"Serena?" Ash said in amazement and the girl nodded, blushing a little. "Hello Ash," she said and smiled. Then, to everyone's surprise, she hugged Ash tightly.
****
Serena's journey had begun with the fact that she had first looked for a place to spend the night and then next morning set out to tour the city a little. She had visited a few shops and completely renovated her outfit.
Serena's outfit was now a fuchsia dress with pink buttons and a pink bow at the waist. She also wore black tights and brown, low-heeled shoes. She had wrapped her beloved blue ribbon in her hair and had a brown backpack on her back.
After Serena had walked along the sidewalk, she had a strange feeling that someone was following her. She had turned and seen a small Pokemon in front of her that she had not recognized.
It was small and slightly reminiscent of a Lillipup and had a yellow lightning-shaped tail. It stared at Serena with its green eyes and barked.
Serena had brought out her Pokedex and tried to use it to identify the Pokemon, but when Pokedex reported that it had no data about the Pokemon, Serena had sighed and concluded that the Pokemon was one of the Galar's Pokemon that she did not know.
She had put her Pokedex back in her pocket and set out to move forward again. But she had been blinking behind her all the time and noticed that Pokemon had been following her all the time. Eventually, she had stopped again and turned back to Pokemon.
"Listen, you clearly seem to like me, so why not come with me?" The Pokemon had stared at her with its green eyes and barked again. It had occurred to Serena that it didn't seem to be the smartest Pokemon at all.
She had sighed, and was taking some Pokemon treat out of her bag when the Pokemon had noticed something on the street and rushed to sniff it with its yellow snout.
Serena had rushed after it and just then something big and black-and-yellow had knocked her to the ground and started licking her face.
It had also been an unfamiliar Pokemon, and Serena had giggling trying to push it farther. The Pokemon that followed her had started barking and circling around her and Serena had been aware that people were staring at her curiously. Then there was the unknown woman's voice "Boltund, return!" and the Pokemon, who was licked Serena, was gone.
Serena had stood up, wiping her face and dress. She had noticed a young woman standing in front of her with amazingly blue eyes and a gray fedora slightly crooked. "Thank you," Serena had said to the woman and this one had smiled and said, "You're welcome.. what's your name?"
Serena had smiled at her and began: "I am Ser..." when something of the back of a woman had drawn her gaze and she was paled. She had quickly gone against the person she noticed and from this we get to continue the story of where it left off a moment ago.
****
"Serena?" Ash said in amazement and the girl nodded, blushing a little. "Hello Ash," she said and smiled. Then, to everyone's surprise, she hugged Ash tightly.
Ash was completely surprised. He hadn't expected it, but then he recovered and responded to the hug, at first a little uncertain though. Then Serena withdrew from the hug a little blushed and she said, "I've missed you"
"I have too," Ash said with a grin and then he heard Gou say, "Could someone tell me what's going on here? Ash, you seem to know that girl, who is she and why she hugged you?"
Serena turned to look at the speaker and noticed a boy about the age of her and Ash, who looked at them with his hands in a gust and a slightly irritated look on his face. Serena grinned at him and said: "I'm Serena and I traveled with Ash in Kalos when we were there."
Gou tilted his head and said: "Oh, really? Well, anyway, nice to meet you, Serena, I'm Gou"
Serena smiled at him and was just saying something when a woman unknown to her said, "It was fun to meet Serena, but we should go if we want to get to Professor Magnolia. Are you coming, boys?"
Serena was disappointed as they had to leave and sigh. "Well, I guess I have to go now, goodbye, I guess," and so she was already going when Ash suddenly asked, "Would you like to come with us?"
Serena turned and a wide smile spread across her face. "It would be lovely!" she said and a Pokemon unknown to her barked at her feet.
Gou noticed that Ash had blushed slightly when he asked Serena for them and that he had scratched his neck, as always when he was nervous. Gou had not seen Ash behave like that in the company of any girl and he began to suspect that there was something more involved here than just friendship. And Serena's behavior with Ash, disappointing that she think she'd have to leave Ash and blushing. Could it be that...
