A/N: Here we go again, guys! Chapter 3 of the Reborn Serene Phoenix! Before we start, I got 1 announcement and 1 question. First, I have decided on the final Main Cast. It will be Ash, Serena, Brock and Shauna travelling together. Brock and Shauna were the ones with the most votes and I think I can really get those four characters to work well together.

Now for the Question of the day! What do you want should hatch from Ash's egg? I haven't actually made up my mind yet, so I am asking you guys for your thoughts on it! You can suggest any one of the 700+ Pokemon in existance, including legendaries (though I am critical to having a legendary hatch from it, it can never hurt to try and persuade me, eh?). That's all for now and I hope you will enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I still don't own this.

Chapter Three: Kalos, here I come!

It was early in the morning when the plane that Ash, Brock and Alexa were travelling with finally began to lower down towards the ground. By the window, the youngest out of their little trio was glued to the glass, eyes filled with childish excitement. The yellow rodent on his shoulder mirrored his trainer's actions by pressing his face against the windowpane and waving his tail to show how excited he was to get to the new region.

In the seat next to Ash and Pikachu, Brock was still sleeping loudly. While he too had been excited to get to a new region when they were talking about it during the flight, he didn't have Ash's stamina and youthful energy driving him like some kind of perpetual machine. He had dozed off somewhere around 23.00 last night and hadn't awoken since, unlike Ash who had woken up almost an hour ago. Even Alexa was starting to stirr, sitting closest to the path with Helioptile snoozing in her lap, but she was far from as enthusiastic as Ash.

"I can hardly believe it! We're finally here!" Ash said with excitement in his voice.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu agreed.

Beside them, the former Gym Leader stirred at the excited voice next to him. Removing his blindfold, Brock looked over towards his two companions with a groan. He yawned and stretched out before putting the blindfold back in place to try and go back to sleep.

"Will you two keep it down? Some of us are trying to get some sleep here." he said, though he knew full well that there was no use. Now that he was back on the road again, early mornings would be customary. If his current mood was any indication, he had definetely gotten too comfortable while he was at home doing his individual studies.

Ash turned to his old friend and stared at him with dismay, not really believing what he was hearing. Brock was complaining about early mornings? Wasn't that usually the additional female group member's duty? Misty, May and Dawn had all complained about their early schedule at some point during their travels, but Brock had always just went with it.

"Oh, come on Brocko! We'll land in Kalos in just a few minutes and you want to sleep?" he said in exasperration.

The older boy just grunted and turned away in his seat, though he knew it was futile. If they were going to land soon, he wouldn't have the time to go back to sleep now anyway. But... he felt so comfortable underneath his blanket...

"He is right you know." Alexa said as she gently nudged Helioptile to wake the little reptilian pokemon from its slumber. "You might as well get up, so you're ready to go when the plane have stopped."

Sighing again and trying to stiffle a yawn, Brock gave in and straightened out his seat, before removing the blindfold he used to keep the light out of his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head like a wet dog to try and shake off some of the morning drowsiness, with some limited success. To his right, Ash was watching as the ground got closer and closer with excitement while Pikachu had opted to jump down into his trainer's lap, instead of staying on his shoulder.

Brock looked over Ash shoulder, just as the landing wheels connected with the ground and a entire plane trembled from the sudden resistance from underneath. As soon as they felt the plane come to a stop, people all around them were beginning to gather up their stuff, hoping to leave as soon as the gates opened. Ash, Brock, Alexa and their Pokemon opted to take their time, knowing that there would be a while before they could get out anyway.

When people had begun to leave, Alexa rose from her seat and reached up above their heads to get down their bags. Brock stood up and accepted his and Ash's bag, the latter of which he handed to the young boy by the window, before sitting down again to wait for the crowd in the corridor to thin out a little. Unfortunately for him, the still sleepy Helioptile, whom Alexa had placed on the armrest between her and Brock when she stood up, had rolled over and fallen onto Brock's seat while the latter had stood up to accept his and Ash's bags. So when he sat back down, he sat right on the poor Helioptile.

"Rrrrriioooooppt!" the reptilian Pokemon screamed as it released a Thundershock, suddenly fully awake.

Brock yelped in pain and quickly shot up, out of his seat. As soon as he did, Helioptile was quick to escape just a second later, he was running up Alexa's leg, eventually settling on her waistpack, hiding behind her back. Still sparkling slightly from the Generator Pokemon's attack, Brock fell back into his seat with a groan, his limbs twitching as he did.

"Alexa... that little reptile of yours is dangerous..." he choked out.

The Pokemon Journalist put her hands on her hips and stared down Brock, who was starting to get the shocks out of his system. However, despite the stern look she was trying to give him, an amused smile tugged at her lips.

