Because it seems I publish these chapters after a long period, I think it's a good idea to start putting a little recap here at the start.
So, previously happened:
Ash and Serena spent quality time in the woods and later on, Chloe caught her second Pokemon, Snom. After that, they arrived in Circhester and went to eat in a little restaurant. They met Sonia here and Serena told her about the diary she had found. And now we continue our story.
"What!?" Serena exclaimed in surprise after hearing it and Sonia nodded with a smile. "Yep! And do you know why? Because this book really says a lot about things about Dynamaxing that we didn't know yet. It's a real treasure for a scientist like me!"
Serena hadn't been able to expect that an ancient diary could be such a big joy for someone. She sank a little lower in her chair and muttered quietly, "I wouldn't have thought"
"What's particularly interesting about it?" asked Ash, in front of whom the waitress had just brought the big pizza, and which he was now looking at with lust. Cutting a piece of it a piece for himself and Pikachu (with Lucario helping himself a piece as well), and stuffing it contentedly in his mouth, he continued, "I mean, is there anything in it that you don't already know?"
"Well, actually, there is," Sonia said, dipping one of her French fries into ketchup. (Though, there wasn't much left of it as Pikachu had squeezed most of it on top of his pizza) The waitress had also brought dishes to the others and they too began to eat with a good appetite. "The origin of Wishing Stars sounds interesting"
"Wishing Stars?" said Ash and swallowed audibly. He cut a new piece of pizza and stuck it in his mouth. "Oh, like those weird rocks Lucario found?"
"Yeah, abs... wait a minute," Sonia began, but interrupted her sentence as her phone suddenly began to ring. She looked at others apologetically, and then answered her call, "Yes?"
"She's right, by the way, those 'weird stones' are Wishing Stars," Lucario pointed out, picking irritably pineapple pieces from his pizza slice. "And by the way, I didn't find just one of those"
"What do you mean?" Ash said aloud. He had just finished the last piece of his pizza, and it didn't look at all that he had just eaten a pizza that resembled a tractor wheel in size. "I have not seen any other rock than the one you gave me then a long time ago!"
"So what are these?" Lucario asked, slamming on the table a pile of exactly the same weird, fuchsia stones that he had also given to Ash. There were at least a hundred of them, and Sonia, still talking on the phone, exclaimed in shock, "Are you crazy?! No, I didn't mean you," saying the rest quickly to her caller. Then she quickly ended the call and took a deep breath.
"Is. Your. Dog. Completely. Crazy!?" she said between her teeth as firm as she dared. "That number of Wishing Stars would be enough to turn all the Pokemon of this place into giants! In fact, I'm amazed that hasn't already happened!"
Sonia's speech made Ash look at Lucario sharply. This one sighed and then said, "Would you tell her that the stones are inside a protective field made of Aura that prevents the effect on the Pokemon" Then he swallowed his last pizza slice and Ash repeated the words to Sonia.
She seemed relieved to hear it. "What a relief," she said and her tense shoulders turned relaxed again. Then she took one French fries and asked, "Where are those from, by the way? Such an amount is not collected in a day."
"Lucario collected them," said Ash, who suddenly realized where Lucario had always gone alone. "He did a pretty impressive job, right Lucario?"
"Oh, I see," Sonia said, not noticing the sarcasm in Ash's voice. Serena instead noticed, but said nothing. Instead, she looked at the clock and said quickly, "It's already 12 o'clock. We should probably go if we want to do something before it gets dark."
"True," Sonia said as she realized the matter and swallowed the last things from her meal. "Serena, would you mind if I borrow the diary for a moment? It has a lot of valuable information for my research"
"Of course not," Serena said, and Sonia seemed delighted. "Actually, you get it all to yourself. I don't do anything about it," she continued, and Sonia seemed to rejoice even more.
"Thank you, Serena," she said, then remembered something else. "Oh yeah, Ash, may I take a few Wishing Stars? I'd make them your own Dynamax bands"
"Yeah, just take them," said Ash, still staring at Lucario, who was staring at the ceiling with a slightly bored look on his face. "Take as many as you want, I'm sure Lucario won't mind it"
"Thank you, Ash," Sonia said, taking a few stones from the pile on the table. "You'll get the bands tomorrow when I come to watch Ash's Gym battle. I want to see how you do with it."
After that, they said goodbye and the group went to pay for their food. Sonia stayed in the restaurant for a while longer, so the others waved at her and finally left back out, where it had started to snow again.
"WHY ? Why couldn't you tell me where you always disappeared alone?!" Ash exclaimed as soon as the restaurant door closed behind them. "Even when the reason was that simple!"
