"You're serious?"

"Yep!"

Miette looked surprised for a moment, more in disbelief herself. She was a bit surprised Ash was going to be returning back to Kalos, especially seeing as her and Serena had been talking about it the previous day. It all seemed unbelievably convenient. But then she grinned. As far as she was concerned, this proved her correct. "Didn't I tell you he'd come back?"

Serena hadn't listened. She had been too excited to listen. She had instead been giggling happily to herself and clutching her tablet close to her chest. Since the previous night, she had been so excited she had had trouble getting to sleep due to her sheer anticipation. But she was getting ahead of herself. She still had to wait for him for another day or two. But her excitement couldn't just be contained like that.

"I guess that changes your plans?" Miette said, raising a quizzical eyebrow. Despite her skepticism and sarcastic remarks, she was truly happy for her friend.

"Yep~!" Serena replied to Miette with a smile.

"Changes mine too." Miette said with a huff, and placed one hand on her hip, and lightly bit her finger on her other hand. "Guess I'll come say hi too. Besides, I... Kinda have to apologise for the whole, y'know, flirting deal."

"I don't think Ash even noticed." Serena said, smiling at the memories. At the time, she had been angered and frustrated, but looking back, the events were quite comical.

"True, but do you think he'll be the same?" Miette inquired. "I mean, he could be a lot more... Perceptive? Or, I dunno, calmer?"

"He seems like the same Ash I know." Serena defended, holding the tablet to Miette for her to read.

Miette took hold of the tablet and scanned Ashs message, and Serena's over-enthusiastic text message reply. "That's just text though. It can be difficult to tell someone's personality via text." She said, handing Serena back her tablet. "Granted, I doubt he's changed too much, but still."

"But still, what?" Serena asked, with a raised eyebrow. It sounded like more like a demand than a question. For a second, it reminded Miette of the movies where a grunt would question his Yakuza boss.

Miette made a hissing noise as she sharply inhaled. "I dunno, just, be prepared for that I guess. He does seem like the same Ash, but heck, look at the structure of his message even. I doubt Ash two years ago would have given such a structured message."

"So maybe he matured a bit." Serena put forward. "Haven't we?"

"Good point..." Miette conceded. "Well, I guess we'll see in a few days."

"I..." Serena sighed. "I know that he may have changed... It's been years since I last saw him. It would be stupid not to expect him to have changed a little. But... It's still gotta be the same Ash at heart, right?"

"Hey, I doubt he has actually changed much. I'm just saying, it is a possibility." Miette sighed, trying to make her friend feel better. For a brief moment, Miette wished she hadn't brought it up, but she then smirked. "I guess I'll come see him with you. Maybe I'll see how I feel~" She then burst out laughing at Serena's horrified expression. "I'm only kidding! You're so easy to tease!"

Serena sighed again, only this one was much louder, and more heavy that before. "Could we just... Set off, please?" She asked, now feeling more tired than she had been the previous night just by having this conversation.


In Lumious city that evening, a police officer patrolled around an old warehouse. The officer, called Kazuto, had been patrolling non stop for the last few hours, going in a huge circle around the building. At his side, his Pokemon partner, an Arcainine. He sighed and yawned, reaching for his radio. "Captain, this is Kazuto. Perimeter secured, over."

"Kazuto, this is the captain. Keep an eye out and check in on the next hour, Over" Came back the reply. Kazuto felt himself get that little bit more angry, but sighed. "Roger that, Captain. Out." He then put the radio on his belt. "Not like you haven't given me the exact same order the last five times I checked in, but whatever, not like I have to be up early."

His Arcainine sighed along with him. It was also tired of patrolling.

"Come on Arcanine. I'm getting some grub." Kazuto said with a loud yawn, making his way to a duffle bag he had brought with him. Inside it was full of preserving foods, including bread and a flask, full of coffee, just what Kazuto loved to have when on patrol. The bag had been tied and coded, so it would have been impossible to have had his foods taken from him. He typed in the code, and opened the bag, happily taking out the flask and bread.

"Arcainine, you mind?" He asked. His Arcanine nodded for him, and he placed the flask upright in the ground. His Arcainine used a very light flamethrower on the flask, enough to heat it up to a warm temperature for its partner. Kazuto smiled and took hold of the flask. "Thanks, Arcainine." Kazuto thanked, and now placing a bowl of Pokemon food in a dish for his partner. His partner Pokemon smiled and began to eat with speed and plenty of enthusiasm. Walking on patrol for five hours straight had built up an appetite that Arcainine needed to sate.