"Well, you probably wouldn't be too happy either, if someone just randomly sat at you." she said in defense of her Pokemon.

At this point, Ash had finally decided that staring out the window was no longer enough and wanted to get out. However, when he turned around he found Brock lying limp in his seat, a few sparks still coming off him. The younger boy blinked in confusion and immediately looked down at Pikachu in his lap, but the rodent was quick to shake his head in denial of any involvement in putting Brock in his current condition.

"Did I miss something? Brock's looking a bit weird..." Ash asked, looking at Alexa, causing the Journalist to giggle and just wave her hand dismisevly.

In his seat, Brock groaned in silent despair. 'Why me?' he thought as he finally felt the numbness disappear. However, he didn't have a long time to sulk over his own bad luck, as just then the voice in the speakers requested that the remaining passengers leave the plane within the next 5 minutes, as they needed to clean out the seats and corridors before the next flight.

Ash was not late to comply and as soon as Brock had stood up so that a clear path opened up for him, he darted towards the exit in excitement. He knew that he was being childish, but right now he didn't care. Everyone could be allowed to have their childish moments once in a while. Therefore, as soon as he reached the exit and looked down on the open asphalt that made up the airfield around them, he took a deep breath and stretched out his arms towards the skies.

"Heeeeeey Kalos Region! Ash from Pallet Town is finally here!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing many weird looks from the people who were gathered down below on the asphalt.

In that moment, Alexa and Brock caught up to him. Hearing his declaration, Alexa couldn't help but giggle in amusement, while Helioptile poked his head out from his sacnuary in Alexa's bag, where he had taken refuge from Brock. There definetely was some credit to what N had said, Ash truly was a one of a kind person. Brock, finally completely awake from being shocked by Helioptile, just grinned in amusement. Though he would never admit it to his face, he had really missed Ash's childish antics.

"What's with all the yelling?" Alexa laughed as Ash drew another deep breath to regain the air he had lost from shouting.

Behind her, Brock straightened his grip on his backpack as he carefully took a step away from Alexa now that he saw that Helioptile was out again. Helioptile's shocks were nothing compared to Pikachu's, but that didn't mean they were pleasant. If he could avoid them, then he would.

"It's just his way of saying 'hello'." he answered with a grin, doing his best to ignore the look Helioptile gave him upon noticing his prescence.

As Ash stood on top of the steps, he felt his heart beat faster and faster. In front of him, Lumiose City was spread out and by extension, the entire Kalos region. Standing there, he felt that same strange feeling return that he had felt before they left Kanto. That same feeling that this journey would be different from his earlier trips, that this journey would be special somehow. He didn't know why he felt it or what was triggering it, it was just there. Feeling his excitement build even more at the thought of this journey being special, Ash took one big step to start his time in the Kalos region. And overdid it a little, resulting in him losing his balance and falling down the stairs. He landed hard on the concrete.

Alexa was quick to get down the stairs to check on him. Brock however, just sighed and took his time, knowing that Ash would be ok. He had survived much worse falls than that without a scratch.

"Are you ok Ash?" Alexa asked worriedly as she pulled him into a sitting position.

Ash groaned and carefully tried out his limbs and rolled his shoulders to ensure that nothing had been broken during the fall. Why was he even bothering? If Team Rocket could survive getting shocked by thousands of volts by Pikachu's Thunderbolt on a daily basis, then he should have no problem taking a little fall down some stairs.

"Yeah, I think so." he said as Pikachu retook his place at his shoulder, having fallen off when Ash fell.

Just then, Brock had descended the stairs and had come up to stand with his two friends. He looked down at Ash on the ground for a moment, before he reached down with his hand to pull his friend to his feet.

"Now who's looking weird?" he said with a grin as he helped Ash get back up.

Ash grunted and glared at the former Kanto Gym Leader.

"Oh, haha. Very funny." he said with an angry voice, though the smile on his face betrayed him.

Now that they all had arrived safe and sound in Kalos (ah well, at least one of them had managed to arrive without any funny incidents), it was time to decide what to do first. Ash immediately began psyching himself up for a Gym battle, but Brock reminded him that Professor Oak had told them that they should go see an acquintance of his, Augustine Sycamore, before they did anything else.

Professor Sycamore would supply Ash with a Kalos Pokedex. Since Kalos was so far away from Kanto, Professor Oak didn't have much data on Kalos native pokemon, so they figured it would be easiest for Ash to simply ask Professor Sycamore for one. With that thought in mind, Ash and Brock decided to go look for the Sycamore Pokemon Lab. Alexa said she wanted to go back home to Santalune City to meet with her sister. Remembering that Alexa's sister was a Gym Leader, Ash had her promise to make sure she had time for his challenge when they got there. With that, Alexa left them and headed out of town.

