Hello again!

Chapter 7 has now arrived!

Please enjoy!


(plays Toad Harbor (starts at 0:06) from Mario Kart 8)

Around the eastern side of Route 2, a teenage girl was seen calmly walking through some trees and right beside her was a Wigglytuff. In the girl's hand were a few gold coins that she placed into her yellow satchel, grinning a little as she did so.

The girl and her Pokémon soon came across a more open area where the female trainer sat on a rock and fed her Wigglytuff some berries from her bag. The girl contently smiled at her Pokémon until a giant net came down from the sky and trapped the balloon Pokémon within and then flying back up to the air.

(music stops playing)

The girl was surprised for a moment and she quickly stood up from the rock and looked up to see the source of the net: a giant Meowth hot air balloon which had the net attached underneath the basket. Inside the basket was a woman with long red hair, a man with short blue hair with a little clown-like Pokémon in his arms called Mime Jr., a small cat-like Pokémon called Meowth, a blue blob of a Pokémon called Wobbuffet, and a wind chime-like Pokémon floating next to the blue-hair man called Chimecho.

(plays Team Rocket Motto (Kanto Version) from Pokémon (Anime))

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!"

"Chime!"

After the villainous gang said their motto, they all laughed maniacally as their aerial mode of transport slowly floated away from the girl. Emphasis of slow, by the way.

"Thanks for leaving your cute, little Pokémon out in the open, little girl!" mocked Jessie as she and the rest of her team took a small break from their laughing fit.

"Foolish trainers like you should know that not having Pokémon in their Pokéballs just makes them easier to steal!" taunted James.

"And for our boss, a good deal!" added Meowth.

"Wobbuffet!" agreed the blue blob.

"See you later!" both Jessie, James, and Meowth teasingly shouted as their balloon continued to fly away from the female trainer.

Down below, the girl only rolled her eyes at their thievery and she stared towards her Wigglytuff and nodded. The trapped Pokémon nodded back and she proceeded to tear the net open with her bare hands, utterly shocking the thieves in the basket.

"AHH! Cute and strong!" panicked Jessie, James, and Meowth in unison.

The Wigglytuff then jumped out of the net and when she was a good distance, she turned back towards the hot air balloon and fired a Tri Attack straight to the basket, causing the whole aircraft to explode, blasting the villains high up into the sky.

(music stops playing)

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" Jessie, James, and Meowth all screamed as they, along with Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., and Chimecho, disappeared in the blue sky as a star.

Back on the ground, the girl's Wigglytuff floated back to her trainer who sat back on the rock and continued to feed her Pokémon, as if nothing ever happened.


The members of Team Rocket were blasted all the way to Route 1. Luckily for them, they landed into a tree, giving them a...semi-soft landing.

The six crooks ended up landing on the same branch and when they tried to climb out, the branch quickly snapped from their combined weight, sending them (except Wobbuffet who jumped up and grabbed hold of a higher branch in time) to the ground, face-first.

"That was embarrassingly quick!" whined Jessie.

"As they always are." moaned Meowth.

"Are you two okay?" James asked to his Mime Jr. and Chimecho, who both nodded.

The three then heard the leaves above them rustle, which was only Wobbuffet losing grip on the branch and landing right on Meowth. As per usual, the blue blob screamed his name and gave his regular saluting pose.

(plays Green Garden from Bomberman 64)

"Ugh!" Jessie screamed as she stood up. "Eight years of doing the same ole' thing and for what?!"

"For squat!" Meowth answered while he got up as well after throwing Wobbuffet off him, who then obediently ran to his trainer's side.

"Not necessarily, you two," spoke James, the calmer one of the trio. "The boss still pays us every year, even when we've barely bring him a single Pokémon."

Both Jessie, Meowth, and Wobbuffet turned away with a 'humph' and crossed their arms.

"It's just better when it's fun." said Jessie. Meowth nodded in agreement.

"Still though, not every year is total failure. Remember that one time when we stole a trainer's Weavile for the boss?"

"Yeah, but den dat dumb Weavile tried to attack da boss as soon we brought it and den da boss told us to send it away, so we gave it back to its trainer."

"Oh yeah! Hmm, I always wondered why our boss didn't want that Weavile. Every stolen Pokémon we brought to him always tried to attack him, but he never rejects them."

"That Weavile did seem really angry though..." said Jessie in thought.

