Summer of Discovery
Alec's POV
Alec was outside the Pokémon Center in a small town on the group's route to Shalour City. He had just finished an early morning run with Ethan and now they were both starving. Entering the Center, Alec saw his friends waiting for him. "Okay, what's going on?" Alec asked.
"Professor Sycamore's Summer Camp is starting this afternoon and we can make it!" Serena said excitedly.
"Let me guess, you all want to go and you want me to come with you?" Alec guessed. "Sure."
"Alright, then let's go!" Ash shouted. That's when Ash, Pikachu, Alec and Ethan's stomachs grumbled. "As soon as we have breakfast," Ash stated. It didn't take the group too long to make it to the Camp which was on a beachfront.
"It's so pretty," Bonnie commented.
"I love that smell. Ocean air," Clemont stated. The group found Sycamore waving to them from one of the buildings and proceeded to tell him about their encounter with Korrina's Mega Lucario.
"I wish I was there to witness that," Sycamore said when the group finished. "And since you're with Alec I assume you've seen some of his Mega Evolved Pokémon."
"Yep. They've already seen Light and Arco Mega Evolve and I told them about Flame," Alec explained.
"So, I take it you'll be battling Korrina and her Lucario at the Shalour City Gym?" Sycamore asked Ash.
"You bet. The stronger my opponent, the more fired up I get. And once I beat Korrina, I plan on beating Alec," Ash told Sycamore.
"My my, confident are we?" Alec asked.
"Either way, I hope your stay here is useful and marvelous at the same time," Sycamore told the group. His assistant then showed them to the Team Froakie cabin where they would be staying.
"It's the cutest," Bonnie commented, though Alec was pretty sure they were all the same. Once inside, the cabin had a decent living area and six beds in a bunk arrangement. Bonnie wasted no time and immediately claimed a top bunk on one of the beds. Serena was looking outside at the view while Alec claimed his own bed.
"Speaking of Summer Camp, this must bring back memories for the two of you," Clemont told Ash and Serena.
"Why would it?" Alec asked.
"Serena and I met at Professor Oak's Summer Camp back when we were eight," Ash explained to Alec before turning to Serena. "Let's make this as memorable as it was when we were kids."
"It's a deal," Serena responded. They then heard something about a battle going outside and the group headed out to get a look. They saw a Conkeldurr and a Squirtle getting ready. Conkeldurr went in with Superpower and Squirtle ran up and jumped off one of Conkeldurr's pillars as he swung at Squirtle. Conkeldurr continued to try to smash Squirtle but he kept dodging.
"Hey! Stop moving!" Conkeldurr's trainer protested.
"But it's what we do, we just can't stand still," Squirtle's trainer responded while dancing and Squirtle was doing it as well.
"They're fighting by dancing? That's a new one," Alec commented while figuring out ways to counter that kind of movement. Squirtle then slammed a Skull Bash into Conkeldurr, knocking him out in one hit. Ash then ran up to Squirtle's trainer.
"Hey, can I battle you next?" Ash asked.
"Sounds good. I'm Tierno from Santalune City. And Squirtle here's my partner. We're a part of Team Squirtle. What about you guys?" Tierno asked.
"All of us are a part of Team Froakie," Ash explained. The group introduced themselves and Tierno's eye widened when Alec introduced himself and Ethan.
"It's you!" Tierno said with excitement and he got in Alec's face. "You're the Alec Kirkland! You're a legend! Beating the Kalos League when you were 11 and, if the rumors are true, you've beaten the Elite Four!" Alec backed up and he felt Ethan hide behind him.
"Well, the rumor is true…" Alec started.
"It is?! That's amazing! I was watching the finals and that Charizard of yours was so amazing!" Tierno exclaimed, getting in Alec's face again.
"Can I get some personal space?" Alec asked as gently pushed Tierno back.
"Oh, sorry. I was just so excited to meet my hero!" Tierno explained. Alec felt himself blush in embarrassment but shook it off quickly. "Hey, Ash? Mind if I battle Alec real quick?" Tierno asked.
"Sure," Ash responded.
"Well, if it's a battle you want, you're on," Alec stated. Tierno continued to use Squirtle and Alec grabbed the Ultra Ball on his belt and threw out Sandtrap. "Let's see what you got."
"Squirtle, use Rapid Spin!" Tierno commanded.
"Get a bead on his movements and use Iron Tail!" Alec called out. Sandtrap was able to follow Squirtle with his eyes and the move slammed Squirtle into the sand. "Now Dragon Pulse!" The move fired but Squirtle started dancing and avoided the attack. "Earthquake!" Alec called out. Instead of ripping the ground apart, the sand folded in on itself and Squirtle got stuck.