Meanwhile, Serena had learned that the name of a woman unknown to her was Melissa and the barking Pokemon was named Yamper. It hadn't stopped following Serena for a moment and eventually Serena had decided to catch it. This is how Yamper became her first Galar Pokemon.
****
As they walked along the sidewalk, Ash noticed one thing. "Serena, that ribbon in your hair... is it the same one I gave in Coumarine City back then?"
Serena smiled and touched her ribbon with her hand. "It is," she said, blushing a little. "Why would I throw it away? I got it from you and that's why it's important to me."
Ash hadn't expected this. "It's important for you... because you got it from me?" he asked in wonder and Serena nodded. Ash didn't say anything about it, but for some reason he felt it was important that the gift he was gave was important to Serena. It again caused that weird, but actually pretty nice, feeling that Ash couldn't name. What's wrong with me, he wondered and Pikachu shook his head at the density of his trainer.
Meanwhile, Gou discussed with Melissa about her ability. "It just came to mind, but can you read Pokemon's thoughts too?" he asked and Melissa smiled.
"Some of them. Not everyone, it depends on the type of Pokemon. Psychic-type Pokemon are the easiest, understandable reason, but for example Ghost-type Pokemon are for some reason difficult, maybe because they are, at least some, well, ghosts," Melissa explained and Gou nodded. . "And can a readable object somehow protect itself from reading?" he asked and Melissa frowned.
"It's pretty hard, because you often don't even know I'm reading your thoughts, because it doesn't cause any feeling or anything. So I'd say it's not possible," she explained apologetically and Gou nodded again. "I understand," he said.
****
Eventually, they got to Professor Magnolia's lab and Melissa opened the door. "Hello? Is anyone here?" she shouted when the place first seemed completely empty. But then a young woman came to them, whose long, orange hair had been put on the ponytail and whose waved behind her.
"Oh, hello, wait a minute, Grandma... I mean... Professor Magnolia is coming soon," the woman said with a smile and Serena asked in wonder "Grandma?"
"Yes, this Sonia here is my granddaughter," came the voice behind a woman called Sonia and they saw the older woman coming to them, leaning slightly on her walking stick. "You must be the boys Professor Cerise talked about," she said when she noticed Ash and Gou.
Gou Ash and Ash looked at each other and said: "Well, I guess right" Then he grinned and said: "I'm Ash and this is my partner Pikachu," pointing Pikachu on his shoulder and this also greeted in their own way: "Pikachu!" "And I'm Gou," said Gou and smiled at the professor.
"I know, Professor Cerise told me about you, he said you were interested in winning the Galar League. Well, good luck with that, no one has beaten the current Champion Leon for many years," Professor Magnolia said, ignoring the boys' confused gazes and shifting her gaze to Serena, who had just noticed.
"And who you might be? The professor didn't say that a girl was coming here, too," she said, squinting and Serena had a strange feeling that the professor was looking straight through her. The people of Galar were strange.
"I'm Serena, and you're right, I met the boys today, and I decided to join them, I know Ash already and..," Serena explained, but the professor Magnolia interrupted her. "Right, Sonia, give them what they need, my head hurts again, I think I'll go to rest for a while," she said generously and then noticed Melissa. "And what do you want?"
Melissa reached out her hand in greet and said: "Hi, I'm Melissa from Pokemon New's and I came to interview you for your recent Dynamax research results. Do you have a moment to talk about it?"
Professor Magnolia looked at her for a moment, then sighed and said, "All right, come with me, and I'll show you a room where we can talk." Then she went for a walk away and Melissa looked apologetically at the others and said, "Well, I think this is goodbye, it was nice to get to know you and hopefully I see you again someday" And then she quickly stung after Professor Magnolia.
Others watched for a moment her diverging back until Sonia turned again to them, slapped her hands together and said: "Where were we? Oh, right, now I remember! And I'm otherwise sorry grandma's behavior, she is usually not about that grumpy, she's usually very kind and friendly, but she has recently had a lot of headaches and other ailments, she begins to get old, so I'm responsible for quite a lot now her lab. Grandma is really only interested in her research, she is interested nowadays really just the fact Dynamax, although it is interesting, and I too..." Sonia said very fast and Serena cut her off. "Dynamax?" she asked in wonder and the boys seemed equally confused too.
