Hello everyone!

Thank you all for your reviews guys, I'm glad to know that a lot of you liked the first chapter of this story.

There are a few points I would like to clarify before continuing.

1. - Will Ash know about his mother's name? Yes, in fact, he will know around the third or fourth chapter.

1.5. – I think I explained already that Ash and Serena did in fact knew each other, and they were together for quite a while because in this story Serena used to live in Kanto, but I'll explain more about this while moving on the adventure.

2. - Ash's Unfezant is female? … Unfezant will be female for this story too, then… how did it happen? Magic! (:D)

2.5. – About females… Ash and Serena's relationship will not be smooth, of course they will get jealous but not over the edge, after all it is a Romance and Adventure story, keep that in mind. Anyway while this story has them as a couple from the beginning, once they start journeying there won't be too many fluffy moments… I'm allergic to the fluffy stuff… but it will have its own light romance.

3. - I don't really want to spoil you guys about Serena's goal, but I will say that is NOT performing, I think this is a bit late but this story is an Alternate Universe.

4. - About Greninja and Delphox… I really love this pair, I loved reading some fics where they were part of the story… I really don't want to spoil this, but it might not happen, why? Mostly because of Serena's goal.

5. - I'm surprised that none of you asked me why Ash had Serperior in Sinnoh if this Pokémon is an Unova native Pokémon, anyway it will be explained here, the difference is that Ash doesn't have a Torterra, he didn't caught Turtwig.

Overall I think you are going to love this story, mainly because I'm trying to make something original, or at least, that has not been seen in the stories that I've seen so far.

Now that all of this is cleared up, let's go with the main story.

I like dots! (D:)

Enjoy!

Surprises – Setting Goals.

Shauna and Calem were walking towards Serena's house, they had just heard their parents talk about a new family moving to their neighborhood and wanted to invite Serena to greet the newcomers.

The tanned girl had asked her mother about the new family, and she had told her that apparently one of the members was a guy about their age, maybe one year older, so she had told her boyfriend that maybe Serena would be able to move on from her crush with a guy that was on the other side of the world if she were to meet with him and actually click.

Calem wasn't so sure about this plan of her, his greatest concern was Tierno, he had been crushing hard on Serena, but she had never noticed his feelings, despite being so obvious, so hearing Shauna's plans he had gone with them to make sure that it didn't work.

Reaching Serena's home Calem knocked the door a few times, but nobody answered.

"Maybe she went to the forest, it is almost time for her 'daily trip to memory lane' after all" said the girl while turning around and making her way to the clearing they often visited.

"Yeah, and I have to tell her how I fell before it's too late!" said Tierno following the girl while Calem just gave a small sigh and shook his head slowly.

As they walked through the forest a Pikachu with a cap passed them by, followed by a Poliwag, this caught Calem's attention.

"Hey guys… did you see that?"

The other two looked around trying to spot whatever it was that Calem had seen, but they found nothing.

"Are you trying to scare me Calem? If you want me to cling to your arm you just have to ask" said Shauna with a sly smile.

Calem just chuckled a little and started walking "I have this strange feeling… that we are going to find something strange ahead… or at least a big surprise"

After a few minutes of walking through the forest they could see the clearing coming to view, Tierno was about to run there when Calem suddenly stopped him.

"What is…?" Tierno tried to ask but was interrupted at seeing Calem with a finger over his lips, signaling for them to be quiet.

Shauna, who was not one to be quiet, was about to speak when an unfamiliar voice made her shut down.

"… I missed you so much…"

Calem, Shauna and Tierno heard this and looked at one another…

"… I'm not letting you go again…"

Now Shauna's eyes widened, that was Serena's voice! Calem motioned for them to move careful while slowly making his way over to the clearing, being careful to not step over any branch.

After spotting a good bush to peer over, they were speechless at what was happening, Tierno even more than the others… there was a guy which they had never seen, kissing Serena on the lips, and holding her close to him.