"Takin a break, are you, Kazuto?"

Kazuto shot up like a bolt of lightning in surprise, reacting to the ominous voice instantly and quickly, turning within half a second. Upon recognising the face of his friend, he relaxed. "Francis, I swear to god..."

Francis just laughed. "Sorry kid, was too great an opportunity."

"You sounded like the sergeant..."

"Like my impressions?"

"Not really." Kazuto sighed. "You hungry?" He threw over a bread ball to Francis, who caught it in his right hand.

"Bread?" Francis raised an eyebrow and walked over to sit next to the younger officer, "What, no butter or anything?"

"No need."

"Whys that? Isn't it boring?"

Kazuto took a bite of his bread. "Not eating it for the taste. The human brain can function so long as it has glucose, meaning I can stay awake for longer... And right about now, that's the only thing keeping me awake..."

Francis shrugged. "I don't see why we couldn't just have it with some jam, but whatever kid. You're quite the eccentric." He took a bite of his bread ball, which was surprisingly good. "So, how're you enjoying the force?"

Kazuto swallowed his mouthful of food and sighed. "Aside from these night shifts, yeah, I'm enjoying it."

"They get easier" Francis said. "You'll get used to them after a few more months."

"You mean I've got more of these to do?"

"Plenty."

Kazuto sighed heavily. "I hate night shift... Why're we even here, anyway?"

"You mean philosophically or..."

"No, I mean this warehouse, it's a three story building in Lumious City. Doesn't seem like anything important is in here, least not on the outside." Kazuto took a drink of his coffee before continuing his thought. "Far as I can tell, we're guarding the place from stray Rattata."

"Didn't you pay attention during the briefing?"

"I got called in by the captain last minute."

"I guess Harper couldn't make it." Muttered Francis. "Well, apparently there's a science team or something in the warehouse."

"And they need all this security?"

"Must be something big going down."

"No, no. No science team needs a police guard the size of a small army. This isn't big, it's freaking revolutionary." Kazuto said, biting his thumb. "But it looks like they won't tell us grunts that."

"Guess not." Francis said with a chuckle. "Well, I'm gonna get on patrol again. Don't wanna get caught by the sergeant. Trust me, that won't end well."

Kazuto scratched Arcainine behind the ears and sighed. "I suppose. Damn it..."

When Kazuto stood up, his entire body felt heavy. Like it would barely respond to what his brain commanded. Once he stood up, he had to literally fight his body to stay upright. A battle he couldn't win. He found himself crashing into the ground seconds after he had stood up, unable to move.

The same had happened to Francis. He couldn't move either. Pinned to the ground, by thin air, apparently.

A loud metallic thud slammed into the ground next to them. A looming figure accompanied the thud, acting tall, and mighty. "That enough Gravity. Bronzong, now use Hypnosis."

The last thing Kazuto saw before passing out to the hypnotic trance the move came with, was a small group of shadowy figures emerging from the bushes. Organised. Coordinated. Kazuto tried his best to see the face of the figure standing above him, but all he saw was his mouth. And the only thing that revealed was a sadistic smile. "Sweet dreams." The figure told him, before raising his foot, and dropping it into Kazuto's face. Blackness ensued.


The next morning, Lumiose City woke up to a smoke trail, leading up into the sky.


And so ends chapter two, Excitement. What's going on in Lumiouse City I wonder? Looks like you'll only find out if you stick around ^_^

Was really happy to see the positive responses to this fanfic. Glad to see you're all behind this one ^_^ I'm gonna try and surpass every other writer there is on with this one. Call it arrogant, I like to consider it ambitious. Thanks to your guys kind words, I have the ambition to really go for this one. This is gonna be a long one for you guys, a bare 15 chapter minimum.

Expect my next chapter next week. Either Monday or Wednsday most likely. Tuesday is my 17th, so Ima be relaxing and enjoying myself.

Either way guys, just a quite public announcement for you all. To the people who are really dedicated to my profile - Please calm down! I'm just a guy, you don't need to be so formal and apologetic to me when I dont answer, or you, as someone put it 'overstep your boundaries'. There isn't a single one of you out there I hate, or even feel remote anguish to, since the little "purge" we had. We're all friends here, no need to feel so formal to me. We're all good. I'm just glad you're all here for the ride ^_^

So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll be seeing you guys next time. See ya!