Though he would never admit it, Brock felt secretly glad that Alexa had left so that Helioptile wouldn't be able to shock him again. After grabbig a map of the city from a tourist stand, Brock managed to succesfully navigate his way to the Sycamore Pokemon Lab.

"It kind of looks like a mansion." Ash commented as they looked up at the impressive building in front of them.

"Yeah, it does, actually." Brock agreed as he double checked the map.

On Ash's shoulder, Pikachu also nodded his agreement as he stared up at the building. After having spent a few moments marvelling at the sight, Ash went up to the door and knocked. While he waited to be let inside, Brock came up to stand beside him. When no one opened, Ash reached out and tried the door to find that it was unlocked. Shrugging, he opened it and went inside.

"Hello? Is anybody home?" he called.

The entrance hall was pretty large and the inside furniture was red. There were apparently two floors you could reach from here, the ground floor of course, and then a second floor which could be reached by going up two sets of stairs in the farther part of the room. As Ash and Brock looked around the entrance hall, a man came into view from a corridor to the right. He had black hair and was wearing a white labcoat, the typical sign of a Professor.

"Hello. And who might you be?" he asked with a tired voice, while trying to striffle a yawn. He had obviously been taking a nap just before they got here, which would explain why no one had answered the door.

"Hi. I'm Ash from Pallet Town and I've come all the way from the Kanto region to compete in the Kalos League. My friend back home, Professor Oak, said I should visit Professor Sycamore so I could get a Kalos Pokedex." Ash introduced himself.

Hearing this, the Professor suddenly seemed a lot more awake than he had been just a few moments ago.

"Well, that would be me." he said as he studied the young teenager in front of him. So this was the "Star Pupil" that Professor Oak always bragged about on the annual Pokemon Scientific Get-Together.

The young trainer immediately stepped forward and held out his hand to shake, which Professor Sycamore took. The other young man in the background also stepped forward and introduced himself as Brock. When introductions were done, Professor Sycamore invited them into his laboratory to see his research. Ash, Brock and Pikachu were excited to see what this Professor was doing, as each Professor they had met had a different subject of study, eagerly accepted and followed the older man deeper into the lab.

-X-X-X-

"You're kidding, right?!" Shauna exclaimed.

Serena giggled at her friends loudness and the face she was currently doing. It gave a pretty good reflection of what went through Shauna's mind and what she was feeling, almost as if it was a window towards Shauna's inner feelings, which currently were somewhere between shocked, disbelieving and jealous. The two friends were sitting at a small café in Aquacorde Town, talking about random stuff. No longer being able to hold it in, Serena had told Shauna about her recieving a Pokemon and as she had expected, Shauna had been gobsmacked.

"Nope. I called the Professor this morning and he said that he would send someone over right away. The Pokemon should arrive in 1 to 2 days." Serena said with a smile, barely able to contain her own excitement.

To be honest, she didn't really know why she was feeling this excited. Sure it was going to be awesome to have her own Pokemon and leave on a journey, but there was something else about it too. Somewhere deep inside her, she had this strange feeling that something very special was about to happen, something that would change her life forever. Well, even more than recieving a Pokemon and leaving her home would, if that was even possible. Perhaps she was reading too much into it, but she just couldn't shake the feeling.

While she was thinking about this, Shauna seemed to have built up a big load of different emotions inside of her because it looked like she was about to explode at any given second, not to mention the extremely entertaining face she was currently showing off.

"Aaaah! It's just not fair! How come you get to go on a journey and see new places and meet all kinds of different people and Pokemon while I will be stuck at home, babysitting my nuisance of a little brother for the rest of my life?!" Shauna screamed in frustration and threw her clenched fists into the air in a dramatic way.

Serena half expected the café owner to throw them out because of Shauna's outburst, but all they recieved were a few glances from the surrounding tables. She guessed that by now, the people of Aquacorde Town had known Shauna for too long to even bother try to discipline her. A few years back, something like this would probably have cause an uproar from their surroundings, but by now they were too used to Shauna's antics to really bother. Vaniville and Aquacorde were both very small towns after all.

By now, Shauna had began drinking from her milkshake at an alarming rate to try and cool down her frustration. Serena almost thought she could see steam rise from the hot headed girl's head when the cold milkshake entered her mouth. Knowing that her friend was not done yet, Serena simply waited for her to start round two. And once finished with her milkshake, Shauna opened her mouth again.

