Hey everybody, I'm finally back with another update for the story here, so I hope this brightens your day. I'm sorry it took a while to get this out, but real life is a bitch. Anyway, sit back, read, and review when you're done. Be sure to check out the author's note and statements at the end.

Last Time: Ash and Tom teamed up in a double battle against the fashion freaks Greg and Terry after they insulted Serena and Shauna. After winning the battle, Ash was confronted by Serena who asked if he remembered her.

Key:

Bold- PA system/Message Bulletins

Bold Italic- Radio/Phone Responses/TV/Pokedex descriptions

Italics-Thoughts/Letters/Flashbacks

Ash blinked and replayed Serena's question in his head. She asked him if he remembered her. His brow furrowed as he looked her up and down again. He did not recall meeting her before, but the confidence she asked her question with suggested otherwise. His memory was fairly sharp, but her name was not ringing a bell. The image of a small girl wearing a hat and crying under a tree crept into his head again as he looked at her. He frowned and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember meeting you," Ash said with an apologetic look.

"O-oh, I see…" Serena looked down, both dejected and embarrassed.

"You do remind me of someone, though."

Serena's head perked up after he said that and her sadness was replaced with curiosity. She knew it would have been a longshot hoping that he remembered her. The last time they even saw each other was over eight years ago and even then she only knew him through the summer camp that Professor Oak hosted. It would take time for him to spark his memory and remember something like that, but she was willing to wait as long as it took. She smiled back at Ash.

"Sorry for springing that question on you." Serena shuffled her feet.

"I'm the one who should feel bad," Ash replied, "we must have met at some point, otherwise you would not have asked me that."

"It was a long time ago."

Ash tilted his head. He was wondering how long ago they met and was about to ask her, but was stopped when Shauna, Brock and Tom came up to them.

"Thanks for helping us with those jerks," Shauna said, holding her hand out to Ash.

"No problem." Ash shook her hand.

"How long have you been a trainer? The way you battled tells me you've been doing this for a few years."

"I've been a trainer going on six years now."

"Wow. It's no wonder you were able to do all of that."

Ash sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He was flattered from the praise Shauna gave him, but the battle was just like numerous others he had. To him, the two that he battled with Tom were similar to Team Rocket, albeit more competent. He was brought back to reality when he felt something give a sharp nibble. He looked down to see Gabite staring back up at expectantly and he smirked down at him.

"Okay, let's head to the Pokémon Center and get you patched up. Then we can get you some food." Ash patted his friend's head.

Gabite nodded before he was returned to his ball a second later. After he attached his ball to the belt, Ash turned to Brock, Serena, Shauna and Tom.

"Let's hit the Pokémon Center quick," Ash said, making his way to the exit.

It did not take long for the group to reach the Pokémon Center. Ash and Tom managed to get treatment for Gabite and Raichu from their battle against Greg and Terry. Once they had been taken care of, Brock cooked up a meal for their Pokémon to eat. While their Pokémon were eating, the five of them talked about their plans.

Serena and Shauna just started their journey and were not sure what they wanted to do. For Serena she started her journey to get away from a possible future with Rhyhorn racing, and the chance to meet Ash again, but she kept that last bit to herself. Now that she was on her journey she needed to have a goal, but there were so many possibilities to experience.

Shauna had gone on her journey because Serena promised they would do one together at some point. She, on the other hand, had been thinking about what she wanted to do. Now that she had a Pokémon of her own, she wanted to try everything she could until she found her calling. When she was growing up she had seen battles, contests, and idols on TV and it only added to her list. Her mind had set on trying out battling and possibly being an idol.

Neither of them had a plan on how to travel the region and figured they would just go from city to city and try everything that they could in between.

"Well, if you want, you can come with us," Ash said with a smile.

"Really?" Serena beamed.

"Yeah, Brock and I can use more company. We've always had a group since we started journeying together."

"I'm all for it!" Shauna nodded. "Only if it's okay with Brock. I'd hate to impose."

"The more the merrier. We might be able to help each other out in our goals," Brock replied.

Serena and Shauna smiled again. They were thankful that Ash and Brock were letting them travel with them. Since they were new trainers and did not have much knowledge on traveling, they were glad they would be able to learn from two others that did.

"What about you, Tom? What are you going to do?" Shauna turned to him.

Tom looked back at Shauna after handing Raichu a small treat. He smirked and leaned back in his chair.

"I'm here to compete in the Kalos League. So I was going to head for my first badge today," he answered.

"Oh, so you're like Ash then?"

"Yeah. He's ahead of me now since he has the first badge, but I'll catch up quick."