"Well besides that, we're still not complete losers! We still have made plenty of successful thefts in the past, plus for a reminder, we are one of the most respected members of Team Rocket due to our involvement in the disbanding of Teams Aqua, Magma, Galactic, Plasma, and Flare!"

"James is right," chimed Meowth, "we've done some pretty amazing dings and da boss knows dat!"

"And it's because of what we do is what makes Team Rocket number one!" cheered Jessie.

And with that, the tenacious trio of Team Rocket had their spirits back up.

"HOORAY!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Despite dat dough," started Meowth, "dese eight years have not been da same without dat one twoip and his Pikachu."

"Oh yeah. Whatever happened to him?" questioned Jessie.

"It's so weird. If I recall, there was a newspaper headline about him two days after he disappeared and that's how we found it. Strange, it seemed so sudden."

"But we never let that get us down, boys! We just went out to find ourselves a new twerp to pester!"

"And we never did. Unlike our old twoip, whenever we get blasted off we other twoips, we always lose track of dem. And even when we do get blasted off, it just never feels da same without dat Pikachu's Thunderbolt."

"Or without any of his birds puncturing our balloon," added Jessie.

"It was always because of his spirit that we could know where he was at, but too bad not many other trainers have that. That's why we can't find a new twerp."

"Don't say that," enthused Jessie. "We're Team Rocket, so we never give up! It's been eight years and that old twerp is long gone, so we must move on and find our new twerp!"

"But where at?" asked Meowth.

The trio then spotted an airplane flying above them towards the south.

"In there." answered Jessie.


(plays Feel Refreshed from Star Ocean: The Second Story)

Inside the airplane, Serena, with her Pokéballs still on her lap, had woken up from her slumber when the morning sun's light shined through the windows. The flight from Kalos to Kanto had taken up the entire night. Serena smiled at the beautiful star in the sky before yawning and stretching her arms and limbs.

"Ah. Morning you guys." Serena said to her Pokéballs, who all wobbled in response.

Serena then took her attention back to the window and looked down below to see the town where she first met Ash: Pallet Town. Whenever she visited this calm town, it always brought back precious memories to her.

"We're finally here."

*DING-DONG-DING-DONG*

Everyone in the plane, awake or not, heard the sound from the plane's monitors, indicating the pilot was about to speak.

"Good morning passengers. We are approximately three minutes away from the Kanto Airport. Remember to make sure you have all your stuff with you before you leave. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your flight."

The honey-blonde hair girl happily sighed to herself and relaxed on her seat.

"Three minutes, huh? Eh, I guess that would be good enough for a little more sleep."


(plays Welcome to Station Square from Sonic Adventure)

Three minutes later, the plane reached the airport and landed safely on the runway. When the airstairs came, the passengers all exited from the aircraft as Team Rocket spied on them from inside a bush.

"So Jess, who do you think will be our potential new twerp." asked James.

"Hmm, let's see," Jessie then started to inspect every passenger she saw. "Too young. Too old. Too weird-looking. Too mild-mannered. Too smart. Too fashionable. Too dumb. Too mustache-y. Too slow. Too social. Too easygoing. Too clumsy. Too boney. Too much into video games. Too handsome. Too cold. Too twerpette-wait." Jessie paused for a bit, quickly recognizing a certain girl in a pink fedora stepping down the airstairs.

"Isn't that the twerpette from Kalos?" Jessie asked her teammates as she pointed to the girl in question.

James and Meowth faced where Jessie's finger was indicating to, also seeing the Kalos-hailed trainer.

"It is!" exclaimed James. "Hm, she sure has changed."

"Oh, I know. Same tacky clothing." chirped Jessie.

"I wonder what she's here for." Meowth then saw Jessie in thought, as evidenced by her eyes focused solely on Serena and her right thumb and index finger underneath her chin. "What'ya dinkin' about, Jessie?"

"Hmmmm... Guys, I think I found our new twerp." chimed Jessie.

"Really?" asked both James and Meowth.

"Yeah. I mean, it kinda fits. Going by memory, she always took after the twerp a lot, like his annoying, childish spirit, or his lovey-dovey care for his Pokémon. She did have a crush on him after all."

"Didn't she dress up as him once?" asked James.

"Yeah. Ah, love makes you do the craziest things. Back on topic though, she's essentially a female version of our old twerp, so we'll be going back to familiar grounds, putting the fun back to our job!"