"I mean, why does your life have to be so perfect?! You got a mother that are world famous and got enough money to spoil you senseless, you are the most beautiful girl in 2 towns and the top of every boy's list of dream girlfriends and now you get your own Pokemon as well! It just isn't fair!" Shauna hollered.

Hearing her friend count all the things that made her life "perfect", Serena couldn't help but become a little annoyed. Yes, her family was pretty well off but to say that her mother had enough money to "spoil her senseless" was a little bit of an exagerration. Sure, her mother's career as a Rhyhorn Racer had allowed her to live a decently wealthy life, but money couldn't buy happiness. She had experienced that the hard way when she was separated from Ash! Yes, she was not bad looking, but there was many other girls around these parts that were just as pretty as she was, Shauna included, and even IF she was on top of many boy's "lists of dream girlfriends", Serena was not interested in getting a boyfriend. And now that she was to get a pokemon, what was keeping Shauna from trying to convince her mother to let her leave now that Serena had gotten permission to go?

"My life is far from perfect and you know it, Shauna!" Serena hissed with a sharp tone in her voice.

Shauna immediately froze when she heard the sharp tone in Serena's voice. Her voice was usually soft and kind, so when it did take on a more threatening tone, you knew you had went too far. And indeed, when Shauna looked over at Serena, the honey-blonde girl was sitting with her arms crossed in front of her chest with a tick mark on her forehead and glared back at her with a sharp look in her eyes.

"I... I'm sorry Serena. I didn't mean it." she tried to apologize when she realized what she had just shouted.

Serena kept glaring at Shauna for a few moments, causing her to twist uncomfortably under her gaze, before taking a deep breath and let out a sigh, seemingly allowing her anger to blow out with the sigh.

"It's ok Shauna. I just got angry when you said all those things, because you know that I don't really care about money and even downright dislikes it when boys try to flirt with me." Serena said with a more soft voice.

Shauna hung her head in shame. Yes, she knew that all too well. Serena had never boasted about her family's wealth and the only time you could really notice that Serena happened to have more money than other inhabitants of Vaniville Town was when she was out buying christmas or birthday gifts, where she didn't need to worry as much about the price tag as when Shauna did the same.

And even though she had been popular among boys ever since she moved into the neighbourhood, Serena had always made a point for them to stay at arms length. Shauna had once joked that Serena wanted to keep the other boys away because she felt she "still belonged to Ash", but her friend had denied it with passion, even though she had been blushing furiously at the same time. And now when Serena was to get a pokemon, something she actually wanted for once, Shauna had blown up at her, saying that it was unfair while she should be happy that for once, Serena actually got something she herself really wanted and not something that anyone else wanted. Well, some friend she was...

Seeing that her friend had realized her mistake, Serena softened up a little and reached over to grab her hand. Shauna looked up in surprise when she felt Serena's comforting touch. That was not something she had expected after the way she had just behaved towards her friend.

"But hey, remember there is going to be 3 pokemon sent here for me to choose from? If we can get your mother to agree, then perhaps you can take one of the 2 remaining pokemon when I have picked mine and we can both leave on our journey. Maybe she will be more willing to agree to it if she knows that we will be travelling together?" Serena suggested, the thought of having Shauna along for the ride making her feel a little less nervous about this whole 'leaving home' thing.

The brown haired girl blinked in surprise at the suggestion. Serena wanted her to get out on a journey too? Even after what she had said? Even though she sometimes tended to let her mouth run off without thinking about what she was saying? However, it really did sound like a good idea!

"That would be wonderful!" Shauna cooed as her eyes took on a dreamy look.

Serena chuckled and leaned back to take another zip of her own milkshake. She looked up towards the sky and felt happy that they had solved their little argument so quickly. She and Shauna rarely argued, even though she tended to get irritated when her friend let her mouth run off. Even though she and Shauna didn't share each other's views on what was important in the world or, like in this case, what was "fair", Shauna was still her best friend in the Kalos region. She would never replace Ash, no one would be able to do that, but if she had to make a list of best friends, Shauna would come in as a close second.

As she thought about the boy who had had such a huge impact on her life, even after they split up, Serena unknowingly reach inside her pocket with one of her hands and touched the blue handkerchief that she had there. Perhaps, now that she was going to leave on a journey, she would meet him again some day? If Ash was also on a journey, then it was possible they would get closer and closer to each other until one day, they ran into each other somewhere. How would that feel? To stand in front of him again? Would he still be the same? Would she still be the same?

"C'mon Serena, let's go!" Shauna shouted suddenly, bringing Serena out of her daydreaming.

"Hm?" was all Serena got out as she had just taken a zip of her milkshake.

Shauna had stood up and was pulling at Serena's arm, like a child trying to drag its mother over to the candy stand on a market place. As if her actions weren't enough, Shauna's eyes had taken on the same, hopeful sparkles that a child's eyes had when it was begging its mother for candy.

