Hey, guys! I'm back again with another chapter! Apologies that it's been a little while since I last posted. I've had to use this past week to film videos in advance for the entire month of August for my main YouTube channel. If you have the unnecessary desire to view said channel, the name is JAMES/GOLDENGOBLIN290. Anyway, without further or do, let's get straight to the chapter!


Everyone walked over to the seating area before sitting down, listening to Sycamore as he explained everything. "So, first of all, you need to walk over to the bow, and it's important to stand to the corresponding side of your dominant hand. For me, it's my right hand, so I'm going to go the left side so my right hand is in position to pick up the bow. Do you understand so far?"

Everyone nodded, watching intently, almost fascinated for some unknown reason. Sycamore continued speaking; "Pick up the bow and move it to your non-dominant hand, pick up an arrow by the end that isn't sharp! We don't want any of you to leave without a finger."

A few people chuckled at that, the rest wondering how they found it funny.

"Hold the bow out in front of you, and try to keep it straight. Then, clip the arrow into the little thing sticking out of the side, and pull the arrow back and clip the back of it to the string. Make sure it's straight!"

Sycamore proceeded to pick up the bow and show everyone where the arrow needs to be clipped on to before placing it on the floor and picking up a piece of leather with two holes in it.

"This needs to be placed on your index and middle finger. I won't show you which though because that would be inappropriate," Sycamore explained, again, causing some people to laugh, before proceeding to put the leather on his fingers, flipping it up so it stuck out over the top of his fingers. "This is used so you don't burn your fingers on the string, as the kinetic energy from the fast movement will do that without protection."

Sycamore picked the bow up again and held it in the manner that he had described, positioning the arrow in the correct position too. "Now, the last step is to have your back straight, pull the bow up so it's directly in front of you, use the fingers with the leather on to rest the leather on the string, and place your fingers on top of it, retract the arm holding the string until your fingers are just behind the corner of your eye, make sure the arrow isn't too close that it'll burn you, and let go of the string."

Proceeding to follow the same instructions, Sycamore retracted the arrow and fired it at a target, the arrow landing on the outskirts, in the white. He was rewarded by a round of applause as he placed the bow back on its stand. "Now, who want's to go first?"

A flurry of hands flew up into the air, around half of the campers were volunteering.

Sycamore's eyes scanned the crowd before his eyes landed on a particular person. "Serena? How about you?"

Serena's eyes lit up at that moment, excited. She nodded, clearly ecstatic before making her way out to the front. Everyone put their hands down, now keen to see how she'd do.

"Do you remember it all, or do you need me to guide you a bit?" Sycamore asked her, to which Serena smiled.

"I think I remember each step. I'm not sure though," she said with a little laugh.

"Well, if you need help, just ask. I'll be on the side if you need me."

Serena nodded, a silent way of saying 'thank you.' She was excited, yet nervous. She'd never been up in front of a decently large crowd. But that didn't matter, right? If she messed it up in any way, surely it wouldn't end with them all laughing at her. It was most likely the first time for most of the people there.

With a deep breath, Serena put the leather on her fingers before picking up the bow and an arrow, placing the arrow in the little clip and attaching it to the string. It was so much easier than Sycamore made it seem! All she had to do, was make sure that the bow didn't wobble too much to aim correctly.

Serena made her back straight, lifting the bow up in front of her and withdrawing her arm, pulling the string until the arrow was parallel with her cheek before letting go of the string.

The arrow zoomed through the air before crashing into the target, wedging itself in there in the blue area.

Applause echoed around her as she placed the bow back on its stand, thrilled that she had done it correctly on the first attempt with no help from Sycamore! Like a dream come true.

She sat back down next to Ash, who congratulated her, causing her to blush furiously. Why didn't she realise that was going to happen?


The rest of the campers took turns doing it, a few of them getting bullseye, which always resulted in a hurricane of screaming just moments after.

Ash scored in the red, delighted that he hadn't nearly sent the arrow through his own foot like the previous time he had attempted archery.

Clemont scored in the white, and Bonnie missed completely, almost hitting the target, but not.

After everyone had a go, Sycamore led them out of the area. "All right, we'll have lunch now, then you'll have an hour-long break before we continue with the activities!" Sycamore announced, causing everyone to cascade into the caféteria, grabbing their lunch gratefully before taking a seat to eat.

Ash, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie grabbed a table in the corner that was just big enough to fit the four of them around it. The four of them tucked into their food, greedily devouring it before leaving not even ten minutes later, splitting up, Clemont and Bonnie going back to the cabin, Ash and Serena staying outside to enjoy the warm, summer air.

"I could sunbathe right now," Serena said out of the blue, causing Ash to look at her, worry in his eyes.

"Please don't do it here! Not in front of me, and especially not in the middle of the camp!"

Serena giggled. "I'm not saying I'm going to, or that I want to right now. I'm just saying that I can if I really want to."

Ash sighed a sigh of relief, not wanting to go through the embarrassment of seeing Serena in a bikini, or, at least, not yet. "Yeah, but still don't!"

Serena giggled again, finding Ash's persistence funny, tempted to do something to see more of this side of him. She gave in, deciding that she was going to do something.

"Hey, Ash. Would you stare at me if I did?" Serena asked Ash, poking him in the centre of his chest as she said it.

"W-What do you mean?" Ash asked her, becoming a clumsy, messy combination of confused and flustered.

"You know, would you stare at my body?"

"W-What!? Yes! No! I don't know!" Ash exclaimed, a blush forcing its way onto his face, causing Serena to giggle yet again. "Y-You're a good looking girl, Serena. But I wouldn't want to come across as creepy!"

Serena pouted slightly. "So, you wouldn't?"

"I don't know..."

Smiling, Serena embraced Ash out of nowhere, catching him off guard. "It's okay. It's nice to know that you think I'm attractive, though!"

"W-Wait! I said that?" Ash pondered out loud. "Arceus! I wasn't meant to!"

Serena let go of Ash before grabbing his arm and dragging him over to a bench. "I'm tired, so can we stay here?" She asked him, taking a seat on the bench, Ash mimicking her movements.

"Sure."


Well, there we go! I've recently realised that this story is probably going to go on for a while due to the detail I put in these chapters. Meh, either way, it doesn't really matter, does it? Anyway, leave a review with anything you want in it, as I will approve. Yes, even 'hate.' It's merely constructive criticism, so I'll be happy to hear about what I need to improve. BYE!