My Amour

A Brilliant Scheme

As Ash Ketchum walked out the door of his classroom and into the hallway, he was shocked by the sight of every single one of his Alolan friends surrounding Sophocles' laptop. They all had wide eyes, and were fixated on the screen. Mallow was the first to perk up and notice him. Her eyes brightened, and she lifted an arm to wave him over.

Curious, Ash walked over and greeted his friends. "Watcha watching guys?"

The group collectively looked up, and each gave him a smile. "Ash! You've gotta check this out!" Sophocles waved him even closer and turned the laptop so he could see. Ash bent down to look at the screen, and instantly froze in shock. Right there, on the screen in front of him was the most striking honey-blonde hair, and the bluest eyes he could remember. Serena.

Not only was it Serena, but she was giving another interview. As Ash stood there frozen, like an idiot, Sophacles pressed the play button.

"We were just checking out some contests, and there just happened to be an interview going on with the winner of the Hoenn Contest Spectacular! Pretty sweet, huh?" Mallow said, talking over the opening introductions of the interview.

"Y-Yeah, pretty sweet." Ash said, shaking off the shock. "Back when I travelled through Hoenn, one of my friends was participating in them. She got pretty far too."

At that comment, Mallow shot him a quizzical look, but quickly masked it back into a smile. "Cool! This Serena girl-" Ash flinched, and clenched his fist to avoid moving. "-is awesome though! We just got done watching her final performance." At that moment Sophocles shushed the two, and they both turned back to pay closer attention.

"So, any plans for you now? I'm sure all your fans can't wait to see what you do next!" The same reporter from the previous interview was chatting with the honey-blonde girl, who sat in a very simple plush chair. Serena giggled, then absent-mindedly twirled a lock of her hair.

Ah, it's grown a little bit . Ash thought. The ends of her bob no longer tickled the back of her neck, and instead it had grown out, albeit slightly, to cover her neck. Noticing that she'd started talking again, Ash shook himself from his reverie.

"Well, next year I'm going to be participating as a performer in Kalos again, but for now? No plans!" She giggled again, and Ash could swear he could hear small wind chimes in the sound. "Honestly, I was thinking of travelling a bit, maybe go see a few different regions before I head home. I would love to take a good vacation right about now." A faraway look came into her eyes, but she quickly shook her head, and played it off with a sweet smile. "If I could find a place I want to go." The girl gave a nervous chuckle and the interview quickly came to a close.

Sophocles shut his laptop and gave a long sigh. "Man, it would be cool if a celebrity like that came to Alola." The rest of the group nodded, muttering in agreement, and Ash felt his spine go stiff again. What was up with him? It was on the tip of his tongue to mention that he actually knew the girl they had all just watched on the laptop, so why couldn't he bring it up?

Because you thought this was only yours, A small voice inside of him whispered. You liked keeping this to yourself.

Ash shuddered a little at the thought. He couldn't be the kind of guy to keep his friends to himself. That wasn't the kind of person Ash wanted to be. Gathering his resolve, he shook his head and cleared his throat. "Actually, maybe she can come to Alola." At the group's collective confusion, Ash smiled. "I actually know that girl."

All together the group gasped. "No way, seriously!?" Mallow said, with stars in her eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Ash chuckled nervously and avoided eye contact. When she noticed she wasn't going to get a proper answer, Mallow pushed on. "Well, how did you two meet?"

Ash scratched the side of his neck. "Actually, that's a pretty crazy story. We met when we were kids, but we didn't truly get to know each other until I went to Kalos." He smiled fondly as he let himself reminisce.

"We met back up when she saw me on TV. I'd jumped off of prism tower to save Pikachu, and I guess they got a pretty good shot of me." He chuckled, but noticing the groups concerned looks, he began to wave his hand dismissively. "Oh, no need to worry. It would've been a lot worse if we got hit by that Garchomp's Hyper Beam."

His comment seemed to only make their looks more worried, so Ash turned his focus back on the story. "Anyways, she saw me and decided to head on her adventure. We met up when she watched me get creamed at the Santalune Gym."

Ash looked down in thought. "Man, I definitely wouldn't have been able to take the rematch without her." He glanced up, and his friends each had hungry looks in their eyes, like they were trying to take in as much from his words as they could, so he continued.

"Anyways, after that we started traveling together along with a couple other friends, and the rest is history. I even got to see her compete in the Pokémon showcases that they have there in Kalos, which are kind of like contests, but more focused on beauty. She was amazingly talented, right from the start. And when she performed in the master class, she almost became the Kalos queen too!"

Mallow grinned, and planted her hand on her cheek. "Sounds like she's a great friend to you Ash. I can't wait to meet her."

Ash's head flashed through a few more memories, and he smiled at each one. "Yeah, you guys would love her."

Kiawe chuckled and motioned towards the exit of the building. "Well, you should hurry up and call her then, before she makes plans. Wouldn't want her heading somewhere else before you get in touch with her, right?"

Ash pumped his fists. "Yeah, alright! I'm headed to the Pokémon Center, I've gotta make a call. I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

The now energetic teen ran off, and unbeknownst to him, every single one of his friends behind him shared a mischievous grin.