"And here we go again," Gou sighed, rolling his eyes, and Pikachu facepalmed. Lucario, on the other hand, looked at Ash completely calmly and replied, "I didn't want to disturb your focus on battles."
"That's the stupidest explanation I've ever heard!" Ash exclaimed. "Didn't it occur to you that your everyday disappearance could disrupt my concentration!"
It couldn't be sure, but it looked like Lucario had blushed a little. "Well, now that you said it that way, eh..." he began, a little embarrassed, but gathered himself quickly. "It doesn't matter. If I had told you where I was going, you'd have wanted to join. And we know how many Wishing Stars will affect you."
"It's not about that, it's about us trusting each other!" Ash shouted. "And we can't trust you if you hide things from me all the time!"
"I'm sorry, but I have reason to hide something," Lucario said calmly, looking Ash straight in the eyes. Ash looked back and for a moment they stared at each other without blinking their eyes once. Eventually, Ash bent over and turned his back on Lucario.
"This is always just as weird," Chloe said, referring to the fact that they didn't hear a word about the conversation between Ash and Lucario. It just seemed like they were staring at each other angrily and thinking about something very focused. "Strange and somehow creepy"
"I don't know, I'm just getting a little bored to this," Serena said, a little tired with her arms folded on her chest. "Soon they'll finish that, sulk the next couple of hours, and then be the best friends again. That's how it always goes."
"Yeah, but it would still be nice to hear what they're talking about," Chloe sighed, wondering why Lucario had always had to be so difficult.
As Chloe pondered this, Ash had calmed down a bit already. He turned back to Lucario and asked, "Well, are you going to tell me why you collected those stones? They didn't seem to be mere souvenirs."
"No," Lucario said simply and it was enough for Ash. "You are impossible! First you give vague reasons for your disappearance and when the reason is finally clear, you refuse to tell me why! You're an unreliable, stubborn old..."
But what Lucario was, he could not hear, for just then there was a very surprising voice behind them that made Ash completely forget his irritability.
"No way! Ash! Serena! It can't be true! CLEMONT! You won't believe this!" there was a voice very familiar to Ash and Serena behind them, and Ash turned very surprised. It couldn't be...
But yes, yes it was. Of all the people, it was Bonnie who ran towards them in a lemon-yellow beanie fluttering in the wind, and the widest smile Ash had ever seen on her face.
"Bonnie?" said Ash in amazement and at the same time felt someone wrap their arms around his body and hug tightly. He looked down and Bonnie's happy smiling face looked straight at his. Bonnie grinned and then started talking. And oh boy, there was a lot of it.
"I can't believe this, I never would have thought I'd meet you here! Admittedly, I told Clemont I had a good feeling about this trip and I was right! What are you doing here, or actually, what you've been doing, it's a pretty long time we last saw, wasn't it? Did you know that I'm a trainer now, too? I haven't been anywhere on the journey, though, but I've been helping Clemont at the Gym. Admittedly, Clemont isn't really excited when I tell all the female trainers that if they win, they can go on date with him, I don't understand why... Oh yeah, and Professor Sycamore sent greetings, he told us that if we meet familiar faces, we must say hello from him, though I don't understand how he knew you were here but... Serena, your hair has grown! "
The last sentence was dedicated to Serena, who had just come next to Ash. She giggled and said with a laugh, "Slow down a little, Bonnie, otherwise, we won't keep up!" Bonnie grinned at her and Serena saw her properly for a long time.
Bonnie had grown up. She was no longer the little girl they had been adventuring with in Kalos, but began to look more and more like a teenager. Her hair was longer and now reached just over her shoulders. She no longer had a yellow hairpin, but a lemon-yellow beanie with hanging pompoms and a small, embroidered image of Dedenne on the side. She was wearing brown winter boots, a yellow winter jacket, and brown pants. In addition, she had a small yellow bag that very much resembled the bag she had had during their adventure in Kalos.
But even though Bonnie had grown and the style had changed, she still had the same, bubbly happy nature as before. Even as she grinned wide in front of them, Serena was immediately able to identify Bonnie, who was familiar to her.
"So, what made you come to Galar?" she asked and Bonnie got a little more serious. "And where's Clemont? I guess he's here, too."
"He's coming, you know how him, he's slow," Bonnie replied, rolling her eyes."And why are we here? Well, Clemont had an Inventors' meeting or something, and I came along because I got a free vacation. And about the Gym, Clembot takes care of it while we're here."