"Squirtle, get out of there!" Tierno called out.
"Dragon Pulse!" Alec commanded. The move slammed into Squirtle, who quickly fainted.
[And that's that,] Sandtrap commented.
"Good work Sandtrap. Return," Alec said and returned him to his ball.
"Man, you are in a whole other league compared to me," Tierno commented, holding the now conscious Squirtle in his arms. Looking back at the group, Alec saw that they, mainly Serena, were talking with another girl about something called Poké Vision. "Hey Shauna, I would have told you about Serena earlier, but look! Alec Kirkland's here," Tierno told her.
"I don't blame you, Tierno. Honestly, I'm glad you met him," Shauna said before turning to Alec. "And it's a good thing too. Sometimes Tierno wouldn't shut up about you."
"I'm flattered," Alec muttered then asked. "So what's this about Poké Vision?"
"Oh, Serena has this great video on Poké Vision. It's really great," Shauna explained. She then started to rant on something to do with Poké Vision but Alec wasn't following. The group ended up in the Pokémon Center and Shauna took them to the video terminals. "Whenever I visit the Pokémon Center, I check Poké Vision and see what's new," Shauna explained and she pulled up Serena's video. "See, this one's Serena's. Look at how many views it's gotten." Alec looked and saw the number 44061 appear on the screen. Apparently, it was popular.
"That's great! I had no idea people were watching," Serena stated.
"Can I meet your Fennekin? Please?" Shauna asked. Serena agreed and threw Fennekin's Poké Ball. "So cute. You're too cute! Fennekin's even cuter in person," Shauna commented.
"Thank you, Shauna," Serena replied.
"Grooming her tail must be lots of work, but it's totally shiny and smooth," Shauna pointed out as she stroked Fennekin's tail.
"That's so sweet. It's because I brush it all the time. Do you make Poké Vision videos too?" Serena asked.
"Sure do. I've made a whole bunch," Shauna answered. She then brought up her account and there were at least eight.
"That's a lot," Ash commented.
"I always make one when I catch a new Pokémon, and when I get my hands on a pretty new ribbon," Shauna explained and she opened a video on her Bulbasaur.
"You've got a Bulbasaur?" Ash asked.
"Yep, sure do. It's my go-to Pokémon pal," Shauna stated and she threw out Bulbasaur. "Don't you think Bulbasaur's super cute too?"
"Sure do," Serena answered. The Pokémon, minus Ethan, tried to say hi. Bulbasaur ignored them.
"Seems someone's got a bit of an attitude," Alec commented.
"Yeah," Shauna responded. Clemont's Chespin suddenly released himself.
"Chespin!" Clemont scolded.
"I think Chespin wants to play," Bonnie theorized. Ash then threw out Froakie to join the party. Serena then pulled out some Poké Puffs and she handed them out to the Pokémon.
"And since Ethan's super picky, I made this special one for him," Serena said, giving it to Ethan. Ethan sniffed it for a moment and ate it in one bite.
"If only I could get him to eat like that," Alec mumbled. Serena then offered on to Bulbasaur but she refused.
"Sorry, because my Bulbasaur is a teensy bit shy around others. She won't eat anything unless I feed her," Shauna explained. Serena handed Shauna the Poké Puff and she handed it to Bulbasaur, who smiled for a moment. A Charmander suddenly jumped in the middle of the Pokémon and started punching the air.
"Energetic," Ash commented.
"All three of the Kanto starters are here. So, where's Charmander's trainer?" Clemont wondered.
"Right there, that's him," Shauna said, pointing to the exhausted trainer as he was running after his Pokémon.
"Hey, it's Trevs!" Tierno called out.
"Trevor, you're so late," Shauna pointed out.
"Sorry, you see, Charmander was at it again on our way here," Trevor explained.
"What do you mean? Charmander was at what again?" Bonnie asked. Charmander answered her question by running up to Pikachu and Fennekin and tried to bit them, but the two Pokémon avoided it. The flickers of flame that came from Charmander's mouth though, landed on Chespin and set the area's on fire and Squirtle quickly put it out with Water Gun.
"I'm so sorry for Charmander's actions toward your Pokémon" Trevor apologized.
"Hey Trevs, maybe Alec could help you," Tierno offered.
"Tierno, if this is a joke then it isn't funny," Trevor told him.
"I'm not joking, he's right there," Tierno said, pointing at Alec. Trevor looked at him and adopted a similar look to the one Tierno gave him earlier.
"Oh great, here we go again," Alec thought.
"It is you! I can't believe it! And this must be your partner, right?" Trevor asked, referring to Ethan and getting up in Ethan's face. Ethan jumped back and hissed at Trevor, who looked surprised at the action.