"Yeah, it's one of Galar's own great features, but no more about it now, first the more important things," Sonia explained and took two orange devices from a nearby table. "These are called Rotom Phones, they act as Pokedexes and at the same time they get many other benefits, they work like phones and you can retrieve information from them, for example," she explained and gave Rotom Phones to Ash and Gou. She looked at Serena apologetically.
"I have to go get you one, because we couldn't wait for the boys to come with a third guy too. So, wait a minute, I'll get you one too. In the meantime, you can get to know
Yamper, he's a pretty nice guy. Yamper, come to greet these people.
Yamper appeared from his Pokeball and barked. Sonia smiled at them and went to get the third Rotom Phone.
They looked at Sonia's Yamper and this one barked again and stared at them with his green eyes. Suddenly, Serena's Yamper also appeared on his Pokeball and started barking at Sonia's Yamper. Serena began to feel more and more that her Yamper wasn't quite clear-headed.
Serena took the barking Yamper in her arms and scratched it behind his ears. It sniffed the backpack on Serena's back and Serena guessed it was after the treats there. "Nope, you don't get food until it's time," she told Yamper, but this one just barked, again.
Serena sighed and said, "Can you do more than just bark?" Yamper stared at her and guess what, barked. How idiot this Pokemon is, Serena thought, but at the same time, Yamper had become as important to her in those few hours as her other Pokemon.
****
Sonia came to them and gave Rotom Phobe to Serena as well. "Well, now you all have a Rotom Phone. Now they should just get on," she said and Ash asked in amazement, "How's that going to happen?"
Sonia showed up and soon they all had a working Rotom Phone. Serena immediately decided to test it on her Yamper. She pointed it at Yamper and Rotom scanned it and said:
"Yamper, a puppy Pokemon and Electric-type. This Pokémon is very popular as a herding dog in the Galar region. As it runs, it generates electricity from the base of its tail."
Yamper barked and waved his lightning-shaped tail. Meanwhile, Sonia lifted her own Yamper into her arms and asked, "Well, what are you three going to do now?"
They looked at each other and Ash said with a grin, "We're going towards my first gym badge, of course!" Then he asked Sonia, "What is the nearest gym where I can get it?"
"Well, I don't know if it's the closest, but there's at least one gym in Turffield, its Gym Leader Milo specializes in Grass-type Pokemon, what if you went there?" Sonia explained and Ash looked excited. "Awesome! Let's go now!" he exclaimed and Gou rolled his eyes at him.
Serena wasn't sure what she would do. She looked at the enthusiasm of Ash and Goun and concluded that she would probably be just the third wheel on their journey. Maybe it's better to just leave, she thought disappointed.
Ash noticed Serena's insecurity and something moved in his head. He turned to Serena and asked, "Uh, Serena, would you come with us, it would be nice, I mean, if you just want to.."
A wide smile spread across Serena's face. "Of course I will, Ash, it would be nice to travel with you again," she said, blushing slightly and Ash grinned wide as he heard it. "Awesome!" he exclaimed and Gou stared at them, wondering what exactly was between the two.
****
They said goodbye to Sonia and then Serena examined everything her Rotom Phone really contained. Her Yamper no longer agreed to go to his Pokeball, so it walked beside her and barked at times to the oncoming Pokemon, and always occasionally tried to get Serena to give extra treats, but without success.
Ash led them with his hands casually behind his neck and Pikachu sat on his shoulder as always. "I have a feeling this journey is going to be even more special," he said, looking at the blue sky of Galar, which occasionally flew a Flying-type Pokemon, and Serena smiled at his endless energy.
"It sure will come," she said with a smile to Ash and Ash grinned at her. Then he raised his fists resolutely into the air and exclaimed, "Turffield, here we come!"
About Serena's Yamper. Yes, I decided to make it a little dumber individual. I don't know if Yamper is a very smart Pokemon anyway, but if not, then Serena's Yamper is still a little dumber than usual. Basically, I think he's like an ordinary dog, but with a little twist.