Bonnie smiled happily and corrected the position of her beanie. Ash and Serena glanced at each other, then turned their gaze behind Bonnie. They saw someone jogging towards them with a heavy-looking backpack on their backs and blonde hair a little fluffy. It was Clemont and Bonnie sighed heavily when she saw her big brother finally arrive on the scene.
"Bonnie, you should wait for me sometimes! You know I don't like running and with this backpack, it's even... oh," Clemont said when he saw the people standing in front of him, and was left staring at them with his mouth slightly open. His eyes had suddenly spread wide and he looked as if he had seen something he could not imagine a moment ago.
"Ash? Serena?" he breathed and Ash grinned. "Hello, Clemont," he said, looking amused as Clemont's gaze shifted alternately from one to another as his brain tried to understand the situation. "After a long time"
"How..?" Clemont said and scratched his head in confusion. "By plane, of course. Did you think they walked to Galar?" replied Bonnie, a sassy look on her face and Clemont sighed.
"Don't be so cheeky, Bonnie. I meant why they're here. We haven't had much contact, so I don't really know what you're doing right now," he looked at Ash and Serena a little apologetically.
Ash scratched his neck a little embarrassed. Sometimes he was ashamed of how bad he was at keeping in touch with his friends. "Yeah, sorry about that," he said, but thankfully Clemont didn't look angry. "But yeah, I came here because I wanted to challenge Galar's League. I already have five badges."
"And I set out to find inspiration for future performances," Serena explained. "And in fact, I've found it pretty well."
"I see," Clemont said, adjusting his glasses. He still had those same round glasses as before. In fact, little but Clemont's height had changed in him. He had the same winter clothes as Kalos, the same backpack and the same hairstyle. The only difference was that he was now a little taller and his shoulders were a little wider. "So, I guess you've come to Circhester to get your sixth Gym badge, am I right?"
Ash was about to answer something, but didn't have time to say anything, because suddenly Bonnie rushed somewhere behind them after noticing something there. They turned to look confused, and saw Bonnie kneel in front of the very puzzled Chloe.
By the time Ash and Serena had talked to Clemont and Bonnie, Gou and Chloe had been going to book rooms for them at the Pokemon Center. They hadn't seen Bonnie and Clemont come in, so it was easy to believe they were very surprised to see them with Ash and Serena. Especially Chloe, who hadn't expected a stranger girl to kneel in front of her as if to propose to her.
Ash, Serena, and Clemont immediately guessed what it was all about. Especially Clemont, whose face flushed bright red when he saw it. "No again, this is already the fifth time to this day," he muttered and pushed past Ash and Serena to interrupt Bonnie before it was too late.
"You're a keeper! Can you please take care of my brother because he... hey!" Bonnie exclaimed as the bright red Clemont lifted her off with his Aipom arm. The show got amused and also little stunned looks from passers-by and Bob's Your Uncles' customers and Chloe looked even more confused.
"Bonnie, could you finally stop that?! It's so embarrassing!" said Clemont as Bonnie hung from Aipom arm and Bonnie showed him her tongue.
"Never! I will continue it forever if I need to!" she declared and Clemont looked as if he wanted to sink underground. Gou, on the other hand, looked alternately at the brother and sister, and finally asked Ash, who was grinning at them, "Ash, who are they? You seem to know them."
"Oh yes," said Ash, who realized others hadn't been introduced properly. "Guys, do you want to introduce yourself?"
"Sure," Clemont said, smiling at Gou and Chloe. He lowered Bonnie back to the ground and then introduced himself and her, "I'm Clemont, and here's my little sister Bonnie. We're friends of Ash and Serena from Kalos."
"Yup!" said Bonnie happily and then raised her bag for better visibility. "And here's my Pokemon Dedenne. He likes to sleep, but don't be fooled by that! He can be very furious, too!" She opened her bag and showed them a small, yellow, mouse-like Pokemon that was sleeping happily in Bonnie's bag at that moment.
Gou nodded to them and then said, "Nice to meet you. My name is Gou and this is Chloe. We've traveled with Ash and Serena here in Galar. It's fun to meet their other friends."
"That's right," Chloe said, smiling happily. "Admittedly, I didn't quite understand what that 'keeper' thing was about." She kicked a small pile of snow with her foot while moving her hair away from her eyes. Gou tried not to blush.
They had gone for a walk towards Pokemon Center, as Ash, Serena, Gou and Chloe wanted to take their bags there before setting out to explore Circhester. Bonnie and Clemont also had a room at the Center, so they also decided to take their belongings there. On the way there, they continued their conversation.
