I was planning on this chapter being much longer than this, but, once again, I decided against it. A lot happened in it already, in my opinion, and there didn't need to be even more.

Now, I'm thinking that Chapter 8 will be the start of classes. My initial plan was going to be Chapter 7 starting it, but plans can change.

Enjoy.

"For the sake of what kids?" Mitch asked, sounding every bit as arrogant as Serena had described him. To Ash, he sounded like one of those people who perpetually had their noses in the air, feeling as though they were too cool for school, or, for that matter, anything else.

"It's a saying" Serena replied testily. "For the sake of the kids who don't want to see your name plastered on the top spot in the leaderboard".

"That's not going to happen" Cocaine Mitch replied, and now he was, in fact, holding his nose in the air. "I've got the score of 117,451. Nobody's beating me".

"Why are you so obsessed with numbers?" Dawn asked him.

"I don't know" the champion replied. "I just am".

"Okay" said Serena. "So I'm going to use Naviti, my Fletchling. And I'm assuming that you're going to use Blaze?"

Ash had a guess as to what species of Pokemon Blaze was, and he was proven correct when Cocaine Mitch released a Blaziken from its Pokeball. Now, Naviti and Blaze were staring down each other, both looking very deadly.

Mitch nodded. "I'm ready whenever you are".

"Naviti! Use Flail!"

True to the name of the move, the Fletchling started flailing around, clearly desperate to hit whatever it could find, whether it was Blaze or Cocaine Mitch himself. It was clear that Naviti disliked Mitch just as much as the humans present did.

However, the move wasn't effective. Naviti, no matter how hard he tried, just wasn't able to get a hit in on Blaze, who dodged with ease.

"No, Naviti…" Serena said in a worried tone. Almost immediately, she realized that that was a big mistake; she should not have shown any signs of fear. She didn't want Cocaine Mitch to think that he had an opening.

"Ha" Mitch said, looking very smug now indeed. "Blaze, use Blaze Kick!"

Blaze was able to get a good hit in on Naviti, who went flying back towards the glass wall. Fortunately, the Fletchling's trajectory was such that it did not hit the wall, but rather landed on the ground five feet from it. Naviti was able to recover.

"Yes!" Serena exclaimed. "Use Razor Wind!"

The battle went on for a couple more minutes. Naviti and Blaze traded several more attacks, and it didn't appear, for a long time, that there was a favorite at all.

Eventually, however, Naviti was able to knock out Blaze. It was with another Razor Wind, and, unlike the first one, which had barely had an effect on the Blaziken, this one did. It sent the Blaziken spiraling in midair towards the wall, which he slammed into at a very high speed.

Blaze fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Good game" Serena said. She didn't want to gloat, because she was worried about inciting the wrath of Cocaine Mitch. That was one thing you did not do, ever. You never made Mitchell Canneloni angry, because he always had a way of paying you back somehow, and you didn't want what he was offering you, ever.

"Good game" Mitch said, although it was clearly begrudging. It was clear that Cocaine Mitch wasn't going to accept his loss too easily, and Serena almost felt bad for the guy. After all, he was so willing to hold grudges against those who had beaten him; that was not a good personality trait, but she always felt bad for those who had it.

They shook hands. It felt as though Mitch were trying to crush her fingers, so Serena was all too happy when he finally let go.

After that, Mitch turned around and walked through the door on the other side of the court. Once he was out of sight, Serena turned around and faced her friends.

"That was awesome" Ash said. "I can't believe you beat him. That must have increased your score at least a little".

"Maybe it did" Serena replied. "Actually, yeah, it probably did by a lot. I highly doubt that I'm out of fourth place, though, although I'm pretty sure that Mitch must be out of first by now".

"You think his score really decreased by…nine hundred and ninety points?" That was Ash talking.

"Yes, it very well may have" Dawn replied. "The scores can fluctuate a lot. I'd be very surprised if Cocaine Mitch isn't second at this point".

"I guess you really did it, then" Lucas said to Serena. "You have ditched Cocaine Mitch, for the sake of the kids. I hope that you're proud of yourself, because you did good, Serena. You really did".

