Under the Pledging Tree

Alec's POV

The day after Ash's gym battle, Serena went to register herself for the Pokémon Showcase and didn't have any problems. After hearing some commotion outside, the group looked to see the city preparing for something. "What's all this?" Ash asked.

"Is something going on tonight?" Clemont asked Alec.

"Not that I'm aware of," he admitted.

"They're getting ready for the festival," Ramos stated as he came up on Gogoat.

"A festival?" Serena asked.

"The Coumarine City Festival happens each and every year. There's a story; long ago there was a trainer and his Pokémon that were on a journey, experiencing lots of adventures. At the end of there journey, they settled down in this area. In honor of their lasting friendship, the trainer gave his Pokémon a tree as a reminder of what they went through together. That tree is now the Coumarine gym, or the Pledging Tree before it became the gym." Ramos explained.

"That sounds wonderful," Serena commented.

"Since then, it's said that a trainer gives their Pokémon a gift while standing under that tree the bond between them will grow even stronger. It's become a tradition," Ramos added.

"What time does the festival begin?" Bonnie asked excitedly.

"At sundown. The gifts are first placed under the Pledging Tree before being given at sundown," Ramos explained.

"So that's why all those people are heading that way with all that stuff," Clemont pointed out, looking at the people heading over to the tree.

"Sounds like a lot of fun! Why don't we do it too?" Ash said.

"Sounds like a lot of fun," Clemont theorized.

"Sure. Something like that could really help us in the long run," Alec stated.

"I wonder what I should give?" Serena asked herself aloud.

"I wanna give a present too!" Bonnie said excitedly.

"Good to hear. I'm on my way to decorate the tree now," Ramos said as he rode off.

"Thanks for telling us," Alec said as he left.

"Now that we know, we'd better go buy those presents," Ash said.

"There's a section of the city that's good for shopping by the port. Why don't we go there? I'm sure we'll find what we need," Serena stated.

"Sounds great! What about you three," Ash asked the others.

"I'm going to do something a little different. I'll stay at the Pokémon Center," Clemont said.

"Why do I have the feeling that I know what you're planning?" Alec asked rhetorically.

"Because you do. I'm going to assemble my presents by hand," Clemont answered.

"Sounds cool. I'm sure your Pokémon will like that," Ash told Clemont.

"Just make sure you don't blow anything up," Bonnie reminded him.

"Come on! Bonnie, my inventions don't always blow up you know," Clemont defended himself.

"Just 99% of the time," Alec teased. Ash and Serena shared a laugh before Alec continued. "I'll head with you two, but I'll head off another way once we get there," Alec told Ash and Serena.

"Great. We should leave our Pokémon here so they can enjoy the surprise more," Ash said. Alec and Serena agreed and the three released their Pokémon.

"Can I take care of them while you're gone?" Bonnie asked.

"Sure, Bonnie. Ethan, make sure everyone stays here. That includes you too Nightmare," Alec said.

[Oh alright,] Nightmare grumbled.

"You all stay with Bonnie while we get your presents. We'll be back before sundown," Ash told the Pokémon as they left to catch the monorail.

As they started walking, Alec noticed Serena staring at Ash. "You know, once I'm gone it'll just be you two. Like your on a date," Alec whispered to his sister. Serena immediately went red as a Tomato berry as she realized what Alec said.

Once on the monorail and when they approached the port, Ash was admiring the scene with Serena, but she started looking at Ash and Alec had to resist the urge to tease her.

"This is the heart of the shopping district," Serena said once they got to the center of the commercial district.

"Then I think we should go check out every store," Ash advised.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Good luck," Alec said as he headed off, but winked at Serena with a knowing smile, causing her to blush again.

Serena's POV

After Alec left and Serena got control of her blush, she started looking at the stuff that was on display in the store windows, looking for something she could get. While Serena was more focused on accessories, Ash seemed to find other, interesting things. "Serena, check out this awesome face!" Ash called out, pointing to a plush that was a giant Jigglypuff-like body with what looked like a brown Meowth with blue hair. "Do you think Pikachu and the others would like it?" Ash asked.

"It might be the tiniest too big," Serena told him, but that thing was way too big for something that would have to go on the road with them.

"Now that you mention it, you're right," Ash admitted, giving the plush a second look.

They continued on and Serena saw a crown she thought was cool. "Hey Ash," Serena started but Ash wasn't next to her. "Ash?" she wondered.