"Oh that? It's just Bonnie's special way of trying to get Clemont a girlfriend," Serena said, giggling and Clemont sighed heavily. "Yeah, and she knows how much I hate it," he said, looking at Bonnie sharply.
Bonnie ignored Clemont's gaze and crossed her hands carelessly behind her neck. "Well, someone has to find someone to take care of him. And who could be better than me! I'm a true ambassador of love!"
"Absolutely," Clemont muttered sourly, squeezing the straps of his backpack. Bonnie didn't care about him, but suddenly seemed to remember something especially important. "How could I forget! Serena, that performance of yours at the airport back then was pretty surprising! But what's going on today?" She took a significant look at Ash, who was walking next to Serena, and raised her eyebrows.
In response, Serena grinned and grabbed Ash by the hand. "See, we're together nowadays," she said with a smile and pressed a kiss to Ash's lips. Bonnie's eyes widened in amazement.
"What?! I knew it, I knew! This must be celebrated, my ship has sailed!" she exclaimed and began to jump excitedly. Ash and Serena looked at her blushing and Gou snickered at their expressions.
"Bonnie, calm down a little," Clemont said with a sigh, but Bonnie had no intention of calming down. At least not yet. She jumped excitedly around Ash and Serena and made hearts with her hands. Passers-by watched her amused and Clemont rolled his eyes. Then he corrected his glasses again and said, "But congratulations to you, I guess you've already told your mothers?"
"Not yet," Serena said, remembering that, too, had to be done at some point. Maybe tomorrow, after Ash's Gym match. "But we'll do it at some point."
They had now arrived at the Pokemon Center and Bonnie opened the door for them. They stepped in and the sweet heat flooded all around them. "Hello, and welcome to the Circhester's Pokemon Center. How can I help you?" said Nurse Joy noticing their arrival and smiling at them.
"Our Pokemon would need a little rest," Ash said and Nurse Joy nodded. "Sure. Put your Pokeballs here and Pikachu can jump on these carts," she said and Ash and the others put their Pokeballs on thos holders. Pikachu, who was traveling on Ash's shoulder, then jumped on the small carts the Indeedee had just brought and Nurse Joy nodded to her. "Your Pokemon are ready in a moment," she said, and Indeedee was just about to take the cart to the back of the Center when Ash seemed to remember something.
"Wait. Where's Lucario?" he said and looked around with his hand holding Lucario's empty Pokeball. "Has he wandered again somewhere?"
"I'm behind you," said a sour voice, and Ash turned. Lucario stood behind him like a grumpy shadow and looked at Ash a little indignantly. "I haven't gone anywhere. Unlike you may be thought"
And before Ash had time to say anything, he had returned himself to his ball, and Ash was left staring at that confused look on his face. He then sighed and put Lucario's ball in Nurse Joy's cart. Now Indeedee was able to take them to the back room and Nurse Joy said, "I'll let you know when your Pokemon are ready."
The group nodded and moved away from the counter. Nurse Joy moved on to serve the next person and Clemont announced that he needed to make a few calls. The others nodded again, and in the meantime went to take their belongings to their rooms. At the same time, they wondered what Circhester might offer them.
After a while, Clemont returned and announced that the Gym was all right. Clembot took care of it very well. Bonnie remembered asking if there had been any "special" trainers at the Gym, but Clemont had reportedly not considered it important to ask for. It made Bonnie sulk and Serena giggle.
Suddenly there was a plim sound in the Center and Nurse Joy appeared on the counter as Indeedee pushed the carts carrying their Pokeballs, as well as the happy Pikachu. Ash went to get them from Nurse Joy and the others waited a little further in the meantime.
Bonnie had looked a little sour around for the last minute, but suddenly an eager look lit up on her face. She rushed to the window of the Pokemon Center and looked out of it, her face almost stuck in the window glass. As Serena looked at what had made Bonnie so excited, she saw a small skating rink in the window that people and Pokemon seemed to be having fun with.
"Skating! I haven't skated for ages!" Bonnie said excitedly and her eyes twinkled in a way that was very Bonnie-like. She turned to the others and said excitedly, "Can we go? Please?"
"Why not? It could be fun," Serena said and Ash nodded. "Yeah, sounds great!" he said, raising his fist with determination, and Pikachu on his shoulder also said excitedly, "Pika pikachu!" Gou and Chloe also seemed to like the idea.