He shook his head when Ash pulled out his first badge and passed it between his fingers as a taunt. Ash laughed when Tom gave him a rude hand gesture in return before standing up.

"Well, I'm heading out. See you guys around." Tom gave a two fingered wave.

"It was nice meeting you!" Shauna waved after him.

"Hey, Tom! Next time we'll have our rematch!" Ash shouted after him.

He grinned when Tom gave another wave of acknowledgement and departed through the doors. When he was gone, Ash reached into his bag and pulled out his notebook again. Since they were taking a small break before getting ready to go on the road, he decided to read through some of his old team setups and strategies to see how he could implement them with his new team.

"What's that?" Serena nodded at the notebook.

"That notebook was something Ash put together when we were in Sinnoh two years ago," Brock replied for him.

"With your help," Ash added, turning a page.

Brock gave a light shrug at that and looked at the page Ash was on. A smile came when he saw it. The page Ash had stopped on was the page where he wrote down his spin trick that he learned from Dawn and the next page was the Counter-Shield. Those two tricks helped Ash time and again when he was in Sinnoh and played key roles in his biggest battles against his former rival Paul and gym leaders like Roark and Fantina.

Even though he was not with Ash during his Unova journey, he knew Ash was disappointed with himself and how he performed. To go from the peak of his training career and reach an all-time low. Brock knew his old friend was sick of losing trivial battles and could not blame him. That was one of the reasons he came back to travel with him. Not only did he have a research project to do, but he had the choice to go anywhere he wanted, but he chose Kalos after talking with Ash's mother. Outside of working on his studies, Brock wanted to help his friend achieve his goal, and after learning some new things from being gone, he was eager to get back to work.

"What are these supposed to mean?" Shauna pointed at the next page.

Ash looked down and saw her pointing at the roles that he assigned to his pokémon. He smiled and explained to Shauna what the roles were. When he was in Sinnoh trying to find different ways to train and change up his style, Brock had approached him and suggested making a notebook of strategies and tactics. The two of them spent almost an entire day covering some basic knowledge, and the biggest bit Brock told him about was role designation.

There were five positions to be filled and each team. The roles were sweeper, the wall, the tank, the support and the phazer. Each role had their specific task to the team and could be named differently like the sweeper and the wall.

The sweeper, as Brock worded so eloquently, was the bread and butter of the team. Their job was to inflict as much damage possible to a team before being taken out of the fight. There were two types of sweepers and they were the special and physical. The physical sweepers relied and speed and pure physical attacks to take down their opponent, but the drawback was that their defense was not the best. With special sweepers it was the same, save for them relying on special attack to fight.

With the wall, like the sweeper, it had two possibilities to be either a special or physical. The wall's role was given to the pokémon with the most stamina that could stop the sweepers from tearing the team apart. One was to stop physical attacks and the other to stop special attacks.

The tank was one of the most important pieces. The tank was a mixed role that fell between the sweeper and the wall. For a tank to fulfill its purpose, it had to have stamina and defense to take hits, but it also had the power of a sweeper to do decent damage.

Next came the support, which was the most important member on the team. The role of the support was given to the pokémon that could pass on its power to the team or use it on the field to change the course of the battle.

The final member of the standard team was the phazer. Phazers were tasked with being able to counter an opponent's pokémon by using moves in their arsenal to prevent them from powering up or being passed on. A lot of them had the ability to force the opponent off the field with a special move like Roar, or Whirlwind, to keep them out of contention until it was no longer necessary.

After Ash and Brock finished explaining everything, they could see they only seemed to confuse Shauna and Serena.

"That's a lot to take in," Shauna said, rubbing her temples.

"Sorry about that." Ash sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "I forgot you were new to this."

"No, not at all! I thought it was cool!"

Ash was about to speak again, but was stopped when Nurse Joy came up to their table.

"Ash, I'm sorry to bother you, but you have a phone call," she said.

"Oh, okay. I'll get it in a second. Thanks." Ash nodded.

Ash excused himself and hurried over to the phone booth where the call was on hold. He picked it up and looked at the screen. His face went pale when he was now looking back at his mother who looked livid. He swallowed and gave a nervous smile at his mother as he tried to think of a way to start the conversation.

"Hey, Mom!" Ash smiled. "Smooth one, genius!"

"Hey, Mom? Is that seriously what you say to your mother after you almost get yourself killed on international TV?" Delia snapped back.

"I'm sorry?" He tried again.

"You're lucky I'm not there with you now or so help me I'd smack you silly!"