"Plus, she is Kalos Queen, so she must have a lot of pretty and powerful Pokémon on her!" said Meowth.

(music stops playing)

Unfortunately, that was suppose to be a secret from Jessie. She never did hear about Serena's accomplishment two years while James, Meowth, and even Wobbuffet did via newspapers and internet and they always hid that from Jessie, knowing she would just get mad with furious jealousy. Too bad it's all revealed now.

(plays Final Bowser Battle from Super Mario Galaxy 2)

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Jessie screamed to her teammates as all five of them cowered in utter fear. "That tiny, little, blonde, fedora-wearing, twerp-crushing, sparkle-showing, fox-raising, 'ta-da'-saying, puff-cooking, Eevee-dancing, clothes-shopping, panda-shading, key-twirling, hair-cutting, formerly Rhyhorn-racing, wand-waving, macaron-eating, trivia-guessing, Kalos-hailing, cheer-leading, noise-making, dress-spinning, panic-screaming, heel-running, perfume-smelling, berry-picking, victory-jumping, passion-flaring, people-caring twerpette actually won Kalos Queen?!"

"N-n-no?"

"TELL ME THE TRUTH!" Jessie screamed as her face become one of a demon's.

"AHHHHH!" the five screamed at the monster in front of them.

"It was two years ago!" the scared James revealed.

"She beated Aria!" the equally scared Meowth also revealed.

"We heard it on a newspaper!"

"And we saw her performance on dee internet!"

"We didn't want to tell you because-"

"Dis would happen!"

"PLEASE DON'T HURT US!" the two of them begged.

"WOBBUFFET!" the blue blob screamed, alsp begging for his life.

Jessie just growled ferociously to them and she took out a paper fan to whack them all in the forehead, leaving some painful-looking lumps.

"Well, she's about to see some true royalty when she comes across the Kanto Queen!" Jessie growled as she stared back to Serena with her right fist clenched.

"But Jessie, you know there aren't any Pokémon Showcases here at Kanto." stated James only to receive a smack in the face from Jessie's hairdo.

"You know what I meant!" Jessie barked at him.

"Y'know Jess, if you're gonna get dis jealous of the twoipette, maybe we should just find another target." Meowth pointed out before Jessie kicked him in the face.

"NO! It's decided, our new twerp will be the Kalos twerpette, and that's final!"

Turning away from her teammates for a bit, Jessie saw Serena leaving the airport and entering the grassy path that led to Pallet Town.

"Quick, she's getting away!" Jessie panickedly screamed.

She was about to take off, but James and Meowth were currently unconscious from Jessie's attacks.

"Stop lying around, you two! We got a twerp to steal from!"

Jessie grabbed the both of them effortlessly and sneakily made her way to the route as Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., and Chimecho followed. The thieves were able to make it to the route without being seen by anyone, not even the on-guard Officer Jenny's, and now that they were on Serena's tail, they quickly started to get ahead, planning for a sneak attack.


(plays March Ahead from Paper Mario)

Serena merrily walked on the dirt path of the route, unaware of Team Rocket who were hiding in some bushes ahead of her. They team of crooks quietly laughed as Serena got more and more closer to them, hoping for a certain infamous trap of theirs' to work.

Just as Serena was about three feet close to where Team Rocket was, she felt one of her Pokéballs wobble on its own on her belt, with Absol coming out of it in front of her, having to have sensed a nearby threat to her beloved trainer. The disaster Pokémon warily looked around the area.

(music stops playing)

"Sol..."

"Hey Absol, is there something wrong? Do you detect any danger closeby?"

The canine nodded and she finally detected the nearby threat. She directed herself to the path in front of her and fired a Razor Wind onto the ground, revealing it to be a pitfall trap.

"What the-?"

Serena's Absol then fired another Razor Wind onto the bushes that were close to the trap, causing the hidden villains to jump out screaming, and land behind the giant hole on the path.

Thanks to their outfits, Serena instantly recognized the villains in front of her.

"Team Rocket?"

When the said team were done rubbing their bottoms from the fall, they instantly jumped back to their feet to start off their usual motto.

(plays Team Rocket Motto (Kanto Version) from Pokémon (Anime))

"Prepare for trouble. Long time, no see!"

"And make it double and say 'goodbye' to victory!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!"

"Chime!"

