Part C: Crossroads

"What do you want Drew?" Ash asked stepping between Drew and the girls. "Because if it isn't good them please leave, we're trying to have a good time."

Ash may be dense when it came to romance, he could admit that after a year with Misty and learning of 4 other girls had feelings for him that he'd never noticed until they told him, but Ash could see when a friend was in trouble. May was now shaking and unable to look at Drew while both Misty and Serena tried to comfort her. Between that and some natural instinct that Ash didn't understand, he put himself between them and met Drew's cold gaze with one of his own.

The Hoenn boy was no different to how Ash remembered him when they last met in Kanto after the Grand Festival when May was having her crisis over her future direction. He still wore his Hoenn clothes, his hair well done, and an air of cocky confidence bordering on arrogance around him as he stood there. The only thing different was that Ash felt something off about the boy. He was colder, darker, filled with an anger that Ash hadn't seen before.

"Back of hick, Drew's issues with you aren't major because at least you didn't steal his woman like you did with me." Kenny spat drawing Ash's attention to his last remaining rival, or at least last known one as there could always be an unknown one out there. "You should be focusing on me and how I will destroy you to prove myself to Misty."

"Calm Kenny, you will get your moment in time." Drew said raising a hand to still his friend and to Ash's surprise Kenny did shut up but kept glaring at Ash. "Ash wants to know what we want and as this meeting was arranged for that reason I will indulge him. My issues with him are almost as big as yours though you are right, unlike you while Ash didn't steal my girl the way he stole yours. He was just the reason why May could never truly love me."

"But I love you." Brianna said and Ash saw her look at Drew with a look he'd seen Misty give him only somehow desperate and not just pure love. "I am your soulmate Drew."

"I know Brianna, but I have been clear with you." Drew said to her in a kind, almost parental, tone. "You are too young right now and even when you reach the right age, our relationship of mentor and mentee makes it inappropriate for us to be together because of the power dynamic. While we know that it will be pure, others will not think so and call me vile, disgusting, and untrue things that I cannot put you through, you are too good to have to suffer that. That is why we can never act on our love."

Brianna pouted but Ash narrowed his eyes slightly. He hadn't heard any affection beyond that a teacher might have for his student in Drew's words but then again Ash wasn't great at that thing so he couldn't be sure. Whatever the case was, something was definitely up, and this was their best chance to find out.

"If the distractions are done, why not start at the beginning." Ash said coolly. "What started this Drew? I thought we were friends back in Hoenn and Kanto when we last met."

"We were never friends Ash." Drew said simply surprising him. "You are a trainer, I am a coordinator, we are of different worlds with different paths and styles. Just because you traveled with May and we were civil back then didn't mean that I was your friend. If anything, you were my rival for May."

"You still dated May though, I never did because I never knew how she felt until after Misty and I got together." Ash pointed out. "Course you messed it up but that's on you, not on me."

"Even then you were my rival." Drew spat his anger bubbling up briefly. "I knew from the moment I met May that she had feelings for you even if she didn't realize them herself. You were her idol, her mentor, her inspiration from the very start. It was why she emulated you and not me in her style. True I didn't think much of her until she gave me a real challenge in the Hoenn Grand Festival and started to see her as more than a pretty face. She proved it in Kanto when I lost to her. That said, I always knew that she had a small crush on me, but her crush on you was holding her back from me."

"I don't control the heart or what it wants." Ash said. "And May realized she needed to find her own path away from me after our time together in Kanto, something I supported. She followed you to Johto rather than me to Sinnoh because that was where her path was."

"That she did which was good because it allowed me to slowly purge your influence over her and replace it with mine whenever we met." Drew said and Ash didn't like the phrasing of Drew's words. "However, even when we dated, you kept coming up and how amazing you still were when she saw you in Sinnoh. It showed that she was still in love with you. The only reason why I am not at the level Kenny is against you is because you broke her heart when you didn't choose her, that I am grateful for. Turns out that your density has some advantages Ash."

"That's disgusting of you to say that Drew." Ash said while Misty and Serena glared angrily at him as they comforted May and had to restrain themselves from pulling out their strongest Pokémon. "I would never revel in the heartbreak of another no matter the reason. I will be the first to admit that when it comes to love and feelings, I am totally clueless. I never realized my best friend was in love with me, I never realized two more traveling companions felt the same way or that at least 2 girls I met on the road over the years also fell for me."