Ash took a quick look over his shoulder and he could see that he was drawing the attention of other people. He then looked over at Brock, Serena and Shauna who had heard his mother's voice from their table. Brock mouthed if everything was alright to which he shook his head and then glared when he laughed. His face flushed in embarrassment and he turned back to the screen and lowered his voice.

"Look, Mom, I'm sorry. You have every right to be mad…" Ash said.

"Damn straight I do!" Delia replied.

"And I deserve the reprimanding talk, but can you please lower your voice?"

Delia's face softened a little bit, but her glare stayed. Ash could only scratch the back of his head as his mother continued scolding him through the phone. Her anger subsided after ten minutes and was then replaced with a calmer demeanor. She took a deep breath and then smiled at him.

"If you ever do that again, I'll bring you back home myself. Do I make myself clear?" She said sweetly.

"Yes, Ma'am," Ash replied.

"Good boy. Now, tell me, did Brock find you?"

"Yeah, he met up with me yesterday. I also won my first badge."

Ash took out the badge he got and showed it to her.

"That's great! Have you caught any new Pokémon?" Delia smiled.

"Yeah, I caught two." Ash nodded.

"Wow, two already? You're moving fast."

"Well, I figured it would be a good way to strengthen my chances at winning the league this time."

Delia nodded at that. She knew that Ash had been discouraged about his performance in the Unova League, especially after he lost to Cameron who had beaten him with one less Pokémon. He was sick of choking in the biggest battles and the only way to stop was to be more prepared.

"So where are you heading next?" Delia asked.

"I'm heading to Cyllage City next," Ash answered. "That's where the next gym is."

"Well, I know you'll do just fine. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll succeed."

"Thanks, Mom."

"Is there anything else you wanted to talk about before I let you go?"

Ash thought about it for a moment and spared a quick glance at Serena. What she said earlier had festered on his brain and it bothered him that he could not remember her. He turned back to his mother.

"Mom, I bumped into a girl today," he began.

"Oh? Was she cute?" Delia teased back.

"Mom…"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't resist."

"Anyway, she said she knew me from a long time ago."

"What was her name?"

"Serena."

Delia's head perked up and she nodded. She knew who he was talking about. She remembered Serena because she always hung out with Ash that summer at Professor Oak's camp. Serena originally lived in Viridian City, but moved at the end of that year with her mother to Kalos. Ash was upset when Serena left and kept asking her why she left, but she only said that it was because of her mother. In time, Ash had gotten over her departure and his memories of her were buried and forgotten.

"Ah, I remember her." Delia smiled.

"You do? Because I don't," Ash said with a frown, "she asked me if I remembered her and I felt bad when I said I didn't."

"You haven't seen her in years, honey."

"Do you remember anything about her?"

"Well, the one thing I remember is that she always wore that straw hat."

Ash felt his brain jumpstart after hearing that. Since he first saw Serena, his mind continued to flash back to a young girl wearing a straw hat. The girl had been crying under a tree, but until now he could not figure out how that connected to Serena. Now that he realized the girl he had been remembering was her all along, he tried to remember everything he could about her.

"Did that help?" Delia asked.

"Yeah, it did. Thanks, Mom!" Ash grinned.

"Good. I'll talk to you later, honey!"

With that, Delia hung up. Ash hung up his phone and walked back to the table. Now that he was starting to remember Serena, he did not want her to tell him anything about their past. He wanted to figure it out and remember her on his own terms.

"Are we ready to head out?" Ash asked.

"Actually, Shauna wanted to ask you something," Brock replied.

"What was that?"

Ash turned to Shauna and saw her shuffling her feet nervously.

"I want to learn to battle, so…" Shauna said slowly, "would you be willing to battle me?"

Ash was not one for turning down a challenge, but after giving a quick look to Serena, he hatched a better idea. While he could battle Shauna, he felt it would be best for her to battle someone with the same experience as her. He and Brock would be more than willing to teach them both along the way.

"I could, but I think you should battle Serena," Ash replied.

"Really?" Shauna tilted her head.

"Yeah. You both are just starting out, so it would be better for you to challenge someone on your level."

Shauna tapped her chin and looked at Serena while she mulled over his words. She finally shrugged and nodded. She turned to Serena and gave a confident grin while Serena looked a little nervous.

"What do you say, Serena?" Shauna held up Chespin's ball. "Wanna' battle?"

"I, uh…" Serena began, sparing Ash a look.

She only saw Ash smiling back. He then nodded at her to give her encouragement. A moment ago she was hesitant to accept Shauna's challenge, but now that she saw Ash had faith in her, she stilled her nerves and found her resolve.