"Don't mind Ethan. He's a bit skittish around strangers," Alec explained as he put Ethan on his shoulder.
"Sorry, I've just never seen an Umbreon before, let alone a shiny one," Trevor explained. He then turned to the rest of the group. "You're Serena!" Trevor suddenly shouted.
"It's Poké Vision! That video made you famous," Bonnie stated.
"Shauna kept saying there is this really pretty girl on a video. She must have shown it to me a million times," Trevor explained. Serena blushed and used her hair to hide it.
"Woah, you're just so cute," Tierno commented Serena, his eyes somehow turning into hearts. For some unknown reason, this ticked off Alec.
"Don't mind him, he's a goofball," Shauna explained. Trevor then ran up to Pikachu and snapped a picture of him. Ethan was talking to Pikachu at the time and jumped back. Trevor took a photo of him also. Ash and Alec looked at Trevor questionably.
"I like to take photos of all the Pokémon I meet," Trevor explained. He cycled through his photos and they were good shots. "My dream is to meet every Pokémon in the Pokédex, and someday, discover a Pokémon that hasn't been named yet."
"That's some goal," Alec commented.
"So, are all you guys staying for camp?" Shauna asked.
"Yep, we're a part of Team Froakie. The five of us have been traveling together for a bit now," Serena explained.
"Big group. Must be a lot of fun," Tierno commented.
"You guys don't travel together?" Ash asked.
"The three of us got our Pokémon from Professor Sycamore on the same day, but we went our separate ways to pursue our dreams," Tierno explained.
"But every now and again, we like to meet up and catch up on what everyone is up to," Shauna finished.
"So, why are you on a journey Ash?" Trevor asked.
"That's easy, I started traveling to become a Pokémon Master," Ash answered.
"So, becoming a Pokémon Master is your dream?" Tierno questioned.
"Yep," Ash explained.
"What about you Alec? I'm curious about what a powerful trainer such as yourself could strive for?" Tierno asked.
"To be the strongest I can possibly be," Alec answered.
"It's time to gather on the beach for introductions," an announcement called out. The group headed toward the beach, but Alec stopped when he saw Serena remaining in place.
"Serena, you coming?" Alec asked. Serena nodded and followed. The group arrived at the beach where Professor Sycamore was giving the announcement.
"Hello there. And thank you all for being here. And why are you here? You're here to build an even deeper bond with your Pokémon through your interactions with other trainers. Starting today and throughout the week, I hope you have lots of summer camp fun. And now to introduce Nurse Joy, who has opened a Pokémon Center just for us. And here's our food service manager, who takes good care of us every year, Madam Catherine," Sycamore introduced.
"My mission is to make certain you have delicious meals all week long. Of course, I have three excellent chefs to help me," Catherine tells everyone. Looking at the three chefs behind Catherine, Alec feels like he's seen them before, but he pushes the thought from his mind as Sycamore continues.
"Alright, at our camp, we have a system where each team earns points depending on how they perform in each day's activity," he continues.
"Let's have fun," Ash said to the rest of Team Froakie.
"Alright Team Froakie, let's go!" Bonnie cheered.
"First place gets 10 points, second place gets 7 points, third place gets 3 points, and all other places get no points. The goal is to help each other out when competing. The team that has earned the most points by the end of the week will be inducted into the Pokémon Summer Camp Hall of Fame," Sycamore finished.
"Also, please note the current champion, Diantha, was inducted into the Hall of Fame when she was your age," Catherine commented. The groups started talking about how cool it would be to follow in Diantha's footprints, but Alec didn't care about the Hall of Fame.
"Now on the first day, we'd like to get everyone acquainted by starting off with a Pokémon battle. It's an annual tradition where no points are awarded, so feel free to challenge everyone you like," Sycamore explained. People started getting into battles with Ash vs Tierno, Serena vs Shauna, and Clemont vs Trevor being the one's Alec was more interested in. He then felt someone tap on his shoulder and he found a boy with a Beartic behind him.
"I'm challenging you to a battle!" he told Alec.
"Let's see what you got then," Alec responded and he threw out Sandtrap to battle. His opponent looked confused.
"Are you really using a Dragon/Ground-type against an Ice-type?" he asked. Alec's response was a determined smile that told his opponent everything. "Your loss. Beartic, use Blizzard!"
"Shield yourself with Sandstorm!" Alec commanded. The Blizzard froze the sand solid but Sandtrap flew out the top. "Iron Tail, let's go!" Alec shouted. The move slammed down on Beartic's head sending the Pokémon into the sand. "Earthquake!" Alec commanded. It turned out that using Earthquake on the sand had a bigger effect on larger Pokémon and Alec made a mental note of that. Beartic, now waist-deep in sand, couldn't get out. Alec then saw Sandtrap's mouth sprout flames. "Is that what I think it is?" Alec questioned. Sandtrap fired the new move, which turned out to be Fire Blast, and caused a small explosion on impact with Beartic, who promptly fainted.