"If I am to get to leave on a journey with you, then we need to convince my mom that I can take care of myself! So come on, let's go home!" Shauna squealed excitedly as she tugged at Serena's shirt again.

However, Serena still had something she had to do before she could leave.

"Hey! You got to finish your milkshake so I want to finish mine too before we leave."

By now Shauna had given up on tugging at Serena's arm and was now standing a feet away, stomping with her foot on the ground like a big baby who wanted to get her favourite toy back.

"You can take it with you and drink it on the way back to Vaniville! Come on, come on! We don't have all day!" she hissed impatiently.

Sighing at her friend's antics, Serena stood up and followed the other girl. There was just nothing stopping Shauna when she got like this, so there was no use arguing about it. And besides, Shauna was right. They would need to get home soon if they wanted to talk to Shauna's mother before she began cooking lunch or the conversation was doomed to fail. With that thought in mind, the two girls headed back towards Route 1 to walk the path back towards Vaniville Town.

-X-X-X-

"Gar gar!"

While Serena and Shauna were making their way back to Vaniville Town, Ash, Brock and Pikachu had been invited into Professor Sycamore's lab. The Pokemon Professor had been very interested in to hear about Ash's previous journeys and particularly his bond and connection to his Pokemon. So the three of them had sat down for a cup of tea, while Sycamore's assistant Sophie was keeping an eye on the laboratory. They had just gotten to a specific part of Sinnoh when their little conversation had been interrupted by a large, purple dragon.

Ash and Brock, who had been unaware of Garchomp's prescence, jumped in their seats and Pikachu, who had half way through snatching another cookie from the cookie jar, suddenly tensed up at the sudden appearence of the larger Pokemon and took on a battle stance. Professor Sycamore, seeing his guests reactions to the Land Shark Pokemon, let out an amused laugh.

"It's okay. Garchomp's with me." he said as said Pokemon entered the room.

Looking around at the assembled group, Garchomp opted to just lay down beside Sycamore's armchair and rolled up into a ball, almost like a Meowth who was going to sleep for the night. Seeing the mighty behave like a little pet caused Ash to frown slightly. That was... unnexpected to say the least.

"Never mind Garchomp, you just picked his interest when you mentioned Celestic Town." Sycamore brushed it off as he reached down and patted Garchomp's head.

Ash, still too surprised at the sudden appearence of the mighty Dragon-type, just looked confused, not quite connecting the dots. Instead, it was Brock who realized something when he thought about Garchomp and Celestic Town.

"Are you saying that this Garchomp originated from Celestic Town, just like Cynthia's?" he asked, wondering if maybe the two Garchomps were related somehow.

Hearing Brock's question, Ash's eyes widened in realization, as he too made the connection. That's right, Cynthia was originally from Celestic Town! And Gible, Garchomp's lowest form, had been her starter, given to her by her family when she first set out on her journey! Could there be a connection between the two Garchomps?

Sycamore chuckled and leaned back in his armchair. Meanwhile, Pikachu had gotten over his initial shock and had made his way over to where Garchomp's head rested, looking at it from different angles. Feeling the rodent's eyes on him, Garchomp opened one of his eyes to look at Pikachu. The rodent tensed for a moment, but soon relaxed when he noticed that the dragon didn't seem to mind him too much.

"Indeed he does. He belongs to a young man named Axel, who also originates from Celestic Town, just like Cynthia." Professor Sycamore confirmed. He then cast a look towards Garchomp, who had happily entered a conversation in Poke-tongue with Pikachu. "In fact, this Garchomp is an offspring of Cynthia's Garchomp."

At this, Ash's eyes widened in surrpise. Brock too seemed to be surprised by this fact, though his eyes didn't exactly "widen".

"Really?"

"Yeah, this Garchomp here is actually still pretty young, hence why he can still be so... childish in certain ways. Axel and Cynthia are related through their shared grandmother, Karolina, so when Axel was about to start his journey, Cynthia gave him the Gible that hatched from her partner's egg." Sycamore explained.

Saying Ash was stunned by this fact would be an understatement. He hadn't even given a thought to the fact that Cynthia probably had relatives, other than Karolina, but come to think of it, it made sense. Of course she had other relatives, just that they probably didn't live in Celestic Town anymore. However, there was one question the lingered in his mind as he watched Garchomp interract with Pikachu.

"So, why is Garchomp here? Where's Axel?"

Sycamore crossed his arms over his chest and looked up into the ceiling. "Axel is travelling around Kalos right now. He was kind enough to allow me to borrow Garchomp while he was away, in order to further my research on Mega Evolution."