"You're on!" Serena smirked back.

The four of them were soon in the backyard of the Pokémon Center. There was a large, open training field available for Shauna and Serena to have their first battle. Before they took their spots, Ash and Brock gave them a quick lesson with one on one battles. The rules that applied for their battle was the standard for others. There would be no time limit and the winner would be the one whoever had Pokémon remaining. Ash and Brock went to the side of the field where they would spectate and referee the match.

Shauna and Serena both had the Poké Ball of their starter in their hand and were ready to send them out to fight. When Brock nodded at them to begin, both of them released their balls.

"Let's go, Chespin!" Shauna cheered.

"Fennekin, you're up!" Serena shouted.

The balls opened with Chespin appearing in front of Shauna and Fennekin appearing in front of Serena a second later. Chespin had a confident and cocky look on his face whereas Fennekin's was one of curiosity. Both Pokémon and trainer stared each other down before making their first moves.

"Chespin, use Tackle!" Shauna pointed at Fennekin.

Chespin lowered his head and charged as fast as he could at Fennekin who watched him calmly.

"Fennekin, watch out!" Serena warned.

Fennekin jumped to the side and easily dodged Fennekin's attack. Now facing Chespin's back, Serena gave her next command. Her mind kept referring back to Ash and Tom's fight against Greg and Terry. She watched how all of them battled and wanted to apply what she saw to her battle.

"Now use Ember!" Serena yelled.

Fennekin lined up her shot at Chespin and opened her mouth. A dozen small flames shot at Chespin.

"Break it up with Vine Whip!" Shauna ordered quickly.

Chespin wheeled around and two, thick green vines extended from his back and swatted at each of the flames. Once the flames had been extinguished, the vines then darted at Fennekin. They were too fast for Fennekin to dodge and she squirmed after they wrapped themselves around her. Chespin slammed Fennekin into the ground before throwing her away.

Fennekin pushed herself back up gingerly and sent a hard glare back at Chespin who merely smirked. She snarled and ran forward without waiting for a command from Serena.

"Fennekin, wait!" Serena hollered.

Her cry fell on deaf ears and Fennekin jumped at Chespin. Chespin lowered his head and her blocked Fennekin's wild swipes with his horn. He jumped back and put room between them again.

"Use Tackle!" Shauna yelled.

"Fennekin, use Ember!" Serena quickly countered.

Fennekin managed to get her attack out quicker. The small embers pelted Chespin and he raised his arms to defend his face. By putting his arms up, it left him exposed for another attack which Serena and Fennekin took.

"Now hit him with Scratch!" Serena shouted, growing more confident.

Fennekin lunged forward with her paws back and her sharp nails gave two quick slashes. The first set of claws raked against Chespin's chest and the second pair dragged down his arms.

"Hit Fennekin with Tackle!" Shauna clenched her fists.

As the fight carried on between Chespin and Fennekin, Ash and Brock observed the battle silently. Both of them were fairly impressed at how quick the girls were able to pick up the concept of battling. Even though this was their first battle, it was as though they had prior experience. Both of them were evenly matched and the fight kept going back and forth with no clear winner in sight.

Chespin dashed forth and managed to slam his head into Fennekin and lift her into the air. He then swung a thick vine and lashed her across the back, sending her to the ground. Fennekin hit the ground with a hard thud and squirmed in pain.

"Alright, let's end it with Tackle!" Shauna beamed.

Chespin ran at Fennekin again who managed to push herself back up. He could see Fennekin giving him a cold look in return.

"Fennekin, use Tail Whip!" Serena yelled.

Fennekin spun around and swung her tail at Chespin. Her tail gave a loud crack as it hit the ground and made Chespin come to a grinding halt. The attack managed to throw him off and startle him. Fennekin jumped at Chespin with her claws out and slashed at him again. Chespin took another hit from the claws and narrowly dodged the second one.

"Use Vine Whip!" Shauna's brow furrowed.

"Finish it with Ember!" Serena shouted.

Chespin and Fennekin stared each other down and attack each other again. Chespin's vines shot at Fennekin, and another wave of embers flew at Chespin. Both attack went by each other and straight for their targets. Both of them wanted the fight to end here. The vines struck Fennekin hard and the flames burst upon hitting Chespin. Both of them swayed before falling to the ground.

"This match is a draw!" Brock announced.

Serena and Shauna hurried forward and scooped up their partners. They were proud of how they performed in their first battle, despite the fact neither of them won. The two friends looked at each other and smiled.

"That was a good battle, Serena," Shauna said, holding out her hand.