But even more shocking were Serena's attempts to deepen the kiss and make it more passionate, Shauna had never, in the 6 months she had known Serena, though that she would have it in her to kiss someone so willingly and much less in the lips.

And it seemed like she was enjoying every minute of it, as her hands caressed his hair softly.

Tierno had seen enough and decided to make his presence known, Calem tried to stop him but it was too late, he had stepped over a twig and alerted the couple.

Serena and the mysterious boy turned around and saw the trio coming out of the bushes.

"What are you guys doing here?" Asked Serena a bit annoyed that her moment with Ash had ended.

Shauna looked at her and smiled "Hey! We were looking for you… heard that there was a new family around and we wanted to invite you to go over there and say hi"

Serena remembered that Ash's family was moving to Kalos and smiled "That's true, I still have to say hi too!"

They noticed that even after being spotted, the boy had yet to let go of the honey-blond haired girl, and said girl was most pleased that she was still in his arms.

Then Tierno decided to make his move "But it seems like you are already acquaintance with the new guy, if he is the young son Shauna was talking about"

Serena smile widened and took Ash's left hand with her right "I want to introduce you to my… hmm…" Was she supposed to introduce him as a childhood friend? Best friend? No! That was wrong, they had already show one another that their friendship phase went out through the window once they had kissed.

She loved him, He loved her… they had kissed, and that was what couples do… but were they a couple?

Ash saw the conflict in her eyes and understood her internal struggle, then releasing his hand from Serena's he extended it over to Calem saying "Nice to meet you guys, I'm Ash Ketchum, Serena's boyfriend"

Serena could feel her heart skipping a beat and then soaring through the sky, he had said it! Without containing anymore she jumped at him and hugged him tightly.

Tierno was not pleased about this, for all he knew, Serena barely knew this guy and they were already a couple "Isn't that a bit too fast? I mean you just met today, right?"

Serena giggled and answered "I've known Ash for a very long time now, we used to be childhood friends, but after a while I ended moving here…" She looked at Ash with loving eyes and smiled even more "… To be honest with you guys, I've been crushing on him for the longest time now… you could say I grew loving him"

The big guy was totally saddened by this, so this was the guy Serena talked about whenever she said she was in love already, he had heard her said something about him when turning down other boys, but never had heard his name.

Calem shook Ash's hand and smirked "Nice to meet you Ash, I have to say, it was a hard work to keep every guy away from your girlfriend while you weren't here"

"Is that so? Then I will have to make sure to repay your hard work, any good friend of Serena is a friend to me" Answered Ash with a smirk of his own.

Shauna shivered a bit "They look a lot like brothers don't you think?" mumbled the girl to her friend.

Serena giggled a bit and hugged her boyfriend "I'm not that defenseless you know? I can take care of myself" said the honey-blond girl with a proud grin at her friend.

Calem laughed at this and nodded "Of course you can, I've had to step in a lot of times with Shauna to take you away from their prying hands" Serena was not pleased with Calem's answer so she started pouting while punching him lightly.

Tierno looked at the pair and noticed that Serena's smile around Ash was more natural, it actually seemed real and this just made him realize how much he meant to her, so he just let a soft sigh escape and asked Ash "So you are moving here?"

Ash looked at him and smiled "Yeah, after returning from Unova I found my dad at home and said that he had a job offer here in Kalos"

Calem's eyes widened "You were at the Vertress Conference?"

"Of course, but I lost badly at the quarters against Trip, I made a lot of mistakes and learned from them" Answered Ash

"Wait a moment… you fought Trip? So you are him! The Ash Ketchum! The guy who was expected to win the conference, I almost didn't recognize you! Man, what happened to you?"

Shauna was confused at her boyfriend's apparent shock "You actually know him?"

"Know him? Come on Shauna you know that I love Pokémon battles, I'm one of his biggest fans! Although his battles at Vertress were… well, they could have been better" answered Calem.