The young woman smiled. "Thanks, Lucas. That's what I needed to hear".

"It's no problem" the boy in the beret replied.

Ash turned to Serena. "Congratulations. Really, you did an amazing job".

Serena was blushing slightly now. "Thanks, Ash. That means a lot to me. It really does".

After that, they headed out. As soon as possible, they planned to take Coyopa to a Pokemon center, so that they could heal him up from his battle with Orkun. But, for now, they decided, they were going to celebrate having beaten Cocaine Mitch.

Sure enough, on the way out of the battling club, they spotted that the scoreboard stated that Mitchell "Cocaine Mitch" Canneloni was now in second place, with 115,900 points. Sarah Culpepper, with a total of 116,461 points, had taken over the lead.

"You did it" Ash said. "You ditched Cocaine Mitch".

Serena was blushing slightly. "Thanks for the compliment. But, to be honest, I'm still not too happy about it. After all, I am in fourth place still".

"But that doesn't matter too much" Lucas replied. "Cocaine Mitch is no longer in first place, and that's what counts".

"True" Serena replied. "But still…".

"You did a great job, Serena" Ash replied. "Don't let anybody convince you otherwise".

They walked out towards Serena's car, which was still parked in the same location as it had been before. She drove them out of the town of Blankenship and back towards the house.

"Just a few days left before school starts" Dawn said. "I'm really looking forward to it".

"Yeah" Lucas replied. "It's going to be amazing. Just starting college - that's quite something".

"I know" his girlfriend said. "And the fact that I've got home economics - not that I ever wanted to be just a housewife, but still".

"Home economics are very useful" Ash said. He had to bite back the urge to say, And I think that because you're rich, you don't have the same skills that somebody else might.

"Yeah" Dawn replied. "They really are.

Serena had yet to say anything. It was getting more crowded on the streets, so she was getting more and more focused on the road. In spite of that, she was occasionally nodding whenever she agreed with something.

Suddenly, a song came on the radio that Ash recognized. He'd heard it before, but didn't remember its name, or whom it was by.

"What song is that?" he asked Serena.

She temporarily took her eyes off of the road in order to look at the name of the song. "It's 'Ghost Ship of Cannibal Rattatas' by Billy Talonflame" she replied. "They're one of my favorite bands, and they're on tour right now, coming to Pastoria City in about two weeks".

"Can we get tickets?" Lucas asked. "I really like them as well".

"We'll see" Serena replied. "They are pretty expensive".

"That's not a problem" Ash blurted out. "At least, it shouldn't be. You're rich as fuck, after all".

"Yeah" she replied. "I suppose that's true".

Ash let out a sigh of relief. After that gaffe of his, he had been so sure that she had been about to scold him severely, so he was very glad that she had decided not to.

"So", Serena said eventually, "we're almost home. Does anyone want to stop and get some groceries before we get there?"

Nobody said yes. After all, grocery shopping could be very dull work indeed, and nobody wanted to do it right after registering for classes and going to the battling club.

Eventually, she pulled into the mansion's driveway and turned off the engine. Once the car was off, the four of them walked inside.

Debbie and Dominick had woken up long before this, and both of them came running towards the door, glad to see that their daughter had returned.

"Thanks for leaving that note out" Dominick said. "Otherwise, I would have been pretty worried about you guys".

"You're welcome" Serena replied. "Anything that's going to help you guys feel better, it's my pleasure. You know that I care about you guys very, very much".

"Yes, yes" Debbie said. "Ash, can I go and talk to you for a moment?"

Suddenly, Ash wondered if he was in trouble. Had Debbie heard about what Coyopa had done? Had she woken up from the Pikachu's shout?

He tried to tell himself not to worry about it, that she wouldn't be so cruel as to mention it to him when he was clearly trying to forget about that morning's events. At the same time…

It'll be fine, he thought. Jeez, put a sock in it.

"What is it?" Ash asked Debbie, once they were in his bedroom and out of earshot of the others.

"I'm going to take you to a tailor" she replied. "There, you'll be fitted for the green tunic and the purple pajamas".