"Yeah. You and Chespin did great!" Serena shook her hand.

"Both of you did well," Brock said.

Brock unslung his bag and rummaged around inside for something. He pulled out a cloth and some ointment to treat Chespin and Fennekin. While he went to work on Chespin and talked to Shauna about her battle, Ash took the time to talk to Serena who he noticed looked a little dejected.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked.

"Nothing," Serena said with shake of her head, "I just wish I could have done better."

Ash was surprised to hear her say that. He was impressed with how Serena performed with Fennekin for her first battle. Even though she did not win, she did not lose either and he would have taken a draw over a loss any day.

"Don't be so hard on yourself." Ash crossed his arms. "For your first battle you did great!"

"But I didn't win." Serena frowned.

"No, but you didn't lose either."

"I guess…"

Ash and Pikachu shared a look. He was trying to think of a way to cheer Serena up and wished she could be happier with herself. His mind then clicked as he figured out a way to cheer her up.

"Would it help if I told you I lost my first real battle?" Ash asked.

"You did?" Serena asked.

"Yeah."

"Who did you lose to?"

Ash smiled and then nodded at Brock who finished patching up Chespin. He chuckled when Serena looked back and forth between the two of them. Brock was the first true person he battled. He did not count his victory over Team Rocket back in Viridian City and he did not count his battle with the samurai in Viridian Forest since they never finished it. Brock was the first person he battled he lost, badly.

"So take it from someone who lost their first battle. It's just one battle and there are always more to be had," Ash said.

"I guess you're right. It could have been worse." Serena giggled.

Brock came over to them and tended to Fennekin. It did not take him long to clean Fennekin's injuries up and once he finished, he packed his supplies away and gave Fennekin a small twig.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I say we get a move on to Cyllage City!" Ash grinned.

"Good idea. We still have a lot of daylight and we can make some good progress with it." Brock agreed.

The group left out of the southwest gate and began their trek down Route Five. There were some villages between Lumiose and Cyllages City that they would pass through with the main one being Camphrier Town. The small town was known for its sightseeing attraction, the Parfum Palace. Although Ash wanted to get to Cyllage City fast, he knew he had to have fun along the way and felt it would be good to tour the castle when they got to Camphrier Town.

Shauna had become enamored with Brock's stories from his and Ash's past journeys. While she listened intently to Brock, it gave Ash some time to talk to Serena. He spared her a quick glance and remembered what his mother told him earlier. She used to wear a straw hat when they were younger and that fact alone made him realize the girl under the tree he kept thinking about was her.

Now that his memory was starting to come back to him, he did not want her reminding him about their past. He wanted to remember it for himself. He took a shot and looked at her again.

"So whatever happened to that straw hat you used to wear?" Ash asked.

"Wait, you remember that?" Serena replied, looking hopeful.

"Sort of. When I saw you earlier today you reminded me of this girl wearing a straw hat and crying under a tree."

Serena's face lit up and she smiled broadly. He did remember her after all. She was about to start telling him the story of how they met, but was stopped when he held up a hand.

"Don't tell me anything about our past together," Ash said.

"Why? You said you remembered me." Serena crossed her arms.

"I am starting to remember, but I want to remember you on my own power. When I do, then we will talk about everything."

Ash only laughed when Serena gave a pout and turned away. She was not happy about being denied like that, but regardless, she would respect his decision.

"Are you two gonna' stare at each other all day?" Shauna called back with a smirk.

Ash raised a brow at Shauna's question, unsure of why she asked that. However, if he had been looking at Serena, he would have seen her face was brick-red with embarrassment. Serena shot a sharp glare at Shauna who just stuck her tongue out and hurried away with Serena giving chase a second later. Brock turned to Ash with a slightly confused look on his face.

"What was that about?" Brock asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Ash shrugged back.

I think we'll leave the chapter there. Sorry if it's short, but I find shorter chapters makes it easier for me to keep track of everything and I feel it helps me with quality. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it. I will update when I can, but like I said, real life is a bitch. Check out the statements below and until next time, I'll see you later- CaptainPrice

1.) Awesome job with the critique last chapter. That's what I like to see and what we need to start doing for all the stories we read. That whole "Awesome!", "Update soon!", "Great Update/Chapter!" is a bullshit review. If I offended anyone who writes those kinds of things as a review, then tough. I'm being real here and honestly, this is the biggest thing I agree with 0 Jordinio 0 on.

2.) The Super Bowl is coming up and I am stoked that Ohio State brought the first College National Title home to the Big 10 Conference. So hopefully my Packers get to the Super Bowl and win it this year.