"Such a hard life isn't it Ash." Kenny scoffed sarcastically. "You get your pick of women because you've got a fucking harem and you still had to take mine our of all of them."

"Misty was never yours Kenny." Ash said simply. "And I didn't know about any of this, it all came out after Misty and I got together, though there may have been a girl or two in Johto who were into me that I did notice. Regardless, I am truly sorry to all those I have hurt because of my denseness. All I can do is ask for their forgiveness because I love Misty and will never leave her."

Misty felt her heart swell at Ash's words. She knew they were true, but she always loved hearing them whenever Ash said them. They also helped calm May down as she felt Ash's regret for the pain that he had caused her even if she didn't blame him for her own mistakes in not confessing her feelings for him sooner.

Ash was again showing her how just how amazing he was. She was in love with him and pulled strength from him. She wasn't ready to confront Drew yet but knowing Ash was there, standing up for her and protecting her when she needed it the most was working to alleviate her worries.

"How touching." Drew said clearly not meaning it. "Too sappy for my tastes though. Feelings like that aren't how it works; it is admiration from those who know you're great, that is how it should be done. That is why Brianna is the better woman than May, she admires me for my greatness and understands it. May never did that to me but she always did that to you."

"I don't ask, expect or want sycophants admiring me." Ash said shaking his head. "I want friends and companions who I respect and trust and who are my equals. That is what all my companions have been to me, I wouldn't travel with them otherwise. They give me strength whenever I need it and I try my best to give it to them when they need it."

Misty wanted to respond to say that she did admire and look up to Ash, something she knew that May and Serena, and all the others not present did, but she didn't because that wasn't what Ash would want to hear. He treated everyone with the respect they deserved and relied on them as much as they relied on him. It was a perfect symbiotic relationship when it came to being friends with Ash Ketchum and right now he was showing that to perfection with Drew so Misty wasn't going to interrupt them.

"Weakness." Drew said derisively. "That kind of reliance is weakness, but I am not here to argue semantics with you Ash seeing as you don't understand it, you never did when it came to things like this. I am here to tell you why I am in Kalos and what our plans for you lot are. After that Kenny can have the last word, I promised him that."

"Whatever, just tell us why you're here and then leave us alone." Ash said. "We were having a peaceful day until you showed up and ruined it."

"It won't be the first time we ruin things for you Ash, we aren't going to leave you alone at all." Drew said with a grin. "As for why, well after May betrayed me in the Johto Grand Festival and then broke my heart by leaving me so I knew that I had to have my revenge on her and by extension you for your role in it. I couldn't go to Sinnoh, the only region I hadn't competed in, because May was there and I didn't want any false accusations from her stopping my plans, so I returned to Hoenn and took the year to get ready. That was when fate smiled upon me and I knew my path was a righteous one."

"I came and won the LaRousse Contest in Drew's hometown." Brianna said with pride in her voice. "It was his home, so I had to compete and win it to show him how much I love him. Drew saw me there and remembered me and how I was a rival of May's in more ways than one. He sought me out and told me the truth of everything that had happened to him at May's hands. After that, I swore to follow him and aid Drew in his plans for justice in any way I could."

"Whatever Drew told you it was a lie, or at least his version of the truth, and he did so to corrupt you against me." May said having recovered enough to look at Brianna but not Drew. "I can tell you the truth of what Drew is really like if you want. The way he is emotionally manipulative, fragile in his masculinity, and how he needs adoration from a pretty girl not her equal support, but I can see you've fallen for the first one already."

"Drew said you would try to poison me against him the way you poisoned your relationship with him." Brianna snapped back angrily. "So, I know that you are the liar May. I won't listen to you."

"Good girl." Drew said with a smile at Brianna that she blushed at and almost immediately calmed down. "I have taught you well. In addition to teaching Brianna the truth about May, I also taught her more about Contests and becoming a great coordinator. I knew we couldn't date then or ever for that matter, but she was perfect and became my protégé. Brianna still had work to do though, as seen by her loss to Nando in the Hoenn semis, so I sent her to Johto to do a year alone and finish growing as a coordinator without me."

"It was a tough year to be away from my love, but I see the wisdom in his decision, and he was always there to support me." Brianna said. "I found a new level without Drew and reached the final in Johto, so I knew that he'd made the right choice in sending me away. If not for a small mistake on my side I wouldn't have lost it. After that I went to Sinnoh to be watch Drew win the Grand Festival there before we planned where to go next. It had to be one of the expansion regions, but I will let Drew explain that."