(music stops playing)

Once the motto was over, Team Rocket noticed that Serena was no longer in front of them. Instead, turning back, they saw the girl and her Absol had already passed them and were casually continuing on the dirt path, causing the whole gang to plummet on the ground.

(plays Bonetrousle from Undertale)

"Well someone has gotten more rude over the years!" Jessie screamed at Serena with her fists in the air.

"At the very least, you could've just departed after we finished our motto instead of during it! Sheesh!" James shouted as he got up with his Mime Jr. and Chimecho.

"And when twoips are rude, dey go kapeesh!" finished Meowth as he threateningly pointed his claws towards Serena and Absol.

"WOB-buffet!"

Instead of stopping to retort back, Serena continued to walk farther away from Team Rocket.

"Just ignore them Absol."

"Sol."

Team Rocket was now steaming with rage. How this teenage twerp treat them like a bunch jokes? Okay, granted they still kinda are, but they've arguably improved during their eight years away from her and now it's time to show her that!

"Listen twerpette, if you're just gonna pass us by, you should at least challenge us to a battle like normal trainers do!" Jessie said as she and James both took out a Pokéball. "Unless of course you're too scared!"

"I'm not scared and honestly, you guys would be the very last thing in the world I would be scared of. I just don't have the time for your foolishness right now."

"That's it, you asked for it." Jessie growled. She then threw her Pokéball out for battle. "Seviper, show that twerpette we mean business!"

"Malamar, say 'hi' to our old friend!" James threw his Pokéball as well.

From the two balls came a long dark snake with red fangs and a white and purple squid and the both of them were ready to take on the girl.

Serena only sighed and took out a Pokéball herself. "Let's get this over fast. Delphox, Mystical Fire."

The Pokéball was thrown high above Serena and out came the fire-psychic fox, who instantly recognized the villains and used a big Mystical Fire attack on them, causing them to scream and get covered in burn marks.

"Ice Beam."

Absol fired her Ice Beam towards Team Rocket, encasing them in a huge block of ice.

"Pangoro, use Stone Edge." Serena unenthusiastically called out as she released Pangoro from his ball. He also instantly remembered Team Rocket and he sent a huge pillar of stone underneath the ice they were trapped in to send them blasting off.

"I feel cold." James weakly murmured in the giant ice cube he, his teammates, and Pokémon were trapped in.

"Don't worry, Jessie's temper will heat dings up soon." assured Meowth.

"Excuse me, what did you say?!" Jessie furiously asked, and lo-and-behold, as soon she got angry again, the ice started to slowly melt, causing her to look shocked and embarrassed as James, Meowth, Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., Chimecho, Seviper, and Malamar smiled with glee.

"Ah, I can feel the warmness coming back already!" James cheerfully chirped.

"Who needs da sun when we got Jessie?"

"Wob-bu-ffett!"

"Oh, shut up!"

As the ice started to melt a little faster, Team Rocket, as per usual, disappeared in the high blue sky as a star.

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"

(music stops playing)

Serena rolled her eyes as she watched the Pokémon thieves fly higher and higher in the sky. She thanked her three Pokémon for making quick work of them and recalled them all back to their balls before continuing her way down to Pallet Town.


(plays Pallet Town from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver)

Soon enough, Serena had made it to the hilled paths that provided a beautiful full view of the peaceful town of Pallet, which included the endless amount of healthy garden and small houses with Professor Oak's famous Pokémon Laboratory on top of a high hill at the northwest corner of the town.

Looking around for a bit, Serena spotted Delia Ketchum's house in the far-off distance which caused her face to frown a bit. Even though Delia was able to move on a bit during these eight years, the poor woman was never truly the same again. At times, she's her regular-cheery self, though at many other times, it can be visually clear that she's trying to hold back tears, like whenever she spends time with her friends who are also mothers. Serena wanted to see her again, but she knew that if she were to visit, the reason why she's at Kanto would've inevitably slipped out eventually in the household and despite that, she didn't want to lie to her either. Delia has already suffered enough, and she doesn't need close friends of her to be dishonest to her. Besides, the Ketchum household wasn't the place she wanted to go to right now. Instead, it was Professor Oak's Lab.


(plays Prof. Oak's Lab from Pokémon Snap)

Inside the Pokémon lab of Pallet Town, Professor Oak was sitting at a desk, reading a book and drinking a cup of tea. Behind him, Rotom was mischievously transporting himself through the various machines behind his trainer, planning to give him his regular Thunderbolt attack. After reaching a computer close to the desk, Rotom quietly exited the device, floated close to the floor, and then rose behind Oak's chair, keeping himself from laughing of the future attack.