Ash just scratched his cheek nervously "Yeah… I plan to go back in a few years and mend my mistakes, but for now I want to enter the Kalos League"

"No offense but if you said that he lost the league, what makes him so special for you to be his fan?" Asked Tierno.

"Well he might have lost the Vertress Conference, but he is the actual champion of the Valley of Lily conference" said Calem with a smirk.

"WHAT!?" Even Serena had joined her friends at this, so Ash was the Sinnoh League Champion.

"Yeah, I have the right to challenge the Elite four and the Champion for the title, but I'll wait, the Vertress Conference taught me that I have too much to learn" said Ash.

Tierno looked at Calem and asked "So… is he that good?"

Calem's eyes widened "You guys really don't know about battles uh? Ash here is called the 'Legend Slayer' by many, because he won the Valley of Lily conference by beating Tobias, a trainer with a team full of Legendary Pokémon. He is also the first to win the Kanto Battle Frontier, defeating Brandon's Regice with his Pikachu"

If Serena was shocked at first, now she was looking at her boyfriend in awe, he had become so strong, she might not have followed the Conference's battles but one didn't have to be a genius to know that Legendary Pokémon were stronger that any average Pokémon, so beating a full team of trained legends was amazing by itself.

Ash scratched his neck at his girlfriend's awed expression "Come on Serena, I'm not that impressive, after all I lost in the Vertress Conference"

Calem shook his head "You lost because you didn't use your veteran team, the people that has followed you is not that blind, everyone knew that if you had used your veteran team… or at least that monstrous Charizard of yours, you could have won without problems, even the Serperior you used in the Valley of Lily as a surprise factor could have been a great help"

Ash knew he was right, after all those two were pretty strong, not to mention that Serperior was an unusual Pokémon in the Sinnoh Region when he participated on the Valley Conference, he had caught it by chance after finding that she had been abandoned her old trainer, they had bonded and trusted each other and actually won the league, but he had been so keen in showing Trip a lesson in Unova that he just went head on to the battle without thinking about the disadvantage that this team had, as most of his team members were rather young.

"Yeah, I should have trained more with them, that was my fault"

Serena smiled sadly at him, she was glad to know that he made mistakes, not because she was glad that he had lost, but he was learning from them and moving on.

"You will do better this time, I'll be supporting you Ash" said the honey-blond girl smiling at him. This brought a smile to his lips and a small thank you.

After a few moments they took seats around the clearing and started asking Ash about his travels, he had told them about Kanto, all the way from Viridian to his loss in the Indigo Plateau. Serena at some point had decided to sit on her boyfriend's lap, she wasn't so thrilled at knowing that he had been so close to dying more than once through the whole Team Rocket and Mewtwo fiasco.

"I can't believe you just jumped in front of Mewtwo's and Mew's attacks like that, I'll have to pay special attention to you it seems" said a concerned Serena.

"Hey I was trying to save the world, besides, everything turned out just fine in the end" answered the experienced trainer.

While narrating his travels, Tierno could see more and more how Serena was falling even harder for Ash, the guy had saved the world many times without bragging about it or claiming any kind of recognition or compensation, Calem asked a lot of things, how did it feel to ride on Lugia's back, or about his Charizard fighting against Entei for the first time after it kidnapped his mother.

Ash answered his question while remembering everything, but never with a cocky attitude, and Serena blushed even more whenever he paused his story to make sure she was comfortable.

"I guess I never really had a chance" thought Tierno.

As time went by, the group decided to head back to Ash's new house, after a few minutes they were walking on the main road, a few houses from their destiny. "Hey Ash? Don't you miss home?"

Ash looked at her and smiled while taking her hand and interlacing their fingers "I always missed home whenever I was in Kanto or any other region"

Serena tilted her head in confusion, and Ash just chuckled a bit at her expression "I could have been in my house with my family in Kanto, but…" Ash stopped walking and faced her completely "My home was always here with you, so I'm home now"

The girl blushed a new shade of red while she hugged him, burying her head in his chest to avoid being seen so flustered, but with a big and radiant smile nonetheless.