[Way to go Sandtrap! You learned a new move!] Ethan said excitedly.
[I'm keeping that move. Hands down,] Sandtrap responded.
"Nice one Sandtrap, we'll practice that move some more later," Alec told him. He then returned Sandtrap and turned to watch Ash's battle, only to see Squirtle's hand inches away from Froakie's throat before Froakie's Water Pulse popped in his hand. Later, the camp headed to dinner and Team's Froakie and Squirtle sat together.
"You never know what Ash is going to do. I'm always learning new things to do for Pokémon threw his actions, you're never sure of what's next," Clemont told Team Squirtle.
"Oh man, come on. It's not such a big deal. But your inventions are totally amazing," Ash commented.
"An inventor?" Trevor asked.
"His inventions are always helping us out," Ash answered. Clemont then showed his Aipom arm that was attached to his bag.
"Inventing is my passion. I love coming up with things that benefit Pokémon," Clemont explained.
"So Serena, how did your battle with Shauna go?" Alec asked.
"It was a lot of fun. I figured out a lot of things, and Shauna showed me a few things as well," Serena answered.
"That's good to hear," Alec responded.
Later that night: Serena's POV
Serena was sitting on the dock with Fennekin on her lap as Serena groomed her tail. "Becoming a Pokémon Master," Serena said out of the blue.
"Fenn?" Fennekin questioned.
"Ash isn't the only one. There's Clemont, Alec, Shauna, Tierno, Trevor. They're all on a journey to make their dreams come true," Serena said and she felt Fennekin lick her hand. "But I need a dream too."
"Mind if I join you?" a voice behind Serena asked. She turned and saw Alec without his jacket and Ethan right beside him.
"Sure. I don't mind," Serena answered. Alec sat down next to her and looked up at the moon.
"I noticed that you're looking a bit down. Care to talk about it?" Alec asked.
"I was just thinking. Everyone seems to have a dream, but when I look at myself I realized I don't have a dream," Serena told him.
"Well, it's not easy to find one's dream," Alec told her.
"How did you find your dream?" Serena asked. Alec was silent for a bit before he spoke.
"What I'm about to tell you is something only my Pokémon know, so I must ask you to keep this a secret," Alec answered.
"I promise," Serena responded.
"When I first started my journey, the sole purpose was to get away from my father and his ways. Once I did that, however, I found myself in a similar situation to what you're experiencing. Eventually, I decided to take on battling, but I quickly found out that my name was tainted. 'Kirkland the Pokémon hater', they called me. When I realized just how far my father's name had been poisoned, I resolved to make my name worth something. To become something other than the son of a Pokémon hating businessman. That's my true goal, being the strongest I can be is just the path I set myself on. It's taken years to get to where I am now, and I feel like I've hardly scratched the surface," Alec explained.
"You've talked a lot about your father, but what about your mother?" Serena asked. Alec's silence to that question was really uncomfortable. Serena immediately regretted asking. "You don't have to answer that."
"No, it's alright. I suppose someone should know." Alec took a deep breath and let it out before continuing as Ethan got on Alec's lap. "My parents divorced when I was barely a year old and my father somehow won legal custody over me. I get the feeling my mom was supposed to see me, but she never did. Either my father prevented me from meeting her, or she never wanted to see me again. I'll probably never know."
"I'm sorry, that must have been hard."
"Well, I've got Ethan and all my other Pokémon. They're my real family. And I wouldn't have it any other way."
"For me, I've never known my father, and my mom doesn't talk about him. Whenever I brought up the subject mom would find an excuse not to answer," Serena explained. Alec then smiled.
"Seems we both have parent issues," Alec joked.
"It seems so," Serena commented.
"It's a lot easier to talk to you than the others it seems," Alec said after a moment of silence.
"Yeah, I guess," Serena said slowly, a prickle of worry going threw her. Alec must have noticed.
"Don't worry. I have no interest in you romantically. I've felt love before, and how I feel around you is not even close to it," Alec explained. "Besides, you have your eyes on Ash." Serena blushed heavily at the statement and had a hard time bringing her blush down as Alec laughed.
"That was cruel," Serena pouted and she punched Alec's shoulder. Fennekin and Ethan started laughing as well and Serena looked up at the moon.
"Still, if you ever need any advice, you can talk to me," Alec told her. Serena nodded as Alec and Ethan left, leaving Serena to her thoughts.