-X-X-X-

While Professor Sycamore was explaining his research about Mega Evolution to Ash and Brock, and Serena and Shauna were making their way back to Vaniville Town to try and persuade Shauna's mom to allow her daughter to join her friend on her journey, a boy in his late teens was making his way across the desert area that separated Lumiose City from Courmarine City. His black trenchcoat was flowing in the wind as he and his trusty Gogoat were pressing on, hoping to reach Lumiose before the end of day.

"Man, this sand's killing me. If I had known that this would be such a drag, I'd have just asked to transfer Braviary and Fly back to Lumiose." Axel complained to himself as he stopped and emptied his shoe from intruding sand for what had to be the 10th time since that morning.

Beside him, Gogoat grunted in reply, used to his trainer's complaints by now. However for once, Gogoat couldn't say that he completely disagreed. Pressing forward through all this sand wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, even for a Pokemon. Especially the sand that constantly found its way into Gogoat's eyes was irritating the Mount Pokemon.

However, despite their general dislike for the sand, the pair kept going slightly encouraged at the site of Lumiose City in the distance. But after a while, Axel finally decided that a break was in order when he spotted a large rock he could take shelter behind a large rock that would provide them with protection from the storm.

After settling down in the almost calm little area behind the rock and relieving Gogoat of his burden, Axel dropped down in the shadow of the large rock and leaned against the wall, relishing in the feeling of being able to relax his legs. Beside him, Gogoat folded up his legs underneath him and lay down, trying to relax some as well. In all honesty, Gogoat wasn't really tired, but enjoyed the feeling of being bag-less and being able to catch his breath a little, not to mention the abscence of that Arceus-forsaken sandstorm.

As he leaned back in his spot and looked up towards the sky, Axel couldn't help but feel like time had flown by. Having Gogoat carrying his bag and gear, not to mention riding him on occasion, sure made travelling a lot faster. It felt like it had been just yesterday he walked out through the Lumiose City gates and now he was coming back with 4 Gym Badges in hand. And speaking of Lumiose... man, would it be good to see Garchomp again! Come to think of it, Axel didn't think they had been separated this long anytime since the day they first met. If he thought back, he could still recall the feeling of holding that little infant Gible for the first time after Cynthia had given it to him...

"Goa!"

Gogoat's call brought Axel out of his thoughts. He sat up and stretched out, trying to ease the ache in some of his muscles, before turning to find that Gogoat was looking at him, before the Mount Pokemon pointed its head towards the bag that was lying next to him, in which the Pokemon Food was stored. Axel sweatdropped slightly at his pokemon's eagerness.

"Oh, c'mon! Why the rush? We got time, don't we? Let a man have his rest." Axel said, but he stood up nonetheless and made his way over to where Gogoat was standing by the food supplies.

Without another word, Axel began to set up his camping stove to cook something for himself and while the stove was heating up, he brought out 5 bowl and filled them with Pokemon food. For some reason, he still carried around Garchomp's Pokeball so that limited the total amount of Pokemon he could have with him to 5. He knew it was stupid, but having Garchomp's Pokeball around made him feel closer to his friend.

However, when Gogoat spotted the number of bowls that Axel had brought out, he gave off a disappointed "Go-goa!" and nudge his trainer with his horned head. Axel looked up at him for a moment with a questioning look before he realized his mistake.

'Right... I keep forgetting that Dedenne isn't with us any longer.' he thought for himself.

Up until just a little while ago, the little Antenna Pokemon had been a part of his Kalos team, but then they had come across this young girl whom Dedenne had gotten really attached to. Seeing how quickly the two of them had bonded, Axel hadn't had the heart to take Dedenne away from her and had given her Dedenne's Pokeball. Thinking about the pair, he wondered how they were doing. What was that girl's name again? Oh, right!

'Xion.' he thought as he remembered the raven haired girl who had cared so affectionately for Dedenne when said Antenna Pokemon had gotten lost in the forest and been unable to find his way back to Axel. 'I hope your taking good care of my friend.'

"Goa!"

Once more, Gogoat was the one to bring Axel out of his thoughts. He looked up, only to see that this time Gogoat was standing over by camping stove, motioning towards the heated plate with its hooth. Seeing that the stove indeed had heated up enough to start cooking, Axel smiled and made his way over to the Mount Pokemon.

"Thank buddy. I'll take it from here." he said as he gently shoved Gogoat out of the way.