They continued walking and reached the new Ketchum residence, Ash opened the door and led the others into the living room "I'm back!"

Red, Delia and Grace walked from the kitchen "Welcome back you…" Delia started but after seeing Ash and Serena holding hands and being so close she started to yell "Kyaaaa! My big boy has a girlfriend now!"

Red covered his ears while grinning at his Son's flustered face "Congratulations you two, I thought it would take you longer, but I see you work fast Ash"

Ash just smiled nervously not used to this kind of behavior from his parents "Come on dad, you are embarrassing me" The others just laughed at this and proceeded to take seats on the living room.

The place was way bigger than their house in Pallet Town, you could see Mr. Mime going from right to left cleaning everything he could.

Grace saw her daughter's smile and couldn't contain her own, Serena noticed this and smiled even wider "You knew about this, right?"

The Ryhorn Racer nodded "Apparently Delia got my number after watching my last race in Kanto a few months ago, you know how the data from the racers are shown on the web page"

Delia interrupted with a big smile "When I saw Grace that day and got her direction here in Kalos, I asked Oak about this region, he told me that a good friend of his was a professor on Lumiose City, after contacting him he told me that he knew you personally, as Serena was on his list to receive a Pokémon a few years back."

Ash turned to Serena and asked "You were invited to choose a starter?"

"Yeah but… I had some problems at the time, I really didn't know what to do, I don't really like Ryhorn Racing…" said Serena a bit nervous, she didn't want Ash to think that she was scared of traveling.

The trainer just smiled softly "No problem, we can find your passion while traveling this region"

"Actually, I found something I want to do, but I haven't told anyone yet… I didn't want mom to be disappointed in me" Serena's face was filled with concern, but Grace just gave her a pat.

"I would never be disappointed in you nor the things you want to do so please tell me, what you would like to do?" asked Grace eager to know her daughter's dream.

Serena felt relieved by this and after looking through her purse she took a pamphlet "Sky Prix!" was the excited answer that came from her.

The Sky Prix was an event where trainers used their Flying Type Pokémon to race through a sky circuit, but there was more, the four first places would battle after the race with their chosen partner, the winner would be given then one of five wings: Bronze Wing, Silver Wing, Gold Wing, Crystal Wing and Diamond Wing.

These wings would give you access to the Grand Sky Prix, the most difficult race that took place all around Kalos, starting from Lumiose, passing by Camphrier town to Cyllage city, Geosenge town, Shallour City, and Coumarine city, after this came a dangerous pass through the desert, and a part of the swamp to finally reach Laverre City, passing by Dendemille town, Anistar City and Couriway Town where the final phase and the most dangerous part begins, Snowbelle city was a very cold place, trainers had to be very well prepared to traverse the mountains against the strong winds to reach the checkpoint on route 22, there were stories of racers being dropped from their mount and falling into the cold forest.

This phase was rather short but very difficult, if racers managed to get out of the mountains, the last part of this phase would be a straight line to Santalune City and then back to Lumiose.

The event was rather dangerous, but they had security measures to ensure the safety of the Sky Riders.

The difference between the Sky Prix and Grand Sky Prix was huge, while in the Sky Prix your Pokémon had to fly through the course at full speed, in the Grand Sky Prix the trainers had to ride their Flying Pokémon to actually compete, so it was a requisite to have at least three Pokémon that could carry their trainer.

A Sky Rider in the Grand Sky Prix could only switch Pokémon three times, so they had to use them wisely, this helped to prevent most of the unprepared trainer to reach the final phase, as most of their team, if not all of it, would be too tired to continue after reaching Anistar or Couriway City.

Among other things, it was a very huge event in Kalos, Kanto and Johto, but it was already on its way to expand to other regions.

Serena had watched a lot of races on TV, mostly when her mother was not around, she would often dream of being a Sky Rider, soaring through the sky with her Pokémon and looking for Ash while racing in Kanto.

"I thought you didn't have a dream yet, but I see I was mistaken and that makes me happy Serena" Grace said with a smile.