"Don't even try it, Rotom." said the knowingly professor, utterly surprising the ghostly spark who then plummeted to the floor.

"My longtime friend, you've been doing the same old trick for years and years now, it's really no surprise that I am now able to know when you're going do it and where you're going to do it."

The ghostly spark flew back up with a pouty expression before taking off for somewhere else to have fun. His trainer watched his Pokémon float away before sighing a bit.

"But you are one of the few things that keeps this lab lively." Oak silently said to himself.

He then turned back to his desk to look out the window in front of it which had a good view of the lab's corral. Even though the corral still contained Pokémon from a variety of Kanto trainers, old or new, it was always Ash's Pokémon that kept the whole place energized. Whether it was Oshawott and Pignite fighting over food, Staraptor and Swellow having air races or sometimes battles, Bulbasaur doing his best to resolve any fight only to come out with scratches and bruises, or the horde of Tauros stampeding around, destroying fences in the process. Granted, the horde was still there, it was just that they stampeded a lot less since their leader went away with Ash. They had a new one, but he wasn't much of a warrior as the last one, and that's why the horde was much less active as they used to be.

Inside the lab was no different. Without Muk, Professor Oak was no longer crushed in a massive slimy hug around every corner and without Kingler, Oak had nobody to drink tea or write poetry with. Plus, as Tracey grew older, it became a habit for him to explore other regions to find more Pokémon to sketch. He still works for Oak, he's just not there a lot anymore, but besides that, he has brought Oak so many amazing Pokémon sketches, like one of Uxie when the talented sketchist stopped by Lake Acuity at Sinnoh. While Oak missed having Tracey around, he was incredibly proud of how much the young man has grown throughout the years, firmly believing that he will achieve a mastery level in sketching in the close future, just as he did in his youth.

With this in mind, Oak remembered that Tracey was suppose to send him an email around this time while he was at Hoenn right now. The professor got off his chair and moved it in front of the nearby computer Rotom was in and he turned on the device to check his email, and much to his surprise, he actually had two emails: one from Tracey as expected, and another from Mr. Goodshow.

Goodshow's looked interesting, but Tracey was the first priority at the moment. Tracey's email read that he was currently at Mossdeep City and he was trying to make a good sketch of Deoxys, whom he swore he saw flying high in the night sky of the city. The email also contained a picture of Tracey in front of the Mossdeep Space Center along with his elderly Scyther, and in Tracey's hands was a well-done sketch of the space center. Oak smiled fondly at the email and he replied back, telling the sketchist to do his best on the Deoxys sketch and wishes him the best of luck for throughout the rest of Hoenn.

Now done with his assistant's email, Professor Oak closed it and opened up Goodshow's. A pleasant surprise it was, as the email was Goodshow asking the professor if he would like to be one of the many battle announcers for the Ultimate Champion Tournament. Since the tournament would be in five days and three weeks and Tracey said he'll be back before that time and that he could watch over the lab in his absence, Oak replied 'yes' to the email. The ole' professor was really looking forward to the quadrennial Pokémon tournament. He had been an announcer before for the one eight years and he was just a regular for the one four years ago, and every time, he was always excited to see a variety of trainers from the many different parts of the world, along with their strong and well-trained Pokémon. And of course, whenever he had the chance, he would always do a close study of every unique Pokémon he saw, only to be attacked not too long later.

While Oak was excited, there was this one thought in head.

"If only Ash was still around. He would have a real blast at this tournament."

Oak closed Goodshow's email and then looked out the window up to the clear blue sky, hoping that Ash and his Pokémon are doing well at Mt. Silver. One fear that always lingered in his mind was that Ash and his Pokémon might've died over at the mountain range. After all, Oak never heard from them since the day they ran away and there was no way of contacting them either, but he was always able to rid away that fearful thought for the time by remembering just how strong Ash and his Pokémon were, and knowing that Ash is a trainer who would never stop training his Pokémon, then would most definitely be a lot stronger at this point to handle anything Mt. Silver could throw at them. And he didn't need visual proof for that. He had faith.

Before Oak could think of the disappeared trainer for any longer, he heard the doorbell rang.

"I'll be right there!"