"Why?" he asked her. "I like my own clothes well enough".

"It's too bad" Debbie responded, not sounding remorseful at all. "For now, at least, you are a part of our family, and you will thus wear the proper attire for sleep and mealtimes".

"Why those colors, though? I know that green represents wealth".

"How did you know that?" Mrs. Courtland replied. "I don't remember telling you that".

"Serena told me" Ash said. "Green represents being wealthy and proud of it".

"Well, that is true" Debbie replied. "That's where it comes from, the green dinner uniforms. And purple represents sleep; science has shown that it is a comforting color for many, and it certainly helps me ease my mind at night".

"Ease your mind from what?" Ash asked.

"I'd rather not say right now" Mrs. Courtland responded sternly. "You will know in due time, however. Once I get to know you better, I might tell you, but, for now, it's going to be kept a secret from you".

Ash wondered exactly what kind of secrets Debbie was keeping from him. He didn't trust people whom he could tell were keeping a lot of skeletons in the closet.

But do these qualify as "skeletons in the closet"?, he wondered. What kinds of things qualify as that?

"In any case", Mrs. Courtland replied, "we had better go. The tailor is in the town of Starborn Valley, which is where Lucas and Dawn live".

"I knew that they lived there" Ash replied. "We picked them up earlier, when we went to register for our classes".

"And I knew that already" Mrs. Courtland replied.

As they headed out of the bedroom, Ash said, "Hey, wait, first, can I take Coyopa to a Pokemon center, to get him healed up? He lost a battle with Orkun, Lucas's Lucario".

"That won't be necessary. I'm a nurse" Debbie said.

"Then can you fix him up?" Ash asked. "Do you have a healing machine?"

"Yes, we do have a healing machine here" the woman replied. "However, we really must be going. We can heal him later".

"Why can't we heal him now?" Ash asked. "Coyopa is probably in a lot of pain right now".

"Actually, Pokeballs are like stasis chambers; I'm pretty sure you knew that already" Debbie replied. "Coyopa isn't suffering at all; if he was unconscious when he was put in, he'll remain unconscious as long as he is in that Pokeball. Like I said, isn't that pretty basic knowledge".

Ash facepalmed. He had known that before, but, in times like these, when he was so worried about his Pikachu, some of his prior knowledge had been known to go away, and he didn't always consider all of the factors.

"Coyopa will be just fine" Debbie insisted.

"If you say so" Ash replied.

As they went into the mudroom to get their shoes, they ran into Lucas, who was hanging up his beret. The day was getting hotter, and he had evidently just run a couple of laps around the house, so he was sweating a great deal.

"Where are you guys going?" he asked the pair.

"Going into town" said Debbie. "Ash here has to be fitted for his tunic and pajamas".

"Nice" Lucas replied. "Don't worry, Ash. It's not painful".

Ash realized that he must have been grimacing as Lucas had been saying that. If that was the case, it was most likely due to the fact that he didn't like the idea of being poked and prodded until they were able to create a tunic and set of pajamas that fit him.

This is going to suck, he thought. He generally didn't enjoy getting new shoes in general, and this was going to be a lot more complicated than that, meaning that it was going to take longer.

Besides, it was likely that, whoever this tailor was, he was one of those rich folk who liked to brag about all of their money. If they were going to make him wear a green suit to dinner every evening in order to symbolize how wealthy they were, then that's what they were: snobbish.

As Ash got in the car with Debbie, he looked back at Lucas, who was just entering the house. He was looking as though he was about to have a very good time hanging out with Dawn and Serena.

What I wouldn't give to trade places with him...Ash thought glumly.

Once they were inside the town of Starborn Valley, Debbie took Ash downtown, to an area that was more crowded than the residential area in which Dawn and Lucas lived. Here, there were people going about their daily business, just like one could see in any other town.

"The tailor's store is right near here" she said. "Here we go".

She led him into a small brick building that had a sign saying Maisie's Tailor on the front. As soon as they were inside, they walked over to the woman behind the desk, whom Ash assumed was Maisie.