"Big brother? What do you say?" Bonnie asked and everyone's eyes shifted to Clemont, who hadn't said anything yet. He raised his glasses, and said a little uncertainly, "Well, I'm not very good at skating myself, but if Bonnie wants it, then why not"
"Yay! Let's go!" Bonnie exclaimed, clapping her hands together, and rushed to the door of the Pokemon Center. She pulled it open and rushed out, Clemont exclaiming, "Bonnie, wait for us, too!" Then he went a little awkwardly to run after Bonnie, and the others followed with a laugh.
They arrived at the skating rink and saw that many had come to spend a beautiful frosty day skating. They saw the kids compete for who was the fastest, the pairs skating hand in hand, all sorts of Pokemon having fun with each other and their trainers, and a few figure skaters showcasing their skills by spinning pirouettes in the air, the cheering audience next to them. Small stalls had also been put up around the skating rink, selling hot cocoa and small snacks, among other things. Everyone seemed to have fun and the happy atmosphere also spread to the group.
"Come on!" Bonnie exclaimed and hurried others to hurry forward. Clemont had to slow her down a bit by reminding her that she didn't even have skates. Chloe fixed it by noticing a small tent next to the field from which they could rent skates. So the group was the first to head to the tent to rent skates for themselves.
"Excuse me, we would need skates for six," Bonnie said after she get first to the tent with an enthusiastic look on her face. She looked hopping at the kiosk keeper, a magenta-haired woman with a purple, fluffy winter jacket and black sunglasses. This just attached a price tag to the tent partition wall and was therefore the back of Bonnie.
"Sure. What kind of skates you...," she began, but seemed to freeze in the middle of the sentence after noticing who her customer was. Then she seemed to have a severe cough and stammered, "S-sorry, I have to go there," and pointed to the back of the tent. She then disappeared before Bonnie had time to say anything, and Bonnie was left staring at the empty tent in a bit of confusion.
"James! See who became our customer!" hissed Jessie to James, who sharpened the blades of the skates at the back of the tent. He looked up from his work and said,
"What do you mean, Jessie?"
"Just look now," Jessie repeated, nodding toward the front of the tent. James raised his eyebrows but got up and peeked through the tent partition.
James wasn't expected to see that little Kalos Twerpette at the tent. But so it was. In addition, he saw that annoying the Kalos Gym Leader, the one who had that electric lion and bunny and that grass hedgehog, bigger Kalos twerpette and of course the og twerp and his precious Pikachu. And there was, of course, the ever-present group that followed the twerp. They seemed to be talking about something.
"I think I understand what you mean," he said slowly to Jessie, closing the partition. Jessie, who had explained the situation to Meowth, said, "Yeah. What do we do now?"
James thought for a moment and then said, "Nothing. They can rent skates, but we don't reveal who we are. And of course we keep an eye on Pikachu."
"Good idea, James," Jessie said, nodding. "Yeah, good one, Jimmy," Meowth confirmed, too. "And when they don't look, we grab that little Pikachu" And then they laughed viciously.
"I'm sorry you had to wait, but we had some... technical issues," Jessie explained after returning to serve her customers. "In return, we offer one pair of skates for free"
"Nice! Clemont, pay them!" Bonnie told and Clemont looked at her sharply.
"Bonnie, you can't just command others that way!" he scolded and Bonnie pouted. Serena noticed a dispute that was about to arise and quickly said, "I can pay," and quickly loaded the necessary amount of money over the counter. Jessie counted them quickly, then held out the skates needed for them (the right size for everyone) and said, "Thank you. Have a fun day!" And then she disappeared behind the partition wall again.
The group took the skates and headed away. Bonnie was a little sour and Gou said, "That woman somehow looked familiar, right?" But no one listened.
They got to the ice rink and went to tie their skates. Around the rink, there were benches with a small amount of snow on top of them. Ash, Serena, Gou and Chloe got their skates tied, but Bonnie had some problems. It turned out that her skates were different sizes, so she and Clemont went to change them to the right sizes, and the others stayed on the rink.
"Okay, everyone! Come have fun!" Ash exclaimed, throwing all his Pokeballs into the air. His Pokemon appeared in front of him, shouting happily, and Pikachu jumped over his shoulder to them.
"You too!" said Serena too and did the same for her own Pokeballs. Her Pokemon also appeared in front of her and Braixen immediately spotted Greninja. She quickly moved on to him and hugged him tightly, pressing a small kiss to his cheek. Lucario's expression darkened as he saw this a few degrees, but Ash didn't notice.
Gou and Chloe did the same for their own Pokemon, and soon the whole team was together. They told their Pokemon that they would be allowed to have fun the way they saw fit, as long as they didn't go very far away. The announcement received eager cries and the Pokemon quickly set out to do whatever they wanted.