Oak got off his seat and headed for the main doors of the lab, and much to his horror, Rotom was right next to the doors, ready to shock whoever rang the doorbell through the door knob.

"Rotom, don't you dare-" Oak yelled as he ran to Rotom, only to be cut off by surprise when his Pokémon turned around and used Thunderbolt on him. Apparently, Rotom was just faking Oak out to land a surprise attack.

"You little demon..." Oak weakly muttered on the floor with an electrified afro. Rotom only laughed at him per usual.

The doorbell rang again and the professor got back up and opened the doors.

(plays Professor Oak's Laboratory from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen)

"Hello Professor Oak! Nice to see you again!" greeted Serena.

"Ah, the Queen of Kalos herself, Serena!" Oak happily greeted back. "How have you been?"

"Oh please, you don't have to address me that," said Serena, referring to her famous title. "And I've been fine! How about you? I can see Rotom is still its usual self."

"Heheh, yeah, the two of us have been doing well too." Oak said with a sweatdrop as his afro sparked with the small remaining electricity. The professor then quickly took out a hairbrush to comb his hair back to normal.

Rotom popped up behind the professor to greet the girl with its regular mischievous laughter.

"Great to see you too, Rotom!"

"I have to admit Serena, it's quite the surprise to you in such a random time. What business could you have here at Kanto?"

"Well Professor Oak, I'm here because of something very personal and meaningful to me, but would it be okay if we were to talk inside? I don't want to risk anyone hearing me."

"Most certainly Serena. Come right on in!"

(plays Dragon Village from Spyro: A Hero's Tail)

Professor Oak and Rotom led Serena into the lobby/living room of the lab where the two humans sat on the two couches facing each other. On the coffee table between the couches was a tea set and Oak made use of it by pouring tea in two cups. The professor offered Serena a cup and she happily accepted it.

"So Serena, what did you want to talk about? Please don't be afraid to tell me anything."

"Well professor, few days ago, I met this trainer from Johto named 'Jimmy'. I didn't get to know his last name, but he had this spiky hairstyle, he had a Typhlosion, a Pichu, and he told me he had a Suicune, and he said he won the Silver Conference when he was 10. Does that sound familiar to you?"

"As a matter of fact, it does. He also had a Togekiss, Politoed, and a Sudowoodo and he's one of Professor Elm's most favorite trainers." Oak stated, remembering that young Johto-hailed trainer. "I may be old, but my memory is still intact."

"That's great. Alright, so Jimmy told me that a couple years back, he traveled up Mt. Silver to do some research for Professor Elm."

"Ah, I remember that as well. I believe it was Elm himself who gave Jimmy the authorization to go up there. But as I heard, Jimmy almost lost his life over there after he was chased by a Steelix off a cliff and into a river and since then, Elm told me he swore he'll never go back."

"Actually professor, the part on how he got back down was all made up," Serena boldly stated. "He told me so himself."

This statement surprised Professor Oak.

"Are you sure about this, Serena?"

"One-hundred percent. In reality, he made it to the top... and he saw Ash."

(plays Theme of Samus Aran, Space Warrior from Super Smash Bros. Brawl)

Oak was now more astounded hearing this. Has someone actually made it to the highest point of Mt. Silver and saw Ash? He has known many trainers who traveled to Mt. Silver, and he was even the one who gave some of them the legal permission to do so, but he never honestly expected anyone to make it to the top. Why? To him, no trainer seemed to have the same true love and willpower Ash had whenever they were about to travel to the mountain range. But now remembering Jimmy, Oak began to realize the obvious reasons on how the trainer of New Bark Town was able to reach the top, considering how similar his spirit was to Ash's.

"And now professor, I want to go up Mt. Silver and find Ash myself. But first, if it isn't too much to ask, could you give me the authorization for access there?"

Professor Oak closed his eyes, laid his right index finger under his chin, stood up from the couch, and turned around to think. Serena saw this and understood what he was doing, patiently waiting for his decision.