"Yes?" the woman behind the desk asked them.

"I'm Deborah Courtland, and this is Ash Ketchum" Mrs. Courtland said. "I'm here to get him fitted for a green tunic and a pair of purple pajamas".

"Okay" Maisie replied. "We've only got one person here doing the tailoring, so you might have to wait a few minutes. That said, it won't be too long - it usually doesn't take too long to make a suit".

"All right" Debbie said in response. "And it will only take...how long, exactly, until the suit is delivered to our home?"

"It won't be long, perhaps a couple of hours" Maisie replied. "So just take a seat and wait".

Thankfully, there wasn't anybody else waiting in line in order to be measured, which Ash was very grateful for. He wouldn't have wanted to wait; he wanted to get this thing over with as soon as possible.

"Deborah Courtland?" said a voice after ten minutes or so.

Both Ash and Debbie stood up. A tall man with silver hair, dressed in a tuxedo, entered the room.

"Yes - you're ready for us?" Debbie asked him.

The man nodded. He looked to be about sixty years old or so, and Ash had to admit that he was quite handsome. He also looked to be in very good shape for his age, but that wasn't something Ash said out loud. He was socially awkward, but not that socially awkward.

"Come back here" he said. "My name's Jeff, and I'll be the one serving you9 today. What brings you here?"

Ash was about to say it, but it was a good thing, for Jeff's sake, that he didn't get to. Ash would have barely been able to resist cursing out Debbie, Jeff, Maisie, and everybody else who was going to make him be fitted for the same clothes as the rest of the Courtland family.

"We need a pair of purple pajamas and a green tunic in order to fit Ash here" Debbie said.

Jeff looked over both of them. "You're the wife of Dominick Courtland, right? The guy who owns the cruise line, Royal Alolan?"

Debbie nodded. "Yes, Dominick is my husband. He's at work today, so I couldn't bring him to meet you. Sorry".

"It's fine" Jeff replied, shaking the woman's hand. "I went on a Royal Alolan cruise last December; indeed, I go on one every December with my wife. It's always a blast. Tell your husband thank you from me for making it that way".

Debbie blushed. "Thanks, Jeff".

"No problem" the tailor replied. "In any case, we didn't come here to chat. Let's get you measured, Ash".

The process of measuring Ash was not a fun one. Even though he tried to be still the whole time, since that was what he had been asked to do, such a task was much easier said than done.

"All right" Jeff said, after what must have been forty-five minutes of trying to measure Ash. "We have all the measurements in order to make the clothes. You are free to go, and they will be delivered to your home sometime this afternoon. What is your address again?"

"2047 Middlesex Avenue" Debbie replied. "It's near Sundae River Mountain Resort, you know? Just on top of a huge hill near it".

"We know where that is, thank you" Jeff replied. "We keep a database of all of our customers here. Like I said, sometime this afternoon is when you can expect to receive the clothing".

"I am looking forward to it" Mrs. Courtland said in response.

"My fee will be $364.96" said the tailor. "Cash or credit?"

"Credit".

"Okay. Make sure that the amount is paid. I hope you have a nice day".

"Thank you" Debbie replied. "I hope the same for you".

After that, they left the shop, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief. He no longer had to stand completely still as he was being measured.

Of course, however, that didn't mean that his nightmare was over. In fact, it had only just begun.

I've been here for less than 24 hours, he thought. There's still plenty of time for this to be a nightmare for me.

For now, however, he was relieved. He couldn't wait to head back and spend the rest of the day with Serena and the others.

Responses to reviews:

Amourshipper35: Well, Serena did ditch Cocaine Mitch. The name is a reference to an advertisement by Don Blankenship, a guy who ran for U.S. Senate from West Virginia this year. You might have heard of him.

Guest: Yes, Serena swore. This story is rated M. Deal with it.

Opc3: That's because Ash and Serena aren't "official" yet. Once they are "official", that's when the Ash/Serena moments will happen. And there are a lot of them planned, because this story is going to be really long.

xXx DIGITAL xXx: Thank you so much for all of your support!