"Serena! Look at this cool hat. So, what do you think?" Ash asked her.

"Nice, but, who's going to wear that?" Serena asked him.

"You're right," Ash admitted.

The two continued looking and Serena saw a store that looked promising. "Ash. This shop has some nice things. Come take a look," Serena called out.

"Hey Serena, I think I'm going to check out that store. I'll meet you back at the station," Ash said as he ran off.

Serena wanted to run after him, but remembered she didn't have her gifts for her Pokémon yet. She continued looking around and eventually ran into Alec, who had a bag with him. "I take it your date didn't go according to plan," Alec said as he came up to her.

"No. He ran off to check out another store," Serena admitted, a bit down by the fact.

"Give him time. Honestly, Ash is an idiot for not noticing how you feel," Alec told her.

"I suppose," Serena replied. She then remembered a store she saw a while back and got an idea. "Hey Alec, do you have your keystone on you?" Serena asked.

Alec looked a bit confused before responding. "Yeah…"

"Well, can I borrow it for a bit. I'm thinking that it might give me an idea on what to get my Pokémon," Serena lied.

"Well, I trust you," Alec said as he pulled the stone out of his pocket. "I still have a few things to pick up before I head back to the Pokémon Center. You can give it back then," he added.

"Alright. I'll see you then," Serena said as she headed towards the store.

Once Serena finished all her shopping, she headed back to the monorail where she saw Ash waiting. "Sorry to keep you waiting," Serena told him as she ran up.

"So, did you get em something good?" Ash asked.

"I did. I'm going to decorate them once we get back," Serena answered, she then noticed Ash didn't have anything. "Wait, we're your gifts?" Serena asked.

"I couldn't find a thing," Ash admitted.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Serena said.

"It's alright. I've still got time. You know where Alec is?" Ash asked.

"He said that he'd be heading back early since he found everything," Serena told him as they entered the station.

Once they did, a ball suddenly burst open raining confetti on Ash. "Congratulations!" three workers announced.

"You have the distinct honor of being our one-millionth customer," one of the workers told Ash.

"Who me?" Ash asked in surprise.

"Give this man a round of applause," the same worker told a small crowd of people that gathered around to see what was happening.

"To commemorate this occasion, please accept this gift," another worker said, giving Ash a box.

"Thanks a lot," Ash said as he took the box.

After that little bit of excitement, the two got on the monorail back to the Pokémon Center. "I never expected I'd be the one to get a gift," Ash commented as the train headed off.

"What did they give you?" Serena asked, looking at the box curiously. Ash opened the box and inside was a piece of untied ribbon. "Wow! That's such a pretty ribbon," Serena commented.

"Yeah," Ash said as he closed the box. "But I still have to get a present for all my Pokémon," he added.

"I'm sure Pikachu and the others will love anything you choose. All they care about is that it comes from you," Serena told Ash.

"You think?" Ash asked.

"Sure. What would you like if you got a gift?" Serena asked him.

"Make me happy. Does that matter?" Ash wondered.

"Yeah. They're your Pokémon, and they think just like you do," Serena pointed out.

Ash looked deep in thought for a bit before suddenly standing up. "That's it Serena!" he stated.

Serena looked at him, a bit confused as the train pulled into the station. "Thanks a lot. Later," Ash said as he ran off somewhere.

"Where are you going?" Serena called out after him.

"I've got somewhere to go. I'll meet you back at the Pokémon Center," Ash answered before continuing. Serena sighed in defeat as she headed off to the Pokémon Center.

"I'm back," Serena said as she came through the door. Fennekin immediately ran up to her and hopped into her arms.

"Where's Ash?" Clemont asked.

"He's still looking for a present. But it sounds like he got a great idea," Serena answered. "Is Alec here?" she then asked.

"He's working on his gift in our room. Ethan was trying to peak so he locked himself in," Clemont answered.

"Umbre, Umbreon," Ethan said, though that could have meant anything.

"Anyway. Bonnie, thanks for looking after everyone," Serena thanked.

"Sure thing. It was a lot of fun. Except…" Bonnie started.

"Bonnie, what's the matter?" Clemont asked.

"It's just that, I wanna give everyone a present too, but do I have to be a trainer?" Bonnie wondered.

"Of course you don't. I'm sure everyone will love it," Serena answered.