Right now, there were so many things Oak had to decide on before the ultimate final decision of giving Serena permission. First up, if he should tell Serena that he always knew Ash was up there. Oak decided not to as she would've most likely gotten angry at him for hiding such a thing for all these years. The young girl was a friend to Oak, and if there's one thing Oak would never do, it would be jeopardizing his friendships. With that out of the way, Oak then thought about the consequences of Ash returning down from the mountain range. He remembered Ash telling him the threats he received from the lady when he killed her two friends, and that she threatened she would kill all who Ash cherished if he would to return. Oak didn't want Ash under that pressure, but there's also the fact that he is basically eternally trapped in an icy cold mountain range, and he just couldn't leave that fate on him. Even though Oak knows nothing of the lady or the two mercenaries that attacked Ash, he deeply knew that he does not deserve to be trapped and have his dreams abandoned because of that sudden discriminative ambush. Ash deserves to have his freedom again, and besides, it's been eight years, so he and his Pokémon should be a lot more stronger to take on anyone they fight against. After all, Ash has done it before.

The next and final thing to think about was to give Serena the permission to go or not. Now this would take up the most thinking. Again, Serena is a friend to Oak, and if he were to allow her to go, would that just put her on the risk of dying?

"Hmm..."

Oak turned back around and opened his eyes to face Serena. He looked into her eyes. They were full of determination.

"Serena, what Pokémon do you have with you right now?" asked Oak.

"Delphox, Pangoro, Sylveon, Absol, Walrein, and Charla, my Charizard."

Now that sounded like a pretty good team for exploring Mt. Silver. Two fire-types, a fighting-type with super strength, a durable and girthy water and ice-type for traversing through the waterfalls and snow, a fairy-type that could keep wild Pokémon at bay with her variety of Special Attacks, and a Pokémon that could sense incoming disasters. Just then, Oak noticed three things glimmering in Serena's jacket pocket.

"Serena, what do you have in your right jacket pocket?"

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Serena. It couldn't be her phone or wallet, they were in her left pocket.

Curious, Serena dug her hand into her right pocket and she felt two small round objects and one slightly bigger object. Grabbing them, Serena took out her hand and opened it up, revealing what was inside.

"A Key Stone, a Mega Ring, and an Absolite?! Where did you get those?"

"I don't know." replied Serena, who was now really confused of finding such things in her pocket.

That's when Serena realized how she obtained them.

"Professor Sycamore!" exclaimed the girl, surprising Oak.

"Sycamore?"

"Yes! Yesterday, when I was proving to my mom on how strong I am, I challenged Professor Sycamore in a four-on-four double battle. After I won, he hugged me, and I guess he slipped these three in my pocket during that."

What Serena said astounded Oak. Not really did she defeat Professor Sycamore in a battle, but she was also deemed worthy of Mega Evolution by him too, which adds to her team a Pokémon capable of Mega Evolving.

"When you battled Sycamore, what Pokémon did he use?"

"Blastoise, Charizard, Venusaur, and his Mega Garchomp."

...

"Serena, you are very well close of me granting you permission to access Mt. Silver, but you before I can do that, you must answer these three questions I have for you."

"Go for it."

"Question number one: If you were ever attacked by thugs, poachers, or grunts and you weren't able to use any of your Pokémon, what would you do?"

"I wouldn't run away. Instead, I would stand my grounds and fight back."

"How so?"

"Well, when I was under Palermo's training, she had taught me a variety of physical combat moves in case I needed them. Like she said, a Kalos Queen cannot just be a pretty performer, but a stronger fighter as well, and that in the past, the real queens of Kalos always physically fought for their family and people when they needed them. Alsoooo, I have this."

Serena reached into her backpack and brought out a light, but long steel sword.

"This sword is said to be the same sword the past queens of Kalos had used in war. Funny thing was that back then, women weren't allowed to fight in wars, though the queens always disguised themselves as men and they ended up as one of the top fighters. Heheh, all without the kings even knowing. Of course, I would never use this on a Pokémon, or heck, even a fellow human, but in case something really, I mean really, bad were to happen, I would have this, and Palermo had taught all the moves and techniques the queens themselves used too."

"That's really interesting. Moving on to question two: Let's say you encountered a rare and shiny Pokémon in your way and you chase after it to catch it. Along the way though, you also spot another Pokémon hanging on for its dear life and you're the only one who could save it. Would you continue after the shiny Pokémon or would you fall back and save the Pokémon in danger, knowing that the shiny one would soon get away?"

"For that," Serena started as she putted her sword back in her backpack, "I would save the one that's in danger. It's self-explanatory really, shinies are cool, but lives mean more. A lot more."

"Good answer. Now, for the last question, question number three: Both you and your Pokémon are extremely famished and you have a few berries left. Would you use them to feed yourself or your Pokémon?"