"Come on, Ash, let's skate together!" exclaimed Serena, who had already slipped on the ice. She spun around a few times and her thick hair fluttered beautifully around her. Ash grinned and said, "Coming!" He slid quickly on the ice, intending to skate to Serena. But things didn't go quite as he had planned.
He could feel his feet sliding in different directions, and soon his butt had become familiar with the ice. However, he did not become discouraged, but rose quickly, only to fall again. Serena saw this and skated a giggling to him.
"Come on, don't give up!" she said, holding out her hand to help Ash up. This one grabbed it, smiling a little embarrassed, and Serena pulled him back up.
"I don't think I'm very good at skating," he said, standing a little insecure on the ice. He felt that if he moved in the slightest, he would fall again. "It's been a while since I last skated"
"Well, I can teach you," Serena said with a smile, taking Ash by hand. She slowly slid backward and Ash followed. "Remember, never give up!"
As Serena and Ash skated like this, the other couple also skated nearby. Braixen and Greninja circled the rink hand in hand and enjoyed each other's company. But there was one nearby who didn't enjoy it.
Lucario had been left on the bench and was now sitting there demonstratively while the others had fun. He looked sourly at Greninja and Braixen and shivered from the cold at times. Pikachu and Sylveon, who had been playing nearby, spotted him and decided to go ask him what was wrong with him.
"Hey Lucario, why aren't you having fun with others?" Pikachu asked as they reached Lucario. "It's not nice to be sitting here alone"
"I'm having a better time alone," Lucario grunted, not letting Greninja and Braixen out of his sight. "Besides, it's a lot more fun here than anywhere else. "
"Is that what you think?" Pikachu asked thoughtfully. His gaze wandered around Raboot, who demonstrated various tricks with snowballs to Sobble, Pancham, Hatenna and two very enthusiastic Yampers. It then moved on to Dragonite, who helped a few kids learn to skate, and finally to Corviknight, who watched with satisfaction all around him. "I don't really think so"
Lucario muttered something vague and suppressed another shiver. He didn't want to admit it, but Pikachu was right. Actually, he wanted to be somewhere completely else than that cold bench, but his pride couldn't admit it to others. So, he decided to suggest to Pikachu and Sylveon something fun do somewhere else that would allow him to disappear elsewhere in complete silence.
However, he never got his idea to life. Just as he had opened his mouth to say it, a big snowball splashed on his face, causing him to falter and fall to the ground on his back.
"What... who?!" he stammered as he wiped the snow from his face and as Pikachu and Sylveon tried to suppress their giggles. However, it didn't take long to find the culprit, because that's when someone said, "Hey grumpy face, have fun like the normal Pokemon do!" and they turned in the direction of the voice.
Serena's Kirlia stood nearby, throwing a snowball with her hand into the air, and spinning three others over her head with her psychic powers. She looked straight at Lucario, who still had snow on his snout, and said with a mischievous look on her face, "Or is it a too difficult thing for you?"
Lucario's face flushed slightly and the snow on it began to melt. "You will regret this!" he shouted and got up quickly. He agilely jumped over the bench onto the ice, and began to slide surprisingly fast towards Kirlia. Kirlia noticed him coming and shouted, "You have to catch me first!" And then she quickly skated to escape Lucario, snowballs hovering behind her.
Pikachu and Sylveon looked after them for a moment, but then shrugged. "Come on, let's see what's at the other end of the rink," Sylveon said, handing one of her feelers to Pikachu. Pikachu smiled at her and grabbed the feeler, saying, "Hopefully there won't be any grumpy Lucarios." And giggling together, they set out to slide on the other side of the rink.
"We finally get to skate, it took way too long!" Bonnie huffed as she walked with Clemont toward the skating rink. They had finally got the right size skates for Bonnie, and now they were also ready to skate. Although Clemont was still not very enthusiastic about it, he did not intend to ruin Bonnie's joy by showing it. "Others must have already wondered where we are!"
"Yeah," Clemont said, improving his glasses. He couldn't help but wonder why that woman on the tent had looked so familiar. "But we weren't away for so long that they started to suspect we were lost somewhere."
"Something good after all!" said Bonnie and looked towards the skating rink. Suddenly something caught her attention, and she exclaimed, "Clemont, look! Something's going on over there!"
She pointed towards a rink with the crowd gathered at one end. Clemont looked at it for a moment until he said, "Looks like there's some sort of show going on."
"What?! Why I didn't know that?!" Bonnie exclaimed and started to run towards the rink. "Hurry up now, Clemont! I don't want to be late for this!" And having said that, she set out to run even faster toward the rink and the performance that would begin there.