"Thank you, Brianna." Drew said causing her to blush again. "As she pointed out, while Brianna was in Johto, I went to Sinnoh to win it. With no one in my way after May won it the year before, and I had to be the one to follow her to show Sinnoh that I was better, I was the clear favorite. There was one coordinator there who beat me in a regular Contest, so I went 5 for 6 but I breezed through the Grand Festival and got my revenge on her in the finals with a decisive victory that was better than hers. It was the second most decisive one that year across all circuits."

"Sounds like you to do something like that." May said. "But even you can't clean sweep a region."

"No one can." Drew said angrily and May flinched at his tone causing Serena to hold her again as May looked away. "Only one coordinator has had a perfect regular season in the last 5 years, and she lost in the final of that year's Grand Festival, right Misty?"

"I may have lost that final, but it was where Ash and I finally confessed when I needed him the most so I will lose it a million times more for what happened afterwards." Misty said assertively, she was not going to be used against May. "I'm not sure how you know me but you're worse than May mentioned, almost as bad as Kenny it seems though I think you may actually be worse. Another advantage of that final's loss, I got to win my Ribbon Cup over Kenny in spectacular fashion."

"Why you…" Kenny began but Drew held up a hand again to stop him.

"Hold Kenny, you will get your moment when the time is right." Drew said as he looked over Misty in a way that Misty didn't find sexual but still made her skin crawl at the look in Drew's eyes. "And yes, I know a lot about you Misty. May told me about you after your first Wallace Cup win over her, I watched that and your win was impressive, so I knew about you before I got to Sinnoh. Then you became the talk of the region when I was getting ready for the Grand Festival there, so I got to learn a whole lot more about their prodigy."

"I did?" Misty asked, that was news to her, but she'd been away from her home region for so long, almost 2 years in fact, that she was a little out of touch with it. "Why?"

"Why not." Drew said as if it was obvious. "You and Kenny were about to face off in the Kanto finals. Never before have two coordinators from the same town competed in a final against each other, let alone two from a different region to the one that the Grand Festival was in. The Twinleaf Final was much watch TV in Sinnoh. The whole day was off when it became clear you two might face off in it and they profiled both of you. Naturally, I had to watch it."

"I didn't realize it was that big in Sinnoh." Misty said though in hindsight it was obvious. "But I can see why."

"Oh, you have no idea." Drew said looking Misty over again in a way she didn't like even if it still wasn't sexual. "Especially when a girl like you pulled out a Banette and a Spiritomb in it. The former was within expectations given how cute a Shuppet can be and evolution is fickle though yours is very different from Harley's which is the only one I know. As for your Spiritomb, well that one was a shock to everyone because of how rare they are. I can see how you won but it also gave me a lot to think about."

"How so?" Misty asked warily, she could feel something was up.

"I heard that sickeningly cute speech you gave before you dealt the final blow." Drew said as Kenny began to seethe next to him. "About how much you loved Ash and what he meant to you. I knew at once that you were Ash's which naturally made you my enemy and Kenny a potential ally."

"Well given how you treated May I think its safe to say the feeling is mutual." Misty said. "You are clearly no friend of mine."

"I treated May as any woman deserved to be treated." Drew said. "She was the one who got the wrong impression and let her love for Ash ruin our relationship. Then she betrayed me in the semis, and I knew it was over. I only did what I had to do; May just brought it on herself."

"By selling me out to Harley." May spat unable to believe Drew's reasoning. "All because you couldn't handle your girlfriend beating you on national TV in a match both of us were giving our all to win. Talk about fragile masculinity there. A real man would have accepted the loss and learned from it like Ash did when Misty beat him in the Wallace Cup semis last year. Ok bad example as Ash isn't a coordinator but she learned from him when she lost a Contest final to Ash and beat him in the Wallace Cup because of it."

"My masculinity is perfectly fine; I just don't like being shown up by someone who is supposed to love me, so I had to teach you a lesson even if you decided to end it after all I did for you." Drew snapped back angrily before taking a deep breath to calm himself. "But I must remain calm and not stoop to your level. As I was saying before I got distracted, I knew that Kenny was an ally so after I won in Sinnoh and rejected the Committee's offer to be a roving judge because I had my own plans for this year, I headed to Twinleaf Town to meet Kenny, naturally bringing Brianna with me now that she'd returned to my side."

