I Wanna Be The Very Best

Chapter 64: Riolu's Descent

A week has past since we last seen our heroes after Ash defeated Kabu in a closely contested battle.

In that time, Serena has been practicing non stop for the ultra class showcase with all her Pokémon, working hard to perfect her routines and make sure everyone is in tip top condition.

She's also been a bit bogged down with the usual stuff that comes with her title and her entry in to this competition. Press conferences, photo shoots and interviews have all just become a part of her daily routine.

During her free time to relax, Serena has been taking occasional visits around Alola on sightseeing trips to see the rest of the region that she didn't get to see while staying here with Ash. Part of her wishes they could do this together, that's why she saves some spots to visit with Ash should they get time to when they next visit the region.

Apart from that, her free time consists of hanging out with Mallow and Kiawe, helping the professors with their work, and obviously texting or aura calling her boyfriend. Well that last one takes up more time than she would like admit.

During Serena's training, she decides to invite Chloe to train with her and help her to get even more confident with performing. While Chloe isn't the ideal training partner in terms of having the skill to match Serena, she is very good for Serena's morale and happiness. Seeing her smile and laugh is all Serena needs to keep her spirits high.

Chloe is very thankful for the opportunity to train alongside the current Kalos queen, as the two continue to form a big sister little sister relationship. The two of them seem to click very easily, and it's an easy role for them both to slip into.

One day during training, Serena decides to invite Mallow and Kiawe over to Melemele to help her with some contest style training. Serena is pretty confident that some form of contest style battle will show up during this showcase, considering this is supposed to be a joint event with the contest board. It's been a while since her last contest battle at the grand festival, so she naturally decides it's best to train for that scenario.

While Mallow and Kiawe aren't exactly contest experts, they do know all the rules and the basic formulas. Plus Kiawe's Pokémon are pretty strong so they are good training for Serena's.

Kiawe's appearance happens to spread to Goh via Chloe, who turns up to challenge the elite 4 member and island kahuna despite the obvious gap in skill.

Being less experienced, Goh loses badly to Kiawe. However, he doesn't moan or make excuses for his lose and takes on any advice Kiawe has. After seeing just how strong an island Kahuna is, he is determined to get even stronger.

While Serena was a little upset that Goh would just interrupt her training session, she can respect his want to find and face strong trainers. Plus, at least he was humble about losing and didn't kick up a fuss.

Meanwhile, Ash and Hop have travelled through the Galar region and are only a few miles out from Spikemuth city.

Their travels here haven't been too eventful thus far, apart from the usual training and batting on the way. Ash been working really hard with all his Pokémon as they all continue to bond with their new trainer.

However, one thing has caught his eye. Riolu lately has been training almost obsessively, not taking breaks when Ash requests him too. It seems like running out of aura against Kabu has lit a fire under him, and he's determined not let it happen again.

While the lack of rest does worry Ash, he's been willing to overlook that for now in order to keep Riolu happy. After all, he will know his limits better than anyone.

Since that little encounter with Serena and Greninja they had through aura, he's noticed that Riolu is even more willing to put in the hard work to get stronger. The young pokemon is determined to be as strong as can be, and Ash certainly can't complain about that.