"Bonnie, wait for me too!" Clemont exclaimed and set off running a little awkwardly behind Bonnie, squeezing the straps of his backpack.
Bonnie reached the rink surprisingly quickly and quickly tied the skates to her feet. "We're always late, aren't we, Dedenne?" she muttered at the same to her Pokemon sitting on the ice in front of her.
"Nenene," the little mouse-like Pokemon said and Bonnie smiled at him. "Yeah, Clemont never understands anything! Luckily I have you!" she said and finished the skate laces by tying a pretty bow to it. "Come on, Dedenne, let's see what kind of performance is here," she said and Dedenne nodded.
He quickly climbed over Bonnie's head and settled comfortably over her beanie. "Denene!" he said, pointing forward with his small paw, as if to say, "Forward!" It made Bonnie giggle and then she quickly skated towards the show and Ash and Serena who she believed she had seen there.
"What's going on over there?" said Serena and pointed towards the crowd that had gathered at the other end of the skating rink. Ash stopped his pace a little awkwardly and stared at the crowd, trying to see what was going on there.
"I heard there's some sort of show going on and Dedenne and I are going to see it!" a voice was heard behind them, and they turned to look. They saw Bonnie skating towards them with Dedenne on her head and a grin on her face. "And you probably want to see it too!"
"A show? Sounds fun!" Ash said, glancing at Serena. This nodded. "Yeah, let's see what it's like. Come on, Bonnie, let's go!"
But Bonnie shook her head. "No, no! You're a couple now, you're going to go alone and have a date!" she said briskly and Dedenne nodded over her head with equal determination. "And I'll watch from here, and I'll giggle when you're so cute!"
"But..." Serena said, a little confused, but when Bonnie had decided on something, she also stayed on her decision. So, she firmly grabbed Serena's hand, place it in Ash's hand, and said, "And now you go and kiss... I mean, you go and have fun, and you're cute and lovely and yadda yadda!" And then she pushed them from their backs a little, and Ash and Serena couldn't help but move forward.
Bonnie left to giggle on the ice and was startled when there was a slightly tired voice beside her. "Bonnie, what are you laughing at?" She turned and saw Clemont standing next to her in a slightly shaky manner with the skates on his feet. Bonnie grinned and said, "I arranged a date for Ash and Serena!"
Clemont looked skeptical. "Bonnie, if you've come up with something stupid again, then I..." he began, but Bonnie interrupted him. "It's not stupid! I just sent them to watch the show, that's all!" she said with sparkling eyes and then grabbed her big brother by the hand. "And we're doing the same now! Come on, Clemont!"
And Clemont couldn't help but follow Bonnie into the crowd.
"I wonder what kind of show it would be," Serena wondered as they progressed slowly among the crowd. She was glad they held each other's hands, for otherwise they would surely have gone lost.
"I don't know, but we'll find out it soon," Ash replied, apologizing for pushing someone by accident. He was still not very good with the skates, but Serena's lesson had helped somewhat. Now he remained at least upright. "Surely it's great because there are so many people here!"
"Yeah," Serena said, wondering where her Pokemon might be at the moment. Are they watching this too? she thought and hoped they had fun wherever they were.
They had now reached the frontline and saw the show properly. And what kind of performance it was!
In front of them dancing on the ice was a girl, about the same age as they. Or actually, she didn't dance but skated. She spun on the ice and performed beautiful pirouettes and spins to the accompaniment of beautiful violin music. Her white hair fluttered as she spun on the ice and her beautiful blue dress glistened as the sunlight hit it.
But the show would have been nothing without her partner. Namely, she didn't dance alone. Next to her, a white Glaceon was spinning all the time, blowing snow from time to time, descending beautifully, glistening on both of them. The girl and Glaceon seemed to dance in complete harmony and it seemed as if their minds were working at the same time. Although the performance sounded very simple at first, it was a very beautiful performance in all its simplicity.
The music, (which by the way came from a small speaker near the edge of the skating rink), ended and the girl ended her performance in a beautiful pirouette. Then she turned to the audience and bowed. The crowd cheered and the girl and her Glaceon smiled broadly and the girl shouted, "Thank you! Thank you!" They both looked very happy.
However, the joy did not last long. Suddenly, a small gray cube flew out of the air, descending in front of the girl and Glaceon. "What...?" the girl had time to say before the cube exploded into a cloud of bad-smelling gray smoke. It covered everything in sight, and made the girl and the audience cough and protect their faces with their hands. No one had any idea what had happened and there was general uncertainty.