"Yeah, Drew got there just as I did and sought me out." Kenny said with a hint of pride in his voice at being chosen to join Drew's team. "He understood what I was going through, how I lost my love to a backwards, inbred, Kanto bastard, and how I could get justice against Ash and reclaim what is rightfully mine."

"See, Kenny here understands the truth." Drew said as Misty growled at her former friend's attitude, it had somehow gotten even worse since the Grand Festival. "All I needed to do was tell him my story and then hear his while we were there. He told me everything. How he's always loved you Misty, but you never gave him the time of day. How he finally found the courage to confess to you, but you cruelly turned him down for Ash. I can't believe you left him to stay with Ash rather than join him despite his win, it shows how you have no honor. Then there was everything that happened at Ash's party, you know, the one I wasn't invited to."

"See, Drew gets me." Kenny said with a grin. "He knew I was in the right and welcomed me with open arms. He promised me my opportunity to finally destroy Ash if I helped him take down May. The latter would hurt Ash as well so naturally I said yes, I just didn't expect to find you here Dee Dee. Now I can get my revenge and show you that I am the better one at the same time as we take down May for what she did."

"Kenny, I made it clear to you that Ash is always going to be better than you in every way when I beat you in the Grand Festival." Misty said her anger barely controlled. "He will always be better than you, your attitude has more than confirmed it. I will never be with you and that's final, accept it. I gave you the chance to stop and mend our friendship back on the Plateau, multiple times, and you didn't take it. You chose this path and have to live with it. I am with Ash and that is final. We've been together for over a year and love each other, that will never change."

"I will show you that I am better when I beat Ash in battle." Kenny said. "You're no longer an obstacle Dee Dee, you can't compete here and prevent the inevitable. This time it is between me and Ash."

"And I will crush you Kenny." Ash said simply. "You and I both know it so why bother."

"I beat you last time." Kenny snapped at Ash his eyes blazing with anger. "I am better than you Ketchum and you know it."

"Only because I had no idea what was going on at the time." Ash said. "I just thought it was a training battle that you wanted, and I am always down to train. That was pretty deceitful of you by the way because you knew the truth and I didn't. Now that I know what this is about and seen Misty face her rivals, I will take this seriously and end you. Unlike the last two who I am still friends with because they understood that they had lost, well one knew that she never had a chance, I will send you packing."

"In that case let's make that packing literal." Kenny said surprising everyone even Drew with his statement. "If I beat you, you leave Kalos for good and if you win, I will leave Kalos. I know that Misty is under contract to be here so when I beat you, you will have to leave her here for me to have. I will also focus on the other two rivals and remove them as well. There will be no obstacles between me and Misty."

"Seeing as Zoey has a girlfriend now and knows that Misty isn't into girls I don't think you need to worry about her." Ash said. "As for Conway, he is wherever he is and will find you if that is the case. If you two faced off, I couldn't say who'd win but my money is on Conway. However, I accept your wager. The loser will leave Kalos."

"I'll still crush any who love my love." Kenny said as everyone gasped at Ash's agreement. "But I knew you would accept. I've called you out, you have to be a man and face me."

"So how do you want to do this?" Ash asked remaining as calm as possible and trying to ignore anything that wasn't relevant. "I know I can beat you no matter the conditions so what shall it be? Mock Contest battle? Full trainer battle? Double battle? What?"

"Full battle." Kenny said confidently. "The only true way to truly decide this is if I beat you at your own game and show Misty who is truly better. My current 6 Pokémon against your current 6."

"Very well but I only have 4 on me right now." Ash said. "I always travel to a new region with just Pikachu as a way to restart and test myself by using what I caught in region. It makes sure I am always training and growing stronger because I am not relying on my already strong Pokémon. That said I did take a second with me this year as I got after the Indigo Conference, so it needs the training. Other than that, I've only caught two while here. I can easily bring two more in though to complete my roster for a full battle."

"Bring in your best so I know I beat your top Pokémon." Kenny said his confidence turning to arrogance as he pulled out a keychain from his pocket hand dangled it for all to see. "And I know what that is in your glove Ash, know that I have one as well so I will Mega Evolve. I want this to be fair so if you have a Pokémon for that stone then bring it. I won't let you weasel your way out of accepting your defeat."