Gogoat gave off a snorting noise, as if he was trying to say "As if I could have cooked you something in the first place". Axel sweatdropped slightly. Was he seriously talking to a goat? Actually, he didn't feel like answering that. Instead, he began to dig through what he had in his food supplies that could be cooked up fast, preferably something that wasn't a soup, as he didn't fancy a liquid meal when there was so much sand blowing all around them. When he finally settled on something, he just put it in the small frying pan and pulled out his 3 remaining Pokeballs to release his friends so they could eat while he was cooking. If they were done fast, he was confident that they would be in Lumiose before dusk.

-X-X-X-

"Mom! I got something to talk to you about!"

As Shauna made her prescence known at her home, Serena just sighed and walked in after the hyperactive girl. That was Shauna for you, she could never say anything in a normal tone of voice but just had to go and make a loud impression on everyone within a 3 miles radius. As they made their way to the kitchen, they found Shauna's mom cooking lunch by the stove while her younger brother, Sean, was sitting by the table with a laptop in front of him.

The young boy was apparently in the middle of a game of some sort as he didn't even look up to acknowledge his sister and her friend's prescence. Serena took one look at him and shook her head. What was with kids these days? When she had been 5 years old, she had been spending all her time outside, playing in the woods with Ash. Nowadays, kids always just wanted to sit by computers or play video games. Sure, they could be fun once in a while, but it wasn't something Serena would like to do on a daily basis or she would get bored. Apparently however, the kids these days didn't agree with her.

"Oh, you're already home? I thought you said you would be gone for the day, Shauna?" her mother asked from the stove.

Shauna shook her head as she made her way over towards his little brother and ruffled his hair affectionately, a clear sign that she was in a good mood. And just as usual when she did it, Sean tried to escape the ruffling, but failed as he didn't want to leave his computer game.

"Change of plans." Shauna said as she ruffled her annoyed brother's hair. "I had something I really needed to talk to you about."

Sean had now taken to trying to ignore his sister's antics, but was finding it hard. She eventually stopped ruffling his hair. Serena stood in the doorway and looked on. If Shauna was getting into an argument with her mother over her journey again, she didn't want to be in the line of fire, but she still wanted to be close if Shauna needed her to back her up. However, before Shauna could utter a word, a furious cry echoed through the kitchen, causing all three of the women to jump.

"LOOK! NOW I DIED! IT'S YOUR FAULT SHAUNA! YOU'RE MEAN!" Sean screamed as a sign saying "Game Over" appeared on his screen.

Blinking, as if trying to understand that he was actually talking to her, Shauna took a moment before she got red in the face.

"I didn't do that! You died because you really suck at that game! Quit blaming me all the time, you big baby!" Shauna retorted angrily, her temper flaring up.

As the two siblings got into a shouting match over whether or not Shauna was responsible for Sean losing his game, Shauna's mother caught Serena's eyes and waved her over. Casting a side along glance at the two fighting siblings, Serena could see that Shauna wouldn't get to ask her mother the question they had come here for anytime soon, so she entered the room and made her way over to the stove.

"Are you staying for lunch, Serena?" Shauna's mother managed to ask her over the argument that was still going on in the background.

Thinking that she might as well spend the day here at Shauna's house if they were going to try to persuade her mom to let her go, Serena accepted the offer and thanked her politely. Nodding in understanding, Shauna's mother turned back to the stove to finish the meal. Serena looked over towards the still arguing siblings and saw that Shauna had begun pulling at her pigtails in her frustration. That was a really bad omen. When Shauna pulled her pigtails, she was close to blowing up.

"Shauna! Didn't we come here for a particular reason?!" Serena interrupted with a sharp voice.

This caused both siblings to stop their arguing and turn to look at Serena. Behind her, Shauna's mother drew a sigh of relief that her children had stopped their argument. She had learned a long time ago that those two wouldn't listen to her even if she tried to break them up, so it was best just to let them get it out of their system, as long as it didn't go too far.

"Oh, right!" Shauna said as she stepped away from her brother and slowly made her way over to her mother.

Seeing his sister act nervous caused Sean to frown. He had never seen her consider her moves so carefully before. While Shauna tried to pick out the words she was going to use, Serena took a step away from the mother and daughter and instead walked over to where Sean was sitting. While the boy could be annoying at times, he was always nicer with her than he was with Shauna, possibly because Serena was a bit kinder towards him than his sister.

"Mom, I wanted to ask you..." Shauna began, but got cut off.

"You wanted to ask me if you could leave on a journey too, now that Serena is leaving?" her mother cut in.

Shauna's eyes widened in surprise that her mother knew and turned towards Serena, silently asking if she had told her while she and Sean had been arguing. However, Serena's eyes were as big as Shauna's. Sean also seemed surprised at hearing this and perked his ears to listen in on this conversation. After all, he himself wanted to become a Pokemon trainer when he got older.