Samurai huffed and before Serena could say anything, Soar said something to him. Pikachu and Dedenne then said something to Bonnie, lifting her spirits even more. "You mean it? Okay. Then I'll make a drawing of all of you!" Bonnie said excitedly. She got out some art supplies and arranged all the Pokémon so they would work and started drawing.

"I know it'll make a wonderful present," Serena said as she pulled out her supplies. As she was doing so, she knocked her bag over and a small black box tried to make its escape. Serena quickly caught it before it could hit anything.

"What's in there?" Clemont asked.

"Oh, a little something special I got," Serena answered and opened the present a bit to show Clemont.

The inventor flinched back in surprise. "Is that…" he started in shock as Serena nodded.

"Don't mention anything," Serena told Clemont.

"Alright," Clemont said, somewhat reluctantly.

Alec's POV

After finishing up his gift, Alec headed down to the lobby and saw Serena and Clemont with their gifts, and it looked like Bonnie made one herself. There wasn't any sign of Ash though. "Where's Ash?" Alec asked as he came out.

"He said he had an idea for his gift before running off somewhere," Serena answered.

Alec's Pokémon then came up to him. [So, what'd you get us?] Ethan asked, failing to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"You'll find out at the festival," Alec answered.

[I told you he'd say that,] Soar said to Ethan.

[I calculated a 92.6% chance that our trainer wouldn't tell us what we got before the festival,] Super added.

[But the festival hasn't started yet. There's still time,] Ethan pointed out.

"No matter how hard you try Ethan, I'm not going to tell you. You'll just have to wait," Alec told his partner. The four and their Pokémon then headed outside to see the city blanketed in light. Ash then came up, holding a large cloth with something in it.

"Where have you been?" Serena asked him.

"It took a little longer then I thought," Ash admitted.

"So, you have your gift?" Alec asked.

"Yep," Ash answered. The five then headed up to the tree and placed their gifts with the others.

They then stood with the crowd while they waited for the sun to fully set, which should be any moment now. "What happens next?" Bonnie asked, unable to contain her excitement.

"I imagine we'll find out soon," Clemont answered.

"Let's begin," Ramos said. All of a sudden, the presents started heading up into the tree. At first, Alec thought that was supposed to happen, but the way Ramos looked at the sight said otherwise.

"What's going on?!" Ash asked in shock. Frogadier then suddenly ran up the tree trunk and threw a Water Pulse at the source of what was pulling the presents up. Team Rocket then fell to the ground, Meowth and Wobbuffet holding a vacuum.

"What's the meaning of this!" Ramos demanded, looking angry for the first time that Alec could remember.

Team Rocket then stood up and chanted their motto. "These gifts belong to us now," Jessie declared.

"And with your Pokémon, we'll complete the set," James added.

"You have a lot of nerve doing this," Alec said as he walked up, hearing some whispers from the crowd as he did so.

"Why should we care? We do whatever we want, whenever we want," Meowth stated.

"Ethan, Iron Tail," Alec ordered coldly. Ethan ran past Team Rocket and cut through the vacuum before continuing on to release all the gifts. "Give up. You can't win," Alec told them.

"Fat chance, twerp!" Jessie shouted as she and James threw out their Pokémon.

"Samurai, Megahorn," Alec said. Samurai threw himself at the two Team Rocket Pokémon and hit them both with the bug-type move. "Hydro Pump." Samurai shot a large stream of water that sent Team Rocket into a blastoff.

After that bit of excitement, everyone got their presents and went to give them to their Pokémon. "To strengthen the bond between Trainer and Pokémon, let us begin our beloved annual festival as we all gather together beneath the Pledging Tree. And now, it's time for the countdown," Ramos announced.

After counting down from five, Ramos moved a lever that lit the lights on the Pledging Tree. It was simply breathtaking.

Everyone then separated to give their presents to their Pokémon and Bonnie started by showing the Pokémon the drawing she made. Serena gave Fennekin a ribbon, Pancham, another set of sunglasses for performances, and Skiddo got a small derby hat. Clemont gave his Pokémon a little music box that was honestly pretty cool.

"Alright everyone, this belongs to all of you, even those of us that aren't here," Alec told them. He pulled out a black book that contained drawings. "Every page in this book represents an important moment on our journey," Alec told them, showing a few pages. As they started looking, Alec got Nightmare's attention. "And Nightmare, this is for you," he told the Gengar, giving him a box. Nightmare opened it up and saw the Gengarite that was fashioned into a brace.