They all looked at the keychain in Kenny's hand and blinked at what they saw on it. Hanging in a special holder in the center of the chain was a Key Stone just like the ones that May and Ash had. In front of it were an Empoleon charm and one that looked a little like Misty in miniature fore. Behind it were Plusle and Minun charms.

"Like it?" Kenny said with a grin as he put it away so that it now hung from his belt. "I got it from Professor Rowan before I left along with the corresponding Mega Stone that I needed as he'd been sent it. I see you have one as well so I take it you have a Pokémon that can Mega Evolve."

"I have many that can but only one with a Mega Stone." Ash said suppressing a grin at the Pokémon Kenny was asking him to bring in, Ash was going to enjoy using him to destroy Kenny when the time came. "So, I will bring him in and one other, but we will have to wait until after the Contest to have this battle. That comes first."

"As much as I hate to admit it, Ash is right." Drew said. "The Contest comes first and is the final thing that I have to talk about. We can circle back to that in a moment, though, first I suggest that you two shake on this so that we can all see. It will made the wager official so that Ash can't back out of it if he loses."

"I'm good with that." Ash said holding his hand out to Kenny without hesitation. "Be a man Kenny and agree to the terms of our battle. It will be a full battle and the loser leaves Kalos for at least a year."

"Agreed." Kenny said briefly shaking Ash's hand before letting go as if he didn't want to have any contact with Ash. "Alright Drew, I'm done with what I need from this meeting. Tell them our goals and then let's get going. We need to prepare Brianna for her victory."

"I was going to before our distraction but at least that is out of the way now and we can focus on the bigger picture." Drew said to Kenny before turning back to them. "When Brianna arrived in Sinnoh we had to come up with a plan for this year. We needed to be where May was so that we could deliver justice to her and thanks to Kenny's memory of the Grand Reception in Kanto, we knew she was in Kalos and that she had a protégé with her who was going to be a rookie this year. Harley confirmed that she was under contract to be here as a roving judge so we decided that Kalos would be the expansion region we came to."

"Of course, Harley would confirm that." May said darkly, they had the list of all the roving judges and which regions they were in, so he'd certainly know where to find her. "And of course he'd help you out if it meant hurting me."

"He may be in Galar, but he does still hate you almost as much as we do." Brianna said. "So, he was more than willing to help us out with our little plan."

"Plus, he owes me a few favors after I helped him win a Ribbon Cup and become a Top Coordinator." Drew said as May shook at the memory of Drew's greatest betrayal. "He confirmed that you were here and as the only real threats to Brianna's victory had chosen Unova and Galar respectively we knew that we had to come here. The confirmation of your protégé at the Odyssey Village Contest and the fact that she has talent was just the icing on the cake."

"You were there?" Serena asked as May continued to shake, she was struggling with the emotional rollercoaster she was going through right now. "Watching me?"

"Of course, we were all watching you and Emily for that matter." Drew said. "You see this justice will come through the rivalry between mine and May's protégés. While we won't follow you around, that would be impossible, but we will compete in many of the same Contests, including the Wallace Cup, and Brianna will show Serena who is better at mentoring a future Top Coordinator. Thanks to Misty being here and her protégé already one of the favorites, along with Jessilee, Brianna will join them when she wins the Geosenge Contest, well, we now have two people to crush."

"So that's how this will be then." Misty said realizing what was going on. "Seeing as we are all Top Coordinators and can't compete in Kalos, we battle it out with our students."

"It's the easiest way for now." Drew said. "I am sure there will be a chance for all of us to battle as well in the future but for now this is the best way. Talk with your protégé and let her know what she and Serena are in store for. We will win this."

"Yeah, I can't wait to crush both of you in the upcoming Contest." Brianna said with a grin. "I hope the draw allows me to face both of you in the battle round, then I can show you who's the best protégé."

Serena didn't want to do this but between the way May was now shaking in her arms again and the glee that Brianna had in her voice, along with the clear anger that Drew was showing, she couldn't let her friend down. If they wanted this war, then she'd give it them with everything she got.

"Very well." Serena said straightening and passing May to Misty so that she could get in the younger girl's face while Misty helped their friend. "I accept your challenge. I will show you and your puppet master that my best friend and mentor is better than yours this year. You have the experience on me right now and will likely beat me in this Contest, but I will bounce back, I will train, and I will win in the end because of May. Even if I don't, Emily will be there as well. You can't beat the both of us. I won the Master Class last year and lost to Aria, the Kalos Queen, a manipulated little girl like you doesn't threaten me in the slightest."