Serena gave her one of her own "So… you are not upset because I don't want to be a Ryhorn Racer?"

"Of course not! If you become a Sky rider then we will be known as the Royal Duo! You will reign in the skies and I'll reign over the land!" answered a very animated Grace, smiling even wider at the thought of both of them being famous on their own right.

Ash thought Serena's goal was impressive, he had flown with Charizard and Pidgeot sometimes and knew how hard it was to maintain balance, even for the Pokémon it was hard to travel long distances with someone riding on their backs.

"Then I guess both of us have a lot of training to do, right?" said Ash with grinning at his girlfriend.

Serena gave him a light nod but then burrowed her brows "But I have to meet Professor Sycamore, and I still have to choose my Pokémon partner… the problem is that none of them is a flying type, nor do they evolve into one"

Red then thought of something, he remembered hearing from Grace earlier that she had a Fletchling "Why don't you use Fletchling? I heard you had one, right?"

"Yes, I actually caught Fletchling sometime ago, but I don't know if Professor Sycamore will let me register him as my starter" answered the girl tilting her head.

"Well, I think it will be a good idea to ask, maybe you can talk to him about your dream, he might be able to help you, after all he is very knowledgeable and a pokedex is very useful for a lot of things even if you are not going to compete in the Pokémon League" said Red with a small smirk.

Ash then turned to his new friends "What about you guys?"

Calem smirked and crossed his arms "I'm gonna challenge the gyms, so we might end up being rivals, I know you are strong but I won't give up"

"That's the spirit!" answered Ash.

"I want to be a Performer and hopefully one day I might become the new Kalos Queen" Said Shauna with a prideful smile.

Tierno smiled and said that he wanted to have the best dancing Pokémon team ever, which made Ash to congratulate him, he had seen some Pokémon performing as dancers and it was pretty cool.

A few hours later the whole family had finished accommodating everything, Tierno, Shauna and Calem had left after helping the family and having dinner.

Grace approached her daughter with a smile "It's been a long time since I've seen you this happy"

Serena turned around and smiled at her mother hugging her tightly "I'm sorry for everything I said before mom, I was upset and…"

"Is okay, what happened is in the past, I made my mistakes and I hope you can forgive me…" said Grace while hugging her daughter.

Serena gave her a light nod and then backed away a bit "I can't believe he is back, is like a dream"

At that moment Ash entered the living room, he had gone with his father to call Professor Oak to arrange a few things about his Pokémon. Red had told Oak that he would be getting a transfer machine for his job and that he was hoping to be the one taking care of Ash's Pokémon from now on, the Professor was pleased to know this, as they were beginning to be a bit overwhelming for him, after all there were too many to take care and he just keep getting older.

So the Professor told Red that he would register him in the Pokémon Master League Data Base to take his Son's and his own Pokémon in, with the only restriction being that they would still just be able to take six of them on their pokeballs for travels at a time.

Ash had asked a favor from the Professor too, he wanted to keep the Tauros that he had used in the Orange League, and send bulletins through the other regions to trade the rest of them. He liked his Tauros, but Red had told him that by trading he would be able to cover a lot of ground in Pokémon types, besides, having twenty-nine more of the same Pokémon was not helping him at all at achieving his dream.

It was a painful truth, after all he had caught all of them by himself, but it was time to look at things objectively. Oak had been pleased to know that Ash wanted to trade his Tauros, a lot of trainers had shown interest in them before, not to mention that the ranch at the entrance of Pallet wanted to have a few to breed with their Miltanks.

Ash had gone back to the living room and noticed Serena and Grace talking when the later saw him and smiled "Ash would you come here?"

The young man walked there, nervous as to what would Grace want, after all she was his girlfriend's mother. "Yes Grace?"

The older woman smiled and hugged him "Please take care of my daughter, I know she might be a handful…

"HEY!"

"…But she loves you very much, you became her world so please, keep her safe" Grace had a few tears running down her face, but was still smiling.

