PoKéMoN CHRONICLES Written by LonelyChampion

Reunion Confusion

The roaring engine of the ferry tore the deep, blue waves of the Hoennian ocean apart, its destination growing ever closer. The sight of a golden, sandy beach backed up by a large port town, a towering lighthouse perched on the top of the top leftmost hill, came clearer into view.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we will shortly be docking at Lilycove City, where we will not be departing until tomorrow morning," boomed the announcer across the ocean liner. "We'd like to thank all passengers departing us here for choosing Alola Cruises and we wish you all a pleasant day."

Aboard the ship, a mass crowd of people began to rise from their settlements and head for the gateway to the exits. Among those travellers was a young boy dressed in a blue and white striped t-shirt, a pair of black shorts and his signature red hat, which sat atop his wild, unkempt black hair. Perched atop his left shoulder sat a yellow, mouse like creature with black ears, red cheeks and a lightning bolt tail.

"Man, finally, almost there," Ash exclaimed, beaming widely, the familiar excitement of his voice ever present. "It's been way too long since we've been on land, right Pikachu?" he asked the yellow Pokémon.

"Pikachuu!" Pikachu responded in agreement, an equally ecstatic expression on his face.

After a few minutes, the boat came to a complete standstill and the swarm of people slowly dissipated on to the port. Once Ash was free of the crowd, he sprinted about a metre and spread his arms as far as he could.

"Hoenn Ahoy!" he yelled.

"Pika!" Pikachu mimicked, before turning to face his trainer, a confused expression on its face. "Pikapika?" he asked. Ash scratched his head.

"Yeah, you're right, buddy. It is probably too late to say that after we've already docked," he said, chuckling slightly as his own mistake. He then fixed his gaze back on Pikachu, a much warmer smile on his face this time. "Just a little bit longer and we'll finally get to see her again. You excited?"

"Pikapika!" he said, his face shimmering with excitement.

After his yearlong stay in the Alola region, Ash had been planning to return home to Pallet Town to plan his next course of action, so, as thanks for helping him with his research, Professor Kukui had booked Ash a seat on the all expenses Alola cruise line, which just happened to be passing through both the Kalos and Hoenn regions on its way to Pallet. This immediately caught Ash's attention as they were both places he had a burning desire to visit. This was mainly because he had a strong suspicion that one of his closest friends, Serena, would be in either one of them.

Ever since they had parted ways after their Kalos journey, Ash had barely stopped thinking about when and where the two of them would see each other again. He had enjoyed travelling with Serena immensely and had wanted to find out all about her no doubt amazing journey throughout Hoenn. He had managed to catch her performance in the Hoenn Grand Festival, which was broadcast worldwide, but, like her Kalos Master Class, she had unfortunately fallen short at the last hurdle, being defeated in the final to a quite exceptional coordinator called Lisia. He also hadn't been able to catch the rest of her contests, and was eager to know how they had all gone, though he of course knew that she had to have won five of them, since she had earned the right to compete in the Grand Festival.

But they weren't the only reasons he was so keen to see her.

Just before Serena had left for her plane, she had quickly run back up the escalator, and did something Ash had not been expecting in the slightest. She had kissed him on the lips. It had been a very brief kiss, as the escalator had drawn her away from him after about half a second, but it was long enough for him to register the feeling. He specifically remembered staring blankly at her blushing face in disbelief, as he desperately tried to force words through his mouth, before he eventually pulled himself together and waved her off joyfully. But ever since, he had simply not been able to let the memory escape him. On top of that, he had begun feeling something he never had before, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out what. A warm, soothing feeling would rise from his stomach, and envelop his whole body, every time he recalled that particular memory. He hadn't told anyone about it, though all his classmates at the Hau'oli Pokémon School had asked him about what he was thinking at least once, whenever his mind had fixated back on it during class.