"Grace called me to tell me that Serena had decided to go on a journey and she suggested it might be a good idea for you two to be travelling together." Shauna's mom said, her voice not betraying any hint of what she thought about this idea.

Hearing that, Serena frowned and began wondering if her mother perhaps was more worried about her going on a journey than she let on. So far, her mother had seemed very supportive of her going on a journey as, well, it had been she who initiated the contact with Professor Sycamore in the first place, but this made it out like she was worried about Serena's well being after all. But ah well, she wouldn't complain about it. In this case, it might even play out in their favour, since travelling together was exactly what they were planning.

Shauna had taken to looking at her mother with a hopeful gleam in her eyes. If Grace had called and talked to her about it, then surely she had to think it was a good idea? Maybe there really was some hope that she would get to go?

"So what do you think? Can I go?" she asked eagerly.

The entire room tensed up as Shauna's mother looked at her daughter. Serena leaned against a chair by the table while her eyes were fixed on the two women standing by the stove. Beside her, Sean was looking up at his mother expectantly. Over by the stove, Shauna was still looking at her mother with an excited gleam in her eyes. After a moment of studying her daughter, Shauna's mother sighed.

"You have matured since you were 10, but I'm not sure if you're ready yet. I'm just not sure if you would be able to handle it." she said with a reluctant voice.

In a matter of moments, Shauna's face went from shocked, to sad, to angry. Even from her spot by the table, Serena could see Shauna's eye twitch in annoyance at being treated like a little kid. Feeling that it was best to put out the fire before it spread, Serena decided to break in before Shauna could open her mouth. Getting into an argument wouldn't help her mother agree to let her go.

"But if we travel together, I will be able to keep an eye on her." she said quickly, getting the attention of the mother and daughter. "I promise I'll make sure that she won't do anything stupid." she added to underline her statement.

Shauna gave her a look of betrayal that made Serena cringe inwardly. Those menacing eyes... she would be hearing about this later. However, thankfully Shauna's wish to be allowed to travel overrode her urge to scold Serena for making her appear like an overgrown baby who couldn't take care of herself.

Her mother on the other hand was a different story. She was eyeing Serena cautiously, as if this was the first time she met her, taking in her appearance from head to toe, meassuring the likelihood that Serena would actually keep Shauna in check if they were to go on a journey.

"I'll think about it." she said shortly, before turning back towards the stove. "But I'll want to talk to whoever Professor Sycamore sends over before I make my final descision."

Serena sighed with relief. At least she hadn't downright refused the idea. That actually went better than expected, at least from Serena's point of view. However, one look at Shauna told her that her friend far from agreed with her on that point. The other girl's face was wrinkled with a sour look that made it obvious that her good mood from earlier had disappeared just as fast as it had come. What was worse, that sour look was directed, not towards her mother, but towards Serena. Feeling Shauna's betrayed gaze bore into her, Serena twisted on her chair while trying to give her friend an innocent look, but failed miserably. She knew just what her friend was angry about.

"So, you're going to become a Pokemon Trainer, Serena?" Sean's voice cut off Serena impending doom.

Thankful to have a good reason to turn away from her angry friend, Serena looked over at Sean who was looking at her with wonder in his eyes.

"Uhm, well I guess. At least, that's the plan." she said while scratching the back of her head.

Behind her, Shauna had made her way over the floor and sat down in a seat next to Serena. The honey blonde tensed for a moment, but Shauna settled for keeping up her angry glare at the back of the, in her opinion "traitorous girl's" head. Feeling as if her gaze was tearing a hole straight through her, Serena sincerely hoped that afternoon would come fast.

A/N: So that's the 3rd chapter, and the one with the most changes so far. I know this might not have been the best spot to end it at, but I wanted to get this up quick. I hope you enjoyed it and that you feel that I am doing a good job with this rewrite.

Yes, I did introduce an OC here. Two actually, if you count Xion, which I don't because she didn't actually make an appearance, she was just mentioned. Anyway, I want to make sure you understand that just because Axel's and Dusk's introductions might have some similarities, it doesn't mean that they are the same character. Axel will fill the spot that Dusk had in SPO, but he will not be the same. He has Garchomp and that's where it ends. He won't be recieving that same amount of screentime and he won't be Ash's main rival for this fic.

As for Xion, who was also mentioned, her role will be revealed later on. She, like Axel, is based off one of my favourite characters from Kingdom Hearts. I will get more into her when she have been properly introduced, which won't be for a while.

So, I want to once again ask: What do you think should hatch from the Egg that Ash was given by N? I gave him the egg to have an opening for something unnexpected, I haven't actually made up my mind about what should be in it. So if you got something you want to see hatch from that egg, feel free to tell me in a review or PM me! Until next time guys!