The Road to our Destiny

Chapter 42

It is the next day, and Serena is up on deck, brushing her Pokemon after eating breakfast with the group. Ash and Timothy told her that they will meet her up top on the ship once they finished breakfast with the others, and Ash's Pokemon are fully rested. As Serena brushes Pancham, Braixen, and Sylveon sit comfortably on the bench next to her, having already been groomed while Absol lies down on the floor next to her legs with Poliwag standing beside it.

With one last brush, Serena finishes grooming Pancham and turns to Poliwag.

"Alright, time to groom your tail, Poliwag," she says with a smile.

"Poli, Poli!" Poliwag says happily as it hops onto her lap, and she starts brushing its tail.

Serena looks at her tadpole Pokemon with a fond look, watching it happily enjoy being groomed. Her mind goes into yesterday's events when she briefly traded it to Ash. Her cheeks warm up slightly as she remembers how shocking yet touching it was for Ash to choose her out of everyone to help with evolving his Pokemon. Even though she knows he only considers her just a good friend, Serena is happy to have had that moment with him.

As she brushes Poliwag's tail, she hears footsteps, and she turns to see Timothy and Electchu walking toward her and her Pokemon. She stops grooming Poliwag and looks at the two of them in confusion.

"Timothy, where's Ash?" She asks.

"Ah, he told me to go on ahead while he tries to calm down his Primeape," Timothy answers while he and his partner sit on an empty bench next to her and Poliwag. "I guess Odyssey, and I overdid humiliating it during the match."

Serena gives a sad smile and says, "I don't blame poor Primeape. It's been working hard to be such a great fighter, and you really hurt its pride when it lost to another fighting type like Odyssey."

"Heh. Well, my pride was hurt when Boldore took down Blitzwing, so I was hoping that would make us even. I guess it's going to hold a grudge until it somehow beats Odyssey," Timothy says, chuckling. "Poor fella. It's going to be waiting a long time."

"Raichu," Electchu says with a nod.

"Don't be too sure of that," Serena says with a confident smile. "Ash has a way of overcoming the impossible with his Pokemon when he puts his mind to it."

"We'll see," Timothy says. "I don't plan to let him get the better of me again like he did with Boldore against Blitzwing."

"I'm sure Ash is counting on it," Serena says.

The two of them remain silent for a couple of minutes while Serena finishes brushing Poliwag's tail. Once she's done, the tadpole Pokemon hops off, and Absol jumps onto Serena's bench to be brushed. The disaster Pokemon lays its head on her lap as it is groomed and Timothy clears his throat to start another conversation.

"So..." he begins. "You said you only have only done a double battle once before the other day, right?"

"Mmm-hmmm," Serena answers.

Timothy nods back and says, "Why don't you tell me about that time to give me an idea of what to teach you? That might be a good thing to get clear while we're waiting for Ash."

Serena smiles and says, "Okay, let's see. My first double battle was against Aria. She is a Pokemon performer who holds the title of Kalos Queen, but I didn't know that at the time. I was having a rough day figuring out my performance with Pancham and Braixen back when it was a Fennekin. Aria came to me in disguise and offered to join her in going shopping to cheer me up. She told me how everyone makes mistakes and to keep working with your Pokemon."

"How true," Timothy says, giving Electchu a small smile.

Serena nods before she continues.

"So after I apologized to my Pokemon, Aria challenged me to a double battle," she says "So Fennekin, and Pancham and I went against Aria with her Delphox and her Aromatisse. I tried to hit her Pokemon with Stone Edge and Flamethrower, but her Aromatisse kept using Reflect and Delphox overpowered Fennekin with its own Flamethrower. Fennekin was struggling to get up, and Pancham was defending Fennekin as best as it could. I was so worried until Aria called out to me and told me that my Pokemon needed to work together. I realized how much I needed to do that and reassured my Pokemon that everything will be okay. Fennekin responded by suddenly evolving into Braixen, and then together with my Pokemon hit Aria's Pokemon with a Flamethrower and Dark Pulse combo, which created this beautiful display of fireworks. Delphox and Aromatisse barely received any damage, but we were all too amazed at the spectacle my Pokemon created to care. But just as we were hoping to continue the battle, Aria was called away and had to leave, and that was that."