[This is amazing! Thanks, Alec!] Nightmare shouted and went to hug Alec but phased through by ascendant, giving Alec a chill up his spine. [Sorry,] he quickly apologized.

Alec then saw what Ash had gotten, which was a ton of berries. All the Pokémon dove in as the humans watched. "Alec. I've got something for you as well," Serena said, giving Alec a black box.

"What's this?" Alec wondered as he opened the box. His eyes widened as he saw his keystone in a black pearl circle with some string that made it a necklace.

"I know that you haven't replaced the string that held it around your neck originally, so I thought this would work well," Serena told Alec.

"Serena I… Thanks so much," Alec said as he hugged her. After letting her go, Alec pulled the necklace out of the box and put it around his neck.

Serena then noticed three presents still in the bag that was attached to Team Rocket's vacuum. "Who are those for?" Serena wondered as the group headed over and looked at the tags. Two were addressed to Alec, while the third was for Serena.

"Who would send you these?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, only one way to find out," Alec stated. He first opened the long, flat box and he was surprised to see a Z-Ring and crystals for every type and a few others that would probably work for specific Pokémon.

"Isn't that ring Liz used during your battle?" Ash asked.

"It's a Z-Ring. But why am I getting one?" Alec wondered. He then saw a note in the box and opened it.

Alec

I know you're probably surprised by this gift, but me and the Kakunas thought that you deserved this. Use them well.

Professor Kukui

"Professor Kukui sent me this?" Alec asked, reading the note again.

"Who's Professor Kukui?" Clemont asked.

"He's the top Pokémon Professor in the Alola region where Duke's from," Alec answered as he pulled out the Z-ring and put it on his left wrist. He then took the Darkinium-Z and put it on the ring before finding a pouch that could go on his belt and a video card that would likely work on his Holo-transceiver. The other crystals went in the pouch and he put the video card into the transceiver. "This contains the way I'll have to move for Z-moves," Alec realized as he saw one of the videos.

"What's in yours, Serena?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, let's take a look," Serena said. She set the box down and opened it to reveal a red dress inside.

"It's so pretty!" Bonnie commented.

"Why do I get the feeling that mom sent that?" Alec asked Serena.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Serena admitted.

[What the…] Ethan said and Alec looked to see Ethan had opened the other present and a Poké Ball rolled out.

"What's in there?" Clemont asked as Alec picked it up.

"Don't know, but only one way to find out," Alec answered. "Come on out!" Alec shouted as he threw the ball into the air. It opened and a Litten appeared.

"Who's that Pokémon?" Ash asked.

"It's a Litten. And there's only one person who could have sent me that," Alec stated.

"I'm glad you got those," Nurse Joy said as she came up to the group.

"What do you mean?" Serena asked.

"Well, they came in with instructions to let them be found in a surprising way," Nurse Joy explained.

"Well, thanks for telling us. We'd better make some calls Serena," Alec advised. Serena nodded in agreement as Alec returned Litten to its ball. The little one hadn't spoken yet, so Alec wasn't sure if it was a boy or a girl, but he'd have time to figure it out.

Alec's theory turned out to be correct as Professor Kukui confirmed that Litten was from him. After he finished, Serena called mom.

"Hi, mom. I was wondering something, did you send me this?" Serena asked, holding the dress up so mom could see.

"Do you like it?" mom asked.

"Yeah, I do," Serena answered.

"I figured if you were going to enter the Pokémon Showcase, you'd want a brand new outfit. I was right," mom explained.

"You were," Serena confirmed.

"And I know that you never like any of the outfit's I like, so I got something I don't like. I know you'll be amazing, so good luck," mom added.

The group then saw fireworks going off outside the window and they stepped out to get a better look. As they went on, Alec overheard Ash talking to Serena. "Here, take this. I wanted you to have something from me," he told Serena, handing her a box.

"What for?" Serena asked.

Ash looked at the Pokémon before saying, "I never would have been able to choose a present for them without your help. So, this is just my way of saying thanks a lot."

"Thank you, Ash, I'll always treasure it," Serena told him. Alec smiled at the sight.

[Sounds like things are going to get more interesting from here on out,] Ethan told Alec.

"Sure does. We have a new member on the team and Serena has her first showcase tomorrow. Things are looking up," Alec stated.