"The answer is obvious: my Pokémon. I love them all with all my heart and I would never dare risk their lives just for my search. I mean, Pokémon aren't quest tools, they're friends, family, and what's something you should never do to your friends and family? Sacrifice them for your own sake."

Hearing all of Serena's answers, Professor Oak smiled at her and he took out a pen and a piece of paper. After writing on it, he gave it to Serena.

"Here you go. It's for the guards at the Mt. Silver gates."

Serena read the paper and it said 'I, Professor Oak of Pallet Town, the renowned Pokémon Professor of the Kanto region, grant Serena of Kalos the permission to access Mt. Silver.' ending off my the professor's signature. Serena smiled gratefully at Professor Oak before running around the coffee table to hug him.

"Thank you so much."

"Of course Serena. But before you, how about you pack up a bit? It's gonna be rough journey and you'll need all the supplies you can get."

Serena nodded in agreement and she followed the professor and his Rotom to a room full of medicines, fresh contained berries, and other sorts of items. She stocked up on Full Restores, Full Heals, Max Revives, Max Repels, and A TON of berries. While she did that, Professor Oak asked for her Kalos Pokédex so that he could upgrade it to allow her to have more than six Pokémon on her team. This is a truly unique upgrade as usual only those who mostly fight in wars rather than battles with other trainers are allowed to have this type of upgrade. He, in fact, gave this upgrade to Ash's before he left, though also deleting his personal data so that no one could use it to track him down. Oak gave her the upgrade in case she would stumble upon a Pokémon interested in joining her as she explored Mt. Silver. Now with that upgrade, Serena stocked up on some Pokéballs and then she was done.


(plays The Matter's Settled from Pokémon (Anime))

Outside the lab, Serena was inserting a metallic ring containing the Absolite on Absol's right front leg. The Pokémon was surprised to see the Mega Stone at first before Serena explained to her how they were able to obtain it. Serena's Key Stone was held in the Mega Ring that was now on her left wrist.

"Do you feel comfortable, Absol?"

The disaster Pokémon nodded up to her trainer and she was recalled in her ball.

"So Serena, you think you're finally ready?"

"You bet I am!" Serena confidently replied.

"That's great. Just remember to always be careful, Mt. Silver is no cakewalk."

"I'm aware professor, and I know I can do it."

"Very well. Best of luck, Serena!"

"Thank you so much, professor! You've done a lot for me!"

With that said, Serena took off away from the lab to leave Pallet Town as she waved 'goodbye' to Oak and Rotom, with her next destination being the gates of Mt. Silver, though not before stopping by Viridian City of course.

The professor and Rotom waved back at Serena and when she was finally out of sight, the two went back into the lab.

Back inside, Rotom took off to goof around somewhere else as his trainer made his way to the study room.

Professor Oak went up to a bookshelf to take out an old and dusted sketchbook where he flipped to a particular page that had a sketch of a Pikachu and a Celebi sleeping next to each other. Oak smiled fondly at the sketch and he walked up to the windows on the opposite side of the shelves to look at the still blue skies above.


Over at Route 1, Team Rocket was lying down, dazed out, from their recent encounter with Serena. They handed landed behind some bushes behind the main path of the route. Thankfully, since they were trapped in ice when they blasted off, they didn't fly too far this time, plus Jessie's temper was able to melt the rest of the ice in time before they landed.

"My back hurts." James moaned.

"My hair hurts." Jessie moaned.

"My charm hurts." Meowth moaned.

"Wob-buffet." Wobbuffet moaned.

"Y'know guys, maybe the Kalos twerpette shouldn't be our new twerp." James suggested.

"Yeah, how bout de water lover twoipette back at Cerulean?"

Before Jessie could say anything, the team spotted Serena running past them, and this caused Jessie to jump back up instantly.

"No way! That little queen brat is our new official twerp and that's final!"

"But Jessie-"

Jessie only ignored her teammates as she forcefully grabbed James, Meowth, Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., Chimecho, Seviper, and Malamar to carry them over her head like a ball. She then took off after Serena, who was now plenty of feet away from them, though like that would make Jessie give up.


And that was Chapter 7! Well, time to work on some homework... nahh!

I'm sorry to anyone who wants to see more action of Ash and his Pokémon, but I absolutely promise there's gonna be a lot, and I mean A LOT, from them in later chapters.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review if you feel like it. Or heck, PM if you want to!

Have a great day!