Ash gave her a light nod and smiled "Don't worry Grace, I promise you that I'll take care of her and protect her with my life"

Serena approached Ash and hugged him tightly too after Grace released him "Then I'll be fine, because I'll never let anything bad happen to you"

A few moments later Grace told them that she was going back home to feed Ryhorn and prepare to take a bath.

Serena didn't want to go yet, she was about to say something when her mother interrupted them "You can stay, I trust that nothing will happen, I'm still too young to be a grandmother after all" she said in a teasing manner, making both of them blush.

"Mom!" a cherry-red Serena pursued her mother who was in her way out.

Ash just shook his head and smiled at his girlfriend… it seemed like it was the only thing he could do now, every time he thought of them being together a smile appeared on his lips, it was just natural.

He took her hand and lead her to the top of the stairs and into his room "Take the bed, I'll sleep in the floor"

"No way mister!" Serena hugged him and started walking, forcing him to step back until they reached the bed "I don't mind if you sleep with me… just sleep…" blushing furiously she sat on the bed signaling for him to do the same.

Ash was flustered too, it was the first time he was going to sleep with a girl in the same bed. Just as he was about to say something Delia opened the door and looked at them "Oh… I didn't know Serena was still here… play safe kids"

She then went out of the room with a slight blush covering her cheeks and a goofy smile while muttering 'grandsons and granddaughters'

Now Ash was even more nervous, he was about to suggest that he slept in the floor again when suddenly her giggles broke the silence, he smiled and started laughing too.

"That was so awkward." Serena calmed herself after a while, reaching for Ash's hand "I'm so happy right now… I don't want this to end"

She then released his hand before he could say anything and went to his wardrobe, taking out one of his shirts, she then turned around and winked at him, walking to the private bathroom in Ash's room.

After a few moments she came back wearing his shirt, it was a little big for her as it was long enough to almost reach her knees, sometimes being short had it perks, Ash had grown noticeable taller than her, reaching the 5 '82'' against her 4'98'' and a lot bulkier, probably a result of all his travels through different regions.

Ash swallowed hard at seeing his girlfriend wear his shirt to sleep, it gave him a weird feeling. He quickly took a change of clothes from his wardrobe too and went to the bathroom trying to conceal his blush but failing miserably.

Serena couldn't help but laugh at her boyfriend's antics, it was good to know that she could get that kind of reaction of him, it means he thought she was pretty.

After Ash walked out of the bathroom wearing a clean t-shirt and a pair of shorts Serena came to him and took his hand, leading him into bed, making him lay down with her, Ash was so nervous and it only made Serena giggle every time she looked at his face.

"Damn… I forgot the lights"

Ash was about to get up to turn off the lights when Pikachu, who had been in the room the whole time, beat him to it and went back to his new and comfortable pillow.

"Hey Ash… will I get a goodnight kiss?" asked Serena with a teasing voice, knowing very well that he was trying hard to keep his cool.

Ash relaxed a bit and decided to get payback, he embraced Serena, holding her close to his chest and kissed her forehead and then her lips in a tender way.

Serena was surprised at first but then responded the kiss, letting a smile content sigh, breaking it after a few moments "Goodnight Ash… sweet dreams"

"You too Serena, I love you"

"Love you too"

And with that, both of them closed their eyes to sleep.

And there you have it guys, I hope you liked this chapter, I know I enjoyed it.

As all of you can see, Serena's goal is quite different, it will be hard to get her started but I didn't want to go with performances, but instead follow the Pokémon Adventure route where she is a Sky Battler.

Next chapter will have a little bit more of the Ketchum family and our heroes might meet some old/new friends.

Spoiler Alert!

Also, I think I said this already but Ash and Serena are already 17, and Serena used to live in Kanto since she was four, but only meet Ash when she was 7 in the camp, and they were best friends for almost two years, this will be explained in more detail as the story goes.

Please let me know your thoughts about this chapter in the commentary box below.

See you all in the next chapter!