It took a while for the smoke to dissipate and something to be seen again. The audience looked at each other to make sure everyone was safe and no one was missing. Everyone seemed to be safe and there was a deep sigh of relief in the audience. Gradually, the audience began to disperse away and the smoke was thought to be only part of the show.
However, there were also those among them who thought there was something fishy in the thing. Four people in the front row looked at each other and Serena said, "Do you feel there is something wrong now?"
"Yeah," Ash said, wondering where Pikachu was and if he was all right. "I'd be interested to know where that cube came from and what the purpose of that smoke was. It was clearly not part of the show."
"No," Clemont said, rubbing his chin. He seemed to think of something very deeply. "This whole thing somehow seems familiar, but..."
His sentence, however, was abruptly interrupted, for suddenly there was a terrified cry. It made the foursome startle violently and blink at the source of the cry. And they find out it quickly.
It came from the girl who had performed to them. She seemed to be panicking and looking for something all the time. "Where is she, where did she go?" she muttered at the same time and her voice was full of despair.
Serena decided to go ask if the girl was all right. She skated to the girl and carefully lowered her hand to the girl's shoulder. "Are you okay?" she asked and the girl was startled. She turned quickly and Serena saw that her blue eyes looked desperate. She looked like she could start crying at any moment, and Serena thought the girl had lost something especially important.
"Huh? Who's asking?" the girl said quickly when she noticed Serena in front of her. "I'm Serena and I just want to know if you're okay," Serena repeated calmly. In response, the girl shook her head.
"N-no! I can't find Glaceon anywhere! She was here a moment ago, but now she's gone, and I don't know where she's gone!" the girl sobbed and covered her face with her hands. "She's my most important friend and I'm scared that something has happened to her!"
So that cube of smoke wasn't quite innocent, Serena thought and decided to help the girl. "Don't worry, we'll find Glaceon," she said and the girl looked up from her hands. "We?" she asked a little uncertainly and Serena nodded.
"Yeah! Me, my boyfriend and my friends," she said and nodded at Ash, Clemont, and Bonnie. Gou and Chloe didn't show up anywhere, though Serena wasn't thinking about them right now. "We'll help you find your Glaceon and bring her back"
The girl stared at her for a moment until a small smile spread across her face. "Thank you. You're really kind for helping me, Serena, right?" she said and Serena nodded. "Well, I'm Alida. But I don't know where to start, though."
"You could tell me where you last saw Glaceon," Clemont said, and Alida turned her gaze to him. "I'm Clemont and I'm pretty good at solving problems," he explained and Bonnie nodded next to him.
"Yep, my big brother is an inventor, he's really smart!" she said cheerfully and then pointed to Dedenne. "And I'm Bonnie and this is Dedenne! We'll find Glaceon, don't worry!"
"Denee!" said Dedenne and Alida smiled gratefully at them. "Yeah, and I'm Ash. Whoever's behind this will have to pay for their actions," Ash said and Alida seemed a little less desperate.
"Thank you, guys. I don't know what I would do without you!" Alida said and smiled at them all. Ash opened his mouth to say something, but didn't have time, because that's when he heard Pikachu shout from nearby.
"Pikapi! Pika pikachu!" Pikachu said and pointed to the snow in front of him. Ash and the others rushed to him and Ash asked, "What did you find, buddy?" In response, Pikachu pointed out the snow in front of him and Ash looked at it closely.
There was some kind of dents in the snow that looked just like... "Footprints!" Bonnie exclaimed and Clemont nodded. "Yeah, and they lead there," he said, pointing away from the ice rink and towards central Circhester. "We'll probably find the culprit by following them"
"And that's not all," Serena said, lifting something from the ground. It resembled a turquoise ribbon with a silver heart. "This was also on the ground next to the footprints. Does anyone recognize who it is?"
"It's Glaceon's! She always has that ribbon around her neck, I gave it to her as a birthday present!" Alida exclaimed and seemed to burst into tears. Serena gave the ribbon to her and she put it in her pocket. "I hope she's okay, I don't understand why anyone would want to hurt her!"
"That's what we're going to figure out!" said Ash and then took out his Pokeball. Their Pokemon had just returned from their own adventures. "Return," he said to all his other Pokemon, except Pikachu and Lucario, who were left out. Serena and Clemont did the same for their own Pokemon, and then Ash turned to look at Alida.
"And now we're going to look for your Glaceon!" he said and Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go!"
And then they set out to follow in the footsteps as Ash led the crowd determined look on his face.