Unforgivable Errors (Rewrite)

A Meeting

A few hours later, Ash's plane landed in the Kalos region. Once everyone else had gotten off, the raven-haired boy followed the rest of the passengers, trying his best to remain inconspcious. It seemed to work, for no one stopped to question him as he walked off the plane and into the Lumiose City airport. Once he was safely off the aircraft, Ash stood around and looked at his new surroundings, feeling a surge of excitement rush through him. It finally hit him: he had done it. He was free, and now he could start living his life for real now. 

Now that he was in Kalos, however, he was presented with a new problem. He had spent so much time planning where to go that he hadn't figured out what he was going to do once he arrived. His first instinct was to go visit Professor Sycamore, whom he knew was the regional professor of Kalos, but he had no idea where his laboratory was. He knew that it was somewhere in Lumiose City, but the city itself was so large it would probably be hours before he managed to find it. 

Even so, it was the best idea he could come up with, so with this plan in mind, Ash walked out of the airport with his backpack securely attached to his shoulders. He wandered around for a bit, looking for someone who might be of assistance to him. As luck would have it, he found someone fairly quickly, a honey-blond girl with blue eyes. She couldn't have been older than him, but Ash felt more comfortable trusting her than any adults, seeing as all the adults in his life had done nothing but let him down. 

"Excuse me?" he asked, tapping her on the shoulder. She jumped slightly, and he felt a little guilty for startling her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I was just wondering if maybe you could point me to where Professor Sycamore's lab is?" 

"Oh, it-it's okay," the girl said nervously. "And sure, I could take you there, but you know the lab is only a five-minute walk straight from here." 

"I'm new to Kalos," Ash explained. "So I don't really know where anything is. But if you could take me to the lab, that would be really helpful. I need to talk to Professor Sycamore about...something...and I'd like to get there soon." 

"Of course, just come with me," the honey-blond girl said kindly. 

Ash nodded in thanks, and together the two of them started walking in the direction she had indicated the lab to be in. As they walked, they remained in silence for a bit until she spoke up again. 

"My name's Serena, by the way. What's yours? I don't think you've mentioned it yet," she said conversationally. 

"Oh, my name's Ash," he replied. 

"Ash," she repeated. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Ash." 

"Likewise, Serena," Ash said, smiling at his newfound friend. 

"So what brings you to Kalos?" Serena asked curiously. "And why did you come here alone? I don't mean to be nosy, but kids our age don't usually travel alone." 

"I ran away from home," Ash told her, and she looked surprised at his honesty. "I hated Pallet Town, so I decided to run away." 

"Oh," she said, evidently unsure of what to say to that. After a moment, however, she nodded. "Yeah, I see where you're coming from. The truth is, I ran away from home too. My mother...well, she has a very, shall I say, fixed idea of who I should be. She wants me to be the perfect carbon copy of her and become a professional Rhyhorn racer, but I really hate it. Although that doesn't matter to her, so I decided to leave and find a place to go where I can be myself." 

"I ran away because everyone in Pallet Town neglected me," Ash answered. "My mother doesn't care anything for me, and everyone else is too obsessed with a stuck-up brat named Gary Oak to take any notice. It doesn't even matter that he's too stupid to tie his own shoes; everyone thinks he's some great, superior being because Professor Oak is his grandfather. And you can bet that he knows it too, because he's one of the most arrogant, conceited pricks you could ever have the misfortune to meet."