"Yes, embrace your destiny." Brianna said grinning up at Serena. "I will enjoy our dance this year and I will get Drew's justice on May. I will give him what he most desires because I love him."

"I will not stoop to your level." Serena said matching Brianna's glare with her own. "But you've said all you can. Please, all three of you, fuck off now and let us prepare for the Contest in peace. You've done enough harm for one day."

"You heard the princess." Drew said as Misty and Ash gaped at Serena swearing, that had been unexpected but showed how pissed she was. "Let's get to Geosenge and see if they have any evolutionary stones that we need. Until the Contest May, it was such a pleasure seeing you again."

With that Drew turned and walked off in the direction of Geosenge Town, his two followers trailing behind him. They all watched him retreat until he was past the edge of the meadow and disappeared from sight. Only then did May finally give out as she collapsed to her knees sobbing uncontrollable as everything from her past with Drew hit her at his return.

"May." Misty said softly as she knelt next to May and put her arm around her friend's shoulders so that May could cry into her shoulder. "It's ok let it out."

"I'm sorry." May said as she cried, Ash and Serena kneeling with them to help out as best they could. "I shouldn't let this affect me so much. I put it in the past when I dumped him and moved on but seeing him again, seeing him so much worse than he was and with followers going after not just me but all of you because of me, I can't hold it in."

"Then let it out, we're here for you May." Ash said softly placing a hand on May's shoulder, a hand that May felt give her strength. "We weren't expecting that either, but it happened. We can't let them get to us because that is what they want and if they do then they win. We must rise up and show that we are better then them. Drew and Kenny are just bitter that they lost, and Drew has used Brianna's feelings to bring her to his side. We are not them. It is why we will win this. They started it but we will end it. We have to focus on the Contest and then I can beat Kenny and remove him from Kalos, so we have one less ass to deal with."

"You're, you're right Ash." May said with a hiccup before her determination returned and she looked him at him, her cheeks streaked with tears but her eyes hard. "We will win because together we are stronger than them, our bonds run deeper and are forged from happiness and love not bitterness and hate. I am sorry for dragging you all into this, but I am glad you are here with me when I need it the most."

"This will make the year harder, but we will be by your side the entire time." Misty said as she rubbed May's back to help comfort her. "You can count on us May; we will always be here for you. Ash is right, Kenny won't be a problem much longer. His challenge has backfired, and Ash will destroy him in a full battle. The other two, we can focus on more after that battle."

"Yeah, I won't let them use me to get to you." Serena said firmly taking May's hand and squeezing it. "I will take this seriously and rise to the occasion as best I can. They will try to use this Contest that Brianna will probably win because she has years of experience on me to their advantage, but we can prepare for it and know how tough it will be so that next time I don't lose to her. We can get Emily in as well and make sure that she knows what is going on."

"I'll do that after the Contest." Misty said. "Though if you can talk to her before the Contest Serena and prepare her for what is to come that would be helpful."

"Of course, I'll make sure she knows." Serena said with a nod. "I won't let her go into this blind."

"Thank you." Misty said. "We can do this."

"Yes, we can." May said her resolve hardening. "We've all faced a lot worse than a couple of fragile males and a lovesick girl. I will not let Drew get to me emotionally or mentally, never again will he do that to me. We will stay here and train hard until the day before the Contest and then go in. Ash, Misty, I will need your help. Serena, this is going to be intense, but I will make sure you are as ready as possible for the Geosenge Contest."

"Thank you and I don't care how tough it is, I'll work as hard as possible to win this in the long run." Serena said while Ash and Misty nodded in support of May before Ash's stomach growled. "But, er, we should have lunch first."

"True alright let's get to work." May said standing and causing the others to as well. "Ash, Serena, get a big lunch going as you will need the energy for the training this afternoon. Misty, you and I have a training regime to prepare for Serena. It's time to pull out all the stops and show what two Top Coordinators can do when they put their minds to it."

They all nodded again and set about their tasks. It had been an emotional and eventful day with the arrival of some bad actors from their past but none of them were going to let that get to them the way their antagonists wanted it to. They had a plan, they had an enemy, and they fully intended to win this. That winning started now.