Next to the girl was a small pokemon that resembled Boltund and barked at her in a shrill voice.

Melissa looked at the show with her mouth slightly open and tried to read the girl's thoughts. As a result, however, she got such a mess that she decided to close that road and settle for normal. Talking.

"Boltund, come back!" she exclaimed and pointed with her Pokeball over-eager Pokemon and Boltund returned to his ball. The girl, whose face Boltund had licked, stood up and wiped her face slightly. "Thank you," she said and looked up at Melissa.

"You're welcome," Melissa said to the girl with a grin and watched as the girl neatly swept her maroon dress. "So, what's your name?" she asked the girl, and the girl smiled at her.

"I'm Ser..." she began, but could not get to the end, because her eyes had been hit to one of the people standing behind Melissa and she turned pale.

****
Ash and Gou had just come panting to them and Gou said, "I'm starting to get enough of running for one day."

Ash was just saying something about it when he noticed the girl standing behind Melissa. He paled and moved forward and soon he had walked over to the girl.

The girl did the same and soon they had come together so that they could touch each other. Gou and Melissa looked at them in amazement and Melissa had shut down her literacy of thoughts as she wanted to be surprised at once in the same way as other people.

Ash looked at the girl. "Serena?" he asked and the girl nodded, blushing slightly. "Hello Ash," she said.