This is Me

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The next morning Ashley and the gang had made their stop at Lagoon Town which was between Shalour City and Coumarine City to take a long break before Ash's next Gym battle. Right now they were at the local park, Delilah was brushing her Alolan Ninetales tail and having a small chat with her older brother Jake while the rest of the gang were doing their own business for a while.

"Hey, can me and Julie try it, too?" Bonnie happily asked Serena, who was gently brushing her Fennekin's fur, then turned her head to face Julie and Bonnie. "Sure you can. Here." She answered slowly, handing them two extra brushes as the two younger kids accepted it from Serena.

Bonnie quickly got down on her knees and began brushing Fennekin's tail while Julie was brushing Ashley's Leafeon's fur who was peacefully taking a nap. "Does it feel nice, Fennekin and Leafeon?" Julie calmly asks them with a huge bright smile across her face. Delilah and Jake looked over to see their younger cousin having a great time hanging out with Serena and Ashley. Clemont's Chespin and Natasha's shiny Abosl, who was nicknamed Ruby, just got out of their Pokéball and happily ran straight over towards Bonnie and Julie. "Do you want to get groomed too, Chespin and Ruby?" She softly points out as the two Pokémon carelessly nod.

Ashley carefree watches Bonnie and Julie having a nice time brushing Chespin and Ruby's fur as she sees her best friend Serena gently stand up from the ground and begin walking a little, turning her head and getting very concerned. "It's about time, isn't it?" She softly muttered as she was raising her eyebrow. "Serena!" They hear a familiar cheerful voice as they face to the right, seeing Shauna and Calem running over to them and happily waving to them with Bulbasaur and Umbreon following right beside them. "I've kept you waiting!" Shortly both Calem and Shauna finally caught up to the rest of the group while Serena, Ashley, Kawamoto, Delilah, Yuna, Ann and Gloria gently walked over to her and Calem. "Sorry that me and Calem are late." She apologized to them, trying to take a few deep breaths.

"No, it's fine." Serena sweetly answered her as the rest of the girls and Kawamoto nodded their heads. Ash raced over to them with his Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. "It's been a while, Shauna and Calem." He cheerfully exclaimed with his usual bright smile across his face as the rest of Delilah's and Ash's group were slowly walking over the group. "How have you been doing, Shauna and Calem?" Bonnie blissfully responded to them as she was really overjoyed to see them once again since the summer camp.

"Yeah, the last time we saw each other was at the summer camp." Delilah calmly recalled to her as her Alolan Ninetales gracefully walked over to Shauna's Bulbasaur. "This feels kinda nostalgic! Delilah congratulates on winning two keys so far and the same goes for Kawamoto. I'm really proud they have finally changed the rules of allowing the males to enter the Pokémon Showcase." Shauna cheerfully explained, causing Kawamoto's cheek to turn a little bright red. Landon playfully wrapped his arm around Kawamoto's shoulder giving him a teasing smirk. "Thank you Shauna, this does mean a lot to me." Delilah blissfully answered to Shauna, gently closing her eyes tightly.

"So, Shauna, what is going on this beautiful morning?" Yuna curiously asked her with her arms crossed over her chest. "Oh yeah. The thing is, Aria will do an exhibition at the Pokémon Showcase held here in Lagoon Town." Shauna cheerfully announced it to them, causing Yuna and Gloria to frown when she mentioned about the famous Kalos Queen herself, Aria. "How amazing she's going to do the exhibition today." Yuna said sarcastically as her and Gloria annoyingly rolled their eyes. Ashley and Delilah both turned their heads to look at each other knowing Yuna and Gloria aren't huge fans of the current Kalos Queen action against their cousin.

"So I thought you guys and I could watch her together, Serena." Shauna happily offers it to them with a huge graceful smile. 

Yuna and Gloria didn't say a single word as they were looking down on the ground feeling pessimistic. Clemont and Luka noticed the girl's sudden change of emotion from happy to sad right in the blink of an eye, getting very worried. "Her PokéVisions were awesome, after all." Bonnie cheerfully responded.